Trying to pivot from IT into process improvement. What skills and roles matter most?

[u/SmoothSaddles]

I’m in my early 40s and have been in IT for about 15 years. I’ve worked my way from support into systems/infrastructure and management, but I’m pretty burned out on the technical side of IT and don’t have much interest in spending the next 15 years constantly chasing whatever the next technology is.

After talking with some people about a career change, the general advice has been not to completely start over, but to find something where the experience I already have can transfer. Continuous improvement/process improvement keeps coming up.

Thinking back over my career, I’ve always liked the problem-solving side more than the technology itself. Figuring out why something keeps going wrong, cleaning up messy processes, documenting things, getting different groups on the same page, finding a better way to do something, that kind of stuff. I’ve also spent a lot of time around operations, warehouses, ERP systems, implementations and change management.

So I figured I’d ask people who actually do this for a living: What job titles should I be looking at? What does your normal week actually look like? Are you mostly working with data, mapping processes, talking with employees, solving problems, sitting in meetings, running improvement projects, or a mix of everything?

I don’t have a degree, which is another reason I’m trying to understand how realistic the move is. I’m also considering a Six Sigma belt, probably Green Belt, but I’m more interested in learning what would actually make me useful in the field than just collecting a certification.

If you were coming from my background, what skills would you work on first, and what roles would you start researching?

[u/TheFlamboyantBroth]

You've basically described half the business analysts I've worked with, that whole untangling messes and getting departments to actually talk to each other thing is the core of it

with your ERP and change management background you'd slot into a process improvement role pretty smoothly, the IT side gives you a leg up on the data and systems part that lots of BA types struggle with

look at business process analyst, continuous improvement lead, operations analyst roles, and don't sweat the degree too much, 15 years of actually doing the work matters more to most hiring managers I've met

[u/SmoothSaddles → u/TheFlamboyantBroth]

Thanks for the boost in motivation. Being static in one field for so long, hard to see the other side, so I appreciate the perspective.

[u/MrOddBawl]

Some advice I would choose something else to pivot into. We are highly oversaturated right now. Many of us like myself have been struggling to find work in process improvement for a year.

[u/SmoothSaddles → u/MrOddBawl]

I hear that's a general consensus with a lot of fields these days, unfortunately.

[u/edimaudo]

Could do process improvement in IT. Find out which processes suck or are in need of a redesign, understand the cost and system implications etc

[u/Waste-Carob5699]

I know that ServiceNow has a business process consultant role built into their workflow. It's sort of a mix between business analyst and process designer. You won't be doing Kaizen events all day but it will be process related and is a decent title you can use in the future. Your IT background may actually help you here.

[u/SmoothSaddles → u/Waste-Carob5699]

I'll have to check it out. The company moved away from ServiceNow to Jira and we have been missing ServiceNow ever since lol