Hi there. I am writing for some careers advice hopefully to get a feel for what is out there and whether i am going in the right direction. I have worked for the same company for 28 years starting as office clerk to supervisor to IT manager to now project manager. Although i enjoy working for the company my career seems to be driven down the wrong path for me. Whilst working in IT I found the knowledge of writing bespoke software programs in microsoft access and have become quite an expert in word, excel and all sorts of report writing. I have wrote Purchase order systems, maintenance systems, invoice systems, Document management system, Customer relations system , well all sorts. Overall i have probably wrote around 100 different systems, all of which are well received. In excel I can pretty much do anything creating graphs for KPIs, writing macros, using excel with access etc etc. Anyway, i was eventually promoted as you can only write so many systems for one company but this has disappointed me as although I still maintain them it is still an area i love and want to stay involved in as i am motivated by the satisfaction of creating something and finding solutions to problems.

Just recently I have got the bug for wanting to go self employed . I know i can make a go of it but just dont know if the work is out there during these hard times. I want to do the research to find out but dont know where to start. Hopefully feedback from this thread will be a start. :)

Hi me again. I just want to add to this that my gut feeling is that there must be small companies out there who are not willing to pay expensive costs for off the shelf software which always includes modules they dont need. I write mini programs which look professional and are bespoke to what anyone wants at a much cheaper price. My collegues often say I am mad not to go alone with the knowledge i have but as you can appreciate its a big risk when I have a good job already. Thanks for reading my threads.

Why not try small advertising or sending information of the type of programs you write to prospective customers, (under no circumstances send them to the customers of your current company!!) This may give you an indication if it's a viable business and could take a few months even years to do so. You may need to speak to a solicitor if you go down this road, as there may be legal implications. Alternatively, how approachable is your current employer? Could you discuss your thoughts with them? You may be able to go self-employed and sub-contract to your current employer so you will still have some income whilst building up your business.

Hello mayfield. Thank you for that. I should mention that I would be writing programs from scratch not selling those on from work as my programs tend to bespoke anyway to the companies needs. Yes its a good idea to talk to my current employer as I do feel they would possibly still want to use me anyway for future work. Well I hope so any way. Best regards