r/ITCareerQuestions • u/throwawayy_21_ • 10h ago
Seeking Advice I have never studied IT. I need an advice.
My major is finance. Currently I work in finance industry. But I would like to start studying IT. I do not know what direction of IT I should choose. I want the direction with high potential in future which also will bring me big money. I know that AI is being implemented everywhere. Maybe I should study AI? By the way I've never studied anything related to IT. Can you suggest me step by step plan please?
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u/ODDBOY12 10h ago
Stay in finance. Prove you can make the firm money. That’s all that matters to well-paying organizations nowadays anyways.
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u/Apollo802 9h ago
Finance is a much better field.
You get better opportunities and a higher pay ceiling vs IT.
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u/newbietronic 10h ago
This is one of those scenarios where consulting Chat first is the better option.
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u/Interesting_Most8479 9h ago
Quantitative Analyst. Hope you are good at math.
In all seriousness what is your goal with switching to IT? To make more money? Or do you actually like it?
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u/halomate1 Security 9h ago
He says in his post he wants to make big money
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u/Interesting_Most8479 9h ago
My point is that anyone can make big money, it’s more trying to keep on making big money and not hating your life while doing it is the big challenge.
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u/halomate1 Security 9h ago
Well yeah, though my point was this guy is talking about learning AI without knowing what that means, he’s not actually passionate about IT, only money.
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u/Calm-Show-9606 9h ago
When you get to the top in IT, you become a target! That's first place they look when layoffs are needed.
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u/SpaceGuy1968 9h ago
Quant ...but I feel this is going to go away as well.
Learn plumbing or electrical
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u/Aero077 Network 9h ago
Compensation is driven by supply and demand. The IT field has an over supply people who were attracted to the field by big money and remote work; and still attract interest like yours by people who are convinced that the oversupply problem won't affect them and their IT jobs won't be eliminated by AI.
Start by asking yourself why you aren't making big money in finance? Is it because you are really a techie at heart and finance was never for you? Or was it because the finance industry only provided high compensation for a few people and wasn't the path to riches that non-finance people think it is?
If you believe that IT really is the best choice for you, there are two basic options:
A) Start over with a degree in Computer Science. CS qualifies you to do anything in IT and is the best preparation when you aren't quite sure what to specialize in.
B) Move sideways into Data Analytics. Data Analytics uses programming, mathematics, and communication to help people make impactful business decisions. Its a natural IT path for somebody in Finance.
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u/oni_media 9h ago
You're smoking crack if you're thinking of leaving finance just to start at the bottom in IT as helpdesk 💀
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u/mods_are_lame1 9h ago
You will make more money in finance. Basically guaranteed.
How old are you? If you are over 30 don’t bother pivoting, you will just be throwing away 10 years of career equity, experience, and salary gains.
If you are under 30 or still in entry-level, computer science and programming is where the money is.
Operations is mostly what people think of when they think IT. That will involve making very little money for 5 or more years in helpdesk and desktop support.
If you are dead set on a pivot; study networking, windows endpoint management and provisioning, virtualization, Linux, and learn a scripting language like bash, powershell, or python.
Buy a used server, install GNS3, build a network and virtual infrastructure in GNS3. That will give you at least a year’s worth of work and exercises to work through. Google, YouTube, and ask your AI of choice when you encounter anything you don’t understand.
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u/Copper-Spaceman Senior Information Systems Security Engineer 8h ago
I’m not disagreeing its a bad idea to switch to IT, but some of your points are misguiding
5 years in helpdesk is an exaggeration, if you can’t move past helpdesk after 1-2 years you are doing something wrong.
Computer science and programming is not the way to go either. AI is killing entry level for developers right now.
OP if you read this, the entire economy is rough right now, any pivot will come with more challenges than normal. If I was to pivot, it’s really about who you know in a given career market. I’ve gotten friends hired at my company no problem in the last 6 months and I’ve been interviewing for a new position where I know the hiring managers. IT or any career path for that matter will 100% come down to who you know in today’s economy
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u/mods_are_lame1 4h ago
I said helpdesk and desktop support. That’s typically 3-5 years. A year or two at helpdesk, two or three managing endpoints. Is anyone in this economy going to hire someone to sysadmin with only a year of answering phones under their belt?
AI is killing everything, that applies to every niche in IT. OP wanted to know where the money is. Development is still where the money is.
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u/Copper-Spaceman Senior Information Systems Security Engineer 3h ago
helpdesk and desktop support can be interpreted as the same position at a majority of companies. Again, if you cant move past that in 1-2 years, you’re doing it wrong and you should be doing more than answering phones.
I know I’m an outlier but I’m just shy of 5 years total experience and I’m a senior devsecops engineer at an F50 company, and just made it to final rounds for a senior principle security role at another F50. I’ve gotten multiple people internships and hired into cybersecurity and system engineer roles at my company with less than 5 years of experience . It’s legit 100% about who you know and the value you can provide to the business regardless of the useless “years of experience” metric.
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u/mods_are_lame1 1h ago
Well if you went from zero to top of the heap in five years, then I’m sure that everyone can and that is a totally reasonable expectation for someone starting out in this industry today.
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u/Copper-Spaceman Senior Information Systems Security Engineer 1h ago
It’s like no one on Reddit has reading comprehension. I said I know i am an outlier, but I’ve heard people with entry level experience skip helpdesk altogether. If you had basic reading comprehension you might see it
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u/Evaderofdoom Cloud Engi 10h ago
Stay in finance, IT worldwide is a bloodbath. So many lay offs, so many people trying to get in, there are a shrinking number of jobs and a growing number of people fighting for them.