How do you know when your are ready to make a big career change 4

[engineer121394]

Hello again everyone,

I’m possibly about to make a big career change that is pushing me far out of my comfort zone.

I work at a contract manufacturer. I do a lot of small contract design projects and I work with mostly electrical engineers (as a mechanical engineer) I have worked for this company for almost 4 years now and it is the first real engineering job that I have had. My job is stable, I’m respected, and I like my coworkers, however I cannot say that this is my dream job (if a dream job actually exists)

When I was in college I always thought I would go to grad school for robotics, but after getting married I went to work with my bachelors. My career has done multiple 180’s before I settled at my current job, and although it is okay, it is not my dream job.

I am in the late stages of interviewing for a mechanical design engineering position at Curtiss Wright. It is a much larger company, and it is 1/4 of my current commute.

There are many parts that seem exciting about this job, however it would be a very different path than I had ever thought I would have gone in my career.

Does anyone have any stories they could share about massive career changes they have faced and how they came to their decision to take the leap into the unknown.

I am very close to making the leap, but I and trying to make sure I am making the right decision.

 

[LittleInch]

There's no such thing as a "right decision", only what makes sense to you at the time.
Equally very rarely does a "dream job" ever turn up and even if it does there's only so much dreaming you can do before reality intervenes.

My usual take on things was to either look at people 5, 10, 15 years further down the line in your company and say to yourself - Do I want to be like them in 5, 10 or 15 years or not or think, Do I still want to be here in 5, 10 or 15 years? Can I see progression, fulfilment, enjoyment, good pay and conditions?

If not then leap.

Bigger companies will tend to put you in one place and then not do much or offer less variety than smaller outfits, but equally often have better training and potential to advance.

Difficult to say one way or the other with this information, but whatever you do, don't regret anything - it was the best decision you can make at the time. It will probably be at worst just about OK, more than likely its 80-90% of your "dream job" and only maybe 10% a terrible move.

At least you'll be home from work earlier every day....

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[ctopher]

Only you can make the right decision. Do what feels right.

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks
ctophers home

 

[IRstuff]

If you have a chance, read:

https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Johnny-Bunko-Career-Guide/dp/1594482918

The bottom line is there is almost never a "right decision" that ensures that your future life will always be rosy; that's just not the nature of life. Not unlike finding your "forever" mate; often, you'd have to go against type to find the one you really can't live without. Likewise, a seemingly bad decision or job event may point you to your true calling.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[HDS]

You could not list any negatives about the new job. It is common and easy to get cold feet at the last minute.

If you really want a masters then a larger employer will have a program to pay for it.

 

[alchemon]

I have done this more than once. Each time, I have came out happier and sharper, professionally. Only you understand the specifics of the two jobs, but the fundamental question you have to ask yourself is - where will I be in 5 years. If at your current employer, you will be doing the same thing you are now in 5 years, you'll have to decide whether that's what you want or not. Alternatively, what does the career ladder look like at the other option. Finally consider the work life balance. A 20% raise seems great, but if it comes with 20 hours more per week of work - it may not really be worth it.

 

[weldstan]

I've made a number of moves to enhance my knowledge base; i.e., change in industries and their metallurgical needs. I've never regretted a move. I've alwauys learned something valuable in each position and experienced something new during an almost 50 year journey.

 

[milkshakelake]

1/4 the commute time is a huge factor. For me, it overrides a lot of other things. If I can get back 1 hour per day, it's 5 more hours per week to spend with family and bodybuilding. I'd be willing to take more of the "stress of the unknown" for that.

 

[Sparweb]

How do you know...?

You don't know. You do it anyway.
Unless you can see the future, no decision is a guarantee.

 

[JohnRBaker]

My big career change, which occurred in 1980, was caused by a paradigm shift in the world of engineering and that was the introduction of CAD/CAM.

I had been working 14 years, first as a draftsman while I was still in engineering school and then as a machine designer when I graduated. In 1977, our company purchased a CAD/CAM system and I was one of the first group of engineers and designers trained on it and who started to use it for their everyday tasks. For three years all of my work was done on the system including at least two major projects. I also got very heavily involved in customizing it using the built in programming tools which allowed us to automate many of our daily tasks. At the end of those three years an opportunity came-up where I was able to leverage what I had learned and took a job at McDonnell Douglas, the company that had sold us the system (by then we had installed a second one and had nearly a dozen stations in use, two shifts a day). So we sold our house in Saginaw, Mich, packed up our three kids and moved to sunny Southern California, where I worked the rest of my professional career, except for a 17-month temporarily (it started out as a permanent move, but...) assignment back in the Detroit area when we went after GM as a customer (which we eventually won the contract which then led to me being transferred back to SoCal to help implement what we had sold GM). I remained with the company working in various R&D, pre-sales, marketing and eventually back in R&D on staff to the Senior VP of product development. I retired in January 2016 after working nearly 50-years in engineering, the last 35+ with the software company that had sold us that game-changing technology back in 1977 (by then we were part of the Siemens worldwide empire).

As for my career change so many years ago, I went into it 100% and never looked back. In retrospect, it was probably the best move that I could have made. Granted, I had the good fortune to get caught-up in the early stages of a fundamental shift in technology used by engineers and manufacturers and I was able to leverage that early-adopter status into another very different career. I'm sure that there are other's who can relate a similar story and that there are other more recent paradigm shifts which one might have the opportunity to take advantage of as well, like I did.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[IRstuff]

There are certain times when you know you need to change SOMETHING and make the leap, regardless of consequences.
> I had a bog blowout with the general manager about something unethical he personally approved; blew over, but it was definitely time to leave. Had a Pearl Harbor memo sent out, regardless.
> switched to a totally different business segment, abandoning my college discipline, but the work was with an interesting group
> retired; that story is still playing out ;-)

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[AZPete]

You didn't outline the specs of your dream job.

 

[jsr3]

I have found that success came when, instead of worrying about making the right decision, I focussed on making the decision right.

I worked as a Director of engineering for 16 years and then took the plunge into starting my business in consulting in a completely different industry. I felt stagnant financially as well as professionally in the small company I was in. It was a scary decision - one I dreaded. Have not regretted a single day.

A larger company will give you many options to learn in different areas and likely have a better path to career growth.

Hope you have already started in your new job

 

[spciesla]

Lots of good advice provided in this thread, specifically there's no "right decision" and it's up to you (and your family) to make the decision. As others have mentioned, the decrease in commute time could be very beneficial.

Speaking about a leap into the unknown, I certainly feel like that happened to myself and perhaps many others here we went entered college majoring in an engineering discipline. Every quarter was something new like differential equations, statics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, materials, stress analysis, thermodynamics and heat transfer. I didn't know about those things prior to college. Somehow we all managed to adapt to the new material, necessary studies, using a new/different computer system, professor personalities, etc.

Making a decision doesn't stop you from making another decision down the road. Good luck with your decision.

 

[TigerGuy]

To quote a show I watched with my wife recently, "Life is a series of crossroads. No matter where you go, you'll always be curious about a path you left behind. That's why you'll have regrets whether you take that path or not. If you're going to regret it either way, wouldn't it be better to take the path that you want?"

Now, it's up to you to decide which path you want to take.

 

[MotorCity]

....when you ask strangers on the internet for career advice.

 

[TigerGuy]

MotorCity,

When you ask strangers on the internet for career advice, you must recognize that some people just want to watch the world burn?

I took a leap and it didn't work as well as I had hoped. So, I took another leap and am quite happy. The miserable experiences can be excellent educational opportunities, just painful.

 

[CWB1]

....when you ask strangers on the internet for career advice.

On the surface that comment may appear a bit snarky to some folks but there's a lot of truth behind it. In engineering its rather difficult not to acquire a significant network of friendsly mentors and colleagues, even for the most introverted. Needing to ask online suggests that the network is small and that the poster may benefit from a career change to grow their network and experience.