Career Advice: What Should I Do with My Brain?

stampella on 21/03/2019 - 16:21
Last edited 21/03/2019 - 16:22

Dear OzB community,
I need an advice on how to steer my life going forward. I recently crossed the 30 years mark, the bank account is close to dry, I don't have any family here, just finished fighting my own long drawn and costly battle to get my Permanent Residency and have to pretty much start fresh. I feel myself drawn and empty.

I know I just reached the goal I longed for and this is just the start, but now is like every choice I can make now will never get me to have a place to call mine and I will never get anywhere near as fast as I need.

Is probably the bad mix of having turned 30 and knowing that the "house affordability" concept is a very sweet dream for me right now, while at the same time thinking that, sooner better than later, I should start contributing to the overpopulation issue and make my mother and the in-laws happy (and who am I kidding? Making myself and wife happy too).

I do not have any certification or degree to boost ASAP my career and I can only see years and years of toiling, after having spent years and years of toiling to be here. Looks to me like I missed way too many "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunities.

The TL;DR folks can stop reading here and draw their conclusions.
After all I probably only want to boast about what I can (have no high-yield vehicle or fancy job title, but who doesn't like some praise?) and get a pat or two on the shoulders from random strangers on the net.

TL;DR-unsafe zone ahead

For the really interested (and possibly informed) ones:

I have worked in IT for most of my life. I love smashing my head against hard to crack issues and I consider myself pretty capable.
I have experience with:
programming (C++ and C#, some Python here and there);
web stuff (PHP, HTML, MySQL, CSS, Js and quite a lot of experience with Wordpress and Woocommerce);
simple (read "low frequency") digital electronic circuits design/proto and microcontrollers programming (Arduino, STM32, RPi), some wire antennas only where I can't do without and, from time to time, a Yagi or two;
Linux servers admin (mainly CentOS and Debian…but yeah);
Server Virtualization (mainly Proxmox);
VoIP systems (3CX, FreePBX, FusionPBX);
and of course all the networking and security and hardware and software knowledge necessary to make the above happen.
Ah, lead and project management experience (but I'm not a Prince or 2, if you know what I mean).
I also studied the full MCSE course (in 2009) and ITIL Foundation, OSA and CSI (in 2018, likely forgot all the non useful fluff by now already). Had no money to do the actual certs though.

I am set on the idea of finding an employed job in IT.

I also know that I would love to get with my wife a house to call ours, a dog and a human poop-machine somewhere around five years max from now.
I am conflicted about the path to get there though.

I love renewables, energy management, energy storage techs, energy efficient designs and materials, IoT, etc…and would love to work in that field.
At the same time I think that the Australian building standard is not the pinnacle in the world and that the average Australian colander is pretty far from the Passivhaus concept or similar.
I would really love to work in a field that would allow me to bring to Australian housing efficient and modern designs and technologies, deeply IoTfied too. But I don't know how to get there, or even if I can without endangering too much my great plan of living the Australian Dream.

Enrolling in a Uni course would likely mean putting very little aside (part-time work + Uni fees) and deferring quite a lot my Australian Dream plan. I don't really see it as feasible.

There is the opportunity offered by the Free TAFE courses. I could enroll in courses that brings me a bit closer to a Building Design degree, But that ain't no engineering, so I don't know how much could I transfer from my current skills and knowledge. Would love advice on this point!

Or I could stick to the only thing connected to IT (Cyber security), just to get an Australian certification. I seem to know pretty much all is taught there, so I could likely do a Recognition of Prior Learning and complete it quickly…but would get very little out of it, other than the cert itself.

Or I can simply forget about studying and work as much as I can in IT, trying to reach the Australian Dream goal faster, but forgoing the professional dream of efficiency and IoTfication.
In that case I would appreciate if you could share your experience about what position is most likely to leverage most of my skills and bring me where I would like to be faster.

Sorry if this post is huge, but I feel that I am at a pivotal point and need to move with care and resolution. Thanks for the ones who will pitch in to help.

Can provide hand sketched MS Paint drawing if needed.

Poll Options

  • 0
    Free TAFE – Building path; work part-time in IT during studies; try to merge both careers later
  • 0
    Free TAFE – Cyber Sec Path; work in IT (part time first, then full time at course completion)
  • 3
    High Education in IT; work in IT (part time first, full time at completion); no house in short term
  • 26
    Skool is for loserz! Work full time in IT in whatever position you can
  • 4
    MAuGA Plan: Jump back on your boat and row back to your country, we don't need you here!
Education & Work

Comments

  • Quantumcat on 21/03/2019 - 16:48
    +1

    There's not a lot of C++ jobs, get experience in front-end technologies (JavaScript frameworks - Vue, Angular, React etc) or, learn Java (not hard compared to C++ but there's lots that can go on top, Spring, JSF, etc). That will take time though so you may just want to try hard to get a job with what you already know. Your qualifications might not be recognised so you'll want to show experience and have referrees who are easy to call. Talk to recruiters.

    If it isn't long since you graduated (I think the limit is usually 3 years or so) you can try your luck getting into a graduate program - fast track to a higher salary within a few years. But it's competitive and again your qualifications might not be recognised.

    • stampella on 21/03/2019 - 18:53

      Thanks a lot for the precise info. This actually confirm what I felt/seen from the job ads already (less and less C around).

      I should have specified that programming is a thing I do not really see me doing as a lifetime career and I think that I would be pretty much locked in if I take this path.

  • [Deactivated] on 21/03/2019 - 16:48
    +3

    Not sure about IT but general advise - if the role/job/procedure you are pursuing does not require formal training/certification/qualification, it is best to pursue it directly.

    If there's nothing stopping you, why stop yourself to go into uni/TAFE.

    You can learn much quicker by yourself than you can under a course tailored to the lowest denominator. Even this is true for residency except you need to be formally accepted as a residence to have access to patients.

    (If you're not capable of the task, then of course, seek formal training, otherwise seek knowledge.)

    • stampella on 21/03/2019 - 18:48

      I like this answer and has always been my primary plan: prove by doing.

      For the building portion formal education and qualifications are required, but I'm afraid that I cannot afford the ones that would really bring me to what I would love to do. Building design is a possible path, but doesn't really deal with ALL the stuff I would like to do.

      For a pure IT career I probably just have to keep trying unti I'm lucky enough to be give a shot in a challenging/well paid position. For this I am trying to better understand what I might more efficiently pursue, career wise.

  • pjetson on 21/03/2019 - 16:56
    +2

    so I could likely do a Recognition of Prior Learning and complete it quickly

    RPL often isn't all that easy - the proof that you need can be very difficult to assemble.

  • Diji1 on 21/03/2019 - 17:27
    +3

    Most people commit themselves to a lifetime of working at a job they do not want to be doing which means they spend most of their time doing something they don't want to be doing so they can buy objects so that people will like them.

    Levels of depression and suicide are very high as people toil away in an unfulfilling, meaningless and lonely existence dedicated to an empty pointless goal.

    And a few people find a job that they love doing so that it hardly feels like working.

    • mskeggs on 21/03/2019 - 17:40

      Depressingly true, but individuals can make better choices.
      I find a lot of people can’t imagine a better choice.
      “Why don’t you pursue that dream?” “Oh, it would mean disruption and uncertainty”, well, yes!

  • mskeggs on 21/03/2019 - 17:33
    +3

    If you have genuine it security skills, you can earn great money.
    Certification in this area is not something I would worry about if you have the skills.
    It reads like you have been an IT generalist for small business, though, so you might need to demonstrate your practical skills.
    Can you point to any things you have done that show your abilities? E.g contributions to open source projects or other stuff like that. If it is just your feeling you have the skills it might be hard to land a job.

    You interest in built environment is great, but is comparatively limited for remuneration. You could easily earn 5 times the hourly rate in IT Security consulting you would get in building design.

    And have you considered relocating to boost your prospects?
    Melbourne is dramatically overpriced to live in, and if you have no ties there, why pay the surcharge?

    • mskeggs on 21/03/2019 - 17:37

      And remember you are just deciding the best option for now. It doesn’t mean you can’t pursue other dreams later.
      I personally work for a software company, but volunteer for a renewable energy community group (and have kids/house etc).
      Work is just one part of life.

      • stampella on 21/03/2019 - 18:30

        Unrelated, but would be happy to hear more about what this renewable energy community group does.
        I agree with everything of course…I just feel all of it being time sensitive and don't want to waste time on a non fruitful path.

    • stampella on 21/03/2019 - 18:28

      Thanks for your reply.
      Well, that's the course I was talking about:
      https://www.melbournepolytechnic.edu.au/courses/certificate-…
      Found a somewhat more detailed description of the various units in other faculties websites and…yes, seems pretty basic to me. Don't know if having that cert alone would qualify as "genuine IT security skills".

      I have been a freelancer for quite a few years (worked in a HUGE project run by a big company starting with G); it was not a simple, poorly paid or low-level position and it ran for years (actually, it is still going on, I resigned to pursue "real-life" opportunities). There I got my basis of team and project management, ITIL framework, JIRA, along with a lot of experience with semantic data models. And Excel…gosh, we were making excel and google spreadsheet do loads of work there; don't need no expensive Breville coffee maker if I have a spreasheet. Can't get any reference from this job obviously.

      Before that I ghostwrote a book for a university professor as freelancer (social media marketing, neuromarketing, online sales and the like); book later used in a few courses as far as I learned. The objective was to pay my own uni studies, but the money were not enough. Before getting the big G gig I was washing cars for EUR20/day (12-14 hours/day) cash-in-hand in-between chapters. Ah, life…you can be funny! No reference from this one either (not that it would help).

      Then I moved to Australia and I can probably muster some references here.
      A few projects I completed here have been quite complex and fun: custom very-low-power remote tracking unit for vending machines; inventory system for 3PL warehouse; a yet-to-be-launched multi-platform (Win 7+, Android, iOS, browsers add-in) software with custom licencing server and sales/distribution server…

      Other than that, yes, I've been the guy that other IT companies called for peanuts when a Linux server went down and nobody had any idea on how to do anything with it…or the guy that would need to find a creative ways to keep old large format printers working because "why should we buy something compatible with modern standards if you can fix this?". Tried to get a reference from some of these guys and received nothing.

      I ran my own web (mainly), monitoring and VoIP servers (dedicated and virtualized). With "ran" I mean from the requirement and performance sizing, to the final config and maintenance.

      My real problem is that I am a generalist, as you say. Probably more heavily geared towards sysadmin, but I am truly a generalist with no core specialization.
      Might try even to jump to account mgmt for IT companies…at least I would understand what the clients need :)

      I just started applying to jobs, but having never really worked as an employee and having very little idea of how the cogs moves in terms of careers progression I am trying to understand what is the best path for me. Also in terms of what skills to push on the applications and what to pursue if certs should be needed.
      I know that I would like to avoid pure software dev jobs…that's the part I like the least.
      I also know that I can learn stupidly fast IT and tech things. Studied the entire MCSE program in 2009 in less than two weeks with material downloaded from the web and a homemade lab. That got me through two online tests and a phone interview with a Microsoft Engineer (over 50 minutes of interview!) for a job for HP in Dublin. Sadly I didn't had the money to pay the airplane ticket at the time :)

      Regarding the relocating…I am not against it, but isn't that even more risky career wise? Plus less bargains outside of metro cities :)

      • mskeggs on 21/03/2019 - 20:27
        +1

        Well, that all sounds great.
        I wouldn't worry much about references. If you have your resume/CV positions listed on LinkedIn people will be able to verify your experience.
        If you are open to IT sales/account management you could do very well. I heard that Fortinet sales were taking home $400k last year as they smashed their targets…

        I realise many people suggest certifications or qualifications, but especially in IT the ability to demonstrate skills is much more important. With your contacts from various contract positions it might make sense to try doing some short term contracts for one of the contracting agencies. These pay ok, and get you items on the resume to rely upon in future.

        In terms of risky relocating, I'm not sure what benefit being in Melbourne is bringing you, so I'm not sure what risks your might be concerned about. People talk about the job market, but you only need one job, so if there are 20 or 20,000 it doesn't really matter if there is one for you.

        • stampella on 21/03/2019 - 22:50

          Yeah, as specified below in a reply to gagiman I just realized how little weight I put in my presentation (resume and Linkedin profile) on the actual work I have done.

          I do have the positions listed (cannot officially list the G position as the NDA there was a few pages long and expressly prohibited it), but these are generic and really don't say much. Will try to add more weight to the projects completed in the positions descriptions.

          I have also listed two project completed on Linkeding. Will probably aim to add a few more (at least the remote tracking unit and a few websites), but there is no possibility to connect projects to references on Linkedin, so will likely be face value only.
          Also this will reinforce the concept that I am a generalist. Don't know how desirable is that.

          I probably just have to brush my resume to show everything I really know, instead of the regular resume primarily focused on the list of past employers. I did put my skills first, but there was no mention of projects on the resume…bad mistake probably.

          Do you think is a problem if I present myself as a generalist?
          Are the extra skills not needed for a position (for example, the electronic and microprocessor stuff for an helpdesk position) detrimental or beneficial?
          Should I try to make multiple "focused" resumes? Sort of dumbing it down and omitting experiences and skills? Should I do the same with Linkedin (bet on a specific line of skills and only focus on these on the profile)?

          Right now I feel it will be better to stay put in Melbourne, even if your comments (20 vs 20000 jobs when you only need one) is totally valid.
          Also it is likely that less jobs also means less competition. However, don't know…I probably don't want another incognita in the equation right now.

          Thanks a lot for your answers here. Was worried initially when I saw the MAuGA votes counter going up, but happy of having posted here.

    • Quantumcat on 21/03/2019 - 20:27

      If you have genuine it security skills, you can earn great money.
      Certification in this area is not something I would worry about if you have the skills.

      If you don't have qualifications or you aren't getting recommended by someone the potential employer knows or trusts, you're not going to get a job in IT security

      • mskeggs on 21/03/2019 - 20:31

        But equally a TAFE cert isn't going to get you anywhere either.
        I agree seeking referrals from colleagues/acquaintances is the best way to get a role, but people with specialised skills and no certs are readily employable - it is quick and easy to identify people who know what they are talking about, and it sounds like OP has some university study and non-accredited courses to point to.

  • pformag on 21/03/2019 - 17:41

    Any jobs in IT Networks / Setting up systems for companies/schools?

  • elgrande on 21/03/2019 - 18:22
    +2

    Your TLDR needs a TLDR

  • MilkDrinker on 21/03/2019 - 19:51
    +2

    I hear that certs and ongoing training is a must for IT until you get to good money/skill lvls ~200k+. If you haven't gotten that far keep updating and training and putting it on your resume. Certificates are mainly to show that you know your stuff to recruiters and to help pad your resume if they don't know anything about IT. Word around the grapevine is that social networking is also great for growing your career. Writing your role in projects that you did also helps fill out your resume and get you past the 20 other applicants with a couple of certificates, even if you can't get the direct number referral.

    As for IoT and efficiency…well in a lot of cases Australia is not "efficient" so unless you can show your potential boss why he should pony up the cash for something you are up sh*t creek without a paddle. Always good to build your training around those things if you think IT is heading that way (like alot of overseas companies are looking at). I believe you are correct on relocating out of a city but you could always just move cities, sydney house prices are going down so maybe rent will too? Personally I wouldn't move until you have a signed contract for a new job since you would be dragging your partner along.

    • stampella on 21/03/2019 - 22:17
      +1

      Really happy of having posted here. Thanks for the pointers!

      Will redo my CV to put more weight on the specific contracts instead of the generic self-employment time (dumb me for not thinking about this basic concept before). Will also list the certs for which I have studied even if I have not completed the exams.

      Regarding the IoT and efficiency, that dream would involve working for a design firm really caring about it. Should it not be in existence, then it would involve creating it. Too big of a dream probably, let's keep it aside.

      And thanks (sincerely) for the phrase "up sh*t creek without a paddle"! Another pearl of Australian everyday-poetry is now in my book!

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