J-Cave

How to get (back) into IT

last modified by Jan Holbo Rasmussen · 4 min read
How to get (back) into IT
Table of Contents

Update July 2026

At the end of 2024, I got a small contract job doing as an End User Support Specialist at HAVI Logistics in Vejle. That meant that I could a little bit of what I did before, though it was main level 1 work, with very limited access into Microsoft 365 admin, Intune, etc. The rest of the week, I continued being a Charity Fundraiser.

Then mid-January 2025 I was offered a 2 month contract as an IT Supporter with Mansoft, providing Level 1 & 2 support from the Digital Workplace department of a manufacturing company in Stilling, as well as helping out our sister department Manufacturing IT, whenever there was an IT-related stop on a production line. This position got extended twice until late May 2025.

And then I was offered my current position with another customer, heading up a small Internal IT department of a SaaS company in Copenhagen. Again with Mansoft, but this time as a full-time Permanent position as a Senior IT Supporter and Service Delivery Manager.

So I am back into IT!


How to get back into IT

I have had the #openforwork tag on my profile on LinkedIn for some time, as I would like to pivot my career back into IT.

I was originally trained as a programmer in the late ’80s early ’90s. Back then the paradigm was System Analysis and Design - you analysed the current system with both its manual and electronic processes and then defined what you would implement as software and what was to remain or being reimplemented as manual processes - some of these could be turned into software at a later date if needed and the costumer would pay for the extension. Back then the main programming languages was intel 8086 assembly, Pascal on PCs, C on Minicomputers and COBOL on a Siemens Mainframe (all of our computers were Siemens computers btw).

And then again around the turn of the century I went back and did another programming course - this time the Paradigme was Object Oriented Analysis and Programming - and the laungauge of choice was Java. The delivery paradigm was shifting from delivering the entire system in one go to a more waterfall.

Now, since my two programming educations I have done almost everything, but IT work - I have been a sales clerk in a supermarket, sold IT hardware and solution, been a warehouse worker, done office work, worked with young people and been a pastor among other things. I have also recently worked as a 2nd lvl IT Supporter for two years doing everything from Network, backup, M365, computer, printer, server and software support and currently I am working as a fundraiser.

I am a 52 year old man and what I lack in recent programming experience, I make up for in a wide work experience and also a curiousity for the industry. I am great team player and can also work on my own. I am open to a wide number of jobs - Operations, Development, DevOps, Infrastructure, Consultanzy, Support - and I have written quite a few applications and have been to a few interviews, but has yet to land a job.

So how do I pivot? I am not alone so I still have to make a living, while trying to pivot - thankfully I have a job that pays the bills and even one that I can scale back while doing part time projects, so I am also open to that.

Let me know in the comments, if you are in the same situations - or perhaps you were in a similar situation and have suceeded in pivoting? If you are hiring, what would you be looking for? What qualities would make up for lack of recent experience? What could I try to brush up on in my spare time? Are certifications helpful or a waste of time?
(image created by openart.ai)

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