Which New Career?

What Markets Could Provide These Opportunities?

The LearningLolly team has been helping people to consider these questions for many years now. And the only market that we've consistently found to tick all the right boxes is the Computing and Information Technology (I.T.) Industry. If we take a look at many of the other markets available for re-training, like the Construction Industry, Banking & Financial services, Life and Sports Coaching, and many others besides, then you'll see that they've all experienced problems to some extent, and have a history of being very up-and-down over the years, with both jobs and growth.

Did you know for instance that there are 1.1 Million jobs in the UK I.T. Professional market-place. That's far more than most people realise. The last E-Skills survey was showing a 26% national skills shortage - which equates to nearly 300,000 vacancies being available. That's a lot of jobs with less competition than is usual. We're not saying that you can walk into any one of those jobs; you'll almost definitely find that the vast majority of them are not available to you, even after some training. But, you can bet that out of 300,000 jobs, there are a few in there somewhere for you!

And importantly, I.T. is not what many people expect it to be:

It's not just sitting in front of video screens all day.

Many I.T. jobs involve a lot of physical movement and interaction with people as well as computer-based work.

There are a huge variety of roles to suit all personality types and ability levels.

You could be up & about, working with many different people. Maybe out on-the-road, attending to clients.

There are very 'hands-on' practical roles through to highly analytical and thoughtful roles.

There are also many creative roles, where you get to be part of a finished product you can feel proud of.

You could be a white-collar professional working for a large Blue-Chip company.

Or maybe a casually-dressed, easy-going type working in a small family-owned business.

And let's not forget that it's probably one of the most exciting and ground-breaking industries you could be involved with. To be working on the cutting-edge of technology is to be a part of the massive changes that will affect us all over the next generation. So many people believe that technology has come so far, and that we've seen the major changes happen already. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We've only just begun to scrape the surface of how technology will affect our lives in the future. Computers and the Internet will profoundly change the way we see and interact with the world around us over the next few decades. It really is a very exciting time to be a part of I.T.

The security of the industry also can't be in any doubt. It's not going anywhere. Again, we don't have a crystal ball - but we're pretty sure computers and information technology are here to stay! It already affects every part of our lives. You can't even turn on your lights, cool or freeze your food, draw cash out of a machine, use a credit card, pay at a till, watch TV or listen to music without the use and support of computers and technology. Like it or not - it's irreversibly tangled up in our day-to-day lives.

Being an I.T. Professional also carries significant recognition & status. If you're the person in your family that everyone comes to now for help on the computer, then you know what we're talking about already. Being a qualified professional in any industry comes with a lot of peer approval, but in I.T. it goes a step beyond that, as most people have a certain awe and even fear of computers and technology. Being qualified in I.T. accords you a certain social status and authority which can be very personally rewarding.

So... let's discuss careers in the Information Technology industry...

Next: Choosing An IT Career