Yet another career advice question

josh120775

First, a little background on me - I'm 38, Bachelors in business, Master's in finance, CPA.

The business career path wasn't exactly deliberate, but that's where life took me.

I've loved working with computers since my first Tandy 1000tx, and just finished 2 new builds, which rekindled my interest in pursuing something IT related.

In my current position, I'm able to work a lot with databases, pc troubleshooting, in addition to the business stuff.

At the moment, my heart really isn't in the accounting career path. If I did straight accounting, I don't think I would enjoy at this point.

So, I plan to get some certifications and do some reading to see what sort of career path I might pursue on the IT side.

My current plan to read up on and pursue certification in some of the basics: A+, Network+, Security+. I may then go back for a Master's in information security/assurance (either through WGU or the school where I got my MSF) and go for the CISSP. That would seem to cover all the basics, and then I can figure what to specialize and really focus in.

Does the above even make sense? Am I way off track? Is it a good plan? Do I need a second Master's degree?

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Comments

antielvis

Not really. The comptia certs make sense, but understand you'll likely need to get into a support desk job and move up. Generally (not always) IT works like this Entry Level -> Generalist > Specialist. To be a good security practioner I think it's best for one to be a good generalist & understand IT in general. I'm not sure you can just enter the field and go straight into security.

Danielm7

I agree with antielvis, the CISSP (from what I understand anyway) itself is a 5 year direct experience requirement, 4 if you have Security+. I think no matter what educational path you take you're probably going to start at a pretty big drop in income to start in IT vs being a CPA, something to consider.

josh120775

I am expecting a significant pay decrease and trying to plan for that. I'm hoping that I can juggle a little of both where I currently and transition out of the accounting side and into the IT side without as significant of pay cut, but we'll see if I can pull that off.

I've also considered looking at something with our software vendors, particularly with our accounting system, and mix the 2 together.

Danielm7

josh120775 wrote: »

I've also considered looking at something with our software vendors, particularly with our accounting system, and mix the 2 together.

Smart, I think too many people miss this opportunity. If you've already got contacts and a possible connection through work milk it every chance you can.