TIL switching careers takes way longer than anyone warns you

I spent 6 months trying to break into tech support from retail. Everybody online said 3 months of certs and you're good. It actually took me 14 months of studying CompTIA A+ and applying to 200+ jobs in Phoenix before I got a real offer. Has anyone else had a career shift take way longer than the internet made it seem?

2 comments

2 Comments

jenny_sullivan9729d agoMost Upvoted

Right but what nobody talks about is how a career change messes with your identity way more than your wallet. Like when I finally switched from retail to IT support I kept feeling like a fraud even after I got the job. My boss would ask me to fix a printer and I'd freeze up because in my head I was still the person who spent 8 years folding clothes, not a tech person. The interviews were brutal too because hiring managers kept saying "but you've never held a real IT role before" even though I had the cert. That mental shift from feeling like an imposter to actually owning your new career takes longer than any technical training.

elizabetha9229d ago

Gotta admit I used to think career changes were just a few months of grinding and you're set. This definitely changed my mind (and made me feel a lot better about my own timeline).