I am wondering what kind of career moves I have available to me because I am over the bullshit of desktop support. I have been brushing up on my Linux skills, learning docker, and doing a whole bunch of networking-related things. At this point, I am 46 years old. Would it benefit me to go back to school to learn a skill to help me advance beyond this role? I just don’t know what to do. There are many options, none of them truly low cost and all of them involving a significant amount of risk.

I get that there is no avoiding risk when making a career change so late in life. I was looking at training for Java or Oracle and it isn’t cheap. Maybe given my experience I could teach A+ or Network+? I don’t know. I’ll welcome any ideas right now.

  • 8565@lemmy.quad442.com
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    1 year ago

    When I got burnt out I did a hard turn. I now manage a Turkey Farm and just do IT on the side. Most relaxing decision I’ve ever made

    • Meow.tar.gz@lemmy.goblackcat.comOP
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      1 year ago

      That’s pretty cool actually. Wish I were in a position to do something similar but I need my next step to parlay with the base skill set I already have.

      • 8565@lemmy.quad442.com
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        1 year ago

        If your under 39 and in decent enough shape (and US based) the Space Force is looking for recruits and has plenty of IT jobs available. When I’m ready to get back in to the service that is my plan currently

      • 8565@lemmy.quad442.com
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        1 year ago

        Picking something that doesn’t take much prior skill is a very good way out. (Not saying you necessarily should) but, it’s very easy. The Farm even provides me with housing and paid me to move so it worked out very well

    • Elegast@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Man that’s a jump. My issue is leaving the fairly good pay. But I think it’s going to need to happen soon.

      • 8565@lemmy.quad442.com
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        1 year ago

        I left a Factory IT Admin job and honestly after factoring in my free housing only make 1k less a year than I did in IT. but, I left March 2020 and the factory didn’t survive COVID. Glad I jumped that ship

        • Elegast@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          That’s interesting. How did you come about finding the job? I’ve done IT my whole life and wouldn’t even know what to look for if not IT.

          • 8565@lemmy.quad442.com
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            1 year ago

            It’s from the community I grew up in (1 mile from my dad’s house where I grew up) so it was posted in a community FB page

    • yanyuan@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m impressed. To me, managing a Turkey Farm sounds like a lot of work and potentially stress. Isn’t it?

      • 8565@lemmy.quad442.com
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        1 year ago

        Almost no stress at all. I have like 1 or two deadlines a month (load out and baby bird arrival) we have 40k birds handled between me and a part time farmhand. Everyday is as easy as walking through barns and picking up dead followed by yard work and maintenance. And once a month I run a litter machine through one of 3 finishers to keep the barns clean. Other than that it’s just monitoring bird health which after you get used to it is easy. Most important thing is to keep the birds healthy, comfortable and happy