Did you find your previous career experience helped at all in IT?

Let's say, for example, you put in 15 years as a board-level electronics technician, worked your way up, earned a good salary. Then you switched to IT. Did you have to start all over from the ground up working with teenagers and twenty-somethings in a call center? Did anyone value your previous experience at all, whether financially or in quicker promotions?

I guess I'm wondering if having worked a previous career will ever count for anything, or if it basically ends up equating to wasting years of your life because you have to start all over.

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si20

Can't speak from my own personal experience because i've always been in IT, but when I was on the service desk, there was a guy who had worked in comms e.g phones only - nothing overly technical. He wanted to get into 2nd level support - instead, the company shoved him on the service desk. The guy was 50 years old. Fast forward 2 years he's still there. He's 52 and basically told me that every job he applies to gets rejected on the basis his service desk role is too low-skilled / doesn't give him enough experience. Like I say, his age and current job situation haven't helped him - and as for his old career in comms, that hasn't helped him either.

TLDR: I think age, experience, studying in personal time etc factor into it.

DatabaseHead

Hahaha so funny you mention this. This is exactly what happened to me.

I actually was trained by a 21 year old when I was ~28. We had a teenager on the help desk that knew more than me. I felt like the biggest loser, but eventually I got over it and liked the job for a while. Then like most of us grabbed a cert and some skills and moved on up......

If memory serves me correctly, I got A+ and ITIL and took a team lead position over some system engineers. Strange path.........

Basic85

si20 wrote: »

Can't speak from my own personal experience because i've always been in IT, but when I was on the service desk, there was a guy who had worked in comms e.g phones only - nothing overly technical. He wanted to get into 2nd level support - instead, the company shoved him on the service desk. The guy was 50 years old. Fast forward 2 years he's still there. He's 52 and basically told me that every job he applies to gets rejected on the basis his service desk role is too low-skilled / doesn't give him enough experience. Like I say, his age and current job situation haven't helped him - and as for his old career in comms, that hasn't helped him either.

TLDR: I think age, experience, studying in personal time etc factor into it.

So how bad is age discrimination in IT? I use to work in an IT call center and it hasn't done really anything for me so I felt like I've wasted my time there. I've come to realize that I'd rather be happy at my job first than experience will come in 2nd.

DatabaseHead

Basic85 wrote: »

So how bad is age discrimination in IT? I use to work in an IT call center and it hasn't done really anything for me so I felt like I've wasted my time there. I've come to realize that I'd rather be happy at my job first than experience will come in 2nd.

I think it's like most industries.

In regards to your second snippet, I would agree. I'd rather be happy and enjoy the environment, people etc... than the experience. You can always gain experience on your own, albeit it's not optimal.

yoba222

I started all over from the ground up for the bare minimum time I could get away with that added a few buzzword paragraphs to the resume.

A bit of job laundering & fake-it-till-you-make-it, while fast-tracking the tech knowledge in all of my free time with certs & labs. Never lied about a position or experience mind you, but a bit of creative marketing with job descriptions went a long way.

I'm no longer fake-it-till-you-make-it and I do find the previous career experience to be very helpful because I'm able to jump in making judgement calls based on my total career and life experience, which would be more of a management/supervisory level had I stayed on one career track.

This is an area where you can pull ahead of the younger ones if you're the more ambitious type. As for the older guy stuck on help desk, well, I mean it's unfortunate that life has dealt him the bad luck that has made him into a victim. Plenty of victims working as a cashier at the grocery store, and at Burger King, or at Walmart . . .

Personally I don't do the victim thing and prefer to create my own luck.

LordQarlyn

For me, it sure did. I was able to jump over help desk and straight into system admin. I leveraged my previous career experience to get a head start.

tedjames

I worked for many years as a technical writer with some part time (at the same time, actually) web development and light UNIX admin. I got into a security team as a technical writer and learned as much as I could about security along the way. After 10+ years in security, I'm still using my technical writing skills. Good communication skills are a must in security or IT in general. Or any field, for that matter. I also learned a lot about project management during my years as a technical writer, and I've put those skills to good use in security.

paul78

I come across people all the time that did a switch from another career. Because technology and IT is primarily a support function in many companies, many skills and experience in other careers are transferable.

For example, just yesterday, I just came across an IT manager who's background was marketing, he runs the IT dept that manages all the sales and marketing tool-sets. A friend's wife just joined the IT team as a tech program manager. Her previous career was as a textbook editor. Her new employer is a publisher. I once hired a software engineer that used to be a teacher. I also worked with a talented software engineer who was previously a butcher. And I worked with a talented software architect who was former military special forces.

The one thing that all these people had in common was that they have a passion for their craft and they enjoy the industries that they supported. And above all, they are constantly learning more about the industries they support and how to apply technology solutions.

DatabaseHead

tedjames wrote: »

I worked for many years as a technical writer with some part time (at the same time, actually) web development and light UNIX admin. I got into a security team as a technical writer and learned as much as I could about security along the way. After 10+ years in security, I'm still using my technical writing skills. Good communication skills are a must in security or IT in general. Or any field, for that matter. I also learned a lot about project management during my years as a technical writer, and I've put those skills to good use in security.

Thanks for sharing this!

True story, previous boss I had was the biggest hack when it came to technical skills, barely could talk data, systems etc....

But my goodness could he write an email, he was fantastic. He would have a executive come down on his team and he could write his way out of it. He could crush a peer, you could literally hear the steam come out of their nose and ears when reading these emails. The craziest part was it was in such a way no one could say a word. It was a gift and he went from help desk manager to senior vice president (not in one move lol) and I believe most of it was due to his written communication skills.

I've only met two people like this the other was a principal consultant for an MSP I used to work for. He was just a genius. He actually got an employee demoted for making him look so stupid.

Sorry OP just had to share!

Basic85

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Thanks for sharing this!

True story, previous boss I had was the biggest hack when it came to technical skills, barely could talk data, systems etc....

But my goodness could he write an email, he was fantastic. He would have a executive come down on his team and he could write his way out of it. He could crush a peer, you could literally hear the steam come out of their nose and ears when reading these emails. The craziest part was it was in such a way no one could say a word. It was a gift and he went from help desk manager to senior vice president (not in one move lol) and I believe most of it was due to his written communication skills.

I've only met two people like this the other was a principal consultant for an MSP I used to work for. He was just a genius. He actually got an employee demoted for making him look so stupid.

Sorry OP just had to share!

What you're describing, could be a psychopath.

DatabaseHead

Basic85 wrote: »

What you're describing, could be a psychopath.

Interesting....

I watched a special on Amazon about sociopaths. The research stated that the percentage of them in the upper ranks is extremely high, relative to the overall population.

thedudeabides

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Interesting....

I watched a special on Amazon about sociopaths. The research stated that the percentage of them in the upper ranks is extremely high, relative to the overall population.

I suppose it helps in pushing people to their limits if you don't care about their feelings. That said, there's somewhat of a cultural undercurrent these days to question whether everyone is a sociopath or narcissist. It's almost as bad as calling out hipsters, using an ever-shifting array of criteria.

DatabaseHead

thedudeabides wrote: »

I suppose it helps in pushing people to their limits if you don't care about their feelings. That said, there's somewhat of a cultural undercurrent these days to question whether everyone is a sociopath or narcissist. It's almost as bad as calling out hipsters, using an ever-shifting array of criteria.

One has a scientific study to back it and is classified by a social science community the other is a classification of an individual who follows the latest trends and perceives themselves as being above the norm.

Not sure how we got on this topic btw.....

Back to my main point, from my experience written communication is extremely valuable.

alan2308

It's hard to say if my previous experience in electronics helped at all with hiring managers, but it definitely helped on the job. Good troubleshooting skills transfer just fine.

Pmorgan2

I was a store manager for 2 years at Papa John's before going into IT (a delivery driver for 2 years before that). The customer service, asset management, and supervision experience helped me quickly move up to being a help desk manager. Then I got stuck there for many moons.

I'm in a non-supervisory portion of the IT career sine wave now. Once I get to manage people again, I think that prior management experience will come in handy once more.

Master Delgado

My writing skills as a business journalist (10 years of experience) and methodical manner helped out in documenting tickets/user documentation but I still had to do my time on the helpdesk. Didn't get many responses for technical writing roles (only had A+ to my name but am working on solidifying my experience with relevant certs).

UnixGuy

It helps a great deal, but the person has to take initiative to leverage it. People skills, communications skills, and customer service skills as others have mentioned are extremely valuable but you have to do a lot more to stand out.

TechGromit

Depends on what you did in your previous position. Did you manage/supervise people? Did you create budgets for your department? Comfortable public speaking in front of a large group of people? Many of these skills can be applied to the IT field, without direct technical knowledge. If you kept you head down, didn't interact with management / co-workers much and put in your 8 and skate, then no your experience means nothing in IT.

Basic85 wrote: »

So how bad is age discrimination in IT.

I was say yes, there is age discrimination in IT, if your one of those people that get into IT, only learned your job and did it well for 2o years, and got laid off, then yes, most management will look at you as a loser, that is unmotivated, not trust worthy for more important jobs. Most people that have drive in IT, move up and out of the call center or help desk in a few years, if your a career help desk guy and you get laid off, you pretty much screwed, for career advancement.