Have you switched careers?

[wallyuwl]

Not jobs, careers?

I enrolled into an engineering program. Specifically, the Manufacturing Engineering M.S. at UW-Stout. Should start my first course Monday, June 8.

When I went to college I was a first-generation student and just did a program that interested me. It wasn't too far in that I realized the job market wasn't great for that major, so I just kept going and got my Ph.D. I liked the research process (did my first study as a junior), and the idea of being on a campus where new thoughts and ideas were always prevalent.

In my current position, my two bosses are a$$holes and both are not going anywhere. They are incredibly unsupportive and provide no leadership. As the relationship has deteriorated they hardly even treat me like a human. I have been advised to go to their superiors by other faculty, but so far haven't. Besides that, the students are becoming more entitled all the time. They think they know better, with their 20-year-old wisdom. Colleges in general are not the same places of knowledge and inquiry and ideas they used to be - they are now the places of censorship and safe spaces.

The UW System is also going to be having some major changes in the next few years. The outgoing system President has proposed only having one or a couple campuses that have any specific program (Madison and UW-Milwaukee are excluded). Out of the 13 campuses, I can think of at least 8 that have the program I'm in. And we aren't the best, largely because of the two aforementioned assholes, even though they think we are. Enrollment keeps going down as well at most UW System campuses (not all) and I don't see that changing. In our specific program enrollment has been going down about 15% year-over-year for the last 3 or 4 years. We are on furlough this coming year and they said it won't be a one year thing, and summer pay opportunities are going away. Not to give out too much, but I'll make $52k this coming year with a PhD and 7 years experience. That isn't acceptable, even with the time "off" I get.

I have been saying to myself for quite a while, about a decade, that "if I could do it over again" I'd go into engineering. Considering everything, I decided if I'm ever going to change that now is the time. So I research a bunch of programs and decided on the one above. Ironically, the program chair and I know each other. She was a post-doc at U. Kentucky when I was finishing up my Ph.D. We were in the same lab. I even took several of those career placement tests and all of them said different types of engineering as all the top choices, with industrial engineering as at or near the top. Manufacturing engineering is a type of industrial engineering. This type of engineering is all about improving processes to make the manufacturing safer, more consistent, and more efficient. It is problem-solving, which I'm good at (that is largely what research is). And it isn't calculus-based, it is more statistics (which I'm very good at) that is used.

I also looked into jobs, and there are a fair amount of them in the Green Bay/Fox Cities area. Talked with a few people in the general field who also said job prospects are good. Even more if you include Marinette and Manitowoc. Pay is pretty good, too; mid-career I should make $75-80k or more. I'm taking some classes at Fox Valley Tech to learn AutoCAD and reading blue prints and will take some on PLC and HMI programming.

I hope to graduate December 2021, but it may be May 2022. My current contract runs through May 2022 so I have my current job until then. Needless to say I won't be going above an beyond with research and such like I have been (they don't appreciate or even recognize it, anyway); my focus now needs to be on MY coursework.

Anyone ever changed careers after being in a different one for 10-15 years? What obstacles did you run into?

[Packfntk]

Good luck with finishing!

No, I have stuck with the same thing sine college (about 15 years). Switched jobs in my profession, but yep, same thing. Have thought about a move here and there, but there is nothing I can find that I am crazy passionate about enough to make a switch.

[salmar80]

I'd have to build a damn career first...

I've actually never done any job that I've had any direct training for. I've gone from layout artist to a journo to graphic design to now PR-guy on a very weird path. In an indirect way, my political science studies have helped immensely with the journo and PR things, graphic design came from hobbies.

Anyways, best of luck on your new path. I guess my 2 cents is that good bosses don't care about the path you took if you can do the work. I imagine you'll find something from the past education and work you can creatively apply in the new.

[BF004]

Yes, Actuary to Data Scientist to covid induced furloughed stay at home dad.

Just threw my hat in the ring for this, https://www.google.com/search?q=jobs+in ... tivrt=jobs so fingers crossed I’ll be that and not a Data Scientist anymore.

[Pckfn23]

Yes, Actuary to Data Scientist to covid induced furloughed stay at home dad.

Just threw my hat in the ring for this, https://www.google.com/search?q=jobs+in ... tivrt=jobs so fingers crossed I’ll be that and not a Data Scientist anymore.

If I was to change, that would probably be the one thing I would change to. Good Luck! To both of you.

[NCF]

I did. Kind of. Nothing big or bold, but definitely a huge right turn.

I graduated (from UW-L!!) with an Accountancy degree and worked as a Staff Accountant out of college. I eventually landed with a PR/Advertising/Sports Marketing conglomerate and worked my way up to Accounting Manager. Along the way I picked up my MBA and CPA but got so sick of the accounting cycle. Loved doing special projects and was actually involved in several international data conversion projects which was super cool. Eventually, I got burned out with the cycle, the project work wasn't enough, and decided to make the change. I moved on to an Accounting Director job with a big car dealership and EVERYTHING, the job, the company, everything sucked total ass. I was really miserable. Fast forward six months after taking that job and a great friend from my old job talked my old company into offering me an SAP Business Analyst role (essentially a systems analyst) despite the fact that I have zero background in systems. I was great friends with members of this team and we had worked collaboratively quite a bit, them from the systems side and me from the business/accounting side. It was the right time and they convinced me that I could offset what I did know about the business and accounting and as a user of the system against what I didn't know... which is all of the technical side. Three years later and I really love my job. 100% project work with some general systems maintenance and support responsibilities, but usually just escalated tickets, etc. We have a support team for the common stuff.

So, I can definitely say it was a fantastic move in the short term. Stress went way down and job satisfaction way up, but eventually, if I ever decide to throw my name in the ring again, I don't even know what I would call myself anymore. Half accountant, half systems analyst, but out of practice accountant and not overly technical systems analyst. I guess I would say I am over-specialized which I think would make it really hard for me to find another job similar to what I do know or that fits my background in the future. That's the downside with a career turn. I can worry about all that later, though. Like I said, for now, I'm happy.

[APB]

Yes, Actuary to Data Scientist to covid induced furloughed stay at home dad.

Just threw my hat in the ring for this, https://www.google.com/search?q=jobs+in ... tivrt=jobs so fingers crossed I’ll be that and not a Data Scientist anymore.

You get that job and I will celebrate like a mad fool! Insider info!!

[BF004]

Yes, Actuary to Data Scientist to covid induced furloughed stay at home dad.

Just threw my hat in the ring for this, https://www.google.com/search?q=jobs+in ... tivrt=jobs so fingers crossed I’ll be that and not a Data Scientist anymore.

You get that job and I will celebrate like a mad fool! Insider info!!

Honestly if I get that job (not expecting it whatsoever), I would highly consider leaving the forum before I say something that will get me in hot water.

[kampmanfan4life]

As I finish my first year teaching I questioned my career choice almost everyday, but I promised myself I would stick it out for 3 years then reevaluate. I would go into Marketing, or real estate. Always been interested in starting my own lawn care or self storage business as well.

[wallyuwl]

Yes, Actuary to Data Scientist to covid induced furloughed stay at home dad.

Just threw my hat in the ring for this, https://www.google.com/search?q=jobs+in ... tivrt=jobs so fingers crossed I’ll be that and not a Data Scientist anymore.

They had an analytics internship posted not long ago. The Packers pay way below market wages, because they figure they can. Been like that for decades. MM is hiring 8 analytics guys for Dallas, though. Stop by his house in Bellevue and chat him up, he is still there working from home.

It was between Manufacturing Engineering or Business Analytics. The Whitewater program mostly focuses on the business side and not a lot on the technical side of really learning SQL, Python, etc. Plus it is a new program so they have no stats on graduate outcomes. Seems programs are focused heavily on one or the other, at least ones I could afford.

I like analyzing data but don't want that to be my whole job. Pay is also highly variable compared to engineering. Median is $10k less in WI and the 10th percentile is $20k+ less, but that is probably for those with Associates degrees. With a M.S. I would probably start with similar pay with either.
Job market seems similar in GB/Appleton area for both professions.

Analytics would come easier to me because it is closer to what I do now in research. But I am not a business person, and don't want to get into machine learning and AI like a lot of data scientists do. I know that is a big area and becoming bigger, just not something I am interested in. I also don't like the likelihood of learning a new programming language every ten years as things change (for example, even 6 years ago R was the thing to know, now it is Python). Interestingly, the first career aptitude test I took, the first time I took it, listed data scientist number 3, with aerospace and industrial engineer numbers 1 and 2. When I retook it IE was still 2nd and all the other top 8 or whatever were some sort of engineering.

[wallyuwl]

As I finish my first year teaching I questioned my career choice almost everyday, but I promised myself I would stick it out for 3 years then reevaluate. I would go into Marketing, or real estate. Always been interested in starting my own lawn care or self storage business as well.

This was a weird year. Much of my family are teachers. Kids keep getting worse. More family problems and it shows in school. My wife taught 7 years k12, then taught some college while getting another masters (sports mgt) and is now an athletic director. You could get your principals license if you like the admin side.

I have thought about starting a storage business, too. Besides the land cost, lay down some concrete and put up some metal buildings and that is it for costs.

[texas]

Yes, Actuary to Data Scientist to covid induced furloughed stay at home dad.

Just threw my hat in the ring for this, https://www.google.com/search?q=jobs+in ... tivrt=jobs so fingers crossed I’ll be that and not a Data Scientist anymore.

You get that job and I will celebrate like a mad fool! Insider info!!

Honestly if I get that job (not expecting it whatsoever), I would highly consider leaving the forum before I say something that will get me in hot water.

If you got that job you would have to post here!

[texas]

Oh man have I got a story about switching careers. When I graduated I decided that I did not want a real job. I did all of my med school reqs but really what it was, was the thought of spending my 20s doing bitchwork (and more school), since that's what residency is, before finally getting to be in charge (my roommate who was premed is still a fellow). Also I took an entrepreneur class that was taught by a guy who was making millions selling stuff online from internet ads, so I wanted to go that route. I have also always been an extreme night owl and (as everyone knows) hate being told what to do, so of course I gravitated to some sort of self-employed career. I had taught myself programming in college so I leaned into that a bit, but it wasn't about the programming as much as it was about following up on business ideas that I liked, most of which happened to involve code at some level.

The phrase about the average entrepreneur failing 7 times or whatever before finding a success really is true for me, so in that sense I've probably "switched careers" in 8 years more than many people do in their entire lives and then some, each time getting a little bit better. I started with a couple random tech-related startups.

The first one was a social analytics thing that was sponsored by my school's entrepreneurship program, and we actually got a small angel offer but I was foolish and overly confident so I decided not to take it (I also didn't like my co-founder that much tbh and thought the business had no legs, and I had other ideas I liked better so it was probably more that, and it wasn't a great offer either)

Then came a nifty idea that honestly I would still like to pursue at some point, but ended up failing too. It was sort of in the grubhub space but had some really interesting wrinkles. But by this point I was sort of getting pigeonholed as "the tech guy" (where I remain to this day), and the guy doing sales couldn't make the sales and fell on some hard times, so that evaporated too.

Then I spent about a year doing random websites for people, increasing my programming skills, all the while keeping an ear out for other opportunities. I said that if I was still in the same spot after a year, I would give it up and just go to med school. I was sort of your average programmer for hire.

Then, just as I was about to look for a real job, I finally had my first success. My business partner comes from one of the wealthier social circles in Houston, and some of his HS friends were looking to do a real estate venture and they had received 500k for 5% from one of their fathers-in-law who was an oil CEO. I made some code that scraped the MLS every 15 minutes and pulled any new listings, and then ran them through my valuation algorithm to see if they were undervalued. If we found any smoking deals, we would then generate a contract and send it to my partners for them to manually inspect it and if it was valid, they'd submit it. Then we'd re-flip it within the option period to another investor, thus remaining liquid. If we found no investor, we'd cancel the option contract and be out $100. We made some good money for about a year before the Houston market tanked.

But I had some money to play with finally, so I got into affiliate internet advertising, which was always what I wanted to do. And I failed miserably. I did that for a whole year or so and ate through most of my money from real estate. I also spent time on another concurrent project where we wrote EMR software for med schools. That got as far as actually demoing it for a semester at a med school, but one of my business partners on that unfortunately saw his cancer return, and this platform was really everyone's side project, so that just sort of failed as well.

At that time, I had enough to live on but not a ton to play with anymore, and no prospects, so I decided to try to learn about AI because it was always something I wanted to learn about and it supposedly was hot. I had an idea for an AI platform that I started building out, at the same time taking on programming contracts again (this time I was actually a good programmer). However, I spent way too long on this with way too little to show for it, so when one of my business partners from real estate called me up, we came up some ideas for some new real estate stuff, and I was off to that again.

However, he quickly went bankrupt and I was back to square 1. Once again, I was maybe a month or two away from throwing in the towel (getting a 9-5), but then on a whim me and my friend launched a little website for hurricane relief during the 2017 hurricane season that went viral and we hit it out of the park, and now that's still a big thing. So I worked in emergency management tech for about a year, before a key contract fell through and we sort of gave up on the for-profit route (although my friend still runs it largely as a nonprofit and it continues to grow so that might be something I jump back into at some point).

While I was doing that, I turned down a job with a guy doing internet ads (not the same guy I knew in college), but when I stopped doing the nonprofit stuff, I was kicking myself for turning that down. Me and the guy who went bankrupt did some land flipping for a couple of months (did not make a ton), before I had an opportunity to do ads with another guy, and finally after all the ups and downs, I got ads to really work, and that's where I still am right now. I plan on milking it as long as possible because the industry gets tougher every year but it's really profitable still overall. I guess this is closing in on the longest I have spent in one industry.

[Pckfn23]

As I finish my first year teaching I questioned my career choice almost everyday, but I promised myself I would stick it out for 3 years then reevaluate. I would go into Marketing, or real estate. Always been interested in starting my own lawn care or self storage business as well.

First year is BY FAR the hardest. Going into my 15th year this year.

[Carl Gerbschmidt]

I worked wild land fire for 20 years, during the off season I worked at the family business for health insurance and vowed to never take unemployment. I knew about year 15 that I was not going to make the change from active suppression to administration. I got more involved in the family business and the result has been satisfying. That being said I see us family members selling the business within 10 years not sure what I will do after that.I do know I will not retire I need to do something.

[Drj820]

i have not, but its something i am really thinking about now. I have worked for non profits doing development and then sales type roles. But they have just become so dependent on the market. When times are good they are great, but its so stressful when people arent spending. I have a sunday job at ace hardware and i really feel like i would be perfectly happy managing an ace for a career. The problem is the chain of Aces that i work for have many people who work full time for a long time making not great money, all for the hope of being a manager one day. Lots of people want the spot, not many open up often. So i dont know if i would want the pay cut just to eventually get to the point where you make decent money.

Working at ace i have learned just about everything there is to know about house maintenance, but i am in no way a master of any of it. I have thought about some tech school or online studies to really master a trade like plumbing or something similar. I just always want that backup option, or side hustle option available to me to work for the day the main income stream dries up. I really want to learn a trade that i can turn into money.

[APB]

Damn, [mention]texas[/mention]! That’s one winding and weaving path you’re on! Love that you’re chasing what you want to do, though. As long as you keep paying the bills, keep on chasing.

I took a Program Management job working for DoD shortly after my military career ended. This, after spending the prior 15ish years flying a helicopter while doing Operations, Standardization, and other management duties associated with flying. Loved doing it.

The PM job was in a 5 story cubicle farm building that afforded little other than my 6’x10’ workspace. There were 3000 or so folks in the building but few spaces that encouraged interaction or mingling. Not a cafeteria or snack bar within the entire building, just small break spaces scattered throughout for folks to heat their lunches and head back to their cube. The pay was great, just short of 100k/yr for basically sitting on my butt while overseeing projects and coordinating the effort.

And I absolutely hated it.

Spent around 6 months doing it before I came to realize being miserable for 5 days/40+ hrs a week wasn’t near worth what I was being paid. Found my current job while sitting in my cube at my previous job, updated my resume while on the clock, and gladly accepted the offer for my current position while absorbing a roughly 1/3 cut in pay.

All that to say being happy with what you do goes a long way.

[Waldo]

Good luck with engineering Wally. I've been a practicing engineer now for almost 20 years, my brother is an engineer, my uncles are engineers.

I'm on the gov't side, which means I make a lot less than I could (still >100k tho), but have great benefits, including walking out the door at the time I'm scheduled to each day and not even thinking about work until I walk through the door the next day. That is very much not the norm in this industry, at least in the general specialty I'm in (plants, plants = buildings and the systems in them meant to make the buildings operate, and other similar infrastructure).

I've now been through the full gamut, from resident engineer (on-site construction engineer), to project engineer (higher level resident), to design engineer, to design lead, now program manager (I oversee all design and construction from a financial, schedule, and technical pov). There are individual specialties within plants engineering, but that only really matters at the journeyman level of your career; at first you get more of a high level introduction to it all, then you are expected to know other disciplines reasonably well as you reach master level (it is really what defines it moreso than mastery of a specialty). My specialty is civil, specifically reinforced concrete design, and computerized computational methods, not that I've really used either much since graduation.

I've never really even entertained switching careers, I've known I wanted to be an engineer, specifically a plants engineer, basically my whole life. I couldn't even fathom doing something else.

College for engineers really has little to nothing to do with working for engineers. By and large the point is to weed out people that just can't hack it as engineers and train the mind to solve difficult technical problems; problems lacking in clear definition or solution. We used to joke that pre-med is also known as ex-engineering, and there was a lot of truth to it, its where all the girls went. Early on classes had more girls than guys, by graduation that dropped to 1:10 tops, many went to pre-med.

We are always, always looking for engineers. This is the case basically for everyone that employs engineers. Good prospects are really hard to find.

[APB]

Side note to [mention]Waldo[/mention] : when BF004 posted that job listing for a Packer data analyst, I almost immediately thought of you. Seemed right up your alley from your posting history here and at other sites. No interest in something like that?

[salmar80]

As for changing jobs... Dang guys... I got me a job in COVID times!

Doing all kindsa PR, graphic design, book layouts and web pages for a group of non-profits, and during this summer also helping take care of an old villa by the seashore. It's a hodgepodge of things and I have no idea how it'll all come together, or even if, but I doubt it'll be boring - I may open up a side business selling seashells by the seashore. The job kinda fits my expertise in taking on things I'm almost-but-not-quite proficient at, and somehow making it work.

At least it isn't the worst job I've ever had, which was changing the filters of a coal power plant. If you think pollution is nothing to sneeze at, try literally wading waist deep in it.

And the view from the "office" ain't bad.

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