Tired of Troubleshooting? Why Not Start Your Second Career As An IT Mentor?

Working in IT can be an incredibly fun and rewarding career. That being said, there’s no denying the fact that, no matter your specific role, people who work in IT spend a lot of their time ‘putting out fires’. Sometimes this can be an exciting challenge, but it can also be stressful and exhausting.

So what can you do when you need a break from troubleshooting? How can you put your IT knowledge to work without burning yourself out?

Taking a Break From Your Full Time IT Role

If you’re feeling tired of your career, then you should absolutely consider taking a career break. On the other hand, taking a break can be expensive, especially if you don’t have more work lined up to take that place.

Fortunately, IT workers are in an almost unique position that makes it far easier for them to take a break from their regular careers without dropping off the map entirely. As a vocation, IT is incredibly versatile, meaning that there are all kinds of ways you can put your skills to work including a variety of part-time, independent/freelance roles.

Whether you’re working as a contractor, a consultant, or just taking the occasional freelance job to pay the bills, the benefits to independent work cannot be overstated when it comes to combating office burnout. You’ll be able to set your own hours, to choose your clients, and to work from the comfort of your own home.

If you need to cut the stress and take some time to yourself then freelancing is the perfect way to fund your career break.

Making The Most of Your Expertise

But how can you decide which freelance role is right for you?

Do you want to help a small team work out the kinks in developing their latest app? Or are you the ideal consultant for combatting office networking issues?

It probably comes as no surprise that, here at Career Navig8r, we believe being a mentor is an outstanding way to maximise your potential as a freelancer. As a mentor you can advertise your skills and set your own rates. In other words, you can find the people who need you most. Instead of tailoring yourself to someone else’s needs, your mentees will find you and you’ll be exactly the person they’re looking for.

Furthermore, being a mentor is an excellent way to relieve stress because much of the work is simply explaining how you do what you do. There’s far less responsibility than you might face working at a company or even with a regular client. So long as you’re giving your mentee the honest information they’re looking for, then you’re doing everything that’s expected of you!

The Perfect Career Bridge

Another major reason that people worry about taking career breaks is the classic question, “but won’t that look bad on my CV?”

While this is a reasonable and legitimate worry, it can sometimes get blown out of proportion. Your CV is worth being concerned about, but your health should always come first. Besides which, plenty of companies are willing to hear you out. After all, they wouldn’t ask the question if they weren’t willing to accept an answer.

Working as a mentor is an excellent answer to that question because not only does it demonstrate a dedication to staying in work, it also shows a continued interest in and knowledge of IT as a whole. Furthermore, mentoring is a great way to prove your communication skills. Put simply, if you can say, “I taught this person IT and now they work for so and so”, then that proves that you’re both a great teacher and an expert in your field.

New Challenges

There’s nothing more frustrating than solving the same problem over and over again. Before long you start to feel more like a human encyclopaedia than a thinking person, robotically churning out the same solutions over and over again as the same problems occur.

This can be a problem for IT professionals working at any company and while these repetitive tasks are usually offset with more engaging problems, this is not always the case. So what can you do when your job starts to feel the same, day in and day out?

By becoming a mentor, you’ll be able to take the same ideas and principles you use on a daily basis and apply them in whole new ways. After all, when you’re teaching your mentee, you’ll be helping them to gain a broad understanding and that means the exciting chance to venture outside your usual wheelhouse.

If you want to move beyond the dull, daily grind, cut down on your stress, and take some time to yourself, then why not sign up with Career Navig8r and start your part-time career as a mentor?