Changing careers at 17 years into a job, is it realistic?, payroll clerk here

My layoff made me rethink whether to stay in my field. There are 17 people counting on me, so I am trying to be careful. I have good customer skills and I am comfortable with spreadsheets. How did you start?

I began with informational chats, then a short online course, then a related entry-level role. It took about 7 months.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.