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Hello All,

I am presently in school now learning from the beginning about networking and security. This is going to be my next or second career. Someone has brought it to my attention that being I’m a bit “seasoned” in life, I’m 47, I may have an issue finding a job in the IT field, does anyone have any input on this?

Thanks Munch

29 Spice ups
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Just aim for a help desk/general support type role to get some experience under your belt. As long as you have the drive and desire to improve yourself, age should never be a factor. Best of luck!

3 Spice ups
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Don’t want to p*ss on your chips man, but it’s really hard getting IT jobs without experience anyway, add an extra 20 years of seasoning and its a whole 'nother level of pain.

I was laid off at 43 and it took 2 years of temp factory jobs before I got back in to IT, now 55 and hanging on like a limpet.

Best advice is to make as many contacts as you can while studying.

3 Spice ups
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I think it would be wrong for potential employers to base their decision on your age. I recently graduated and I went to college with people of all age ranges, from fresh out of high school to people in their 60’s and 70’s. Many of my classmates were in a ‘second career’ program, where they’re taking a completely new direction in their working life and training in a different field. What you’re doing is pretty common and I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to get a job because you might be starting out a little older than others might be.

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Thanks for the encouragement!

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I started in IT at 45, didn’t find any issues getting work, although you do have to start at the bottom and I had been working as an electrician for 30 years prior to that, so the loss of income was a shock, but apart from that I find IT to be less ageist than anything else

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I can’t imagine that being 47 will cause any problems finding work. Unless you’ve never work at all before, that would be suspicious. But not having worked in IT isn’t an issue at all.

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Very cool, I’m excited again!

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What was your first career? Perhaps, you can aim a bit higher than help desk/general support. I worked with someone several years ago that had 0 IT experience other than being a general manager at a hotel were he also helped guest get online. He started working at a help desk and soon after was managing a small team of techs because of his management experience.

Sometimes, you have to be a bit creative to get around that catch 22 of companies wanting people that already have the experience. If you have some technical chops, you can start helping people out and start your own business. This can help boost your resume and its easier than you think. You can apply for an free EIN on the IRS website and legitimize your business. You’ll have to pay taxes, but it can be put in a resume as opposed to I helped my friend fix his computer.

Hope that helps.

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That seems unlikely. Seems like it would be easier - presumably there is an entire resume of other experience that someone coming out of college would lack.

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There’s more to IT than the OSI model… perhaps your previous career / life experience have value of their own.

I’d rather hire the 47 year old “IT newb”, than the 20 year old “IT newb”, 10 times out of 10.

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Don’t forget that you’ve probably been using ~IT for the last 15 years or so in some capacity anyway, so make sure you don’t exclude it when you mention experience. When i’m interviewing apprentices i’m always keen to find out what products they’ve used at school and at home. If a 16 year old fresh out of school can tell me he has set up gaming networks and can explain to me what port forwarding is…i’m likely to give him/her a chance, so don’t sell yourself short

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Although the OSI model is an awful lot of it :wink:

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You’ve pointed out many times companies don’t look to hire the best, and this goes to the laundry list of requirements some companies or their HR departments put on jobs they are looking to fill. While much of his experience may good for aspects other than technical skills for the job he will be passed over unfortunately, especially when places advertise entry level positions that require 1 to 2 years of experience under your belt, which really makes them non entry level.

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I think your saving grace will be the fact you are specialising in Security and Networking. Get your CCNA if you can and youll walk into a job. If you cant get your CCNA then get your MCSA/MCITP and take your security exams within this.

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I disagree. Non-technical and soft-skills are very important. Understanding IT is great, but if you can’t work with others or think outside the box, etc, you’re not going to get very far - that’s why interviews aren’t purely technical.

Don’t forget about transferable skills - skills you’ve used before that, in some way or another, are related to what you do now. Using IT before is a good example.

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My first career, or the longest career, has been as a paramedic for the last 20 years. My body is telling me it’s time to stop climbing in and out of ambulances and wrecked vehicles!

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I might just be cynical, it seems to me with all the job searching I did over the first decade of this century, trying to secure gainful employment in IT no one cared about that stuff. As odd as it sounds I had better luck obtaining employment after the economy went south in 2008.

Now there are a lot of factors that go to this as well. Local economics and job prospects go a long way to being important. In other words for instance much easier to find IT work in Texas than in CT where we were the only state to have negative economic growth last year.

Also the channels you use to find employment are important as well.

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I think being 47 will work to your advantage. In my experience, businesses are much more hesitant hiring someone in their 20s. I assume because they believe there is no work ethic in the young people yet.

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Ha, I was an EMT for a commercial service for 11 years and a volunteer for 3 prior to that. The job does take a toll on you in the long run doesn’t it. Of course I don’t know about your region but Paramedics are becoming a dime a dozen where I am, Last year when I finally stopped working EMS all together most of the commercial services and municipalities weren’t even hiring medics or if they were they weren’t precepting them because they have become so prolific and they didn’t need anymore.