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If your field did not exist when you graduated from school, how did you learn about it?
This is part of our professionals series where we ask professionals what they think students should know
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4 answers
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david’s Answer
I discovered my career - computers - by staying alert to changes happening in the world. I was working as a personnel supervisor and our files were being slowly converted to a digital format. Local companies were starting to use computers and that caused me to contemplate that when companies add a new technology, that signals new career skill opportunities. My next step was to talk to some friends who worked at a couple of those companies to grasp what they were doing with the computers. This sounded like a strong opportunity, so I then located a startup computer training school, and enrolled for a programming course a few nights a week. The training course took several months and, since computer programmers were scarce, I was quickly able to secure my first computing job. That was in the 60s, and computers are no longer the 'new thing', but the concept remains: stay attuned to what is new in your community, in your company, in any topics of interest. Where there are new items appearing, there are often new careers, or new variations of careers to pursue.
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Wilson’s Answer
When I was little, I started off in Computers. I learned from trial-and-error. Due to that, I had success and failures that furthered my interests long-term. Then came middle/high school years, where I searched out and learned from others' success and failures.
Now, I still continue working in Computers. I find it fun and rewarding.
Now, I still continue working in Computers. I find it fun and rewarding.
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Ben’s Answer
I was very fortunate, I was recommended for the job that became my career by one of my professors at school. The job had been posted for several weeks in newspapers in major cities in the West, yes I'm that old it was before the Internet. They then came to the local collages and asked for recommendations, I was one of the lucky few that were picked for an interview. It was a new department in a Cellular provider, which was still a relatively new industry itself. It was such a new department that they didn't even have a name for it yet. It became the System Performance department, which determines how the cell sites interact with one another and allow mobile access to the system. Doing well in school helped, but it was my relationships that I built with the professors that made them willing to support my efforts and growth.
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Siddharth’s Answer
When I was in highschool, I got into habit of reading business articles and this sparked questions and I would take those questions to read more through google and wikipedia on those topics to learn more. This helped me identify the field of interest for me which was Supply Chain. Based on that I decided that I needed to get into mechanical and industrial engineering streams to learn more about supply chain.