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Help me escape a Blackhole of Sandwiches
toasterplug
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
I have come to terms with the fact that life has not gone as planned and I want to change some aspects that I am not happy with. Well really it's one aspect....my job.
I've spent the last year and a half working a job I swore I would never do again after not working for 9 months. Before getting laid off I spent 21 years working for a well know sandwich shop (eat flesh) and now find myself working for another franchisee who I really don't care to work for. I am in school at a local technical college working towards a 2 year "degree" in web design. I say "degree" because I'm not sure how much help it's actually going to be in finding a new job and a new career.
I want to be out of the sandwich business and into a new career in the world of the intertubes but wonder what the best path to a new workplace would be. I guess I'm looking for help on turning my 20+ years restaurant management skills, love and knowledge of computers and my artistic talents (I like to draw drawerings) into a "big boy" job.
The term "big boy" job is from my wife. With the loss of my job and the smaller income of my new work place she had to take on a full-time position in a management roll at her job and hates it. She literally begs me to find a new job in a tech related field so I can work towards a job that would allow her to drop back to part-time wage earner and full-time mom again.
At 40 years old I feel just as lost as I did at 18. I manage to talk myself out of applying for any jobs that aren't food related. I just want to get my foot in the door somewhere, I know I could do most anything. I am a fast learner, creative and hard worker but feel that I don't look so great on paper as say someone half my age.
I've spent the last year and a half working a job I swore I would never do again after not working for 9 months. Before getting laid off I spent 21 years working for a well know sandwich shop (eat flesh) and now find myself working for another franchisee who I really don't care to work for. I am in school at a local technical college working towards a 2 year "degree" in web design. I say "degree" because I'm not sure how much help it's actually going to be in finding a new job and a new career.
I want to be out of the sandwich business and into a new career in the world of the intertubes but wonder what the best path to a new workplace would be. I guess I'm looking for help on turning my 20+ years restaurant management skills, love and knowledge of computers and my artistic talents (I like to draw drawerings) into a "big boy" job.
The term "big boy" job is from my wife. With the loss of my job and the smaller income of my new work place she had to take on a full-time position in a management roll at her job and hates it. She literally begs me to find a new job in a tech related field so I can work towards a job that would allow her to drop back to part-time wage earner and full-time mom again.
At 40 years old I feel just as lost as I did at 18. I manage to talk myself out of applying for any jobs that aren't food related. I just want to get my foot in the door somewhere, I know I could do most anything. I am a fast learner, creative and hard worker but feel that I don't look so great on paper as say someone half my age.
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What geographical area are you in? My first suggestion would be to try and land call center work while you pile on, and I mean omgwtf pile on the certifications. Thick and fast, dude; you've got to demonstrate you have skills, and you don't have them right now.
Finally, I'd say this: it's a terrible, awful, no good, very bad time to be switching careers. You might consider sucking it up and taking a management position at a restaurant while you build the skills to switch tracks. And tell your wife I said to ease up on emasculating you with cracks about "big boy jobs"... starting over at 40, that shit ain't easy in the best economy. Walking into a tech job at the bottom, with a wife and kids, competing against 20yr old basement dwellers who eat, breathe, and fart IT? The fact that you're willing to try shows more balls than most people have... she ought to recognize that and have your back during the transition, not drag you down with sarcasm because life isn't working out how she wants it to.
My advice would be to start taking some community college courses. My sister, in fact, is taking computer classes for free! I can find out more if you want.
It was also a better economy, but you should probably really look at career that starts acceptably high without muvh room for growth.
Your "web design" degree will likely be looked down upon a bit. Programmers who do the php, jquery, flash etc will all be like "well hes not a programmer."
And the designers who all went to art school and studied design will all be "well hes not a designer."
Itd be better to get a degree in one or the other because A) youd be more suited for webdesign and
The other down side is, when entering a young field like tech or design your age will result in some dicrimination. Your entering a field of both tech AND design. You will have a harder time fitting in and possibly a harder time getting their respect.
Now, this doesnt mean its something to give up on. Im just breaking down some obstacales for you. As for advice.
Internship.
You should do one now. Work 10-20 hours a week for free for some smaller web design place. If you do decent work you should get a paid position in 6 months or so. In fact, make sure the internship has a set amount of time so you know it ends in 12 weeks so then they have to make the decision to hire you or not. Dont let them string you on. Throw the internship into your resume and move on.
The other option is to get your degree but then look for a job in the field that isnt actually involved in the web design process. You can be a project manager. You could be a salesman for a web company. Your age will become less of a obstacle and more of a bonus in these situations. Having web design knowledge but lacking the experience (possibly skill set) would make you relatively ideal for one of these positions. This could lead to you eventually moving into one of those other positions as you become a part of the company.
^ All of this needs lime. I'd also add Medical coding as another field that makes good money and does not involve sammitches.
I'm exaggerating a bit, but that's what I've seen at work. You can't take feedback personally, it's not that people are rejecting you or your design, or they are trying to ruin it (why would they want to ruin their own site?). They honestly think they are doing what's best and hey, it's their website and not yours. From what I've seen the most successful designers are the ones who are willing to listen to what clients want, not do what they think is best. You can always give gentle advice and your opinion, but if they are not responsive just drop it.
If you think all that sounds okay then I would say that as a person who has worked in customer service positions you have some very beneficial experience in that you have customer service skills, which are really important. Client management and communication is key. Your clients will call you, a lot! During the design and development process you will get 20 emails a day of 'So...how's it going? Can I see yet?" LOL
I say everything above with the utmost affection. I love being a developer, it's my favourite thing to do and I would do it even if I wasn't getting paid (but happily I am!). If it's something you feel passionately about and really want to do then you will make it happen.
Start building a portfolio, now. They are going to want to see designs you have completed (key word being completed). It can just be photoshop files or images, usually a dev will take care of the actual site build from there anyhow.
I live just outside of Atlanta towards Athens. The program I'm in seems to be really basic in my opinion so far and that has me worried. I've had classes for Photoshop, Flash and html/xhtml. I've been using Photoshop for years and messed around with Flash some in the past so I've been skating through my classes so far. Now I'm taking a class on Dreamweaver and another on Javascripting, Next quarter php and something else so I guess my education starting to get away from things I already have a good grasp on. My favorite class so far has been my introduction to programming design and development. I really enjoy the problem solving that came up in class.
The thought of showing up to the party late does cross my mind at times and I wonder how I'll be received. Even to be considered as an intern I'm afraid that my age would be held against me. I also think that I tend to over think things and sabotage myself at every step.
I think, as mentioned above, having as many certifications and what-nots under my belt can only help me overcome my lack of actual work experience but I think perhaps ,as also mentioned, I should be one thing or another and not try to be both.
I might enjoy the development side of things rather than the designing of web pages. I've done some work for friends and friends of friends doing fliers and logos for there businesses and it can be difficult to just smile and nod when someone wants something ridiculous or has to tweak this or that fifty times a week. Someone once asked me to make something red-isher but not red. I can handle this kind of thing but think I would rather deal with something that is not as subjective. I've started researching what it would take to get be a web developer/programmer and what Georgia schools I could attend to further that goal. I'm guessing I should shoot for a B.S. in Computer Science as that seems to be the most commonly called for education in most of the job listings I've seen.
Staying at my current management position until I've got my ducks in a row before I shift gears into a new line of work sounds like a solid idea, perhaps also to give the economy time to provide more round holes for my square peg. I know that this isn't going to be an overnight experience and I need to effectively communicate that fact to my wife. It's been a rough couple of years and we are both stressed out with the changes in our lives but I do feel she could be more realistic about her expectations. I really want something new and thank you all for your suggestions.