本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Someone asked me about engineering career in Canada. I wrote a long reply. Maybe my reply does not answer what she really wanted to know.
But this is what I think is really important to a person's career, if we go beyond the point of just finding a job.
Before I answer your question, I would like you to ask yourself a question first: What do you really want for your career? It is no good trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Do an exercise like this: take a piece of paper, write down your education, work experience, strength and weakness on the left side; write down your dream job and what quality you think might be required for the job on the right side. Then try to link them together. If you don’t have anything on the left side that can feed into the right, you would have to build a bridge by adding courses, or take an interim job that would help you gain the required experience and get closer to your dream job. So how many bridges you have to build?
Now you get realistic and look at what resource you have to work on:
- Do you have to support a family in the mean time?
- Are you planning to have children in the near future?
- Would your partner be supportive on your career choices?
- How long you can survive on your savings?
- …(any other possible road blocks)
- Last but not least: how determined you are to achieve your dream? How important it is to you to achieve your dream? Would you be still happy with no regret if you have to take a compromise?
After having being in Canada for almost 11 years, I learned to appreciate the freedom of choice this country provides to everyone. Reach for the sky, you might get to the tree top; but if all you do is looking down at your shoe laces, you will get nowhere.
Trying to link and apply your past work experience most likely would be easier than going into a brand new field. Even if you are trying to get into a new industry, still try to find some similarity, and what transferable skills you have.
No one can magically say “go to college, learn xxxx software, you will be guarantied a good job.” Because you, and you alone know what a good job mean to you.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
But this is what I think is really important to a person's career, if we go beyond the point of just finding a job.
Before I answer your question, I would like you to ask yourself a question first: What do you really want for your career? It is no good trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Do an exercise like this: take a piece of paper, write down your education, work experience, strength and weakness on the left side; write down your dream job and what quality you think might be required for the job on the right side. Then try to link them together. If you don’t have anything on the left side that can feed into the right, you would have to build a bridge by adding courses, or take an interim job that would help you gain the required experience and get closer to your dream job. So how many bridges you have to build?
Now you get realistic and look at what resource you have to work on:
- Do you have to support a family in the mean time?
- Are you planning to have children in the near future?
- Would your partner be supportive on your career choices?
- How long you can survive on your savings?
- …(any other possible road blocks)
- Last but not least: how determined you are to achieve your dream? How important it is to you to achieve your dream? Would you be still happy with no regret if you have to take a compromise?
After having being in Canada for almost 11 years, I learned to appreciate the freedom of choice this country provides to everyone. Reach for the sky, you might get to the tree top; but if all you do is looking down at your shoe laces, you will get nowhere.
Trying to link and apply your past work experience most likely would be easier than going into a brand new field. Even if you are trying to get into a new industry, still try to find some similarity, and what transferable skills you have.
No one can magically say “go to college, learn xxxx software, you will be guarantied a good job.” Because you, and you alone know what a good job mean to you.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net