I want to get out of IT, but still work with technology. What options are out there?
January 15, 2007 12:20 PM Subscribe
So what does someone who is interested in almost everything and a love for helping others make sense of technology do for a living?
Situation: I’m almost 30, a one man IT dept for a small company in a small town. I’m bored with my job and tired of dealing with the frustrations that go along with it. I have a hard time keeping my skills sets up (to find a better IT job) because studying IT information puts me to sleep. But I don’t know what else I would do. I have a lot of interests, from law to photography. My degree is in journalism, but I don’t have any experience in that area, not even clips from college (I was working when not in class, a huge regret).
It isn’t that I don’t like technology. I spend a lot of free time tinkering with technology, from setting up websites/blogs/wikis etc to exploring new applications. I guess I’m more interested in consumer technology than managing servers and running backups. Once I figure something out I like to move on to the next thing.
Aside from any particular technology, I really enjoy helping people get the most out of the technology they are trying to use. I love helping someone pick out the best digital camera for their use and helping them take better pictures, or showing someone easy options for setting up a website. It may sound strange but when I see someone in a store like Best Buy looking confused over which wireless router to buy, I want to go over and help them out.
So I’m wondering what career options might be out there for someone like me. I’ve thought about trying to put my journalism degree to good use, or maybe try technical writing, but I don’t have a clue about where to start. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Situation: I’m almost 30, a one man IT dept for a small company in a small town. I’m bored with my job and tired of dealing with the frustrations that go along with it. I have a hard time keeping my skills sets up (to find a better IT job) because studying IT information puts me to sleep. But I don’t know what else I would do. I have a lot of interests, from law to photography. My degree is in journalism, but I don’t have any experience in that area, not even clips from college (I was working when not in class, a huge regret).
It isn’t that I don’t like technology. I spend a lot of free time tinkering with technology, from setting up websites/blogs/wikis etc to exploring new applications. I guess I’m more interested in consumer technology than managing servers and running backups. Once I figure something out I like to move on to the next thing.
Aside from any particular technology, I really enjoy helping people get the most out of the technology they are trying to use. I love helping someone pick out the best digital camera for their use and helping them take better pictures, or showing someone easy options for setting up a website. It may sound strange but when I see someone in a store like Best Buy looking confused over which wireless router to buy, I want to go over and help them out.
So I’m wondering what career options might be out there for someone like me. I’ve thought about trying to put my journalism degree to good use, or maybe try technical writing, but I don’t have a clue about where to start. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
technology news, reviews or guide writing would seem right up your alley...
posted by BSummers at 12:34 PM on January 15, 2007
posted by BSummers at 12:34 PM on January 15, 2007
How about seeking freelance magazine gigs writing about how to select and maximize technology? After some time doing that, you could perhaps parlay it into a full-time job.
This would be a helpful starting point.
As far as technical writing goes, you might see if you can find work writing manuals for a software firm, a process that may require you to move, so you can spend time with the developers.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 12:39 PM on January 15, 2007
This would be a helpful starting point.
As far as technical writing goes, you might see if you can find work writing manuals for a software firm, a process that may require you to move, so you can spend time with the developers.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 12:39 PM on January 15, 2007
Have you thought of working as a technology specialist for an educational institution? For example, professional schools (law, business, etc.) often have educational technology specialists who are there to help faculty and students make the most out of educational technologies. You have to be a generalist to be good at that --- on any given day, you may teach a professor some rudimentary HTML, show a class full of students how to use Blackboard, assist a professor with preparing a Powerpoint slideshow, etc. It sounds like that would be a good fit for you.
posted by jayder at 12:39 PM on January 15, 2007
posted by jayder at 12:39 PM on January 15, 2007
What about starting your own technology consultant shop, as opposed to working for someone else? Since you don't mind doing things for free, you can do free "consultations" to get people started. Since you're in a small town it might be a good thing to have a "mom'n'pop" place to go that can compete with the high prices of the Geek Squad / Firedog etc.
Or, you can try to work at Firedog/Geek Squad etc :)
posted by jbiz at 12:41 PM on January 15, 2007
Or, you can try to work at Firedog/Geek Squad etc :)
posted by jbiz at 12:41 PM on January 15, 2007
Neros,
As a laid-off technical writer between jobs, I can tell you right now to avoid the field entirely. Most of the types of companies that hire technical writers (financial services, defense, manufacturing), consider tech writers disposable resources, and F/T jobs out there are almost non-existent. The majority of jobs out there are 3-6 month short-term contract jobs which don't lead anywhere.
ALso, a lot of companies that I've seen mostly want someone with significant (Java, C++, .NET) programming experience who can also write, with the technical writing being a secondary function.
Your best bet might be to pick up a degree in education and try to move into the educational technology field working for a school district or college.
posted by Gingercat at 12:46 PM on January 15, 2007
As a laid-off technical writer between jobs, I can tell you right now to avoid the field entirely. Most of the types of companies that hire technical writers (financial services, defense, manufacturing), consider tech writers disposable resources, and F/T jobs out there are almost non-existent. The majority of jobs out there are 3-6 month short-term contract jobs which don't lead anywhere.
ALso, a lot of companies that I've seen mostly want someone with significant (Java, C++, .NET) programming experience who can also write, with the technical writing being a secondary function.
Your best bet might be to pick up a degree in education and try to move into the educational technology field working for a school district or college.
posted by Gingercat at 12:46 PM on January 15, 2007
You sound like you'd make a good teacher, or perhaps a consultant for small companies that are trying to figure out what their IT needs are, what to buy, and how to set it up. Also, if you're interested in traveling at all, there seems to be a fair number of NGOs that will send people to developing countries to train the locals in tech skills.
posted by Kololo at 1:24 PM on January 15, 2007
posted by Kololo at 1:24 PM on January 15, 2007
The educational technologist idea sounds like a good one, but you might also check out the library world. Part of what Jessamyn does is related to technology education in libraries; check out her blog at librarian.net and see if it's the kind of subject matter that interests you. Please note that neither the education world nor the library world are going to supply you with vast quantities of money.
posted by matildaben at 2:11 PM on January 15, 2007
posted by matildaben at 2:11 PM on January 15, 2007
Technical writing and/or technical training (if you can see yourself in front of a bunch of people teaching classes) would indeed be good areas to explore: they both require technical skills but also put a great deal of focus on communications and helping people solve practical problems, or as you put it, "helping people get the most out of the technology they are trying to use." If you enjoy that, you'd enjoy tech writing and/or training.
Gingercat is correct in that a lot of the tech writing work on offer is on a contract basis, but in my experience (20 years in IT, most of it as a technical writer, specialized several years ago in proposal management and new business development) there are still plenty of staff jobs on offer. Whether you are a contractor or a staffer, most of the work is likely to be project-based, meaning that you will be working on something (or several small somethings) for a while and then move on to something(s) else.
If you want to get a feel for the day-to-day concerns of a technical writer, the TECHWR-L mailing list (years and years of archives available to scan) is a terrific resource; if you want to talk directly to someone who's made his living at it basically his entire adult life, my e-mail is in my profile.
posted by enrevanche at 2:28 PM on January 15, 2007
Gingercat is correct in that a lot of the tech writing work on offer is on a contract basis, but in my experience (20 years in IT, most of it as a technical writer, specialized several years ago in proposal management and new business development) there are still plenty of staff jobs on offer. Whether you are a contractor or a staffer, most of the work is likely to be project-based, meaning that you will be working on something (or several small somethings) for a while and then move on to something(s) else.
If you want to get a feel for the day-to-day concerns of a technical writer, the TECHWR-L mailing list (years and years of archives available to scan) is a terrific resource; if you want to talk directly to someone who's made his living at it basically his entire adult life, my e-mail is in my profile.
posted by enrevanche at 2:28 PM on January 15, 2007
Response by poster: Wow, I wasn’t expecting replies so fast – this place is great. First, to clarify “small town” is probably not how I should have phrased it. I live in a college town with about 100k people in the area, so it is far from tiny but not a big metro area either. Either way, I want to get out.
I’m definitely leaning towards a media related job as bsummers and others mentioned. Doing something like that is actually why I went back to finish my degree (I took two years off to work). Working someplace like CNET, etc has been something I’ve been interested in for a long time. In fact, I think I would love doing something like that, especially for an online publication. I just don’t know how to get going. I guess I just need to start writing etc, maybe on a personal site, and see if any local pubs would be interested and move from there. Opportunities in non-print media would be of interest as well.
The ed tech advice is interesting. I’ve worked for an edu as a sysadmin and enjoyed the technical aspects, but I couldn’t get interested in the other side of the coin such as the higher curriculum development theories and practices, etc. I may poke around the web and see if I can find out more. Training outside of an edu institution, like workshops, would be interesting as well.
posted by nerosfiddle at 2:34 PM on January 15, 2007
I’m definitely leaning towards a media related job as bsummers and others mentioned. Doing something like that is actually why I went back to finish my degree (I took two years off to work). Working someplace like CNET, etc has been something I’ve been interested in for a long time. In fact, I think I would love doing something like that, especially for an online publication. I just don’t know how to get going. I guess I just need to start writing etc, maybe on a personal site, and see if any local pubs would be interested and move from there. Opportunities in non-print media would be of interest as well.
The ed tech advice is interesting. I’ve worked for an edu as a sysadmin and enjoyed the technical aspects, but I couldn’t get interested in the other side of the coin such as the higher curriculum development theories and practices, etc. I may poke around the web and see if I can find out more. Training outside of an edu institution, like workshops, would be interesting as well.
posted by nerosfiddle at 2:34 PM on January 15, 2007
The Apple Genius Bar?
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 3:29 PM on January 15, 2007
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 3:29 PM on January 15, 2007
I work for a librarian who does pretty much exactly what the other person above was describing as "educational technologist."
He serves on a committee that determines how technology fee money gets spent throughout the university, he oversees a multimedia lab where students and faculty can digitize old records and edit audiovisual stuff on computers, he oversees all the computers in the library and makes sure they are working and doing their stated purpose. Beyond that he teaches classes on how to use the techie library tools (EBSCOHost, etc.) to students and faculty, and takes personal appointments with people who need help with technology.
That's pretty much his job, and it is a job that I imagine every university library has something similar too. You might need to go back to school for library science to get in, but it's an easy graduate degree (and I believe it is often supported, as in go to grad school for basically free).
posted by zhivota at 4:44 PM on January 15, 2007
He serves on a committee that determines how technology fee money gets spent throughout the university, he oversees a multimedia lab where students and faculty can digitize old records and edit audiovisual stuff on computers, he oversees all the computers in the library and makes sure they are working and doing their stated purpose. Beyond that he teaches classes on how to use the techie library tools (EBSCOHost, etc.) to students and faculty, and takes personal appointments with people who need help with technology.
That's pretty much his job, and it is a job that I imagine every university library has something similar too. You might need to go back to school for library science to get in, but it's an easy graduate degree (and I believe it is often supported, as in go to grad school for basically free).
posted by zhivota at 4:44 PM on January 15, 2007
Do you like traveling and talking to people?
Sounds to me like you could be a really good technology evangelist. Sorry for the self-link, but take a look at my personal job description to get an idea of what this entails.
posted by jeffbarr at 5:10 PM on January 15, 2007
Sounds to me like you could be a really good technology evangelist. Sorry for the self-link, but take a look at my personal job description to get an idea of what this entails.
posted by jeffbarr at 5:10 PM on January 15, 2007
I'm currently working with/studying instructional design (close cousin of educational technology). It might be up your alley, though you do need to know a fair amount of learning theory (half ADDIE model/learning theory & half production/design in my master's program). There are also "instructional technologist" and "media developer" type roles, which tend to be more technical (Flash development, less editing/storyboarding, etc).
posted by ejaned8 at 1:38 PM on January 16, 2007
posted by ejaned8 at 1:38 PM on January 16, 2007
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by k8t at 12:29 PM on January 15, 2007