Can Accounts and Finance with 13 years experience enter in to IT developer role

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• Mario

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  05 January 20

  Hi Raghavendra,

  In theory it is always possible to switch tracks into IT. You must take into account the realities of how hiring happens in this sector, and if you have decided it is something you would like to do you must prepare for it, plan for it, and go after your goals with complete determination. Bear in mind that you'll very likely be competing with candidates who will be much younger, and therefore likely to cost much less than you do. It's great that you have picked up certain programming language skills on your own, as that already demonstrates your aptitude.

  
  Python, followed by Java, would be good additional languages to learn. There are many courses available online, and what's best for you will be one that gives you a good blend of theory with hands-on practice. There are many that are good, even if they are not the same. Choose one that awards you certification based on tests, has been given positive reviews by a lot of people, and which suits your budget. The certification will be important as it provides a benchmark for a hiring organization, given that you do not have a professional background in IT.

  Go step by step, pace yourself according to how much time and money you can invest in acquiring new skills at every stage. Read up on industry news and job ads to understand the hiring trends. According to what you find out you can decide whether to continue to do more courses or pause and look for opportunities with what you already have.

  Perhaps the most important additional thing you must do while you learn is to network with people from whom you can find out who's who in your target industry, and who can help lead you to real job opportunities and help you get noticed individually. Otherwise, the reality is that you may find it hard to compete against thousands of other aspirants who may cost much less and already have enough solid experience in development.

  I would also suggest leveraging your experience and understanding of accounting and finance as much as possible, so that you can also try to get a foothold using your business domain expertise. You would need to find out which companies do software work for a client or clients involving accounting/finance. They would surely need domain experts apart from horizontal technology skills.

  The bottom line is that making a complete career switch requires you to frame a series of consecutive goals, focus on each one, and go after them one by one with determination.