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posh spaz posted:What is your current job situation? Experience? What are you long-term goals? I'm employed full-time in Austin as a financial analyst for a small company and have been here 2 years (~30 total employees). Since it's a small company I wear a lot of hats that are not all finance related. Right now, I've implemented several things, given ideas/input, and have a very good understanding of how our business works. There isn't really anywhere to move up within the company since my boss is the CFO and the finance department is only 3 people, but it's stable and I like being here. Before this, I worked for about 2 years at a company that was all about making your numbers everyday that had no upward potential. I didn't like that. I hear that company lost their contract and doesn't exist in my city anymore. Long term, I'd like to make more money at a place that has some kind of upward potential. Staying in Austin would be ideal, but I'm not sure how feasible that would be in my field so I'm open to moving anywhere. I'd like to learn more about how other businesses operate, do more finance related work, and work for a larger company. I don't think I need an MBA right now, but I haven't been looking for jobs and I'm not sure how to best advance my career. I think now would be a good time to get an MBA and my boss would be supportive. The company may even pay for a small portion of it (I would guess 10% or less). It's all still hypothetical right now. I'd have to get into a program first.
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Oct 6, 2014 19:56
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I think the ideal time to get the MBA would be if you had enough experience to go in at the CFO or controller level upon graduation. That would probably require 5-7 years of lower-level management, which you won't be able to get at your current job. But, if you have a job you like, and your boss is flexible, doing a part-time MBA might make sense. MBAs are a lot more common than they used to be, and it might give you a leg-up to get an analyst manager role at a bigger firm. I guess I'd just apply to the programs, and go from there.
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Oct 6, 2014 20:25
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Ultimate Mango posted:Did things turn out okay? Yes things are great now. The company transferred me to another location. I almost gave up hope on HR.. Then I found out that there were procurement investigations that came out from my HR investigation. He was fired for ethical reasons due to taking gift cards, bribes from the vendors, etc. As his secretary, I had seen many red flags with ethical issues come through just the mail and stories from other managers. The catering company was owned by his neighbor and they discovered he was getting kick backs. It was no secret about how he handled vendors and his crude sexual jokes. Overall, I believe that the location will come together and work on improving. Right now they are struggling trying to figure out how to do the accounts payable work. He had micromanaged everything and belittled the other assistant managers. I'm just relieved to be out of the office, MUCH more relaxed and don't have to be intimidated to speak to my boss. Now I can focus on my career path better. I'm in a materials management department as inventory/receiving keeper. It's a step up from just secretary and have a structured learning path for advancement. Thanks for advice and support!
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Oct 8, 2014 03:32
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I'm looking to persue a career in IT. I have some limited relevant experience from a temporary position as well as a BA in an unrelated field. Would picking up some basic certifications be a good way to secure an entry level job? Any recommendations? I've been exploring ComptiaA+, Cisco, and MCSA certifications. If any IT guys have suggestions on how I can move ahead please let me know. Another option would be to take a masters in IT (apparently I can still qualify even though my BA is in music).
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Oct 9, 2014 04:26
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Dreamer101 posted:Yes things are great now. The company transferred me to another location. I almost gave up hope on HR.. Then I found out that there were procurement investigations that came out from my HR investigation. He was fired for ethical reasons due to taking gift cards, bribes from the vendors, etc. As his secretary, I had seen many red flags with ethical issues come through just the mail and stories from other managers. The catering company was owned by his neighbor and they discovered he was getting kick backs. It was no secret about how he handled vendors and his crude sexual jokes. Posts like this are why I love this thread. Post a trip report in a few months please!
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Oct 12, 2014 17:26
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Rudest Buddhist posted:Yep time to move. District Selectman posted:I don't know how old you are, but doubling your salary will be huge for you if you're young and smart with your money. If you make $50k now, keep living the same lifestyle, take the $100k salary, and start banking it. Learn how to invest etc. Go play with a financial calculator and see what that extra $30k a year (after tax) can do for you in the long run. Also, I have a friend in digital advertising and $50k is hot garbage. Based on what he's told me (and his personal salary history) the pay starts off very low, but once you prove yourself, it jumps very quickly. He started at $20k and now makes around $140k. The thing is, your current employer never wants to give you that big raise, so you have to leave to get the money. It sounds like you've proven yourself, and it's probably expected that you'll make a jump. Just wanted to follow up on this and thank those who were kind enough to respond. Been a weird path the last couple months- ended up not getting offered for that MSFT job. The other agency offered at $90k, but it wasn't a great fit and the relocation package wasn't near close enough to get me out there. My own company did pony up for a $15k raise, though... But then MSFT contacted me about another job this last Friday, no additional interviews required- pretty much a straight up offer at the same salary range of $110k-$130k. Welp. Time to move! 
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Oct 13, 2014 00:38
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So I have this call with a very senior exec looking for a personal assistant, at a prestigious company in a field I want to break into. But it'd be a huge step down for me, both in money and responsibility, at least temporarily. I don't care about the money, but my main question is if these type of jobs can actually serve as a good way to break into a field, or if I'd just be viewed as a personal assistant when applying for jobs again in a year or two.
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Oct 15, 2014 01:33
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What are you doing now and what would you like to be doing in the new field?
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Oct 15, 2014 03:18
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ultrafilter posted:What are you doing now and what would you like to be doing in the new field? I'm working in a research position focusing on international politics (very simplified), but am trying to break into finance. But my resume is very specialized towards something else, which makes it difficult to get my foot in the door as an analyst. So this seems like a good opportunity, but I worry it won't actually make me any more marketable.
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Oct 15, 2014 03:44
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Xandu posted:So I have this call with a very senior exec looking for a personal assistant, at a prestigious company in a field I want to break into. But it'd be a huge step down for me, both in money and responsibility, at least temporarily. I don't care about the money, but my main question is if these type of jobs can actually serve as a good way to break into a field, or if I'd just be viewed as a personal assistant when applying for jobs again in a year or two. Really, really depends on the company. Where I work, taking an entry level is almost the only way to get in at all. Once you are in, there is a huge amount of mobility. Even if you came in as an administrative assistant, you can jump up to Manager or Sr. Manager in your next role (if you have the right qualifications/skills). The majority of our upper management started at the bottom and had to work their way up so they are very supportive of others doing the same. I'd suggest 1) talking with people in the company to get a feel for their culture and opportunities, 2) research the company to see if they have a reputation for allowing mobility, 3) being completely upfront with the company/exec about your intentions. Either he/she is on board with it and wants to develop your talent for the company in any role or he/she doesn't and you won't ever move beyond personal assistant at that company. You lose nothing by being completely honest. And you have to have your management support. I first joined my current employer as an hourly temp through an agency and made it clear from the first conversation where I wanted to end up. Now I have the exact position I wanted and my management did everything they could to help me get there. Just lay it all out there. Have goals, plans, and a time frame. If you want to move from assistant to a chocolate teapot QA manager in a year, then say that.
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Oct 15, 2014 03:49
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I have a question for anyone who has ever worked in Human Resources/or Operations. I've been interviewing with a huge publicly traded global company the past month for my ~dream job.~ Everyone who I interviewed with loved me. Human Resources put in a request to make me a job offer, but the approval didn't go through, and I was informed that the position is now on hold. The position was to replace someone who had left the company. The woman who would have been my supervisor said that everything within the company has to go through a long approval process--apparently, it took months to get the position approved, even though it was to replace someone who had left. Does anyone have any insight on what's happening right now?? The HR person said that she would reach out to me immediately if anything changes. Is there any way they'll make me an offer once Q4 is over? I'm also interviewing with another similarly-scaled company for a similar position. I have one more interview with one more member of senior management before they will be ready to make me an offer. Working for this company wouldn't be the worst thing in the world--the compensation is good, however, I didn't like the corporate culture. It's a lot more buttoned up than what I would prefer to work in. And I wouldn't want to accept a position with them if ~my dream job~ was to suddenly open up again. 4R7 THi3F fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Oct 16, 2014 |
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Oct 16, 2014 17:20
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Nessa posted:Hey thread. Figured I'd ask about any potential directions I could go. Hi Nessa, You might want to consider some kind of generic office job, especially in a nearby university. There are A LOT of job openings at every university and few people seem to really consider these. A lot of these jobs are coordinators for specific departments or colleges, and many of them end up being "do a bunch of random poo poo" type jobs. If you show experience holding a retail job where you have responsibility, and also since you can demonstrate graphic design/artistic skills, you would want to look for a kind of job that is a certain percentage office work, but may also include web design, drafting newsletters, etc. These jobs also allow you to shoehorn in a lot of existing skills, but getting your foot in the door and being hired is often the largest hurdle. I believe you're in Canada, but at least in the US the pay for these is relatively low with very good benefits and often free tuition. They CAN BE stable if you get entrenched enough, but look out for when they are contract-based or one-year terms etc. Those are better than nothing and help you to get your foot in the door, but they are often shaky and unreliable for long-term employment.
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Oct 16, 2014 20:01
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4R7 THi3F posted:I have a question for anyone who has ever worked in Human Resources/or Operations. The other position doesn't exist until they give you an offer. If it happens to open up after you've accepted the other job then evaluate if its worth potentially burning some bridges to accept it, but you should never turn down an offer because you might get another one. I would also reconsider if your dream job is actually at a place that can't decide if they want to hire someone. asur fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Oct 16, 2014 |
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Oct 16, 2014 20:51
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I need guidance asking for a raise. The company isn't making a ton of money at the moment and I don't how to ask for a raise when there isn't necessarily money to spent on me. However, I believe I deserve to paid more. If you need more details I have provided some below. My appologies in advance because some of it may be too E/N. Details: I work for a "startup". It's a startup in the sense that it's a relatively new small company making software. It's not like a Silicon Valley one of ball pits and goofy poo poo. It's like a normal business but we make software for utility companies. So I dunno maybe it's not really a startup. There's 6 people in company. 2 owners, an office manager, a tech support guy, me (the dev), and my part time student assistant. According to many resources I'm making about 70% of the average starting salary for 2013 graduates. For what it's worth, I'm a 2007 graduate. When I joined they recently decided to develop software instead of what they were doing before. I kinda got the whole software suite we sell up and running and I did it from nothing. We've been keeping afloat but we aren't rolling in money. There's optimism though because people are taking interest in some cool new services I've created that are billed yearly instead of a one time fee. In fact, the plan is that the new services will keep payroll being paid without worry that we don't sell enough new orders in one particular month, etc. My boss (the owner I deal with, the other lives in another state) is far from the 'dick/rear end in a top hat' archetype. One year he gave me an my wife about 12K for us to help buy a house. He's a great guy and my lack of pay isn't necessarily from some evil Scrooge-like desire to cut costs so that more money goes to him. Part of this is definitely my fault. I worked for them when I was in college and when I graduated they made me a very low full time offer and I just kinda accepted it because I could always leave. Now I'm married, have a house, and am genuinely invested in the company. I guess that part is import to note too. I really like the job, I like the people, and I want to see it do well. So in essence: - About six people are living off of the product that I produced essentially myself. - The pay that I am receiving is objectively below the average market rate. - My boss likely knows all those things and probably feels bad about it but there isn't really a surplus of money. - I still need more money.
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Oct 17, 2014 03:21
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TheReverend posted:Part of this is definitely my fault. I worked for them when I was in college and when I graduated they made me a very low full time offer and I just kinda accepted it because I could always leave. Now I'm married, have a house, and am genuinely invested in the company. You seem to be looking for someone to ask this question. "Who is more important, you and your spouse, or your five coworkers?" In addition to income, you're missing out on lot of potential experience by staying. As the only designer you're not able to learn from other programmers, and exposure to the tools and practices used in larger development projects are great to have on your resume. You say you graduated in 2007, how long have you been programming for this company?
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Oct 17, 2014 05:55
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8 years
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Oct 17, 2014 13:36
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If the entire business is contingent on a product that no one can produce/understand except you (and maybe your assistant), you have the upperhand in negotiations. It sounds like if you left the company tomorrow, the operations of the entire company would be severely disrupted and the company would be under threat. And it sounds like you could potentially just leave the company and start your own company that offers the same services. You shouldn't be concerned about the company's finances, that's for your boss to figure out. If your boss has business savvy, he will figure out a strategy to get the company to grow, and a way to keep his talent so that they don't become his future competitors. Just ask him for a raise. If he can't offer you one, have a back up plan like asking for profit sharing (but only ask for that if you think the business is going to do well in the future.) asur posted:The other position doesn't exist until they give you an offer. If it happens to open up after you've accepted the other job then evaluate if its worth potentially burning some bridges to accept it, but you should never turn down an offer because you might get another one. I would also reconsider if your dream job is actually at a place that can't decide if they want to hire someone. The HR from ~dream job~ company e-mailed me yesterday and said that the position has been put on hold due to budgetary issues that they're trying to resolve. Fingers crossed that something will come out of it soon. :X Is there a rule for how often I can check in with HR for updates at this stage? Is once a week excessive? 4R7 THi3F fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Oct 17, 2014 |
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Oct 17, 2014 15:46
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4R7 THi3F posted:If the entire business is contingent on a product that no one can produce/understand except you (and maybe your assistant), you have the upperhand in negotiations. It sounds like if you left the company tomorrow, the operations of the entire company would be severely disrupted and the company would be under threat. This is mostly true, yes. In fact I don't even let my assistant touch our main software package at all because it's way too complex/niche for him to deal with on a part time basis. quote:And it sounds like you could potentially just leave the company and start your own company that offers the same services. Maybe. I'd have to find funding and get business connections. Pretend for a moment that I make a widget that let's people map fiber optic lines. I've never actually done a single bit of fiber optic utility work in my life. I know what needs to be recorded and analyzed for records keeping and accounting purposes but I couldn't just go out call up all my fiber industry buds (because I don't have any). quote:You shouldn't be concerned about the company's finances, that's for your boss to figure out. If your boss has business savvy, he will figure out a strategy to get the company to grow, and a way to keep his talent so that they don't become his future competitors. Just ask him for a raise. If he can't offer you one, have a back up plan like asking for profit sharing (but only ask for that if you think the business is going to do well in the future So I guess there's 2 questions now.... 1)I'm going on a trip for my wedding anniversary at the end of the month. Should I ask him for a raise right before I leave that way it gives him and the other partner time to talk about it? Or I could do when I get back which is right before they leave to go to a trade show together. 2) So how much can I ask for? If I'm at 70% of what a 22 year old makes when I'm 30 should I go for that 22 year old number or shoot even higher? The median is like another 10K higher than that (at least). If I go for the 22 year old valuation that's a 44% increase from where I am! The median would be a 60% increase. I know when most people ask for raises they tend to get 10% or so but if I'm being underpayed by that much is it justifiable to ask for that big of a percentage increase? Thanks for taking the time to help me. I feel like I have a handle on most things in my life but this one gives me some troubles.
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Oct 18, 2014 06:09
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Busy Bee posted:I'm 26 years old and I've been working my first full time job that's not a contract position for the last four months or so. Although I have only been at this company for four months, I'm fortunate enough to say that I really love my job and believe that it utilizes my skills very well. I have received great reviews from my manager and my monthly stats have been comparable to other analysts who have been working there for 2 years. The team was recently told that they are planning on opening an office in Europe and even though I have only been working there for four months, I have been considering asking to be relocated there. It would be a great new experience and I believe that this potential opportunity is something that I cannot just let pass. The position in Europe would be completely identical in terms of requirements/qualifications. Also, I can only think of two other people on the 35 person team that would just be able to pack everything and go so I believe I have a good chance.... But before I start dreaming more, do you believe that this is even something I should pursue and talk to my manager about relocating? Busy Bee: curious to know what happened. I actually pulled this off but I had a couple of major advantages (a European passport was the big one, but also I was in a position to spend a ton of time building myself up and making connections so that it would be a natural fit.) if they don't straight up say it's impossible then drop me a line and maybe we can brainstorm ways for you to position yourself for it.
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Oct 19, 2014 01:32
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I'm sure it's been talked about before (though a search turned up nothing), but I recently discovered this essay series that seems to be highly relevant to this thread. http://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/
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Oct 22, 2014 16:16
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I am teaching a general business class for high school students for at-risk students. We are beginning to talk about working with businesses as an employee (1st semester was about interacting with businesses as a consumer). I am talking about the career clusters and use your own skills/personality to help determine possible careers. I have been searching for several days to find a good career aptitude test. Unfortunately, every test requires either paying for it (Psychology Today) or signing up for website and giving them your information. Does anyone here know a good website I can have the students use to take a test that will give them information about their career aptitudes? (If this is the wrong thread, sorry about that.)
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Oct 28, 2014 03:09
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To get into senior management, how important is a Masters vs non-graduate professional development + experience? I'm being promoted into middle management, and I'm not sure if I should be proactive into educating myself.
reflex fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Nov 3, 2014 |
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Nov 3, 2014 20:11
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reflex posted:To get into senior management, how important is a Masters vs non-graduate professional development + experience? I'm being promoted into middle management, and I'm not sure if I should be proactive into educating myself. I am in management in a publicly-traded medical device company, and apart from the president of sales, no one in senior management has a Masters's. This includes all of the VPs and the CEO. I have a degree in communications for christ's sake and I have a high position in the company (one step below VP). In the companies where I've worked, degrees mean gently caress-all compared to what value you actually bring to the table, unless your position is heavily centered around the degree (r&d, engineering, statistics, etc.).
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Nov 6, 2014 01:13
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TheReverend posted:This is mostly true, yes. In fact I don't even let my assistant touch our main software package at all because it's way too complex/niche for him to deal with on a part time basis. Maybe get a backup job prior to asking, or at least send out feelers?
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Nov 23, 2014 05:39
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Ok guys, I could use your help. Basically, I'm not happy where I work. I've put up with it because its a laid back job, but I just was informed that our night auditor (I work at a hotel) is taking Dec 24-30 off, so I would have to work all those overnights during the holidays. Now, I'm pretty sure this is an opportunity to quit a lovely job, have a poo poo ton of holiday time, and find a better job. I want to get into IT, so I would be better off working in my field anyway. My question is: How do I give my boss my two weeks notice without sounding like a whiny poo poo who doesn't want to work on the holidays, while loving over my current co-workers holiday plans? I mean, if I give them my two weeks, they SHOULD be able to find someone else, but its a small independently owned place so that's not 100% certain. I'm definitely planning on quitting, I just want to know if there's a way to keep this bridge unburnt, since I've worked there for 4 years and would like to keep them on my resume at least until I find something better.
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Nov 25, 2014 06:11
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Bone posted:Ok guys, I could use your help. The only advice I can give you is to not - DO NOT - quit until you have a new job/ commitment lined up (commitment can be schooling, moving out of state, etc.). I wish I had advice to give you about working the holidays. You can try to push back, or find someone else to cover some of the time. Hopefully they'll pay you some kind of overtime at least.
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Nov 25, 2014 14:34
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I think this is the right thread for this I'm graduating university in approx. 3 weeks with a BS in Math Education. Obviously, the ideal for this kind of degree is going into some kind of classroom and becoming a math teacher, but I've realized that I don't want to do that, for a variety of reasons. I've been wondering what would be a good alternate route to take to find a job post-grad (that involves working; don't have the money to go back to school, though I have no loans) I'm still interested in the general field of education, just not teaching, so I've been tossing around ideas like tutoring or working in those educational nonprofits. My program also requires me to take a lot of higher-level math courses, so my degree is pretty close to that of a regular Math degree, so I imagine I'd be qualified for a lot of similar positions Math people would be qualified for (or, at the very least, I could pretend to be) Unfortunately, I don't have any (real) work experience, which kinda sucks both from a resume standpoint and a "knowing how to actually do work" standpoint. The good news is I'm in a big metro area (NYC) so I imagine there's lot of positions available for things. Any advice?
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Nov 28, 2014 18:17
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If it's close to a math degree, could you just take an extra semester and graduate with dual majors and go from there? Then you at least don't have to pretend.
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Nov 28, 2014 18:26
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What classes have you taken, and what other classes would you have to take to finish out the math degree?
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Nov 28, 2014 19:29
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Have you thought about tutoring? It seems like there is always a demand for math tutors, and it has a lot of the upsides of teaching without the bureaucracy and classroom management aspects.
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Nov 28, 2014 19:37
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If you're also good at English and standardized tests in general, Manhattan GMAT pays their tutors super well. If not, then math tutoring on your own or through a small boutique tutoring company will net you the most $$.
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Nov 28, 2014 20:19
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After double-checking the program requirements, I realized I was a bit off-base when I said I was most of the way to a math degree, sorry about that. I'm decently close, but I'd need 4 more classes I think (I probably couldn't go back to school for it, since I don't really have the money) I've taken Calc 1-3, Linear/Abstract Algebra, Discrete, Probability, and Geometry I've been interested in tutoring but I got the impression it was more of a part-time gig. Would it be possible to make a livable wage from that?
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Nov 29, 2014 00:30
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Valex posted:After double-checking the program requirements, I realized I was a bit off-base when I said I was most of the way to a math degree, sorry about that. I'm decently close, but I'd need 4 more classes I think (I probably couldn't go back to school for it, since I don't really have the money) It depends. There are people who make careers out of working at Kaplan test centers (I know someone in NYC who's worked his way up at Kaplan for the last couple years, and makes enough to live in Bushwick with a couple roommates). If you have a degree from a university considered very prestigious you can make upwards of $70 dollars an hour doing private tutoring if you can find people who care about that sort of thing (I imagine the Upper East side or whatever probably has a ton of those people). In places like Korea it can get much, much higher (and only speaking English wouldn't really hurt you except you know, socially and whatnot). It's very much a privilege begetting privilege thing. Otherwise, I don't know.
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Nov 30, 2014 22:08
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RIP ZEEZ
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Valex posted:I've been interested in tutoring but I got the impression it was more of a part-time gig. Would it be possible to make a livable wage from that?
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Nov 30, 2014 22:31
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31 years old. Have been working in a high workload and low pay complaints handling position in a 5 star hotel for the past 3 years. Have been jerked around for a year about my next step, and the best the company can offer at this stage is a salary reduction (at this stage think they're loving with me). In any case, looking to get into PR. I love writing, am great with people, and have a bsc in psychology with a focus on consumer and social psyc. Applied to a couple of agencies, but haven't heard anything back. Any advice on what to do?
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Dec 4, 2014 18:31
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Mourning Due posted:31 years old. Have been working in a high workload and low pay complaints handling position in a 5 star hotel for the past 3 years. Have been jerked around for a year about my next step, and the best the company can offer at this stage is a salary reduction (at this stage think they're loving with me). Can you be more specific about your work experience, and this lower-paying position? Mourning Due posted:In any case, looking to get into PR. I love writing, am great with people, and have a bsc in psychology with a focus on consumer and social psyc. Applied to a couple of agencies, but haven't heard anything back. Any advice on what to do? Why do you want to do PR specifically? Being good with people, and communicating well are really useful in other fields, like sales or HR.
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Dec 4, 2014 18:36
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Posting on behalf of my husband. He's an occupational therapy assistant, been working in that position for about six years. He may be losing his job soon though, and there aren't many other traditional occupational therapy jobs out there right now. He's trying to figure out if there's some other area of health care he can work in; he was thinking of things like insurance companies, medical equipment companies, etc. Neither of us know what other areas of health care can use someone with an occupational therapy background. Basically I just wanted to take a shot to see if anyone here knew anything about this.
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Dec 4, 2014 20:39
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I'm a 38 year old in a semi-specialized field that is looking to move up the chain. I'm a broadcast engineer at the county tv station. They hired me to upgrade and expand the facility and operations. Since I'm on the last step of the upgrade, I'm probably not going to have much to do in about a year, probably less. I've been working in tv for almost my entire adult life (17 years) and it is something I think I'm good at. One of the reasons I took this job is it checked off one of the boxes I assume that HR/management like, I've done a major upgrade to our facility and once I'm done will have set up the county to broadcast live meetings from two remote locations. While I could stay at the county forever, I don't like being bored or having nothing to do. I could start to cross train a bit with the county communications department and learn fiber-optics, microwave stuff, etc., but I'm not sure how much that would help. Staying with the county for a couple more years would have the advantage of making more money since I'm not maxed out yet. This year I'll probably make $65k with OT, after four more years I'll max out at $70k or so. I'm sure if I asked and did the paperwork I could make more since I'm the only person with this job title in county government (8k people). What I would like to move up to would be assistant-chief engineer someplace, then be a chief engineer at an affiliate station someplace. My old boss has made no secret about wanting me to come back as an assistant chief, but I'm thinking that might be a bad idea. Going back to the same place I worked at for eight years and now being a semi-boss over the people that helped train me would be odd to say the least. While I think I could do the job, I think my lack of formal education might hold me back. I have most of a communications degree, I think six classes short. I've done a bit of research and there really aren't any schools to teach this kind of thing except as a associates degree. I'm not sure if having a degree would be a big deal, of the six or so chiefs I've known none have a degree. I've been meaning to get some certifications, both computer and broadcast type stuff, but have run out of motivation to do much. Should I take a couple classes in business so that I can learn management type stuff? What should my next steps be?
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Dec 4, 2014 22:53
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Work in broadcast engineering here, but on the MSO side. If you're not opposed to moving, I would highly recommend considering taking a look at transferring to working either a) at a headend somewhere or b) working at a national channel. Doing facility/operations expansions is a big plus to folks and with the Comcast/TWC and AT&T/DTV mergers (possibly) on the horizon, it'd be a good time to try and sell yourself. While you may take a title reduction, I wouldn't doubt that you'd make the same/more and have more room for advancement.
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Dec 5, 2014 03:05
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| # ? May 14, 2024 00:17 |
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I'm in kind of an odd spot, and I'd like some direction. I'm 22 years old, and have taken the last 3 years off from school to work (left after my freshman year) and figure out my life. Since then, I've done the following (in order, such as it is): --Worked as a counselor at a queer rights non-profit --Worked as a children's museum arts coordinator. --Took 2 semesters of classes, back-to-back, at 2 different colleges (1 at each). --Started a non-profit, that fell short in the first funding round but was a good learning experience. --Worked as a product manager/developer/etc. for an early stage start-up (this one was much more successful) In the fall I'm going to return to school, and will likely major in Sociology or Gender Studies, with at least a minor in CS. I enjoy the former more, but I like the opportunities the latter affords and find programming pretty interesting. For now though, I have the rest of the year until September free, living in DC. I ended up really enjoying two threads within my time off -- the product management/development/research at the start-ups, and the research/statistics work that I did on queer rights/sociological stuff in my classes. I'm currently in the process of applying for short-term positions, but I'm having two problems: 1) I'm not sure how to sell myself. I do have a high gpa, and all the schools I attended are very prestigious, but my coursework consists mostly of things like "Random Grad School Anthro class" and "Intensive Humanities Seminar X", which don't really translate into quantifiable skills as well as I would like. Also, although the first three jobs aren't particularly impressive, I did quite well at the last one with very little experience (when my role got filled when I left, it was by an MBA candidate with a mid six figure salary -- which made me feel kind of bad about my practically non-existent salary but I digress). The problem is, although the start-up has gone through a first funding round, I'm still under an NDA so I can't do anything more than be very vague about my role, and I can't get list them as a reference. Also, I know I should tailor my resume to the job posting, and have some good experience, but I'm not sure how to do that without making it look like I have huge gaps. One last advantage is that I don't really need much in the way of a salary (very low expenses and a good bit of savings), but I'm not sure how to use that to get a foot in the door without seeming like I don't have much faith in my abilities. And honestly, I'd rather get as much as I can given I'm still going to have to pay for 2 or 3 years of undergrad. In terms of disadvantages: I don't have a degree, I'm well off the recruiting cycle and am asking for a very weird time-frame and I have a very disparate job history. I'm sure there's more I'm missing. 2) I'm not really sure where to apply. I find the idea of working for somewhere like Bridgespan or FSG really appealing, but I don't know A) what experience right now would help and B) where I could actually get an offer. Should I just cold-email people, state what I'm willing to do, and pray? Right now, I'm doing elance with my brother mostly as a way to gain skills and taking classes in the data science track on Coursera. I know that it will get a lot easier to get jobs and whatnot when I return to school, but I really want to take advantage of this period and do something useful. As you can probably tell from this confused wall of text, I basically have no idea what the gently caress. If there's anything I left out or that would be good for me to get a handle on please let me know as well.
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Dec 5, 2014 03:24
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