Mid-level career advice for returning to IT workforce

Pbutter · April 2014

I would appreciate advice on how to proceed as I am trying to re-enter the workforce after spending several years in graduate school. To date, I am conflicted if I should be applying for level1/2 tech support positions just to get my foot in the door again within the IT industry. Here is my career timeline:
-end of 2008 IT Specialist position for 6 years (2nd level tech support Fortune 500 eng company) with plenty of managerial/pm duties absorbed as leadership team disappeared as managed service came in.
-Jan 2009-Dec 2011 Attended graduate school in healthcare, needless to say healthcare did not fit my personality or skill sets, still had passion for anything technical.
-Picked up healthcare IT cert, continued looking for IT positions, feedback received I was not specialized, should focus on something at this point in my career.
-Jan 2012-Dec 2013 completed MSIA at Capitol College (excellent program by the way) and have been looking for IT positions since.

Positions in which I thrive/have experience include: Data/business analysis, BI (predictive modeling), databases, audit/compliance, sys analyst, network analyst or tech management. At this point in my career, I do not feel ready for network engineering or app development. I do spend my days playing with eclipse/java and python, but would not consider applying for programming positions.

My question is, would it be advisable to apply for level 1 tech support positions or would a hiring manager see a risk with hiring a candidate with (2) grad degrees (MSIA and MA org mgmt) and 6 years level 2 app/network support with plenty of project mgmt (Six Sigma methodologies) experience?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

networker050184 · April 2014

I think you are in a tough spot. I certainly would be weary of hiring someone with your qualifications for an entry level position. Chances are you will be looking immediately for something better and probably won't stick around long. Your actual experience is fairly low level though if I'm understanding correctly which hurts you going for the higher level positions. Your best bet is to try to get on with an organization that places a lot of value on higher education. Possibly a management or project management position. Doing straight technical work without much experience is going to be difficult though I'm sure you could eventually get someone to take a chance on you.

lsud00d · April 2014

I agree with @networker's take on the situation...you could be valuable as a PM especially if you passed the PMP. Look for those business-to-technical liaison roles as your career straddles the line but your education puts you more towards management than technical.

da_vato · April 2014

What position are you after ultimately? It seems your experience is in analysis and your education is in InfoSec. I think if we knew your end goal we could help you better. Personally I would say stay away from level 1 support jobs as they may tell you, "you are over qualified."

Jon_Cisco · April 2014

I think you need to sell your current schooling in the interview. Make sure whatever position your after knows that you want to do more.
If you are looking at entry level positions make sure they are in a company that you want to advance in. Be specific about this at the start otherwise I would suggest moving past that position.

Good Luck

Pbutter · May 2014

Thanks to everyone for their advice. Yes, technical positions fuel my passion and also suit my personality (ISTJ Myers Briggs Type Indicator). My resume is highlighting my managerial/leadership achievements, which is overshadowing my technical skillset and experiences. <working on this now>

I am considering picking up web development (front and back end, more back) while I continue to fine-tune the resume and apply for jobs. My goal is to write code while considering the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data.

After a couple years of technical work, I may transition into management. Please continue providing any feedback.

Mid-level career advice for returning to IT workforce

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