What do I want to do?
So starting next month, i get to begin the task of looking for a new job. I am finishing a training class or two in the next week, and will then be updating the resume with a few things. Then I get to start the task of looking for a new place to work.
But there is a bigger question I have to ask first: What do I want to do?
Do I stay in the ITIL world, doing change/release/problem management? Do I move back to operations work? Do i take a project management role? I have combined experience of nearly 11 years in these areas, managing and maintaining some byzantine processes, procedures, networks and systems. I have some skill in the area, but its something i often don't enjoy. For most people, they don't enjoy what they do, so its not the end of the world if i don't. But maybe I can find something I dislike less.
But maybe I don't even stay in IT. Maybe I look outside the field and try something new. After a decade working for an ISP, a non-technical company might be a welcome change. I have options and opportunities ahead of me.
As an academic exercise, I started thinking of some skills I would like to have:
- EMT training
- riding a motorcycle
- formal culinary training
- private investigator training
- flying a plane
- recertification in scuba diving
- professional counseling
- automotive/mechanic training
- electrician training
- advanced wilderness survival
And there are more that I probably haven't thought of yet. Maybe some or even all of these should be my guide for what do do next? I started looking into what training times would be for some of these, and am seeing what my options are, and what it would take to change careers.
One of my brother-in-laws, Cort, I have a great deal of respect for. He had the gumption to change careers, with a wife and three kids, going back to school to get a law degree. If he can do that with that level of responsibility, why can't I? Another friend, Wes, changed careers at my age as well, becoming a professional pilot. It can be done, it just takes will, and the desire to make a change.
So the question is, do I take this as an opportunity to find something new to do, with the negative that I will be starting over at just shy of 35? Or do I stay in an area I have qualifications in, and perhaps maintain experience and pay level, in something I don't always like? That is the question I get to answer. And I have decided I am taking all this as an opportunity to make sure I do what I want to do, not what others think I should do or expect of me.
So it should be an interesting start to 2010, to rediscover what I want to do with my life.
But there is a bigger question I have to ask first: What do I want to do?
Do I stay in the ITIL world, doing change/release/problem management? Do I move back to operations work? Do i take a project management role? I have combined experience of nearly 11 years in these areas, managing and maintaining some byzantine processes, procedures, networks and systems. I have some skill in the area, but its something i often don't enjoy. For most people, they don't enjoy what they do, so its not the end of the world if i don't. But maybe I can find something I dislike less.
But maybe I don't even stay in IT. Maybe I look outside the field and try something new. After a decade working for an ISP, a non-technical company might be a welcome change. I have options and opportunities ahead of me.
As an academic exercise, I started thinking of some skills I would like to have:
- EMT training
- riding a motorcycle
- formal culinary training
- private investigator training
- flying a plane
- recertification in scuba diving
- professional counseling
- automotive/mechanic training
- electrician training
- advanced wilderness survival
And there are more that I probably haven't thought of yet. Maybe some or even all of these should be my guide for what do do next? I started looking into what training times would be for some of these, and am seeing what my options are, and what it would take to change careers.
One of my brother-in-laws, Cort, I have a great deal of respect for. He had the gumption to change careers, with a wife and three kids, going back to school to get a law degree. If he can do that with that level of responsibility, why can't I? Another friend, Wes, changed careers at my age as well, becoming a professional pilot. It can be done, it just takes will, and the desire to make a change.
So the question is, do I take this as an opportunity to find something new to do, with the negative that I will be starting over at just shy of 35? Or do I stay in an area I have qualifications in, and perhaps maintain experience and pay level, in something I don't always like? That is the question I get to answer. And I have decided I am taking all this as an opportunity to make sure I do what I want to do, not what others think I should do or expect of me.
So it should be an interesting start to 2010, to rediscover what I want to do with my life.