Vedaa
Beta member
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- Location
- Alexandria
Hi all,
Newest member here. I am an college graduate with an English degree. I graduated two years ago and have been making my way in the DC metro area as a proposal writer. I despise it, it's very boring and doesn't pay well. In short, my talents are wasted on writing these proposals.
I am very interested in IT. My mom is an IT healthcare specialist. Because the field of IT is so vast, I have no idea what she does, though. I have recently been considering moving to my hometown, where there are considerably fewer proposal writing jobs, and all of which, are high level head manager level positions. It wouldn't really make a difference to me if they were entry level positions in proposal writing though, being that I hate this. So, luckily, in my youth I'm realizing that I need a career change. I'm bored and unsatisfied, and at the end of the day, paying $1200 in rent to live in a region that affords me to work at a job that...I hate! So, clearly it's time to head out!
As I was looking at entry level jobs down there (Richmond), I noticed that job qualification of "must be ITIL Foundations certified" kept popping up. I was searching for jobs like "program analyst" "project analyst", things that have an entry-sounding level to them. Let me back up a bit.
See, my company is using me as a "body" to fill a position on contract that essentially makes me a business analyst. I'm their sole proposal writer, but I'm also a program analyst/project analyst/business process analyst, whatever you want to call it. So, I actually write proposals all day long.
But, I am also officially listed as our company's point of contact to the government for business analysis. This is for a certain IT system. I get an email from the on-site person every day, telling me that the system is fine. Thusly, I count that, and I got some IT management experience!
Now you might say that this is sheisty of me, but its actually not outlandish when you consider what I write about. I've got extensive experience writing about service life cycle development, requirements measuring, program management, the various best practices that go along with them, what the difference between SCRUM and waterfall and Agile development is--I know it all because I've been slinging these ITIL words together to form some persuasive argument about these exact subjects for a full two years now.
So you see, I think that I could get one of these jobs. When a job requires a year of "IT-management related" work, and an unspecified college degree, and an ITIL foundations certification, all that I'm seeing that I'm missing is the ITIL cert. I know that I could pass this. And its like $200. So, we're doing this people.
But here's my conundrum. After I pass the ITIL exam--what job do I apply for? I know nothing. I know that there is a "management track" and that my talents, degrees, and experience will probably lead me down that road. You're probably thinking "Why doesn't she just apply to the ones that she saw she qualified for?" Because, I don't want to realize in 5 or even 2 years that I picked the wrong track and am now having to make yet another career change.
The simple problem is: I don't know what entry level positions correspond to which careers. Could someone please help me and tell me what field a recent liberal arts graduate with some experience in IT should move into? Where can I work in the IT world? I'm smart, great problem solver, and great communicator.
In addition, on literally every single "What Should I DO With My English Degree" list, I always see "IT Project Manager". Who are these people that became IT project managers with English degrees, and how can I become one of them!?
For real though, thanks for reading to the bitter end. I hope to get some great advice from you all.
Newest member here. I am an college graduate with an English degree. I graduated two years ago and have been making my way in the DC metro area as a proposal writer. I despise it, it's very boring and doesn't pay well. In short, my talents are wasted on writing these proposals.
I am very interested in IT. My mom is an IT healthcare specialist. Because the field of IT is so vast, I have no idea what she does, though. I have recently been considering moving to my hometown, where there are considerably fewer proposal writing jobs, and all of which, are high level head manager level positions. It wouldn't really make a difference to me if they were entry level positions in proposal writing though, being that I hate this. So, luckily, in my youth I'm realizing that I need a career change. I'm bored and unsatisfied, and at the end of the day, paying $1200 in rent to live in a region that affords me to work at a job that...I hate! So, clearly it's time to head out!
As I was looking at entry level jobs down there (Richmond), I noticed that job qualification of "must be ITIL Foundations certified" kept popping up. I was searching for jobs like "program analyst" "project analyst", things that have an entry-sounding level to them. Let me back up a bit.
See, my company is using me as a "body" to fill a position on contract that essentially makes me a business analyst. I'm their sole proposal writer, but I'm also a program analyst/project analyst/business process analyst, whatever you want to call it. So, I actually write proposals all day long.
But, I am also officially listed as our company's point of contact to the government for business analysis. This is for a certain IT system. I get an email from the on-site person every day, telling me that the system is fine. Thusly, I count that, and I got some IT management experience!
Now you might say that this is sheisty of me, but its actually not outlandish when you consider what I write about. I've got extensive experience writing about service life cycle development, requirements measuring, program management, the various best practices that go along with them, what the difference between SCRUM and waterfall and Agile development is--I know it all because I've been slinging these ITIL words together to form some persuasive argument about these exact subjects for a full two years now.
So you see, I think that I could get one of these jobs. When a job requires a year of "IT-management related" work, and an unspecified college degree, and an ITIL foundations certification, all that I'm seeing that I'm missing is the ITIL cert. I know that I could pass this. And its like $200. So, we're doing this people.
But here's my conundrum. After I pass the ITIL exam--what job do I apply for? I know nothing. I know that there is a "management track" and that my talents, degrees, and experience will probably lead me down that road. You're probably thinking "Why doesn't she just apply to the ones that she saw she qualified for?" Because, I don't want to realize in 5 or even 2 years that I picked the wrong track and am now having to make yet another career change.
The simple problem is: I don't know what entry level positions correspond to which careers. Could someone please help me and tell me what field a recent liberal arts graduate with some experience in IT should move into? Where can I work in the IT world? I'm smart, great problem solver, and great communicator.
In addition, on literally every single "What Should I DO With My English Degree" list, I always see "IT Project Manager". Who are these people that became IT project managers with English degrees, and how can I become one of them!?
For real though, thanks for reading to the bitter end. I hope to get some great advice from you all.
