Hello all,
I'm sort of at the fork in the road when it comes to my career change. I've served as a Machinery Technician in the Coast Guard for the greater part of a decade, and realized that being a mechanic is not for me. My passion is with people, helping them grow, however I do enjoy troubleshooting and fixing things (maybe just not with wrenches). Does anyone have any advice on these career choices, if you could tell me about your experience, how you chose that path, any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Best,
Adam
Answers
Hello Adam. The most critical item in choosing a career path is DECIDING WHAT YOU REALLY LIKE DOING. This is important because of the TIME and MONEY involved. You will be following your career path for many years so you want to pick one you will be happy with for quite a while. Also, if you need to get a related degree, again that will take a lot of time and money, so you have to be ready for that commitment.
Of secondary importance in considering a career, are what is the pay, future demand, requirements (Ph.D?) , etc.
HR - HR is a very broad field, with high demand for the jobs. Positions range from hiring, to instruction, to benefit negotiations, etc.
IT/cybersecurity - IT is a very broad field, with categories like SW development, security, program management, and server maintenance, Cybersecurity is a rather small part of IT. Hiring for cybersecurity will be dependent on experience and training. Check certifications for that. All IT positions are in high demand, so employers are frequently not expecting applicants to meet all their desired requirements.
For both of your interests, look at some posted positions that are of interest, and see what the requirements are. That will guide you in the direction to take for getting training. Degrees always help, if you can go that route. Certifications also look good on resumes, and help getting jobs.
Thanks for your service. Best of luck!
Joe
Keep in mind that HR is often about doing things on behalf of the employees, but not necessarily interacting with them. For example, if you are working in benefits. I agree with Jeff that you might want to pursue training and development. Or recruitment.
Human Resources has a lot of different aspects and functions within it. Based upon what you wrote I would encourage you to learn more about Organization Development or the Training/Learning functions within the HR umbrella and see if those areas strike a chord with you. Good luck!
Do what you like & get paid well, work is fun.
I've added links to information & videos under these sections of my EE webpage that could be useful to you:
http://eehot.com/ee.html#mentoring - traverse BLS.gov to find your dream career.
http://eehot.com/ee.html#schools - EE schools
http://eehot.com/ee.html#training - other training
http://eehot.com/ee.html#infosec - Information security (if you are a people person)
http://eehot.com/ee.html#hobby
http://eehot.com/ee.html#languages
http://eehot.com/ee.html#computers
http://eehot.com/ee.html#ai
http://eehot.com/ee.html#datascience
http://eehot.com/ee.html#math
http://eehot.com/ee.html#pm
http://eehot.com/ee.html#jobs - commercial job search links
http://eehot.com/ee.html#gjobs - Gov. jobs
If you like troubleshooting, solving problems, learning new things, since you seem to be very bright, EE should be a consideration.
Commercial job search "Human Resources" your location (9 jobs):
https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Human+Resources&l=Santa+Rosa%2C+CA&from=searchOnHP&redirected=1&vjk=d3c6ffa637e8b13d
Commercial job search "Electrical Engineer" California (9853 jobs):
https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=electrical+engineer&l=California&vjk=c76f6b07eccbc6bc
Thank you for your service. I think your first step would be to look and see what area(s) you are truly passionate about and then start a job search where you can see availability in becoming a manager, leader etc. in those areas. From personal experience, in order to go into Human Resources, you may want to look at a certificate or college program for Human Resources. Many of these are now offered online. This will help you greatly should you chose that path.
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