Stuck in a rut (job woes)

[Irn-Bru]

Finished Uni in 2010, came out with a Foundation Degree in Network and Security Technologies, couldn't be bothered to top it up to an Honours straight away. Since then have not held an IT related job, am a van driver instead. Have had chances at call centre work but temp contracts only and honestly I hate the idea of it and would rather drive than spend all day listening to people complain over the phone. Now I'm at the point where I'm too old (24 ) for working as you learn schemes, and even too qualified for others because I have a degree. I'm contemplating going back to uni part time and finishing my degree off, in the hopes it will land me a decent job at some stage. Moaning about my situation isn't helping and I am feeling pretty helpless at this point. Applying for warehouse work or even bus driving would get me more pay in the short run but ultimately there's not much room for progression in those sorts of jobs.

I also have a few options to what I can top my degree up to, Applied Computing (a bit of everything, networking, web design etc.), Networking or Forensics. I do like networking but my lack of certificates would hold me back, leaning towards forensics but wondering if that will limit me to the police force only? Also slightly worried that it's been 5 years now so might be a steep learning curve to get back on track, but I do have all of my past work saved and a PT degree should be fairly relaxed.

tl;dr I want a career not just a job.
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KTM 990 SMT & Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM

[Andy_Pagin]

Personally I think degree level IT education is generally a waste of time unless you're a super-intelligent being whose obviously going to be a high flyer.

Most of us are not one of those. IT isn't a profession, it's a trade or more accurately a craft. Out tools are computers and our raw materials are data, apart from that it's no different to building, plumbing, coopering or gun-smithing.
Find yourself a job within your comfort zone, with a small-medium sized family run company ideally and make yourself indispensable.

When I was doing A-levels in the 1980s I looked at the computing degree courses around at the time and concluded that almost everything they covered would be obsolete or irrelevant my the time I left uni. So I skipped uni and went for a job. Looking back I think I made the right decision. IT is an extremely fast moving and unpredictable beast, and we're currently heading out of a long period of 'Microsoft everything' stability. Sitting in lecture halls studying IT you may as well be studying history.
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They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[Skudd]

The forensic stuff looks interesting. One of the places I have to go into is always busy and seems to be diverse. doing scenes of crime one minute and then lab work, then ding the write ups etc. The bods in the place always seem to be switched on and enthusiastic about there work. Bullets and sperm seem to make people happy.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[Jewlio Iglesias]

Only problem with forensics is that it's a _very_ niche market. They cut back on the FSS some years back, so unless you're going to find your way into the private firms that deal with it, I think it'd be a nice 'hobby' study, and that's it.
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[barrkel]

[Kaya75]

OP post, where are you, trouble is if you are not city central IT is tough to get into, you say you want a career, go get one - they don't give give them out. There is loads of placements and internships in the big organisations and firm, mostly based in London though. There is some big companies outside. But if you want the bright lights you need to get your self out and about. Check all top 100 companies websites follow the links to internship/graduates / working for us. They offer placements some paid some not, but you need that first step. So a career is for life? You may work hard and really hard for twenty years before you get to where you envisage yourself to be.

But at some point you'll probably have to work in place where you don't earn enough to live, but have to live to work / for the job for the career right? You'll spend time in one room digs and sharing bathrooms, but still have to buy tge best for the career right? If you aren't prepared to go get one why would anyone want to give you a career?

It's a tough time graduates are two a penny and IT is vast and young and fickle, but there is work there and there are people who can help you, just find them

Goodluck :up

[Kaya75]

OP post, where are you, trouble is if you are not city central IT is tough to get into, you say you want a career, go get one - they don't give give them out. There is loads of placements and internships in the big organisations and firm, mostly based in London though. There is some big companies outside. But if you want the bright lights you need to get your self out and about. Check all top 100 companies websites follow the links to internship/graduates / working for us. They offer placements some paid some not, but you need that first step. So a career is for life? You may work hard and really hard for twenty years before you get to where you envisage yourself to be.

But at some point you'll probably have to work in place where you don't earn enough to live, but have to live to work / for the job for the career right? You'll spend time in one room digs and sharing bathrooms, but still have to buy tge best for the career right? If you aren't prepared to go get one why would anyone want to give you a career?

It's a tough time graduates are two a penny and IT is vast and young and fickle, but there is work there and there are people who can help you, just find them

Goodluck :up

[angryjonny]

I've been a developer, technical consultant, business consultant, software architect and product manager and never in that time have I got my head around networking. I'm sure there are some useful skills to learn but it never, to me, looked all that interesting. Where development is like carpentry, to me, networking always looked like assembling flat pack furniture.

In my experience, a degree in something computery is relatively essential in getting a decent software engineering job or similar. This isn't because you'll learn stuff in your degree that is essential (my final year project was in speech recognition - I have used the skills I learned building the drag-and-drop front end to my app way more than I've used any speech recognition knowledge since then) but because a reasonable degree in Computer Science or something is shorthand for "I can do computers, me". Yes there are some very very talented people who don't have a degree in the subject but there are also a lot of chancers, and having the degree takes the guesswork out of it for the recruiter - it means, essentially, that you can write "hello world" in 5 languages, and when you start your team leader will be able to teach you the rest (like not to call your variables Bob and Fred).

[Irn-Bru]

Exactly, only having a FdSc excludes me from graduate positions, the BSc is important. I'm basically stuck with half a degree, pretty useless really. Not exactly after mega money just progression, learning new skills, a challenge basically.

I'm from the North East also, not great although I often see interesting positions pop up, but they always require a few years in the industry, not necessarily a degree but most do require a BSc.
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KTM 990 SMT & Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM

[duhawkz]

[Rogerborg]

[barrkel]

[SQL]

Puppet is win

[duhawkz]

[Pete.]

[Andy_Pagin]

I started with "Hello World" on a CA SuperboardII and taught myself the rest ever since. I'm clearly nowhere near barrkels' league. But with zero proper IT education I've done pretty well in the rather more mundane world of business application IT. You know the sort of thing? Sturdy user-proof databases, number crunchers, uninspiring but business-critical reporting engines and whatnot.
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[nowhere.elysium]

I'm so glad I don't do IT stuff any more. Unless you're obscenely specialised, it's really, really dull work. I'd gone from first to third-tier support, then to system administrator and I just stopped giving a damn about any of it around that point.

I have dabbled in doing some of the bespoke scripting/programming solutions (low level stuff - process automation, not full application programming), but I was thoroughly burned out by then.

My current job of making stuff is far more satisfying.
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'10 SV650SF, '83 GS650GT (it lives!), Questionable DIY dash project, 3D Printer project, Lasercutter project

[stevo as b4]

[Snod Blatter]

[Clanger]

[Pete.]

Stuck in a rut in your driving job?

Easy cure - keep out of the inside lane where all the ruts are
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Andy_Pagin]

[nowhere.elysium]

[barrkel]

[Andy_Pagin]