[Kia]

Hi. I am writing because I am seriously considering changing career paths. I am currently working towards my master's degree in social work, but I know that is not what I really want to do with my life. I wanted to counsel;but my grades were not high enough to get into the school of psychology; so I settled for social work. The other thing is having money is important to me, and I do not see that social work earns a lot of money; or it is hard to come by in the job arena. I do not want to live that way. I also realize that I will be paying back school loans for a while also. The social worker's I know are not making a whole lot of money.

I am thinking of switching to IT. I do like computrs alot; I just have not had any formal training in them outside of customer service; working with my own laptop, computer etc. I would take a 6 months A+ cerification class and look for a job. Is this enough to be competititive? Would I need to get another 4 year degre in IT? I currently have a bachelor's degree in Liberal arts.

I know that I like the money involved in IT as well as the continued potential to make more. Is it a hard field to start in?

In anyone's opinion, do you think it is worth leaving a MS program in social work to pursue an IT career? How long do you think it make take to make at least 40 -50,000 a year with a bachelor's and A+ certification; or do I even need a certification?

Anyone's help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[vingogly]

The average salary in northern Illinois (USA) for a PC technician I is about 40,000 per year. But that's for experienced as well as inexperienced techs; I'd guess you'd be starting closer to 30,000 per year. A four-year degree is not needed to be a technician. You're not going to make a lot of money as a technician

If you're in an MS program in social work, you presumably like working with people. You're right; social work (and counseling for that matter) does not pay well. You'll most likely be making in the 20s starting, even with a Master's degree (I have an MA in clinical psych and currently work as a counselor & coach, as well as having an MS in computer science with 24+ years as a software professional, so I know both worlds well).

I would be concerned that you're looking to go into a field where the focus will be on fixing things rather than relating to people; I wonder if you might consider more of a people-focused career. If I might make a suggestion... have you considered a human resources career? You'd be working on the people side of things, but your earning and career potential will be considerably better than in social work or PC maintenance.

If you'd like to research salaries for careers, a good site is salary.com.

[Fr_Chuck]

One factor to consider in many government positoins, esp in social work, often some states have programs that will forgive your student debts after a number of years of work,

But work is really work if it is not something you like to do, Salary is not that important if you hate going to work every day.