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Non-Traditional Career Routes?
Dave Bieler asks: "With such
a broad range of interests in science and technology, it was not easy for
me to decide on a major in college. Currently, I am an Electrical
Engineering major at Penn State, however I have considered several other
majors: Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Physics. Since
science and technology is booming, it may be possible to get into a career
in an area other than that traditionally associated with certain majors. ex -
a Physics major becoming a Computer Security specialist. I'm curious to
hear about any careers that were preceded by non-traditional paths."
Speaking as an Electrical Engineer who decided to drop that and go into
computers, this question strikes a bit of a chord with me. Has anyone
else gone to college intending to prepare for one career, only to fall
into another, either by luck or design?
I did undergrad in engineering physics, PhD in astrophysics, then found out that pursuing a professorship is a difficult proposition.
So I switched gears entirely and took up quantitative finance, and I'm now working on a trading desk doing modeling and risk management.
Kind of an unusual route, but that's the advantage of physics - it gives you a broad background in math and problem-solving that you can apply to lots of different fields.
Other people in my engineering physics class have gone on to do aerospace engineering, law, business school, programming, architecture, and lots of other stuff.
So: do physics. It's fun, suitably geeky, and it opens lots of doors for the future.
All opinions expressed herein are not my own; I haven't had free will since last year when aliens ate my brain.
No college/univerity, but been architecting Investment Bank trading systems for the last few years - and yes, we are making money...
Pick something fun to study at university (or "major in" if you're in America), then pick something that pays well when you graduate. Don't ever expect your degree to be relevant to your job. FWIW, we routinely hire engineering/science grads over CS for both s/w development and junior trading jobs.
"Business majors" generally end up working for HR...
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Park ranger in Yellowstone park, maybe!
No more late night calls, beeps or "gotta fix the server ASAP!" Emails. No more lost sleep, hurried meetings or pissed off customers...
"Please don't feed the bears." :-D
The only common thread through these last twelve years has been a good attitude and a commitment to learn. I look for those qualities in everyone I hire. My staff includes ex-grade school teachers and philosophy majors, and all are doing well!
Helevius
I don't see much correlation between degrees and people's careers in the real world.
Most of the really hot-shot computer folks I know have degrees in English, or psychology. Just because that was interesting to them, and then they wound up working in computers.
Myself, i went to art school and have a degree in fine arts. Not useful for computers, but I don't think many poeple "learn" computers in college anyways. I was doing illustration and comic books, then wound up doing a lot of computer graphics (because it pays well) and now here i am working for NASA doing research for medical uses of technology. Each career step was perfectly logical for the choices and opportunities I had available.
This next year I'll be going to Kenya, Brazil, and possibly Afghanistan for work, and there's no way anyone could have pictured this career path back when i was in my first painting class debating what kind of canvas to use.
Don't sweat your major, study what interests you, and get a degree in anything. Having 4 years of focused work is all that a degree means. You're going to learn everything on the job that you need to know -- from your peers, and books in your own time.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
Unfortunately it's the _employers_ out there putting emphasis on a "major" in "Using Microsoft Word Version 6 Build 388.49", and not accepting anyone without an _exact_ match.
Even _with_ extensive personal contacts and 10 years of experience doing things very similar to what employers want, plus a computer science degree, they aren't interested. Rather they want the certification course and degree program of the hour.
Colleges and universities are in league with the HR departments. Need to break the cycle at _both_ ends. Oh, and the software/hardware companies that sell expensive certifications are in league with all of the above. I wouldn't mind the certifications scam if they actually seemed to serve the greater good, but of course it's not valid to expect philanthropy from corporations. Hail to the almighty dollar.
There's been a distinct cultural shift against accepting intelligence and a proven background learning new technologies quickly, and towards only accepting specific training, as if the people hiring have never encountered anyone who learned "by the seat of the pants". Most likely because they themselves learned through some kind of coursework.