Careers

I applaud everyone that has found their careers, I'm still searching, probably because I haven't been in one of those "turning point" jobs. I have never held a typical minimum wage job. In early high school I bagged groceries for "tips only", averaging $6hr when the minimum wage was $3.25. Later in high school and after I was working in an architects office, moved up from plot plans and floor plan layouts (all board drafting) to marker-rendering elevations.

After 3 years of that I joined the Navy, and was duped into an electronics career path. I say duped because I wanted to join to be an illustrator (DM rating) but was told that I couldn't go into that field directly, I would have to cross-rate into the position. In tech school (A school) I asked to cross-rate, they said I needed a portfolio, I made one. They said I missed the review cycle, wait till the next one, I waited. When that time rolled around I was in my specific tech school (C school) and they couldn't let me cross-rate because my rating (FC) was undermanned and they had too much money invested in me. I enthusiastically completed my contract and got out. Grrr!

After 6yrs of that I joined Corporate America as a SolidWorks user and mechanical designer, and have jumped from manufacturing, to medical devices, to aerospace. I've been lucky in that for the past 12yrs I have been solely involved with design and R&D, working closely with engineers, master machinists and "lowly" drafters and CAD operators. Much like a few others I know, mechanical design just came intuitively to me, like my artistic talent being natural. I could never understand why others couldn't just sketch what their eyes were seeing, and couldn't understand why people didn't see why a particular design wouldn't work well.

This has held me back from going to school to get that coveted degree, because I don't know what degree(s) I should go for. Do I go into engineering and neglect my artistic side? I already know what to expect in that field, and could make a "real" career out of it. Do I get into art classes and neglect my rational and analytical side? I've thought of it, probably more now than I have ever in the past. I have a problem with getting a degree like that, paying an instructor to tell me about things I intuitively know. Who knows, maybe I'll just open a small tiki bar on the beach and call it a day.