GeorgeC89
07-25-2006, 09:20 PM
Hello,
First let me say I am an established IT professional, who has become disillusioned by the industry. Through my time working in this field I have seen a lot of areas where I feel a more caring and involved HR representative could have made all the difference to an employee. This is largely why I have been giving serious thought to a career change.
More about me. I am a Husband, and a Father. I have a technical certificate, and no “degree” to speak of. I have worked in IT for nearly 10 years and before that I owned my own bookstore and worked as an assistant manager for a restaurant.
I think the big question is how would you recommend someone like me change careers midstream to the HR field without sacrificing too much salary. I make a little over $40,000 in the upstate New York area, and I am the sole breadwinner at this time. Taking a large pay cut would be impossible. I am aware I may need to sacrifice, but there is a limit to how much I can realistically give up.
I know that going back to college is likely the best way to go, this is also a major time and cash sink. One I am considering. I have also thought about taking courses online. Are these worth it?
Beyond that if I were to just try and go out as is and work my way into a HR career, what would be the best way to go about it? What are the titles involved? The expectations? I understand fairly well the work load after much reading online, but how to break in seem to be the trick.
Thank you in advance for any help you might offer in this area.
Michael
First let me say I am an established IT professional, who has become disillusioned by the industry. Through my time working in this field I have seen a lot of areas where I feel a more caring and involved HR representative could have made all the difference to an employee. This is largely why I have been giving serious thought to a career change.
More about me. I am a Husband, and a Father. I have a technical certificate, and no “degree” to speak of. I have worked in IT for nearly 10 years and before that I owned my own bookstore and worked as an assistant manager for a restaurant.
I think the big question is how would you recommend someone like me change careers midstream to the HR field without sacrificing too much salary. I make a little over $40,000 in the upstate New York area, and I am the sole breadwinner at this time. Taking a large pay cut would be impossible. I am aware I may need to sacrifice, but there is a limit to how much I can realistically give up.
I know that going back to college is likely the best way to go, this is also a major time and cash sink. One I am considering. I have also thought about taking courses online. Are these worth it?
Beyond that if I were to just try and go out as is and work my way into a HR career, what would be the best way to go about it? What are the titles involved? The expectations? I understand fairly well the work load after much reading online, but how to break in seem to be the trick.
Thank you in advance for any help you might offer in this area.
Michael