Looking for career advice

gwnd1989 · July 17

Hi

Good day to you!

Most of you are familiar with me from my job seeking threads. I now have a job offer and these days I am getting ready for it.

The job is to work as an IT technician for which I do not have no experience. To be ready, I am following a CCNA course and I have a Windows server course planned. I also plan on taking a printer repair course.

I am someone who has never ever studied in my life. All my knowledge comes from listening to lectures at college and googling. I once read a book on iOS development and thats it. I am working on overcoming my laziness. I used to be the student getting the most marks in my class till grade 11 and I never needed to study. But at Advanced Level grades and college I failed miserably.

I do not plan on staying at the IT Tech job for long since it does not pay well. I have worked for 9 years as a programmer but I know I do not enjoy programming. The main reason is that I can write procedural code but I have not learned how to write efficient, secure code and OOP principles/software architecture.

I have worked 4 years as a sysadmin/sys eng from the knowledge I gathered while working as a software developer. I enjoyed working with Linux and the shell. I loved customer support.

Now I have to think of a path and slowly build on it.

A) I can learn the programming concepts I never learned and restart my programming career.
B ) I can learn more into sysadmin/engineering and go that way. I am thinking of doing Microsoft certs in addition to my CCNA.

I am 34 years of age.

What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I have my doubts on programming since it is ever changing, when I started there was no Nodejs React etc but they are now mainstream.

Thank you for any help!
Dilshan

JohnFilch123 · July 17

how is your mental health doing?

gwnd1989 · July 17

@JohnFilch123 said:
how is your mental health doing?

It has been two weeks since I quit my job. I am getting better This week I was able to start studying for the CCNA.

Thank you.

FlorinMarian · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

gwnd1989 · July 17

@FlorinMarian said:

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

My passion is not in IT. I would love to do a driving job some other physical job. But I am too old and in the wrong country to make such a career switch.

Void · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:

@FlorinMarian said:

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

My passion is not in IT. I would love to do a driving job some other physical job. But I am too old and in the wrong country to make such a career switch.

You don’t have trucks in SL ?

gwnd1989 · July 17

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@FlorinMarian said:

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

My passion is not in IT. I would love to do a driving job some other physical job. But I am too old and in the wrong country to make such a career switch.

You don’t have trucks in SL ?

A truck driver earns about 250USD per month max here. My last job paid me 2260USD per month.

BruhGamer12 · July 17

in the US healthcare roles such as nursing are physical jobs with lots of physical labor that pay a lot per hour(more than an average IT person or entry-medium level software engineer)

gwnd1989 · July 17

@BruhGamer12 said:
in the US healthcare roles such as nursing are physical jobs with lots of physical labor that pay a lot per hour(more than an average IT person or entry-medium level software engineer)

Sounds cool. But time wont permit me to train as a nurse. I have a mortgage to pay and my parents are aging. It has to be IT.

Void · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:
2260USD per month.

Which put you in this situation in the first place.

gwnd1989 · July 17

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:
2260USD per month.

Which put you in this situation in the first place.

Yeah I learned my lesson. I did two jobs there. Taking care or servers/systems and doing programming tickets simultaneously. Worked outside office hours. I kept thinking about work even during the weekends. Wont make those mistakes again.

boot · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@FlorinMarian said:

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

My passion is not in IT. I would love to do a driving job some other physical job. But I am too old and in the wrong country to make such a career switch.

You don’t have trucks in SL ?

A truck driver earns about 250USD per month max here. My last job paid me 2260USD per month.

You're probably going to have to take a pay hit in the short term if you want to work on some certificates or qualifications.

gwnd1989 · July 17

@boot said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@FlorinMarian said:

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

My passion is not in IT. I would love to do a driving job some other physical job. But I am too old and in the wrong country to make such a career switch.

You don’t have trucks in SL ?

A truck driver earns about 250USD per month max here. My last job paid me 2260USD per month.

You're probably going to have to take a pay hit in the short term if you want to work on some certificates or qualifications.

Yup thats already been arranged. My next job is as an IT Tech. It will pay me 1800USD per month.

totally_not_banned · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@FlorinMarian said:

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

My passion is not in IT. I would love to do a driving job some other physical job. But I am too old and in the wrong country to make such a career switch.

You don’t have trucks in SL ?

A truck driver earns about 250USD per month max here. My last job paid me 2260USD per month.

As if truck driver is an exceptionally well paying job like anywhere. If you see bigger numbers elsewhere you can be sure that those will be eaten by massively higher cost of living.

Void · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:

@boot said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@FlorinMarian said:

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

My passion is not in IT. I would love to do a driving job some other physical job. But I am too old and in the wrong country to make such a career switch.

You don’t have trucks in SL ?

A truck driver earns about 250USD per month max here. My last job paid me 2260USD per month.

You're probably going to have to take a pay hit in the short term if you want to work on some certificates or qualifications.

Yup thats already been arranged. My next job is as an IT Tech. It will pay me 1800USD per month.

Still overpaid, so expect them to milk the maximum out of you, bringing back the same problems. Also no brother in law to help you this time.

gwnd1989 · July 17

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@boot said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@FlorinMarian said:

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

My passion is not in IT. I would love to do a driving job some other physical job. But I am too old and in the wrong country to make such a career switch.

You don’t have trucks in SL ?

A truck driver earns about 250USD per month max here. My last job paid me 2260USD per month.

You're probably going to have to take a pay hit in the short term if you want to work on some certificates or qualifications.

Yup thats already been arranged. My next job is as an IT Tech. It will pay me 1800USD per month.

Still overpaid, so expect them to milk the maximum out of you, bringing back the same problems. Also no brother in law to help you this time.

I don't think I was over paid. I got an increment after 6 months too.

In Qatar 1800usd p/m is peanuts. There is not much work. Its about taking care of printer issues, installing software etc.

totally_not_banned · July 17

To give you a (rough) example. An income of 1656€ ($1800) would leave you with about 1160€ after taxes and mandatory health insurance (or rather like 990€ if you're self employed). Now you need at least ~600€ to live somewhere (likely something about 1 room 30m²). ~150€ on food (1 person, cheap and boring shit). ~150-200€ on utilities. And so on.

I guess you see where this is going. At $1800 self employed you are basically broke after getting a room, some food, electricity, water and heating (read: hardly enough to survive).

gwnd1989 · July 17

@totally_not_banned said:
To give you an example. An income of 1656€ ($1800) would leave you with about 1160€ after taxes and mandatory health insurance (or rather like 990€ if you're self employed). Now you need at least ~600€ to live somewhere (likely something about 1 room 30m²). ~150€ on food (1 person, cheap and boring shit). ~150-200€ on utilities. And so on.

I guess you see where this is going. At $1800 self employed you are basically broke after getting a room, some food, electricity, water and heating (read: hardly enough to survive).

There is no tax in Qatar. Health insurance is free from the employer. I will have an allowance for a room too.

gwnd1989 · July 17

You guys are concentrating on my pay and other issues. Sadly no replies on the original question still

totally_not_banned · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:

@totally_not_banned said:
To give you an example. An income of 1656€ ($1800) would leave you with about 1160€ after taxes and mandatory health insurance (or rather like 990€ if you're self employed). Now you need at least ~600€ to live somewhere (likely something about 1 room 30m²). ~150€ on food (1 person, cheap and boring shit). ~150-200€ on utilities. And so on.

I guess you see where this is going. At $1800 self employed you are basically broke after getting a room, some food, electricity, water and heating (read: hardly enough to survive).

There is no tax in Qatar. Health insurance is free from the employer. I will have an allowance for a room too.

Well, that's good but it's not the point. I'm simply telling you this since you seem to be eying foreign better paying truck driver jobs. Something like 2000€ ($2160) simply isn't all that much around here.

gwnd1989 · July 17

@totally_not_banned said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@totally_not_banned said:
To give you an example. An income of 1656€ ($1800) would leave you with about 1160€ after taxes and mandatory health insurance (or rather like 990€ if you're self employed). Now you need at least ~600€ to live somewhere (likely something about 1 room 30m²). ~150€ on food (1 person, cheap and boring shit). ~150-200€ on utilities. And so on.

I guess you see where this is going. At $1800 self employed you are basically broke after getting a room, some food, electricity, water and heating (read: hardly enough to survive).

There is no tax in Qatar. Health insurance is free from the employer. I will have an allowance for a room too.

Well, that's good but it's not the point. I'm simply telling you this since you seem to be eying foreign better paying truck driver jobs. Something like 2000€ ($2160) simply isn't all that much around here.

Ahhh got it boss, thank you.

At the company where I am going to work, my father drives a truck and operates a crane. I got the job without an interview because the owner is friends with my father. He had asked my father to train me on truck driving.

JohnFilch123 · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:
It has been two weeks since I quit my job. I am getting better This week I was able to start studying for the CCNA.

Thank you.

Good. As I already pointed out, you need to deal with this side because if you do not, it will hit again sooner or later. In relation to career advice, I am not sure what to say. I am currently seeking to get into IT and you do not like it but want to do it. A good thing about IT is it is international. Microsoft is Microsoft anywhere. I think you should give a serious consideration what you truly want first and then gradually build it. Otherwise, you will need to switch again one day.

Void · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@boot said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@FlorinMarian said:

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

My passion is not in IT. I would love to do a driving job some other physical job. But I am too old and in the wrong country to make such a career switch.

You don’t have trucks in SL ?

A truck driver earns about 250USD per month max here. My last job paid me 2260USD per month.

You're probably going to have to take a pay hit in the short term if you want to work on some certificates or qualifications.

Yup thats already been arranged. My next job is as an IT Tech. It will pay me 1800USD per month.

Still overpaid, so expect them to milk the maximum out of you, bringing back the same problems. Also no brother in law to help you this time.

I don't think I was over paid. I got an increment after 6 months too.

In Qatar 1800usd p/m is peanuts. There is not much work. Its about taking care of printer issues, installing software etc.

Won’t you be working from home ?

gwnd1989 · July 17

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@boot said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@Void said:

@gwnd1989 said:

@FlorinMarian said:

@gwnd1989 said:
What do you think the best path is for me to take? My main objective is to make money, as much as I can.

I'm certainly not in a position to offer advice, but it seems wrong to me how you approach the situation.
At least in my case, I always sought to be the best in what I do and the money was a consequence, not a direct goal, although every extra cent makes me happier when I switch from one employer to another.
My advice would be to figure out what you would like to learn and then focus on the job/activity in that field that will also make you money. At least in my case it worked. I started with a salary of XXX EUR in February 2022 and currently I have exceeded 3x XXX EUR in just 2.5 years, being very involved in what I do.

My passion is not in IT. I would love to do a driving job some other physical job. But I am too old and in the wrong country to make such a career switch.

You don’t have trucks in SL ?

A truck driver earns about 250USD per month max here. My last job paid me 2260USD per month.

You're probably going to have to take a pay hit in the short term if you want to work on some certificates or qualifications.

Yup thats already been arranged. My next job is as an IT Tech. It will pay me 1800USD per month.

Still overpaid, so expect them to milk the maximum out of you, bringing back the same problems. Also no brother in law to help you this time.

I don't think I was over paid. I got an increment after 6 months too.

In Qatar 1800usd p/m is peanuts. There is not much work. Its about taking care of printer issues, installing software etc.

Won’t you be working from home ?

Nope I will have to get on a plane, travel to Qatar and work from the office.

plumberg · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:

Nope I will have to get on a plane, travel to Qatar and work from the office.

family?

gwnd1989 · July 17

@plumberg said:

@gwnd1989 said:

Nope I will have to get on a plane, travel to Qatar and work from the office.

family?

My wife will have to stay here in SL. I am going to stay with my parents in Qatar.
Hopefully my wife will be able to come there soon too.

plumberg · July 17

@gwnd1989 said:

@plumberg said:

@gwnd1989 said:

Nope I will have to get on a plane, travel to Qatar and work from the office.

family?

My wife will have to stay here in SL. I am going to stay with my parents in Qatar.
Hopefully my wife will be able to come there soon too.

Good luck 👍

dev_vps · July 17

Dilshan -

if you are into analytics, I would suggest look into SQL and Data Engineering if that is something you would like.

https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/google-data-analytics

and one more thing, 34 is pretty young. One of my friends, went to law school at the age of 39 and switched his career from IT to HR Law Practice.

Wishing you the very best.

gwnd1989 · July 18

Thank you

natestamm · August 7

I have an interesting story to share......I once used cakephp and a lamp stack to create a website called webjobfeedlogs, my intent was to create a community for job seekers, so I made a script I came to call fireball, it pulled job feed rss and xml and Json from popular feeds and websites all over the place, updated a few simple tables, and users could login or simply receive and view job listings which they could rate save star and respond to. Using less than 120 characters I would followup with and mail simple boilerplate greetings and resume files to these job listings which were picked from computer engineering and software related feeds, filtered by the locations and contact info of the poster or in theory......hiring manager. I accepted over one quarter million dollars in salaried, actual face to face jobs on paper, with benefits, and usually nice comfy office chairs new desks Imacs and free company cell phones over the course of two years. I have in this story had some experience working for some of the most successful web design and marketing firms on the East coast of the US from following procedure like this since that time. My best advice is, don't work too hard on seeking the post, be yourself, be prepared to take a code or the_post_here interview and test, and always, always have a portfolio, with a good resume and a cover letter, and be prepared to specify exactly what you want to earn, and be prepared to put in exactly the hours you are expected to work or makeup to do so.

@Jay.zr · August 7

I know its not the place for it, but if you guys know someone that is looking for a L2 support, I'm available.
I've been doing this job since july 2023. So i have lots of experience and have workes with all panels.

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