Career Changes

Parent Q&A

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  • Hello BPN,

    All this time at home has me thinking about laying the groundwork to change industries.

    I am currently a large scale event producer (food & beverage) for conventions. Large events will not be back any time soon, so I am looking to reimagine my career. 

    I am interested in exploring emergency management/ disaster relief from a program and planning perspective.

    Does anyone have any recommendations for organizations that I can volunteer with? Or another avenue to get started. I plan on taking a few online courses through FEMA. Everything I have seen is to volunteer to be “boots on the ground” when a disaster hits- I am looking for something more logistics oriented.

     Thank you!

    I think your background in events management would be very relevant to relief orgs like Red Cross or Medicin Sans Frontiere. In the short run, check out the CalOES website for local or free trainings in the emergency management hierarchy as practiced in CA.

    I left my job as an Emergency Manager after burning out from non-stop wildfire, storm/flooding, politics and pandemics. As someone who came from large special events in SF, there are tons of similarities between the two fields. You could easily make the transition. I’d invest time in CESA they are a wonderful learning resource. Don’t get a Masters in it! A word of warning, you will have to work insanely long shifts, travel, be around toxic-masculinity rooted in first responder and military relationships. It’s a rewarding career that being said! You get to work with wonderful people at the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Meals on Wheels, etc. it’s just not as fun or positive as special events.

    I've been very impressed with Jose Andres' organization World Central Kitchen. He's been able to scale the model up while being quickly responsive to world events as they happen. To learn from them would be fascinating.

    https://wck.org/mission

    How about the American Red Cross? They have tons of volunteer positions and are always providing support for disasters. https://www.redcross.org/volunteer/volunteer-opportunities.html 

    Check with the Alameda county office of emergency services for volunteer opportunities. They also host a lot of trainings, some online. Good luck!

  • I was laid off from an administrative assistant job a few weeks ago.  Having time now, I want to become more marketable.  Can you recommend on-line courses (preferably, but not necessarily free) in Excel, Word, Windows 10, Python, or any other topic that will make me more employable when jobs open up again?  Thank you, I appreciate it!

    Sorry about your job situation. I find udemy courses (including on excel) to be generally quite good and you can get free access through the Berkeley public libraries. 

    Berkeley Adult Education

    Mr Excel on YouTube has an Excel Is Fun tutorial set that has hundreds of videos. They are super informative and free! Sorry about your job:(

    Berkeley Adult School is offering free online job skill classes.

    Coursera has some free offerings.

    i myself have taken Google’s free Google Analytics course online at Google Analytics Academy.

    the Berkeley Public Library may have free memberships to Lynda or another online educator.

    good luck,

    Lisa Tsering

    Khan Academy has basic classes in Python and Excel.  Coursera has courses in many topics.  And microsoft has full courses on their products on their website.  You may also want to look into a General Assembly-style instructor-led course vs. asynchronous learning as it may be a better experience and allow you to ask some questions.  If you've been an admin, while getting more proficient in the google or microsoft suite of products is nice, ultimately this is operations work as a career path, so the strategic, long-term path would be to pursue project management or bookkeeping certification, opening you up into more senior ops roles like project manager, bookkeeper, operations associate, accounts payable/receivable, etc.

    I would check out some of the current software as a service platforms, they have lots of "badges" and certification.  Salesforce.com comes to mind here's there learning link; https://www.salesforce.com/services/learn/overview/ 

    Also check out the library, there are lots of new links for online resources and you can chat with a librarian for ideas for the Contra Costa Library system, and probably others.  They could give you ideas too.  

    Sorry to hear you were laid off.  Good luck!

    You can learn Salesforce completely for free through their online learning system. https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/home. Its actually really fun to go through their modules and earn points. A lot of companies in the Bay Area use Salesforce and Admins make a pretty good salary. I went to the big Salesforce conference last year and they featured all kinds of people who were entirely self taught off their online education site. 

    Hi! I'm Pamela, a Berkeley mom and also the creator of the Khan Academy computing courses. We don't currently teach Python/Excel, but we do have an Intro to SQL course that is popular with people in a range of industries. There's also Intro to HTML/CSS and Intro to JS. SQL sounds like the best fit for you though, as it can be used in many roles where you might do data analysis.

    Sorry to hear that you were laid off. Try freecodecamp. Also you can consider some coding/data science bootcamps if wanting/able to make a bigger commitment. They are often around $12-16K, but some have a payment plan where you only start paying after you land a job. There are many kinds of bootcamps, so do your research and ask questions about career support services, etc.

  • Finding career 2.0

    Sep 7, 2018

    Hi, I may have found that my 20+ year career V1.0 has petered out and I may need to consider a career V2.0. I don't want to go into details about the what and why because it's complicated to explain. Suffice it to say that my career has always been a young person's career and we used to joke that you never see anyone over 50 doing what we do. And, funny or not, that's kinda true now. FWIW I work within the "tech" field (though not on the tech side of the fence). 

    I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has struggled to find good work in their field as they get older and instead have pivoted to something else (related or not). I'm trying to figure out how to make that transition. TIA!

    I'm going through the same thing. Not sure I have advice but happy to meet for a brainstorm. (Also empty-nesting)

    I am nearing 50 and can't imagine getting back into Advertising (creative side) after taking a freelancing break with a personal "off" break this year. But I need income next year so I'll be looking to 'take my talents' to the non-profit sector... either in-house or more ideally, with a Marketing/Design/Ad agency that services 501-c-3s that have budget to pay for 'real' services. Maybe there is something similar in your situation.... Good luck!

    My husband is in a similar situation. He is in tech marketing. He is now trying to pivot by taking a UCB program in Data Science. Not sure where it will take him but I'm crossing my fingers for him.  Best of luck to you!!

    Yup, i'm going through the same thing. Ageism is alive and well and really, really insidious and cruel. I was a journalist for 25 years and it's just not possible for me to keep finding work, getting laid off, struggling to get paid, struggling to convince people to let me do the thing I'm great at. I am currently in school to become a nurse and my plan is to work in hospice care. It's very difficult, and I might have been better off doing something like occupational therapy or speech-language therapy, they both pay very well and are always in demand. But I'm already on this path and I think it'll be all right. It's very humbling to be back in school doing stuff I never, ever, ever was good at, but being in the community college system reminds me daily that there are people scaling much bigger obstacles, so I just keep on chuggin'. 

    Tl;dr, health care is one of the few fields that are burgeoning in this rotten economy and these unsure times, and there are health-care jobs that are not terrifying. 

    You might like to read "Designing your life" - it's about using design thinking for finding your next move for people of any age, from first job to an encore (retirement) career.

    I did this - got my masters in a new field at age 48.  Spent several years before that on the transition. Finally got there. It was hard to start over, and I do sometimes feel too old, but it finally worked. I do think there's age discrimination out there, but there are also lots of good situations too. It just means you may need to try more things than a younger person (hence the book, which is all about generating lots of options).

Archived Q&A and Reviews


Advice


 

Frustrated highly gifted husband can't find challenging work

July 2003

I may have some bias, but my husband seems to be so smart to me. He is so good at problem-solving, and very scientifically- oriented. Although he dropped out of high school, he managed to enter the best college in our country. If he is interested in anything, he'll learn it right away. Anybody closely working with him thinks he's a genius. The problems are he is easily bored; never keeps good grades; so afraid of failure --he is a perfectionist--most of all, he does not really know what he wants to do. He was a science teacher in our country and was employed in a computer company in Bay area before the company can't afford to keep him any more. Overall, he is a creative, kind, warm, and cheerful person, but quite unhappy because he can't find a chellenging work. He came to this country to be with me while I am studying for my Ph.D.

Now he is considering a totally new career: he wants to apply for MBA program. I have some questions. Can he get admission although he has very low GPA?--I think he could, but he is so afraid of failure that any success story would give him positive feedback. How can I support him? I want him to be happy whatever career he choose. Especially, I would appreciate anybody who can give a good career suggestion. Thank you in advance.


Your husband may want to consider law school over an MBA program. One of the joys of law (particularly for a sole practioner like I am) is that each client has a unique set of problems. I may be overworked at times but I am never bored! I think MBA programs tend to be more focused on grades and job experience then law schools. When I was applying to law school, general life experience and a high LSAT score counted as much or more then grades counted. Certainly this sounds like your husband's case. He can contact admissions at Boalt, Hastings, USF or Golden Gate and sit through a class to see what he thinks about law school. (Note during summer I think only Golden Gate and USF have classes). I worked for a large accounting firm before I went on my own and worked with many MBAs. If he is easily bored he should really spend some time considering if business school is the right choice for him. If he wants to talk about this I would be happy to talk with him. John


Has your husband ever seen a good career counselor? It might help for him to identify specific reasons why he gets ''bored''. (i.e. Is it the nature of the work? Does the work need to be more ''meaningful'' to him? Is he a people-person stuck in a solitary job situation or vice versa?) If he can get clear on what ''inspires'' him and what keeps him engaged as well as what turns him off and gets him bored, he may be better able to find a good match in his next job. An MBA is no guarantee that he will be more engaged in future work. (A tip Find a really good career counselor, one that will understand your husband and work with him. It may take some time.) Been There


Unhappy with my UC Berkeley IT job

March 2003

Hello, I started working at UC this past summer and I am miserable. The person who hired me didn't provide an accurate description of the job, made promises regarding training/advancement that have never materialized (despite my attempts to persue). In addition I work with some very unmotivated people and I am going crazy! Currently I am working providing desktop support and would like to get back into networking I worked in Seattle doing network managment/network security. I feel like my networking skills are starting to wither away since I am not really using them right now and have not is some time (I quit my job in Seattle 3 years ago to move here with my husband and took some time off after the birth of my son).

Does anyone have any ideas how I can move into another area in the University? Is it difficult to do? I very much want to get back into networking and would like to find a more positive work enviroment. I have signed up for career counseling and am taking a couple of classes through the CDOP program, but thought I would ask if there are other avenues I might not be aware of. Thank you in advance! anon please


Having also worked in a job where the reality didn't match my expectations, I have an idea of what you're feeling. I suggest you look up the hill above campus to Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. I've worked as the communications manager for the Lab's Computing Sciences organization for 6 years and it's the best place I've worked. We are UC employees, but my perception is that the pay is better at the Lab. Our organization provides computer support and networking for the 4,000 employees at the Lab, runs an international high-speed network (OC-192) and operates one of the world's top supercomputing centers, so there's probably something to both interest and challenge you. You can learn more at our Web site (http://www.lbl.gov/Computing-Sciences/) or contact me. Jon