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Analyst sounds like something I'd be able to do, but honestly I have no clue where to start looking for something like that. Most of what I've found through job search sites are "Senior software analyst" positions. What would these be labeled as? Are they entry-level? As for software development, that'd be cool, but I'll kill myself before I waste even more of my life on school than I already have. I have a friend who works at the Oak Ridge labs who says I'm pretty much at Comp Sci Bachelors level, but I'm not so sure. Besides, I don't have the credentials to even get a second glance from a programming job. Like I was saying, I feel like at this point my best/only option is a staffing or temp agency or something, which I'm hoping can also help me get my feet on the ground out of state; anybody have any experience with one of these?
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Jun 10, 2014 11:21
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ForeverSmug posted:Analyst sounds like something I'd be able to do, but honestly I have no clue where to start looking for something like that. Most of what I've found through job search sites are "Senior software analyst" positions. What would these be labeled as? Are they entry-level? It depends on where you live. The types of jobs I was talking about (data analysts for ngo/non-profit/research consulting) tend to be in major metro cities, biased towards the east coast (DC, NYC, Boston, etc.). Other types of analysts, I don't know. That said, I think a lot of industries are doing that whole "yeah we're hiring, but only for experienced positions" thing. That said, you have two+ years of experience, and that counts for something, so look for associate/just-above-entry-level positions as well, especially if you were taking charge of tasks, and not only assisting a manager in whatever task they did. Look for "data analyst", anything with "analyst" in the title; a lot of places use this term to refer to a lot of things, so looking for jobs requires a bit more sifting. As for temp agencies, they're good to start and use if you just need a job. You just have to keep on top of them and check in. Though it'd be worth checking in with recruiters to see what they'd gear you towards. Try contacting a few on Linked in. If you wanna move out of state, it's always easiest to get a job by either 1) being there, or 2) having lived there before if you apply out of state. This applies mainly to entry level positions, companies are cutting their relocation budgets, and cities like NYC won't be likely to give you a look if you're from out of town.
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Jun 10, 2014 13:49
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yoyomama posted:recruiters Is there like, a central location for them or something? I don't actually know any, I honestly have no idea how you'd go about that. I'd imagine most of them are looking for specific people to snipe out of other companies anyway, not somebody outside a field.
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Jun 10, 2014 15:37
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ForeverSmug posted:Is there like, a central location for them or something? I don't actually know any, I honestly have no idea how you'd go about that. I don't know any myself, but I do know in technical fields it's more common to use recruiters (how common I don't know). I'd either do some googling or reach out to someone in the field, professional organizations, networking meetups and see if you can get more info that way. It would ultimately depend on what industry you want to go in. If you want to keep working with schools it's one thing, while working in finance would be different. Once you narrow down where you'd want to use your skills, it'll be easier to figure out what positions to look or and who to ask for advice and network with. Sorry I can recommend anyone specifically. That said, I was contacted by a staffing agency called Teksystems back when I just got out of school and though I wanted a tech career, got a short gig doing qa testing for software. I don't know how good they'd be considered by someone with actual programming skills, but I figured I'd throw it out there just in case.
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Jun 10, 2014 16:59
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yoyomama posted:I don't know any myself, but I do know in technical fields it's more common to use recruiters (how common I don't know). I'd either do some googling or reach out to someone in the field, professional organizations, networking meetups and see if you can get more info that way. It would ultimately depend on what industry you want to go in. If you want to keep working with schools it's one thing, while working in finance would be different. Once you narrow down where you'd want to use your skills, it'll be easier to figure out what positions to look or and who to ask for advice and network with. Sorry I can recommend anyone specifically. Teksystems is exactly the agency I was looking at, actually. They work in the area and apparently have people in the area I want to move to as well (Phoenix.)
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Jun 11, 2014 08:43
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I have two job offers on the table in front of me and I was hoping you guys would be willing to discuss my situation with me and give me some more perspectives. One position is as a senior software engineer, working remotely for a very small startup(12 employees). Compensation is $100K and 2.5 million shares of restricted stock options @ $0.04. The company just took in another $4.5 million funding round, that's why they gave me an offer. I don't really "get" their product, it seems kind of lame to me, but they have some fairly large customers and are nearly profitable, and their customer base continues to grow. They said I can work whatever hours I want. The other position is as a software engineer, working locally at a medium sized startup(80 people). Compensation is $90K and 3500 stock shares at $1.08. I would be reporting directly to the CTO, and the company is pretty hyped/well regarded in the tech industry and has been going through a rapid growth phase. I really enjoyed the office atmosphere, I know and like a lot of the employees there from previous jobs, and the work sounds more interesting to me than the other position. However, the compensation package at the second company is inarguably less than the compensation package at the remote company. The equity package from the remote company could wind up being extremely profitable if I'm lucky, due to the low strike price and high number of shares, especially compared to the still relatively low market capitalization of the stock. The remote job offers the perk of freedom as well, being able to go wherever I want and not have to be in an office. However, socialization is also nice during the workday and I'm not sure in reality if I would enjoy working remotely. I really don't know what I want to do and I have to decide pretty quickly. I technically accepted the remote position's offer already and am starting Monday. I had a crazy idea, as well. The guy I'm going to be working most directly with at the remote position doesn't come in to the office until around 11 AM Pacific time. I live in Eastern Time, so that is 2 PM here. I could take both jobs, go to the local job starting early in the morning(like 7 AM), leave around 3, and work on the remote job. My concerns there are mainly that I would feel like I was turning my career path into an episode of Three's Company... what if they find out I'm working both jobs? How do the logistics of taking two health insurance plans work? Is that even a feasible or reasonable idea? It WOULD be the fastest way to finally pay off my student loans, though!
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Jun 12, 2014 15:23
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ashgromnies posted:I have two job offers on the table in front of me and I was hoping you guys would be willing to discuss my situation with me and give me some more perspectives. I'd go with Option 2 - stock's on the rise, company's on the rise. With Option 1 the company could poo poo the bed and your $100,000 worth of stock will be worth $0 overnight (and you'll be unemployed!).
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Jun 12, 2014 17:05
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Agreed. Also, you don't want to work at both due to any potential conflicts of interest. Plus you'll burn out very quickly with two workloads. Also, the one thing about "work when you want" places is that it can sometimes end up as a "work all the time" situation where you're always expected to be available. I haven't seen it often, but it depends on the company environment and expectations. I'd say pick the 2nd, since it's the more sure option, but that's only based on what info you mentioned, not other things only you can judge like location, other benefits, your interest in what they do, how you'd get along with who you'd report to and who you'd supervise.
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Jun 12, 2014 17:43
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ashgromnies posted:However, the compensation package at the second company is inarguably less than the compensation package at the remote company. The equity package from the remote company could wind up being extremely profitable if I'm lucky, due to the low strike price and high number of shares, especially compared to the still relatively low market capitalization of the stock. Why do you believe the strike price is low? The issue is not whether the strike price is low from an absolute dollar amount perspective. The issue is whether the strike price is low when compared to the company's value. $.04 versus a buck something is a pretty meaningless distinction. What really matters is how many shares they have outstanding, what your percentage would be on a fully diluted basis, what the reasonable valuation per share now is, etc.
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Jun 13, 2014 02:07
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SlyFrog posted:Why do you believe the strike price is low? The issue is not whether the strike price is low from an absolute dollar amount perspective. The issue is whether the strike price is low when compared to the company's value. That's what I was trying to imply with the "market capitalization" bit; it's about 0.5% of the outstanding shares of the company. Certainly a lot more than I'd get at option 2. However I feel like the immaterial benefits of option 2 are greater. There is more prestige, more fun people, and a project I'm actually excited to get to work on. I think I am going to take that, thanks for the discussion guys.
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Jun 13, 2014 02:42
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ForeverSmug posted:Analyst sounds like something I'd be able to do, but honestly I have no clue where to start looking for something like that. Most of what I've found through job search sites are "Senior software analyst" positions. What would these be labeled as? Are they entry-level? Agreed with everything yoyomama said. Look at my previous posts in this thread too.
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Jun 13, 2014 03:41
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I just accepted job option 2 and sent an email turning down 1 and apologizing. I felt pretty bad sending it because they're a small company and were super excited to have hired me, and I had already accepted the offer... but hey, that's how at will employment works, right? I wish I felt better about my decision right now, this was a hard choice, but I know I will enjoy the work at option 2 more, and I believe in them as a company more. Option 1's role may technically have been higher profile in the company and higher pay, but I didn't really believe in it and wouldn't be as engaged in the work. At option 2 I will be reporting directly to the CTO on their R&D team, which is very small and full of some really great security researchers, so that is exciting. ashgromnies fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Jun 13, 2014 |
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Jun 13, 2014 15:09
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ashgromnies posted:I just accepted job option 2 and sent an email turning down 1 and apologizing. I felt pretty bad sending it because they're a small company and were super excited to have hired me, and I had already accepted the offer... but hey, that's how at will employment works, right? I wish I felt better about my decision right now, this was a hard choice, but I know I will enjoy the work at option 2 more, and I believe in them as a company more. Congrats 
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Jun 13, 2014 15:44
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ashgromnies posted:I just accepted job option 2 and sent an email turning down 1 and apologizing. I felt pretty bad sending it because they're a small company and were super excited to have hired me, and I had already accepted the offer... but hey, that's how at will employment works, right? I wish I felt better about my decision right now, this was a hard choice, but I know I will enjoy the work at option 2 more, and I believe in them as a company more. Going by what you wrote you made the right choice. Option 1 was almost certainly going to go wrong.
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Jun 14, 2014 10:39
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Ran into a situation while job hunting that I hadn't expected and am looking for outside thoughts. I've been half heartedly job searching for a new position inside and outside of my company. I'm trying to move into a supervisory/management role after being in Field Service for almost 12 years but have also been applying for field service positions in other industries. I applied for a field service manager position with a company selling similar but non-competing equipment. Yesterday I got an email from one of their recruiters saying that they were looking at a number of candidates with field service management experience (ie not me) for the role I applied for but would I be interested in a Technical Sales position. I've never really considered sales because, seriously, gently caress those guys, but it has caused me to stop and think about what does one do to move up/get ahead in sales? I'm not that interested in the sales position itself but rather what doors does being in sales open that being in field service doesn't?
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Jun 14, 2014 14:46
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ashgromnies posted:I just accepted job option 2 and sent an email turning down 1 and apologizing. I felt pretty bad sending it because they're a small company and were super excited to have hired me, and I had already accepted the offer... Be careful about accepting offers then turning down the job. People have long memories.
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Jun 14, 2014 15:53
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Bruegels Fuckbooks posted:Be careful about accepting offers then turning down the job. People have long memories. He was cool about it. He asked if it was the money, and offered me $130K  I feel weird about it still, though. Am I dumb for not taking $40K more salary? Company 1 has managed to stay in business for ten years, even though they're small -- though they changed their business model a couple years ago. I'm meeting with the venture capitalist dude who invested the $4.5 mill in them on Thursday for drinks, I'll see what he says I guess.
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Jun 14, 2014 17:01
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ashgromnies posted:He was cool about it. He asked if it was the money, and offered me $130K That's a lot of money to turn down and most people probably wouldn't, but do the job you're more excited about, and it doesn't sound like you're all that interested in the first company.
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Jun 14, 2014 20:18
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Hey, I need help. My current job is a bit unique and I feel like my present experience is pulling me in two directions and I should probably just pick one. Here's what I do: I work for an accounting/payroll/HR outsourcing company that is pretty small. The company does tax stuff for people who employ domestic servants and nothing else. In short, my job involves taking phone calls from clients while trying to do all of their tax and payroll stuff for them in-between phone calls. I'm not the only person doing anything that I do currently, it seems that everybody at this company does everything at once. Tax stuff I do: I apply for tax accounts for the clients - Federal EIN and state unemployment insurance account and state withholding account (where applicable). In states in which we can't or don't efile, I help match the checks printed in micr to the returns. I make sure UI rates are up to date and that the filing frequency on the withholding accounts are right (like, in VA there's monthly and quarterly). Often clients turn up and tell us about how they want to report wages they paid last year so we have to file a late return or amend a previous one. I write waiver request letters to state agencies to try to get them to not charge penalties and interest on these late returns. We also monitor payroll changes and contact the client if the change would result in tax weirdness or crossing a threshold. HR Stuff I do: I talk to people and their employees on how to fill out onboarding stuff like the W4, state worksheet (where applicable), I-9, and so forth, and I file bulk new hire reports with state agencies. I know the FLSA and state wage and hour laws like the back of my hand. When employers call wanting to know about benefits they can provide, I can tell them immediately about the difference between an HSA and a HRA, all the flavors of IRA, and I can liberally quote IRS publication 15b. We also get lots of calls from old people who hate computers and who want to report their payroll changes to us. We also help employers respond to unemployment insurance claims and workers compensation audits. Kind of fun, we run clients and employees through Lexis Nexis to make sure they're not fraudsters, and if they fail the first pass, we call them and ask them questions like "On which of the following streets have you never lived?" Call center-y stuff: Associates and Seniors are expected to answer the phone, and it rings nonstop throughout business hours. Instead of having a fancy call center setup, however, all of our desk phones are hooked up to the all call group, so when there's an inbound call, all phones ring. Managers give us schedules in which we have "ranks" from 1 to however many there are of us (usually 12). If you're first, you answer the phone first. If you're second, you answer the phone if first is already on the phone, and so on down the line. Right now I'm unhappy with my job because the hours are long and the work is nonstop and intense. I can't concentrate because I'm constantly having to rip myself from whatever I'm working on to answer the phone. It's like a perpetual assault on my nerves. I know I could try to angle into more tax accounting and make the $$$ but I also know they have poo poo hours. I don't know much about HR but I'm assuming its worse pay with better hours. Is that true? Should I go for it? Or is there something else I can do that might make me happy?
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Jun 17, 2014 21:07
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I'm in a situation where I have about 7 years of experience in web development under my belt, but only a year of real training - companies that gave me the title but had me do flash and design etc. I can't stand it anymore and am going back to school for design. In the meantime, I can't find a new job in the dev area (not as good as I should be) so I'm working with a temp agency. I have a. Good lead, but if it doesn't work out, I'm stuck with this experience that I want to get out of. I'm going to work on my design portfolio, but I want to get away from development as quickly as possible. I crashed and burned a few times because of personal reasons. I'll probably end up at fedex or doing odd jobs until the temp agency finds something, but the development thing may raise some red flags... Any thoughts? I know I'm a big baby and should study up, but I wanted to see if there see if anyone had further thoughts. BLOG KING fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Jun 23, 2014 |
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Jun 23, 2014 03:44
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BLOG KING posted:I'm in a situation where I have about 7 years of experience in web development under my belt, but only a year of real training - companies that gave me the title but had me do flash and design etc. I can't stand it anymore and am going back to school for design. In the meantime, I can't find a new job in the dev area (not as good as I should be) so I'm working with a temp agency. I have a. Good lead, but if it doesn't work out, I'm stuck with this experience that I want to get out of. I'm going to work on my design portfolio, but I want to get away from development as quickly as possible. I crashed and burned a few times because of personal reasons. I'll probably end up at fedex or doing odd jobs until the temp agency finds something, but the development thing may raise some red flags... Any thoughts? You already know the answer. Study up, etc... But if and when the temp agency sends you somewhere take a good look around and think about what you can make of it. Is it the sort of place where you can grow? I've sort of told my story before but I was kicking around, doing all sorts of odd web/design related things when a temp agency sent me to do some related stuff at a big company. It took me a long time to figure the place out but once I did I ended up loving it and using it as a springboard to full-time employment, leadership opportunities and, eventually, a transfer to another country. And it started with a temp agency randomly getting me a contract that on the face of it I seemed overqualified for. So do your due diligence, work hard, and keep an open mind. You might be able to make your own luck if you work at it hard enough.
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Jun 28, 2014 11:35
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Thank you. I've studied up and have worked with the temp agency. Second interview.
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Jun 29, 2014 02:25
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I have a job I love (for the most part) but it has literally zero opportunity for advancement and is guaranteed to go away in five years. I also don't really care for the town I am living in. There are lots of opportunities for similar, although less "prestigious" jobs working for cities around the state that I would much prefer to live in but that jobs wouldn't be as good (in terms of my enjoyment but pay and benefits would be unchanged, relatively higher in that the cost of living in these cities would be lower). It is very likely I will ultimately end up working in one of the city jobs sooner or later. Given my inability to advance at my current job I'm concerned that if I wait to enter one of the city jobs I will just be five years further down the line entering the same job I could enter now whereas if I go now I could move my way up in the city. I am at the beginning of my career although I waited and went to graduate school so I am 29. I don't necessarily want to give up this incredible job I have now but I am also concerned that staying at my current job could really stunt my career and earnings growth. Any advice?
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Jun 29, 2014 06:10
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joojoo2915 posted:I have a job I love (for the most part) but it has literally zero opportunity for advancement and is guaranteed to go away in five years. I also don't really care for the town I am living in. There are lots of opportunities for similar, although less "prestigious" jobs working for cities around the state that I would much prefer to live in but that jobs wouldn't be as good (in terms of my enjoyment but pay and benefits would be unchanged, relatively higher in that the cost of living in these cities would be lower). It is very likely I will ultimately end up working in one of the city jobs sooner or later. Given my inability to advance at my current job I'm concerned that if I wait to enter one of the city jobs I will just be five years further down the line entering the same job I could enter now whereas if I go now I could move my way up in the city. I am at the beginning of my career although I waited and went to graduate school so I am 29. I don't necessarily want to give up this incredible job I have now but I am also concerned that staying at my current job could really stunt my career and earnings growth. Any advice? Why can't you do your current job until you have enough experience, etc, to apply for the next step up?
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Jun 29, 2014 13:28
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quote:Why can't you do your current job until you have enough experience, etc, to apply for the next step up? I unfortunately don't think the jobs are close enough in scope that I could get in at the higher level no matter how long I worked at my current job. Right now I am an analyst for an angel/venture capital fund but I live in a rural area so I have basically the only angel/venture fund job in the state (where I would like to stay). Once funding runs out I will probably end up moving to community/economic development for one of the local communities. My being able to read business plans and financials can get me in the door but I won't have any experience managing people or direct experience with economic development for that matter, to get in at the head ED position.
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Jun 29, 2014 15:53
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I have been with my current employer for three years, but I was accepted into Teacher's College and will be moving in August. I haven't yet told my company and my boss is out of the office until next week, so I plan to meet with him on Monday and explain the situation. I'm hoping they'll let me work from home. With VPN access, I could do my entire job from my bed with zero drop in performance, and I could get all my work done on evenings & weekends with no trouble. Unfortunately, for the previous three years I have been a fulltime cubicle-dweller, and I am not sure if the optics of me working from home while attending school fulltime will fly. Even if my level of effort remains unchanged and my work remains consistent, they may prefer to have a new guy in the office just to keep up appearances. My second choice would be to go on contract. I've never worked on contract and I'm not sure what kind of hit I would take to my income if my hours were being closely audited. My third choice would be for them to fire me without cause so I can collect a severance and EI until school begins. I have some leverage because there is a big release coming in mid-to-late August that needs my work, and I only need to give two weeks notice. Also, I'm going to teachers college and don't really care about using these guys as a reference in the future. Any tips on how to approach this with the boss? I'm tempted to only float the first idea and give no indication that I intend to formally quit, only that I have already signed a lease and will not be able to come in to the office after August 1st. Or I could try to play hard ball with the upcoming release and the two weeks notice.
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Jul 2, 2014 18:28
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I'll be surprised if anyone can help me too much since I feel so lost myself, but: I graduated with a BS in Linguistics in 2009 with good grades at a decent school. The whole time I studied this I thought I would pursue a PhD, but the recession hit in my last semester and I also realized I didn't really like doing Linguistics research. I ended up teaching in China for a year to get some full-time work on my resume as I had previously only worked part time and at student jobs. I had the idea that I wanted to teach in the US, but I no longer want to. I speak Mandarin and German, so I lucked into a job as an "administrative assistant" at the International Center of the school I graduated from. I was secretary for two full-time visa advisers, and I learned a lot while being secretary. When one of the advisers left her job, I applied and got the job, so I got a pay increase and more responsibilities etc. This field is basically these types of jobs: http://www.higheredjobs.com/admin/search.cfm?JobCat=32. This list is effectively every single job like this in the country (and I only qualify for about half of these), and one or two open up every day. My job pays only $31,000/year, gives good healthcare and retirement, and also would allow me to get a Master's degree for free, but only a few credit hours per semester because I'd need to keep working full time. Even though these are nice benefits, the pay will probably never increase significantly. If I hold out here and get my boss's job, which is possible, I could get bumped up to $42,000. If I ever wanted to make more than that I'd need a PhD. I enjoy this job; if it weren't for the low pay I would probably be happy to stay with it for several more years at least. "International Education Administration" is not a very good field to be in if you want any advancement. Where I live pays the least, and where I'm applying to would bump the pay for this current position to $40-45k. I don't have anything resembling STEM skills that I could fall back on, so this has been my only real hope. For just under a year I've applied to almost every job on that list that opens up which I am actually interested in and which isn't in a place I don't want to live. I have probably applied to 50 or more jobs, and I have had two real interviews and one pre-screening that I didn't get past. So something like 2.5 interviews. I didn't get the job in either case. Even these low-paying positions are typically being filled by people with MS degrees in International Education, Higher Education, etc. When I apply for these jobs I am fairly sure I'm going up against people who have similar experience to me (2.5 years now) but also a relevant Master's on top of it. Going into a STEM field does not appeal to me, but it feels so skewed right now that anything other than STEM is not worth putting time or money into. I don't know what other job is out there where I could bump my salary up to something like $50-60,000. I don't want to be rich, but $30-40,000 is very low, and the worst thing to me is that this skill I have and field I'm in is so specialized that I can only get a job at a major university, and those openings only happen every so often. If my wife gets a job in a certain city, I will basically be at the mercy of the university to have an opening like this, and then I would have to hope I get an interview and the job there. If not, it could be years before another opening comes up. I've been applying all over the country for almost a year with no luck, I'm scared to think what would happen if I had to go to a city and search only within that city. I speak these languages, but they are effectively useless without a STEM skill to make them relevant. You don't get jobs because you know Chinese or German, you get jobs because you are an Engineer or Doctor who knows those languages. I feel like International Relations would be something I may be interested in, but I don't want to make the mistake I did with my BA and get another degree without knowing how it would shape my career path. Getting a degree like that would help me in my current field, but I keep asking myself what I would do if I suddenly didn't have this job, would I really want to stay in what feels like such a dead-end field? At least IR would give me opportunities to get other jobs, but my other temptation is to bite the bullet and do something related to IT since I know it would give more solid job prospects.
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Jul 2, 2014 21:20
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I have a master's in literature. I couldn't find a steady teaching job after I graduated, so I settled into teaching online accelerated English courses to make ends meet. That has been my semi-full-time employment for the last five years. I'm either grading constantly or dipping into savings because I'm not making enough. I don't really have a professional network because (save for a little bit of temping when times got especially lean) I haven't had any face-to-face interaction with people at work for years. I do have a couple of references I might be able to call on, but no one is very familiar with my work. My last couple of technical interviews for F2F teaching positions went very poorly (probably because I haven't taught in a traditional classroom since 2006) and, to be honest, I'm burned out by the constant grading and loneliness. Also, my income has actually gone down over the last three years. It's about to go down to the point where I won't be able to support myself...one of my colleges has introduced new metrics that make it impossible to teach for them in any kind of time-efficient fashion. I've enrolled at the local community college, and I plan to take a two-year (or less) career program. Possibly IT (I know there are jobs, but I don't know if I would like it) but probably allied health. (I know I would like some of these jobs, but I have no idea what the job market will be like in the health field in two years.) The thought of going back to school absolutely petrifies me, though, and supporting myself while attending school full-time will be difficult. Also, I'm 34. I don't know how to make my current resume sound good to anyone who isn't hiring online teachers. I've been accepted to a couple of freelance writing sites, but not at a high level. Proofreading apparently isn't my thing, based on some recent tests I took as part of an unsuccessful interview process. Coin fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Jul 3, 2014 |
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Jul 3, 2014 13:48
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systran posted:
And you can't do freelance translations from German and Mandarin to English, or Mandarin to German? Or take some STEM classes at your university and use the knowledge to do technical translations.
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Jul 3, 2014 14:00
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Coin posted:I have a master's in literature. I couldn't find a steady teaching job after I graduated, so I settled into teaching online accelerated English courses to make ends meet. That has been my semi-full-time employment for the last five years. I'm either grading constantly or dipping into savings because I'm not making enough. 1) don't feel like you have to go back to school full time. You can find a part time program, or an online one that would be more flexible to do with a full time job. That said, I wouldn't suggest going back for an associates when you have a masters, unless it is a requirement in the field you want to go into. I dont think it is for IT careers, so see what you can learn through self-study while you still work and make money. Also, internships may be a way to see if you like IT or applied health. That said, what may work better for you is to 2) join some networking groups, or reach out to professionals in the field you want to go into and ask for an informational interview. Do some research into what specific areas you're interested in, and meet people who can give you more info. This may be better than going back to school, if you couple it with learning what you need to know on you own time, working on projects that demonstrate those skills (if this is possible), and then networking to find an entry level position or paid internship where you can learn on the job. 3) try to think of what current skillset you have, and how it can be applied to the new career field you want to join. If you think of your job history in terms of skillset instead of position, and that can help you to figure out what you can transition to without necessarily needing to get another degree (if it's not required). You have teaching experience, but in terms of skills, you can train, and condense complicated material into a form that makes it easier to understand. So, communication and presentation skills. You did a masters, you have research skills. All of these skills are good ones to have. Corporate training may also be something you could do in the field you're interested in, or technical writing (since you've done some freelance writing), or communications.
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Jul 3, 2014 15:55
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I'm a project coordinator for a construction/telecommunications company. My main job duty is basically bookkeeping. My degree is in communications and before this I worked at an insurance call center for three years. My main motivation for moving on is thinking about my future. I'm happy with my job right now as a single 26-year old, but I know this won't be enough forever. Even with annual raises (and hopefully a partner), I would someday like to raise a family on more than roughly $41,600 a year. What career paths do people in this situation normally take? I'm seeing that other people at my company move into real estate, and one person got a project management certification and left for a promotion to project manager at another company. Another person did not get the PMP, but he's an executive assistant/project manager at a pharmaceuticals company.
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Jul 4, 2014 00:21
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I feel like there are a few threads where I could post this, but this one gets the most traffic so please just direct me to the proper thread if this isn't it. After graduating with a Master's degree in Chemistry last June, I started my first post-school job last September in a QC analyst position with a food chemistry company in the Midwest. Given the degrees or even attitudes of other people in my department I'm hitting below my educational weight class (and hitting way below on pay but that's a whole different post), but I took the job because I really enjoy food chemistry and see it as a way to break in to the industry, and I don't have a problem putting in the work to "prove my worth" somewhere or to someone. They also came to me at a really low point in my life so I'll go ahead and say I was a little desperate for any work, but at the same time I got the impression that they were a great company to work for and talking to other area professionals they all say "Oh you work for X? That's a really good thing they've got going on there" Later this month I'm coming up on my first-ever mid-year performance review with my manager, and most of the review is supposed to be focused on employee development and career planning 3-5 years out. What's the best way to have this discussion with my boss if my immediate career plan is "get the hell out of this department and onto a title and payscale that I deserve, preferably but not necessarily here"? Lately, I've been feeling more and more over-qualified for my position to the point of almost being bored most days. I don't really feel like I need my degree to do the job well, much less a Master's, though this is something most of us in the department lament (most have Bachelor's in chem or bio but only a couple of us have graduate degrees). There are other formulation or R&D positions in the company that do interest me, but I'm not eligible to changes positions internally until February and even then there's no guarantee that a position will open up right away. That said I do want my career path to go more into the wet chemistry/synthesis/design side of industrial chemistry, rather than just checking other people's stuff, so I'm trying to learn more about those positions from people in other departments here. I also know that my current supervisor respects the hell out of me and I know how grateful he is that I'm in the lab performing at a consistent, high level, so I don't want to burn that bridge even a little bit. And I have an appreciable amount of loyalty to my boss/the company for hiring me when things in my life were as bad as they were, and while I get that I should be loyal to myself first that might make me hesitant to change companies if it's necessary. In the nine months I've been here I've had four different people in four different departments tell me something along the lines of "why are you here, you could be doing better than this", but I'm looking for a diplomatic way to tell my manager these feelings. I'm probably over-cautious because it's my first time through reviews like this, but any advice? E: Forgot to mention that while I enjoy food chemistry, I was exposed to enough different types of chemistry in grad school (and it's all still somewhat fresh in my memory) that I could move to a different field without too many growing pains. And if I do stay in food chem but want to look elsewhere, there are lots of food-related companies in my area and incest between them is fairly common. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Jul 4, 2014 |
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Jul 4, 2014 01:52
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While I wouldn't mention that you're considering leaving, you should probably just tell them most of what you've said here with a bit more sugar coating. - You feel that the job is a good opportunity, but you'd like to take on more challenging tasks/more responsibilities. - You're interested doing "wet chemistry/synthesis/design side of industrial chemistry", is there the opportunity to take on tasks that are more in line with this in my current role or in another role with the company. - You're interesting in position X in department Y because of reasons A, B and C. What are the chances of moving there within the next year. - What career progression plans does your manger/company have for you? (Make sure these are real plans rather than just empty words)
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Jul 4, 2014 03:37
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Find out about any internal leadership/career development training opportunities that the company offers. If it's big enough (which I suspect it is) they might have an entire curriculum for ambitious people. SOmetimes the networking you do in those programs is more valuable than what you learn directly. Also, be aware that as has been discussed many times in this thread, to make major leaps in salary/position sometimes you have to move to another company. A lot of places make anything other than incremental advancement very difficult.
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Jul 4, 2014 06:43
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Coin posted:My last couple of technical interviews for F2F teaching positions went very poorly (probably because I haven't taught in a traditional classroom since 2006) and, to be honest, I'm burned out by the constant grading and loneliness. Also, my income has actually gone down over the last three years. So you tried a couple of teaching interviews then gave up? Is this in the US, and do you have a valid credential to teach? If so, what? Do you live near a city? What time of year was this? Rural and suburban districts don't do a lot of hiring because they tend to have relatively good retention rates for their teachers. Urban districts usually have a lot of turnover and do a lot of hiring. Most of the hiring that someone with your skillset (bad at interviews, vaguely applicable experience) could get in on will be in August, the last minute desperation hiring. Find a district that just needs warm bodies and cruise in on the strength of your master's degree. Every interviewer is going to ask you basically the same questions, so figure out what you were saying that was incorrect and fix it. Treat your first few interviews as practice.
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Jul 7, 2014 20:34
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Hey guys, trying to figure out what to do with my career next. Thinking of getting a Master of Finance from Penn State World Campus. Currently working as a QA engineer at a post-acquisition startup. Creating Rspec unit tests, integration tests with Ruby and Selenium, and handling the deploy process with tools like chef and Jenkins. All of my post-college experience is working with startups. I prefer smaller companies as I feel I can make myself more useful. After our acquisition I can feel this company getting bigger and bigger and I'm looking into what to do next. I have a growing interest in Finance and feel that I can successfully couple my Computer Science degree with a finance degree. Tentative plan right now is to get this degree, relocate to Los Angeles to be closer to friends and family, and work for a smaller company <50 people. Is Penn State World Campus just University of Phoenix online under a different name? Is it worth me coughing up 30k for a degree? I can afford it but it's still 30k. Give me career advice goons! Rudest Buddhist fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Jul 8, 2014 |
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Jul 8, 2014 21:36
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Penn State World Campus is a branch of Penn State, so you're at least not dealing with a for-profit school.
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Jul 8, 2014 22:43
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Going back for a bachelors degree in finance seems kind of silly when you consider that two-year post-graduate programs exist. vvv Oh jeeze, there it is in the first paragraph. Not sure how I missed that, sorry! vvv Achmed Jones fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Jul 9, 2014 |
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Jul 9, 2014 02:10
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Achmed Jones posted:Going back for a bachelors degree in finance seems kind of silly when you consider that two-year post-graduate programs exist. Edit: All good. Hope I wasn't too mean Any experience with post-grad programs. Have you seen anyone greatly advance their career with one? I guess I'm mostly afraid of switching careers greatly since I have 5 - 6 experience in engineering. Hoping I can land something that takes advantage of both skill sets. Rudest Buddhist fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Jul 9, 2014 |
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Jul 9, 2014 02:13
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Alright goons, I'll try to keep it short. I'm currently in a job making ~55k in Boston, with 3% 401k match on 6%, with health, dental and vision plans through my employer. Possible end of year bonus between 5 and 10% of base salary. The work is in financial services, and there's a very define promotion path (to making ~59k in 3mo then 66ish in a year after that). Hours are 40/wk. I just got an offer in the SF Bay Area out of the blue for 75k, 8k bonus to sign, moving expenses taken care of and very similar benefits. End of year bonus plan is similar. The work is way more interesting and the company is a feeder to the kinds of business schools I think I'd like to go to after a few years, where the current job isn't. Hours are variable, with an avg. of 50/wk. Any suggestions, beyond COLA calculators and the like, about how to choose between them? Most of my friends are here in MA and moving out to CA would put me kinda alone out there (though work would take up much of my time I imagine). If it helps, I'm a recent college graduate.
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Jul 11, 2014 14:43
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