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Coin posted:I quit teaching about a year ago. Currently I'm doing insurance processing work (I liked my last position, but this one seems like it's not going to work out in the long run) and working on an associate's in computer science. (It seems like lots of jobs like people who know SQL, and I might even turn out to be an okay Java or .NET programmer) If you are learning about computer science as well, have you looked into technical writing? Seems like a good hybrid discipline and is certainly something not a lot of people are great at.
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Jan 7, 2016 02:45
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Not yet. I'm only about a semester in, and I think most technical writing jobs are looking for someone with more knowledge/experience than I have, but it might not hurt to examine that route a little more thoroughly.
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Jan 7, 2016 03:06
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I think an "intangible" a lot of people miss out on is just being proud of their work. Was there anything unique that you did in those 7 years you are proud of, did you perform better than your peers? Did you expand or improve a curriculum? were you able to influence others in the department in a positive way? I mean maybe the best you get is "I'm a hard working dude" but its better than trying to sweep anything under the rug. Be proud of what you did and show it off! Researchers are discovering that the most successful people "disrupt" their careers and go into totally unrelated fields several times in their life, and the good ones know how to recognize the good work they did and sell it to their next employer.
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Jan 7, 2016 12:38
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Coin posted:I quit teaching about a year ago. Currently I'm doing insurance processing work (I liked my last position, but this one seems like it's not going to work out in the long run) and working on an associate's in computer science. (It seems like lots of jobs like people who know SQL, and I might even turn out to be an okay Java or .NET programmer) Are you hoping to work as some sort of analyst/programmer? I would love to hire programmers with a background in writing. Like I would probably interview someone with an english degree ahead of someone with a computer science degree if they had a similar level of experience
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Jan 7, 2016 20:35
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Coin posted:I quit teaching about a year ago. Currently I'm doing insurance processing work (I liked my last position, but this one seems like it's not going to work out in the long run) and working on an associate's in computer science. (It seems like lots of jobs like people who know SQL, and I might even turn out to be an okay Java or .NET programmer)
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Jan 7, 2016 23:39
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FWIW, one of the best Linux security/admin guys I've ever known has a BA & MA in English. The guy will never be unemployed because of his skill and his network.
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Jan 8, 2016 03:12
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As a fellow humanities (history MA focused on political debate in 20the century Western Europe, yeah) grad working for a F500 in IT, I might be biased, but the following path worked quite well for me. The fact alone that you're able to write coherently, and are probably capable of parsing a large amount of badly written/communicated crap, and process it into something useful is such a valuable and unique skill in IT that if you capture some basic blabla IT skills you will stand out and grow quickly from any starting position you take on.
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Jan 8, 2016 22:44
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Same question as the English guy, except I have a degree in Music, that I regret taking. Any way I can leverage that or should I just tell employers that I studied programming in my own time and found it was my true passion? I'm taking a 2 year postgraduate certificate in software development currently.
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Jan 16, 2016 17:39
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Coin posted:I quit teaching about a year ago. Currently I'm doing insurance processing work (I liked my last position, but this one seems like it's not going to work out in the long run) and working on an associate's in computer science. (It seems like lots of jobs like people who know SQL, and I might even turn out to be an okay Java or .NET programmer) I am in a similar situation - I was an adjunct instructor for while but I am looking for something that pays a living wage and is more stable. I would like to keep teaching on the side with maybe a night, online, or weekend class but I can't count on it to pay the bills any more. I have also applied to a few related jobs in higher ed - admissions, advising, public relations, etc. I have thought about becoming a high school teacher but it seems like I would have to go back to school in order to become certified. I think I can teach at a private school without being certified but I haven't found too many opportunities yet. Plus, I think it would take a few semesters to complete the courses needed for certification and I am trying to find immediate employment. I have a colleague from graduate school who is a technical writer so I am exploring that option but most job postings want a couple years of experience. I have also looked into corporate training since I developed courses and taught a lot of adult students. I have taught some online courses so I have some experience with instructional design and educational technology but the job descriptions I have seen for those fields want formal certification. I hope someone might have tips on how to translate my teaching experience into another field or might have suggestions on other avenues to explore. space pope fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Jan 18, 2016 |
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Jan 18, 2016 01:26
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Ah, the thread has moved to people who regret having humanities degrees and want to use them to pivot into a new job. A perfect time to post about my situation. I am a 30-year-old living in NYC. I have a BS in neuropsychology and a BA in philosophy from one of the UCs along with a PhD (and MA) in philosophy from a top 10 program (unfortunately a public school, not an ivy). My work was in 'cognitive science' and I have published in the field. I have also taught courses to college students for ~5 years now (typically ethics or formal logic), first as a graduate student then as a 'lecturer'. Unfortunately, the prospects of getting a tenure track job are slim enough that I am looking to leave academia. But leaving academia is scary, as I have no nonacademic job experience. But, I am bright and self-motivated. I have great presentation and teaching skills and people generally like me. I have a decent grasp of python and have used it for my own data analysis projects (making $$$ in daily fantasy football) and having a rudimentary knowledge of SQL. I also did half a degree in physics, so I have a solid background in math. I feel like I have a skill set that employers would want, but I am having a difficult time figuring out how to market myself. Since I am already in NYC, I am looking to transition into an analyst job, preferably at a consulting firm. I know that I am not the usual fresh out of undergrad student with a degree in finance/economics, so I am interested in advice on how to spin my background in such a way that it is an asset rather than a liability. My main goal is to avoid getting my application thrown out in the first cut and make it to the interview stage. Any suggestions?
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Jan 18, 2016 21:31
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If you're not set on leaving academia, one option you might want to consider is looking at some of the various bridge programs that are aimed at training non-business PhDs in various business fields. There your prospects for getting a tenure track job are much better--in fact, in some fields, there are more openings than there are graduates. Florida has one and there are a few others out there. If you are definitely looking to get out of academia, you should look into data science bootcamps that will teach you more along the lines of python, SQL and data analysis. A friend of mine did Insight, and it's worked out very well for her.
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Jan 18, 2016 21:53
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ultrafilter posted:If you're not set on leaving academia, one option you might want to consider is looking at some of the various bridge programs that are aimed at training non-business PhDs in various business fields. There your prospects for getting a tenure track job are much better--in fact, in some fields, there are more openings than there are graduates. Florida has one and there are a few others out there. I am pretty set on leaving academia, at least on the teaching side. But I'd be fine with moving to university administration, for example. I really appreciate your mentioning Insight as it looks like a great fit. The main downside is it looks like they want people with science PhDs with strong pre-existing programming backgrounds. Which goes back to the theme of 'why the hell did I get several degrees in the humanities?' I'll definitely apply, but I feel like it will be a long shot.
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Jan 18, 2016 23:13
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There are other programs out there, so Google around a bit.
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Jan 18, 2016 23:19
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Analytics is definitely a good field for you to enter with your skillset even though your perception of employer biases is correct. In fact, I've gotten approached out of the blue by a few Philosophy PhDs with very similar questions. Start teaching yourself more Python, R, SQL etc..., and be an active participant on sites like Kaggle and Stack Overflow. I was in a similar spot to you (and in fact same age, NYC area, and very similar academic background), although I decided to much earlier, sparing myself a lot of pain. It was a combination of temping just to build basic experience, writing a lot on the internet in my chosen fields of interest, and somehow talking myself into an internship that I was able to leverage to land a different, better position.
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Jan 18, 2016 23:47
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Being a data scientist might be out of reach, but a "data strategist" might be possible. A friend of mine with undergrad degrees in Philosophy and Geography got a job at a firm in NYC doing that. He has some programming and data visualization skills as well as a pretty good command of formal logic, but not at the level someone with a PhD and half a Physics degree would have.
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Jan 27, 2016 05:07
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I may have hosed myself. About 3 months ago I was a field tech installing call center hardware and software on-site. The position pays pretty well. Then the support dept director put out an APB for people looking to work as sort of like a transitional account manager, where you'd help sites that recently went live transition into support. I jumped at the opportunity because I was getting sick of the travel and I am much better with people skills than technical problems in all honesty (though I'm competent). The position went up in smoke but they said they wanted to bring me into support as an enterprise level support rep. I'd keep my salary. I took the position and now I am probably one of the highest paid support reps in the place. Key note, I'm now a loving support rep. I solve more technical problems than I did in my previous position, but this position is not looked upon very well by the rest of the company, I think. I have a master's degree in management of information systems (focusing on the business side rather than technical) and I'm getting jack poo poo out of it other than justification for my pay. My boss has told me there's nothing stopping me from making six figures in this department if I excel and take on greater and greater roles, but I'm not holding my breath for that. How do I take what I know and what I'm good at, along with a technical background, and get into management? I don't necessarily mean being a people manager, but working with demand management, enterprise architecture, that kind of poo poo.
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Feb 6, 2016 19:29
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So, I guess I just want some perspective. Any advice / feedback is welcome. I live just outside Washington DC and a lot of the jobs in this area are in federal contracting. I worked on the business development side of contracting (proposals and bid management) for 2.5 years before joining a contract team. When my contract ended, I found an opening for a Communications Editor at another contractor. The description of the responsibilities (editing, proofreading, organizing documents, coordinating contributions, etc.) fit my skill set really well, and the pay is $65k, the most I've ever earned. I have a master's degree in poetry and a BA in English, so earning this much as a typical liberal arts softie is amazing to me. Anyway, the contract was delayed a bit, but I was supposed to start on Monday. On SUNDAY I got an email that the position I was hired for has disappeared due to restructuring and my new title is Technical Writer. The responsibilities have totally changed, and now I'm responsible for organizing meetings, writing agendas, collecting content for a newsletter, and other secretarial duties like the logistics of an annual off-site. My long-term career track is focused toward editing and publishing, so Technical Writer is a downgrade from Communications Editor. I pitched a fit to HR, but there's no way to get me back to the original role; it's gone. I didn't/don't want to be a glorified secretary who distributes action items and writes memos. I have an interview a week from today for another Editor job similar to the one I got hired for. I would be working with a cool nonprofit in educational research and doing document coordination and publishing. The salary range they provided is $53k-$55k, and "maybe we could wring a couple more thousand" to get me to $57k. The benefits for both jobs are good, with slightly more PTO at the $57k job than the $65k job. What the hell do I do? The $8k difference would be a big help to my household. I feel like I got Charlie Browned on this whole deal, with my job title and responsibilities changing the day before I started, and now I'm trapped by the money. Any feedback would be helpful.
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Feb 12, 2016 18:57
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Betazoid posted:So, I guess I just want some perspective. Any advice / feedback is welcome.
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Feb 13, 2016 01:28
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Dik Hz posted:I would run like hell from the contractor who demoted you before you even started. They're just going to gently caress with you even more when you're actually working for them. I have actually supported another contract at this firm, and they have treated me well. But maybe this leadership team is shittier than the one I had before. I am probably going to run and just take the financial hit. EDIT 2/16: What the actual gently caress. I just found the job (that "no longer exists") posted on a job board 2 days after I was demoted. Running. Running so fast you don't even know... Betazoid fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Feb 16, 2016 |
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Feb 14, 2016 18:30
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Hmmm
JIZZ DENOUEMENT fucked around with this message at 06:16 on Dec 23, 2019 |
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Feb 15, 2016 18:25
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I recently took a promotion at my non-profit with an operating budget around 1.4 million. I'm working in our database department and help manage a searchable resource list using the software provided by rtmdesigns. We run reports on the demographic data that we collect as part of our service, but I think overall we don't have anyone with any real expertise in analyzing the data seriously. What are some good online tutorials I could do in my spare time to start developing some skills that could help us out? Currently our software only exports to excel, so I'm starting to brush up on my excel knowledge.
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Feb 21, 2016 20:01
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f1av0r posted:I recently took a promotion at my non-profit with an operating budget around 1.4 million. I'm working in our database department and help manage a searchable resource list using the software provided by rtmdesigns. We run reports on the demographic data that we collect as part of our service, but I think overall we don't have anyone with any real expertise in analyzing the data seriously. What are some good online tutorials I could do in my spare time to start developing some skills that could help us out? Currently our software only exports to excel, so I'm starting to brush up on my excel knowledge. At the very basic level, analyzing data is being able to put it in buckets and to see how they relate to each other. One way you can start is to have a question you are interested in. Which clients seem to bring in the most business, where have costs been rising year over year (time series relationship)? So maybe graph out demographic data as a histogram first and see if anything strikes out or do a pivot table. The more sexy, moneyball style predictive analytics is probably a level above it. Think of that as science - are there generalizable relationships that apply across the board? You don't know ahead of time, but you might have a hunch. So you need to build a mathematical view of the world to test your hunch against. Lots of the online tutorials show you how the tools work and give a toy example to work with. You can try some basic excel analysis books and intro to stats books, but as an implementer, you should read what's the most interesting to you. There are A LOT of tools - mathematical and otherwise, but to find one that fits the problem is the biggest challenge.
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Feb 22, 2016 13:49
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I used to work at a plasma center in the quality department. I technically am still employed there, and go in a few hours a week to help make sure my replacement is doing things correctly and answer any questions he has, but I mostly just go in and shoot the poo poo with old employees. An opportunity came up a few months back for a position at an organization in the eye banking industry. Better pay and better benefits, but it's a much smaller organization (~25 people covering an entire state) in what I'm finding is a rapidly changing industry. At the plasma center, there were probably about 2000 people scattered across 40 different locations all over the country, and I could always talk to plenty of others people elsewhere or get guidance from our corporate office. At my new job, there were a lot of changes just prior to me coming in, and it's currently me and two other people in the quality department for the whole organization. One of those people has transitioned to a different department and has excelled there, and while technically still trained in all the QA functions, she doesn't really perform them any more because she's so good in her new roll. That leaves me and the director of the quality department. I'm at a conference in North Carolina this week with the director, my boss, and she tells me she's leaving in about 3 weeks for a position across the country. I'm the only person she has told, because she thought it may come up while we're at this conference if we run into people from the organization she is heading to. She has basically made it sound like she envisions me taking over her position, and we started talking about all the things she needs to go over with me before she goes. The fact of the matter is, though, I don't want her position. I'm not qualified in the slightest, and this is an industry I just started working in only a few months ago. I'm only signed off to perform a few tasks, and now in a couple weeks I'm going to be pretty much the only person in quality there. I'm somewhat terrified of how this is going to work, because even if I didn't take over her position and they looked to hire another person to fill it, it's going to be a very long process. It's a pretty niche area and the only way to really find someone with the experience is to poach them from another organization, and we're the only one who does what we do in our entire state, so it would also mean convincing someone to move here. I already know our executive director, who is extremely ambitious, is going to lean on me heavily to take on a ton of responsibility, but I'm already thinking about how this isn't something I signed on for. We're overdue for our FDA inspection, and we have an inspection by our accrediting agency in a few months, and it's looking like I'm going to have to be the one to lead these. I've also seen the number of hours my boss puts in, and that's not something I want to do either. I also don't think I'll get a lot of help from other people at my job, because about 75% of them have been there for less than a year. I'm seriously considering going back to my old job. It's less pay, and the benefits are worse, but I was never stressed there and was good at what I did. They would 100% take me back, and I also know it's going to put the eye bank in a huge bind, but I don't know what else to really do. I'm not qualified to run a quality department by myself in an industry that I just entered. I'll have coworkers who can answer questions about technical aspects of the job, but not the QA aspects of it.
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Feb 23, 2016 17:38
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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:I used to work at a plasma center in the quality department. I technically am still employed there, and go in a few hours a week to help make sure my replacement is doing things correctly and answer any questions he has, but I mostly just go in and shoot the poo poo with old employees. An opportunity came up a few months back for a position at an organization in the eye banking industry. Better pay and better benefits, but it's a much smaller organization (~25 people covering an entire state) in what I'm finding is a rapidly changing industry. You've listed a lot of things that may end up being the reason you turn the position down (lots of stress, long hours, high turnover), but I don't think you should let "I'm not qualified" be a reason you turn it down. I haven't felt like I've been qualified for any of my last 4 positions, but they've all been offered to me and I've found my way over the first 6 months or so of each. If others, especially your boss, think you'd do well at the position, and you want to actually try it, then you should go for it. It sounds like you've got imposter syndrome, so I just want to reassure you that you "not being qualified" will quickly cease being a factor since the best way to be qualified is to actually do that job.
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Feb 23, 2016 20:43
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ObsidianBeast posted:You've listed a lot of things that may end up being the reason you turn the position down (lots of stress, long hours, high turnover), but I don't think you should let "I'm not qualified" be a reason you turn it down. I haven't felt like I've been qualified for any of my last 4 positions, but they've all been offered to me and I've found my way over the first 6 months or so of each. If others, especially your boss, think you'd do well at the position, and you want to actually try it, then you should go for it. It sounds like you've got imposter syndrome, so I just want to reassure you that you "not being qualified" will quickly cease being a factor since the best way to be qualified is to actually do that job. Thanks. That is reassuring, and my boss and the one friend I've told about this situation have told me the same thing. Shortly after I made that last post, my boss informed me that back at our office poo poo totally hit the fan. An employee got fired and we're issuing a recall and notifying the FDA of a major gently caress up that has occurred that effects stuff going back over a year. My boss thought this would be a great learning experience for me to learn how to do a recall, in the even that it ever comes up again. While going through all this, I pretty much told her I'm having serious reservations about taking on all of this, especially with all of the increased scrutiny that is going to come with these major errors that have just occurred and I'm honestly thinking of jumping ship. She empathized with me, and showed me her time sheets showing she works usually at least 100 hours per two week pay period. She told me that if I stay, it's going to seriously suck for the foreseeable future, but she does really think that if I stick it out for the long term I can do a great job there. The thing is, I really don't live to work, I work to live, and I don't want to be spending 12 hour days at work 5 days a week. I also do honestly think that if I was able to work with my boss for another 6 months I could take over her position and really make the department my own, but where I'm at right now? I have no idea if I'm capable of this or if I'm willing to try to be the head of a quality department of an organization that literally serves surgeons all over the world.
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Feb 24, 2016 05:45
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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:
I said this EXACT SAME THING when i was uber stressed at a new job and ended up quitting. Through some lucky breaks I managed to straighten out my career but ive realized that if I was able to better handle the stress I would probably be excelling at the job i quit and be doing just as interesting work as I do now. And I totally prove myself wrong because I enjoyably work 9+ hours a day. You need to take some time this weekend or whatever to sit in a coffee shop or outside in the woods, or the library and THINK about the challenges, opportunities, and paths forward. Think generically and honestly about what you want in a career, trying to separate yourself from the stress at hand. Then you need to see if the new job long term prospects align to those wants. Lastly you consider if the task at hand is worth completing to hit those wants. If you decide to stick it out, then you start immediately planning a path to tackle it and succeed. If you choose to jump ship, that's OK too, but have a SOLID plan to attack the next opportunity. Remember, you picked this new job for a reason and going back to the old can seem like a rotten deal after a couple of weeks when you are reminded why you left... Crazyweasel fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 24, 2016 20:01
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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:Thanks. That is reassuring, and my boss and the one friend I've told about this situation have told me the same thing. Shortly after I made that last post, my boss informed me that back at our office poo poo totally hit the fan. An employee got fired and we're issuing a recall and notifying the FDA of a major gently caress up that has occurred that effects stuff going back over a year. My boss thought this would be a great learning experience for me to learn how to do a recall, in the even that it ever comes up again. While going through all this, I pretty much told her I'm having serious reservations about taking on all of this, especially with all of the increased scrutiny that is going to come with these major errors that have just occurred and I'm honestly thinking of jumping ship. She empathized with me, and showed me her time sheets showing she works usually at least 100 hours per two week pay period. She told me that if I stay, it's going to seriously suck for the foreseeable future, but she does really think that if I stick it out for the long term I can do a great job there. Take the job and decide after doing it for a while if it's what you want to do. There's basically no downside here as you could always jump ship. Also complaining about 50 hour work weeks is laughable if you are adequately compensated.
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Feb 24, 2016 21:52
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asur posted:Take the job and decide after doing it for a while if it's what you want to do. There's basically no downside here as you could always jump ship. Also complaining about 50 hour work weeks is laughable if you are adequately compensated. Yeah, right now I'm sort of leaning towards rolling with it to see what happens. Our executive director and quality directory have put out feelers to people in the industry to see if they are willing to either come on on a temporary basis as sort of a consultant and either help bring me up to speed or find someone who can be the head of the quality department and train us both at the same time, or to come over and take the department over. I spoke with the regional manager at my previous job and there is a position opening up at a different branch in the same city that he would be willing to get me into, but he gave me some good advice: If I stick with this, and they give me this new job, and I'm loving terrible at it and just crash and burn, it's still a really good title to have on my resumé at such a young age. I'm still thinking pretty hard about this, and I know it boils down to what kind of person I want to grow into. It's very easy for me to get complacent, and stepping outside my comfort zone is difficult for me to do.
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Feb 28, 2016 16:44
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I had a recruiter contact me for two game "Brand Manager" jobs. We had our first phone call today and she kicked back that her boss was not very high on my resume since it didn't have "Brand Manager" on it. It has "Product Manager." She asked for a 2-minute elevator pitch regarding my experience in product management and how it would fit this role. From my general experience, Brand Manager and Product Manager are pretty interchangeable, but I've only been in the digital end of games for a relatively short period of time (2.5 years). What am I missing? Can someone give me a general idea of a brand manager's day to day and overall responsibilities?
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Feb 29, 2016 22:32
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I'm early in my career and I'm currently trying to make a decision about two job offers I have in front of me with different nonprofits. I've got a part-time research contracting job currently that runs until next year. It pays 40K (pre-tax, no benefits) and I can do most of the work from my house (so no commute). It's also in a field that's related to my career interests and there's a potential for a full time position with the company down the line. I could see myself picking up spec work to fill out the hours down the line and maybe push my pre-tax earnings up to 55K through those. At the same time, I've recently received a different full time job offer for a position that pays 54K + benefits valued at 30% of salary. Downside is that the position is a tech-support position/training position that's not really my career focus and that I would need to do an hour and a half commute to each day. The organization is involved in work relevant to my interests and I could build a professional network there, but this particular position is not directly involved in doing any of that work. The second position is without a doubt a financially better offer, but I'm hesitant to take a position that's not in my career area and with rigid hours/a dumb commute. Since I already have to contractor job, I can also float on that and keep applying for jobs that might be better than the new offer, but who knows if I'll get something better/more relevant. Frankly I'm kinda stuck. Any advice? Like I said, I'm fairly early into my career so I don't really know how decisions like these affect trajectories. El Mero Mero fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Mar 2, 2016 |
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Mar 2, 2016 08:09
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There is a job posting for a supervisor position at my office that I'm looking to apply to. I feel like I have the temperament to be a good supervisor, but have no supervisory experience. I have trained people in on things and sat on a few interview panels in past jobs, but no disciplinary actions, no performance reviews, etc. I have a history of leading groups in college, but I don't include that stuff on my resume because it feels silly. What should I focus on in my cover letter to convey that I would do well in this type of position? Are there any buzz words people can think of? Sorry if this is kind of vague.
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Mar 2, 2016 21:46
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Definitely talk about training people and interviewing them. While formal supervisory experience would be ideal, any sort of informal leadership you've done will be advantageous. Do you tend to take charge of meetings and projects you're involved with? Do you delegate work to junior employees? Anything like that you can mention. I wouldn't spend much time on what you did in college unless you're only a year or two out.CHARLES posted:I'm early in my career and I'm currently trying to make a decision about two job offers I have in front of me with different nonprofits. I would be very hesitant to get into a tech support position if that's not something you're interested in doing down the line. You'll box yourself in more than you might expect, even if the firm has other jobs that are more interesting. You also shouldn't underestimate how awful a 90 minute commute is, especially if that's one way. Xandu fucked around with this message at 22:38 on Mar 2, 2016 |
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Mar 2, 2016 22:36
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CHARLES posted:I've got a part-time research contracting job currently that runs until next year. It pays 40K (pre-tax, no benefits) and I can do most of the work from my house (so no commute). It's also in a field that's related to my career interests and there's a potential for a full time position with the company down the line. I could see myself picking up spec work to fill out the hours down the line and maybe push my pre-tax earnings up to 55K through those. That's a big pay gap (over 30k if they actually value those benefits correctly) but I still would not take it. Assuming that's a full commute of an hour and a half, you're giving up a lot of hours for a pay bump to do full time work you're not interested in. I'd keep the part time job that you enjoy and focus on building skills and side income apart from the job. You can also stash away more money pretax if you work both for an employer and self-employed.
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Mar 3, 2016 00:20
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How much of Lean and Six Sigma is fluff and how much of it provides actual, real value? I mean both sides of value, as in practical value that's useful to a company as well as selfish personal value i.e. increased job prospects, marketability, or higher salary purely from adding extra keywords to a resume. My work has classes that I am taking, mainly because hey it's free education, but I don't know if I should just treat it as a reason to get away from the desk for a few days or if it's worthwhile to go all in and get a green belt in hopes of opening doors later.
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Mar 3, 2016 23:53
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Teeter posted:How much of Lean and Six Sigma is fluff and how much of it provides actual, real value? I mean both sides of value, as in practical value that's useful to a company as well as selfish personal value i.e. increased job prospects, marketability, or higher salary purely from adding extra keywords to a resume.
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Mar 4, 2016 00:04
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moana posted:That's a big pay gap (over 30k if they actually value those benefits correctly) but I still would not take it. Assuming that's a full commute of an hour and a half, you're giving up a lot of hours for a pay bump to do full time work you're not interested in. I'd keep the part time job that you enjoy and focus on building skills and side income apart from the job. You can also stash away more money pretax if you work both for an employer and self-employed. Ugh. Yeah. Can't help but feel like I'm leaving money on the table though. Edit: Turned down the position today. Back to the seaaaarch....  Can you tell me more about that last bit? Like if I have two jobs I can contribute extra money to a 401K or something? El Mero Mero fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Mar 4, 2016 |
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Mar 4, 2016 06:05
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I'm trying to get my life back on track but trying to start is like staring up at a hundred foot tall sheer rock wall that I'm supposed to climb. I left a graduate program in 2014 after having a complete mental breakdown. The whole experience went wrong in so many ways that I completely broke inside and moved back in with my family. I've spent the last two years limping along in bottom tier retail and seeing therapists/psychiatrists so that I can go back to resembling a sane person. Almost all the skills and knowledge I once had have degraded to the point of near uselessness, I don't trust my references, and I'm deeply terrified of having to explain to any employer whats gone on with me in the last few years. Its like I'm almost like I've reset back to the last year of my undergrad. Whats worse is that I have no direction. I spent so many years trying to find inroads to different career paths and got burned by all of them in some way. I've run out of ambitions and have no hope that anything I do will actually succeed which is likely the most difficult thing I have to overcome. I'm not sure if I should be seeking further basic education, trying to find a way to complete my MA, working an internship at a company, or getting some sort of certifications because I have no idea what they would even be for. I don't even know who I should be talking to for advice. If anyone has some idea where I should start I'd be grateful for any advice.
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Mar 6, 2016 23:37
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What was your master's in, what kind of work experience do you have, what sort of skills did you have before your breakdown, and what do you like to do?
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Mar 6, 2016 23:42
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Masters was in biogeography. I completed all the course requirements but not the thesis. Mostly I was a biologist/statistician. After getting my undergrad I spent three years doing field work for scientists working in remote areas and helped them analyze their data. Used a lot of GIS, R, and SAS with some occasional programming. I did a lot of teaching and created a huge volume of material for various classes (lecture slides, exercises, worksheets, lab guides, etc.) in and out of university settings. Its hard to say what I like. I've worked in urban planning, academic research, conservation, big data analysis, and environmental engineering/remediation. Most of the experiences were bad since I found few opportunities and often hated the work. Low pay, constant isolation, abusive bosses, and no job security really sapped any sort of satisfaction from the jobs. When I think about what I want to be doing years from now its started to feel more like "where will I be miserable, broke, and lonely next?"
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Mar 7, 2016 03:44
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El Mero Mero posted:Can you tell me more about that last bit? Like if I have two jobs I can contribute extra money to a 401K or something? http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2013/06/06/sep-ira-vs-self-employed-401k/ http://www.financialsamurai.com/how-to-save-more-than-100000-a-year-pre-tax-open-a-sep-ira-or-solo-401k/
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Mar 7, 2016 07:11
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