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Career change at 28, no technology experience -> technology position

A

Al Neri

Diamond Member
I'm really contemplating leaving the financial industry all together. I just turned 28, live in NYC, where I work for a big financial firm. I make good (not great) money and I just don't enjoy what I do. Every day is a struggle, every day I dread coming in to work. 

What I do enjoy is programming, application development, qat and related project management and corporate training. The only snag is I don't have any programming work experience... I really don't have any direct IT work experience. The majority of my work is project management, technical/RFP writing and financial regulatory experience.  I also do enjoy teaching and have been told that I am great at explaining high level tech jargon to nontech people.

I am, however a self taught programmer and am proficient in C#, PHP, ASP, JavaScript, AJAX, jquery, XHTML, XML, and a bevy of other programming/scripting languages. I also possess a BS in Management Information Systems and an MBA with a focus on General Management. 

Anyone have any advice or any tips how to get out of the financial industry and into another industry's development or tech training? I need to stay in the area since my wife is a NYC teacher.  The money is not a big issue - so long as I am not making peanuts. 

Thanks in advance.
 
Lets swap names, im trying to go the other way, lol.....

Sorry no tips, most jobs want real-world job experience, unless
you start a Dev 1 job, where you work with kids straight out of college and get paid shit.

Management experience, without tech. experience isnt enough... I've been told.

One thing you could do is get certified in a language, might get you a dev. 2 position.
 
What you could try doing is working for a company like SAP, or a company that uses something like SAP. Database management is a pretty big thing because of all the data mining companies do....

Guess...what...they look for people with your background! You may take a pay cut because the economy is bad, but it may be worth it.
 
I spent three years doing financial reporting for Schwab. In May a software QA position opened at the same paygrade, and I jumped on it. I've been doing it since May 18th and I don't regret it one bit.

On topic with you, OP, I would think experience of any kind is all that matters. You can do the work, fuck the little piece of paper. College is a sham anyway.

Edit: I do not have a college degree. All that mattered for both positions is that I was competent and had the skills to perform the job.
 
Is there a chance that you can use your programming skills to enhance your current job? For example build an app that does some accounting functionality your clients need. Or it could be something only you and your coworkers would use. It would give you an opportunity to build your skills and add experience without starting from scratch. You can then list this as experience on your resume and increase your odds of making the jump.
 
Most big NYC financial firms have their own in house IT. Maybe try and see if they have any openings? Any friends, relatives or coworkers have any connections?

I went from 10 years in the legal field (District Attorneys Office) to an IT job with no experience, my wife's best friend had an opening in his department at a major hospital IT dept and got me in. Been here for 12 yrs now and don't regret the move.
 
Al Neri said:
I'm really contemplating leaving the financial industry all together. I just turned 28, live in NYC, where I work for a big financial firm. I make good (not great) money and I just don't enjoy what I do. Every day is a struggle, every day I dread coming in to work. 

What I do enjoy is programming, application development, qat and related project management and corporate training. The only snag is I don't have any programming work experience... I really don't have any direct IT work experience. The majority of my work is project management, technical/RFP writing and financial regulatory experience.  I also do enjoy teaching and have been told that I am great at explaining high level tech jargon to nontech people.

I am, however a self taught programmer and am proficient in C#, PHP, ASP, JavaScript, AJAX, jquery, XHTML, XML, and a bevy of other programming/scripting languages. I also possess a BS in Management Information Systems and an MBA with a focus on General Management. 

Anyone have any advice or any tips how to get out of the financial industry and into another industry's development or tech training? I need to stay in the area since my wife is a NYC teacher.  The money is not a big issue - so long as I am not making peanuts. 

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I'm basically in the same boat, but I am in the correct field just not the right job. I've decided to go back to school this fall and get my master's instead and will try to transfer to a different department soon enough. Good luck to you! (I'm 28 also)
 
How about just a change in company? My friend was doing finance for a big company doing 60+ hours a week and now he's with a smaller company that pays even more and he's working 40 or less hours a week. I think it's a little different from what he was doing before but it's still in the finance industry. He almost thought about switching careers just like you but is much happier since he changed companies.
 
polarmystery said:
I'm basically in the same boat, but I am in the correct field just not the right job. I've decided to go back to school this fall and get my master's instead and will try to transfer to a different department soon enough. Good luck to you! (I'm 28 also)
Click to expand...

Are you a developer? You should look into BAH. They're hiring right now and devs start out pretty well.
 
noice.
How did you overcome the lack of experience and pieces of paper etc.?
or did you just go through personal contacts?
how big of a hit did your pay/career take?
 
Combining your financial background with programming is not a bad way to go, but you said you hate your current work...
 
It took a fair amount of getting my act together and focused, luck, people skills.

Against every fiber of my being I went to a career counselor who told me some great things. One obvious one that I never thought to do was tailor my resumes and cover letters to the job descriptions - so if the desc says "problem solving" I wrote out (short and sweet) a problem I solved, etc.

I also put together a portfolio of my work (which looking back on it ... Sucked)

Next came the luck - I modified my LinkedIn profile to sell myself better in the development field ... I got a call from a temp-HR employee at a firm and he brought me in for an interview.

My people skills kicked in here. The CTO was as untechnical as can be. More or less a glorified project manager. I used a ton of buzzwords and sounded intelligent and spoke to the job description.

Resulted in getting my foot in the door (with a 10k raise!). I stayed there, sharpened my craft and got interviewed at a startup a year and a half later ... and got the gig.

It can be done - but requires hard work and dedication and knowing how to sell yourself for (possibly) more than you are. Let me know if you need any more advice.
 
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