Dr. Earl R. Smith II

admin says:

64 Responses to “How did you get into the profession you are in?”
1.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:36 am e
Michael Segel wrote:
I got a postcard in the mail…
(Ok so you have to read House of God to get that joke)
Actually I fell in to it.
I started to learn how to program back in ‘78, thanks in part to my brother.
It just made sense.
When I went to college, software engineering was like being a native Spanish speaker, taking Spanish as a major.
After college, I fell in to consulting and then fell in to becoming an independent.
Sorry that there wasn’t a lot of real thought behind the process. A door opens up and I walk in. If I don’t like what I see, I move on. (Sales, Presales, consulting, cattle ranching…)
Within consulting, I’ve had many different roles. I’ve done almost everything short of the mainframe, although I did work on connecting Unix systems to the mainframe, prior to the mainframe getting TCP/IP …
I’ve worked in multiple industries. Industrial controllers, Banking/Financial, Retail, Manufacturing, Warehouse Distrobution, Medical billing , Medical devices, etc …
When I got bored with Consulting, I tried my had at sales within IBM. Learned what I could and when I got tired of the BS that I had to deal with, I went back to consulting because it was safe and easy. (Note: The BS is within IBM and not dealing with the customers Those who have ever been cross matrixed within IBM should be able to relate.)
If I didn’t do this, I guess I’d get in to cattle ranching. My niche would be that I could track the beef from birth to auction using RFID ear tags and then record their diet and such… Maybe also get a slaughter house and go straight to consumer with grass fed beef. (Naw, its not like I’ve thought that one out…
-Mike
2.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:37 am e
Grant Epstein wrote:
I have both a BS and a Masters in Marketing. I tried sales early in my career, but it was outside sales – lots of cold calling – and I hated it. So I refocused my career on the direct marketing industry. While completing my MBA, I sold digital camcorders, cameras, etc at Circuit City. Everyone commented how great I was at needs analysis and selling to the customer’s needs. After a pretty crappy experience in my first job after completing my MBA, I took my current job in data sales. I have not looked back since.
If I was not doing this, I am not sure what I would be doing. Beyond the pipe dream of eventually wanting to have a bar some day, I hope I do not have to find out anytime too soon.
3.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:38 am e
Jacob Cynamon wrote:
Earl,
I am in my second profession. My first job out of college was as a developer evangelist for Microsoft. I spent several years there and learned a great many things about guerrilla/grassroots marketing, sales, demand generation and organizational politics. Near the end of my time there, I found myself very active in the real estate industry. I was reading everything I could, researching late into the night on LoopNet and earned my salesperson license in my spare time.
As I was evaluating new career paths to build my sales skills and experience new challenges and learning opportunities, I asked a friend about his experiences after a couple years in commercial real estate. He is a tenant representative and I liked the idea of exclusively working to help businesses with their real estate needs. He encouraged me to apply to UGL Equis and I did, knowing that it would be a very challenging environment and moving me out of my comfort zone.
The big factors for me were:
* the entrepreneurial spirit
* the personal responsibility and flexibility
* uncapped income potential and the challenge of 100% commission
* the ability to manage the entire sales cycle for my clients
I have been at it over one year and really begun to take off, with business coming from personal contacts, new relationships and even through LinkedIn referrals. Since you asked, if I wasn’t doing this, I would either be pursuing new media opportunities (Web 2.0, social networking) or technology evangelism, because I have a huge passion around technology and love sharing that with others.
4.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:39 am e
Riccardo Rasponi wrote:
Just a matter of faith.
I was looking for a job to raise some money & I found an announcement at my University…………
was 1995
5.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:39 am e
Eugene Rembor, MBA wrote:
As a boy I watched “Dallas” and I though I wanted to have such a life:
Living in a great house, flying first class, staying in posh hotels, wearing expensive suits, doing big business and having all the beautiful girls.
Well, that’s what I did then: Build a career, start my own business and getting the life I wanted.
6.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:40 am e
Valentina Gburcik wrote:
When I was very young I was always very interested in the mystery of life and to start getting answers to some of my questions I decided to study biochemistry… OK, it did give me some answers, but then I stayed in this biological field, finished my PhD and I am researcher now and well…. not completely sure anymore that it was a right path…. I don’t feel that I am contributing enough and everything is moving too slowly. I am re-thinking on everyday basis, but it doesn’t help. If I could completely change my profession (but it’s too late of course), I would probably study psychology. If not that, I would love to have any profession where I interact with people and help them (but where I also have to use my intellect for that).
7.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:40 am e
Damon Taylor wrote:
It was a chance to network with non-IT areas of the business as well as leverage and further hone my Windows security knowledge.
8.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:41 am e
Elias Luna wrote:
Dear Earl,
I assume I got in like most of my “experienced and aged” executive peers, by mistake….
I have spent some 19 years of my professional life in many positions within quite large corporations and across s few different industrial sectors. Trying to do my best at work and building a global network.
After so many years as corporate executive, this business (a hobby at first) simply developed into something more serious and demanding, and after actively tapping into my world network, eventually into something very lucrative.
Please let me know if I can be of any additional help.
Best,
Elias.
9.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:41 am e
Christine Crandell wrote:
As a kid I wanted to be an archeologist. All that discovery stuff sounded like fun. Until in college I took chemistry and biology. Not sure what did it – either the lab explosion or the dissected pig in my mom’s fridge but my dad gave me the ‘you can’t make a living on this’ chat. I joined a friend in a computer class and feel in love (with computers).
In graduate school majored in international finance. Sounds high powered, jet setting and fun. Took a financial analyst job out of school and hated it. Always looking backwards and reporting. Joined Price Waterhouse as a management consultant doing systems analysis and implementations and feel in love again. Somewhere along the way I started doing market analysis for PW and that started my marketing journey. Left consulting for marketing in the tech industry and been there since.
It’s been a rich life because I stretched myself to stay on top of trends and to define MY job…not have someone else define it for me. Left the corporate world to start my own company (employees and all) and after it became very profitable went back to school for my doctorate. Closed the business and went back into industry.
Do I re-think what I’m doing. No, I follow my bliss. I’ve several careers and plan to have several more before I leave this body. There is no such thing as a career path, that is a socially constructed framework to foster compliance. Careers are about living life fully and to one fullest potential. If I weren’t in my present profession,??? I love what I do.
10.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:42 am e
Francois Andlau wrote:
I enjoyed accounting, algebra and languages at school and got good marks for those subjects. A career in accounting was the next logical step for me.
Now that I am older and more experienced I am looking at consulting and research work as an alternative to the day-to-day number crunching.
11.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:43 am e
Brian Wiggins wrote:
I came into my current career almost by serendipity.
I left college with degrees in Communication and English with every intention of getting involved with media production. About 7 months after I graduated, I took a job as an assistant video editor, and that quickly grew into a news editor and then a special projects editor.
Then 9/11 happened…quite possibly one of the most stressful weeks of my life. It was a bit overwhelming working 18 hour days and having to stare at that footage, all of the destruction from every possible angle, all day long.
Six months later, I finally got too burned out to continue. The news felt like a huge hypocrisy to me, preying on the ills of man to further their own gain and ratings. Additionally, I had gotten into a debate with my producer about the quality of a news story (it was a bad story that looked great when the writer, reporter and I finished it, but she threw me under the bus to save her own butt, an action I took verbal exception to) and was “demoted”. The whole situation literally was making me sick, so much so that I was literally one load of laundry away on a Sunday night from emptying my bank account and moving to California to rock climb full time. (Needless to say, my more reasonable side won that battle.)
I gave one month’s notice and at the end of May sweeps, I said my goodbyes to the news. I worked a part time job in Maryland with Outward Bound that summer (one of the best jobs I’ve ever had) and eventually moved into full-time work with the retailer I was working at. (Coincidentally, my now wife and I got together very shortly after my “retirement”, something I don’t think would have happened if I were to have stayed with the news.)
The retail career grew, but as anyone who has worked retail will tell you, the hours suck and you’ll never get rich. So I left my retail career for a change of pace in corporate America, and at the urging of my colleagues, applied for the open facilitator job. I landed the job, and Bob’s your uncle, so to speak.
The next chapter is yet to be written. The previous job was eliminated during a large downsizing, so now I am an independent consultant (code for gainfully unemployed). My goal is to continue to stay in the training end of business, hopefully getting to a point where I can really start influencing training programs at a company-wide level.
12.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:43 am e
Eric Walker wrote:
Y2K happened, I was an Operations Manager for a Retail Department store, and the IT department needed help getting ready for Y2K updates to all of the systems covering several states. Computers where a hobby of mine; so I jumped in to help out and have been doing it ever since. My first real job mas in the US Army, then in Retail Management. I would love to be a Chef but that might have to wait until the kids are grown and have moved out.
13.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:44 am e
Scott Woodard wrote:
My first career was in politics and public policy; advising/influencing decision makers on the critical issues facing their communities and constituents. I got into this field because I wanted to change the world. I was a product of the ’60s after all.
After about thirty years of this work, I realized I was addressing the same problems/issues over and over and it may be time for someone else to take a crack at it. I “stumbled” into career management and coaching; initially via the sales and recruitment side of the business. I found I loved the one-on-one connection with the people with whom I interacted. I also realized I’d prefer the delivery side of the business rather than the sale side and made the switch.
Now instead of changing the world on a global scale, I help folks change their worlds on an individual scale – a variation of the “Think globally, act locally” mantra.
14.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:44 am e
Gavin Waters wrote:
I developed expertise in my job area through the military. My actual job was given to me thorugh networking – basically following up with a contact that I made.
I’d say the most important factor in deciding where to go was where the opportunity opened up – I was applying and seeking out opportunities in many different areas.
I’d say that I’ve had three real professions over time – I don’t know that I’d seek out a new profession – it depends on where the opportunities arise and if I’m inspired by those opportunities.
15.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:45 am e
Tim Tymchyshyn wrote:
it found me
I had just won a full scholarship to university and two weeks before high school was done the military recruiters showed up and one was a radio-operator by trade. Talk about hook-line-and-sinker. I passed up university and signed up, I have not looked back. I have been involved with wireless for over 30 years now and each day I learn something new. So I have gone from a user to a first line repair to full repair to sales and now sales management.
16.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:46 am e
Lewis E. Shadle Sr. wrote:
Stumbled, tripped and fell. . . and many side trips along the way.
The only tangible evidence I can can point to is my willingness to keep my mind an eyes open along the way. Throughout my (5) careers, I have had the great fortune to be associated with individuals whose personal and professional practices have provided insights, and without them knowing it, eliminated barriers to the next step.
Seeking mentorship and inspiration from those who have carved at least part of the path before me have been key.
I expect 3 or 4 more careers before its over. It is a big and interesting world out there.
In case you were wondering … yes, you were one of them.
Lew
17.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:46 am e
Stephanie Young wrote:
By accident. After the Marine Corps, I was working my way through college. My degree was going to be in Business Admin. During my first summer with this factory, they oversold their production capacity without realizing that they’d over committed, and in the process of trying to figure out how to solve the production scheduling issues, I wrote my first program. I’ve been in IT ever since.
18.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:47 am e
Tim Berry wrote:
I maybe the exception to most people in that I have manipulated my way into the job I wanted and do now. I would always look for the angles during my career and see loop holes or niches that would move me closer to being an I.T. architect and data base designer.
I have some way to go yet to be fully fledged but have an excellent grounding due to the nature of the jobs I have had to do to get here.
When I was a programmer I wanted to be an analyst so I took on the more difficult programming tasks for ETL that meant I got more involved in the analysis.
When I was an analyst I wanted to be a database designer so I took on roles where there was highly complex ETL that required staging tables.
Having designed a few staging areas I moved into data base design and now want to expand my knowledge to looking at enterprise systems and data base interaction (business intelligence).
This is a difficult thing to achieve as a contractor but keep looking for the angles to play and bide your time and as long as your goal is achievable and focused it is possible to attain it.
19.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:47 am e
Heidi Whitaker wrote:
Partly by divine guidance (or divine pushing) and partly by sheer will power. From an early age my grandmother told me that I would be our family’s doctor in my generation. In my undergraduate years, while taking three and four science classes a semester, I kept killing my fruit flies (which makes it very hard to breed the necessary generations and identify the genetic mutation!).
As a break from the difficult schedule, I took some accounting and computer classes. Aced them and hardly opened the book. So, I earned my bachelor’s degrees in accounting and management information systems. Started a great career path walking the line between financial accounting, internal audit and systems development. When I was in regulatory accounting, I worked with the attorneys interpreting regulations into procedures for the company. I found a calling in reading the law – but life had some obstacles.
Fast forward many years, as my corporate situation was shaking after 9/11/2001, I was reminded of my dream to go to law school. Without having any real idea of how I would make it happen, my application was accepted within one week of submission. I worked at a career all day and went to school at night. For four years, if someone saw me without a book they thought it was a mirage. I made the Dean’s List every semester except the first and graduated in the top 12%. Then came that Bar Exam. Once licensed, every interview was “what type of law do you want to practice?” I love civil law (anything non-criminal). Turns out I am a good litigator. As long as I have challenges and puzzles on my desk to tame, I wake up ready to tackle my day. I hope that I will be able to do this for at least the next 30 years.
20.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:48 am e
Michael Springs wrote:
I started as an intern with no intentions of working long-term and my manager offered me a full-time position.
How did I choose my profession? Someone told me in high school that engineers made the most amount of money with a four-year degree and I pursued the field.
What factors were most important? Having a mentor, who has walked in the direction, you want to go.
How many professions have you had? three; since, 2005, I am back to my first profession.
If you weren’t in you present profession, which one would you like to be in?
Motivational speaker, counselor, or coach, who make an impact in peoples lives in a positive way.
21.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:49 am e
Abad Kelawala, PMP wrote:
Well, I had summer break from college & decided to take some classes in something called “computer programming” back in the 80s. I was hooked onto computers since then. I jumped jobs & an excellent company trained me in Project Management & I have been a PM since then. What started as a curiousity turned into a profession. When I picked up Programming in India, very few people knew what computers were or did.
22.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:50 am e
Lisa Mastroianni wrote:
Interesting…I find that throughout time, we meet so many people…I think your interests (NOT YOUR ETHICS) can change when you meet different people – you are always who you are, but you may meet someone that can introduce you to a whole new world of things you never thought you would be interested in and it can change your life. I hear these stories all of the time “I never thought I would have been doing…bla bla bla”
I started out knowing I wanted to utilize my creative talents – and my big mouth. (haaa – now I know when to use it effectively) – therefore, my transition from where I started doesn’t seem that crazy to me, but many people wonder how I got to where I am…I went to school to be a copywriter – and clearly, I like to write. I “loved” fashion so I did a lot of branding work for a national retailer in the graphics department (a good copywriter should know how to design and stay within budget for print production) but then realized I didn’t want to be in just fashion. Then I started PAing (Production Assistant) on commercials and such because I wanted to get out of print and work on TV. Event Planning was a big thing for a while because I loved it – I’ve worked for several non-profits doing PR and design work. Now I’m Head of Production at a commercial company and I freelance for Live TV shows/events when I can…which is the world I want to get in next.
I started to realize that I wasn’t confused…I am HUNGRY…I like doing different things and that’s what this particular industry is about. Meeting more people opens more doors for everyone involved. My ideas and connections are building quickly and it’s all about execution…so I market myself as a Producer…and when you ask of what…I like to be able to say, “anything.”
23.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:50 am e
Jamie Bendall wrote:
I became a personal injury lawyer because it’s was what I grew up with a the kitchen table. My father enjoyed his work, his clients, and the problems those folks faced were challenging. I admired my father and had a positive experience from an early age with the law.
I became a stand-up comedian because I wanted to be an extra in movies, and it seemed like a logical first step. Thousands of performances later, I still have yet to appear in a movie.
I started representing media professionals because I could identify with their issues and surprisingly it wasn’t that much different than handling a personal injury case.
I purchased The Punchline Comedy Club in Atlanta because it is a local and national comedy landmark with personal significance and because it made sense from an investment standpoint.
24.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:51 am e
JP Hochbaum wrote:
I started in the insurance business because I was working for my dad and the company needed someone licensed in P & C in order for us to get incorporated as an insurance company.
After I stopped working for him I looked for other jobs and my best option was in the finance industry. So I have stuck with it but I am currently switching to restaurant management and doing insurance on the side to build up residuals and hopefully in 5-10 years get a nice steady side income to start my own agency.
As a side not I find it interesting that the majority of people go to college and get a degree then end up working in an entirely different field.
25.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:51 am e
John O’Dea wrote:
I needed the money. I am a refuge of the technology sales business – forged in the fires of the DOT COM race. Once the party was over I needed a real way to sustain a family. In networking with friends, co-wokers and family – I found what appeared to be the only job on the planet. I found enough financial success to numb my interest in pursuing a passion. From there, I have offered up my talents in sales and expertise in insurance to employers and clients who appear to find the combination of value in excess to my expense.
26.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:52 am e
Gerald Lo wrote:
I worked in a sweatshop, as a messenger and waiter, and enrolled in electrical engineering, until the student chapter of the IEEE invited the late Professor Irwin Feerst to address us.
With no academic qualifications, I generated job offers from a laboratory glassware factory, a munitions plant, a nuclear piping design firm and, for the world’s largest healthcare conglomerate, supervising process development for synthetic absorbable polymer medical device manufacture.
Our team was two technicians and me; weeks later, I needed to staff up manufacturing and quality control (plans for starting up the new main factory had run into a snag).
My boss sent me to Cornelia, Georgia in 1979 to visit the plant. I navigated by passing Beaver Ruin Road on the Interstate, and looked for landmarks including the chicken rendering plant and the 6′ apple (it was one of the years it was unpainted) in the town square.
Years later, I was a candidate for an R&D job in polymer processing, also for medical devices. HR had pulled the wrong file, and asked if I might run capital projects instead, mentioning that the project management position paid more.
“Capital projects are my life,” I said.
Having never worked outside the US or on chemical pilot plant design and construction, I was hired by a Fortune 200 corporation to do both.
Later still, I worked for a larger firm (oddly, in the same capacity) who received a letter from a federal agency commending them on their grasp of regulatory compliance basics. A year later, the agency directing them to begin mandatory compliance training for senior management. The third year I worked there, strongly worded correspondence was received requiring all employees and visitors to be trained. I was summoned into The Presence and was told to train all 300 engineers in compliance.
I’ve since gone on to manage maintenance, engineering and housekeeping functions.
Gerry Lo has a price, and it can be surprisingly affordable
27.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:53 am e
Joy Montgomery wrote:
A 3×5 card on a junior college bulletin board led me in the right direction. Before that, I just had many different kinds of jobs to keep a roof over our heads and feed us.
28.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:53 am e
Nancy Babyak, PMP wrote:
I was the person who could talk to the IT department. I always could find a way to explain the business process and the pains that the applications were causing my team.
I interviewed for a program management position at a global level that included the IT resources that had supported our local business processes. It was the most refreshing interview I have ever had. As I went through the loop each person said, “oh wow, you want to join us?”
Now there have been other moves that have not been so pleasant…
Not being able to pay the rent on the entry level job that matches my degree… & people wonder what happens to chemists when they graduate in this economy. Out of options taking the only job available.
Staying in the entertainment industry way too long. Enjoying my IT interactions, not being able to make the jump into the department because I have a BS in a life science and not circuit board science.
A distribution company that ran out of e-commerce financing… Walk into a status meeting and walk out unemployed. Taking 2 jobs and working 60 hour weeks trying to make ends meet and wishing I was able to hold out for another e-commerce position.
Finally landing the process gig… with a scientific bend… even though it meant keeping the night job to pay the rent.
Driving an integration effort that includes a RIF of half the department staff… How long will the job still be there? When will the next RIF be? Using my contacts to get the next position.
A national utility owned by an international conglomerate that put the division up for sale… Do you stay? Do you start looking?
Having the courage have a resume written that just includes the parts and pieces that I love about the jobs that I have had.
Having the courage to put my resume out there for a national search and meaning it.
Answering the phone call(s) when Microsoft continued to be interested.
& that, dear reader, is how you get to be a Poker dealing chemist who is a former global PMO manager now working as a product manager at Microsoft.
& to be really clear… I didn’t even think twice about answering with this much detail becauce every single recruiter, HR rep, manager, interviewer I have ever come in contact with since leaving the casino has made me walk the progression and explain each step in detail.
If I was not in my present profession I would want to be a manger of a research facility so that i could put my load balancing and business intelligence skills to work for the greater good.
29.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:54 am e
Kathie M. Thomas wrote:
I fell into mine. Guess it was kind of natural progression. I’d been a corporate secretary and Personal Assistant for over 20 years. I won Secretary of the Year in October 1993 and Microsoft sponsored it here in Australia.
With the software I won it occurred to me if I had a computer at home I might be able to work at home – I had 5 young growing daughters who really needed their mother at home. By March 1994 I had registered my new homebased secretarial business and late 1995 I was told about the internet.
January 1996 I was online and in April 1996 I had women contacting me to find out how they could do what I was doing?
I didn’t know it at the time but I was part of the birthing of a brand new industry – Virtual Assistants. At the same time in other parts of the world this new industry was also beginning to form.
Today I’m one of the worldwide leaders for this industry and love it – it’s allowed me to be home 14 years now and watch my daughters grow into lovely young women. And I’ve been able to guide, lead, counsel and mentor women worldwide who wanted to do the same for their families.
I can’t say there’s anything else I’d rather be doing, except perhaps writing – I love to write, but even in the VA industry I’ve had that opportunity as well. I guess if I wasn’t doing what I’m doing now, I might have worked towards becoming an author but I’ve achieved that anyway.
30.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:55 am e
Christine Gertz wrote:
Because I am a librarian, it is not a surprise that I found myself in the history of the books section (thought I was going to be a history professor then) and decided that librarianship was the better career choice. I applied to the program, was accepted and became a professional librarian.
However, while in library school, I became very interested in using technology to store and share knowledge and my first job outside of library school was working for a non-profit that was digitizing historical data and sharing the information online. But they didn’t really know what to do with a librarian so they had me answering phones, cut off from the tech team.
So I found something else and now work as a librarian for a career center at a university, combining librarianship, research and instruction with specialized collection for career advising. I have actually discovered that making your job suit you, provided that the company needs what you know, is probably the best way to manage your career. There is also enough diversity in the types of jobs that librarians do that I will have lots of choices throughout my career, which suits my nature.
31.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:55 am e
Melissa Khalinsky wrote:
Great question!
I became a teacher / coach through organizing small workshops in 2005 on “career brainstorming.” The workshop eventually (and quite mysteriously) developed a framework which I freely share with people at http://www.idealcareerframework.com (password is “idealcareerisideal”) because I think it can guide them in designing their “ideal” career.
Prior to 2005, I was a marketing specialist who founded a marketing communications firm, which did pretty well.
From my perspective, it seems that we are led to adopt a very “Yang” approach to career development when, in fact and in truth, a “Yin” approach often is more fruitful and leads to more authentic choices. By “Yin,” I mean a mindset that’s not assertive or aggressive, but allows Life to guide us. It’s amazing what we can do when we connect to our Source and let our truth comes forth.
The creative work I currently do feels quite effortless, like breathing. Yet, the new products and services keep coming out of my little head so fast (and, on some days, so furiously) that I’m “forced” to recruit affiliates and associates to handle my various businesses!
In conclusion, I think that the term “career” or “profession” seem to unnecessarily restrict people’s thinking and feeling to ONE topic. We are multifaceted beings capable of expressing many talents in many fields.
32.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:56 am e
John Schatz wrote:
I fell off a ladder (I owned a small Victorian restoration business) and said to myself “It’s not worth dying for someone’s garage”.
The next day I signed up for programming courses so I could own the house instead of working on it.
I’ve had three professions; sales(National Sales Manager); contractor, and programmer. I’m considering a change to another field within the next 5 years or so.
33.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:57 am e
Bhupal De wrote:
By accident or more like by necessity. Or maybe the answer is the first opportunity I found in the direction of my general interest. I think the keyword here is “First opportunity” than interest.
Out of school, getting a job was critical to feed and cloth myself, so when I got the first job , i just took it. It was back in 2002 and not there was a lot of choices for fresh grads.
34.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:57 am e
John James O’Brien, CRM, MA LT wrote:
Willingness and imagination … a programmed life holds little appeal (outside of a more regular paycheck It was in looking back that patterns became visible. Throughout I have sought to make sense out of the information overload to ground meaningful outcomes. Because doing so involves both a long term horizon and strategy as well as a practical understanding of the tactical steps and human/systemic interplay, I developed a broad capacity. The challenge today is finding clients who want more than a narrow view. Helping people know what they need to know, rather than what they might like to believe, is key to empowering their success. Just about all aspects of what I do are in that direction. In retrospect, this was inevitable.
35.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:58 am e
Marshall Maglothin wrote:
I was a minister.
When I was ready to change careers, I read “What Color Is Your Parachute”?
One question did the trick: “What ELSE have you always been involved in and enjoyed?” For me that was “health care management” so I went back to graduate school…that was 20 years ago…
but now I’m ready for a change again…
36.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:58 am e
Sanjay Aggarwal wrote:
I had no other option.
37.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:59 am e
Darrell Grainger wrote:
I had a number of very different career paths. Most the time I started something as a hobby and it became a career.
Fourteen years ago I was laid off from a job doing sales and service. I had been programming for years before that but it just didn’t excite me. I always wanted to go back to school and get a formal education on computers (I was totally self-taught).
I went back to university. While attending school I did private tutoring then job a job teaching at the Department of Computer Science. I kind of liked the teaching thing so I applied to Faculty of Education. They misplaced my application so I didn’t get into the Faculty of Education when I completed my Bachelor’s degree. They told me I had to apply again next year and that it was my fault for not following up.
Working part time at the university was not cutting it so I went looking for a job to do until I could apply to the Faculty of Education again. Was hired to test development tools (they needed someone who could program Digital Signal Processors in assembly, C and C++ language).
After one year I formed a QA department, hired a bunch of people to do QA. Read everything I could find on Software Quality Assurance. Was making twice a teacher’s salary, traveling to California once a month, stock options, amazing benefits, interesting work.
I’m still learning and having fun at it.
Mind you, lately I have been baking for a hobby. I bake Christmas gifts, baked the wedding cake for my sister-in-law, provide desserts for company functions. Today I baked my first Basque cake for a fee.
Maybe this time next year I’ll be a baker. :^)
38.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:00 am e
Sanjeev Himachali wrote:
Right type of education with right type of experience followed by networking with right type of people.
39.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:00 am e
Gerard van de Meent wrote:
I got fired and after a fruitless period of sending applications forms, I decided 10 years ago to start my own business as an Interim Manager.
I established my own Ltd. company and I work for multiple USA based (Fortune 500) companies in the International Automotive Industry.
I cover for those US companies all sales and marketing actvities in Europe, The Middle East, Africa, India and parts of The Pacific Rim.
I enjoy very much what I do and I travel all over the place meeting interesting people, visit beautiful cities and exiting countries.
I should have started my own business many years before.
But as you may know; usually peope don’t want to change their environment by themselves. Most of the times a serious “attack” (get fired) will force you to take a next exit at the roundabout.
I hope this helps ?
Regards
Gerard
40.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:01 am e
Frank Weiskopf wrote:
I have been given opportunities and made choices. With each opportunity the choice was between the security of the known present situation and the possibilities of the next challenge. So I have taken my education, engineer, and moved through design, project management, to real estate manager, to commercial real estate broker. Each was a big move – and not every move panned out as I had hoped, but that is OK.
41.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:19 pm e
Robert Fornal wrote:
I stumbled into it … after years of developing my programming skills, my mother pushed me to get into education … I have been teaching computers in a variety of environments ever since!
42.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:19 pm e
Erika Muller wrote:
I made my career up as I went along. You couldn’t go to college for this when I was in school. I developed my career as technology developed and spread throughout the business world, more specifically the legal environment. I’ve done almost every job you can have in a law firm except that of being an attorney. Now I’m managing the litigation support department for a great firm and I’ve settled on this field.
How many professions have I had? Secretary, hardware technician, IT systems trainer, systems administrator, IT Manager, help desk manager, IT project manager, lit support analyst, lit support senior project manager and now lit support supervisor. That makes 10. Interesting – never counted them before.
What profession would I like to be in? You mean other than “independently wealthy millionaire”? I’d love to be a potter – have my own studio with a kiln and wheel, throw clay and play with new glazes all day. That or manage a bookstore.
43.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:20 pm e
Donna Jones (Zalensas) wrote:
I’ve always been a writer at heart, but I started out in college majoring in medical technology. I found out about technical writing through my roommate and also a guy I was dating. The day that I started a class where we would be practicing how to draw blood from each other [shudder], I made the switch and never looked back. I couldn’t stand the thought of being a pin cushion for a novice!
44.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:21 pm e
Dale Glaser wrote:
After my MS in Counseling Psychology I fell into a career as vocational rehabilitation counselor (for the industrially injured) and then manager of the firm in the LA area…..did that for 7 years and loved it..but I knew Iwas always going to get my Ph.D., which I did in an area I knew very little about!!.that being Industrial/Organizational Psychology…….I loved the program and found that though I had skills in the ‘O’ side, I had a strong penchant/preference for the ‘I’ side, that being more quantitative and research oriented…I did initially gain employment in the organizational development side of the profession, but I was asked to teach a multivariate statistics class and it was as if I absolutely knew what I wanted to do!!…and that was to be a quantitative psychologist/statistician/methodologists….so I did gain such work at a large health care institution, and started to get asked to teach at multiple universities at both graduate and undergraduate level…I’ve worked since for some fantastic companies, and then at the behest/encouragement of my wife, I started my own consulting firm in early 2003, and have never been so satisfied…….as an applied methodologists/statistician I work on a wide array of studies from classic randomized experiments to survey research/program evaluation/organization assessment to psychometric testing…and with that I teach multiple courses at multiple universities…..and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with my career trajectory!!
45.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:22 pm e
John Hardy wrote:
I believe I stumbled into my profession as a child. Bewitched was always on television and I remember Darin Stevens pitching $250,000 accounts with Larry Tate. That memory stuck with me until college when I decided I wanted to try out working with the FAA because I was also a pilot. That was going well until career day and I got to meet a lot of government officials and could see in their eyes that they were dead in their careers and the life was getting sucked out of them. It was at that point that I decided to return to my gut instinct for advertising, marketing and design and I’ve loved it ever since. There a great satisfaction from a project well done and it’s something new and exciting every day. The only thing I would have done differently is start my own business many years sooner.
46.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:22 pm e
Joseph Burshtein wrote:
When I was three years old my parents bought me my first box of LEGOs.
Today I’m an architect.
Since childhood I knew this is what I wanted to do, and even though I have many other interests, I never tried pursuing any other professional path. Being still young, I allow myself to question my decision daily. I haven’t regretted it yet.
Interestingly, quite a few people in my profession can tell a similar story.
47.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:23 pm e
David Cole wrote:
It was raining in South London as I was walking to my car and I saw a sign that said ‘Are you in IT, that would do nicely, come in and see us’ outside a hotel. So to get out of the rain I went in and ended up working in the card business. And that was 25 years ago.
48.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:23 pm e
Jodi Blackley wrote:
I went through a segway to get to my current profession. I worked as a sign-language interpreter for a university. About 3 years into the position, I began to get restless and my employer gave me additional responsibilities, which was more parallel to my current profession.
About 4-years into my position, I was granted fee waivers. Great, but I still didn’t know what direction I was taking. One day, upon making a call to another university, I got directed to the wrong department, but it was my kismet as it was the Master’s of Counseling department! I asked for a brochure on their program….I applied the next week and the rest is history!
I haven’t looked back since starting my prerequisites in 1996….
49.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:24 pm e
Lalita Amos wrote:
My education, skills and past experience all aligned with my career choice, however I had to set myself up to be jettisoned from that last company (they were playing musical chairs and I volunteered to be one left standing when the music stopped) for me to see my way to kicking the safety net out from under me and starting a separate company to work from.
So, in a sense, I shot myself out of a cannon and when the screaming stopped (mine), I had clients, a business plan, a website and money coming in.
Yee ha!
Best,
Lalita
50.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:01 am e
Peter Metz wrote:
The actor, Robert Wagner moved in across the street from my best friend in high school. That lead to the inevitable conclusion that we had to get into the Drama Club. (Don’t ask. It made sense at the time.) By the time I got to college I figured out that the other actors were better and more committed than I was and shifted to the design/production arena.
I have shifted how those talents are focused and expressed (from theater to film to special events to theme parks to corporate meetings and events), but never fundamentally redirected the career. If I had to do something else it would no doubt be something that expressed the same qualities that I enjoy and I am good at with this profession. I will let that unfold when the time is right.
51.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:02 am e
Brandon Rasley wrote:
I love the law. The development and structure of our legal system through all the circumlocutions it travels irritates and fascinates me. On top of that, I always seek a profession in which I am offered an opportunity to help others and protect their rights. My current position allows me to do just that.
52.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:04 am e
Terrence Seamon wrote:
Around 1980-82, I was in graduate school at Rutgers, and working as an adjunct professor at a community college, when I noticed a flyer on a bulletin board. It was an ad for an upcoming career talk with a guy named Bob Tannenbaum. His talk was to be about how education professionals can transfer their skills to a field called “Training & Organizational Development.”
I was intrigued, but upon checking my calendar, I realized I could not make it on the scheduled date.
So I got his number and called him up. We had a nice chat and he gave me a bunch of suggested actions.
I did them all.
And landed a job with a small Training consulting firm in 1983.
I’ve been in the field ever since.
53.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:05 am e
Stephen Hinton wrote:
Recruiting found me. I was selling security systems and went to an appointment. The homeowner was a manager at a new staffing firm. The firm lasted 6 months but I was hooked. There are days where I have to rethink and re-decide if I want to continue.
54.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:06 am e
David Wichern wrote:
I’ve loved chemistry since I was six years old. There never was another option, really.
55.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:07 am e
Jesse Silver wrote:
Hi Earl,
It started out as a chance remark made by someone who was looking at my paintings. This person was a filmmaker, who’s house I had been sitting while he was on tour promoting his latest documentary. I had saved enough money to leave the jewelry trade and make a try at a career in the arts, enough for a very frugal year.
At the time, I was working in the Photorealist style. When he saw my paintings he suggested that I consider a career in matte painting. I’d never heard of matte painting, but when he mentioned the kind of work it was and the kind of money a senior matte artist could make, I got interested. The rest was the result of pursued opportunities with the occasional serendipitous opportunity tossed in for leavening.
I got into animation through the same mixture of pursuit and serendipity.
56.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:07 am e
Alyona Yakovleva:
My profession is my talent which I have discovered after deep thinking:))
57.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:09 am e
Wanda Matthews wrote:
Initially my profession chose me then I reinvented it. I was working as an administrative assistant (we called them secretaries at the time) at a global company, while putting myself through college. In the late 80’s when training and teaming became a big push HR was looking for employees to share this role, being naturally bossy and ready to join and/or learn anything new, I volunteered. As I finished my education I gravitated towards Organizational Psychology, Adult Learning, and Human Resources. I made moves within the company and externally until I had a solid foundation in all aspects of HR and then returned to my passion – Organizational Development.
If I weren’t in my current profession I would be a civil rights attorney. I don’t think I have completely given up that idea since I took the LSAT (just to see how I would do).
For me, life is too short to just “be” or “do” one thing.
Thanks for asking – it’s got my little mind to thinking !!!
58.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:10 am e
Keller H. “Skip” Wilson wrote:
I am a 20-year veteran of the United States Army. For much of that time, I was in the training arena. When I retired from the Army, I promised myself that I would do what I loved to do, and that was training.
I finished my bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, and got my first post-military civilian job as a Training Specialist at an electric utility. I discovered something I hadn’t expected: I was doing what I loved and I loved what I was doing. AND I was being paid for it!
It wasn’t long before I was promoted (twice in three years). Even when I lost my beloved job to a restructuring, I kept a positive attitude and shortly found another training job in the electric utility industry. I received a masters in Industrial & Organizational Psychology (it fit nicely with what I was doing).
I am now a Senior Organizational Development Specialist at Nissan North America. My current role involves mostly coaching (at all levels from VP to individual contributor), and training development and delivery.
I am still doing what I love and loving what I do. Although able to retire, why should I? This is not work…this is PLAY to me! And I’m still being paid quite well for it! Who could ask for more???
59.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:11 am e
Mike Bonifer wrote:
I was nine years old, sitting 25 feet up in a maple tree I’d climbed on my family’s farm in Indiana, when I had three profound realizations in quick succession: The first was that in terms of public opinion, my father was a failure and a fool. The second was that to most children – myself included — he was a great man. The third is that it would be my job, my journey, to explain to the public what made my father a hero.
I don’t see a profession as a job title, Dr. Smith, but rather as what we profess. What we stand for. A profession is not only what we do for a living, but why and how we do it. The job titles I’ve had include journalist, salesperson, bartender, publicist, screenwriter, director, producer, Creative Director, Vice President and Chief Storyteller. Through it all, my profession has been the same – an exploration of the three ideas that came to me in that tree. I have never wavered from this path, and it has given me an amazing life, rich with friends and family, and filled with rewarding experiences personally and professionally.
My father experienced hell on earth during World War II. American soldiers shooting each other in wild panic during a German barrage in the Battle of the Bulge, the starving and the dead of the Haddamar death camp, and the questions, unfathomable to a 19 year old boy, about how human beings could do this to one another. When he came home to Indiana as a man of 24, with what today would be diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he decided how he wanted to live his life. He would own horses. Wherever those horses took him would be where he was meant to go and give him the life he was meant to live.
Recently, in 2003, I wrote a screenplay about my father entitled “The Legend of Cowboy Bob.” For both commercial and artistic reasons, I insisted to potential buyers that I wanted Bill Murray to play the title role. When no one in my network could get the script to Murray, I told everybody to forget about it, that I’d find him myself.
I got in my car with a video camera and drove across the U. S. and back, and everyone I met along the way I asked on camera if they’d seen Bill Murray. This became a documentary film entitled “Finding Bill Murray,” which basically consists of me telling my dad’s story to Bill to persuade him to star in the film. In 2005, a week before my father died, we premiered the documentary, projecting it on the side of our barn in Indiana for my family and 200 guests. (The film can be viewed as 187 separate clips on YouTube.)
I did not ‘find’ Bill Murray, but it turns out I didn’t have to, because what I did find was more than worth the trip. Old friendships got rekindled and new ones began. Because I told a story that touched people personally, my business network expanded and spun off hundreds of thousands of dollars in income I would not otherwise have earned. Perhaps most important, I spent a lot of time with my father in the last two years of his life. When he left us, nothing remained unsaid.
In terms of my profession, the connections I made on my trip led me to the art of improvisation.
In studying and performing improvisation, I finally began to understand how the simple — sometimes seemingly foolish or failed — act of professing one’s love for horses could yield such a bountiful life as my father’s.
Having experienced war, he chose love. This love spilled over onto everything and everyone he touched, and animated the world around him.
It was true of my father, it’s true for me, and I think it’s true for anyone who finds satisfaction in their chosen profession: Love is why. Improvisation is how.
Thank you for asking the question, Dr. Smith, and happy holidays and a prosperous New Year to everyone here!
60.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:12 am e
Thamir Ghaslan wrote:
How did you choose your profession?
As far back as when I was a kid, when I was 9 almost 20 years ago, I fell in love with computers and decided to work with computers when I grow up. I did part time peanut pay freelance type of coding and IT support in my teen years.
Or did it choose you?
almost 4 years ago, I left my 4 year university in Dubai and got a phone call from an old colleague whom I’ve completed a 2 year community college with before I went into the 4 year program. He headed a recruitment position and was highly recommending me to the potential employers.
What factors were most important in deciding which way to go?
Pay and growth opportunity.
How many times did you re-think and re-decide before you got to where you are today?
I’m glad I made that decision back then. I had two choices, either work full time or study full time. Currently I’m studying at Open University and working full time. Education is important for career growth, but it tends to get over hyped as I’ve seen live examples in the workplace that management tend to value of what results you can produce over what degrees or certs you hold.
How many ‘professions’ have you had?
Broadly, still in IT, specifically, over 5 routine roles! Started at Help Desk, moved to change, problem, and event managements, and now doing remote resolution support.
If you weren’t in your present profession, which one would you like to be in?
Investor! Retire for life, and live on dividends.
61.
December 27th, 2007 at 10:43 am e
Roy Phang wrote:
Got into it by chance, actually. I used to come from a marketing and communications background, and before that had been job hopping because I didn’t know what I really wanted to do. A very kind friend thought it was time I gave myself a better direction in things, offered to take me under his wing doing recruitment and executive search, and a year later, I joined my current employer as an assistant HR manager…still building my credentials in a new industry, I must say, but it’s something I enjoy doing a lot.
62.
December 27th, 2007 at 10:44 am e
Allen Laudenslager wrote:
I studied electronics by correspondence and started my own electronics service company because I got tired of getting laid off as an electrician. I transition to managing a large electronics maintenance facility and was laid off after 12 years.
There were few openings so I changed over to technical writing since I had managed the technical manual revision and creation in my last management position.
I got into my technical writing because I could do it, there were jobs, and I was out of work. After 10 years as a tech writer and writing group supervisor, I still think if it as a job while I look for a “real job:.
I think I am typical of a lot of people, I took what was available within my skill set and never really had a professional goal.
63.
December 27th, 2007 at 10:45 am e
Gavin Tonks wrote:
1] It rolled and grew, design as an ability, vision as an attribute and mentorship as a learning and articulation skill
2] Personal satisfaction, money, future, and opportunity
2a] Many times I had zero choices and had to flow roads and paths I would not normally have wished to go down but had no other options
3] Factors, does it make sense . can I grow from it . is it sustainable
4] at each life intersection you re-think sometimes it is easier than others but it is a life choice and never easy so the answer would be hundreds of times
5] At least 11
6] My first was a fulfillment of a passion but each has been an answer to a dream or desire so there never has been the luxury of going back
64.
December 27th, 2007 at 10:46 am e
Sammy Simpson wrote:
I was born to do it, so it found me. I had dreamed of being in the radio and entertainment industry since I was 12 years old. I had no idea of how to get started until at age 14. I received a call from a friend who asked, “still want to be on the radio?” When I said “yes,” he said, “good.” You have an interview at 1pm today. The rest was history.
Later, when I was going to be fired from a personality job. It just happened that our Marketing person moved to sales and the management said, “We want to move you to marketing!” It was if the stars aligned again because it was perfect role for me and my strengths.
I think when you get out of your own way long enough – the right things will find you. So, as for the next profession, I am confident it will be another great surprise. I just have to remember to stay out of the way.