I’ve been working in various fields of IT for about the last 25 years, a role I kind of fell into out of necessity at he time but it’s suddenly got to the point where I feel I really need a job doing something else.

Prior to my life in IT I used to teach art, graphic design and sound engineering (plus bits & pieces of associated subjects) at a college in Brum, along with live & studio work for bands & shows.

I’ve previously loaded my CV onto various job site but they all seem to use similar software to search for key words so I only ever get contacted in relation to IT based jobs, but I’m not interested in that side of things.

If a job involved using it in some way that wouldn’t be a problem, it’s the actual maintenance and support of software & apps that I need to escape from as it’s driving me crazy a the moment and I need a total change from it as to be honest it’s starting to make me unwell and giving me nightmares (ruined the last few days of our recent holiday with just the thought of coming back to the office).

As you may have guessed I’m far happier being creative and working with my hands, having something to show for a day’s work, however temporary it may be and the world of computers just doesn’t give me that.

I’m assuming that what ever I go in to would result in a pay cut (I’m not earning massive amounts anyway but comfortable, no mortgage, etc.).

So how do I escape?

I’m in IT in a management role, I review CVs on a daily basis, so can’t offer advise on how to get out of IT, but just general CV/new job advice.
I would say that most employers tend to want people with relevant experience, training/quals etc. If you know the field you want to move to, are you sufficiently qualified and is this clearly laid out in your CV? Have you looked at your CV thinking would you employ / interview someone for a job based on your CV? Are your qualifications for the field you want to move to current? As in, not just from Uni 25 years ago? You may need to get more updated qualifications, so be worth looking at courses near by. If you already have a Graphic Design or similar degree maybe looking at the software used now and ensuring your qualified in using it, photography course etc.
You may also have to start at the lowest rung of the ladder again, so will need to think about what that means financially?
Also with jobsites, you can enter the keywords yourself and submit your CV to those roles. But its key that your CV is clear that you have the correct skills and qualifications for the roles you are applying for. If 20 other people apply and they are more relevant to that position, you are likely to be overlooked.
My wife was a graphic designer, its a very competitive marketplace. Lots of creative people do the Uni courses and there were very few jobs about at the time.

Tweak your CV to match the job you’re applying for. I have about 5 pages of ‘CV’ which I crop to suit whatever the role is, e,g, HSE, Engineering, Management, report writing etc. If you want to avoid the automated job searches finding you roles you don’t want, then remove those qualifications from your CV and focus on the softer transferable skills from those roles.

So if you want to get out of IT, change your IT jobs to just list management, report writing, coaching, training skills etc. And omit that you are a black belt in Linux Ju Jitsu and master of Citrix red LED blink whispering or whatever qualifications you have from that field.

Cheers for the suggestions and advice folks, really appreciate them.

put all the keywords you need for the new role in super small white text at the bottom of your cv. it’ll get you past autosift but when printed and read by a human wont be seen….

put all the keywords you need for the new role in super small white text at the bottom of your cv. it’ll get you past autosift but when printed and read by a human wont be seen….

Depends, some recruiters software transfers everything into their own format.

Purely off top of my head: IT role in a creative industry/organisation that’s committed to all staff having the opportunity to do some work on the creative side of things.

Website design as self employed? Helping out individuals or SMEs, charities etc?

Government departments like DCMS or DEFRA which might meet needs of hands on and if you wanted some IT.

Maybe look at starting an online presence e.g. etsy or MADE where you could build up a business in art or whatever until the time came where you could quit IT?

All the best.

I’d love to know, but from a slightly different prospective.

I work in the IT Ind now, started as sales but now I’m Business Development, but the sales side of things is still a big part of what I do.

I’m not actively looking for a job, but the company has hit a rough patch and whilst there’s only a small chance my job will be at risk, I’d feel better having a clue what skills I have (daft as it might sound).

I’ve been made redundant twice before, they both worked out for the best in the long run, but short term they felt a lot like going back to square one, tens of thousands of salary down and spending years working myself back up.

Is there some sort of bridigng role between where you are and where you want to be?  I was similar, CV full of IT stuff but didn’t want to go back and found a role covering the data side of marketing, so they wanted IT skills but weren’t quite as specific as an IT recruiter eg. they wanted experience of a large database, but weren’t that bothered about it being a specific platform.

I understand where you are coming from about the stress of support roles. My advice would be to move to service management and supplier liason (and avoid project management) . The main skills are seeing through the technobable suppliers spew at customers. I’m sure you’d have no trouble.

Look into getting ITiL qualifications to open some doors?

Couple of really interesting suggestions there. I’ve not even touched any of my art/design stuff for years and am really feeling like I need to do something with it, if only for my own sanity, if I can free up time by stopping the lovely Mrs.P from constantly expecting me to come home and then immediately start work on something in the house that she’s found fault with while I’ve been at work. But that’s a whole other thread…..

I already have security clearance to work in Gov. IT as that’s what I’m currently supporting in an outsourced role, so could look internally with them too, but something a bit less specific, but really want to get away from the whole computer based work thing if possible.

I guess I’m just not happy with what I’m doing these days. As P-Jay says things haven’t been too good here recently either, it’s so much of a struggle on daily basis and I’m really battling to have any impetus for the job any more.

Perhaps I should giver a bit more info on my background – I’ve got ITIL foundation (needs updating though as it’s v2), been Incident & Change management, done project management (but no PRINCE2) implementing and then running virtual contact centres for Gov contracts, (got a commendation from the DWP for one) and since then been worked in various Service Reporting roles and more recently pushed into more of a support role which I’ve never really enjoyed.

I’ve always been far more people than machine focused.

Bum your boss’s cat. You’ll never work in the industry again when the word gets out.

LOL, worth a try.

You could always become a part-time postie (typically but not always 25hrs over five days, but you might get lucky and land a role which condensing roughly those hours over three days), while deciding what to do. Just don’t get trapped into it long term. 😉

What does that pay, out of interest?

For the op, surely contracting would be an avenue?

programming is creative…

Contracting could be but I really feel I need to get away from the business as a whole to be frank.

I no longer have any interest in it and absolutely no motivation to work in this environment any more. It was a struggle just to get into the car and drive to the office this morning.

How about the civil service? You’ve worked government contracts in the past. Ive worked with DWP before and they can be a friendly bunch, with more people focused roles.

What about a tunnel? Tunnels are easy, any Tom, Dick or Harry could do it.

What does that pay, out of interest?

Postie pay? ~£12.50/hr outside London.

programming is creative…

This +100.

How about staying in IT but changing jobs? There’s a huge difference between doing maintenance work with an old system supporting cranky government users and building a new application from the ground up. It would sort out your current stress problems, and you could use the next couple of years to build something up on the side with a view to getting out of IT later.

Yeah with 25 years experience I’d have thought you’d have moved into architecture or at least a senior dev or devops role so you could pass on the dreary code maintenance jobs to others.

Mind you I don’t enjoy my architecture (infrastructure side) role much either but don’t have any non-IT skills so I’m kind of stuck here for the next 20 years (or until my lottery numbers come in…)

programming is creative…

This!

I’m in IT too. I quite like my roll on the whole. I’m the only IT person here – so officially I’m IT Manager, but really I’m IT Manager/Desktop Support/Network Admin etc. But I also built the CRM/company database. I can listen to a management meeting and knock out a solution quick sharp.. I find building and creating the system, and adding new functionality the most satisfying part of my job.

People don’t associate IT with creativity, but you are creating, and designing a workspace for people. You need to think a step ahead of them, and decide the most logical flow for them. You need to understand how all depts work, who does what and how that all interacts.

If I was to leave and do something else, I really quite fancy going in the programming direction, specifically app design. I think that would be a great mix of IT knowledge/background and creativity

I work as an IT Analyst, in my spare time i’m learning web development. Currently studying advanced CSS. Compared to what i’m doing it’s like chalk and cheese. One line of code seems to be able to do so much and it gives me a kick to see the fruits of my labours over raising a ticket to get ram on a server increased.

Programming would at least give you that feeling of being creative