Hi,Some friends told me about this site. I hope you can all help me.I am currently a support technician working within a small IT department for a large company, but I have always wanted to become an IT consultant. I don't have a university qualification, but have worked within IT for 5 years.Do you think I will have any chance of breaking into the market? If so, how?

Eddie, with respect, there is a world of difference between a support technician and an IT consultant, and you're unlikely to have built up enough skills to support such a move. The easiest way to build those skills is to move into IT project management and demonstrate several successful projects -- but even then, your lack of degree will likely be a big stumbling block, especially if you're hoping to join one of the big boys.

Three words; slim to none

Unfortunately, I have to concur with the general sentiment that this will not be an easy move.Over a longer time period, one possible route is to move gradually, via internal IT roles, to a position where you are effectively doing internal consulting. Network lots along the way, take interest in the business issues that your work is involved in (as well as the IT aspects), learn as much as possible and work bloody hard. Not only will developing these skills and knowledge help you become a good consultant, but they will also help you make lateral moves to avoid your career stalling when you being trapped in a duff role or under a duff boss.I'd advise developing your career and good reputation in the one company if you can, rather than moving around too much. Therefore, it helps to be in a big company (where there are internal career opportunities) which develops its people. If you need to move into that type of organisation, now is the time to do it whilst your resolve is strong.Naturally, it will take a while to work your way through the organisation to where you need to be. Maintaining your career focus will be a big challenge. In the meantime, collect as many qualifications as possible - you can get a decent degree through distance or part-time learning and you might even get your work to part-sponsor it.Should the timing work out, if you've been lucky, and if the economy's in the right place, you should end up with your degree and appropriate experience at about the same time (perhaps 3-5 years from now). You can then leverage the industry and technical experience you've picked up to move into an IT-oriented consulting role.At the end of the day, you don't need to be that smart to be a consultant and the degree is really just a passcard to get through the front door. From there, your network, experience and personality will serve you as well as anything. On the way, you may even decide that consulting isn't worth it and you're better off in an industry role in terms of lifestyle, stress and earnings.

Eddie,This isn't an impossible move. As an experienced hire, a proven track record and demonstrable experience can count for more than a degree.I'd suggest specilising in a particular area which can give you a transferable skill into the 'consultancy' environment. As you develop your consultancy skill set then you can branch out into different specialisms if you want to.For you I'd suggest some like; ITIL Service Support expanding to ITIL Service Management. Following the ITIL framework will give you options to project management, system security. Developing a network a contacts is key though and gaining credibility amongst that network will assist greatly.

When I was at Accenture, the 'solutions' workforce was made up of people who did not always have the 'typical' education associated with a "Big n" brand. You could try one of these routes into Systems Integration, which is essentially IT consultancy. I worked as a Consultant with a group of deep tech people who had skills in a specific development language or infrastructure background, such as SAP Basis.Have you thought about a route into a shared service provider or outsourcing firm such as Atos Origin (I think) which might allow you to get an established brand onto your CV?