General career advice
 

So I am looking for some advice from ppl from RS.

Currently I work as a customer service/ 2nd level tier tech support for a local company. The paid is ok (not great about 50k per year), decent vacation plans, RRSP programs, great benfits and a good work environment. I like the job but in the long run I don't think is something I see myself doing (5+ years form now). They might want to keep me for now but as time pass who knows.

I am looking for other career options. I know i have to go back to school part time. I can't really do full time as I have bills to pay and pre purchase an apartment that's ready in 2017. So I can't really quit and go back to school full time.

I am not really interested in programming and the only reason I am in tech support is coz my parents/sister planned it that way for me. Didn't work out so I drop out of school and went and got a job. I could try talking some certs such as Network +, Security+, CCNA, CCNP etc etc.... on my own but I am not sure if that's route I like to take. I don't hate it but I also don't have much interest in them.

I want to give finance a try but looking at some of the programs out there from other post secondary it seems like doing it part time could take 4 or more years and by then I will be pretty old and making the switch to a different career will be pretty risky.

what you fellow rs think?

Given your grammar, duolingo - english for starters.

Here's my perspective over the years of working. For as long as you work for someone, you'll always be "replaceable". Setting yourself apart from the rest is vital considering the competitiveness for work these days. It sounds like you are "okay" with your job, but not "hate" it, sort of in the middle. Also, how many people do you know that you can truly say they "love" their job/work, the type that can do this 7 days a week with no complaints? I think for most people, it's hard to say they "love" their job/work; hence, for you to feel/think this way with your uncertanties, I think it's normal.

In terms of going back to school, what are you defining as "old"? I am 29 and taking online courses in addition to full time work :pokerface:. I can't vouch for finance as I am from an accounting background, I have heard finance, have to bust a crapload of work hours along with the competitiveness due to a lot of people wanting to get into that industry.

how old are you again? Need to sort of gauge to see if going back to school is a valid option.

50k / yr is not a bag figure to be in right now. I do think you are sort of "stuck" with the mortgage you need to pay for so that's a bitch. That's life I guess for you.

I would highly NOT suggest you getting certs. There are a shit load of people with crazy certs who will and always outsmart you. If that's where you want to go (which I fully respect), and based on certs, choose a big brand name, go work for a partner that sells that technology so they can pay for your courses. CCNA CCNP are ~yawn, you need to get a CCIE which is the cert to get. (FYI, fail rate is 3.5 tries and it has to be done in California, a engineer did it and took him 6 hrs a day for 2 yr on top of his full time job; by lunch time he already knew he failed the exam because his configuration wasn't proper)

I am currently 33 years old. I figure those certs aren't that special since you can study them off a book and take the exam.

First thing I'm going to ask -- where do you want to be in your life, say, 5 years, from now?

Especially given your age, if you have any plans related to family (ie. those $$$ wasting, milk burbing, poop expelling little monsters) in mind, the job you have now could potentially be the perfect best match to raise a family. The majority of my family raising friends are in a situation where at least 1 parent is working in that kind of a job. When you are raising a family, you need at least 1 income that is steady, and the job allows for various flexibilities in terms of looking after your child.

do you enjoy your field? are you a strong performer? do you have ambition to move up? if no, then you should get out.
if you can suck it up and accept that theres a chance you might be doing what you're doing for another 10+ years, then stay, but you won't be happy.
1 year becomes 5, 5 becomes 10 in no time.

I'm not sure which certs you're referring to "not special" because CCIE is really a good accomplishment (just FYI on cost; the lab portion is something like $1200+ to take it. The written is $350, 2 days of hotel, and at a fail rate of 80%).

This is what I see for someone's that's 33.
1) Know your career path and understand what jobs you are able to get.
2) Need to know your own strengths; meaning resume is solid and able to apply to jobs you like.
3) Content with what you have or know how to chase after them.

I generally do not suggest someone doing schooling UNLESS you have a passion / gifted in trades / health care.
MBA is something in your late 30s (already 3-6 yrs of management experience).

In your case, I suggest getting as MUCH experience as possible. Experience = opportunities. Education of any MS certs, Citrix, Cisco, HPE etc ain't going to get you any jobs / through the door. It's your experiences that will.

^

Good advice and it's transferable to a lot of careers.

Figure out what your really want in a career, and then take whatever steps are necessary to move you closer to that goal. My goal has always been to be the in-house tech support person for a moderately-sized company (dream big, yo! lol). It took me around 10 years to finally make it to my destination. 5 years in retail. 5 years in tech support. The only cert I acquired was MSCE+I, which, i suppose, helped get me in the door for that interview in support. All that time in the trenches helped build my skills in customer service, troubleshooting, etc...

your parents planned that out for you?

So i think you really need to observe yourself and see what you are good at. ask your close friends even (that are observant) striaght up, what I am good at? and go from there

some people are like blank slates. they can pick up whatever it is that interests them because they have that drive. drive usually makes up for natural talent. but drive cannot beat natural talent + drive.

So it boils down to: you need to light a fire under your ass and get some drive.
What do you really care about? figure it out, and go fight for it

Whether or not its going to make money? some fields, you may not make money instantly, so you need to work a side job to be able to float that. alot of baristas are struggling musicians, actors, etc. the starving artist.

I suggest you start a new thread, aviation career specific.

There's a few of us on here, be glad to give me $0.02

ask yourself if the salary was 2x or 3x if it would be enough for you to stay in that job forever

if yes, then start working your way up
if no, time for a change up

it sounds like even you still don't know where you want to head, and that's ok but you need to be strategic about what to think about trying. spend sometime and decide for yourself, then commit to it

I know people that have quit jobs, gotten certs etc only to end up laterally the same in another company. The certs only open some doors, the rest is you.

Wheres the update from OP?

I think you need to take any online courses in finance (here is a whole list of such courses on edX) and try to carry out practical test tasks (for example, using https://ca.essayshark.com/). Perhaps this will not be enough for further employment, but this way you will be able to determine the direction for yourself, get basic (and also more in-depth) knowledge and practice getting the desired job.

www.revscene.net for all your car needs.

-hypa

RE: Finance, what do you hope to get out of a career in finance? Is it retail banking, an eventual exit into a VC fund?

My personal opinion is that there are two ways to get in...

One is to get in by 'putting in the time' to get experience and actively seek out opportunities locally.

The other is to go to a target school/program that IB firms are known to hire from (i.e. Western Ivey, Queens Commerce, Sauder PMF).

If you're looking for certs, my personal recommendation would be to snag AWS/GCP/Azure certs and land in some sort of a DevOps role working with cloud infrastructure.

Do you feel lost? I've found it really helpful to cold-message/email and ask to shadow others in their role or have a one-time 1:1 with them to understand their perspectives.

A bit off-topic than original OP thread is asking, I am looking at some jobs to apply and what they are asking for in terms of skills/knowledge, I completely do not have knowledge of/yet alone experience of. Would you guys normally just apply anyways (nothing to lose)? I would say 30% of the what they want, I have none of. Say magically I do end up with an interview, wouldn't even know how to answer around questions that surround these topics.

Are these hard or soft skill experiences? For example, if they say the job requires Java knowledge and you know nothing of it, then yea, don't apply for it.

You're also going to waste your time and also the HR person time if you can't answer to their questions. The last thing you want is to burn bridges of HR staff/managers.


p.s. RIP Mr.HappySlip

Gotta be a bit more specific.

what field are you in?
if it's IT eg// do you have other implementations eg// SAP HANA / CRM / Splunk / Cisco /Coding /C++ etc.. these would be great skills & knowledge
If it's accounting eg// type of different verticals you have worked for Commercial packaging / retail / Mergers & Acq /
If it's engineering / medical field... different specifications / courses you too woudl help.

This is a great place to put in your special field you've been in to help you stand out.

Technical skills such as knowledge of a specific computer program is "preferred" as an example. I applied anyways (since nothing to lose), it's HR duty to pick the best candidate LOL.

They someone that knows how to use their preferred computer software and know tax regulations.

I just realized how old this thread is, and Mr. HappySlip is the OP. This guy is a legend for his misery. If it's not his wife bossing him around, it's his sister and parents. :lol

He's also alive after his post about breaking quarantine.

Last Activity: 05-09-2020 06:29 PM