Changing careers

[anonymous]

Salam

I was wondering how many of you had changed careers during later parts of your life. I'm in my 30s and am getting tired of what I currently do. What got me into it was the fact that I get to work alone most of the time but it's physically demanding and my body is taking a beating. The hours and the long distance driving is also not helping. Although I have no experience in it, I thought about doing a complete 180 and going into the IT field, possibly programming, as that requires no physical work; well compared to what I do now anyways and from what I understand, there's a lot of alone time. Being in my mid 30s though, I wonder when it starts becoming too late to make these types of decisions, so I just wanted to see if anyone here has gone through this experience before.

[sister herb]

It´s never too late to change your life and profession. Well, maybe then when you will retire soon but you are still young as you have about 30 years to work or more. I am 50 and I am looking for new career with nursing. Before I worked with IT business, then as teacher and now nursing seems to be my the next option. Or something else.

[aaj]

:wasalam:

It's normal to change careers and most do it at least once in their life time. I"ve done it a few times. You have to keep an open mind. And programming is one of the best fields to get into. There's a shortage and entry into the industry does not have much barriers. Check out code academy, that's a good place to start and here's a good advice for new comers.

https://www.codeproject.com/articles...er-programming

[noraina]

Wa alaykum assalam,

It is never too late to decide to do something you are passionate about or gives you satisfaction, so don't ever let those feelings hold you back.

If you feel this new career path is for you are and you're able to go for it, do it in'sha'Allah.

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[Simple_Person]

Brother do remember that programming is ..a lot of headaches. One character forgotten can make you sometimes search for hours. It is indeed also a lot of solitary work. Also many programmers work mostly at night..DO NOT copy them in their habits, rather keep Islamic habits of going to bed early and wake up early.

I myself do not like programming, but in my free time i sometimes mess with it. You also have less communication with the customers.

A good start is looking for tutorials from Lynda.com..enough torrents available :).

[hisnameiszzz]

I am thinking about changing careers. I have a degree in something I was never able to get a job in due to elderly parents / ill family members and me having to look after them. Had I had the opportunity to move away from home, I would have easily got a job but it wasn't allowed.

I ended up doing some work as a temp and then progressed to where I am. I work with vulnerable young people which gives me a tiny bit of satisfaction but the team I work with depress me. I have never seen such a bunch of two faced people and the amount of moaning and back stabbing is making me poorly. Also, the managers pick on people and make them work their heads off where others seem to get away without doing anything at all. Because I am part time, I am picked on for some reason.

I'm toying with the idea of doing a PGCE in Teaching but unsure at the moment due to supporting family. Or I wouldn't mind going into another job completely as I have a lot of transferable skills.

Is anything holding you back? Family? Elderly parents? If not, I would say go full throttle and go in whichever direction you want to. If you are able to support yourself financially, stop doing the job you are doing, do something that will earn you a bit of money and give your new job direction a good think without the pressure of what you are doing currently. Could you take a sabbatical? You could always go back to what you are doing currently if your new direction does not work out. Also, look for support and advice from agencies if it is available as they might be able to pinpoint things you might not have thought about with regards to a career change.

All the best.

[anonymous]

I'm not sure how to say :jz: to a group of people, so I'll just say thanks to everyone for the advice. Alhamdulillah I'm in a position to where I CAN switch careers. It seems to me that these types of decisions become harder the older you get because, unless you have some kind of plan, there's very little room for error. Going into a completely different career field is pretty scary as well. Although I've taken random IT college classes when I graduated high school, it makes me nervous trying to get back into it because of how long it's been, and we all know how much technology has changed in the last 14 years.

In a worst case scenario where the IT field doesn't work out for whatever reason, I can use my existing skills to go back to what I was doing even if it isn't with the same company. There are many companies, too many really, around here and qualified people are limited so we're always in demand. With the way our pension is set up, I have to be with this company until at least the end of this year in order to be "vested", so I won't be making any final decisions just yet. Until then, I'll just leave it up to Allah to guide me to the right direction when the time comes.

[aadil77]

May Allah make it easy for you. Do istikhara before making any decision.

If you have responsibilities then it can be a big risk and most likely you will start at graduate level. See if you can setup your own business or go into management. Make lots of dua as it is a big move.

[Simple_Person]

I'm not sure how to say :jz: to a group of people, so I'll just say thanks to everyone for the advice. Alhamdulillah I'm in a position to where I CAN switch careers. It seems to me that these types of decisions become harder the older you get because, unless you have some kind of plan, there's very little room for error. Going into a completely different career field is pretty scary as well. Although I've taken random IT college classes when I graduated high school, it makes me nervous trying to get back into it because of how long it's been, and we all know how much technology has changed in the last 14 years.

In a worst case scenario where the IT field doesn't work out for whatever reason, I can use my existing skills to go back to what I was doing even if it isn't with the same company. There are many companies, too many really, around here and qualified people are limited so we're always in demand. With the way our pension is set up, I have to be with this company until at least the end of this year in order to be "vested", so I won't be making any final decisions just yet. Until then, I'll just leave it up to Allah to guide me to the right direction when the time comes.

Brother do keep in mind to always stay in "touch" with your current skill. If you also do not keep practicing that one in your free time or keep on learning new things in your current skill field, you will also become..a stranger to it. In IT, if i don't keep reading latest developments for like 6 months, it already starting to become like if i have been living under a rock.

[aaj]

There is a huge demand for developers and getting in the field couldn't be any easier than it is these days. So many resources available. If you want to jump in head first and fast track then bootcamps are a good options, if you want to ease into it then independent studies is a good option. I can share resources and provide further guidance if you like to shed more light on what interests you. I think islamirama and kritikvernunft both are in this field if you want to ask them also.

[Shamnadanu]

If you switch your careers.You can still work on coding/developing .xdadevelopers.com or github.com is a nice place to learn android.
I am not a programmer or coder but i am fascinated by the way of android.I hate coding and i dont know anything.But these days i spent more time in these forums.There is a lot tot to learn.since you are now working for a company. Even after switching jobs.work on some Android app.

May Allah show mercy on us