I'm looking for some career advice
Apologies if this isn't in line with the spirit of the group/site but I'm just looking for some advice really.
I'm 27m and just feel really stuck career wise. I didn't do very well in school and it took me a lot longer than everyone else to figure out myself. I have a degree in a redundant subject (very niche, no value in any career). Before COVID I was finally able to get my live music photography work off the ground but then that came crashing down. Other than that I mostly only have experience in retail and hospitality, and I've been a manager in both fields.
I'm looking for a work from home job for multiple reasons, mostly customer success/account management jobs and have had a few interviews too. I even got down to the final 2 for a promising one a few months ago. Every single job basically said that it was only down to my lack of experience compared to other candidates, but they did like me.
What is there I can actually do to aide this? I'm just worried that the older I get with only retail management work the harder it will be for me to start a real career path. The whole thing is getting me really down and I just don't know what to do.
Thanks.
Ok, to start with, I recommend the book So Good They Can't Ignore you by Cal Newport and spending time with books, videos, podcasts about resumes and interviewing skills. If you are clumsy answering questions, consider joining Toastmasters for a while to practice speaking.
This thread has some valuable background information. https://tildes.net/~talk/17nk/what_are_industries_and_specialties_where_you_see_demand_for_employees
If you are willing to work with weddings or pets, photography can be lucrative.
I may come back and add some more thoughts.
I've thought about leaning into wedding photography quite a lot. I'm just constantly reminded about when I used to do photography and was overworking myself to have a bills paying job while also trying to make money with the camera.
You could limit yourself to Saturday and Sunday weddings until your business takes off. If you are easy to work with, responsible and deliver quality photos in a timely way, you can do very well.
I just want to say don’t worry about your age as long as you’ve got skills. My career has taken twists and turns and I landed my first professional web development job post-40. I did have other “career” jobs in tech before that, but I took a hiatus from all that for seven years to work for myself completely unrelated. All along, though, I had the tech skills and I could back it up. While I never worked as a developer before, I did learn to program 25 years ago and I brushed up on it all before I sought the job. Skills and the ability to demonstrate and talk about those skills is paramount.
You are still so young and you have so much of your working life ahead of you. Figure out what you really want to do (hard) and then go for it (surprisingly less hard). You’ve got a lot of time and it sounds like you’ve got good social skills. Leverage what you’re good at to do what you want to do. Lean on your network. You may know somebody who could help you into the perfect job for you. Just keep trying, keep working on your skills, keep doing what you’re good at. You’ll get there.
It sounds like you’re going to have to re-enter the investment phase of your career path. I went through a similar thing feeling trapped in a career I no longer wanted at the age of 29. Once I gained the courage to step out of my comfort zone and did my research on beginning a new career, I quit my job, took out a loan, and went through training. Then I worked a crappy job for two years that I didn’t want in order to get the required experience to make myself marketable.
That loan and those two years at a crappy entry-level job really REALLY sucked, but I knew it was leading to what I wanted. Now I have a job that is really cool and I’m making $20k+ per month. It’s still just a job, and I’ve still got to find life fulfillment in other places. But that’s my story of starting over and eventually getting ahead.
Well done, congratulations,
What is your new career?
Hey, thanks! I’m working as an airline pilot now.
Well I guess it's better than being knee deep in poop water.
The biggest issue regarding loans/education is my credit score. I was not very good with money in my early 20s and so a loan is almost a no go for me for now. I have considered going for some part time/online courses and such to help sell myself better.
That’s a great way to go. I didn’t have a good enough income history to qualify for a loan, but I was very fortunate to have a parent that was willing to co-sign for a loan. I still had to pay an 11.5% interest rate, so I had to really crunch the numbers to see if it was feasible for me. It also took a lot of courage to take on that kinda debt for a career that wasn’t a sure shot.
I can't speak for your position, but I left my first career at 26 (physics), travelled for 2 years, and retrained in a completely different field (cybersecurity) by learning and passing a popular entry-level certification.
Got a job later that year in the field and I'm really happy with the change. Find a field you're interested in and work on it, people will appreciate the effort even if it's not related to your degree or previous jobs.
Not OP, but if you don't mind sharing, how did you get interested in cybersecurity? And which popular entry-level certification did you pass?
He probably got a security+ cert, which is basic entry level. With that and networking+, you can interview for entry level positions
Source: 10 years in cybersecurity
Happy to answer!
It was honestly a spur of the moment decision that I justify retroactively. I had basic experience in programming and fixing stuff (not just tech), but around that time (early 2021) there were some headlines about hacking and security, and I thought "I could do that! Seems like something I'd enjoy".
At the time I was seriously considering going back to university to be a lawyer or something, I had no idea what I was doing.
I started off with an introductory EdX course to see what cybersecurity people actually do, which I completed in February. Starting in March I taught myself Comptia Security+, which I passed in July.
After that I subscribed to TryHackMe to work on the beginner course, and applied for jobs at the same time. By October I found a job as a SOC analyst and was in the top 4% of TryHackMe accounts.
Thanks, and congratulations for the achievements and the successful switch. Very inspiring!
I'd also like to know!
I replied to the other person if you'd like to read! Do you get a notification for the other reply? (Not sure if Tildes has this)
if you use @username, they will get a notification
I didn't but I've been browsing all the comments so I did see it. Thanks!
If you lack experience one avenue to get into some companies is contractor work. The standards are way lower and allow you to network/get knowledge & experience to throw your hat into the ring for a perm position. The obvious downside being that you're back at square 1 if you can't wrangle a full time position before the end of your contract.
On the positive side, you have what it takes to get to the final interview stage! All you need is for someone to give you a chance. The market is just really tough right now. If you have the financial means, have you taken "time off" from applying to jobs to explore courses and certifications? They can help you out when you don't have as much experience. However, they are expensive and time consuming -- so don't go signing up for everything! If you review the customer success/account management job posts, do you see any specific areas of technical competency listed in the requirements (SaaS, CRM, cyber security, CS tools, Agile/project management)? Those might be worth pursuing and noting on your resume.
FYI that most certifications have upfront and recurring costs: you have to pay for the exam and study materials, take time to study and pass, then retake the exam or earn learning credits within 1-3 year cycles, and pay for the renewal of your designation each cycle.
As for the spirit of the site, create primarily text based posts/comments, be thoughtful and don't be an asshole. As far as I can tell, that's it for restrictions.