IT and Sabbaticals

Sanis4life

I am considering taking a year off and teaching English somewhere. I would like the community's opinions on how much it will hurt me when I try to get back into the Networking field a year later.

I would hope to continue some IT work there, albeit, probably desktop type stuff for free. Or, if I'm lucky maybe I could help small busineeses with upgrades. At any rate, I know my skills will be rusty when getting back, but how would potential employers look at that one year break on my resume?

Of course this is waaaay far off (1.5 years), but nontheless a consideration.

Thanks.

veritas_libertas

Sanis4life wrote: »

I am considering taking a year off and teaching English somewhere. I would like the community's opinions on how much it will hurt me when I try to get back into the Networking field a year later.

I would hope to continue some IT work there, albeit, probably desktop type stuff for free. Or, if I'm lucky maybe I could help small busineeses with upgrades. At any rate, I know my skills will be rusty when getting back, but how would potential employers look at that one year break on my resume?

Of course this is waaaay far off (1.5 years), but nontheless a consideration.

Thanks.

As in overseas? If so, where?

Sanis4life

Not 100% sure, but probably Moldovia.

veritas_libertas

Intriguing! I actually had to look it up, and find where it was at

Since it's in Eastern Europe I can see your IT abilities being useful in that area of the world.

laidbackfreak

I pretty much did this 3 years back, me n the mrs took a year off to go travelling.

A lot of it depends on how strong your skill sets are and how much in demand they are when you get back. My return took 4 months to land the role I wanted.

I did a month on helldesk\desktop support role outsourced at a law firm that was funny because I was teaching the 3rd line guys there how to fix problems. They were doing a couple of major projects that I'd done the year prior to my time off and were hitting the exact problems I'd had.

And then 3 month contract for an ISP doing 3rd line suppport, mainly wintel enviroment, but building some firewalls etc.
Then landed my current gig as Network Engineer been here just over 2 years now

The tough part was getting my mind thinking IT soloutions again, it showed in interviews too but given I'd just had a year off I'd just had most of the people holding the interviews took this into account.

The good part was I added 10K to my salary from the gig before travelling to my current one.

Now I was lucky in that I got a decent (ish) gig before the recession hit, but if I was gonna take a year off I don't think having next year off is gonna hurt too much as hopefully by then the job market will have picked up again
Would I do it again?? In a heart beat YES

blargoe

Sanis4life wrote: »

At any rate, I know my skills will be rusty when getting back, but how would potential employers look at that one year break on my resume?

I think most would be cool about it. They will definitely ask about it. It might even get you extra cool points, make you "stand out" more, increase your diversity, increase your prospects to train end users through the experience you'll gain teaching others. Many ways to spin this into a positive, and I don't think many would see it as a negative, particularly with so many people having gaps these days that are NOT by their choice.

If you are so inclined... go for it!

veritas_libertas

blargoe wrote: »

I think most would be cool about it. They will definitely ask about it. It might even get you extra cool points,...

and probably make the interviewer jealous, at least you made me long for a vacation

RobertKaucher

Where ever you go make sure you make a concerted effort to learn the language there. While Romanian/Moldovian may not seem like a practical language I would say that is not true. The importance of this area of Europe is probably only going to increase as Russia tries to reassert itself in the coming decade. I would also try to fit in some Ukranian lessons while I was there.

The important thing is that you put the time to good use for you as a professional. There is more to being an employee than just what you know about technology. I think that this could actually be very good for your career, provided it is more than just a working vacation.

Just imagine if you were a skilled pentester with good Arabic, Korean, or Chinese skills? I think a similar security background with an Eastern European context could be interesting as well.

JBrown

RobertKaucher wrote: »

Where ever you go make sure you make a concerted effort to learn the language there. While Romanian/Moldovian may not seem like a practical language I would say that is not true. The importance of this area of Europe is probably only going to increase as Russia tries to reassert itself in the coming decade. I would also try to fit in some Ukranian lessons while I was there.

The important thing is that you put the time to good use for you as a professional. There is more to being an employee than just what you know about technology. I think that this could actually be very good for your career, provided it is more than just a working vacation.

Just imagine if you were a skilled pentester with good Arabic, Korean, or Chinese skills? I think a similar security background with an Eastern European context could be interesting as well.

It always does sound much better than what it is in real life. Besides english, I can speak and write in Russian, Azeri (that is a small country where the oil for your gas guzzler comes from) and some Turkish(albeit i did not use it in over 20 years) but it does not get me too far when I look for a new job. Except some girls in bars here and there
Whatever you do, you do it for yourself, not for some "would be, could be, should be, might be" future. I would say, do it and enjoy it, at the end of the day ... you will have something to remember and tell your friends and kids.

Turgon

Sanis4life wrote: »

Not 100% sure, but probably Moldovia.

Should be great. I visit Siberia each year in the summer with the family. Check out Moldovan wine, not as popular as Georgian but still pretty good. Lots of good food and drink across the former USSR and very friendly people hospitable to foreigners. Enjoy Shashlik and Banyas if you get a chance!

RobertKaucher

JBrown wrote: »

It always does sound much better than what it is in real life. Besides english, I can speak and write in Russian, Azeri (that is a small country where the oil for your gas guzzler comes from) and some Turkish(albeit i did not use it in over 20 years) but it does not get me too far when I look for a new job. Except some girls in bars here and there
Whatever you do, you do it for yourself, not for some "would be, could be, should be, might be" future. I would say, do it and enjoy it, at the end of the day ... you will have something to remember and tell your friends and kids.

I think that may be due to the types of positions you are going for. Although less so at my current position I get very good use of my skills learned while teaching abroad in my 20s. I lived in Brazil teaching EFL for nearly a decade. I was frequently asked to assist with clients who speak Portuguese at a previous job.

I agree with you totally about the personal value of the experience, but the point of the post was not about the value the poster will get from the experience on a personal level but how to explain it on a resume. My point being that technology skills, even for an IT pro, are only a part of the skills that employers look for. Exposure to different cutlutres, the ability to teach, learning patience, and foreign language skills will be valued. Perhaps not as a security professional but nevertheless I know we both believe this will not be looked down on as a "gap in employement."

Slowhand

I think it's a great idea to take some time away from the usual routine and go see someplace new. As for how it'll look on your resume when you come back: most employers are going to understand, as long as you have a direct answer for them when they ask about the "missing year" on your resume. Just tell them the truth, that you took some time off to get your head together, and try to keep yourself up to date and do some studying and/or certs when you get back, and you'll be just fine.

Good luck with your trip, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun. . . and wine.

veritas_libertas

Turgon wrote: »

Should be great. I visit Siberia each year in the summer with the family. Check out Moldovan wine, not as popular as Georgian but still pretty good. Lots of good food and drink across the former USSR and very friendly people hospitable to foreigners. Enjoy Shashlik and Banyas if you get a chance!

I gotta ask this question... Why would you want to go to Siberia? Having just moved to a warmer location, Michigan to South Carolina, I can't imagine spending all winter in the cold, and then going to another cold climate in the summer I am sure you have a good reason though Turgon!

Turgon

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I gotta ask this question... Why would you want to go to Siberia? Having just moved to a warmer location, Michigan to South Carolina, I can't imagine spending all winter in the cold, and then going to another cold climate in the summer I am sure you have a good reason though Turgon!

My wife's family hail from there. In the summer the weather in Southern Siberia is warmer than in England so no problems there at all that time of year. You get hot days and it's very green and pleasant. Winters are very cold but the country is totally geared up for -35 and what have you so it's really not that bad. Beautiful in the snow anyway that region.