How do you get experience when you don't have experience? 6

[photoengineer]

I am interested in doing work in a field other than my regular employment. This would be moonlighting or side work. The problem is that most people want experienced people with long resumes, where most of the career has been in that exact area of work.

This make sense - if I was hiring a wedding photographer for my outdoor wedding, I would want an photographer experienced in outdoor weddings.

However, how do I go about breaking into this niche area? The main restriction is I'm not going to quit my day job to go into this area.

 

[patprimmer]

You start of as an assistant or you work for nothing until you learn.

Regards
Pat
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[tygerdawg]

Perhaps doing the specific work you want on a volunteer basis for a non-profit organization. I keep repeating the story of a very smart friend of mine who volunteered to help out the local United Way group with their computer work. He gained experience, but more importantly gained a good reputation and list of positive references.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[jmw]

My brother in law left university with a doctorate and then couldn't get a job anywhere exactly because of this catch 22 situation.
After going round the States looking he finally said to one company "Look, you tell me a problem you are facing. I'll tell you how to solve it and you give me the job."
So they did, he did solve it and they gave him a job.
Not sure that works for everyone but it is basically what Pat says and that is how it works.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[Twoballcane]

If it is not engineering related, you may intern (for free) till you have the experience. Who knows, the people / company you intern may give you the job three months from now.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity”

 

[msquared48]

I interned for four years in the engineering office of a large local utility while going to school. Gave me a lot of practical experience, in and out of the office.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com

 

[photoengineer]

Hold on guys. I have 10 years engineering experience and am happily employed in the aerospace sector. Working for free is not an option, as I have plenty of work elsewhere.

However, I recently became interested in doing inspections of mechanical equipment as a Professional Engineer. I contacted the state about a particular job, and what they said is "we want engineers that have lots of experience with inspecting (this particular kind of mechanical equipment".

I'm not going to be able to do inspections for free as a mechanical engineer. And while most of my career work is relevant and builds skills for inspecting this kind of mechanical equipment, it is difficult to make that case.

This applies to a lot of the work that I would like to do with my professional engineering license. While it's relevant, it's hard to convince the contract administrator that it's relevant.

I don't mind working in partnership with a more experienced engineer or firm, but typically they're not in the business of training their competition.

Any more suggestions?

 

[patprimmer]

OK

Now I see.

You want to swap disciplines and start at the top.

I hope it works out for you.

Next.

Regards
Pat
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[ischgl99]

And while most of my career work is relevant and builds skills for inspecting this kind of mechanical equipment, it is difficult to make that case.

Making the customer comfortable with your qualifications is called sales. If you are not good at sales, then you are going to have a very hard time convincing any customer that you are worth taking a chance on. I work in the municipal field and will on occasion use a vendor that does not have direct industry experience, but you will have to show how your experience is transferable and you are worth taking a risk on. Keep in mind, in most cases I have plenty of companies to choose from, so if you are new, you need to have something they don't.

You will have more success dealing with a smaller agency then a state purchasing agent. I don't know what kind of equipment you are looking to work on, but if a small town has that kind of equipment, it might be a better choice of getting your feet in the door.

 

[zelgar]

The bottom line is "What are your qualifications for doing this work?" Have you obtained certifications from ASME or other professional organizations? If you don't have the training, background, education to do this work, then you better get the training first.

 

[KENAT]

Anyway you can do relevant work for a charity or non profit pro-bono just to get a little experience for your resume?

Goes against getting paid for it, but you might at least be able to write if off on your taxes or something if you do it right.

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