How to go about determining a career change?
I am 24 and currently 1.5 years into my first associate engineering position. I’ve came to a place where I’m thinking about a career change but unsure where to start.
For some background, I got a degree in Biomedical Engineering. While I was in school, I did want to change majors as I realized around my junior year that I wasn’t as passionate as I thought about the degree. I couldn’t change majors due to the cost and time ( it would have cost me more to stay longer for another degree and I didn’t have the finances for that).
Once I began this job. I thought I would like it as it involved computers which I thought I liked, but I’m not so sure. I have had some unpleasant experiences with my team when I started and my mental health was at a very very low place the first year into the position. I have realized that it’s time for me to go. But I’m unsure if I didn’t like the experience with this job and maybe I should stick with engineering or try something completely different.
I contemplated a bit more and realized that I don’t enjoy technical information( I never really have) even when I took engineering classes in high school. I’m not passionate about it. But I do enjoy design and creating, that’s what got me interested in stem, more specifically engineering, in the first place.
Im pretty lost on where to turn to from here. I thought I would enjoy UX/UI design but a career transition to that would take months. Right now I’m thinking of finding a different position I could join. I’ve been applying for CX (customer experience) jobs to see if it would be something I would like ( I was in a customer service position that helped elderly people before, and even though it was tasking, I really enjoyed helping others) And during that time I am in a new position I try to figure out what to do?
I’ve also thought it would be cool to go into marketing and help with branding and marketing for companies. Or design clothes/ apparel for Nike or another sports or streetwear related company.
All I know are that my strengths include public speaking/ communication, and my interests are related to creating things and helping/ connecting to people. But I’m not too sure what opportunities are out there. Any advice?
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GirlBossanova934974
Having graduated with 2 Engineering degrees + an MBA, I would recommend a great deal of caution here. 1) First jobs out of college are not always going to be a trip to the land of milk and honey. Neither are 2nd jobs etc.. Be careful you are NOT throwing out a whole profession because your current coworkers and company are lousy......2) Having worked in a Customer Experience Department for 5 years, jobs there are often poorly paid and you are likely to take abuse from angry customers which by the sounds of it, you may not like. 3) Marketing? I have worked there for 20 years and Marketing can be very tough work. Unfortunately, Marketing these days has become in many cases a refugee center for people unable to make due where they were at and don't have the credentials or mental attitude to succeed at it. All this being said, I would look to ENGINEERING SOCIETIES as a place for guidance. For instance, for 5 years, I was the CHAIR of the Los Angeles Council for IEEE. IEEE is the 2nd largest non profit in the USA, second only to the Red Cross. IEEE is loaded with money. One Society, EMBS or IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) might work for you. EMBS is a very large society which can offer you lots of opportunities to test out your other career interests. They hold many many trade shows which you can be a part of in regards to Marketing, Sales, Finance etc etc. I myself ran many trade shows for IEEE. You can "learn on the job" without being subject to a lot of dirty office politics that unfortunately is a part of so many companies these days. Here is a link. https://www.embs.org/ Best of Luck!
Anonymous
Talk to someone in the job center/counseling of your college.