Experienced Professionals - Tips for us youngins! (1 Viewer)

BlueIshDan

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Hello,

I know there are some highly experienced professionals on this forum.

My questions to you is this. At what point in your life did you see a turn of professionalism and what is it that steered you that way.

What came with this turn. For example a direct career path that set you towards MS Applications or Database Administration.

Did you have peers and tutors that you sort of absorbed professionalism from.

Did you take a course, or read up on different topics as a way to catch up.

What kind of changes in your work, mood and maybe even ethics did you see?

The reason I am asking this is I feel I am in the middle of my transition from a self taught and school graduate to an industry worker and Hopefully some day a professional like you.

Growing up, I didn't exactly live in a sophisticated nor educated fish bowl so to say. So I don't have a lot of guidance in this area.

Simply posting your story of how you have ended up into your professional career and maybe answering a few of the above questions would GREATLY help me in knowing what is going on around me! lol Seriously feels like I'm swimming in 50ft storm waves when I'm out in the professional world.

Thanks!
Dan
 

scott-atkinson

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Dan,

From my own experiences; I left school aged 17, with only one mediocre qualification under my belt. I got an apprenticeship as a Printer and progressed up the career chain to be a Supervisor working in a big commercial printers in the East End of London.

I was made redundant at the age of 27 after 10 years employment at the printers, and decided to change my career, mainly due to the fact that I didn't want to continue getting my hands dirty.

I taught myself the MS Office Applications, gained a degree in Management and Leadership and then re-entered the job market, got my first break as a Buyer for another printer, and then slowly migrated across sectors and industries, changing my job approximately every 2 years, always seeking the next step and challenge.

Have worked for some big Blue Chips, in this time, Starbucks, and Proctor & Gamble. In Starbucks I designed, built and implemented an Access Database to manage their Purchasing process, and Bookings process, I called it T.O.M Total Order Management system. It was developed further by Starbucks after I left them and was migrated into all their European operations. That was the last time I did anything in Access, and was about 12 years ago.

I am now at the age of 45 a Senior Manager in a major UK Retailer, employed as a Systems Development Manager, and have been with the same company for 8 years.

I have 20 years until I retire, and brother I cannot wait... :D
 

BlueIshDan

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Thank you for this. It is nice to read the process of someone's career!

Did you have any kind of advice for me? Maybe some hardships you hit or decisions you've had to make?

I see that you went to school for a Management and Leadership degree? How did this help you out?
 

scott-atkinson

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Thank you for this. It is nice to read the process of someone's career!

Did you have any kind of advice for me? Maybe some hardships you hit or decisions you've had to make?

I see that you went to school for a Management and Leadership degree? How did this help you out?

With my High School background, which consisted of me mainly messing about and bunking off, going to back to college as an adult was key to helping me change my career path, it certainly helped to open doors to new companies.
 

kevlray

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My career path has been chaotic at best. Even though I graduated from college with a B.S. in Computer Science and my first real job was doing programming for a major (at the time) entertainment software company. The in-between years have been mixed with all kinds of jobs to keep from starving. Now I have been a local government job (wearing various hats over the years and sometimes by the hour) for 15 years. I just try to keep on learning.
 

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