Why It Is So Hard To Change Careers After 20 years

For the past 20 years I have worked in one way or another in the computer industry. I have designed and managed web sites. I have developed custom software to fulfill a clients needs. I have sold, repaired, and refurbished hardware. I have spent hours running network cabling through cramped spaces. I have even helped people remove viruses and spy-ware from their machines.

When it comes to computers, there is little I do not know. I am the go to person for all my friends and family when they have a computer issue. But computers are not now, nor have they ever been my true passion. Working with computers was merely a means to an end, and that end occurred two years ago.

Long before I graduated from high school I knew that I wanted to teach. I had so many inspirational teachers and I could see the results of their hard work. I knew that I wanted to do that. I knew that I wanted to teach children new things. To see the joy in their faces when something new and interesting was presented to them.

Alas, during the latter part of my primary education, right around my Sophomore year of High School, I received a computer as a Christmas gift. It was a Commodore 64, and it was cool. I was the only person I knew that had one. I could make it do all sorts of things. It played games, music, and it was easy to develop software on. For whatever reason, computers got into my blood, and I began a 20 year odyssey that would ultimately return me to my first passion.

In April, 2009, I enrolled in the University of Phoenix to begin work on an Associates Degree in Elementary Education. I knew that this would be a long road and there would be problems along the way. I was ready for the challenge, or so I thought. Even though I was going to school on-line, I found it very hard to focus on my work. Sure, I found work here and there and I have been able to stay afloat, but that is getting harder every day.

Finally, at the beginning of this year, I decided that I needed to get out of the computer world completely and focus on my new career. That has proven to be the most difficult part. You see, I am 40, overweight, and have zero skills outside the computer world. In short, I am the typical computer programmer trying to live in the non-programmer world.

Well, almost. I am currently completing the last block of classes for my Associates Degree. It has been just over two years, and I have done very well. Unfortunately, I still have two more years to go, plus some time to test and earn a teaching certificate, before my dream is realized. However, this is a great first step.

I have recently been looking into opportunities for me to use my two-year degree to get started in the education arena. The unfortunate part is that I am earning this degree at about the same time that schools in my area are nearing summer vacation, so it will likely be the fall before I can really do anything productive. Had I considered this when I started, I may have postponed my start date a few months to coincide with the school calendar.

The struggle here has been two-fold. First, I found it very difficult to focus on any work that I was doing, and this cost me at least two jobs that could have helped me get through this two year period. Second, when I made the decision to sever my ties with the computer world, I found it nearly impossible to find any work due to lack of skills in anything but computers. I have spent the last full year looking for work, and failing.

I made a mistake. I chose to make my education a priority. Though in the long run I know that this will help me provide a better life for my family, this past two years have been very difficult. Unless I find work, the next two will be even more difficult. Going forward, my priority will be to provide for my family, and my education will have to work around that. I leaned a valuable lesson - family first, than career.