Working outside IT environment and doing MCDST course but need experience,any suggestions Please?

Question

I am 53 years old and looking for career change. To get a job you need experience,to get experience you need a job etc. Any suggestions would be most welcome.Thanks

Answer 1

Try the council - they are always looking for people

Answer 2

MCDST is a desktop support course and may not be the most efficient way for you to get an IT career. You will find that employers take these skills for granted in all IT staff, and so you should focus on more specialist skills to put yourself on a path to greater rewards. Desktop support positions do not pay particularly well, whereas Developer positions can be more lucrative in the long term.

Lets be frank - at this stage in your career, you should not be looking to compete with 18 year-olds, but instead looking to leverage your experience. Age discrimination laws aside, there are still competitive realities in the modern workplace that you can't ignore. If you can spend 1-2 years working on your IT development skills, get some IT contracting positions to obtain experience, then you could quite easily leverage your seniority and life experience to get into IT project management within a year or two. Aim for a Prince2 qualification. Say 3-4 years from now to get a £40k salary. Easy.

To maximise your chances of success, choose VB.Net as the skill set to develop - start with 2 or 3 VB.Net textbooks and go from there. Build up a portfolio of work - this will demonstrate to employers that you have the skills they are looking for.

Accept the realities, get stuck in and you will get there.