Changing careers at 16 years into a job, is it realistic?, IT help-desk technician here

I want to move from IT help-desk technician to something with more stability. There are 16 people counting on me, so I am trying to be careful. I have a little time and a small budget for training. Did you take a pay cut?

I took a small pay cut for a year, and it was worth it for the growth afterwards.