I.T Careers and where to go next

[A.Gingell]

I recently started thinking about where and what I could be doing. I'm currently self-employed as a part-time I.T support role at a small company, having learned much on the job I still find myself not sure what to do.

I went to college almost 10 years ago now and unfortunately forgotten a lot of what I learned since not being in I.T career-wise.

The qualifications I got at college are as follows.
Level 2 BTEC 1st Diploma in I.T. Practitioners
level 1 BTEC 1st Diploma in I.T.

Could anyone offer any advice on what path I could go, or start heading towards going back into education isn't really an option unless a company is willing for me to learn as I work since I need to have income

 

[strollin]

When I was a young man (I'm retired now), I worked a full-time job during the day (had myself and a wife to support) and attended college full-time at night. It wasn't easy and took 6 years but I managed to earn an AA degree in Electronics and a BS in Management during that time.

These days with on-line schooling available, it should be possible to do something similar.

 

[Yami]

I recently started thinking about where and what I could be doing. I'm currently self-employed as a part-time I.T support role at a small company, having learned much on the job I still find myself not sure what to do.

I went to college almost 10 years ago now and unfortunately forgotten a lot of what I learned since not being in I.T career-wise.

The qualifications I got at college are as follows.
Level 2 BTEC 1st Diploma in I.T. Practitioners
level 1 BTEC 1st Diploma in I.T.

Could anyone offer any advice on what path I could go, or start heading towards going back into education isn't really an option unless a company is willing for me to learn as I work since I need to have income

Sounds like you're in the UK like myself. Since you have the Level 2 BTEC, I'd look at doing the CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ (in that order) certifications.
They're general certs that cover a lot of width and some depth, and are recognised industry-wide globally. They're good certs for opening doors.

With regards to the next steps in your career, what is there in IT that you enjoy particularly? I've always enjoyed security, so over the years (it sounds like you're only a couple years younger than me if you were in college 10yrs ago) I've done a netsec degree, worked in digital forensics, and am now a cyber security engineer working with products I love.