Where to Go After a Lifetime in IT?

Pikoro asks: "I have been working in the IT field for the past 20 years or so, and after getting hired by the largest financial company in the world, I thought I might have finally found a place to retire from. However, after working here for almost a year, I find myself, not exactly burnt out, but longing for a complete career field change. It's not that doing IT related tasks aren't fun anymore, but they have become more 'work' than 'play' over the last few years. Since all of my experience has been IT related, I'm not sure where I could go from here. What would you consider doing for a living, after being in a single field for so long?"

Careers

[Reason58]

This seems akin to asking Slashdot what you should be when you grow up. There's no way total strangers could answer this for you. Take a look at your hobbies, interests and what you do well at. Look at the classifieds and see what kind of jobs center around those things. See what kind of experience and education they require. Go from there.

Re:Cars oddly enough

[superpulpsicle]

Car repair is like a dirty version of IT. It takes alittle less brain and more muscle. It is no more exciting than IT.

Re:Teach

[drinkypoo]

My problem isn't the money, the problem is that you're not allowed to teach. There are numerous ways people learn (some people say as few as 8, some say over 50) but we only teach to two or maybe three of them in public school. In addition, bullshit like the No Child Left Behind act forces you to spend inordinate amounts of time on students that either don't want to or can't learn, and only minimal time on students who want to and/or can benefit from your time, meaning that your mission (if you choose to accept it) is to create a nation of mediocre individuals, all brought to the same low level of competence. I simply can't be part of such a soul-sucking system.

Re:Jeoparody

[Anonymous Coward]

Too true. I live in Canada (Winnipeg, ~650K people) earning $82K (Mrs. earns another 50 on top of that). We live like very well on that. Turned down a move to Toronto for $100K as my standard of living would decrease quite a lot. Couldn't own my own house, my commute to work would be more than my current 20 minutes, etc. etc.

There's a lot to be said for letting go of the desire for $$$ and being content.

Re:Cars oddly enough

[sheddd]

Brain is useful in most any job. The best mechanic I know is damn smart.

Two words, my friend...

[Anonymous Coward]

Clown College...

Microbrew

[Anonymous Coward]

I brew beer and honey-wines as a hobby. I keep the idea of opening a microbrewery and pub as my "plan B".

Re:Drive a Truck

[msdschris]

We now have air conditioning as standard. Many trucks today are more comfortable and have better amenities than most cars.
http://www.freightlinertrucks.com/trucks/find-by-m odel/cascadia/default.aspx [freightlinertrucks.com]

I just decided to travel....

[i_want_you_to_throw_]

I got tired of IT and decided to just take off traveling for a bit and discovered what I enjoy. So I come back here to the States for six months (April - September), make my ridiculous money for those six months, save about 1K a month and then take off to a third world country for October - March. I own my land here outright, I live within my means and in the winter months I enjoy my time exploring spending 4.00 a day for my hotel room in Marrakech or traveling around Thailand (monthly rent 160.00). As long as you're not trying to live in Europe or Japan, you can go pretty far on 1K a month.

Life is short and no one on their death bed ever says "Oh boy I sure wish I could have worked more!!!!"

Re:Jeoparody

[benj_e]

Aerospace (Boeing, Cessna, and many others), Defense, Oil, Pharmaceuticals, Plastics, and all the other typical stuff. I think I read that Olathe (suburban KC) is one of the most expensive places to find housing in the US.

Re:Jeoparody

[jshackney]

A $100k job in New York City is the same as a $25k job in Kansas- that's how different the prices really are.

Based on incredibly rough guesstimation using HomeFair's Salary Calculator [homefair.com], that $100K job would be about $81,708 in Kansas. That's Wichita.

For $81K, I'd move to Wichita. You can buy a lot of BBQ with that.

Consider Compliance

[ThinkandDrive]

I left an IT Engineering position where I was charged with developing an IT Compliance managed solution. I was learning the software, building the servers (with no prior sysadmin experience), developing the sales materials, formulating the pricing models (with no prior service offering ecperience), and generally being the only person who knew what was going on. All this without a raise in 18 months. The service was expect to net 6 Million bucks once fully operational. I bailed and left them holding the bag.

Where I landed was in the Compliance/Risk division of a great company. We oversee IT Regulatory configurations and get to point out holes in configuration. However, we're not under IT. I don't maintain the servers. I may configure the software, when needed. And I'm learning so much about "the real world" outside of my keybaord and screen.

Your IT background will be invaluable in translating Techspeak to Auditors or non-technical management and directors.

Re:Consultant?

[docwatson223]

You nailed it! I just turned 40 and after 12 years in IT, I'm burned out on network architecture and design. I love doing it but it's gotten stale - I even went to Iraq and Haiti to get a change of scenery and it was the SOS. I just tried working for .gov and man, 2 months of working for 'El Cucaracha, the Clueless Network Dictator' I'm outta here at the end of the month. I totally get what you and others are going through - May be we should form a 'recovering IT workers' support group... :/

Read this Book

[bjcubsfan]

I would strongly recommend reading What Color is Your Parachute? [amazon.com] This is a great book to help you work through what new career you would enjoy. Although it may seem to be a job hunting book, it also focuses a lot on changing your career. Here's a quick summary from Amazon for the lazy:

Richard Nelson Bolles offers hope and presents an inspiring and detailed plan for finding your place in this uncertain job market. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE? has been the best-selling job-hunting book in the world for more three decades, in good times and bad, and it continues to be a fixture on best-seller lists, from Amazon.com to Business Week. It has well over eight million copies in print and has been translated into 12 languages around the world. With an extended preface that addresses job loss, vacancies, and outsourcing and updated references on how to use the Internet in your job-hunt throughout, the 2006 PARACHUTE addresses the top concerns of today 's job-hunters. In the words of Fortune magazine: "Parachute remains the gold standard of! career guides."

Re:Jeoparody

[Sj0]

So you can take a cab to the Comedy Central studio and watch The Daily Show without a 3 second delay. Duh.

Kansas isn't that cheap -- fact check, please

[mikehoskins]

Since I live here in Kansas (Kansas City metro), I'll tell you that while it's certainly cheaper than New York, the difference isn't that great.

It might be closer to $100K (NY) vs. $40K-60K, unless you live in the cities or burbs (KC, Topeka, Wichita), where it might be closer to $100K (NY) vs. $50K-75K....

In parts of Johnson County, Kansas, a mere $60K income could be disasterous for a typical family of four, unless they are rather thrifty. Now, if you live in NYC, you most likely won't be buying as nice of a house, and you may rent -- granted.

Otherwise, the differences really aren't 4 times or even close -- maybe 1.5 to 2 times, and yes, the cost of living vs. pay is nice, here....

Obligatory: There's no place like home.... click, click, click

Re:Waaah!!!

[Pikoro]

Ummm, the money that rolls in rolls right back out just as quickly. 2 kids in highschool, 3 more kids in elementry school, a house to pay off, utilities, gas, food, etc... Oh, and I forgot to mention that I live in Japan. Cost of living here is pretty high. We're not starving, but for where I live, I'm maxed out. It would be nearly impossible for me to make any more money than I am right now (less than $100,000 a month).

I have considered moving to the Tokyo/Osaka area, or even back to the USA but without money in the bank I would most likley need to leave my family here and go back alone for a year or so to get settled... So many choices.

I also have this itch to start my own business...

Re:Jeoparody

[edward2020]

Not really. One, mega-corporations are able to take better advantage of government farm subsidies than smaller farms since some of these handouts are dependent upon the amount of land that is farmed. This, of course, makes them more profitable. Two, yeah the farmer would need two cars/trucks. All the dairy farmers I know have wives who work (I live in a rural area in Missouri). Farmers have to go buy things like medicine for animals, repair parts, haul animals around to saleyards or vets, etc. They also have fields that they need to access. The farmer can't do that if his wife is at work with the car. The farmer also has a tractor that costs from 20-100k (depending upon the needs/size of the farm) along with 2-10k worth of implements.

I also find kinda laughable your statement, "[The farmer] doesn't need to spend nearly as much on food -- he grows food for a living." Dude, we're not talking about subsistence level farmers. These are people who may grow crops, milk cows, and/or raise cows for beef. Grain requires mills to be processed. Milk, while you can drink it fresh, is generally pasteurized in factories. Though, I will admit that a lot of farmers I know do have cheap beef (though they still have to pay to have it butchered and wrapped).

And remember that the stuff the farmer sells does not have a high profit margin. So price dips are felt rather quickly. Farmers have fallen into a kind prisoner's dilemma. Over the years they have demanded and developed new farming tech that makes bigger crop yields, more productive milk cows, etc. And it's this increase in efficiency that is running a lot of family farmers out of business as the profit margins continue being clipped and they become unable to compete.

Re:Bike messenger

[Transient0]

he, by which i mean me, is sadly no longer couriering.

i played the messenger game up until december 2006 (just over three years total) but am now living in amsterdam and working as a programmer again.

still, i do hope to get back to the road in the future. messengering is still the best job i have ever had.

--Frank Duff

Re:lumberjack

[Zemran]

3 years ago I bailed out (made redundant) and took up teaching English in S. E. Asia. My only regret is that I did not do it sooner. I only earn a fraction of what I used to earn but I have so much more fun.