mid 20s, male
grad'ed 2 years ago with a degree in accounting
worked in the industry for a while, didnt feel like doing it for the rest of my life
why i chose accounting? Long story (tl;dr : bad decisions + peer pressure)
decided to try something else that i have interests in (IT field)
did bootcamps, not bad so far
familiar with html css python, basic laravel bootstraps and react
made my own website with the things i have learnt
got offered for an intern role, but the pay is too low to even pay the bills
and im competing with tons of cs degree holders out there, not sure how can i nego for higher pay
at the same time thinking of getting into sales too since i dont reject the idea of talking to people



right now its either:
bite the nail, go for the intern and work another job

or go into sales while dedicating some time into making my own coding portfolio

idk man, feeling real lost atm, not sure where to go

thanks sifu for yer opinions

This post has been edited by sweet_pez: Mar 22 2023, 11:04 AM

apologies for the typo
supposed to be feeling lost not lose haha

Oh, and some info
My savings are running low and i have student loan to pay for

not sure how long would it take for the self-taught route for me to reach like 5k in pay

feels like the sales route will reach it much quicker idk

Freelance?

Sorry but I'm not familiar with IT. But you are young and have the capacity to switch fields now. When you are older with more commitment will be difficult.

if you have the passion and can suffer for few months,i think its probably a good move
in 90% of the time, coding job doesnt required you to understand how bits work and how your code created an object and stored in which part of the memory etc, but requires other skills like communication and domain knowledge, if you have some domain knowledge on accounting, it will be helpful in your IT career for sure

Build up your own git profile, this easily beat many degree holder out there, and learn how to react with API. Some old school HR out there might still looking for degree holder for the position, but a fresh degree and self-learner basically have not much different these day.

Ni, many are asking about git portfolio. It will help for someone with your level.

I do not have and was sideline...

I am in the AM role. So that is that..

Good luck bruh.

PS I do not have CS degree but rather Physics degree and doing AI now.

If you are below 30 u are still young

Either u work in current job save up enough to start smtg of your own like small business or just change career now n see how it goes

U still have time

If after 30 or 35 want do drastic change like this will be too late

Sales is good too u can consider doing sales on the side like weekends? Many do sales for mutual funds or smtg like that during weekends just to suppliment main income

Know 2 guys that did accounting, A and B.

Both don't like accounting

both were from the same public acctg firm as auditors

After audit, A decided to take up Masters in IT. Graduated, work in IT. Didn't like it, then do Sales. Lost touch, dunno what happened to him.

After audit, B stuck on to Accounting, went to commercial. Though hated it, but slough it out. Slowly salary risen. Not exactly thaat geng. But in the end, earn below 20k by 40yo.

Valid opinion
Maybe A landed a tech sales role and doing well atm who knows, which field in IT did he graduated with by the way?

good for B, there are of course people like him where persistence prevailed while at the same time ive also seen people in accounting industry whos salary didnt break pass 5k despite having over 5 yrs exp, maybe B has ACCA or MIA?

Those people at B, that still earn < 5k.

must be those that don't dare to change job after 3 years, stay at Company that is not doing well, cannot pay increment and bonus, then stay on.

very rare to have this kind of people if they have paper cert.

Most of those who < 5k are the ones without paper cert.

My dude, I highly recommend you to get certified as a data scientist. This website has a list of free online data science courses that would legit boost your resume and marketability:

https://www.onlinecoursereport.com/free/dat...-certification/

Data scientists are in high demand right now globally and the job pays really well so if you can do it and you like it, go for this career change.

This post has been edited by lamusiqa: Mar 21 2023, 03:34 PM

job market must be really good for the city B is living in, if he doesnt have ACCA or MIA at the first place
or he's got something that allows him to stand out from the massive supply of accountants over demand
or he is lucky to land onto the right company that values his skillset appropriately
the reason for my guessing is that, i have joined lots of accounting groups (mainly Malaysian's) and seen lots of topics discussing salaries stuff
earning 5k+ even for senior account exec is not as common (normally 4500+- for west malaysia), even for a accounting degree grad unless he is in the big 4 which is already highly competitive
if that person managed to break pass 5k after only 3 years exp dude's gotta be having real good networks, or very good at what hes doing

Heck i also have friends in the accounting industry, the ones who managed to break 5k within 3 years exp are the ones in big4 and only during peak seasons

the problem right now is how likely am i going to be able to secure a job, as in competing with cs grads?
I have wasted too much time trying to learn something and then remained jobless for months just because job market isnt good over here (east malaysia)

breaking 5k without qualification is not hard.

In fact I know one lady without qualification, she is in AR. She switched a few jobs, sometime thinking she is invulnerable because high demand, but when she became AR head, she realized she could not go any further than the salary earned by a AR head.

Because the more higher finance paid jobs are CFO, financial controllers, consolidators, business controllers, budget controllers, costing, etc are not available to her.

She's been in the AR line too long that she does not have the technical abilities to do full set acc, statutory, mgmt acctg, taxation, financial modelling.

but if one wants to break above certain psycological barrier its a lot harder.

This post has been edited by mezanny: Mar 22 2023, 12:11 PM

Is ok sometimes we are lost but YOLO men. Don't need to save and just need to find ways to earn more

Bro, i'm also 20's but quite lost too... Not sure if my career is suitable for me

With your knowledge in accounting, does either Risk or Compliance have any interest for you? Looking towards both technology risk and technology compliance can be an area where companies are willing to hire people with accounting backgrounds (e.g. banks).

Sure, I mean for one people I know making bank in the industry there is, at the same time, at least 5 people I know ended up changing career because things aren't working out for them. Among the 5 people some of them have even better equipped soft and hard skills than that one person

I also know people who made it to the top with just networking alone, and kept telling people how hard he worked to be where he is

Ofc their efforts are undeniable, you can also tell me I'm trying to consoly myself but....you get what I mean

Their efforts are undeniable, but sometimes those aren't enough

Who is born into a job?
Isn't that slavery?

Search your thoughts & time spent, find what are your interest.
Search online see what topics, news & matters do you value.
Look at the career prospect for that list of interest.

Pick one, focus on it, make it work.

If you cannot find anything then washing dishes in Singapore can earn SGD3500 per month x 3 = RM10k+
Save RM5k a month x 12 = RM60k and invest in good company stock market.
Along the way doing a good job, employer may promote you, higher salary.

The sky is not your limit, your height is your limit. So think smart.
The most critical change you can make in your life is, who you marry.

Anyways, would it be a good idea to quit the internship when I finish the 3 month mark, get another full-time job while do the learning on weekends, then when I saved enough and decided my portfolio is good enough, apply for a job at west msia?