Question: My last place of employment lasted 4 years. The first 3 were great. I received a number of awards for my work during that period.

The last year I was there a new supervisor came on board. I was not
able to please her no matter how I did my work. October of last year I
ended up leaving the company. I offered a two week notice but was told she didn’t need it. Since then I have been unable to secure a new position. No doubt because of what employers are being told by my previous supervisor. Help!

Answer: This is always a difficult situation. Lets face it, we are never going to please everyone.

You will need to have reference for that position but you may not need to use that manager. Is there another manager that will give you a good reference? Maybe someone in that you knew in a different department that knew of your work? If not, a senior coworker may suffice to some employers if that person was in a senior position and can explain that to your potential employer.

Be sure that you ask any reference if they’re willing to be a reference for you. If you get any resistance from the person it may be an alarm that they will be a bad reference.

Question: I have graduated in Electronic Eng. Is it possible to
switch field to, let’s say, Petroleum related. I am willing to study
further related to that.

Answer: It’s always possible to change fields. You should not feel bogged down by a career the you’re unhappy with. In Engineering it will require an advanced degree in the new field (such as Petroleum Engineering). Before you make this change take some time and really think about your career. You do not want to invest the money and time in acquiring an advanced degree and then find out that you don’t like that field. Another thing to remember is that you may also be required to take an entry level position in your new field which may impact your salary requirements. Good Luck.

Question: At 49 years of age would it be worth my while to finish a Bachelor of
Science degree on line? I am in the telecom industry with an assoc. degree
in electronics and would like to move into an IT career.
Thank You!

Answer: First, 49 is not old and there is no age requirement for learning. Second, because of the melt down in 401K’s and people living longer, most of us (me included) will be working past 65. Even if you do retire at 65, that still gives you 16 years. That’s a long time.

I went back to school at a later age after my time in the Army. In my experience my pay increased by 100% once I graduated with my Bachelor of Science. Would you like to increase your salary by 100% over the next 16 years? Is that worth it? I think so.

It’s not a choke when people say that you can earn a million more dollars over your lifetime with a degree.

Question:

I am hoping to become a HR advisor and I would like to know
all the necessary courses I need to do to become qualified.

I look forward to your response.

Answer:

You should start your research at CIPD.

http://www.cipd.co.uk

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is the professional body for those involved in the management and development of people. This is from their website.

CIPD qualifications are nationally recognized as a benchmark for professionalism and are a requirement for many HR and learning and development roles. Our qualifications are designed to help you develop the skills and knowledge you need to advance your professional career.

Click here: http://www.cipd.co.uk/qualifications/choose/ to see a list of CIPD Qualifications.

Degree Programs:

Here are some programs for degree options in Human Resource Management.

Aston Business School: http://www1.aston.ac.uk/aston-business-school/programmes/undergraduate/courses/hrm-cp/

The University of Northampton: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/detail/?id=0268

http://www.northampton.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/detail/?id=0268

Question:

I am a software developer currently employed in a large
health insurance firm . I wish to make a transition towards the
business side of industry and many people have suggested to pursue a
masters program for making this transition. I did research a lot but
am not able to find a masters program most applicable for me.
Most of the masters programs are either masters in Finance or
Insurance or health care administration.

An Health insurance firm’s line of business doesn’t fit any of the
above. Its neither an Insurance firm as is nor a finance firm. The MBA
in Health care management is more pursued by medical practitioners
looking for a career change and am not sure how much its going to help
me.

The only thing that sounds logical is pursuing a generic MBA program.

Please advice which masters education program that will suit my
situation most.

Answer: It depends on what specific position you want within the Health Insurance Company. Are you looking for Management of the Sales, Management of the I.T. Services, Management of the Financial Services part of the company, etc…

I am sure that there are several career verticals that you can aspire too. Maybe someday culminating in CEO.

A general MBA will make you prepared for all types of opportunities that may become available. A good solid Business Manager that has gone through a rigorous MBA program can be effective in any industry.

While there are MBA’s with a focus on Healthcare Administration I would not recommend them for your situation. The Healthcare Administration may limit you in the number of opportunities that become available through your career.

My advice is to try to get into a well recognized degree program at a top University. This will do more for you in the long run then worrying about a specialized MBA. Good Luck.

Question: 

I am a B.tech 3rd year student of information technology
from a ‘not so good’ college. almost no practical knowledge is
provided. All stress being on theory. as I was a maths+biology student
in school with really good academics but with very little interface
with computers but got IT as my field of study in engg. My interest is
only in studying the theory part of IT and the coding, programming
part scares me a lot. I want 2 know any career options in IT where I
can be away from coding but still making my career based on what I am
learning in my B.tech. Please advise me on this as i m really worried.

Answer:

You can be a Business Analyst.

The term Business Analyst (BA) is used to describe a person who practices the discipline of business analysis. A business analyst or "BA" is responsible for analyzing the business needs of clients to help identify business problems and propose solutions. Within the systems development life cycle domain, the business analyst typically performs a liaison function between the business side of an enterprise and the providers of services to the enterprise. Common alternative titles are business analyst, systems analyst, and functional analyst, although some organizations may differentiate between these titles and corresponding responsibilities.

The International Institute of Business Analysis has the following definition of the role: "A business analyst works as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems. The business analyst understands business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements and recommends solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals." The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) describes common activities, tasks and deliverables of the BA.^[1]

Prerequisites

There is no defined way to become a business analyst. Often the BA has a technical background, whether having worked as a programmer or engineer, or completing a Computer Science degree. Others may move into a BA role from a business role – their status as a subject matter expert and their analytical skills make them suitable for the role. Business analysts may overlap into roles such as project manager or consultant. When focused on specific systems, the term Business Systems Analyst may be used.

A BA does not always work in IT-related projects, as BA skills are often required in marketing and financial roles as well.

The International Institute of Business Analysis provides a certification program for business analysts (Certified Business Analyst Professional or CBAP), as well as providing a body of knowledge for the field (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge or BABOK).

A few consulting companies provide BA training courses and there are some consulting books on the market (UML, workshop facilitating, consultancy, communication skills). Some helpful text books are:

• Customer-Centered Products by Ivy F. Hooks and Kristin A. Farry (Amazon, USA, 2001).
• UML for the IT Business Analyst: A Practical Guide to Object-Oriented Requirements Gathering by Howard Podeswa,
• Writing Effective Use Cases by Alistair Cockburn and
• Discovering Real Business Requirements for Software Project Success by Robin F. Goldsmith.

BAs work in different industries such as finance, banking, insurance, telecom, utilities, software services, and such. Due to working on projects at a fairly high level of abstractions, BAs can switch between industries. The business domain subject areas BAs may work in include workflow, billing, mediation, provisioning and customer relationship management. The telecom industry has mapped these functional areas in their Telecommunications Operational Map (eTOM) model.

Finally, Business Analysts do not have a predefined and fixed role as they can take a shape in operations (technology architect or project management) scaling, sales planning, strategy devising or even in developmental process. Hence they get a different name for the played role. Even the International Institute of Business Analysis and its associates have had several editions of the roles and responsibilities of a person undertaking the BA role.

Good luck

Question:  I’m a software developer and have been working at an amazing
software company since graduating from college 2.5 years ago.  The job
is perfect on paper but I’m not happy.  I enjoy the “figure stuff out”
aspect of my job so much more than the “build stuff” aspect.  I love
figuring out how some obscure system works, understanding how it
should work, exploring solutions, arguing semantics.  But when it
comes time to take all of that and make decisions, then go build
something – I freak out.  It’s too much pressure and I lose interest.
Are there jobs for analytical thinkers where the actual *thinking* is
valued above *doing*?  My first thought is research, but I’m motivated
by instant gratification, which you don’t get from a research job as
far as I can tell.  I suspect there are interesting
“interdisciplinary” opportunities that would fit the bill, but I don’t
know what they would be.  Any ideas?  I’m looking for someone who has
some outside-the-box career advice.

Answer:You’re not alone in wanting instant gratification in your career (insert the common Blah Blah Blah about everything worth while takes time and effort here). Truthfully, everyone likes the figuring things out part and everyone freaks out about the responsibility of actually delivering on your thoughts. But employers tend to pay the people that not only can come up with the ideas but can also deliver.

Software Architects are the ones that figure things out and have others usually (but not always) deliver the solution. Most companies that I’ve found are actually looking for Architects that do the coding also. Unfortunately, the people that become Architects are the most experienced developers that have delivered solutions to their employers over many years.

You are right that there are “interdisciplinary” opportunities that would fit the bill depending on the directions that you want to go. Here are two:

1. Software quality assurancecan possibly give you that Analytical vibe on the reverse side of things. Instead of figuring things out you could figure how to break things. I’ve always preferred breaking things.
2. Business Analysis. With this you can work with users to gather the requirements needed to make the software. Then explain these requirements to the software coders in a way that they can understand. This can be a very creative problem solving endeavor.

Good Luck and please contact me if you have anymore questions.

Question: I am currently working on earning my MBA, but I am unsure
about where I should look for a career change.  Do you have any advice
on where I should look, and how I should go about putting myself out
there for a job?

Answer:

“The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education. “– Ralph Waldo Emerson

An MBA can open doors in many career fields. It depends on what you like to do.

MBA recruitment used to be dominated by banks. That has seen a sharp decrease due the mortgage mess. While the banks may be on more stable ground now due to the bailout, their reputation as a good career move has taken a tumble.

I see the best opportunity for MBA graduates in the near future to be Entrepreneurship. If you have a good idea, now may be the time to take a chance on your own business. I see small businesses as potentially the big winner in the Obama Administration stimulus money. It will trickle down giving the average american more money to spend which will in turn pay off for small business.

The government sector is another area you may want to look into. I just got a job with a Department of Energy Subcontrator. We are seeing increased hiring due to stimulus money.

First, look inward to find the job that you want. Take the job that you want and see if it is a career that will stand the economic realities of today’s economy. You have a broad broad degree that can be applied to almost any career. That’s the best thing about the MBA. The worst thing if you’re trying to decide what to do.

Good luck

Question: After years in Market Research related jobs, I would like to steer my career into the IT sector. I think the tasks involved might suit my talents and personality better (I’m detailed oriented obsessive compulsive but also a creative problem solver. I’m also looking for a better career outlook and remuneration.

I currently have good computer literacy and took some classes in things like HTML/CSS and PHP/MySQL. I have no practical programming experience.

What would be a good course of action for me to pursue this career change?

Should I get a degree and if yes what kind of degree? I already have a Masters in History. Do I need an undergraduate degree in Computer Science? Or is a certificate or Associates degree sufficient to get my foot in the door? Can you recommend any such programs? I appreciate any suggestions or recommendations here.

Or should I go for an internship somewhere? I feel like just taking a couple of classes and maybe taking tinkering with some web projects  on my own will not do it for me. I think I rather need some actual “real world” projects to gain experience.

I also learned about the field web analytics. It seems that this would be a good transitional job for me since I’used to research and data analysis. Any insights about that?

Answer: Deciding to make a career change is difficult. My experience is that individuals that do it, rarly earn equal or more money when they first make the change. The people that make more are those that are able to use their past education and experience in their new career.

I think you’re looking in the right direction with your thoughts on Web Analytics. However, Web Analytics (SEO) job openings are rare if you do not live in a major city like New York or L.A. which may make it an impracticle option for most people. Maybe you should look into database development? Enterprise level Database Administration will please your obsessive compulsive side beyond belief. I suggest Oracle or M.S. SQL server database administration because employers value certifications for these positions.

While it would be best for your long term career goals to have an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, you may be able to get an entry level DBA position by a certification alone. Here is a good place to get started http://www.oracle.com/technology/dba/index.html

And

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/mcdba.aspx

Good luck on your journey.

Question: I am currently enrolled in a community college.  I graduated
from HS 2 years ago.  Now being 21 and finding that I let some time go
by and now find myself not knowing what I want to do (career).  I just
don’t want to waste more time doing the HS thing with friends that
have no interest in college.  I need direction or advice.

Answer: Finding a career will be one of the most challenging accomplishments of your life. Some people choose their career at an early age. Most people have their career choose them. You are still very young, relax.

Community College is a perfect place to find our what you want to do. Take a wide variety of courses in your first year. Use a wide variety of electives because you don’t have to declare a major during this time. Take intro courses in such things as Business, Psychology, History, English, Math, Science, etc… These courses should give you an insight into what you may like doing. Follow this up by doing research on your own. Example: After taking intro to business you may want to visit a business to ask questions to the people working there.

Once you have narrowed your choices down to two or three careers go to the Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook. It’s here: http://www.bls.gov/OCO/

For hundreds of different types of jobs—such as teacher, lawyer, and nurse—the Occupational Outlook Handbook tells you:

• the training and education needed
• earnings
• expected job prospects
• what workers do on the job
• working conditions

Most of all, relax. You’re still young. I do think that it’s awesome that you’ve come to the realization that you have to do something to change your life. Many people never come to that realization. Please feel free to post again if you have more specific questions. Good Luck.