Making a Change

Thinking about switching a hobby or interest into a career? Read on.

I thought for my first proper post here I would take a bit of time to consider how I ended up where I am today.

I’d been mainly in security jobs after leaving University for various different companies, some worse than others, but I fell into the work even though I didn’t really enjoy any of it. Then in late 2017, motivated mainly by the enhanced salary, I decided to apply to train as a bus driver. It was while spending 40 hours a week on your own essentially that I decided I needed to make a change.

I’d always had an interest in IT and enjoyed playing with computers and learning how they worked. I was also the go-to technical support for the family (occupational hazard now) and I wanted a career rather than a job.

I decided to take my credits from Worcester University and migrate them over to start to study part time at the Open University on a Computing, IT and Business course which I started in March 2019. I hoped that it would get me somewhere closer to where I wanted to be.

I completed my first IT module and I really wanted to find a role that would allow me to develop my practical skills at the same time as studying so I started looking around the usual job sites for anything available. To start with it was the chicken or the egg problem, roles asking for experience but not prepared to take a chance on someone eager to learn but with no practical experience on their CV.

I hadn’t considered Edu IT until I saw the job advertised and I just about got through the application form (sorry folks, we’re a MAC and are required to use the standard application forms not CVs!). I eventually got to the end and sent it off, thinking it would likely be another thanks but no thanks.

Luckily for this story it wasn’t and I got the chance to interview. This was the first time that I met Matt and saw how infectious his enthusiasm for Lourdes IT is. I felt the interview went well and I was delighted when I got the call offering me the job.

I started in February 2020 and then COVID-19 happened! Another blog for another time…

10 months in, would I recommend it? Absolutely. Every day is different with a new challenge and working on site is great, I’ve always enjoyed working independently and you still have the support of the team in the office when you need it.

If you’re thinking “I want to do that”, I’d encourage you to keep an eye on our vacancies page and get your application form in next time we are recruiting!