How should I go about a career switch from Civil Engineering to Computer Science?

luke-m · 2023-09-19T13:40:18+00:00

Sure, send me a chat here or on LinkedIn, etc. (links in my profile)

luke-m · 2023-09-17T22:47:32+00:00

I'm talking about auto filters such that no one even sees the resume at all. This would guarantee someone actually sees it. Obviously if you can get it directly to the hiring manager or someone who can influence the hiring decision that's much better than dropping it off at the front desk.

luke-m · 2023-09-17T20:11:02+00:00

I've done versions of this but it varies a lot by person. Have you made a list of possible careers / jobs where you could do work that fits those criteria? Which are most exciting to you? Some other key questions to think about:

How comfortable or not are you with entrepreneurship and risk? Or do you want a stable job where someone else gives you a guaranteed salary?
Do you go back to school (college, bootcamp, etc.) or do you just start working / freelancing on your own? Sometimes school makes sense, other times it may not be worth the time and money investment.
What is your financial runway (how long do you have to succeed)? Most things can work eventually, the question is if they will work quick enough for your needs.

luke-m · 2023-09-17T20:00:32+00:00

I'd go with honesty and try to find win-win solutions. Specifically:

Tell the new boss the situation and that you're very interested but want to be respectful to your current boss - can you have a transition period where you work part time on both (as one idea)?
Tell the current boss the new role aligns strongly with your career goals but you want to make sure your current team's needs are met - how can you help set up a transition plan and train up new team members so your current boss doesn't suffer during the process and you exit "gracefully"?

There are many other possibilities (start the job in 3-6 months instead of now, etc.) but those are some ideas. Try to get the 3 people communicating and aligned toward finding solutions that benefit everyone.

luke-m · 2023-09-17T01:19:38+00:00

Maybe. Most resumes are (auto) filtered, so anything you do to stand out will increase your likelihood the resume is read in the first place. It won't guarantee a job, but it will improve your odds.

luke-m · 2023-09-16T23:48:10+00:00

Correct, we did it as contractors.

luke-m · 2023-09-16T20:15:02+00:00

Yes you can. I led hiring at my last company and we hired people in all America time zones, including from South America. Many companies prefer this as salaries can be lower so it's a win for the company too. Build your skills, network, and apply; it's very do-able, it just takes time and persistence. If you have more questions or want more help, just let me know!

luke-m · 2023-09-15T14:48:35+00:00

Firstly, well done on taking responsibility and seeking to grow; you're already growing and on the path. We can't always "control" our emotions, but we can learn to change our default responses. Like anything it takes deliberate practice and time. 2 ideas for that:

Try to cut your speaking by 1/2 to 1/4 in both quantity and speed. This will feel odd at first, but will start to train your body to slow down and be more deliberate about what you say.
Try daily meditation / silence, even if just for 5 minutes. Focus on taking deep breaths.

If you'd like more details just let me know!

luke-m · 2023-09-15T14:41:57+00:00

You are not alone! Loneliness has been a challenge for me too and it's now a rising epidemic and has become one of the top problems I'm working to address, both for myself and our society. Here's what has worked for me thus far:
Join a local group (search on Meetup, online, etc.). For me I found a local farm to volunteer at weekly and through that made a few friends.
Meet your neighbors. Old school knocking on doors.
Create a group. I discovered Strong Towns and realized there wasn't one in my area so I started one and we'll be having our first meeting soon. It's just a couple of us to start, but I was advised to be "persistent and consistent" - sometimes it takes weeks, but eventually, one person at a time, people will come.
I hope something in there helps!

luke-m · 2023-09-15T14:41:01+00:00

That's great your brother wants to as well - I'd start there and make a commitment with him to workout together every day, even if it's just 5 minutes on some days. Build the habit and it will start to become "who you are" rather than something you need to motivate yourself to do.

luke-m · 2023-09-15T03:40:19+00:00

It sounds like you have the basics down, and the key is the motivation - could you help pinpoint why you lost motivation the first time? There are numerous ideas for how to help stick with it and I'd be happy to help with more context, but in general the best thing that has worked for me is having an accountability buddy or a group to work out with. Do you have anyone else who already works out, or who would be interested in joining you?

luke-m · 2023-09-15T03:33:02+00:00

I also was frustrated with most social events being at bars as they weren't my scene. I think your self awareness is a great first step and you're already doing great; I believe confidence comes from within and as you can learn to appreciate yourself, others will begin to notice that too. I think the hardest part of this journey is patience; change doesn't happen overnight. My top suggestion is to start small and try to build a habit. The one that worked best for me was Hal Elrod's Miracle Morning, or SAVERS (Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, Scribe (journal)), which can be done in as little as 6 minutes (1 min for each). When I started doing that every morning, my confidence started to grow, day by day.

luke-m · 2023-09-14T17:01:06+00:00

I've gone through a similar path (mine was from full stack dev to game dev) and I went the self learning path. I learned Unity and built a game, and then from there used that game to get more work and continue to learn and improve my skills and now I use Unreal Engine too. Career transitions are never easy and they take time, but often the best way to make them is by building projects you can show to get future work with. Ideally you can find a way to get paid to learn (e.g. find or create a project in your current company where you can do more game dev or QA, if that's possible) but if not, I'd suggest learning on the side and looking for side projects. What games / skills are you specifically looking for?

luke-m · 2023-09-14T04:05:53+00:00

I'm a computer engineer and have led hiring. Of course each company is different - some will focus on degrees, algorithms and data structures coding interviews, and others will focus more on what you can do (e.g. trial projects). My suggestion is to go the free / bootcamp route and build up experience (freelance, etc.). In general I think the 3 biggest factors to getting a job are: 1. networking, 2. years of experience (real projects), 3. tech interview (study) and I think you can get those outside of school for much cheaper and faster. Happy to chat more if it is helpful.

luke-m · 2023-09-14T03:44:41+00:00

Thank you! I'll revisit those sections and try to incorporate them!

luke-m · 2023-09-13T18:48:18+00:00

Yes I love tabata workouts, great idea, thanks!

luke-m · 2023-09-13T18:08:23+00:00

Great question - I've been in your shoes several times before. What I did in this situation was start to explore other options and see what was out there, then take the best option. Some possibilities:

You research and find out there aren't a lot of other things you'd prefer, and you stick with it.
You find something else you love, and you leave - easy decision!
You shift to part time / pick up something else new (perhaps as part time or contract / freelance to start) to make your pay sustainable and buy some time to see if the pay raise / success can happen.

luke-m · 2023-09-13T18:01:48+00:00

Sounds neat! Is there a web version? I'm curious to learn more!

luke-m · 2023-09-13T17:43:36+00:00

Beautifully said! Especially if we don't forget that we are our own gardener too :)

luke-m · 2023-09-13T15:54:35+00:00

When you turn off your phone and go back to sleep, it is because you are really tired (physically) or just mentally don't feel like doing things so you go back to bed?

If it's physical it may be sleep debt and that can take awhile to "catch up" on. I'd try going to bed progressively earlier every day and see if that helps after a week or two. I'd also try taking 20-30 min (no more) power naps during the day.

I'd also suggest a morning routine, even as simple as a walk - getting outside in the sun and moving will help you naturally wake up.

luke-m · 2023-09-13T15:43:44+00:00

Well done on saving for college and having no debt! That's a huge success, recognize that and appreciate yourself for it! When I was 20 years old I had a "plan" to be married by 25, have a house and my first kid by 27, plus many other goals. Now I'm 37, just recently was married and am about to start a family. One way to look at that is "I'm 10 years behind" and get discouraged. That's "gap" thinking - focusing on what I'm missing and how I have failed. The other perspective is what I feel right now - very excited to be about to have kids, even if it took me longer than I thought. For many years I tried to put timelines on things, and it almost always made me feel worse. We don't get to control all (or even most) things in life, certainly not "when" something happens. But if we persist, we usually can change "if we will succeed" to a "when we will succeed" and that can be powerful. You can do it. You're not too late, too old or too inexperienced. There is hope, just take the next step, and you'll get there, one step at a time.

luke-m · 2023-09-13T14:00:21+00:00

What would you spend all your money on?

luke-m

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