50 Conversations

In this episode, we hear from Jennifer about making a big shift from a clinical psychologist to a full stack developer.  After a traumatic event forces Jennifer to reevaluate everything, Jennifer decides to make a career change. In this episode, she  takes us through her process, shares insights on the importance of self reflection and how she stayed true to herself along the way. 

We also dive into how to research a quality university certificate program or coding bootcamp to meet your needs. She shares insights into how she navigated the intensity of her 6 month program. She’ll also tell you exactly what it means to be a full stack developer, one of the most in-demand roles in the marketplace. Listen to this if you’re curious about coding bootcamps or what it’s like to get into the tech industry. Plus we celebrate finding your supportive community and give a big shout out to how much we love Lesbians who Tech. 

Quotes that’ll make you want to listen to this episode: 

"It took several years, but sometimes for things to fall into place and for us to meet our goals, it takes a long time.And that's okay because it's the ride that you, that you, you know, you go up and down with that that's important to learn all of those lessons along the way."

On making it through intensive learning bootcamps: 

"You just keep yourself very present. Meaning you have to remind yourself that this is an accelerated program and that it is okay. It is considered normal to feel like, wait, I just, I'm learning something right now and I'm getting my feet wet, but I'm switching gears to something else."

A clever motto to motivate you: 

"I remember reading once a saying, I don't know who it's from, but it said “Think it into existence. Speak it into existence. Write into existence. And Work it into existence.” I never forgot about that and that has really gotten me through."

Advice for career changers: 

"It can be a challenge and that's a good thing. I think anything that challenges you means that the outcome is going to be so much worth it in the end. Ride the wave because that's when you start to really pick up lessons along the way. it really shapes who you are. Set your goal, never ever give up, no matter what position you're in. Make sure that you have a really solid foundation with people around you. The support system, those are the individuals and community resources that are going to be there for you."

Listeners, we are going on an interdisciplinary adventure with this interview. This adventure starts with Jeremy’s parent’s business, takes us through his work in storytelling with virtual reality, a switch to data science via the bootcamp Metis, and ends with a deep dive into his strategy for making a career shift into a cutting edge field like conversation design. Jeremy has a knack for figuring out what he’s good at and merging it with what interests him.

Listen to this if you’re a person who’s interested in merging creative skills with tech skills or if you’re curious about what it’s like to participate in a data science bootcamp. 

On how he knew it was time to make a change: 

I started asking myself bigger questions and came to the realization that, you know, even though I studied some computer science in college as part of the major I created for myself, I really needed a more solid technical background. And I think that's sort of the crux of where my current career change.

Advice for career changers:

Happiness is number one. I think that a lot of people believe that happiness follows career success especially in the United States. That’s something that I thought for a long time, that I have to accomplish X, Y, and Z , and then I'm going feel so good. But there are many studies that show that happiness actually predicts career success, it doesn’t come after the career. I've also noticed in my best day-to-day work, especially if it's something like creative writing, that comes when I'm happy. If you're considering a career change or you're currently going through one make sure that you're giving your mental, emotional, and physical health at the time of day in effort to be happy. In the end it doesn't really matter what you're doing, it matters how you feel about it. That feeling about it is why a lot of people are pursuing pursue career change. That's why I did it.

In this episode, Lindsey is only two weeks into her new position as a career coach at a university.  She's fresh off her career change and takes us on her journey of how she got from working in budget finance to career coaching. 

This episodes covers a range of topics, from having the confidence to make a career change to taking a break for family and then returning to work full time. Plus we talk about what it's like to work in higher education. 

This episode is for anyone who has ever had multiple professional interests.  

Also: Are you a chaos muppet or an order muppet? Listen to find out.

Quotes from the episode that show you  how good it feels to be on the other side of a career change: 

"You can see a pattern maybe in my story is just that I am passionate about a lot of things and I think I can do a lot of things. So, I just kind of follow my heart."

On what it's like to be on the other side of a career change:
"I love learning about people and stories and so  in the two weeks I've been here, it just is so natural. It doesn't feel like work. "

This episode is a bit different because we’re catching Alexandra in the middle of her career change. She is in the process of building new skills for her career change at an online bootcamp with Career Foundry. Alexandra shares why she is ready to move on from the freelance life, how a career path in user experience pairs well with her prior experience, and her love for always learning.

In this episode Alexandra takes us through how she selected her bootcamp, what it’s like to go through a bootcamp, and how she stays motivated to keep learning online. This is an ideal episode for anyone who has considered learning new skills through an online bootcamp or want to know how to make a career change without going back to school. Also if you’re ever doubted your ability to change at any age, you’ll want to listen to this episode.

*Note: This episode had a bit of a mishap with recording, so part of it is recorded by phone, which doesn't make a great sound experience. But stick with us through the medicore sound on this episode because it's worth it. *

Quotes from the show that make us shout with joy:

"It’s insane to think that we should know what we want to do forever or that it's somehow a better life or we're a more successful person if we've done one thing. I mean, it's really just outdated. It doesn't make any sense. You know, that's not true."

"I realized that going back to school and getting $50,000 in debt was not for me."

Hold on tight listeners because you’re in for a ride in this show. Maigen shares her experience transitioning from flight attendant to UX/UI Engineer. Maigen also gets real about what lead to her career change. We talk about what it actually means to be a UX/UI engineer, making a career change without a college degree, and what it’s like to transition from startup culture to corporate culture. You’ll hear what it’s really like to learn new skills at a bootcamp and how to claim your space when you're new to a field. This episode is an excellent reminder that career changes are full of ups and downs.

Notable show quotes:

"People say the word careers as if it means lifetime. And it doesn't. I think we need to change our perspective on that."

" Right now, what I do for work and what I do for passion are two things."

Our careers are messy things, full of surprises and unknowns. Amy’s career path takes off in the kitchen, evolves into the restaurant consulting business, and shifts again as when she decided to go back to school in her 30s. She ends up in Brussels and later working for the UN World Food Program. Now, she leads a nonprofit, among other roles. We talk about professional reinvention, finding your path after an international adventure, and how to make sense of all your skills as your career evolves. We get real honest about the ups and downs of finding yourself after a career transition. Listen to this if your career doesn’t fit into a tidy box or if you just love a good adventure story.

Notable show quotes:

" I had a bit of an epiphany that was like, wow, all the times that I have struggled in life is when I'm really trying to struggle against being something that I'm not and trying to fit into this box that doesn't speak to me. It just occurred to me that I need to stop doing that."

"A lot of people were like, you're starting from scratch. And actually I'm not. The skills that you develop as a chef, like your project management tools, your ability to work with huge crews under massive amounts of pressure, are huge assets, especially when you're working in different cultures and new environments constantly. It is the kind of skill set you need if you work at the United Nations."

Career changes aren’t always a planned affair. Sometimes a new career finds you. In this episode, Lissa shares her unexpected journey to working in retail to working in business operations at a tech company. We also talk about the value of a good manager, getting feedback, understanding job titles, learning all the things on the job, and serendipity. Oh and she’s made all of her amazing career moves without a college degree. Listen to this if you’ve ever been the person behind the scenes, solving problems, and making organizations run.

Notable show quotes:

“One of the things that helped me the most was constantly asking for feedback and being receptive to it. Taking the time to Google everything and learn as much as I could all the time. I don't like it when I don't understand something, so I just go after it until I pin it down.”

"She was an excellent manager. She was so patient and so kind. And she would always reassure me and say, look, you're not going to feel like you know what you're doing for a while. So just take it easy on yourself. Just learn as best as you can.”

If you're a person that wants to build things in your career, this show will resonate with you. Aimee merges art and digital tech, stumbling into the design world. WIth a liberal arts background, Aimee taught herself design skills and ended up going back to school in her mid-30s. We talk about being in the right place at the right time, bouncing back from the financial crash, learning new skills on YouTube, learning to code, and so much more. This is a freewheeling episode, with lots of laughter and celebrating the joy of learning new things.

Notable show quotes:

"I have pulled from all of my previous learnings and understandings and it's really been this evolution of my career, whether the industry or the title has changed. I've been using all have the same skillset throughout cause they've all kind of culminated together to help push me in this career that I finally found that I love."

“It's like the idea of 35 being too late for you to go back to school to me is crazy because I think about life expectancy these days. It's like, what else you're going to do. We should be so lucky to live to seventies, 80s, nineties. 35 is a drop in the bucket for you to go figure out stuff.”

This trailer is a quick hello to all anyone who is stuck in their career and wants a new path. Whether you're a future career changers or just someone dreaming of an escape from their every day job, you'll find a home with this podcast. This short introduction explains what you'll get from listening to 50 people tell their career change story.