To ask how you retrain in IT?

[Neverkneweldorado]

I am a solicitor and just so miserable in my current job. I've been doing it for 10 years and have just been offered Partnership for the second time (I turned it down before). It's made me realise I just don't want to continue in this career. The stress is making me sick.

I really enjoy working with computers and would love to get into software development or something similar. My IT skills are pretty good but I know I'd need to do some proper training before I could apply for jobs. I've done a lot of research online but am struggling to know where to begin! Is it worth doing a paid course or would self-teaching be a realistic option?

Any advice would be so welcome.

I got into it by going from retail/call centre work onto a IT service desk. Have worked my way up from there and am now a developer. Trained on the job.

However I expect this would be a massive drop in income for you as service desk work is normally just above minimum wage.

It might be worth looking into doing some free online courses on different areas of IT and seeing which you enjoy more.

There isn't a huge amount of job security in IT, many people are contractors on short term roles.

Good luck with it

YAB a little U not to have posted this thread on the new-ish Mature Study and Retraining Board - here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mature_students

With a background in law, you can retrain as a business analyst and work on IT projects for regulatory reporting or IT projects for law firms. If you still want to go for a more technical role, you can train up some more and switch to coding...but being a business analyst would be the easiest pathway. PM me if you need more detailed info on BA training.

There is some advice here: www.womenintech.co.uk/get-into-tech

What's the minimum you need to earn? Can you take a drop in salary in the short term?

Lots of helpdesk jobs are a bit dead-end, so I wouldn't rely on that as a route in, unless you find an employer with a well defined career path via that route.

Agree with angelicfaces that business analysis would be the quickest route into tech, you'll have loads of relevant transferable skills already.

I got into IT by doing a 1 year IT Masters conversion course which gave you an introduction to all aspects of IT. I started off programming, moved into support and now work in data analytics.

I did the same as kasho5, then got a job on a helpdesk and moved into development after a couple of years. I agree with other posters that it can be quite insecure. As well as lots of contracting, firms tend to staff up then discard for major projects and I've lost count of how many times I've been in a redundancy round (only actually made redundant twice though).

While individual jobs may not be secure (although it depends on the sector you work in), there are loads around, and good people are never out of work long. I'm struggling to recruit for a couple if IT jobs at the moment- it's a seller's market.