Career change… IT?

[HoLeChit]

So I’m in a bad spot. After 15 years of working as a heavy equipment mechanic, I lost my job at the start of Covid. Frustrated with the industry, and the west and tear it was putting my body through, I took it as my opportunity to change careers. I found out I qualify for the VA’s Vocational rehab program, and started making strides towards becoming a residential home inspector. Two years later, I’m still not starting working, and the VA is dragging their feet. I’m certified, broke, and waiting on the VA to order the tools I need to get started. I’ve been in this spot for over a year now, with no progress. I’ve talked with my case worker, the regional director of voc rehab, and even my congressman, and nothing is happening. I just keep getting told “any day now”. Not working is not only putting a strain on me financially, but it’s also taxing mentally and putting a strain on my relationship. I’m tired of waiting. So I’m taking matters into my own hands.

I think I’m gonna try and get into the Tech sector, specifically IT and cybersecurity. I could use some pointers and advice from you guys who do this stuff or have experience in the field. I have a buddy who is a cybersecurity administrator, and says I should go for it. It seems to be rapidly growing and offers lots of good jobs as well as good pay. I’m open to any advice you guys have.

 

[Catt57]

IT is like most industries, What you know matters, who you know sometimes matters more. As for training i can't help much. I've been doing IT for so long that I got in before classes for IT were even a thing. I'm riding on my experience at this point.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[garytx]

Find something in IT that you enjoy doing. Then get certified in it. Cybersecurity is definitely a growing field. Programming, or learn something cloud related with Oracle, Amazon or Google. Stay away from repairing computer hardware like desktops and laptops. It can be quite fun, but the pay is lower.

 

[Jon3830]

So I’m in a bad spot. After 15 years of working as a heavy equipment mechanic, I lost my job at the start of Covid. Frustrated with the industry, and the west and tear it was putting my body through, I took it as my opportunity to change careers. I found out I qualify for the VA’s Vocational rehab program, and started making strides towards becoming a residential home inspector. Two years later, I’m still not starting working, and the VA is dragging their feet. I’m certified, broke, and waiting on the VA to order the tools I need to get started. I’ve been in this spot for over a year now, with no progress. I’ve talked with my case worker, the regional director of voc rehab, and even my congressman, and nothing is happening. I just keep getting told “any day now”. Not working is not only putting a strain on me financially, but it’s also taxing mentally and putting a strain on my relationship. I’m tired of waiting. So I’m taking matters into my own hands.

I think I’m gonna try and get into the Tech sector, specifically IT and cybersecurity. I could use some pointers and advice from you guys who do this stuff or have experience in the field. I have a buddy who is a cybersecurity administrator, and says I should go for it. It seems to be rapidly growing and offers lots of good jobs as well as good pay. I’m open to any advice you guys have.

the VA voc rehab is a joke they strung me along for a long time kept telling me that there was not market for SQL server in tulsa and IT wasnt worth doing they kept me chasing me tail to find a career path that they would approve, then all the sudden they told me my time was up and i didn't qualify anymore because my benefits had run out then I find out 2 years later that was a lie. also do you have any interest in relocating to tulsa and keep working on heavy equipment ? if you do PM me your resume.

 

[HoLeChit]

IT is like most industries, What you know matters, who you know sometimes matters more. As for training i can't help much. I've been doing IT for so long that I got in before classes for IT were even a thing. I'm riding on my experience at this point.

I wish you the best of luck.

With your experience, I figure you’ve seen how things are run. What’s your experience with hiring people new to the industry? For example, with heavy equipment shops, some kid couldn’t just show up with a vo-tech cert and start working, they wanted experience or start out as the guy cleaning the equipment/bathrooms. Is IT the same? Or is the demand for guys so high that you can get the certs and start off in a worthwhile job right off the bat?

 

[OKRuss]

I'm a project manager in IT and agree cyber security is a good area to focus on but expect some competition too. Not sure on the classes/certifications required but I think it's easier to go to a heavy equip shop and demonstrate your skills vs IT cyber security. Maybe you could find a smaller IT shop but I bet the major companies want some experience or expect to get started at a low wage until prove yourself. I don't generally see online postings where I work for cyber security but lots for Full Stack Developers(likely more work to get a certification than cyber security).

I started as a DB2/IMS programmer so likely in the same boat as Catt57.

Something to keep in mind is that ALL of the shipping companies ramp up hiring before the holidays. That's not just delivery drivers but dock workers as well. Most only last through the peak season but would get some $$ in your pocket.

 

[Settled_Nomad]

So I’m in a bad spot. After 15 years of working as a heavy equipment mechanic, I lost my job at the start of Covid. Frustrated with the industry, and the west and tear it was putting my body through, I took it as my opportunity to change careers. I found out I qualify for the VA’s Vocational rehab program, and started making strides towards becoming a residential home inspector. Two years later, I’m still not starting working, and the VA is dragging their feet. I’m certified, broke, and waiting on the VA to order the tools I need to get started. I’ve been in this spot for over a year now, with no progress. I’ve talked with my case worker, the regional director of voc rehab, and even my congressman, and nothing is happening. I just keep getting told “any day now”. Not working is not only putting a strain on me financially, but it’s also taxing mentally and putting a strain on my relationship. I’m tired of waiting. So I’m taking matters into my own hands.

I think I’m gonna try and get into the Tech sector, specifically IT and cybersecurity. I could use some pointers and advice from you guys who do this stuff or have experience in the field. I have a buddy who is a cybersecurity administrator, and says I should go for it. It seems to be rapidly growing and offers lots of good jobs as well as good pay. I’m open to any advice you guys have.

Sorry to hear you hitting tough times. Hopefully you can land on a great job that grows into a career. IT industry is one that I would recommend. As one of our fellow members here mentioned, certifications are a must. Since you don't have prior IT experience, you would want to look at some of the entry certifications and go from there. I had a buddy that was an offshore welder till health issues arrived. Worked with me as a computer tech, and I was his mentor. From what I showed him, he started training to get certs to be a System Admin. He excelled and surpassed me. He landed a job with Bank of America as a System Admin. From there he took off, became a team lead and was their senior SA. He passed a few years back to health issues. RIP DK.

Below are some certification you want to look into. I know the community colleges offers classes and I would say start there.

> CompTia A+, if you want to start as a tech (helpdesk)
> CompTia Security +, entry cert if you want to look at being a System Admin, Network Security Admin
> Microsoft MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional), System Admin
> VMware VCP (VMware Certified Profesional), System Admin.

Most good companies will reimburse continuing educations and certification fees. Start with the basic certs (the first two on the list), get a job and let them pay for the rest...

 

[mr ed]

Just remember for every graduate working in IT there's 10 flipping burgers or working walmart or door dashing..
Like catt57 said, it'll be a lot about who you know.

 

[Aries]

Cyber Security is a great field to be in, plenty of demand and will continue to be demand as new threats just keep coming. As mentioned above, certifications are great but education is even better. I know OSUIT in Okmulgee has a good program, and TU has a good program but they are 4 year degrees. TCC has some associates degrees in computer science, I don't know about cyber security specifically... but TCC has a good reputation in the IT field.

There may be other areas of IT that would be easier to get into with certifications as opposed to degrees, but it's not totally impossible that you could get into cyber security without a degree.

 

[BobbyV]

So I’m in a bad spot. After 15 years of working as a heavy equipment mechanic, I lost my job at the start of Covid. Frustrated with the industry, and the west and tear it was putting my body through, I took it as my opportunity to change careers. I found out I qualify for the VA’s Vocational rehab program, and started making strides towards becoming a residential home inspector. Two years later, I’m still not starting working, and the VA is dragging their feet. I’m certified, broke, and waiting on the VA to order the tools I need to get started. I’ve been in this spot for over a year now, with no progress. I’ve talked with my case worker, the regional director of voc rehab, and even my congressman, and nothing is happening. I just keep getting told “any day now”. Not working is not only putting a strain on me financially, but it’s also taxing mentally and putting a strain on my relationship. I’m tired of waiting. So I’m taking matters into my own hands.

I think I’m gonna try and get into the Tech sector, specifically IT and cybersecurity. I could use some pointers and advice from you guys who do this stuff or have experience in the field. I have a buddy who is a cybersecurity administrator, and says I should go for it. It seems to be rapidly growing and offers lots of good jobs as well as good pay. I’m open to any advice you guys have.

I was an Information Systems Security Officer for 14 years or so. My degree isn't in the field so I was more or less forced to learn on the job. If I had it to do over again I would've found a Cybersecurity certificate program or degree program and pursued that aspect just to give me a better base for learning and doing things in the field. IT and cybersecurity related to healthcare is a big field and if it's something you're seriously looking into I'd encourage you to get some classes/certificates under your belt and eventually sit for the CISSP exam. I barely missed passing that test and feel that if I had a better knowledge base I would've passed it fairly easily.

ISC and CompTIA have several courses that would help get you going as well.