What certs should I work on for the next 7 years while taking care of sick mother. Any suggestions?

Hey Greetings,

I can't go start a career in IT to get experience yet, because my mother is 76 year old and she has diabetes and some other illnesses.

She needs someone to take care of her.

I volunteer to take care of her.

My family members agrees that i would do that for the next 6-7 years.

I have a passion for IT, and I would still want to be in IT when it's all over.

Right now I'm 38 years old and will be 44-45 years old by then.

I would like to do help desk at 45.

Right now I am working on WGU's Bachelor degree in Information Technology: Network Operation and Security and should be done in the next 2 years.

I have some certifications, which are

Comptia A+,N+,S+,P+,

CIW Site "Development Associate"

CIW Advance "Html and CSS3 specialist",

and Linux essentials from LPI.

What should i do in the next 7 years.

If i am not able to work?

Any advice on what to should work on in that 6-7 years?

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Comments

MalwareMike

Do you currently work? If so, what are you duties. There's a lot more to tech jobs than certifications...you want to make sure you have the proper experience to back up your certifications.

IT_helper

I was delivering pizza for while until my mother illness has become worst so i quit that job. Now a full time care taker for my mother. I don't know maybe i should change my studies to Coding because i know with coding you can build a portfolio. Maybe i can learn to code and build a big portfolio. Or should i study for CCNP/MSCE?

kaiju

CCNP/MCSE doesn't do you much good without experience to back it up.

MontagueVandervort

First of all, let me say... your choice to cover a degree in this timeframe is a really great one! It's a good usage of the time at least.

But is no one in your family willing to help you with the care, so that you can still have the ability to work once you graduate?

Danielm7

I guess the 7 years is a random guess, could be 1, could be 10+. The idea to learn programming is probably more doable, with a decent portfolio you might be able to pick up some contract type work while you're home. While taking care of an ailing parent can be a lot of work, even 7 years of only studying in the off time might start driving you crazy.

A degree is a great idea, if you're sold on WGU they do have a software dev and CS programs too. But, you have time, and there is so much free material out there, if you go that direction I'd hit something like codeacadamy/udemy/freecodecamp/etc and see if you actually enjoy that sort of thing. If not, then probably not worth dumping up to a decade of time into it.

Tekn0logy

I'm sorry for your mother's illness. Been there, that's all I can say. I was lucky to be able to work remotely, but in hindsight I should have taken a leave of absence. You will be treading on dangerous waters trying to jump back in at 45. Tech industry is ripe with age bias and if you have been out of the game for 7 years, unless you have a golden ticket, I think it will be kind of hard to get back in. Lots of stuff you can do at home, but without a lab, some skills might go to mush. Work on Python & Powershell, seems to be what all recruiters are looking for these days. Nobody wants to hire cybersec person without SOC experience, so sticking with AWS, Azure & VMWare in addition to RHCSA might work. Will you be able to relocate to a high demand area in 7 years?

IT_helper

MontagueVandervort said:

First of all, let me say... your choice to cover a degree in this timeframe is a really great one! It's a good usage of the time at least.

But is no one in your family willing to help you with the care, so that you can still have the ability to work once you graduate?

IThelper: Yeah no one can help they're all busy working. I'm the only one with the flexibility in my schedule to take care of my mother.

Tekn0logy said:

I'm sorry for your mother's illness. Been there, that's all I can say. I was lucky to be able to work remotely, but in hindsight I should have taken a leave of absence. You will be treading on dangerous waters trying to jump back in at 45. Tech industry is ripe with age bias and if you have been out of the game for 7 years, unless you have a golden ticket, I think it will be kind of hard to get back in. Lots of stuff you can do at home, but without a lab, some skills might go to mush. Work on Python & Powershell, seems to be what all recruiters are looking for these days. Nobody wants to hire cybersec person without SOC experience, so sticking with AWS, Azure & VMWare in addition to RHCSA might work. Will you be able to relocate to a high demand area in 7 years?

IThelper: Is it too late to do helpdesk at 45? Will I be to old?

IT_helper

Danielm7 said:

I guess the 7 years is a random guess, could be 1, could be 10+. The idea to learn programming is probably more doable, with a decent portfolio you might be able to pick up some contract type work while you're home. While taking care of an ailing parent can be a lot of work, even 7 years of only studying in the off time might start driving you crazy.

A degree is a great idea, if you're sold on WGU they do have a software dev and CS programs too. But, you have time, and there is so much free material out there, if you go that direction I'd hit something like codeacadamy/udemy/freecodecamp/etc and see if you actually enjoy that sort of thing. If not, then probably not worth dumping up to a decade of time into it.

IThelper: Yeah I actually don't like coding as much as networking. But if i can get a job 7 years later, then i don't mind learning it.

MalwareMike

1) Honestly, if I was in your situation, I would go 3000% into coding. That's awesome you're taking care of your mother and putting aside your career but if its possible or even an interest of yours, doing remote coding work is definitely possible. Or maybe you learn to code and then you start the next huge startup, all while taking care of your mother.

2) BUT, a very big BUT, if you have tried coding and you don't like it, then do not go into the field. You have to some what enjoy being in-front of a screen and coding for hours at a time...it's not for everyone.

3) Let's say you decide to go into networking, in 7 years or so, I definitely believe that almost every tech job will need some who can at least put a script together...so you wont be able to get away from coding completely.

4) NO age is ever too late. Hey, it might take a little longer to get a job but NEVER let your age stop you from wanting to do something. If you know the material, and you're passionate...someone will take a chance on you.

5) 7 years is a while from now, there will probably be a ton of jobs that aren't even around right now that will be huge in the moment. So another career tip, keep up on emerging tech and jobs.

**Sorry for any typos, I was in a hurry while typing this**

IT_helper

MalwareMike said:

1) Honestly, if I was in your situation, I would go 3000% into coding. That's awesome you're taking care of your mother and putting aside your career but if its possible or even an interest of yours, doing remote coding work is definitely possible. Or maybe you learn to code and then you start the next huge startup, all while taking care of your mother.

2) BUT, a very big BUT, if you have tried coding and you don't like it, then do not go into the field. You have to some what enjoy being in-front of a screen and coding for hours at a time...it's not for everyone.

3) Let's say you decide to go into networking, in 7 years or so, I definitely believe that almost every tech job will need some who can at least put a script together...so you wont be able to get away from coding completely.

4) NO age is ever too late. Hey, it might take a little longer to get a job but NEVER let your age stop you from wanting to do something. If you know the material, and you're passionate...someone will take a chance on you.

5) 7 years is a while from now, there will probably be a ton of jobs that aren't even around right now that will be huge in the moment. So another career tip, keep up on emerging tech and jobs.

**Sorry for any typos, I was in a hurry while typing this**

ITHelper: Thank you for your advice MalwareMike. I'm going to do some thinking whether I should do coding or networking in the next 7 years. Truthfully,I do feel a little depress right now. But thanks for your advice.

MeanDrunkR2D2

That's a long time and a lot that is being expected of you to shoulder that burden to care for your mother. If the rest of your family is unable to be there to help, they then should pay you to take care of her. It's not easy work and the good thing is that you'll have some free time throughout the day to finish your degree. I wouldn't put too much into certs at this point as many of them will likely expire or be obsolete when you are looking to get back into your IT career.

Sure, you can still do helpdesk at 45, but it will be very difficult to move up at that age due to biases of promoting a mid 40's person that is new to working in IT into higher level roles. I'd look at ways that maybe you could do some part time or online helpdesk roles that you can pick and choose the hours you work so you can coordinate around your mother's needs so you can still build experience and knowledge while you are focused more on caring for her. I'd even look at if it's possible for your mom to have a nurse or another person that can come in to help her with the daytime needs? What if you had your family help in the evenings so maybe you could work a later shift so again you can still build experience? Or are they all saying no way and putting all the work on you to handle 99% of the time?

As much as I love my mom, I'd never put one of my brothers in that situation to put off life to care for a very sick parent when it will hurt them far more long term. I'd probably suggest that if she needs that much help a nursing home would be a valid option.

MontagueVandervort

IT_helper said:

MontagueVandervort said:

First of all, let me say... your choice to cover a degree in this timeframe is a really great one! It's a good usage of the time at least.

But is no one in your family willing to help you with the care, so that you can still have the ability to work once you graduate?

IThelper: Yeah no one can help they're all busy working. I'm the only one with the flexibility in my schedule to take care of my mother.

I'm sorry to hear this but also having been in a very similar situation and meeting more than a few others who have gone through it, I understand the dynamics all too well.

That said, don't get discouraged. Keep studying and stay focused.

I was exactly 45 years old when I started trying to tackle all of this, and I really feel that Cisco has been my ticket. That and just not accepting failure as a possibility. First because I didn't think it was possible (ha), then secondly now because I just refuse to accept it.

One thing I will tell you is try to get your graduation date as close as you can to do the date of when you first start applying to jobs. That will result in you being called for more interviews as people will auto-assume you're younger. That worked very well for me in the past.

Someone will hire you. It only takes one person! Keep that in mind.

As for helpdesk? I don't know. I skipped helpdesk

Not because I tried to or wanted to. I just didn't realize at the time that was the usual progression. Helpdesk has a higher turnover rate, so if that's where you want to start or where you think you should start, you'll probably have a good chance at getting one of those positions. Just don't stay stuck there.

Create a plan of action and believe in the process! I would say that has been extremely valuable in my situation so far.

Think positively. It really does help... a lot.

Play around with some Python. If you decide to go into Networking, you'll use it (scripting), and if you decide to go into Programming, it's a really good introductory language. Either way it will serve you well.

Hang in there! You can do this if you really want to, but you have to really want to.