Comments on: You Can Go Home Again

By: Scott Guelich

Scott Guelich — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:49:55 +0000

Hey Daniel, we were there the same time! I did my courses 2003-2004.

By: Daniel Jalkut

Daniel Jalkut — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:12:53 +0000

Hey Scott – I was probably there at SFSU with you :) Class of 2005 Music BA.

By: Scott Guelich

Scott Guelich — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:08:11 +0000

I enjoyed your post, and I’m all for motivating people to explore their interests instead of sticking with what they know. I’ve changed trajectories so many times over the past 15 years, it’s hard for friends/family to keep track. From philosophy major to web developer and technical writer to medical student.

Many people are surprised to see others making radical career changes, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of folks doing it. While doing my post-bacc basic sciences at SFSU a few years back, I met many other high tech refugees who had been burned out by the whole dotcom boom (or bust) and were looking for something more meaningful to do with their lives. You don’t have to look to hard to find others to support you if you decide to make a leap.

Incidentally, along the way I also several years as a (relatively small) fish in that Perl pond. I have sympathy for the JAPH you mention. It’s amazing how easily you get pigeon-holed by hiring managers… it’s not enough to learn another language well if they’re looking for years of prior on-the-job experience with it, and it can be hard to turn down an expert-level Perl hourly to take an entry-level Java job just for the sake of investing in your CV.

By: Nerg

Nerg — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:06:42 +0000

I’m in a similar situation myself, I’ve done the work but need the opportunity. However this article made me realise I hadn’t made a mistake

By: Ted

Ted — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:14:35 +0000

I’ve found myself in a similiar situation, not once, but twice. I started in graphic design in the early 90’s. When the web emerged, I had always dabbled with it and HTML. As the 90’s progressed, I found myself doing more web design and less print. By the end of the decade, I was focused solely on web design. I sort of hit the pay ceiling around the time of the dot com burst (2001), so I shifted gears and focused more on web development. This was my first exposure to programming.

When OS X came out, I decided that’s where I wanted to be. I’ve dabbled with Cocoa over the years (and attended two WWDCs), but never found enough time to commit to getting my ObjC skills strong enough to pursure it seriously.

Now I’m at a job (UI Engineer) where they would like me to learn Java, so I’m hopeful that skillset will “build a bridge” for me to spending more time working with Cocoa. Having a wife & 2 kids makes it tougher to devote a huge chunk of time to it, but persistence usually pays off, so I’m remaining patient.

By: Diego

Diego — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:52:29 +0000

The following is a book exactly about this topic. Very interesting to read (for example) about people that go from being a lawyers to a crayfish farmer and find happiness, peace of mind.

http://www.pobronson.com/index_what_should_I_do_with_my_life.htm

By: Ash Ponders

Ash Ponders — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:30:37 +0000

That’s certainly the case for me. All my life I thought I wanted to be a university professor. I got into a good school, in a small field where I knew I’d be able to contribute, and got accepted at an amazing university for grad school.

And then I realized that I don’t really like Academia that much. It was just something in which I had a bit of talent. So I got a job fixing computers at the Campus computing, and started learning a new trade.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:06:48 +0000

I like the idea of changing careers. There’s just no way we could have figured it all out by the time we picked our classes in college. To be fair though, the idea utterly scares me and I’m still firmly in my early twenties.

But yes, I think passion can always be found and grown into something worthwhile. People may say “don’t quit your day job” but no one is telling you to stop.

By: Daniel Jalkut

Daniel Jalkut — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:03:01 +0000

DDA: I think my main point is that you can put a new career on the side-burner and get moving on it pretty quickly if you’re really passionate about it. (That is – without even risking too much in your ’safe’ career).

By: DDA

DDA — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:00:08 +0000

I do think it is easy to say that when you don’t have a family (and mortgage) to support. I also think it is easy to spot the “career jumpers”; they don’t have a lot of experience doing any *one* thing.

That said, it is also smart to re-evalute where one is and what one is doing every so often. Starting over *is* risky and scary but it is still the right thing to do in some cases. Just not *all* cases.