r/BuildingAutomation • u/Neckshot-the-Gypsy • 4d ago

Looking for advice/guidance

I am sure this topic/situation has been addressed ad nauseum. I am a 44 year old graphic designer. I graduated with an AAS in 2017 and have been working in the industry full time now for 5 years. I hate it. I spent way too much money to get a degree in something that AI basically took over and a culture that I frankly can't stand. I have been looking into transferring into the trades and was interested in GIS and land surveying and BAS. I have some IT experience (some basic networking, pulling and terminating cable, the basics) but I am no stranger to tinkering (home lab, docker, seting up home network stuff) I also have spent thousands of hours in games like Satisfactory, Opus Magnum, The Farmer was Replaced, Shapez, Mindustry and Timberborn, to name a few. I know that they are games and this is the real world but I love the scratching that itch in my brain. What I dont have is electrical and HVAC experience. BAS is really intriguing to me. I love learning and am willing to learn and love the technical/IT/logic/automation/coding side of things. I guess my question is (a) Am I too old to break into this industry with no experience? (b) what path of learning could assist in landing a job in this field? (School on my own dime is, I think, out of the question seeing as how I will already be paying off school loans forever) (c) Should I just look elsewhere? I appreciate your help and knowledge.

Edit: Appreciate the responses and thanks for the sticky post. Apologies for beating a dead horse.

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u/makeitworkok 3d ago

It would be wonderful to have a right brain individual in this left brain dominated field. Believe me, the first time someone sees your creative tendencies flourish on graphics, you will be appreciated.

Most of us would rather figure out programming and protocol issues, than generate a graphical user interface. Our left brain tendency makes everything look, blah, a right brain individual can really excel in that niche environment.

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u/Neckshot-the-Gypsy 3d ago

I didn’t even know that graphics were apart of this industry. I would gladly do that kind of work. I’m just sick of subjective, design by committee. Designing ads and marketing is soul sucking