Killswitch
FH is my second home
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,584
Now I realise it's probably stupid to ask this here, but I do honestly believe that behind the internet troll jackass personae displayed on FH are some real, honest-to-God people with relevant and instructional real-life experience. Please try not to disappoint me!
I have a job and I realise that I'm lucky to have a job. More to the point, I have a good job. I work <40 hours a week (plus some on-call, which I get compensated for pretty well) and in the main the work is pretty interesting. I wouldn't claim to be the greatest Systems Administrator in the world, but I reckon I'm pretty close to the top of the profession in the UK in terms of salary, which is essentially a *good* London salary but with West Yorkshire living costs. I'm only 32, so I'm not quite over the hill yet.
I'm just kind of stuck about what to do next...I can see three options and all three seem equally scary. What I'm hoping to find is advice from people who've taken these routes and how they went about doing it.
1) "More Technical" - I've got all the skills needed for stuff like "The Cloud" (I hate that term) and certifications in Linux, Windows and Networking. I'm working (slowly!) at the Certified Ethical Hacker and CISSP stuff for Pen-Testing. I've got a good degree (yay! ) and 10 years good experience. It's all been in small/medium companies though...how do I get from here to a senior tech position in somewhere like Fujitsu or BT or IBM or whoever?
2) Manglement - I've done my share of meetings, mentoring, team-leading, project-management and so on, but never actually had a role as "a manager". Obviously there's more money here, but less technical stuff. What would I need to do to make that transition? Is it the kind of thing I'm best doing within a company (ie take a technical role in a larger firm and then move to a management job in 2-4 years)
3) Consulting - this is the scariest of all. I'm currently paying off loads of student debt, car debt and "idiot young person" debt. This will be cleared in Jan 2014. What advice would people have for someone looking to move to self-employed status? I'd probably look for contracts initially and try to build up a business identity (website, portfolio, contacts) over time before hopefully moving to full-time consultancy work. Anyone managed to do this successfully?
Of course, another option is to quit whining and stay where I am, but I worry about stagnating, de-skilling and other things that boring career-types worry about. There's just nowhere left to go in this company and the demands on me and general stress are skyrocketing whereas the chances to learn new stuff or earn more money are vanishing.
I have a job and I realise that I'm lucky to have a job. More to the point, I have a good job. I work <40 hours a week (plus some on-call, which I get compensated for pretty well) and in the main the work is pretty interesting. I wouldn't claim to be the greatest Systems Administrator in the world, but I reckon I'm pretty close to the top of the profession in the UK in terms of salary, which is essentially a *good* London salary but with West Yorkshire living costs. I'm only 32, so I'm not quite over the hill yet.
I'm just kind of stuck about what to do next...I can see three options and all three seem equally scary. What I'm hoping to find is advice from people who've taken these routes and how they went about doing it.
1) "More Technical" - I've got all the skills needed for stuff like "The Cloud" (I hate that term) and certifications in Linux, Windows and Networking. I'm working (slowly!) at the Certified Ethical Hacker and CISSP stuff for Pen-Testing. I've got a good degree (yay! ) and 10 years good experience. It's all been in small/medium companies though...how do I get from here to a senior tech position in somewhere like Fujitsu or BT or IBM or whoever?
2) Manglement - I've done my share of meetings, mentoring, team-leading, project-management and so on, but never actually had a role as "a manager". Obviously there's more money here, but less technical stuff. What would I need to do to make that transition? Is it the kind of thing I'm best doing within a company (ie take a technical role in a larger firm and then move to a management job in 2-4 years)
3) Consulting - this is the scariest of all. I'm currently paying off loads of student debt, car debt and "idiot young person" debt. This will be cleared in Jan 2014. What advice would people have for someone looking to move to self-employed status? I'd probably look for contracts initially and try to build up a business identity (website, portfolio, contacts) over time before hopefully moving to full-time consultancy work. Anyone managed to do this successfully?
Of course, another option is to quit whining and stay where I am, but I worry about stagnating, de-skilling and other things that boring career-types worry about. There's just nowhere left to go in this company and the demands on me and general stress are skyrocketing whereas the chances to learn new stuff or earn more money are vanishing.