IT Or Car Trading?
Discussion
I'm at an age where I can still decide what I want to do, I always figured IT, specifically Cyber Security or Software Testing, however I can't say I'm really into IT, nor am I enjoying working in it, but I'm good at it. I do enjoy buying and selling cars, I could see enjoyment in one day running a specialist dealership. The real difference is I don't have a dream job, my dream is to live in America, specifically Florida. I know IT contracting could take me there, whereas car sales would be a massive task to consider it. I know the money is in IT, I'm good at it, and as I train more and do more and more towards going specialised I know I'll be in a position to earn a really good living for myself, but I can't see me ever being happy doing it. I could see me being happy in car trading, but I just don't see the real money there. IT is the smart thing to go for, but I'm just unsure if I'm ready to accept being unhappy for 7-10 hours a day until I retire. Or maybe I'm just being unrealistic, I know a large amount of people hate their jobs too.
Similar situation to you, I too work in IT (DevOps), I don't hate my job like you say you do however I accept that it isn't my 'passion', whereas I think something to do with cars is. I never plan to drop what I'm doing now to follow the path of something to do with cars...
Instead, I think the sensible option is to continue doing your job, upskilling and therefore increasing salary and/or putting you in the position to potentially have more time off, allowing you to spend more time getting something started in the car world.
E.g. Work weekdays 9-5 in IT and setup a side business buying/selling cars which you can do out of work hours. Until months/years down the line you're either making enough money to quit IT and pursue your car thing permanently OR drop a day a week or similar in IT to increase the time you can spend on car related matters.
Instead, I think the sensible option is to continue doing your job, upskilling and therefore increasing salary and/or putting you in the position to potentially have more time off, allowing you to spend more time getting something started in the car world.
E.g. Work weekdays 9-5 in IT and setup a side business buying/selling cars which you can do out of work hours. Until months/years down the line you're either making enough money to quit IT and pursue your car thing permanently OR drop a day a week or similar in IT to increase the time you can spend on car related matters.
Im 25 years down the road from you.
I work in IT as a contract PM, been contracting 20+ years.
I hate IT.
I love cars.
I wish I had gone down that route. Not mass sales like working for Ford etc, but specialized in either high end cars, or retro stuff. Xr3s, Xr2s, R5T, Uno Turbos, all the 90s still is making big money.
You have one life, if you can do a job that you consider a hobby then you will be a wealthy man.
Ive worked with many IT professionals. Many contractors. Many experts. All the top professionals have a similar `ism` like quality to them. Cyber Security, a good field, this decades `Y2K` if honest. Take GDPR !!!! money maker than. However, unless you live / breath it, then you will be like me, always wishing you went into cars.
I suppose it comes down to how much you love cars, and your age. Try it for a year and go back to IT if it doesn't work.
God I hate IT ! :-)
SBK
I work in IT as a contract PM, been contracting 20+ years.
I hate IT.
I love cars.
I wish I had gone down that route. Not mass sales like working for Ford etc, but specialized in either high end cars, or retro stuff. Xr3s, Xr2s, R5T, Uno Turbos, all the 90s still is making big money.
You have one life, if you can do a job that you consider a hobby then you will be a wealthy man.
Ive worked with many IT professionals. Many contractors. Many experts. All the top professionals have a similar `ism` like quality to them. Cyber Security, a good field, this decades `Y2K` if honest. Take GDPR !!!! money maker than. However, unless you live / breath it, then you will be like me, always wishing you went into cars.
I suppose it comes down to how much you love cars, and your age. Try it for a year and go back to IT if it doesn't work.
God I hate IT ! :-)
SBK
S9JTO said:
Similar situation to you, I too work in IT (DevOps), I don't hate my job like you say you do however I accept that it isn't my 'passion', whereas I think something to do with cars is. I never plan to drop what I'm doing now to follow the path of something to do with cars...
Instead, I think the sensible option is to continue doing your job, upskilling and therefore increasing salary and/or putting you in the position to potentially have more time off, allowing you to spend more time getting something started in the car world.
E.g. Work weekdays 9-5 in IT and setup a side business buying/selling cars which you can do out of work hours. Until months/years down the line you're either making enough money to quit IT and pursue your car thing permanently OR drop a day a week or similar in IT to increase the time you can spend on car related matters.
That sounds like a good course of action actually, I could see that as being quite viable. Instead, I think the sensible option is to continue doing your job, upskilling and therefore increasing salary and/or putting you in the position to potentially have more time off, allowing you to spend more time getting something started in the car world.
E.g. Work weekdays 9-5 in IT and setup a side business buying/selling cars which you can do out of work hours. Until months/years down the line you're either making enough money to quit IT and pursue your car thing permanently OR drop a day a week or similar in IT to increase the time you can spend on car related matters.
When I was 18 I went through the recruitment process at Fords. I was given a position at Polar Motor Company Redbridge.
For one reason or another the Managing Director said I looked to young to sell cars and couldn't work there. I digress...
I'm now 30 working in infrastructure in the city. I earn a hell of a lot more working in IT than I would working 6 days a week selling cars.
For one reason or another the Managing Director said I looked to young to sell cars and couldn't work there. I digress...
I'm now 30 working in infrastructure in the city. I earn a hell of a lot more working in IT than I would working 6 days a week selling cars.
sc0tt said:
When I was 18 I went through the recruitment process at Fords. I was given a position at Polar Motor Company Redbridge.
For one reason or another the Managing Director said I looked to young to sell cars and couldn't work there. I digress...
I'm now 30 working in infrastructure in the city. I earn a hell of a lot more working in IT than I would working 6 days a week selling cars.
Besides the point though mate, we all know by in large IT > car salesFor one reason or another the Managing Director said I looked to young to sell cars and couldn't work there. I digress...
I'm now 30 working in infrastructure in the city. I earn a hell of a lot more working in IT than I would working 6 days a week selling cars.
S9JTO said:
sc0tt said:
When I was 18 I went through the recruitment process at Fords. I was given a position at Polar Motor Company Redbridge.
For one reason or another the Managing Director said I looked to young to sell cars and couldn't work there. I digress...
I'm now 30 working in infrastructure in the city. I earn a hell of a lot more working in IT than I would working 6 days a week selling cars.
Besides the point though mate, we all know by in large IT > car salesFor one reason or another the Managing Director said I looked to young to sell cars and couldn't work there. I digress...
I'm now 30 working in infrastructure in the city. I earn a hell of a lot more working in IT than I would working 6 days a week selling cars.
OP - What happened to your desktop support role?
As a 40 year old with 20 years of IT under my belt
Do something you enjoy, if you don't really enjoy IT you'll grow to hate it
I'm in the unenviable position now of earning too much to change so am effectively stuck until retirement
Pick something you enjoy and try to monetise it, do it now while you can afford to make mistakes
Do something you enjoy, if you don't really enjoy IT you'll grow to hate it
I'm in the unenviable position now of earning too much to change so am effectively stuck until retirement
Pick something you enjoy and try to monetise it, do it now while you can afford to make mistakes
Ok - interesting thread - really interesting.
25 years into IT for me (including BSc Comp Sci)
Now, I am considering starting a specialist car type place............
OP, I don't know how old you are, or how much money you have behind you.
However, you're pretty much going to grow to dislike either job, it's a job.
The one thing IT will give you, is the chance to make enough money to do the things you enjoy.
I learned this in racing...........many professional racing drivers can't afford to race.........if that makes sense?
If you want to have cars as your profession, then don't let anyone stop you..........but selling cars for somewhere else is going to be an uphill struggle to make enough to do your own thing.
I should add, I've specialised in Software Testing for 22 years.............
What sort of very high level, CV do you have? PM if you want.
Also - Security Testing and Automation are the specialist subjects i'd be looking at now if I was a TA. That's where the money is going to be going forward.
Check out iTest, Velocity etc..........they're what we are currently investing in for one of my teams.
25 years into IT for me (including BSc Comp Sci)
Now, I am considering starting a specialist car type place............
OP, I don't know how old you are, or how much money you have behind you.
However, you're pretty much going to grow to dislike either job, it's a job.
The one thing IT will give you, is the chance to make enough money to do the things you enjoy.
I learned this in racing...........many professional racing drivers can't afford to race.........if that makes sense?
If you want to have cars as your profession, then don't let anyone stop you..........but selling cars for somewhere else is going to be an uphill struggle to make enough to do your own thing.
I should add, I've specialised in Software Testing for 22 years.............
What sort of very high level, CV do you have? PM if you want.
Also - Security Testing and Automation are the specialist subjects i'd be looking at now if I was a TA. That's where the money is going to be going forward.
Check out iTest, Velocity etc..........they're what we are currently investing in for one of my teams.
sc0tt said:
OP - What happened to your desktop support role?
Finished that in January, it was just a temp contract. Pretty much just something to put to fill space on my CV and put towards my car really. The Selfish Gene said:
Ok - interesting thread - really interesting.
25 years into IT for me (including BSc Comp Sci)
Now, I am considering starting a specialist car type place............
OP, I don't know how old you are, or how much money you have behind you.
However, you're pretty much going to grow to dislike either job, it's a job.
The one thing IT will give you, is the chance to make enough money to do the things you enjoy.
I learned this in racing...........many professional racing drivers can't afford to race.........if that makes sense?
If you want to have cars as your profession, then don't let anyone stop you..........but selling cars for somewhere else is going to be an uphill struggle to make enough to do your own thing.
I should add, I've specialised in Software Testing for 22 years.............
What sort of very high level, CV do you have? PM if you want.
Also - Security Testing and Automation are the specialist subjects i'd be looking at now if I was a TA. That's where the money is going to be going forward.
Check out iTest, Velocity etc..........they're what we are currently investing in for one of my teams.
Very interesting, I understand what you're saying, interesting what you said about racing as my dad had to give up racing superbikes in the early 90's and focus on his IT career due to expenses. I think I'd hate working in a branded dealership more than most jobs, especially as we go towards automation, I like the idea of working for myself which is why I'm now working towards IT contracting, starting out doing some basic IT contracts now looking into something more technical and specialised. SecTesting interests me, when I was in school I taught myself Kali out of an interesting in security. Right now my CV isn't anything massively impressive being 18, just GCSE's, list of completed contracts and the IT courses I've done, nothing near good enough to go for high end contracts yet; neither am I. What has always swayed me towards IT is seeing how well my dad and my uncle have done in it, whereas I've never been associated with anybody who's anybody in the car trade. As an above poster said which I see being a really good idea, I could work IT and make car trading more or less a hobby. 25 years into IT for me (including BSc Comp Sci)
Now, I am considering starting a specialist car type place............
OP, I don't know how old you are, or how much money you have behind you.
However, you're pretty much going to grow to dislike either job, it's a job.
The one thing IT will give you, is the chance to make enough money to do the things you enjoy.
I learned this in racing...........many professional racing drivers can't afford to race.........if that makes sense?
If you want to have cars as your profession, then don't let anyone stop you..........but selling cars for somewhere else is going to be an uphill struggle to make enough to do your own thing.
I should add, I've specialised in Software Testing for 22 years.............
What sort of very high level, CV do you have? PM if you want.
Also - Security Testing and Automation are the specialist subjects i'd be looking at now if I was a TA. That's where the money is going to be going forward.
Check out iTest, Velocity etc..........they're what we are currently investing in for one of my teams.
Be very wary of turning a hobby into a job.
I did that just over three years ago and it's killed most of the love I had for the hobby.
Part of the reason is that the industry I'm now in is quite low paid and with not a lot of opportunities to move your career forward. I'm at a point now where I'm thinking about supporting a family and buying a house and it's just not possible on these wages.
Perhaps things would be different and I wouldn't be looking to move on if the pay and prospects were better but I still regret turning a hobby into my job. I'm actually retraining in IT right now and constantly feel like I've wasted the last three years professionally.
I did that just over three years ago and it's killed most of the love I had for the hobby.
Part of the reason is that the industry I'm now in is quite low paid and with not a lot of opportunities to move your career forward. I'm at a point now where I'm thinking about supporting a family and buying a house and it's just not possible on these wages.
Perhaps things would be different and I wouldn't be looking to move on if the pay and prospects were better but I still regret turning a hobby into my job. I'm actually retraining in IT right now and constantly feel like I've wasted the last three years professionally.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Automation Tester has peaked my interest. This thread has given me some really valuable advice, more so than I was even looking for, so thanks a lot. I think for me, the smartest option is to stick with IT, trade cars more for fun, buying and selling cars I want then sell them on ideally for some profit too. Reflecting on it, there is too much money and potential in IT for me to pass up for an industry that's past it's peak. It's an interesting decision, like many I've been in IT now for 31 years and contracting for 20!!
I've specialised in cyber programme/project management and do OK out of it, although the contract market has been shrining for some time which I put down to Brexit amongst other things, but as has been mentioned it's lucrative but not exciting.
I've got a close friend who worked for a small IT reseller, doing OK but selling cars on the side he got fed up with IT and decided to go full time on the car sales, now he wasn't selling luxury sought after cars just run of the mill 2-5K motors that everyone needs, but again he really struggled last year and couldn't shift cars (Brexit?). Luckily for him he bought a VW T5 and converted it into a camper and loved the work so jacked in car sales as he wasn't making any money and now does camper conversions, in the 12 months he's been doing that he's snowed under in work with people coming from all over the UK.
I guess what I am trying to say is the grass isn't always greener, but hell if I was your age what have you got to lose?
I've specialised in cyber programme/project management and do OK out of it, although the contract market has been shrining for some time which I put down to Brexit amongst other things, but as has been mentioned it's lucrative but not exciting.
I've got a close friend who worked for a small IT reseller, doing OK but selling cars on the side he got fed up with IT and decided to go full time on the car sales, now he wasn't selling luxury sought after cars just run of the mill 2-5K motors that everyone needs, but again he really struggled last year and couldn't shift cars (Brexit?). Luckily for him he bought a VW T5 and converted it into a camper and loved the work so jacked in car sales as he wasn't making any money and now does camper conversions, in the 12 months he's been doing that he's snowed under in work with people coming from all over the UK.
I guess what I am trying to say is the grass isn't always greener, but hell if I was your age what have you got to lose?
aaron_2000 said:
I'm at an age where I can still decide what I want to do, I always figured IT, specifically Cyber Security or Software Testing, however I can't say I'm really into IT, nor am I enjoying working in it, but I'm good at it. I do enjoy buying and selling cars, I could see enjoyment in one day running a specialist dealership. The real difference is I don't have a dream job, my dream is to live in America, specifically Florida. I know IT contracting could take me there, whereas car sales would be a massive task to consider it. I know the money is in IT, I'm good at it, and as I train more and do more and more towards going specialised I know I'll be in a position to earn a really good living for myself, but I can't see me ever being happy doing it. I could see me being happy in car trading, but I just don't see the real money there. IT is the smart thing to go for, but I'm just unsure if I'm ready to accept being unhappy for 7-10 hours a day until I retire. Or maybe I'm just being unrealistic, I know a large amount of people hate their jobs too.
You'll almost certainly make more money in IT security than you will selling cars. MY problem when I was your age (not that long ago to be fair, I'm 26) was that I was good at IT but all I wanted to do at was drive! Luckily at 17 I got an IT job that involved lots of driving - a job I still have, although it's obviously evolved over time - so I got the best of both worlds.
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