As stated in the title. I’ve worked in IT for over 15 years despite having no related degree.
I’ve been closing tickets nonstop at my current company for almost 10 years. After several restructurings and shuffling of higher posts, it has become clear to me that while this employer isn’t the worst out there, I will never be internally promoted or have my job duties changed if I don’t leave.
Worse, ever since Covid I’ve started falling out of love with IT and computers in general. I used to be stoked to learn about all the new developments in tech, nowadays, not so much - the only “innovation” I’ve seen in the last 10 years was companies trying to make absolutely everything a fucking subscription model. Now I honestly don’t know nor care what’s in the newest tech stack, how security has evolved,… I just want my shit to work and not having to worry about everything under the hood.
So getting another helpdesk- or related job seems out of the question for mental health reasons.
What would be another niche or industry where someone with an analytical mind and a greatly developed loathing for corporate mooching could find their spot in the coming two decades or so?
I’ve long since accepted that I’ll never be able to climb any ladders anywhere since I never had the right contacts or stayed long enough, so it would likewise have to be something I could mentally and physically endure being in the bottom rungs of for the aforementioned duration.
Have you considered how you might feel about IT in other contexts? For example, in an academic environment, in a library, at a small nonprofit, etc. I ask because my job (data analysis and technical writing office work) varies drastically across types of businesses and I find that I prefer working around academics.
Or a different layer of IT. Solution architect is great if you like to analyze problems and have broad scope for the right solution.
Yeah, being on a Helpdesk sucks no matter where you are. Getting into enterprise IT is much better.
I’m a bit uncertain if it’s possible to become solution architect right after helpdesk, even with a lot of experience in that. And I think it’s going to be especially hard to find someone willing to hire solution architect without a degree
Straight off helpdesk no. You need to go through a few years of operations engineering (basically deploying/configuring stuff).
Without a degree it’s no issue. I know plenty of SolArch without a degree
I kinda wanna see what Data Analytics would be like at smaller companies, but having a permanent and stable job… I don’t really want to risk it.