What would you do in my situation?

I am a computer professional with 23 years in the business doing
different functions. I have support, admin, database, networking, and
as of late, QA. I find I am getting more and more pigeon holed into QA
and I don't really enjoy it. I don't have a great desire to move into
management, as I really enjoy hands on engineering work. I have a BSCS
and I'm 54..

Anyway, recently they had some layoffs where I work. I am completely
burned out on the high tech sector of employment. I want to take my
skills and move into a non high tech environment that is more secure
(Bio-tech, health-care, etc). The thing I enjoy most is systems
integration and networking. So, I'm thinking what skills could I
improve, or certifications could I get, to improve my chances of
getting into one of these sectors in an admin/security role. I firmly
believe age is a huge factor here, that they would be looking for
somebody my age to have management experience. Am I wrong?

Taking all of this into account, what advice could people give me as to
the best path educationally to take to meet my goals?

Thank you,
Jim

Re: What would you do in my situation?

jtpryan@gmail.com sez:
....I'm thinking what skills could I
> improve, or certifications could I get, to improve my chances of
> getting into one of these sectors in an admin/security role. I firmly
> believe age is a huge factor here, that they would be looking for
> somebody my age to have management experience. Am I wrong?

Sysadmins commonly believe that you don't train for admin role,
you get sucked into it -- if you are the right man for the job.

Dima
--
Well, lusers are technically human. -- Red Drag Diva

Re: What would you do in my situation?

In article ,
Dimitri Maziuk wrote:
>Sysadmins commonly believe that you don't train for admin role,
>you get sucked into it -- if you are the right man for the job.

Where "right man" includes "least senior", "least political power",
and "had stepped into the washroom at the time the decision was made".

Re: What would you do in my situation?

Walter Roberson sez:
> In article ,
> Dimitri Maziuk wrote:
>>Sysadmins commonly believe that you don't train for admin role,
>>you get sucked into it -- if you are the right man for the job.
>
> Where "right man" includes "least senior", "least political power",
> and "had stepped into the washroom at the time the decision was made".

Heh. Yeah, there is that. There is also the ability to get things
to work -- if you can do that, consistently, somehow you end up
sysadminning even if your job title is "Senior IT Developer".

Dima
--
We're sysadmins. Sanity happens to other people. -- Chris King

Re: What would you do in my situation?

You're not wrong, experience in this type of industry is a very
valuable commodity, one that different industries are willing to pay
top dollar for, you just have to decide what level of commitment you
want to give. An employment agency would have you working on your
terms in no time.

Reagrds,


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