Am I too old to move.

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mr_bobo@reddit

Why do you want to move into management and why is a larger org? Interviewers don't need to know your age, you can tweak your resume to mask the length of your career. If you have serious concerns, consider local government/civil service, at least as a stepping stone. They don't pay as well but they have a more limited pool.

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StiffAssedBrit@reddit (OP)

My company is tiny. Literally a handful of people. Any company would be larger. I'm finding that I already spend more time organising customers, engineers, third party support and generally making sure things are done, when they need to be done, by the correct people. I've found that I'm good at it, and quite enjoy it. I just wish I didn't have to constantly break off because Liz from XYZ company, will only talk to me about her first line email issue, as I'm the one she's talked to for the last 20 years.

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tickpig@reddit

Age discrimination over 40 is real, so don't quit until you have a guaranteed job lined up.

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StiffAssedBrit@reddit (OP)

Thanks. I'm fully aware of that so don't intend to.

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StiffAssedBrit@reddit (OP)

That's one of the kickers, for me, at my current job. Younger guys are getting training, while it's just assumed that I already know it all, so I don't need it, when of course, I still need training in very new stuff.

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bjc1960@reddit

I am about your age. One thing that helps is demonstrating continued learning.

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msconley2172@reddit

Stan up, admit you're tired of the bs, grab your cv, edit out anything other than the last 10 years. Make multiple versions to showcase the talents you have and tailor it towards each firm you want. Then hit it as hard as you do your regular job and make it happen.

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AdderallBuyersClub@reddit

Become a IT Project Manager. We need more project managers with IT experience. And your age should not be a concern if you know what you are talking about and doing. Getting sick of having to work with Becky Sue who graduated from Wharton School of Business with 3 MBAs and is a project manager in IT. All while probably making ten times our salary and refers to us system engineers as techies and gurus. And always has to make a weekly follow up meeting for a project that is 6 months away from starting. Asks questions on how will Active Directory be integrated with the application. And how will Active Directory know who to allow in the app. You know how many times i have been asked if the sccm agents has been pushed to all the workstations at a site? I am up to 47! I wish I was kidding. Same question weekly.

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StiffAssedBrit@reddit (OP)

I must admit that I want to do a project management course. I think it would be the most useful new skill I could gain at the moment.

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SysAdminDoc@reddit

Some foolish companies will discriminate on age but not all. There's a company out there right now desperately wishing to hire someone with your experience/talents and with a significant bump in pay too. Good employers know how important a mature seasoned tech is for their company.

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Hot-Many4275@reddit

Things to do to not let people know how old you are on your resume: Remove graduation years/dates Only show relevant information from the last x amount of years necessary. So if the job wants 10 years experience in something then only show your last 10-15 or so years of relevant experience.

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ikothsowe@reddit

Don’t underestimate the amount of politics in larger orgs. It can dominate your life. Also, if you value your tech skills, why do you want to go into mgmt? Because if you make that transition, your hands on days are over, especially in a corp environment. A team lead role might be a nice compromise, but once you get that “manager” title that’s it, your existence is now budgets, meetings, HR stuff, policy definition and implementation and the bane of my life “strategy planning”.

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StiffAssedBrit@reddit (OP)

TBH I'm finding myself more involved in planning, for various customers, and I've realised that I really enjoy it.

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ikothsowe@reddit

If you enjoy it then go for it. I hated the prospect of losing my hard earned tech skills and walked away from my first proper management role. I moved into the software vendor world, on the product side. Now tenure and experience are dragged by me back into the management stuff. It pays the bills.

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grublets@reddit

Don’t tell people how old you are, just apply and let your resume open the doors. Experience is essential. If you have old jobs going back to the mid-80s (like me), you can easily leave the older ones out. Especially if the work is irrelevant in the modern world. Those kinds of old war stories are for lunch or the pub after work. Some food for thought: I was in a managerial role for a few years starting ~10 years ago and learned to hate it. I’m happy in front of an IDE or command line coding or problem solving, not working in Excel or making PowerPoint presentations. I’m back to no staff, being a full time geek, and am happier than I’ve been in ages. YMMV, of course. FWIW we’re pretty much the same age.

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cyborgspleadthefifth@reddit

My go to line in interviews is "if this position would have me spending more time in powerpoint than a CLI it's not a good fit for me"

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lordvadr@reddit

I keep the source code to me resume, written in LaTeX in gitlab and there's a clickable link in the PDF version that points there. I've repeatedly told those interviewing me that I encourage them to go through the commit history and the commented out older positions and nitpick about typos and the like. I like when an employer weeds themselves out for me.

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Ifuqaround@reddit

They do this? I apply and it's like nobody ever looks at my resume. I applied to something earlier this week and received a text message asking me how much experience I have in similar positions. I mean...just look at my resume... I didn't respond to them. If you don't have time to look at my resume I really don't care to engage with you any further.

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lordvadr@reddit

I don't know if anybody ever has. But I've talked about it in plenty of interviews.

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grublets@reddit

That is a bloody brilliant idea.

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lordvadr@reddit

It builds in a container, supports (and auto detects) docker, Podman, buildah, and works on Linux and MacOS. I do this cloud thing a bit to much.

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The-Jesus_Christ@reddit

Not even the 80's. I leave out jobs from earlier than 2007 or where the knowledge is dead. IE, my jobs in the early 2000's working on Novell Netware, Lotus Notes, etc.

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BrainWaveCC@reddit

I go back 10 years max, pretty much.

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WendigoHerdsman@reddit

US here but no, we brought on a someone here nearly identical to you. A burned out, MSP, jack of all trades, that we hired for a specific skill set we had lost. It took him some time to relax, enjoy the slower pace, and only have to worry about his area. He is a source also a of great knowledge in other areas that we bounce ideas off.

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tshirtandpants@reddit

West Yorkshire UK here, if you want to move then you can do it. It may be worth applying for senior engineer roles and laying out your ambition at interview. I’ve done some job hopping to find what I’m looking for and nearly all the places I’ve been to are looking for engineers to step into more managerial duties/team leader. Get on job sites and tailor your CV to whatever buzzwords recruiters are looking for, then at interview be clear about what you want. Worst case, they don’t hire you. Best case, you walk into a job that excites you again. Best of luck!

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StiffAssedBrit@reddit (OP)

Thanks. I'm going to update my LinkedIn as I've never really used it. A friend of mine has just walked into a new role, and doubled her salary. She's loving it so far. I suppose that's kicked me out of my stupor.

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americaisnottheworld@reddit

Linkedin is huge. Having some activity raises it up. It's a key tool recruiters use for IT staff in the UK.

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americaisnottheworld@reddit

Right now there's a huge shortage for good it managers due to Brexit. If you talk to a recruiter I would expect you have interviews within a week. There's plenty of places hiring in Leeds and Manchester for the kinda role you are looking for. If you go even further south towards London there is really high demand. I know multiple places that have been struggling for a long time to attach people around London. Age doesn't matter as long as you have experience and can show the knowledge you have obtained.

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JoeJ92@reddit

We just hired a Head of Infra and a Head of Service Delivery in the last year, both of which are mid 50s. Age is no issue.

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StiffAssedBrit@reddit (OP)

Thanks. That's encouraging.

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STUNTPENlS@reddit

Here is my take as a 60+ systems manager. In my experience, in IT you will experience a large amount of ageism. IT, especially those jobs which are more 'tech' related (and less managerial related) are viewed as "younger people" jobs because you know us old farts can't operate a microwave or cell phone so how the fuck can we program in C# or know how to use Azure or K8S. However, if you're looking to move from an engineering role into a management role, I would recommend you hire a good resume writing consultant who can tailor your resume for one or more positions you're looking for, to highlight your experience in those areas which would allow you to make that transition.

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farguc@reddit

Ur never too old to change things. I literally just hired a dude in his mid 50s b3vause he seemed like a good fit. Hes a wealth of knowledge he can share with the other guys and is not afraid to learn himself. Defo dont hold urself back just because ur in ur 50s.

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Josepsp@reddit

I was for ages a single-man orchestra dealing with all the department in 100-250 users companies. I thought I wanted to manage people in big corp and eventually landed a job doing that. Oh boy was that a miserable experience. Hostile-ish environment ("take over-and-close the site" merging), a quite sub-par team of MSP engineers that was assigned to me without any control. (I only managed to reject a couple ones that did not actually know even what AD was), literally zero documentation from previous IT, and so on. Having to deal with useless subordinates was half the worst part of it. The other half being my unreachable manager abroad and non existing team to ask for help. I ended putting 60+ hours/w to get things done. Extremely stressful miserable time. It seriously impacted my mental health. I guess I was unlucky as the environment was plainly toxic, but this took a toll. I just hanged the gloves for a couple years, and when I got the spirit to go back to work, I looked only for low level positions. I am currently working remote as bare sysadmin/L2 support. I turn off the computer when my shift is over and the job concerns disappear then. I do nicely my share and enjoy my life afterwards. Salary is crap but it has always been, and at least this is not graying my hair and keeping me awake by night.

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StiffAssedBrit@reddit (OP)

I fully understand what you're saying. To a certain extent that's my problem where I am. We are very good. A small MSP but customers like us because we are accessible and responsive. Unfortunately we've been the victims of our own success, in that the demands on us are way exceeding our ability to supply. Too many projects, too many calls, too few staff. I find myself stuck wasting time on L1 and L2 calls because there's no one else to do it. That's putting projects behind, that's why I feel that I'm wasted. And the money is crap!

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Ifuqaround@reddit

You'll find some employers who look at age and experience as a good thing. If it's an upper-level position and you have a degree you're probably more mobile. No degree...don't know.

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asmiggs@reddit

I work for what for a relatively new company led by Millennials, when they got in some older guys their experience made a step change in opportunities and organisation. Your experience brings a lot of value don't do yourself down.

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dangitman1970@reddit

Sounds a lot like me. I'm in a job using barely 5% of my technical knowledge and none of my talents for troubleshooting and adapting. I'd like to find a job using more of what I can do, but with MSPs taking over the world, I find such jobs to be getting fewer and fewer. While I have no wish to get into management, I would like to be able to find a job supporting Windows Server in all its inherent uses, VMWare or Hyper-V, storage, and backups, but all that's getting adopted by MSPs, and MSPs are horrible to work for, and horrible for their customers. I hope someday soon management of small and medium sized businesses will realize that MSPs are a horrible idea that is costing them far more than it is saving them.

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chargers949@reddit

My manager is 61 and was hired January this year at $225k usd / year. But she has both MBA degree from university Southern California and SSI clearance. She came from lockheed and we work for defense department so those matter in our industry.

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thenewguyonreddit@reddit

Honestly I see your age as an advantage. A lot of tech companies are full of under 35 youngsters running around that frankly could use some steady guidance from a more experienced professional.

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Parity99@reddit

Nope, if you have the skills and experience, you'll be in demand.

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-acl-@reddit

Not at all. I think you are probably selling yourself short if anything. With age comes experience and maturity. So those two things you can't buy or fake so they have to be earned with the high price of time. You paid the price, now put it to work. Look more for leadership positions and see if you can brand yourself as a multiplier. So look into leadership positions and see if you can pass down some of that experience. Good luck.

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Acehehjufd@reddit

You’re never too old to improve yourself

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michaelpaoli@reddit

>too old to move. > >I'm 56 Nope ... you're not too old. When you're dead you're too old, ... in the meantime, not. I'm older than you by fair bit ... and made major move - and significant increase in compensation too - within the past year. >56, but I don't feel it Great ... so get a move on! >Would anyone even consider me at that age Certainly. Just think of all those years of wisdom, knowledge, and experience. Heck, ... I have some grey hairs ... and people look at me like I know sh\*t. Well, yes, I do ... but that brand new shiny thing that's only existed for six months ... how many years of experience were you expecting me to have on that? Anyway, sure ... I know stuff ... but others do too. And sure, I'll also know stuff they don't or don't yet know ... whatever.

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Imaginary_R3ality@reddit

Are you too old to regret it if you don't? Get busy living or get busy dying Mate!

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Iamnotapotate@reddit

Get out there after it. Look for consulting companies. I'm not familiar with the UK markets but in NA I would recommend IBM, CGI, Capco, Kyndryl, CapGemini, PWC, etc. Some of those are global, so they might be options.

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chandleya@reddit

My mom was a net/sec professor at a community college until she turned 59. Got laid off from a variety of things gone wrong at the school. 3 years later she’s a security manager for an F100 making 2-2.5x salary at 62. Don’t sell yourself short!

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kissassforliving@reddit

No way! I am in my forties and my favorite teachers were in their sixties when I started back in the nineties. I am sure you have knowledge and skills that companies want. Many skills are overlapping if you have good organizational skills along with follow through. You can totally do it. Fear holds us all back because of “what if?”. Sometimes you have to push through.

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mr_dajabe@reddit

Nah mate get out there after it.

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AgainandBack@reddit

I moved after getting fired at 54. Landed at a new gig in three weeks based on a referral from inside the new company.

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