Coding and digital skills - could I make it pay?

[Radiodread]

Probably a totally stupid question, but am increasingly thinking I need to find a higher-paying career or at the very least a more lucrative side hustle.

I am not a natural fit (!) for the tech industry having been employed in the civil service for decades, however....

I am pretty good at learning languages (one of my very few talents) and I am also very dogged, and good at spotting errors in written text, language, and working out why more complex excel functions are malfunctioning.

I have done a tiny bit of R at work, understand the theory but have not really done much by way of application, and managed to learn things like Power BI easily enough. Am competent with maths, and have a reasonable grasp of Excel and can eg use more complex formulas and what have you. Have attended python type coder dojo things with my child and wasn't immediately horrified.

I would love to develop some in-demand, profitable tech skills but I really have no idea where to start and whether this is just a mad wheeze, nor where I would take my skills ... as you can see I am totally green.

If you do a self-employed-type job using these sort of skills can you tell me:

• what you do
• whether you have a degree or some higher level qualification
• whether you'd recommend it
• where the hell I should start!

More higher education or any kind of paid courses are not really an option for me, unless I can get my current job to pay for them, which is unlikely in current climate.

Thanks for reading.

Have you asked about switching over to a digital role in the civil service?

it depends on what grade you are, but there are apprenticeship and more learning type roles in lots of areas.

Similarly, in cybersecurity (may be in a part of the civil service that’s not digital) could be a good place to translate your skill set.

There’s an entry level qualification from (ISC)2 you can currently get for free: www.isc2.org/1mcc. It might help you to think about whether that might interest you.

you can do Harvard’s intro to computer science course for free online too: pll.harvard.edu/course/cs50-introduction-computer-science?delta=0

What do you currently do at civil service and how much do you get?
It is more efficient to switch sideways on the job and start using the new skills on the job.
i don’t think it will be possible to get income as self employed at an entry level. There is a harsh competition for low level jobs and these jobs are outsourced to someone who are willing to work for a couple of pounds per hour.

Would a DWP digital apprenticeship work for you? They seem to be HEO roles generally.

careers.dwp.gov.uk/our-teams/dwp-digital-apprenticeships/

Yeah I did think that was probably the case, @Rocksludge . I'd never be able to compete with a global workforce with much better technical education and much lower wage rates.

I earn comparatively well, around £60k per year but am a single parent with a London mortgage.

I considered an apprenticeship, said I was interested in one at work but never heard anything.. need to be more proactive. I'm older, menopausal, and a bit flummoxed in a workplace flooded with highly qualified youngsters with more energy and fewer caring commitments 😬

Oh well, name change fail but hardly a state secret :/ am normally good at checking this stuff... Honest

What (in general terms) do you do in your current role?

Ok, 60k is quite reasonable salary.
Starting salaries for data analysts are 30-40k, even in London.
higher than 60k is an experienced data scientist with in demand domain of knowledge, software developer or data engineer. All of these positions require either serious degree-level technical education (not certificates) or/and several years of experience at entry-level jobs with 35-45k salaries.

Your best bet is to see how data analysis/software engineering can be used in your existing domain. Starting from scratch and reaching to 60k will be tricky, I am not even telling for anything above it.
btw I am a data scientist in a niche field in London.

Okay. Looks like a complete non starter. I do quant and qual secondary data analysis. 60k is a good salary relative, I know, but it isn't enough to live on. Which is absolutely ridiculous, and the same as everyone else country-wide.

And you're right, I'd be much better off developing skills in existing domain....