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Or post your own thread and link it here.
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Jan 21, 2023 16:58
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Excrucian posted:I’m new to BFC, and I have a forum etiquette and culture question before I post my actual question. yeah what moana said. feel free to make new thread and drop link in related megathread(s) here asking for help
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Jan 21, 2023 17:14
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Thanks all. Here’s an abbreviated, E/N-reduced version that is still longer than I’d like, but hopefully it’s tolerable. What I’m Looking For As mention earlier, I need guidance on starting my career over, and going into full-time remote work. I’m coming out of a 15-year stretch in which I was able to work only sporadically thanks to disability, caring for disabled parents, and severe depression. I have strong soft skills but my work experience is so limited on paper that I don’t know how to show those skills in a way HR will believe, or get past the algorithm. My parents are elderly, their health is deteriorating such that they need someone in the house 24/7, and one has a cancer diagnosis which makes him highly vulnerable to COVID. Their savings were taken in a FOREX scam, so I have to be that person, without entering an office environment where I can bring COVID back to them – or get it myself, as that decade of disability was caused by a near-death experience with respiratory infection from which I will never fully recover. I need to find a career path that will: 1) Allow 100% remote work, so that I can be there for my parents 2) Be an actual career path, not a dead-end; I’m too old for that 3) Be something I can get in to without an in-person or hybrid position first 4) If at all possible, be something other than coding I’ve done some research on my own, but the overwhelming majority of the discussion on remote work is either for people transitioning out of office work with years of experience, or IT-centric, or amounts to “here’s a $15 / hr dead end job” – and maybe that’s really all there is! I’m hoping it’s not. I’m really, desperately hoping that there is a way to break into some industry or career path from the place I’m starting. Can anyone point me in the right direction for jobs that can start out remote, and lead to an actual career – and then, crucially, how to actually get those jobs without starting out in-office or hybrid? If it’s at all possible to avoid a coding / IT job, I need to do that. In addition to having RSIs in both wrists, my forays into coding in the past have shown that I have no aptitude for it at all. I could probably bootcamp my way into a low-level position churning out garbage, but there’s no way I’d make a decent long-term career by starting in that infertile soil. I’m in my late 30s already, and although I’m willing to start at the bottom if I have to, I can’t afford to go into anything that is essentially a dead-end job, and starting remote is non-negotiable. I’d very much like to aim for something that has the prospect of a salary where I won’t be working until I die, but we’ll see how it goes. I’d also love to know about training programs or certifications that might lead toward something productive! My Trainwreck Resume My resume is a disaster, because in the past I have worked almost exclusively for relatives and friends, and then only intermittently. It’s been real, meaningful work, but nobody is going to take a reference that shares my surname seriously, and the work I’ve done outside of that has been brief (one year or less each time), and it’s all at least five years in the past. That said, I do have some actual work experience: I worked five years part-time (because there was never enough business to justify full-time) as essentially a project coordinator / guy-who-does-whatever-needs-doing, along with some light property management on a handful of residential properties. This was a family real estate development and sales business, but it’s a decade in the past at this point, in a company that no longer exists, and family businesses are never great on resumes anyway. I am a licensed real estate broker in a state where that certification is non-trivial and sets you meaningfully apart from an agent, although I’ve rarely had cause to use it and people outside of the industry mostly won’t know the difference. Since around 2015, I’ve increasingly been my parents’ in-home health care provider. I feel like this could provide some useful entries on a resume: high-stakes medical procedure that has to be completed daily, and gotten exactly right every time or the patient goes to the hospital with life-threatening infections or embolisms; ensuring delivery of medication on exact schedules; rigorously applying procedures generated by health care providers; promptly and compassionately addressing patient needs, all sorts of fun things. For about a year I was employed by a friend in a consultant role, assisting the project manager as a project coordinator / jack-of-all-trades during a crucial time for their company when everything was on fire and they needed anyone who could think for themselves, do calls and emails, handle spreadsheets, and navigate MS Office Project. I acquitted myself well there, and only left the company because it seemed like the family business was about to restart (it didn’t), and a sexual abuse scandal of such comically awful proportions was hushed up that I couldn’t stomach the place anymore when I thought I had another option (I didn’t). Later, I did some work for that same friend in managing his rental property as it was extensively renovated and made ready for sale after it was nearly destroyed by his tenants. He knew I had experience dealing with some extraordinarily hostile tenants years earlier, and brought me on because he correctly assessed that he was at risk of an adverse possession situation. Again, I had good performance here under difficult conditions, and my employer would attest to that. The thing that has actually kept me going during the last several years has been a volunteer program with some local kids. I don’t want to get into details on this because it’s local enough to doxx me, but the short version is that I run a very small after-school creative arts enrichment program for kids, starting out in person and now entirely online after the pandemic hit. And when I say small I mean small, five to seven kids total, all unpaid volunteer work done out of a passion for it. I love doing it and it has absolutely sharpened a lot of those soft skills I keep talking about, but it’s work that wouldn’t support me even if I made a career out of it, and it has no ties to a school system or employer, so it’s tough to put on a resume. Finally, I’ve done a fair amount of amateur technical writing in tabletop games design communities (board games, roleplaying games, etc.), and for my own pleasure. Nothing anyone would know me for, it’s purely a hobby, but I took courses for it in college and I’ve always been hobbyist-good at it. I have the technical skills you’d associate with “guy who’s done a lot of assisting managers” (Excel, Project, amateur Photoshop, etc.), and some more specialized skills in real estate fields. While I’m still working through issues with severe depression and anxiety, I feel comfortable saying that I have a well-developed base of soft skills, and the willingness to learn hard / technical skills where needed. I am not good at sales though, more’s the pity. Possible Avenues Like I said at the top, I’m not that clear on what sorts of career paths I should even be looking at, if the goal is to work remotely. I’m also not great at doing self-evaluation – thanks, depression! Here are some things I’ve been told to look in to, or that I’m capable of: I’ve been told by project managers that I would be well-suited for project management and technical writing. This is connected to my longest stretches of traditional in-office work experience, and they are the areas I feel most confident in, but they also seem like positions that get filled from within the company nine times out of ten. Anything involving translating engineer-speak into layman’s terms is something I can absolutely do. One friend recommended I look into Salesforce positions because of this, but this is also a person who tried a Salesforce exam three times and failed out. A friend who makes a good living as a tutor suggested I get in to that business, since I’m well-educated and have experience working with kids, but the market is flooded right now with people whose resumes are enormously better than mine. The only thing that makes me even consider this is that I have some connections with a local homeschooling network. TL;DR I have a trainwreck of a resume with strong soft skills that would serve an employer well, but which I don’t know how to demonstrate. I’m looking for career options that will let me start working remotely and stay that way, so that I can be physically present for elderly parents with deteriorating health without risking bringing COVID home to them. BFC, do you have thoughts on what I should be looking at in terms of career paths, industries, certifications, and so on? And if you’ve gotten this far, thank you.
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Jan 22, 2023 09:15
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I'm in tech so I'm going to lean thatw ay with advice, but have you considered looking into a QA bootcamp or doing Scrum master certification? The latter would fit better with what you like doing but can be a bit tougher to break into. QA is not as programming heavy and, while a lower salary ceiling typically than a developer, you can make a very very good living. But it does require a tech mindset.
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Jan 23, 2023 00:22
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Generally speaking, project management seems like it would be a good fit and aligns with some of the stuff on your resume.
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Jan 23, 2023 01:04
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Generally speaking, project management seems like it would be a good fit and aligns with some of the stuff on your resume. Agreed with this. Doing it remotely may be difficult but is certainly possible. You may need to invest in some relevant industry certifications.
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Jan 23, 2023 01:09
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Lockback posted:I'm in tech so I'm going to lean thatw ay with advice, but have you considered looking into a QA bootcamp or doing Scrum master certification? The latter would fit better with what you like doing but can be a bit tougher to break into. QA is not as programming heavy and, while a lower salary ceiling typically than a developer, you can make a very very good living. But it does require a tech mindset. Neither of those have hit my radar, but I'll definitely look into them! My experience in corporate environments is limited, so I appreciate that perspective: small office environment, yes, very comfortable there, but a modern large corporation of the kind that even knows what a scrum is, not so much. Could you elaborate on what you mean by a tech mindset, just so I don't make any incorrect assumptions. KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Generally speaking, project management seems like it would be a good fit and aligns with some of the stuff on your resume. Jordan7hm posted:Agreed with this. Doing it remotely may be difficult but is certainly possible. You may need to invest in some relevant industry certifications. This is honestly a relief to hear, and I should probably poke my head into the PM thread too, in that case. The PM certification I was aware of, the PMP, takes years of employment as an actual project manager though. When you say relevant industry certifications, are you talking about certs that aren't related to project management itself, but are related to, say, a tech field or pharma or what-have-you?
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Jan 23, 2023 07:58
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I also think project management is a good fit. While you're getting started and/or certified with that kind of thing you could make some money doing personal assistant work? I mention that because I started employing one myself and there are a bunch of people online doing it. Your experience would mean you can just get started with a web page. There are lovely gig economy employers but you can potentially avoid these if you go solo. My PA mostly works for businesses (but also me as a private client because ADHD regularly fucks my poo poo up).
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Jan 23, 2023 09:08
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Do we have any independent insurance agents in SA? I’ve been contacted by a recruiter for Desjardins as a candidate to take over an existing Agency book of business. I was interested in what it was about, and posted before about being dissatisfied and burnt out at my current job. I’ve passed all assessments and I’m coming up on having to write and submit a business plan. They apparently help a lot with that step, but I’m still a little unsure about it. The question is, is it worth it? It sounds like it has an unlimited upside if you’re good at it, but I’m not sure how to tell if I’m going to be. I have over 10 years of incrementally increasing management experience in sales-adjacent work, but closer to retail sales than what this would be. (Auto service centres) Downside is potentially much lower take-home while I get established, possible outright failure, and maybe just hating the work. The challenge is appealing in many ways. Their assessments didn’t do a good job of helping me decide.
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Jan 23, 2023 13:13
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I'm a software developer trying to get out of my current gig. After about 3 months of looking and two deep candidacies ending in failure (one entirely outside of my control due to economic poo poo), my current work continues to become more and more dysfunctional and I am feeling pretty rundown from about a year of pretty high stress. I am considering quitting without something else lined up first. I should have plenty of money to last a while, so I am wondering about the career implications, tactics of this decision, etc particularly how it might be thought of differently in the 2020s rather than from boomers stuck in the 1980s, how to spin it in future interviews, etc. I know the economic situation looks pretty bad RN, but I am starting to get concerned for my long-term health.
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Jan 23, 2023 16:50
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Magnetic North posted:I'm a software developer trying to get out of my current gig. After about 3 months of looking and two deep candidacies ending in failure (one entirely outside of my control due to economic poo poo), my current work continues to become more and more dysfunctional and I am feeling pretty rundown from about a year of pretty high stress. It's...not great but like most things depends on context. How many years experience do you have in general and how many at this place? I generally see something like that as someone getting washed out or fired or "you can't fire me, I quit", which are all bad. However, I also ask for a story and there are ways of telling that story that can temper it (though never through previous employers under the bus, it always comes off whiny even if it's true. You can talk about "environment not being a fit" or something though). A lateral move somewhere would be better, or just downshifting and slacking off until you find something else would also be better, but fully understood that isn't always an option. btw, getting laid off right now would be fine. There's going be tons of people with that on their resume in 2022.
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Jan 23, 2023 18:05
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Excrucian posted:Neither of those have hit my radar, but I'll definitely look into them! My experience in corporate environments is limited, so I appreciate that perspective: small office environment, yes, very comfortable there, but a modern large corporation of the kind that even knows what a scrum is, not so much. Could you elaborate on what you mean by a tech mindset, just so I don't make any incorrect assumptions. QA still involved writing testing code, working alongside developers, reading debug logs, probably managing some deploy code, etc. It's still a 'techy' job, you just don't live and die by the code you write. You kinda mentioned maybe having a tech mindset but struggling to code. QA is not easy but may also be interesting and definitely the kind of thing that has a large remote presence.
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Jan 23, 2023 19:56
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I quit my job last summer with the intention of taking a gap year from working and spending more time with my family, after having spent several years in back-to-back terrible jobs that completely ran me into the ground, not to mention isolating alone during the pandemic thousands of miles away from my family. I saved up plenty of money to do this, and financially I'm OK. But career-wise I feel like a failure, and the "finding myself" soul-searching and resting I thought that would come from taking a gap year has just led to feelings of inadequacy, and like I've destroyed my life/career just by taking the time off. I have ~10 years of experience in IT - mostly onprem Windows sysadmin, some "DevOps", with some Linux, cloud, and PowerShell scripting in there. I spent a lot of time working for cloud-averse employers. I look at the job market and it's all software engineering, senior cloud roles, and DevOps roles that I feel completely unqualified for. I don't know how to make myself marketable or valuable in the modern IT world outside of getting some certifications. I'm kind of tired of taking time away from working but I don't know where to go with my career, and I'm starting to feel hopeless and a little suicidal about the future. I need to make a change but I don't know what, and I don't know how to make myself valuable again.
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Jan 25, 2023 00:24
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Excrucian posted:This is honestly a relief to hear, and I should probably poke my head into the PM thread too, in that case. The PM certification I was aware of, the PMP, takes years of employment as an actual project manager though. When you say relevant industry certifications, are you talking about certs that aren't related to project management itself, but are related to, say, a tech field or pharma or what-have-you? For traditional Pm, you can maybe find your way in via a CAPM. For other fields I’d look at Agile certifications.
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Jan 25, 2023 01:19
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Lil Miss Clackamas posted:I quit my job last summer with the intention of taking a gap year from working and spending more time with my family, after having spent several years in back-to-back terrible jobs that completely ran me into the ground, not to mention isolating alone during the pandemic thousands of miles away from my family. I saved up plenty of money to do this, and financially I'm OK. But career-wise I feel like a failure, and the "finding myself" soul-searching and resting I thought that would come from taking a gap year has just led to feelings of inadequacy, and like I've destroyed my life/career just by taking the time off. I'd imagine most of those jobs are moving to cloud-centered dev-ops/cloud engineer roles at this point. So getting certified in AWS/Azure/GCC along with maybe things like K8s/Jenkins/etc. Don't feel like you need everything, you can pick and choose what is most interesting to you. If you have Linux experience and have some decent powershell experience you're already a good chunk of the way there. There are on-prem jobs out there, but honestly I'd suggest resharpening yourself anyway, may as well get back on bleeding edge.
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Jan 25, 2023 02:29
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Anyone here in a life science consulting role? I'm currently a consultant looking to pivot to that field because my current firm's portfolio sucks and isn't healthcare/life science related at all.
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Jan 26, 2023 02:33
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Excrucian posted:
In addition to project management, you might want to look at program management and change management. They're all similar but different. The "guy who’s done a lot of assisting managers" skills you describe remind me of marketing program managers and developer relations program managers I've worked with. My employer also has someone with similar skills, who handles admin- and project-type stuff for our product management team.
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Jan 26, 2023 20:45
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Thank you all for the responses  Life is hectic right now, sorry for the slow replies. I'm following up on everything that's been suggested and it's opening up avenues I'd never considered, I'm very grateful!knox_harrington posted:I also think project management is a good fit. While you're getting started and/or certified with that kind of thing you could make some money doing personal assistant work? I mention that because I started employing one myself and there are a bunch of people online doing it. Your experience would mean you can just get started with a web page. There are lovely gig economy employers but you can potentially avoid these if you go solo. This is something I need to seriously consider no matter what direction I go long-term. How did you find your PA? Is there a specific good place to put myself out there? Lockback posted:QA still involved writing testing code, working alongside developers, reading debug logs, probably managing some deploy code, etc. It's still a 'techy' job, you just don't live and die by the code you write. You kinda mentioned maybe having a tech mindset but struggling to code. QA is not easy but may also be interesting and definitely the kind of thing that has a large remote presence. I definitely struggle to write code, so I'm cautious about this, but also curious about where it could lead. Are there paths from that entry point to a place where you're just working with people rather than code, or is it the sort of thing where every spot on the org chart is going to need to turn out functional code at some point during a project? What I'm really dreading is the idea of being That Manager who can't contribute to the actual product without making things worse. The Clowning posted:In addition to project management, you might want to look at program management and change management. They're all similar but different. The "guy who’s done a lot of assisting managers" skills you describe remind me of marketing program managers and developer relations program managers I've worked with. My employer also has someone with similar skills, who handles admin- and project-type stuff for our product management team. These are both fascinating, and as someone completely outside the corporate sphere, I would never have considered them. Thank you! This is work I could do long-term after some study and training, if I could get into it somehow. Do you have any suggestions for breaking into the field? Anything I can acquire to put on the resume, or an approach to take for finding openings that aren't going to demand ten years' experience in project management?
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Jan 27, 2023 04:23
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Change management and fully remote work do not go together and if you find anyone who thinks they do, run
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Jan 27, 2023 04:53
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Excrucian posted:This is something I need to seriously consider no matter what direction I go long-term. How did you find your PA? Is there a specific good place to put myself out there? I found her on LinkedIn. I'm sure there are more specialised websites in the US, but in my case I live in a small country and wanted to find someone who lived nearby and was bilingual English/French so there are probably only a handful of candidates. For reference I pay her 80 Fr /hour (= 80 USD) which feels like a decent income if you have enough clients.
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Jan 27, 2023 09:12
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Change management and fully remote work do not go together and if you find anyone who thinks they do, run That makes sense. It's intriguing, but it's something I will look in to once I can return to an office environment. knox_harrington posted:I found her on LinkedIn. I'm sure there are more specialised websites in the US, but in my case I live in a small country and wanted to find someone who lived nearby and was bilingual English/French so there are probably only a handful of candidates. Interesting, I did not expect LinkedIn. A general question for the thread, is LinkedIn useful for someone who hasn't been in the job market in a long time? Or perhaps a better question would be, is what is the use case for LinkedIn? My impression was that it was a rich-get-richer environment, where people who had good connections and strong resumes were able to leverage them through LinkedIn, but that it wasn't much use in cultivating those connections in the first place, or in launching a career. That 80 USD wage is also a shock. That would be literally a life-changing amount of money for my family, I would be overjoyed to be making even half that much.
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Jan 30, 2023 05:02
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Excrucian posted:what is the use case for LinkedIn? My impression was that it was a rich-get-richer environment, where people who had good connections and strong resumes were able to leverage them through LinkedIn, but that it wasn't much use in cultivating those connections in the first place, or in launching a career. This is correct imo -- just like with a resume or a college degree, it's all about "social proof". That is, "of course I'm worth special treatment in your hiring process, because just look at all these big name organizations thought I was worth it!" When you already have those things, then amidst the copy-paste spam sometimes a big company will privately invite you to apply and give you special treatment through their process, which is the only real sure-fire way (that I've consistently experienced) to get through the resume black hole and the run-around. Of course, I always fail those interviews because I just can't get good enough to pass the algorithm lottery consistently, and the things people value most about me are not the kind of things they filter for. The only reason I got my foot in the door was because SOME RANDOM INTERNET GUY took pity on me and gave me a chance (thank you again).
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Jan 30, 2023 13:05
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Fwiw I got hired at my current job through a blind apply on LinkedIn without any substantial connections/ins or profile padding. I’m lightly overqualified for the role but it’s a move up in salary and mobility for me so I gladly took it.
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Jan 30, 2023 17:14
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Depending on the country, we get anywhere from 30% to 90% of our applications on Linkedin. I imagine most places are similar. I don't really look at or care what your network looks like (though a referral will always get you sped through the first stage). I will walk through a Linkedin though if I like a candidates resume just to see if there's anything else. I imagine most people probably do something similar. Basically at this point I'd either apply directly on a company's website or on Linkedin (or both). Depending on where you are Linkedin might get looked at more often than the direct company website.
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Jan 30, 2023 17:25
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I've only been a part of a few hirings, but all I was checking on LinkedIn was if someone was sharing nazi / white supremacist poo poo on there. No candidate has so far, but I have had to remove 3 old contacts because of that, which is why I check.
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Jan 30, 2023 17:41
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Magnetic North posted:I've only been a part of a few hirings, but all I was checking on LinkedIn was if someone was sharing nazi / white supremacist poo poo on there. No candidate has so far, but I have had to remove 3 old contacts because of that, which is why I check. Same but also bitcoin
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Jan 30, 2023 19:44
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Love Stole the Day posted:the things people value most about me are not the kind of things they filter for. This is the way I feel as well, and it's what I'm dreading most about the upcoming job hunt.
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Feb 1, 2023 04:28
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Excrucian, if you're into technical writing let me tell you that can be a very lucrative career, and it's one of the easiest to do remote (not sure about breaking into the field remotely though). Although if I were starting a new career now, "Will my job be replaced by AI in the near future?" would be a top consideration.
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Feb 1, 2023 06:36
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mr.belowaverage posted:Do we have any independent insurance agents in SA? Quick bump in case there are any agents still lurking that might have insight or advice
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Feb 1, 2023 13:20
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moana posted:Although if I were starting a new career now, "Will my job be replaced by AI in the near future?" would be a top consideration. I'm approaching 35, needing a career change as posted previously, and this is something I worry about constantly. In the past, creative fields seemed safest, but ChatGPT and a zillion different art bots have proved that wrong. Are there any other fields/roles that support remote work and have a more inherent resilience to AI takeover?
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Feb 1, 2023 13:58
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mr.belowaverage posted:Quick bump in case there are any agents still lurking that might have insight or advice There’s an insurance thread, might have luck there if you haven’t tried it.
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Feb 1, 2023 14:21
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Unsinkabear posted:I'm approaching 35, needing a career change as posted previously, and this is something I worry about constantly. In the past, creative fields seemed safest, but ChatGPT and a zillion different art bots have proved that wrong. Are there any other fields/roles that support remote work and have a more inherent resilience to AI takeover? Engineering feels pretty safe for now and generally seems to support remote work. That is a big undertaking as a career change though.
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Feb 1, 2023 15:16
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Unsinkabear posted:I'm approaching 35, needing a career change as posted previously, and this is something I worry about constantly. In the past, creative fields seemed safest, but ChatGPT and a zillion different art bots have proved that wrong. Are there any other fields/roles that support remote work and have a more inherent resilience to AI takeover? There was a ton of worry 5 years ago about this too around deep learning and then it fizzled out in terms of massive . Not that ChatGPT will fizzle out but these kinds of things don't make huge sudden changes like that. They take a lot of time and in general industries move slow.
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Feb 1, 2023 16:04
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On the other hand the demand for translators has plummeted since Google Translate and similar services were released. There are still jobs in the field, but they're a lot more limited than they were 10-15 years ago. These things take time but they do happen.
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Feb 1, 2023 16:28
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spwrozek posted:Engineering feels pretty safe for now and generally seems to support remote work. That is a big undertaking as a career change though. Thanks, I appreciate it and I'll look into that. Any types of engineering in particular? I don't have a degree and most of my experience is in marketing, so I feel like it's going to be a big undertaking no matter what. And if that's what it takes, that's fine. I'm passionate about leaving this poo poo country for medical reasons, and in order to pull that off (or even to survive here), I'm going to need to earn more in a more stable field. I can't really do marketing in any country that doesn't speak English as its primary language, anyway, so... time for a change to something that translates better. Pun intended. Lockback posted:There was a ton of worry 5 years ago about this too around deep learning and then it fizzled out in terms of massive . Not that ChatGPT will fizzle out but these kinds of things don't make huge sudden changes like that. They take a lot of time and in general industries move slow. ultrafilter posted:On the other hand the demand for translators has plummeted since Google Translate and similar services were released. There are still jobs in the field, but they're a lot more limited than they were 10-15 years ago. These things take time but they do happen. I appreciate the sentiment and I'll try to keep that front of mind as I navigate this over time, Lockback. But I expect this to eventually be another situation like the one ultrafilter described, and probably faster than 10-15 years this time. Even at my small agency, we're already having the more junior employees use ChatGPT to write their blog posts and then just correct and expand from there, rather than having to self-start and write the whole thing. It cuts the time required for them to do that task by half, and that's just one of the earliest and most obvious applications. So the road from there to "well now we only need two people in this role for every three that it took before" and then on to "actually we might only need one" doesn't seem very long. Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Feb 1, 2023 |
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Feb 1, 2023 19:01
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I am a civil engineer (so obviously that is the best). Electrical seems like it has good remote capabilities. I do think a new engineer benefits from in person time the first couple years but i know lots of people who never have been to an office. Engineering is a hard field of study (typically) so you will want to really be committed to it if you decide on that path.
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Feb 1, 2023 19:39
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I need some advice regarding making a total career change. Sorry but this will be kind of long. So, I worked in client service for financial companies for about 10 years. This isn't anything related to what I did in school, but I graduated during the recession and ended up in that field just to put a roof over my head. In 2021 I had my daughter and I quit my job for a variety of reasons: I hated the financial industry, I hated working directly with retail clients, I hated the treatment I got from my company, and the salary was capped at an insultingly low rate. The position was dead-end, as the better you were at your job the more the company and management would fight to prevent you from being promoted to keep you in the same position. There's more but long story short, with my resume as it is I only get interest from people looking to hire someone to exactly the same position or trying to hire people for financial sales paid by commission (even worse). Anyway, my kid will probably be going to preschool next year and I've been thinking about trying to go back to school to get retraining so I can start a new career entirely. I was considering moving abroad for this but that probably won't be happening right away so I was looking at online options etc in my state. In 2019 I was taking some community college courses in environmental science because I have a lot of interest in geology, earth sciences, geography and cartography, etc. I had to stop due to COVID and the baby and also a lack of clear end game. My major concerns are studying anything at this point that isn't going to lead me to getting hired into a new growing field since that's what happened the first time around when I graduated school in 2010. With this in mind I was looking at this Masters in GIS at the state school. Pros are that it's entirely online, relatively affordable and can be done in 15 months. Additionally, I think I meet all the prerequisites and can get accepted to the course without a lot of frustrating hoops to jump through. Cons are that I am not yet a computer toucher so I honestly don't know if this is one of those degrees that is for suckers and I'm going to end up out a bunch of money and time and still have no career prospects after it's done. Looking I guess for people to weigh in both on the idea of this program or alternative ideas that will help build a new career quickly? I guess my ideal career would be one not retail client facing, done all or mostly remote would be a bonus, and with career growth opportunities over time. Fairly compensated is also important, doesn't need to be astronomical but at least paying decently getting out of school would be a bonus. Hopefully this makes sense but if there's anything I can clarify or am not thinking of just let me know. Thank you for the help!!
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Feb 10, 2023 22:46
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hallo spacedog posted:I need some advice regarding making a total career change. Sorry but this will be kind of long. There's not a huge number of GIS jobs, but it's pretty stable work as I understand it. Land use models, rain models, etc. Local government jobs and agriculture. Probably stuff like oil/mining as well. Not sure what sort of credentials are expected for those roles.
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Feb 10, 2023 23:22
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The scripting and data-mining parts of GIS are more valuable and marketable than the parts that aren't that. That MS has me a little worried because it looks like you can avoid that almost entirely and end up with a degree and absolutely no skills that will let you put it to use. Before doing that I'd probably consider maybe doing some online Python classes (just the basics would do) to see if this is something you'd want to pursue. If it is, there are some good jobs in GIS. You want be drowning in figgies or anything, but they are solid jobs that pay plenty well enough. But mostly pretty technical. Also you have a good chance of working for an oil company but coming from the financial industry that is probably a lateral move in terms of evil.
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Feb 10, 2023 23:39
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Thanks, this is really helpful. Especially because I'm not totally married to that program, I guess I'm looking to figure out if there is any qualification in tech I can learn in a relatively quick time frame that is desirable to people who are hiring. I would prefer not to work for the gas and oil industry (another reason I stepped back from the geology thing too) so that's helpful to know. I guess I'm feeling overwhelmed with choices because I don't really have any perspective on tech related careers and what is in demand or even what is really out there in terms of certificates, leaning opportunities etc.
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Feb 10, 2023 23:56
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