How old are you? I am assuming you are more interested in the trades?
If you like to travel go work for an airline. You could work as an aircraft mechanic if you are willing to go to trade school or work in one of a few different jobs around logistics or baggage handling. None of these jobs are customer facing, are often Union and you get to fly the world for free. Just make sure you get on with an international carrier or switch to one as soon as possible.
Mid-30’s working for a tech company as middle level leadership for the support department and need to find something new. Trades are certainly a consideration, especially having a family member or two that have gone down that path.
Well, if you are good at following very precise directions and documentation. Then being an aircraft mechanic could be a thing. Yeah you need some mechanical savvy too, but it’s all procedures. The one thing is you will work nights for the first ten years. Most maintenance happens over night when the planes are sitting at the gate waiting for the next day.
The certificate is called airframe and powerplant or as most people know it A&P certified. It is actually two different certifications but you need both to get anywhere.
What don’t you like about your position now? I spent 10 years in support department management and it drained the life out of me at the end. I moved into Infrastructure administration without any direct reports and now make better money and have fantastic work life balance. Pure tech is ezpz compared to running a team.
Probably not far from what you ran into. I’m 12 years into it and just losing my mind. I have an absolutely amazing boss and teams and managers under me that I mostly adore, but it’s just taking a toll mentally it seems.
Not sure if it’s the endless MVP products that never get touched again, the broken releases or just the bottom falling out of the tech industry but I’m just spent and have been so for a while.
How was your transition to infrastructure management? Did you have previous experience in that?
My management experience was at smaller companies, so I simultaneously ran a team and acted as a technical escalation point. It was actually a step down in technical skills to take an Infrastructure job at a big company - I suddenly wasn’t expected to know everything about everything and also only had to worry about myself.
If your positions have been pure personnel management you might not be able to move into tech as easily. In that case you might want to look into project management or compliance.
I’ve been on both sides and to this day am still a technical escalation point for some products even as a director. I’ll take a look at both that you suggested though. I kind of have a love/hate with project managers so not sure I could look myself in the mirror for that one. :)
How old are you? I am assuming you are more interested in the trades?
If you like to travel go work for an airline. You could work as an aircraft mechanic if you are willing to go to trade school or work in one of a few different jobs around logistics or baggage handling. None of these jobs are customer facing, are often Union and you get to fly the world for free. Just make sure you get on with an international carrier or switch to one as soon as possible.
Mid-30’s working for a tech company as middle level leadership for the support department and need to find something new. Trades are certainly a consideration, especially having a family member or two that have gone down that path.
Well, if you are good at following very precise directions and documentation. Then being an aircraft mechanic could be a thing. Yeah you need some mechanical savvy too, but it’s all procedures. The one thing is you will work nights for the first ten years. Most maintenance happens over night when the planes are sitting at the gate waiting for the next day.
The certificate is called airframe and powerplant or as most people know it A&P certified. It is actually two different certifications but you need both to get anywhere.
Appreciate the additional details, that gives me some place to start with additional research.
What don’t you like about your position now? I spent 10 years in support department management and it drained the life out of me at the end. I moved into Infrastructure administration without any direct reports and now make better money and have fantastic work life balance. Pure tech is ezpz compared to running a team.
Probably not far from what you ran into. I’m 12 years into it and just losing my mind. I have an absolutely amazing boss and teams and managers under me that I mostly adore, but it’s just taking a toll mentally it seems.
Not sure if it’s the endless MVP products that never get touched again, the broken releases or just the bottom falling out of the tech industry but I’m just spent and have been so for a while.
How was your transition to infrastructure management? Did you have previous experience in that?
My management experience was at smaller companies, so I simultaneously ran a team and acted as a technical escalation point. It was actually a step down in technical skills to take an Infrastructure job at a big company - I suddenly wasn’t expected to know everything about everything and also only had to worry about myself.
If your positions have been pure personnel management you might not be able to move into tech as easily. In that case you might want to look into project management or compliance.
I’ve been on both sides and to this day am still a technical escalation point for some products even as a director. I’ll take a look at both that you suggested though. I kind of have a love/hate with project managers so not sure I could look myself in the mirror for that one. :)
I appreciate you sharing thoughts and ideas.
What is infrastructure administration?
Just a higher level sysad.
The military is also an option. If you’re a US citizen, you can enlist until the age of 39 in either the Air Force or the Navy.