Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with career

Good careers for older folks?

sharkfish — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:05:58 -0800

What careers are available and viable for people over 50? I am trying to prepare now for the inevitable.

I will be 42 in January and I don't look my age yet (granted, 42 isn't that old). I keep wondering and waiting for the age discrimination to start, but it hasn't yet because people guess my age as 35-ish or younger so far.

I am a software developer/programmer, female. I am not management material.

I have looked into careers in accounting and finance, and law because these are the only jobs I have personally seen where age is considered a good thing. I have gone so far as to take courses but I am not good at these subjects and don't have any love for them.

What other careers or jobs can I prepare for that are less likely to be concerned about me being over 50? I am not married, no kids, and I will have to support myself until I'm pretty much six feet under.

Account coordinator - what's it like?

trillian — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:52:56 -0800

What's it like being an account coordinator at a PR firm? I've read some job profiles online, but I'd like to hear personal experiences. What's the day-to-day work like, and what sort of person would be good for the job? I see there's a past question that touches on being an account exec, but this is the rung below, right?

Give up stable job for Americorps?

squawk — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:44:55 -0800

Would I be crazy to quit my decent, although not fulfilling, job and sign up for AmeriCorps? Background information: I've been employed for about two years since graduating college in 2007 with a liberal arts major. My job is, well, okay. I make more than enough cash for my simple lifestyle, plus the health benefits and time off are generous. The work itself is sometimes interesting when it relates to writing or doing creative work (like designing an ad), but at other times not so much. The downside is that I often find myself bored and having a feeling that I'm wasting my life here. There's not much opportunity for advancement or even just the chance to do something different, and to be honest, I'm not sure I would want to stay here for much longer.

The plot thickens: For several months I've been volunteering with an adult literacy program. I tutor a student looking to obtain his GED. Although I've never seriously considered teaching of any kind, I'm really enjoying this experience.

Said literacy program also happens to run the LiteracyCorps program for AmeriCorps. This would involve mainly teaching/tutoring adult education and ESL students fulltime, with some volunteer recruiting. I've had thoughts lately about applying to this program next year.

So, my question is: would I be crazy to drop everything and join Americorps?

I don't make crazy amounts of money right now, but it would be a 2/3 drop in pay. I'm fortunate to have zero debt, and I could conceivably live at home while serving in Americorps. I understand doing Americorps involves a certain amount of sacrifice, but the idea of barely subsisting for 1-2 years makes me a little uneasy. The economy is still not doing so great and I know that a lot of people would be grateful for my current job.

On the plus side, I think this would be a great experience for me in terms of career and personal growth. My job experiences have so far all been with non-profits, but not of the social service variety. I've been rather directionless since college ended and my volunteer work is the first thing that has excited/interested me this much in a long time. Conversely, the thought of my current job as a career is somewhat depressing.

This entire post assumes that I'd be even accepted into the program, which I'm reasonably sure if competitive.

So, what do you think AskMefites? Am I being crazy/unrealistic/selfish? Any thoughts, suggestions, similar experiences, advice, etc, would be appreciated.

Unemployed pregnant lady wants to work.

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:14:02 -0800

I've been unemployed for a year and have had an unsuccessful job hunt. I've recently discovered (happily) that I'm pregnant. This changes everything. I have been looking for primarily full time opportunities in creative services project planning. That is the path I have unwittingly found myself on, although in the back of my head I've been thinking of going back to school for my masters and changing paths. I couldn't get into a Masters program until at least the fall of '11

Discovering I'm pregnant (6 weeks along, 1st and probably only baby) changes all of this. If I interview for FT jobs NOW, I would feel extremely guilty not disclosing my pregnancy, knowing I'd only be there until August. (I think I would really like to take a year to be with the baby, and not just two to three months maternity leave, but I'm pretty sure I'd want to get on with a career after that.) But no one is going to hire a pregnant lady. This is going to be a LONG 8 months if I don't find work. My husband and I are being conservative with spending and thus ok financially on just one income. But I'm insane, and I'd really like to work while I'm pregnant. I'm also freaking out about this big gap on my resume and there's about to be another big gap. One other problem is my last two jobs were short, less than a year (Even though I was at my first job for 8 years). If I take another job for less than a year again, this looks bad. I'm in my mid thirties, if this matters.

So, my question is: Do I continue to seek out FT employment and wait to disclose the pregnancy (assuming I even get an interview while I still have a flat belly), knowing I'd probably only be there until August? I've tried looking for contract/short term jobs to no avail. Other ideas for a pregnant lady that wants to work for a while? I won't to administrative temp stuff.

Throw away email preggerstowork@gmail.com

What first sparked your interest in computers?

pwnguin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:06:24 -0800

I need help finding citations for a story about programmer's inspirations. A giant whiteboard asks for the spark that interested people in computers and the answers are all video games. I recall reading a story about a whiteboard at a Silicon Valley company, I think it was Google, but for all I recall it could be MS in Redmond.

The story goes: There was a giant whiteboard hallway wall where someone would ask a question for people to answer on the board. One day someone put on the board "What motivated your interest in programming?" and the first answer was Super Mario Bros, (or something like that) leading to an epic list of old video games.

Can anyone point me to a website or reference of this story, or correct my story?

Tell me about your sales engineer/field support job

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:07:40 -0800

After 12 or so unhappy years in the tech world, I'm looking for a career that is more people oriented. Wondering if sales engineering might be the way to go, and if so if I have the right skill set. Loved, loved, loved cs school, but never really found my career niche. By many perspectives I've created a great situation for myself - I work part time as a freelance software developer, and part time as a musician. So I should be happy, but....I think I may be ready to do something other than software development, and from trying to figure out what's missing, I know my next move needs to involve more interaction with people. I'm exploring some complete 360 career switches, but it'd be great to find an enjoyable/profitable way to leverage my tech experience.

I've seen sales engineering mentioned as a tech job that requires people skills. I think I've got the people skills, and I definitely need to do something where I'm problem solving. But I'm not sure I've got the tech skills. I look at the posting on job boards and frankly, my eyes glaze over, I can't make heads or tails of most of the job descriptions. Mostly I've built web/database applications (various languages), but I don't have a lot of experience in networking or systems admin, electrical engineering, I have little experience with enterprise systems like SAP, Salesforce, etc. The only remote experience I've had with sale engineering was when I was first out of school and worked for a medical device company and did some installations of our equipment in hospitals (tagging along so I could see how it was actually being used).

I would love to hear about your sales/support engineering position - what industry you are in, what you do, what skills you needed, etc. Double points if you live a distance away (several hours) from a large metropolis, or if you've managed to work only part time (I recognize I may have to give that part of my lifestyle up for a more rewarding career).

anon since I'd rather my coworkers not know I'm looking to move on

Perfect Career Checklist

spec — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:28:12 -0800

Omit passion and salary. What other aspects of a job are important? I'm 19 and I'm brainstorming possible careers.

Some people choose a career based on personal interests; others, salary. Passion and salary seem to be the only two factors shoved down my throat whenever I ask for career advice. I can't help but feel there's other, more subtle aspects to deciding on a career that I'm missing.

Philip Greenspun lists a few:
- work mostly collaboratively?
- meet a lot of new people?
- work mostly with competent people?
- work mostly with interesting people?
- able to see the direct impact of one's work?
- able to teach others?
- get to travel to interesting places on a regular basis
- able to leave work behind when you go home at the end of the day? (or do you have to prepare, read email, answer phone calls, etc. when at home?)
- able to take long blocks of time off for exotic travel?
- cog in a large bureaucracy?
- satisfaction of being the boss?
- value to employers increases with age and experience?
- able to move to any part of the country and find a similar job? (or effectively stuck in one or two cities where an industry is concentrated)

So besides the salary and job content itself, what other aspects of a career are important to you, and why? (And perhaps, what job/field would fit those criteria the best?)

Even relatively insignificant aspects are appreciated.

What career now?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:33:01 -0800

What field am I supposed to be in? I always tested very well, went to an Ivy League school and got both computer science and liberal arts degrees... I didn't actually do very well in school, barely making all my requirements for graduation. I took the LSAT at one point in the past, and did very well and was accepted into law school and declined - Then and now I don't think I would like to be back in school again, nor am I sure I would enjoy any of the jobs available to someone with a law degree. Public policy has its attractions, it is even less tuned to my technical reasoning skills.

I like debugging things (computer programs and systems), but I find actually building them to be very tedious. I like building scripts to automate my everyday tasks, both at work and at home. I like creative pursuits, typically music and storytelling, but visual creativity is somewhat limited.

I'm currently in a field that is actually a fairly good fit and mixture of artistic and technical, but if I progress further up the food chain, my technical skills will no longer be used, and I am actually not so sure I am all that great at the other (more purely creative and political) aspects of the job...

Money has become an issue - I bounce right around the 6-figure threshold most years, and I need to stay in that area if I am to keep living in my house in the major metro area where I live. If I stay where I am at my job, I won't ever make any more money than I do now, more likely less. And I would still need to reconcile my ego to parking in a non-terminal position in my field. I feel like if I go back into computer and systems debugging (what I did out of college for 5 years), I am always a second class citizen to developers, and the path through tech support is a little menial. I have thought about doing something more in line with sales engineering - using my technical know-how to find potential solutions to problems without actually having to build them.

Any suggestions? Or ideas of how to hone in what would be a second career shift? I'm in my mid-thirties, and I don't mind repositioning myself, but I also don't love the idea of a major career shift in my forties if I don't settle into something I am happy with.

How do I save the planet with computers and stuff? and get paid!?

Gaeacon — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:19:34 -0800

I want to help guide the development of "new" environmentalism... Where should I (educated/trained as an Ecologist) start on a career change into media (online/web development)? better explained... I graduated in June with a Master's in Ecology/Conservation and a certificate called Leaders in Sustainability. I started out in the PhD program, but about half a year in I started thinking a lot about doing something at the interface of environmentalism/activism/science through an online medium. I distracted myself immensely, setting out my grand entrepreneurial vision. I thought I could balance all that....and my very demanding dissertation research abroad.

Well, I couldn't. A couple of years of tortured back and forth, I decided to take the Master's and try to explore the sort of channels I was envisioning. The entrepreneurial vision still exists, although on the back burner a bit. I was faced with the reality that I have a lot to learn, and my ideas need maturation.

I set out to learn more and gain experience. In my last year of grad school, I worked with an environmental non-prof that aimed to engage youth in recreating activism...a lot of interactive, educational pieces at events and festivals. I functioned as an event coordinator/"engineer"/educational programmer....many hats, so to speak. I really enjoyed the broad audience and the "cool" factor of this type of work. The work, however, wasn't paid and would not last forever.

Since graduating, I have worked with The Nature Conservancy. It was a short term position that has been extended by working myself into some new projects....but I am starting to earnestly look forward to what's next. TNC has been a great learning experience - amazing to see conservation on the ground and to be involved behind the scenes with all the different stakeholders. That being said, I still feel my heart gravitating to the entrepreneurial vision I had in grad school.

I know I can't rely on a vision alone, so I need the help of you MeFites to figure out my next steps....

My "vision" rests deeply upon the future of the internet/social networking and the fusing of media with environmentalism/science.

What would be a logical next step to dive into this realm? What kind of jobs can I apply to? I feel like I have been hovering around the conservation world for a bit....and maybe I should be exploring the media side some more.

I am very interested in computers and web development. I don't have much of a "formal" background in computers so I am not even sure which area would be the best (or if I even would have a chance of working anywhere).

What about back-up plan? Should I continue in the conservation world? Perhaps seeking out work with environmental consulting companies?
(OH YEAH, I am in debt and need something that pays at least 30-35k)

Any tips on career change and anything that would help get me closer to my goal would be greatly appreciated. TY

I live in Los Angeles...if that helps

What to do in Denver for a year? Masters?

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:17:54 -0800

What can a mid-career person (me) do for a year in a new city (Denver) that will be productive in the 12 months or so spent there? Are there Master's programs that you can either complete in one year, or spend a year on-site and then finish while living elsewhere? Or is something else a better option? My girlfriend, a 3rd year law student, is doing a clerkship in Denver beginning in Fall 2010. I'd need to leave a great job to spend that year with her, after which we'd move on to a different place for long-term settlement. We'd only be in Denver for the year.

So, what do I do? I have a bachelors, so I am considering applying to a Masters program if I can find the right fit. I'd want the Masters to open up the possibility of teaching college courses at some point, or just to advance my prospects in one field or another. I'm in communications, but very flexible in what I could study or pursue.

Know of any degree programs that would work? Failing that, how do I not make this a wasted year professionally?

Tell me about careers involving psychological reserach please!

tweedle — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:52:30 -0800

If I'm interested in research psychology, what can I go into for a career? I posted a previous question about a week ago about going into marketing research. Feel free to talk about that if you have any insights, but I want to know what my other options are this time.

Basically, I have no experience, but I think I would enjoy psychological research. I enjoy seeing the results of studies and I think I would also enjoy conducting them. This is the most interesting aspect of psychology to me and I right now I am probably majoring in psychology and minoring in marketing and statistics.

I don't think I would enjoy teaching or being a professor, so I don't really see how I can make this into a career.

I think I am a very analytical person and I like seeing statistical data, at least of things I'm interested in (like psychology).

So, what can I do as a career? I'm a sophomore in college right now in the US. Are you interested in the same things? If so, what do you find enjoyable about your career? Any insight would be helpful.

Safe vs. beautiful

schmichael — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:06:58 -0800

I have to decide whether to return to medical school next year or not. Looking for lots of perspective. Hi everybody. At the start of this year I entered my third year of medical school in New Zealand. In April I decided to withdraw for the year. Then I went to America and travelled on my own for three months. I've been home for about another three months, and it's finally getting close to the point where I have to make my decision: do I go back next year or not. It's a really big issue and the decision involves so much of my life and me that I apologise in advance for how long this post is going to be.

I left high school and went straight to university in a NZ town, living with my Dad. In NZ you do a preliminary year for competitive entry to med. I got in. I finished second year.

I was miserable. I was very lonely in my first year, among other things, I was living with my dad and his girlfriend for the first time, it didn't work out, also I missed out on student life. And I was also young and very insecure, and I hadn't even started to understand myself or the world around me or the hurt of my childhood. My first year of university was very bad - I was unhappy, I blotted it out with study, my marks and my discipline deteriorated, I wasn't enthusiastic about what I was doing anyway.

I just went into medicine because it was there, it was obvious. It was right in plain sight, and it required no risk. It was safe. I didn't actually want to do it for it's own sake. Nobody in my family is in medicine.

I hoped that when I got into medicine, with the smaller classes I would meet more people and be happier. And while this was initially true, once the excitement of the new had worn off, the same problems sprung up again. My new friends quietly drifted away. I stopped going to classes. I avoided myself in mirrors. I stopped trying to make jokes in small group work, and just sat there like a zombie. I stopped paying attention or studying.

I was also working on the med school yearbook in 2nd year. I was the editor, and I ended up spending an entire month slaving away at it. I didn't try and delegate so I just did the majority of it myself. I wrote about a quarter of it, and did all the proofing and editing work myself. I'm not being arrogant when I say the end result was amazing. My classmates were blown away - I still get enthusiastic compliments about it, a year later. There's some significance to this that I can't quite think of the words for right now.

After throwing myself into the magazine - to give myself an excuse for not talking to people? - I had to spend a solid month working nonstop, 9am-midnight studying to catch up and pass my exams. I am intelligent, so I made it.

Again I hoped that the next year would be better. I spent the summer being lazy and smoking pot. Towards the end of the summer the pot started to destroy my self-esteem. By the end of the summer, and the start of third year, I was in tatters. Within a week of the new term, I didn't want to go outside. I barely listened in lectures. I didn't go to labs or tutorials.

I also started to fixate on my female flatmate and I decided that I was in love with her and that she would fix my life. It was classically insecure. I tried to use her to make me happy. But she did manage to talk some sense into me by getting me to admit how unhappy I was in medicine, and then helping me decide to leave and go travelling. In May I realised how selfish I had been with her and apologised and put my bad behaviour to rest. Then I went travelling.

My family is largely Americans who have drifted to NZ. I didn't consider this when I chose America, so it was basically an accident that I met my father's side of the family. They helped me realise how much I had blamed myself for the awful things he did to my life. I also met a girl and had experiences which made me start to like... and even love myself. I felt good about myself. I felt powerful, I felt brave and wonderful. I'd never felt like that before.

Then I came back to NZ. It's taken me a while to get back on my feet and get a job, and I've been thinking about next year, thinking about myself, talking to people and trying to come to a decision.

Why would I go back to medicine? Because I'm still scared and it's still 'safe.' Because it's easy, and there's a job at the end of it. Because I've already started and I might as well keep going.

These are terrible fucking reasons. I know that.

I get scared of lots of things. I get scared of starving to death and being unemployed in a recession-stricken resource depleted globally warmed world. But I have to accept that medical school won't protect me from the collapse of civilisation. Nothing will protect me from that.

I think that if I go back to medicine I will feel the same way. I won't be taking a risk. I think I will sink back down into misery and feel ashamed of myself and never know what to talk about because there is no passion in my heart.

I am passionate about books and words and language and I think that the only thing that would be fair to myself would be to throw myself into the unknown and push myself as far as possible.

I keep trying to imagine some course of action that leads me to a job that is: of absolute value and meaning, satisfying, monied-up, I am passionate about, immune to The Collapse of Everything, morally invulnerable, ethical, invulnerable to my negativity and critical analysis, respected, safe and easy, so-on and so-on.

I think I have to accept that there is no such thing. If I have tied myself up into knots and made myself miserable by constantly searching for some rational way to justify my actions, and I have failed and know in my heart that perservering will lead to only more failure, then the only logical thing to do is embrace the irrational.

I think that there is something beautiful about being in the middle of a recession and saying, 'you know everyone does an arts degree because they have no idea what they want to do, but I'm not everyone, I'm beautiful and I want to dive into the arts because it's in my soul.' What is life if you don't take risks? You might not make it, but if you don't try you'll never know if you could have or not...

Maybe I have answered my own question. There is the fact that my mood and attitude fluctuates a LOT and I have changed my mind so many times (each time for what felt like perfectly sound reasoning at the time) that it is dizzying. Still, I am looking for perspective.

What would I do other than medicine? Go to university and try and study whatever the fuck I'm interested in. Get a job and make some money. Go live somewhere that isn't a fucking cold empty New Zealand village where I can find people who are like me. Become an academic. Write my book. Get a job doing something ethically dubious like working in marketing or corporate psychology or something. Embrace the fundamental flaws of human life that I've spent so long trying to think my way out of.

Quit or Fail: How to pick up the pieces after academic and PhD abandonment?

Gaeacon — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:44:59 -0800

How have you reconciled failure vs. quitting? How have you managed to pick up the pieces of your most passionate undertaking after dropping it? Is the desire to reinvent myself and undertake a new passion/direction just a mechanism to hide the pain of giving up? I recently graduated with a Master's (conciliatory?) in Ecology from a top program. For 2+ of 3 years I dealt with either crippling depression (I think I'll just stay in bed for the week...month...quarter) and second guessing my ability to succeed in my PhD program or the delusion that I could remain cavalier and continue shooting from the hip all the way to the hooding ceremony.

I got tired. I chose not to continue on the PhD path and decided to puruse my "true passion" - communicating environmentalism and inspiring social change within a broader audience. I've done tours of duty with two non-profits that vary widely in their sphere of influence and method of promoting environmentalism/conservation. I haven't been enthralled by either and find myself still looking at the horizon....

I have been feeling nostalgic - I miss collaborators/old friends, I miss exciting tropical field site, I miss comfortable fellowship, and I really miss feeling like I am creating my life rather than just floating by. At the time, I was convincing myself I wanted something different, something more in line with my dreams. Now I look back and think "I had it good! If I just did the work and didn't fall victim to the distraction of something bigger and better....if I would have dealt with the depression (self-induced I think), bad habits, cavalier attitude...I would be well on my way with research".

Maybe it is mostly hindsight and the grass is greener type of thing. I can't rid the nagging feeling that "I want to quit PhD to pursue this, my real passion!" is really just a self-deception disguising "I am failing because I refuse to make positive changes in my life and would rather do nothing". I am tired of this "can't fail if I don't try" attitude, and I basically spend everyday of work at non-profit thinking about how I messed up.

How do I overcome this failure/quitting and regain creative control of my life? Where do I go next? I am drowning with real-world problems (paying bills, finding a new job) and feel like I am inevitably drifting further from pursuing my "true passion" - my supposed reason for getting out of PhD early!

I want to stop defrauding myself. I know that I was fully capable of doing the work I just "chose" not to. The worst feeling is not knowing if I was justified in that choice - was it because of laziness, fear of failure....or truly because I wanted to do something else (as I struggled for months to finally convince myself and then report to others) - it just all seems like lies

Online career change exercises wanted

reenum — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:22:57 -0800

Are there any websites or online resources for people considering a career change? I've been thinking of changing careers for a while, and after some recent events at the office, it's time to get up and start figuring some things out.

I'm going to get "What Color Is Your Parachute" and a few other recommended texts from other threads, but I'm wondering if there are any websites or other online resources (preferably free), that have exercises and other things I can use to try and evaluate what it is I truly want to do.

I have a lot of free time at work. For obvious reasons, I don't want to show up here with career change books.

Thanks!

I am struggling with relatively simple algorithms. Am I doomed?

kitcat — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:38:46 -0800

ProgrammingFilter: Just how lame is it that I can't come up with (create from scratch) a string matching algorithm? Can I still become a programmer? I need your honesty. Coming up with a simple string matching function is one of the problems I've been working on for an intro programming class: i.e., determine whether the second string can be found in the first string and return $found = true or false.

My sense is that, for any semi-intelligent trying-to-learn-programming Person Who Applies Herself, this should not be all that difficult. I think of myself as pretty darn intelligent. And yet, I've put about 10 hours into this so far and am ready to conclude that I CANNOT DO THIS. Yes, I've broken the problem down, I've tried to draw flowcharts. I've made many starts and stops. Ok, given a cave and maybe 3 days, I could probably to do it. But that's not the point. I should have been able to figure this out by now.

I have a background in literature and just don't have what they call a 'natural aptitude' in math and logic. Up until now I've told myself that it's ok not to have a natural aptitude in something: hard work and practice will get me where I want to be. At least, that's what I thought until right about now.

My question is this - and tell me the truth. How ________ (insert derogatory adjective describing my intelligence) am I for not being able to come up with this algorithm? And please be honest. Should I start reconsidering my plan to become a programmer?

Thanks in advance.

Will a newspaper job inch me closer to a career in public relations?

sureshot — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:46:48 -0800

Job_Offer_Filter: I'm a struggling freelance writer trying to (someday) break into the pr/communications field. I've just been offered a staff writer position at a small local newspaper. Does accepting the job inch me closer to my desired field? Or just burden me with a ton of unmarketable experience? So, my background:

4 years out of college, doing my best to flex my English/Creative Writing degree. Over the past three years, I've established myself as one of the top arts writers in a large, non-Chicago Midwestern city. I have regular columns in the glossy monthly, aimed at young, hip, and moneyed readers. I am a regular contributor to an alternative weekly, and I fill in for the big daily's art critic when she is sick or on vacation. I also get to do occasional speaking engagements, juried art shows, etc.

Problem is, none of this has evolved into full-time work. I've worked random odd jobs since graduation, some vaguely related to media--wrote audio description scripts for a year, wrote back cover copy for paperback books at a small publisher, picked up random corporate copywriting/speech writing/press release writing projects here and there. I've been unemployed and broke a lot. I'm now working 30 hours per week as a paraprofessional at a local public school, while still doing all my writing stuff on the side.

So now I have an actual job offer:

Staff writer/reporter position at a pair of small, neighborhood newspapers. A small local publisher, hanging on by a thread. The staff seems overworked and underpaid. The job calls for 10,000 words per month, writer pitches/plans all stories (in a very broad range of subject areas), deadlines every two weeks. Some nights and weekends. The pay is low. $30,000 (salaried, which means no overtime pay).

I don't see a future in newspapers. And print publication, though a true love of mine, is not my final career goal. I want to sneak my way over to the other side of the media. And I'm not sure that amassing more print clips is the way to do that. But print journalism is much closer, industry-wise, to pr/communications than teaching, so maybe a year or two at a paper would narrow the gap for a career leap. And perhaps I could learn enough new media skills (video and sound, slide shows) to balance out my increasingly-obsolete print portfolio.

The alternative would be to stick at this part-time school job until summer (when I will be laid off) and devote myself to a long-term, strategic job hunt. Get an on-line portfolio up, maybe start a blog. Network like crazy. By summer, I"d be ready to launch a targeted, nation-wide search. And if the fish aren't biting, I just go back to the school in the fall and keep at it.

So. All of this nattering is to simply ask: Will a newspaper job get me closer to where I want to be? Or is it just another detour?

Any recovering journalists out there starting a new life in PR?

Should I quit or continue?

gadha — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:46:01 -0800

Requesting advice with my career in computer science. Briefly, should I stay or should I go? I love what I do (compsci research, heavily engineering/coding based). I started programming at 13, growing up in EAfrica where I had access to information and tools but no guidance. This meant I had to find my own way through which made me quite tenacious.

At 18, I moved to the UK and did an ugrad in compsci in a mediocre university that aims to churn out mid-level sw engineering types. I did quite well and chose to do a PhD purely because I wanted to learn more about compsci. The net result of this was that (1) I realised that I "get" compsci enough that things make sense (2) that I love lower level stuff (kernels, hpervisors, hardware, systems, etc) (3) that I love to code and love technology (4) I seem to possess a great amount of tenacity at actually getting things working.

However, it also made me absolutely come to terms with my limits. While I can most "do" anything in my field, I find it takes me longer than my peers, my progress is not as quick and while I have some natural ability and affinity it pales in comparison to the other people I work with who are very, *very* good. Across the board I find the people who excel in my field and area seem to have much more natural talent and this translates to more rapid progress and output quicker (sometimes by up to a factor of 5-6). I've also realized that while I can recognize and apply good/clever ideas and understand their impetus, I lack that little bit extra in being able to actually generate the ideas. This leaves me feeling slow, dumb, unworthy and frustrated. It eats away at me a lot.

My top career goal would be to contribute to changing computer science (e.g. a new compression algorithm) or be involved in creating a technology or mechanism that does (c.f. software virtualization in the early 2000s). Half of me thinks I should just trudge on and continue to do what I do as slowly as I do it and I might at some point make this happen. The other half of me just wants to quit and go and do something else, i.e. make a comfortable life for myself -- do more than keep on dreaming and making miniscule progress hoping I can make a contribution.

I absolutely understand that natural ability is inborn and that such people are few and far between (and such mavericks are certainly necessary for the advancement of any field), I'm not aspiring to be one. I'm just wondering, is it possible to make a difference by wanting to make a difference *really* badly and continuing to soldier (hobble?) along? I'd appreciate any personal experiences to help me put this into better perspective.

Designing my next career move

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:28:58 -0800

CareerFilter: I enjoy user experience design, and have a successful career at a top agency. Now I want to work fewer hours, have less stress/slower pace, and try something new. Suggestions? I'm a creative director with nearly 15 years of experience in UX/IxD. I like user research, big thinking/creative innovation, and collaborating with a creative team. I also enjoy mentoring others, teaching UX, and public speaking, such as at conferences.

UX really works for me because it's a great balance between right and left brain thinking. It's one part psychology, one part strategy, one part problem-solving, one part Mad Men advertising concepting, and one part visual design. I also like it because my colleagues tend to be a great combination of smart and quirky.

I like agency work because it gives me a variety of brands and projects to work on, and the clients are well-known brands with wide consumer reach. I bore relatively easily, but in agencies there's never a dull moment.

That's both blessing and curse. The reality of the industry is that the coolest work goes to the top agencies, which are essentially creative pressure cookers. I'd like to get off the treadmill in the next couple of years. I'd like to relax more, take more than 2 weeks off in a year, and take life less seriously overall. I also want to have a kid, which I can't imagine balancing this lifestyle with long-term.

There are bound to be other careers that my skills and aptitude are suited for, right? What else is out there? Please give me your ideas and recommendations.

I know I might be starting over, have to climb from the bottom again, but I'm looking to do something different, so the learning should keep me interested. If it matters, I'm in San Francisco, and I have a degree in Sociology. Thanks in advance for your help!

Where Can I Get a Directory of New York High Tech Companies?

simpleton — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:14:10 -0800

Is there a directory of New York high tech companies? I am applying in the New York city area for a software developer job.

There are a lot of job search websites but I notice that some companies, including some major companies, don't post their jobs on the major job websites.

Ideally, I would like to have a list of all the high tech companies in the New York city so I can sift through them and find their direct websites and apply directly.

Another reason for this is that there are a lot of job recruiters out there who post to the job websites and I really just want to work directly with a company and not through recruiters.

Anybody going through this situation, perhaps even in another city?

Google search gives some results but I haven't seen a comprehensive database out there.

I'm not sure what jobs I should be applying for.

Lakmir — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:52:43 -0800

What are some decent-paying jobs for someone who has B.A. degrees in English and in Psychology, and a lot of unofficial and very specialized technical knowledge but no "official" (i.e. paid) experience with such? Three and a half years ago, I graduated from a well-respected school with a bachelor's degree in English and another in Psychology. Of those, I've spent roughly two and a quarter working for a nonprofit in residential direct care - putting my psych degree to work for me, so to speak. There are a lot of problems with this: I'm facing major burnout, I work extremely long shifts, I'm slowly growing to hate the people I'm working with (the residents, not my coworkers), the pay is garbage and there's little or no opportunity for promotion. I'm not liking the field at all, and badly desire a career change.

In the meantime, I've also been doing a lot of hobby work on video games. Script writing and editing, localization programming (assembly languages), that sort of thing. I've gained a lot of really deep knowledge about old dead computers, some rudimentary management skills, and some really wonderful English narrative editing skills. There's also a smattering of MySQL knowledge that goes with the territory, a little bit of procedural C++, some technical writing (documentation and readmes), image editing, that sort of thing. I've been including this on my resume but it's not really "work" experience because I'm not getting any money for it, at least not in the eyes of most HR divisions.

Now I know the job market is impossible, but I have two degrees, a magna cum laude GPA, and am doing brain-breaking, psyche-draining work with an increasingly difficult population. I feel like I should be making more than $24K/year, you know? I need a change of job, but I don't know what sort of jobs I should be applying for.

So, my core question is: What sort of jobs I should be applying for? Administrative assistant? Researcher/analyst? Should I go for IT or web design, and if so, how much of a portfolio will I need to put together? I'm feeling increasingly lost and badly need to be pointed in the right direction!

As a corollary, how should I treat my technical stuff? It's vast and expansive, not to mention that it's the product of more than a decade's worth of blood, sweat, and tears, so I don't want to just make light of it with a few minor adjustments to a "Skills" list in a resume. But on the other hand, I applied at a temp agency not to long ago; they took one look at the stuff I've done as a hobby, pegged me for middle or upper management, and told me that I was overqualified for anything they had.

Here's some extra information in anticipation of responses from reading other questions. My chief loves in life are literature (both reading and writing), games of all kinds, music (both performing and listening), and problem solving. Further, I hate my job, but not only because I'm not making any money at it; the guys have all these little quirks that make everyone else mad, which they often knowingly abuse. So it's not necessarily about the money, but it wouldn't hurt to actually be able to start putting a little away...

Further, physical location is not an issue. I don't have much (if anything) put away but I can probably scrape together some change, and I have friends willing to lend me a bit of scratch to help finance a move.

I know this is a very open-ended question, but I'm frustrated and desperate. Please help!

Was the Rockport Institute worth the money?

Rubbstone — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:26:00 -0800

Anyone ever used the Rockport Institute before? Was it helpful?

Should we take the risk and buy a bigger house now or should we save up a safety net before we buy another house?

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:57:02 -0800

Should we take the risk and buy a bigger house now or should we save up a safety net before we buy another house? I am in my early 30s. I live in St. Paul, MN. I have two young boys (4 & 2 yrs - neither is in school yet). I have a good job. However, I am worried that if I lose my job I won't be able to get another at anywhere near the same salary level. Also, We don't have a financial safety net. The wrinkle is the kids are starting to get ready for school and we have decided we are moving in the next couple of years. So if we didn't buy a house we would be moving into an apartment.

One thing to note. I don't care about timing the housing market or interest rates for mortgages.

Throwaway email address is here: stpauldad@gmail.com

Our Current House:
------------------------------
Purchased 5 years ago. Our monthly payment is around $1400. Our house is a small 2 bedroom (~800 sq feet). Our house is in a BAD school district. We ARE moving sometime in the next year.

Income/Careers:
------------------------------
My wife previously made in the < 30,000 range as a secretary. She is now a full-time mom. Realistically though she won't be back in the workforce for another 4 years. She also has a side job (3 hrs a day from home) that pays around 700 a month.
I work in "technology/internet". I am making $84,000 and have a cap in my current job at around $120,000. My biggest worry is I am the primary breadwinner. Also we don't have savings to cover mortgage if anything happens. However, my job is fairly steady and with a reliable medium sized company. I have had my job (with diff titles obviously) at the same employer for the last 12 years.

Current Financial Situation:
------------------------------
- We have around $10,000 in debt (credit cards, bank line of credit - stupid stuff)
- Each month we have around $1,000 extra income that we can apply to debt or savings.
- $0 - our current savings (I have around 50K in a retirement account but I don't want to touch that)
- we own one of our two cars
- our net (combined) salaries are around $5000 a month

Option 1 - Buy a new house now:
------------------------------
To make this happen we would have to save like mad for a down payment (before the $6,500 credit expires) and forgo the savings. The one thing that helps is we usually get a substantial tax refund (near $10,000 last year). So we could use that to wipe out our debts.

pro - $6,500 tax credit for second time home buyers
pro - we would have enough space
pro - good school district
con - cost.. we are looking at houses in the $250,000 range - monthly payments would be $1,700 +
con - because of the increased mortgage - we will be in a worse position to build up our savings and pay off our debts
con - we are in a much less flexible situation if I lose my job

Option 2 - Move to an apartment and save until we have enough cash for 20% down payment & have an emergency fund:
------------------------------
pro - cost savings - we could rent an apartment/duplex/house for less than or mortage (probably $1,200) so thats around $500 in monthly savings
pro - good school district
con - we would have to move 2x (assuming we eventually buy another house)
con - we have a ton of house shit that we would have to store or sell (snowblower, mower, lawn stuff, etc.)
con - we would probably have less space than if we bought a house
con - we would miss out on a year of the tax rebate, right? or do renters get money back too?

Movie producing mogul in six months?

SantosLHalper — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:11:51 -0800

I read non-fiction story of a career change to a successful Hollywood movie producer. Help me find who it was and a copy of the story. A man, who had achieved a high level of success in the business or possibly political world on the East Coast (?), decided to change careers. He moves out West. He takes six months and does little else than watch movies. He begins to notice that many of the good movies have people in common in the credits.

He jump starts his very successful producing career by using the insights gained by his six months of movie watching.

I read it over ten years ago, not sure when it was published. I believe it was part of a book, but not 100% sure.

Help me now fail my new job as an Affiliate Manager.

IndigoSkye — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:29:13 -0800

Help me not fail my new job as an Affiliate Manager Starting a new job on Monday. Yea! It uses a lot of the skills I've used in my career, but puts them toward a new objective - getting other people to sell your product for you. Since my bonus is based off revenues from affiliate links, I need some strategies to help me maximize that.

Do you make money using affiliate marketing? What is your idea of an ideal Affiliate program and what can the Affiliate Manager do to help you? How do you decide which affiliate programs to join and where do you find them?

Are you an Affiliate Manager? Where did you learn your skills? Who do you read today to keep up with the industry? What is the first thing I should do on Monday at my new job?

Thanks!

Should I apply for the same university teaching job twice?

jkl345 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:58:20 -0800

Should I apply to the same academic position twice? I was a finalist and they ended up not hiring anyone after everyone had interviewed (the job wasn't cut because of budget issues or something like that). They just decided not to fill it and passed on me. The Backstory:
A year ago I applied for a teaching position at a cool university where I attended graduate school (many moons ago).

I applied after being urged by two former professors who knew my skillset and thought I could contribute to the school. I thought I had a good shot at the job and love the city and university, so I applied.

I interviewed and was declared a finalist for the job. I was offered another job at another school that was good, but I passed on it with the hopes that I'd get this dream job. I did the in-person interview, guest taught a class (which got rave reviews from the students and the teacher whom I was teaching for), presented to the faculty and then went home and waited.

And waited. Then sent a message to the search committee chair to check in, who said they were still making a decision.

Then I waited more. When my lease was coming up, I contacted them and asked if there was anything new. They said they were going to continue looking, that I was still a 'finalist' but that I should do what I needed to do and not wait for them.

It's several months later now and I checked in with one of the professors I knew and it ends up that they did not hire anyone (and not because of budget reasons). The professor said:

"...What happened is something I’ve seen happen frequently in searches (both here and in industry). The committee fell in love with one candidate (who really was unique and outstanding) and when that candidate turned us down, all the rest seemed to pale by comparison. Don’t take it personally … it was a function of the dynamics associated with that particular search. ..."

The professor also mentioned that for next year, they're going to have multiple similar openings to hire and added this:

"... And if you were not discouraged by your experience the last time, and are still interested, you should consider applying again. If you don’t want to, though, I’ll understand. One small difference this time around: I’m co-chairing the committee..."

The Dilemma:
Should I bother applying again or is that pathetic? I feel like this is going on a date with an ex.

I really like this school, the area it's in and I think I'm capable of doing this job well (it'd be a freaking uphill battle because of some bureaucracy/legacy staff issues but I could do it). I'm also still kinda bitter about what happened last year -- especially after the students gave such a high evaluation of the class I taught. It seems that I didn't get the job because of some political b.s. or something and that the administrators aren't really looking out for finding the best teachers. Part of the prof telling me that I could apply again might just be them trying to be nice, because they are a very nice person overall.

If I apply, should I just use the same resume/cover letter/materials? If I change things, it seems like the original was lies. If I keep it the same, it's like I didn't try applying.

Personally, how can I get over this resentment I feel?

Anyone have advice or experience with this or other things I should be thinking about?

Thanks for your help!