Career path mistakes 1

[possumk]

I'd like to hear if anyone has ever felt like he made a big career direction mistake, such as moving from design engineering to sales or management. Or perhaps you moved from engineering to management, thought you should go back to the technical side, but then realized you were management material after all.

If this has happened, what did you do? Did you stick it out in the new position for a while (how long)? Did you try to go back to your former position within the same company? Look for a new company? Realize it was temporary insanity and the new position worked out great in the end?

Or maybe I'm the only one . . .

 

[sms]

I went from a very senior engineering job (field service manager) to a very senior marketing job, working directly for a VP. I did that job for two years, and I learned a lot, including that I am not cut out for high level corporate politics.

After two years, my old job opened up again, I went to my boss and told him I was not cut out for the marketing position and that I would like my old job back. He was extremely pissed, and instead just sent me back to field service as a senior engineer, rather than as the manager.

It was actually a nice relief, I did my job, they never cut my pay, and I went from a high stress situation to a relatively low stress situation. When I found out the VP was telling everyone that I would never be a manager again, I started looking for a new job. About a year later I found what I was looking for and left.

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

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[josephv]

Sometimes what appears to be a career direction mistake at first, can work in your favour later on. For one thing, you do learn much about yourself during challenging times. You learn what your strengths are as well as your weaknesses. The knowledge you gain is very valuable.

Yes, I have made many decisions in my career that at the moment did not look good. For example I once worked for a company that went through a financial crisis (layoffs etc.). But this experience taught me how to handle difficult situations (e.g. seeing coworkers lose their jobs). In this particular case, I found a better job thank goodness.

 

[fcsuper]

Very altruistic, Josephv. Strange thing about altruisms that that they tend to be generally true. I've made mistakes in not being more agressive at times. Take the bull by the horns.

However, I would avoid Sales/Application Engineering like the plague. Sales people creep me out. hehe

Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
sw.fcsuper.com
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group

 

[epoisses]

You'd be surprised how useful being in sales is. It teaches you that the world is not made of equations and hypotheses, it is full of irrational human beings, motivated by a host of different things, each with their own user manual that you gradually discover (or not) as you work with them.

You will learn how to look good, exagerate and evade difficult questions (definitely three non-engineering skills) on the fly.

If a sales guy creeps you out, he is not good.

 

[RAH1234]

Over the years I've made a couple decisions that didn't turn out as expected. I can remember at least twice thinking that I was so far down the divergent path that I might not ever get back on track. While I considered these situations mistakes at the time, I'm now grateful for the opportunities I've had to develop a unique set of skills. I can't imagine being stuck in the same pigeon-hole I started in 30 years ago.

 

[graybeach]

I worked at a state DOT for the first three years out of school. It was a good gig and involved some very satisfying design work on small to medium structures. But I wanted to work on bigger and better things so I went to work for a consultant for 20 years. I got my wish and worked on some fantastic mega-projects, but eventually the stress really got to me. Plus I felt I needed to be around more for my high school age kids. I started to regret my decision to leave my first job where people I started with would be eligible to retire soon.
Now I am back working for a state agency. The work is interesting and less stressful, but working for the government is very FRUSTRATING! I definitely did the right thing to change jobs way back then.

 

[possumk]

Seems most of you stuck with the "bad" decisions long enough to learn from them and they didn't turn out to be career killers in the end.

My personal situation is that I went from "A" (5 yr) to "B" (1.5 yr) then back to "A" (6 months). 6 months ago, I felt, similar to SMS in the post above, that "B" just wasn't what I was cut out for.

My current problem is that now I think I was right the first time, and moving from "A" to "B" was a good choice for me.

"B" was a non-engineering role at an EPC firm, and I think I just let the ~evil~ engineers around me influence me too much. I looked around and saw my peers heading down the standard engineer career path and lost my nerve to do something different. I had a specific set of goals when I took the "B" position that involved ultimately having to leave the company for other opportunities, but I let the distraction of the career opportunites WITHIN the company get to me when I saw what my cohorts were doing.

Now that I've had a little time back on the engineering grind, I remember what I didn't like to begin with (drafters who need 3 chances to pick up red marks correctly, construction dictating design, a boss who reassigns people working for you 4 times in 6 weeks, working OT to meet schedule just to be working on the same thing over and over and over again for 6 months because of infinite client changes, spending precious hours of my life discussing whether stub-in or stub-out branch connections are okay instead of fittings when I really could care less about branch connections). Still, I feel like I need to give it more time and not run back to my old boss like an idiot and beg for my job (there's an opening), but I also feel like it could be a waste of my time to keep doing something I don't see working out long-term. . . except for it does build character, as some of you mentioned. Do engineers need more character? I personally got all the character I'll ever need being on the math team and in band in junior high ; )

On a serious note, if I did stick it out for another 6-12 months and still feel the same way, any opinions if it be reasonable at that point to talk about going back to "B" with the two bosses involved, when there was the next opening and I could finish up my current projects? I will have my year-end review at the end of the year (duh), and I don't feel that saying "Everything is GREAT!" is the best choice if I really feel on the fence about the job.

Thanks for sharing your stories and advice.

 

[MissouriPE]

I think everyone has made choices in their life (professional and personal/good and bad) that looked so different in hindsight. I am a firm believer in the idea that we learn something from each situation we are placed in. Even my crappy jobs taught me something and made me partly the engineer I am today. Only 12 years in, but still feel so much wiser than I was a 21 year old graduate. Listen to your heart and then find the most politically correct way to ease yourself back toward the correct path (if changing from where you are is necessary). The grass is always a little greener somewhere else, but in the end our lives are way too short to get up every morning hating going to work. Take a little bad with the good, but make sure the bad doesn't outweigh the good.

Finally loving what I do and who I do it for...