Upgrading skills after 40?

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by High Altitude

Good luck.

It is so hard to give up on something you put so much effort into, but once you make the change from an employee attitude to entrepreneurship, you are reborn.

That seems to be what so many people are pushed into--being entrepreneurs--because they are cut and can't get decent job with company...
Some people are not meant to be running their own companies
They really don't have the aggresive nature, risk-taking, or wide range of skill sets to get a company off the ground...

We have heard several stories of friends of friends who were laid off by their companies during the 08 recessions and couldn't find other work but were too young to retire--
They took money out of their 401Ks and got small business loans to start local businesses
One of them was doing fairly well with hot dog walk-in restaurant but the minute they started making money the vendors they used, the landlord started raising their costs and taking all the profit
They had to close the store

Someone else tried a mail/copy place and just couldn't make enough money to make it a viable business

I don't know that becoming your own boss is a positive if you can't keep afloat...

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by charlygal

I switched to IT/PM after age 40. Started with getting a CAPM certification and worked my way up.

How would you go about getting a IEEE WCET or a CCNA cert? These were certs that were being asked for for one job I was looking at. Can certs like this be attained without first working in the field?

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by loves2read

That seems to be what so many people are pushed into--being entrepreneurs--because they are cut and can't get decent job with company...
Some people are not meant to be running their own companies
They really don't have the aggresive nature, risk-taking, or wide range of skill sets to get a company off the ground...

We have heard several stories of friends of friends who were laid off by their companies during the 08 recessions and couldn't find other work but were too young to retire--
They took money out of their 401Ks and got small business loans to start local businesses
One of them was doing fairly well with hot dog walk-in restaurant but the minute they started making money the vendors they used, the landlord started raising their costs and taking all the profit
They had to close the store

Someone else tried a mail/copy place and just couldn't make enough money to make it a viable business

I don't know that becoming your own boss is a positive if you can't keep afloat...

Yep, the person renting space learned things the hard way. IF you dont have the means to start it out of your house (ie a nice sized garage and larger house for office space) and a small yard (if you need equipment) plus all the start up money for the said equpment then you are screwed as soon as you start for the aformentioned reasons you brought up. Taking out loans is a fools errand, the loans are due every month regardless of the healthy of the buisness. A buisness without any debt can afford to have low profit months, one with loans cant and fold really easy.

The elites are able to keep things proped up so I likely wont live long enough to see the grand correction (ie homelessness and civil unrest so extreme that changes are forced on politicians).

How many people running out of credit and money does it take for a social revolution?

[pittsflyer]

Originally Posted by jobaba

My background is engineering.

I put some effort into changing careers within engineering and even got a degree but the results have been disappointing.



The most important thing you have to do when you are switching careers is to leave no doubt in the employers mind that 'this (whatever field you are applying for) is what I want to do and I'm sure of it."

Unfortunately, when cannot find a job for a couple of years, there's always a doubt, especially when you're applying for a field that you've never really worked in.

Did I make a lot of bad decisions? Hell yea.

Everything is easy to dissect in retrospect. Everything is easy to Monday morning quarterback. Know what I mean?

In any case, you're really just helping to prove my point. You need a flawless resume and unflagging perseverance to get an entry level job where you're taking a 30-50% paycut???

It should not be like that.

I agree with you, but you have to perserver, what else are you going to do? Maybe work at something that could cause MAJOR disruption to the US economy while you work out your day job.

I cant post the things that would cause major disruption but if people do nothing we will get more of the same.

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

How would you go about getting a IEEE WCET or a CCNA cert? These were certs that were being asked for for one job I was looking at. Can certs like this be attained without first working in the field?

You didn't get an answer--and I don't know what the qualifications are for either--but

And are some of these ads just asking for the complete Christmas list when skills aren't really needed in that job?
How much of what is given on job ads is really asking for someone overqualified for the position?

[High Altitude]

Originally Posted by loves2read

You didn't get an answer--and I don't know what the qualifications are for either--but

And are some of these ads just asking for the complete Christmas list when skills aren't really needed in that job?
How much of what is given on job ads is really asking for someone overqualified for the position?

Yes, they ask for everything and expect it.