Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler career advice

hi everyone,

i need some career advice. i feel like switching careers. i work in computers now and i'm sick of sitting all day at a desk and staring at a screen typing away for meaninglessness.

here's a bit about me:

1 - i never went to university but i have a 2 year college degree and a microsoft certificate (MCSE)
2 - i am generally a high energy person and i prefer to move around than sit around
3 - i like electronics (of course, why else would i be here)
4 - i like arts even better (theatre, writing, movies, etc...)
5 - i hate mornings, i am a night person
6 - i prefer to work long shifts and less days a week rather than shorter shifts 5 days a week.
7 - making a lot of money does not concern me
8 - i am very versatile and have done many different things such as computer technician / network admin, soldering and cabling, training, tech and customer support, given demo's and sold service contracts, small project management, translation (i speak english and french), and other stuff i cant think of right now.
9 - i like moving around, working with my hands, and being outside in the sun

i thought of working as a sleep study technician but options here seem highly limited

any ideas??!!

An IT buddy of mine who recently was part of a big corporate cut, is now offering Consultation Services. He will go into small companies and homes and consult on setting up network/workstation or other infrastructure related things. He does pretty well, and there is really a lot of companies out there that have not clue on how bad their environment is setup. Internet Security is another stong area he gets a lot of business. If a company likes his ideas then he gets to go in there and set up the environment.

Of course benefits are very important, and very expensive if you don't work for an employer. If you have a spouse, maybe you can go on their plan. I don't really LOVE my job either, but the benefits are great, and I have a huge 401K and Pension that will be nice once I retire.

Good Luck

ps: you could always become a car salesman no pun intended

Try the government Rav.
GC public jobs site here.

thanks guys

sirquack - i have tried that before. but if you ever seen me, i don't look the type you;d trust for that kind of stuff and i flopped royally. i may give it a second shot.

I'm not married, have no kids, don't own any property and don't have a car nor a drivers license - and i'm only 24 so none of these will likely enter my life anytime soon.

i'm also canadian, we don't have 401k here, but there's something similar.

In reply to:

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I'm not married, have no kids, don't own any property and don't have a car nor a drivers license - and i'm only 24 so none of these will likely enter my life anytime soon.

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I hope you were only referring to the home, wife and kids. No car or drivers license at 24 is quite unusual, no?

No transportation can make getting a job tougher as well.

You might want to try some kind of field service, technical support job. Go out to customer sites, troubleshoot and repair whatever problem they have. You are out and about, still doing hands on technical work, not in front of a desk all day.

it's not unusual in Montreal, i know plenty of people my age who have no license. this isn't a city where a car gets you around easier. much like europe.

i will get my license one day but i can't stand driving and i doubt i will ever want to be in a situation where i need to pay for a car. they're so expensive for nothing!

Coming from rural Maine, and now living in Los Angeles, a car is pretty much as necessary as shelter. It would be nice to live in a city that didn't require a car.

I would never own a car living here (New York). A space can cost more to rent than an apartment in most cities.

engine joe and i are in the exact same boat.

montreal and ny are similar in many ways.

i love new york

ever been up here, engine?

i guess its totally about where you live and your life styles.. cause i am with spiff, i just couldnt do without a car. i have never even been to a city where i have thought that i wouldnt need a car.

but, on the other hand, i have never been to NY, or montreal, or boston, etc.. i know its different, but i still think i would want my truck!!

bigjohn

When I met my wife to be she was 34, lived in Chicago and had never owned a car either. Like you, she didn;t need one for the city. It was just a big pain in the rear-end to find parking, insurance etc. The 3-5 times a year she needed one to go out of town for the weekend or week, she'd rent (way cheaper).

I since dragged her up to Canada, we have kids and now She couldn't imagine us not having a vehicle each.

By he way, not being a big city kind of guy, to my surprise I loved visiting Chicago. Great old architecture, Wrigley Field and lots of great little blues bars.

Paul

north chicago is one of the most beautiful cities i have seen in north america

south chicago is a 3rd world country

I like Chicago. Very nice......... Funny side note. I was on the Miracle Mile (I think that's what it's called) or something like that, anyway it's a highend shopping street and J-Lo walked out of a store we were walking into. Her and about a half dozen body guards! True story! Made me laugh at the amount of people she surrounded herself with.

Ravi, I have spent a fair bit of time in Montreal and your right, you don't need a car. People get around faster there by walking! As for career advice, I'm with chess, go Goverment.

I'm with Big John and Spiff. In PHX, you NEED a car. I never plan on living in NY, Boston, or anyother place that doesn't need a car. A place like that is too crowded for me. PHX is bad enough as it is.

I've got to say, I would never keep a car in NY either. But regardless, I'd get my license. Not being able to drive a car is quite different from not having one. That said, I've got a car in Boston, and it's not a big deal. Keeping a car in Philadelphia isn't so bad either. As for NY, I wouldn't keep one in Manhattan, but there's areas in Brooklyn and such where it wouldn't be so bad to rely on street parking.

And it's not getting around IN the city that you keep the car for though, it's getting OUT entirely. (Which, I don't know about you folks, but I need to do every now and then.)

You are vague at what your current position is, can you elaborate?

Find a graphic arts company in the area and work there as sysadmin / doing some of the graphics. Artistic people, generally flexible hours (although if something craps out at 7 AM you're probably gonna have to fix it), evolves into visiting & working with customers etc...

Just a thought.

Alternative is some kind of Natural Resources gov job that combines computer stuff with being outside a lot.

Get your drivers license though, just don't get a car until you need it. Any job that doesn't involve growing into a cubicle is going to end up needing a license at some point.

Mike,

i'm vague on my current position because my current position is vague.

i do sys admin, network admin, translation, training, presentations, marketing flyers, data entry, but most of it just helping out, not being the boss or running my own things. it's just boring 9-5 type stuff that doesn't mean anything. know what i mean?

thanks for all the replies
i applied to a job as a sleep technician today. the gov't website had nothing for me. i'd also really like to learn how to fix a/'v stuff in my own time. i'll look into that later.

take it easy everyone... tomorrow's thursday

Ever consider audio as a career? You could be a sound technician

I'm a lan admin at a university. Been into computers since I was 6 yrs old. It's what I like to do, it's what I am good it....i think

My advice to anyone thinking of going into the computer field, or I.T is

DON'T

Simple as that. Don't get into this crappy low pay, high stress thankless, no respect B.S. field. I never get a moments piece whether it's work related, or just friends and family driving me nuts. I hate fixing computers so much now now I refuse to fix anything other then my own and ones at work. This work is for the dogs assuming you can even find a job.

Get into something medical. you can go anywhere in the world, get paid well, and you'll never be out of work.

Amen to that one. IT sucks.

But it can be kind of fun, if you're a weirdo.

Oh yeah, and the market's just a leettle saturated.

I don't know about the natural resources field and IT folks getting out in the field much. I'm in that business and it looks to me like the IT guys are stuck in the office looking after the network and computers like IT folks anywhere else.

But one aspect that might interest you is GIS. GIS is hugely important in the natural resources field and from what I've seen most government, consultant or nat. resource companies are just starting to tap into the potential of GIS.

Here are a few gov. employment links BC , Ont , the Feds , Alberta .

Good luck - Paul