At a career cross road
Discussion
As the title, i am at a career cross roads and I am concerned about making the wrong decision, as I am sure most people are when they come to a situation like this.
I currently manage a small support team and also deal with all of the IT issues in the company. My background is IT.
There is a change coming (which I have no problems with at all, it will ultimately be a good change) and it is this that is the source of my concern. The change is that I need to decide if I want to remain as the support manager OR continue to look after the IT. The option to do both is not an option any more with good reason.
If I went down the path fully with management, my role would possibly change from being the support manager for the UK to being more a global support manager. I would also end up doing more reporting, revenue generating etc. Future prospects include the possibility of moving to another part of the business in the future / possibly replacing the person above me who is the COO when they decide to leave, which could be any time up to 3 years or beyond.
If I went down going back to pure IT, there is the risk of being out of a job at some point as there aren't enough people in the company for a full time IT person, and the group we are part of has their own IT, which I suspect will likely be taken over by them (which would be the sensible option).
My concern is that if I go down the management route, I'm giving up a 24 year IT career pretty much, as I don't see it being easy to get back into IT after a few years out of it. Alternatively going down the management route would potentially open other doors for me either in the group or at other companies as I will have deeper experience of being a service delivery manager of sorts.
If I go down the IT route, I can always go back to management later on as I'll still have experience, and it could be that management opportunities arise if I left my current company and joined a new one through internal promotion. However, I do not specialise in anything, I am a jack of all trades engineer and feel that i would probably have to start low down the pay scale again to specialise in something. How long it would take to get back to where I am financially I do not know.
My worry is simply making the wrong decision. And by wrong decision I mean financially. As a specialist in an IT field I could potentially have better earning power than a manager, but initially I could be worse off.
I'm nearly 40 years old, I want to make the right decision and I don't want to be looking back in a few years time wishing I had taken the other route.
Has anyone been in this situation before? What did you do? How did it work out for you? Any regrets?
Also happy to take onboard any advice, opinions etc, but also realise that it is my decision. I am not asking anyone to make my mind up for me.
Sorry for the long post.
I currently manage a small support team and also deal with all of the IT issues in the company. My background is IT.
There is a change coming (which I have no problems with at all, it will ultimately be a good change) and it is this that is the source of my concern. The change is that I need to decide if I want to remain as the support manager OR continue to look after the IT. The option to do both is not an option any more with good reason.
If I went down the path fully with management, my role would possibly change from being the support manager for the UK to being more a global support manager. I would also end up doing more reporting, revenue generating etc. Future prospects include the possibility of moving to another part of the business in the future / possibly replacing the person above me who is the COO when they decide to leave, which could be any time up to 3 years or beyond.
If I went down going back to pure IT, there is the risk of being out of a job at some point as there aren't enough people in the company for a full time IT person, and the group we are part of has their own IT, which I suspect will likely be taken over by them (which would be the sensible option).
My concern is that if I go down the management route, I'm giving up a 24 year IT career pretty much, as I don't see it being easy to get back into IT after a few years out of it. Alternatively going down the management route would potentially open other doors for me either in the group or at other companies as I will have deeper experience of being a service delivery manager of sorts.
If I go down the IT route, I can always go back to management later on as I'll still have experience, and it could be that management opportunities arise if I left my current company and joined a new one through internal promotion. However, I do not specialise in anything, I am a jack of all trades engineer and feel that i would probably have to start low down the pay scale again to specialise in something. How long it would take to get back to where I am financially I do not know.
My worry is simply making the wrong decision. And by wrong decision I mean financially. As a specialist in an IT field I could potentially have better earning power than a manager, but initially I could be worse off.
I'm nearly 40 years old, I want to make the right decision and I don't want to be looking back in a few years time wishing I had taken the other route.
Has anyone been in this situation before? What did you do? How did it work out for you? Any regrets?
Also happy to take onboard any advice, opinions etc, but also realise that it is my decision. I am not asking anyone to make my mind up for me.
Sorry for the long post.
It's going to come down to what floats your boat.
If you enjoy the hands-on, nuts and bolts side of IT then you may well find life in Management dull and dreary. But then opposite may apply. So the first thing to think about is what you enjoy doing more than what's going to earn you the most because if you don't enjoy something either you'll not earn your full potential or the money won't be worth the tedium.
The one advantage of management is that you retain more control over your own destiny. Your earning potential over the long term will be greater too. Overall, I would say that management offers a wider and better range of virtues.... but this comes with added responsibility and work.
I made the leap from Graphic Designer to Account Manager when I was in my early 30s. This was driven by me recognising that whilst I was a decent Designer, others were better and I would be better suited managing design than designing myself. This led to me starting my own agency - something I don't think I would have done had I stuck at Graphic Designer.
HTH
If you enjoy the hands-on, nuts and bolts side of IT then you may well find life in Management dull and dreary. But then opposite may apply. So the first thing to think about is what you enjoy doing more than what's going to earn you the most because if you don't enjoy something either you'll not earn your full potential or the money won't be worth the tedium.
The one advantage of management is that you retain more control over your own destiny. Your earning potential over the long term will be greater too. Overall, I would say that management offers a wider and better range of virtues.... but this comes with added responsibility and work.
I made the leap from Graphic Designer to Account Manager when I was in my early 30s. This was driven by me recognising that whilst I was a decent Designer, others were better and I would be better suited managing design than designing myself. This led to me starting my own agency - something I don't think I would have done had I stuck at Graphic Designer.
HTH
TLDR; if you can't decide it probably doesn't matter, both work. 
It's important to drive/steer a career and not just be a passenger..... but I'd say that it looks like you're not doing that and you're actually thinking about things, which is great!
To a certain extent, if you can't really decide which way to lean, chances are both are good & will work. And if you do one thing you can probably, if you need, reverse that decision and go on the other path.
All I'm saying is don't put too much stress/weight into this decision. Enjoy it. You can't have everything in life, one door closes, another opens, don't be too much of a passenger, but also enjoy the ride! Not worth getting too stressed over this one, both good options
It's important to drive/steer a career and not just be a passenger..... but I'd say that it looks like you're not doing that and you're actually thinking about things, which is great!
To a certain extent, if you can't really decide which way to lean, chances are both are good & will work. And if you do one thing you can probably, if you need, reverse that decision and go on the other path.
All I'm saying is don't put too much stress/weight into this decision. Enjoy it. You can't have everything in life, one door closes, another opens, don't be too much of a passenger, but also enjoy the ride! Not worth getting too stressed over this one, both good options
I don't work in IT personally so my post maybe entirely irrelevant but regardless here goes:
A couple of years ago I was considering promotion within my field and given I work in the public sector there would really be no going back to my previous role for a number of reasons but mainly it's just not the done thing.
I was 38 at the time (40 now).
My position is that at my current level on a current income basis I earn more than my line manager and annually on a good year I can earn more than his line manager such are my skills and training at the level I'm at I am regularly sought by other teams within the organisation to work extra hours, weekends, days off etc and enhanced pay which is voluntary but I do it, they don't have a need for managers to do the extra work I can do.
The main benefit for me from promotion would be a better pension at the end but I would have to go up two levels to make it interesting for me in that respect.
I will be out of this career in 10 years, maybe a bit longer but mid 50's would be my max and I have seen colleagues go for promotion and regret it bitterly for various reasons including one who has really flown up but still says all the enjoyment of the job is gone chasing a pension.
I spoke to my wife about it and we are not rich but we are comfortable and have a good work life balance so I've made the decision to stay where I am and accept that I won't be going any higher but I'll be happy and will hopefully see my time out in a job I enjoy.
I suppose the moral to my long winded post is look to do what's going to make you happy, none of us know how long we have anyway.
A couple of years ago I was considering promotion within my field and given I work in the public sector there would really be no going back to my previous role for a number of reasons but mainly it's just not the done thing.
I was 38 at the time (40 now).
My position is that at my current level on a current income basis I earn more than my line manager and annually on a good year I can earn more than his line manager such are my skills and training at the level I'm at I am regularly sought by other teams within the organisation to work extra hours, weekends, days off etc and enhanced pay which is voluntary but I do it, they don't have a need for managers to do the extra work I can do.
The main benefit for me from promotion would be a better pension at the end but I would have to go up two levels to make it interesting for me in that respect.
I will be out of this career in 10 years, maybe a bit longer but mid 50's would be my max and I have seen colleagues go for promotion and regret it bitterly for various reasons including one who has really flown up but still says all the enjoyment of the job is gone chasing a pension.
I spoke to my wife about it and we are not rich but we are comfortable and have a good work life balance so I've made the decision to stay where I am and accept that I won't be going any higher but I'll be happy and will hopefully see my time out in a job I enjoy.
I suppose the moral to my long winded post is look to do what's going to make you happy, none of us know how long we have anyway.
I'm co fused as to why you think moving into IT management is moving out of IT?
It seriously isn't, I ended up as an IT Director for a financial services company but still needed to be up to speed on the IT issues in the company and out in the big bad world. Sure, I wasn't fixing issues with the IT, but I was making the decisions around the direction of the company IT, technologies to use etc etc etc.
Now I'm not saying you want to do that, but moving into management is definitely not giving up IT
It seriously isn't, I ended up as an IT Director for a financial services company but still needed to be up to speed on the IT issues in the company and out in the big bad world. Sure, I wasn't fixing issues with the IT, but I was making the decisions around the direction of the company IT, technologies to use etc etc etc.
Now I'm not saying you want to do that, but moving into management is definitely not giving up IT
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