fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Graduate Degree Options!
By: Sharing Ideas, Thoughts With Karlos
Tags: Careers, Career Development, Career Advice, Career Change, Education

Many people find that in the courses of their careers they wish they had the ability to go back to school for even further education. Unfortunately, not everyone has the good fortune to live in the vicinity of a university that offers graduate-level studies in the career they have chosen. Chances are that a good percentage of the population does not and if they do chances are even better than they have very busy personal and professional lives that make intensive graduate studies difficult to pursue at best.



If you are one of the many people that feel you have made your choice and are stuck with your undergraduate degree or that a post-graduate degree is simply out of your reach, I hope you will read this article with great interest and learn that their options available to you no matter how far away from a university you live or how little time you have to devote to your graduate studies.



Graduate education is a very intensive course of study that is very narrow and specific. In other words, many students find that their graduate coursework is their favorite by far as it gets into the meat of the subject matter of their interest rather than merely hitting the highlights. Only a small percentage of the population at this point in time has a graduate education. Though this does not necessarily guarantee you any employability it can provide you with very specialized knowledge or skills that will help you perform your job better and qualify you for more interesting and specialized positions in your field of study.



If you would like to pursue a graduate education but feel you are too far from the nearest university that offers a comprehensive graduate education in your field, you might be surprised to find that the nearest graduate-level curriculum is as far away as your living room or your favorite Internet cafe!!!
Meus primeiros passos em UX
By: Juliana Penna
Tags: Career Change, Ironhack, Ux Design Thinking

Developing my skills to generate creative solutions in an empathetic and holistic way through UX Design. www.linkedin.com/in/juliana-penna/
My journey into data science
By: João Vítor Perez De Souza
Tags: PhD, Health Data Science, Career Change, Data Science, Journey

Or at least how I got where I am today..

In my last post, I mentioned some of my PhD thesis.

My thesis is in the field of Microbiology, in which I work with drug development against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. My work routine consists of going to the lab, preparing reagents and materials, work on bench-top experiments, and participating in classes and seminars.

I planned to rinse and repeat that same routine in 2020… and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Here in Brazil, the pandemic “started” at the end of March and since then I have decided to dedicate my efforts to learn more about programming, python, data science, and bioinformatics.

But… Why data science? Why python?

Like I have mentioned in the last post my thesis involves drug development using chemoinformatic tools. This field is filled with software developed for Unix systems and others programmed in several (programming duh) languages.

While I tried to learn more and more about these tools, I noticed how learning programming logic could aid me in handling my results and even automate some of the file handling and documentation.

My interest in data science came naturally when I needed to process my results. Analyzing data, plotting graphs, applying statics had become a daily need for me and quick research showed me how python could be very useful!

How was my experience and learning curve?

Having a pure biomedical background, I need not say that I struggled with the early steps.

To begin my journey, I tried different learning sources, focusing on free courses or small tutorials on YouTube. Unfortunately, something that kept bumming me out was that I could not find any work material focused on biologist learners.

Finally, after mostly six months of trying to learn data science by myself, I decided to enroll in two programs:

Introduction to data science in health — course from my University, free to participate as a listener; Data Science for Health Bootcamp — paid course from a company in Brazil.

I first started the course from my University and thanks to amazing lectures (Dr. Luciano de Andrade and Dr. João Ricardo Vissoci), I could finally see a path and applications of data science in my field.

Next, I decided to enroll in the Bootcamp and it has been the most rewarding experience I have had for a long time. The Bootcamp itself consists of 6 modules, each increasing in difficulty and treating different fields of data science, but what motivates me the most is the incentives to build your own projects and how fun it is interacting with the other students on the Discord channel.

In conclusion…

Learning programming, data science, and “computer stuff” might be hard for someone with a similar background as mine. On the other hand, now I can look back and see how much I have grown and how I can see opportunities in my career that I thought was impossible before!
Switching your Career — The Ultimate Guide
By: Just Digital
Tags: Career Switch, Career Paths, Career Advice, Career Change, Career Coaching

Passionate about a different career other than what you are currently doing? People tend to switch jobs because of company downsizing and restricting, for a raise in payroll, to improve work-life balance, the environment at work, or unhealthy relationships with coworkers or managers.

Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash

According to Joblist’s Mid Life Career Crisis survey, People tend to switch career for the following reasons:

· Better Pay: 47%

· Too Stressful: 39%

· Better Work-Life Balance: 37%

· Wanted a New Challenge: 25%

· No Longer Passionate About Field: 23%

Here are a few tips on how to move to a different career:

· Evaluate the reason for switching — First, you need to evaluate if you are discontent with the type of work that you are doing or is it because of the people, environment, or your manager. If this is because of factors other than the sort of work you are doing then you do not need to switch career, you need to switch organization.

· What excites you — Assess your interests by looking at previous work you did that satisfies you that may include any volunteer work or any informative seminar you attended on any topics and then evaluate what gives you more joy and what you are passionate about more.

· Have a more personal conversation — Connect with people in those sectors to understand more about the field and skills required for the career. Search for similar kinds of jobs that you are interested in and evaluate what sort of skill they do require in the candidate. If possible, reach out to a career coach for expert advice.

· Try things out — Do a different kind of volunteer activity in the target field to understand more if it still kindles the passion in you.

· Upskill your career — Look for ways to build skills for the new career. Take online classes, follow online tutorials, or look for any opportunity that your company provides to gain knowledge in that field.

· Stop seeking, Start finding — Look for any opportunity in the industry by applying to different jobs in the field and be flexible about the salary as career switching generally means payroll for an entry-level.

In conclusion, switching careers is not easy as it requires a few steps to focus on before actually starting yet it is possible. All you need is confidence, patience, career coaching, and research for building skills for the right career.
Engineering Career Progression — Programmer, Architect or Manager?
By: Pavan Punaroor
Tags: Coding, Career Development, Career Change, Engineering Mangement, Engineering

There is always a point in your technology career where you feel that you are stuck and you want to move up but not sure how. You have been an expert coder and love programming but you feel you are ready to take on new things but not sure where to start. Sounds familiar? Well, all of us at a senior level who have been in the industry for a long time at some point of time have faced this dilemma and I am seeing the same questions come up in my team. What is the answer to this? Let us try to answer this by asking 3 simple questions:

What are you passionate about?

When you have reached the point where you are in the industry as a programmer for a few years now and you have started thinking about other things to do, you should also have also started thinking about what drives or motivates you.

There would be your colleagues, your managers, leaders whose work you always admire and feel you would be really happy to do that. Well there is a goal for your career. Was there something else that motivated you?Maybe it was just coming to work to be with the team and help the team grow. Was it the fact that the design of the systems involved was what you were passionate about and you always dreamed about improving the current system? Maybe you were too thrilled to just start your laptop and code. Nothing else!

My suggestion here is to try and freeze your career goal in the first 5–7 years of your career which makes it easy for you to just focus on improving that goal.

Do you want to try something new?

Now the other aspect which I commonly hear is: “ I have never tried engineering management/people management or I have never tried to be a product owner, I want to try that”. This is awesome and there is nothing wrong in trying. However, make sure that the new profile you want to try is something that you feel you will be better at than what you are currently doing. I have seen instances where engineers are pushed into being team leads and managers when they are clearly not comfortable in leading and were all outstanding programmers. This I feel is something that you should rethink and course correct as soon as possible before it is too late.

Why do you want to switch your profile?

This is the best part. I have many examples where engineers come to me and say “ I want to convert as a manager at my level since I feel there is more chance of growth”. Please don’t switch your job profile just to get promoted.

In summary, switch and try something new only if that switch sets you up with your goal and that switch aligns with what you are passionate about. Once you find your match and you put in that extra effort, success and growth in your career will follow.
Why Data Science, and Why Now?
By: Gina Durante
Tags: Flatiron School, Career Change, Data Science, Environmental Issues

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by how things work. When I was 6 or 7 years old, for example, I wondered how a camera worked, and drew some schematics in which I imagined that different-colored powders were pushed across film in the camera to create the image. In another case, I wondered if it would be possible to build a kind of motorized “pod” that I could drive on the side of the road (or on the sidewalk) to my grandparents’ house. I drew pictures of what it might look like and thought about how it might be powered (electric motor or lawnmower engine?) — and also how to avoid getting into trouble driving as an 8-year-old!

These activities brought together my love of drawing with the joy of problem solving and figuring out how things worked. When I was in elementary school, I thought I might become an artist. As I got older, I realized that I had an aptitude for science, and was fascinated by biology, which is what I majored in as an undergraduate.

During my undergraduate years, I became more and more interested in environmental science, policy, and economics; I eventually earned a master’s degree in environmental studies and later an MBA. I realized that I enjoyed working on broad, complex problems, and have sought career opportunities that would allow me to do this kind of work.

To me, the field of data science offers fantastic opportunities to apply analytical and creative abilities to solve problems. For example, I am passionate about environmental protection and sustainability. I’ve spent the better part of my career seeking to understand the science around climate change, and complex interplay of economics, sociology, politics, and psychology that contribute to climate change. The tools of data science can improve our ability to understand and communicate the risks and effects of climate change in a way that people can readily grasp. This is crucial in preparing for the most challenging aspects of climate change.

Once I decided to pursue data science as a career, I was facing a decision about how to gain the skills needed. After spending many months learning about the field of data science and exploring different programs and courses of study, I decided to enroll with Flatiron School’s structured full-time program. The program is comprehensive, and the learning infrastructure for students is robust. Though I did the program entirely online (and so have not met my instructors or classmates in person…yet!), I feel like I’ve made many friends and am part of a community. It’s been great to have that support during the job search — not to mention during the pandemic! — and I am looking forward to continuing to use and grow my data science experience as we move into 2021.
How to decide whether you should move to Product Management
By: Akash Sinha
Tags: Career Change, Career Advice, Product Management

Photo by Matthew Henry

“Should I transition to Product Management?” - A question most technology professionals ask themselves at least once in their careers.

The best way to answer that question is by actually trying out a Product Management position for a few months. However, with limited time to explore, and growing organisational complexity in large firms, this is generally not an option.

I grappled with a similar dilemma two and a half years ago, before deciding to leave my engineering role to become a Product Manager.

After having been through the transition process myself, and having helped several colleagues think through similar decisions, I’ve tried to narrow down the decision making process to 4-questions.

Is product management a good fit for you?

Below is a checklist, which by no means is exhaustive, but will give aspiring PMs a means to assess whether product management will be a good fit for them or not:

1. What excites you about the process of building a product?

Product Managers are responsible for the product as a whole — planning, prioritisation, user research, and product development. If you’re someone who gravitates towards getting involved in every aspect of the product development process, versus a specific function/area, then product management might be of interest to you.

2. Are you okay with being in the driver’s seat and navigating uncertainty?

Like any other leadership role, product management is about making decisions (sometimes even in the face of ambiguity), and owning up to them when things don’t go well. See whether you already have such leadership skills or are willing to develop them as a PM.

3. Are you willing to interact with people on a regular basis?

Product management is a people facing role. You interface with people from diverse backgrounds, and in a given week, you’ll spend approximately 70% — 80% of your time interacting with stakeholders (including team members). Being an introvert or extrovert doesn’t matter so much, but your ability to manage your time with people, will definitely play a role in deciding whether you’ll enjoy being a PM or not.

4. Do you like dealing with abstract or concrete problems?

PMs rarely get to solve crisp, well-defined problems. Instead, PMs frequently work their way through abstract data (using research / metrics) to define a concrete problem statement that the engineering team can solve. Try to identify which setup works best for you — defining the problem statement or solving it.

It’s important to mention that you need not have these PM attributes from day one. I’ve seen several individuals who developed these skills during their product careers, but were willing to educate themselves in these areas in the first place.

If you want to get a deeper understanding of what the transition to Product Management from a different function looks like, then you should consider reading — What I learned when moving from Engineering to Product Management.
12 Career Exit Strategy Self Coaching Questions
By: Pauline Harley
Tags: Career Paths, Career Planning, Change Your Life, Career Change, Career Coaching

12 Career Exit Strategy Self Coaching Questions

Here are some simple self-coaching prompts to work on in your own time.

1. How many hours a week do you want to be working?

2. How much money do you want to be making?

3. How much money can you live on?

4. What lifestyle adjustments will you need to make?

5. Do you want to be employed or be your own boss?

6. How do you want to spend your time?

7. What kind of people do you want to surround yourself with?

8. Where do you want to be living? ( city, countryside, downsize from home to apartment etc.?

9. What do you want to do to socialise?

10. What do you want to do for personal growth?

11. What do you want to do for your health?

12.What will you do now to take action on any of the above areas if it’s important enough for you?

For more self-coaching prompts and advice, see my company page on LinkedIn or my website.
An Ibadan Girl’s Guide
By: An Ibadan Girl S Guide
Tags: Career Change, Lifestyle

Hi! My name is Oyinkan. I am a lawyer by day and … err, well … I sleep at night. Weekends, too. Lol.

You’ve probably guessed by now, and yes, yes, you are right. I am an Ibadan Girl. And yes, yes, this is not really a guide. It’s just me taking you through my mind, one post at a time.

Here’s to curating my wild, mild and in-between thoughts. I sure hope you enjoy reading my thoughts as much as I enjoyed thinking them up!
I was an underemployed professional with a 4-year degree.
By: Leah Braswell
Tags: Careers, Resume, Jobs, Career Change, Management

I was an underemployed professional with a 4-year degree. I was working for the man but I wanted to be the wo(man). I was mentally drained and exhausted when I came home from work. At the time I was working for a Vocational Expert but didn’t feel like I was using my full potential. I knew I could do more. I knew I could use the skills learned from that experience, take them somewhere else, and be a leader. A decision-maker. I wanted to find a career that allowed me to not only take care of my family and provide some sort of financial freedom but also valued work/life balance, happiness, and my sanity. I wanted that feel good of knowing achieving professional happiness. That was just as important if not more important than money.

My biggest struggle was coming home from work mentally drained and physically exhausted and not wanting to be a mom to my own children. It was that bad. That meant I needed to make some big changes.

I felt less of a woman. How do I have a 4-year degree and an abundance of experience but stuck? I was my own worst enemy. I hated my job, my boss was annoying, my health began to deteriorate, I had migraines every day. The job was literally making me sick.

Through thoughtful planning and just having that gut feeling that I needed to pursue a job that was fulfilling, I decided to take that leap. The problem was I didn’t know where to start. I hadn’t written a resume in forever. Brush up on interview skills? Haha! There was no turning back at this point. It was all or nothing, so I dove in head first.

What better way to get experience than real life trial and error? After numerous attempts sending emails and applications, rejection after rejection, phone interviews and random call backs, I finally landed a job! As a Job Coach creating resumes, teaching career development courses, and coaching my clients on how to go from no job, no degree, and minimal skills to landing some of the highest paying careers in management and various trades. The irony.

I was able to find a job that I loved and learn the ends and outs of how to help people find gainful employment. The reward from that was enough. I even landed a part-time resume writing gig to gain even more experience. From there things just started to take off. I began receiving referrals from all types of people looking to make career changes, move up, get a head in life in general. Everyone from entry-level to c-suite. I found my niche in the mid-level to senior-level management professionals looking to advance or make a move. This is my sweet spot. This is my specialty.

When all is said and done I was able to identify the best methods for getting past ATS systems. I was able to create career documents that landed $10K+ promotions. Many of my clients have went from 60+ hour work weeks to 40 hour work weeks with the same pay. This has allowed the freedom to enjoy their freedom. Take vacations. Achieve work-life balance. Some people just want to succeed.
Why I Chose Software Engineering?
By: Ryan Locascio
Tags: Coding, Flatiron School, Software Engineering, Career Change, Software Development

Ever since I could remember I was never able to understand how computers worked, nor did I have any idea where to learn how computers worked. This was for many reasons. First computers are very user friendly, taking the time to navigate a computer is not very taxing. Also I was intimidated by computers, even by those who were “experts” on how to use them. I mainly shied away from technology, just learning what I needed to use whatever device I was using. But deep down I always wanted to learn how they worked inside.

Before March of 2020, I was a personal trainer for almost 12 years! I loved my job. I made people healthy, fit, and confident, best part was that I learned how the body worked. I studied the human anatomy for hours a day, to hone my skills as trainer. Learning how the body moved and how the body responded to outside stimuli. I was a scientist, and my subjects were my clients. It was a great experience! Then the Pandemic hit, closing all gyms for an undetermined amount of time. I also had my first daughter which set the fire to find a new career path.

One day not too long after the Pandemic laid this black cloud of uncertainty upon us, I was informed about Flatiron School for computer programming. After a little research and finding that they had career guidance I decided to make the commitment. I first tried the 15 week immersive course, I thought how hard could it be? Oh did I find out. It was very rigorous, especially for me who had no prior experience other then my pre-work for the course. After failing mod 1 two times I was dismissed. This was very difficult for me. I went through many stages of grief. “Maybe I wasn’t cut out for programming?” “Maybe my brain doesn’t work “like” that?” “This is too hard and there is no way I can learn this in this amount of time!” After making these excuses and grieving over this bump in my journey to software engineering I decided to give it another shot. I decided to do this again because I have seen how much I have learned from Flatiron in the relatively short time. I decided that I can do this, if I apply more time and practice this is possible!! I am now in the full-time online program at Flatiron School. This program is a little slower paced and more my speed. I am excited and ready to finally figure out how these computers work!!

My goals for software engineering are to hopefully go into the gaming industry or even possibly back into the fitness industry. My first goal is to learn everything Flatiron has to offer and become a proficient coder. As proficient I was as a personal trainer!
How to Shape up your career
By: Thinking
Tags: Freelance Economy, Career Advice, Career Change, Freelancers, Freelancing

So here we are as promised, to share some information on how to shape up your career as a freelancer .

Freelancer(s) can offer any kind of possible service required by another business on a freelance basis. Below mentioned are some general freelance jobs :

Content writer

Web Developer and Designer

Virtual assistant or virtual professional

Photographer

Data operator

Technical Developer

Finance management

Sales and Marketing/PR services or social media manager etc.

However, to freelance, you need to have at least one skill you can provide to potential clients. While most people draw their employment experience, and use their proved talent as a service, however, it’s not mandatory. Along with service, you also need to take care of few vital steps in order to grow yourself as a brand:

Although you may not have an official home business, make a business plan. Confirm your city laws to determine if you need a business license to freelance. You will however need a plan outlining what service you’ll offer, the market you’ll cater, and marketing strategies.

Create an website that tells about you and your services, build a portfolio of your sample works, and testimonials.

Although all social media network can be a great resource for freelance work, try updating your LinkedIn profile as a professional service provider. LinkedIn is an online platform where professionals (recruiters) connect directly. It’s also a great resource for finding freelance jobs.

A dedicated business contact number and mail-id on which prospects can reach you

A business card mentioning your services and your freelance rates.

How Do You Find Work?

Freelance work can be found just about everywhere. Places to consider include those in your social network, online and off.

Visit places where your target network hangs out, talk to them and ask around about their business growth and necessities.

The best place to find client is where clients generally search for support. Learn about your target market, what it requires, and where it goes for support and be available to those platforms, share your ideas, and resources. Among all the available options, sites like Freelancer, Upwork, Guru, Skyword and Fiverr just needs you to register in their domain and then start receiving multiple project notifications from employers who look for professionals to get their work done.

Also, there are sites that target a specific service — for example, Toptal for programmers or BloggingPro for freelance writing jobs.

Joining a facebook group or association within your industry provides you with some added exposure and networking opportunities to show off your expertise.

Hope this gives you some crisp insights on how and where to kick start your freelancing career……If you are doing it all and things aren’t working for you…OR if you are doing something more that you would want to share with our readers do share with us

Look Out for our next blog “Tools that freelancers may need?”
Changing Careers
By: Grant Hesketh
Tags: Career Change

For the last 7 years or so i’ve spent my time traveling to remote parts of the country to work in the oilfield. Those places are most often sparsely populated and either unbearably frigid or swelteringly hot. This was what I wanted as a Petroleum Engineer and I truly did enjoy the work.

A drilling rig in North Dakota

Then the industry took a massive tumble (crazy for oil right?) with the onset of COVID-19 and everything changed in a heartbeat. I was laid off from a company where I had planned to work for many years. Why was this happening to me? What did I do wrong? The answer to these questions in reality was nothing. The world was changing and its need for the industry was changing as well. So what the heck was I supposed to do?

I spent the first few months scavenging the internet looking for any engineering job I could possibly qualify for, in the hopes that I could continue doing what I really enjoy: problem solving through engineering. Unfortunately I didn't have much success. Very few companies were hiring at all, and those with openings wanted 20 years of experience wrapped up in a Jr. level package and price. So, I decided to go a different direction. I decided to re-educate. I decided to become a software engineer.

Going back to school can be a daunting proposal. One that is especially scary when it’s something completely unrelated to what you’ve been doing. Did I remember how to learn in a class? Can I still do it? It’s was scary.

After doing some research and talking to friends who have experience in the industry led me to the Flatiron School. Their proposal? Teach you all the skills needed to be a full stack software engineer in just 15 weeks. This alone terrified me. My last education experience took me 4 years, how can I relearn in such a short time?

Well turns out I spent a lot of time in college not learning to do things I would need in my career. After 2 weeks of being at the Flatiron School, i’m sold. They teach you the skills you need in a style I had personally never experienced in a formal education setting. Rather than teaching theory off the bat, you learn how to actually do things. They let you fail and then guide you back to success. I hadn't realized it before but this was how I learned how to do the things i’m most proficient at. It’s how my dad taught me carpentry and auto mechanics, though neither of us knew it at the time.

I’ve been challenged so far and i’m enjoying it. I’m able to use my problem solving skills and reapply to a new topic. I’m excited to continue on this journey and I know it will lead me to a new career. Here’s to changing careers!
Virtual Career Coaching Groups
By: Quarterlife Center
Tags: Career Change, Career Coaching, Careers

Are you stuck at home quarantined during COVID-19? Our virtual career coaching groups are great while you’re teleworking and have more flexibility in your schedule! Our groups are a perfect way to stay connected, socialize, and build new connections. Let’s use this time well to get ahead together!

For many quarterlifers, getting clarity about your life and career, and finding a job, are huge sources of stress. Whether it’s the job you have, the one you wish you had, or the one you have not yet imagined — thinking about it probably consumes a lot of your time and energy. We know that there are unlimited career issues that quarterlifers deal with, and we are skilled at helping you figure it all out.

QLC’s career coaching groups are a great way to receive support and guidance from our certified career coach in a small-group format.

We offer 2 types of career groups at QLC, and they are offered virtually:

4-Week Career & Life Design Group

4-Week Job Search Skills Group

4-Week Career & Life Design Group (Virtual)

Are you undecided about your career path? Looking to explore new possibilities for the future and find new inspiration? The Career & Life Design Group is great for people who want to find more clarity about life and career, while being supported in a group with others on a similar journey. In this deep dive group, you’ll gain more clarity about where you are, and where you want to go both personally and professionally. For more information about this group, please click here.

Registration is open for our upcoming virtual Career & Life Design Group that begins on Tuesday, January 19, 2021!

Click here for details and registration.

4-Week Job Search Skills Group (Virtual)

Have you been thinking about a career change for a while, but haven’t had the time to focus on it? If your resume, LinkedIn profile, and job search strategy have been on the back burner, this newfound time at home during COVID-19 may be the perfect opportunity to get ahead!

This group, offered via video, is best for people who already know what they want to do, and are looking for accountability and new job search skills. This group will help you execute a strategy as you move toward your professional goals. For more information about this group, please click here.

Registration is open for our upcoming virtual Job Search Skills Group.

Click here for details and registration.
Why I risked quitting my job in the middle of a pandemic
By: Megan Renner
Tags: Coaching, Career Advice, Quitting A Job, Clarity, Career Change

Hello world. This is my first publication online, so I’ll share a bit of my story — how I got here, and what I’m doing about it.

Photo by Katerina Kerdi on Unsplash

As a millennial, I was raised by parents using the ‘try it out’ method. I was encouraged to try on as many hobbies as I liked, explore as many subjects as I could, until something hopefully stuck. Perhaps this would become my purpose, my guiding star for a university major and a job and a life. Quite a lot of pressure for a grade-schooler to determine their direction before turning 18, if you ask me.

Like most of us, I didn’t have a particular ‘calling’ — I was good at math, and was guided towards engineering in college. Recited to me by peers, guidance counselors, and parents alike was this formula: achieve good grades, get into a reputable college, select a ‘high paying’ major, and then you’d be guaranteed a full-time job. End of formula. 9-to-5 Job = Success. I never really wondered what came next until I actually got there.

Fast forward to 4 years of full-time work out of college; my first job as an engineer at a large corporation, and the next as a consultant at a small firm. Neither made my heart sing. I felt lost, lacking clarity on why I was doing what I was doing and lacking meaning in my days. I’m supposed to do this for 30 more years? I wondered.

It took over 4 years of dissatisfaction for me to intentionally jump off the moving train for which I mindlessly bought a ticket. For others, it can take much longer.

I quit my job 3 months ago, and have zero regrets. I was afraid of waking up at 45, still on the train I was told was the shiniest, best train, going in a direction that I didn’t intentionally choose for myself. Being able to leave my job was a privilege, and I’m so grateful that I did. I wanted to actively take time to explore what I DO like, rather than making decisions purely based on what I don’t. I needed space to breathe, to sit in my body and see what she really desires — free from the Capitalist world I felt bound to, in a work-style created by Ford in the 20s.
How to access the file system
Tags: Linux Kernel, Career Change, Operating Systems, Linux

So all your data resides on the hard disk, a User Program ( like a word application ) has no direct connection with the hard disk, it has to go through the kernel. Each file handling operation must be done in kernel mode. To do this we have many system calls defined.

Processes can only access “Opened” files, to open a file , use the system call :

fd= open(path, flag,mode) ; — to open or create a file

nread = read(fd, buf, count); — to read a file

nwrite=write(fd,buf,count); — to write into a file

path Denotes the pathname (relative or absolute) of the file to be opened, flag Specifies how the file must be opened (e.g., read, write, read/write, append). It also can specify whether a nonexistent file should be created, mode Specifies the access rights of a newly created file. This will be explained in detail in the coming chapters.

Opening a file with the open or create command results in a file descriptor ( an integer ) being assigned to the variable ‘fd’, at the same time an file object is created in memory. The file descriptor is the go between for the process and the file object. The same open file may be represented by many file descriptors, and at the same time many process may access the same file simultaneously. But in this case synchronization is not taken care of by the kernel, but tools are provided to help with that.

So in every file object there is something called a file pointer, which is pointing to where the file was last read from or written to. When you open a file, the pointer is set to 0.

Sometimes however you may need to read or write the file randomly and not sequentially, so there is a system call “lseek”, which helps you move the pointer around.

newoffset = lseek(fd, offset, whence);

where fd is the file descriptor of the opened file, offset is the value by which the new position is set, whence is from where the new position should be calculated and it can have three values — beginning, current and end. We will discuss this with the help of code in later articles.

Once we no longer need the file, we should close the file so:

res=close(fd);

When a process terminates, the kernel closes all its remaining opened files.

We have a couple more system calls to discuss :

res = rename(oldpath, newpath); — changes the name of the file,

and

res = unlink(pathname); — decreases the link count ( deletes it from the directory where it is placed) but the file is deleted only when there are no more hardlinks to it.
Plan and Build Your Real Estate Business
By: Misbah Ul Haq Syed
Tags: Work From Home, Investment, Finance, Real Estate, Career Change

The real estate business has to be one of the top five favorite professions of all time. The reason is simple. It does not need a specific qualification and/or experience. Yet, the returns can be lucrative. But, nothing comes for free. One has to work hard in the right direction to bear the fruits. Here are some suggested pointers to consider before you make a move.

1. Acquire the necessary skills

To excel in any business, the first step is to have a thorough knowledge of the basics. In the case of real estate, you must have the know-how in construction and property management. Negotiation and people handling skills are also very important. Last but not the least, you should remain up to date about property related policy matters and tax issues.
Lean on Me: Helping Others Overcome Grief
By: Andrew Levine
Tags: Careers, Life Lessons, Work, Career Change, Second Act Stories

Lean on Me: Helping Others Overcome Grief

Mary Robinson was just 14 when she lost her father. Her grades dropped, she quit all of her after-school activities and she started acting out. “I wasn’t a bad kid. I was a sad kid — just expressing my feelings through my behavior.”

Throughout college and her early adult years, that grief stayed bottled up inside her. In her mid 20s, a therapist helped Mary get her life together by helping her share her story. And that helped.

She landed a corporate job with Prudential Financial working in their information technology department and eventually running the company’s volunteer programs. But after fourteen years, she concluded she was a “fish out of water” in Corporate America.

Mary kept a small sign on her bedroom mirror that said “Leap And The Net Will Appear.” One day she marched into her boss’ office with a resignation letter and announced her decision to leave Prudential. According to Mary, “I didn’t know what I was going to do. It’s not like I had saved up or anything, like most normal people would do. But I have to say that moment, it felt brilliant. Like that feeling of stepping through your fear and moving into the unknown and knowing what I just did was the right thing for me, even though I didn’t know what was next.”

“The Net” did eventually appear in her decision to launch “Imagine: A Center For Coping With Loss.” Imagine is a free year-round grief support center for children ages 3 to 18, and young adults 18 to 30, and their parents, who have had a parent, brother, sister or other close family member die.

Mary was honored as a CNN Hero in 2019. “It was just so exciting, because it allowed us to shine a global spotlight on this issue of children’s grief. One of the things that all of us who work in this field say is that our vision is that someday no child grieves alone. And I feel like with this recognition from CNN, that that is actually possible now in my lifetime.”

As a final question, we asked Mary to reflect on what her father would think about what she has done with her life. “I think he’d be really proud. He just thought I was the best, and I think, no matter what I did, he just would’ve thought, ‘You’re the best and I love you.’ But I think he’s probably really tickled that I’ve turned something so painful into something so good.”
Or whatever…
By: Erin Robinson
Tags: Coaching, Career Change, Self Employed

In October, I took a giant (for me) leap and left the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) after 10 years of working there, the last six as the Executive Director. I am currently consulting, setting up a new business, Metadata Game Changers, with my husband, Ted Habermann, and starting a leadership coaching practice for Open science leaders.

My first big project was to develop and deliver the American Geophysical Union, Leptoukh Lecture. This is a named lecture award given by the Earth and Space Science Informatics Section. It was an extreme honor to be recognized by my peers. However, when I recorded the talk and got to the section where I talked about ‘What’s next for me?’ I stumbled a bit and said ‘or whatever’s next.’ So that seemed like a fitting title of this first blog post.

I like the option of blogging in Medium to be adjacent to other thought partners. I hope that it will embed in Squarespace, where I am building my site.

Edited to add: Links & correct ESSI name.
5 Tips for a New Career
By: Michelle Enjoli
Tags: Career Paths, Careers, Career Development, Career Advice, Career Change

Whether you are looking for a new job and are willing to pivot in a new direction or do not want to continue working in your specific field, a career pivot is a major decision.

COVID-19 has impacted the world and devastated certain industries more than others. For those in highly specialized careers, the impact has been severe and the options for work seem limiting due to the amount of time spent in specific positions and/or industries. There is a lot of trepidation and doubt as to how to resume one’s career at this point.

A viable option is to pivot professionally and take your innate talent, skills and experiences garnered in one industry into another. The business environment is in the midst of changes that will set new standards for decades to come. Many companies are taking this time to evaluate how and where they do business. So why shouldn’t you as a professional?

I have 5 tips on how to begin to evaluate your options.

1. Identify your strengths and skills

Your experience brings along a list of transferable skills that can be beneficial to any industry. Write down your innate talents, specific skills and strengths. Sometimes it takes a real look at all of your abilities to discover new ways to apply them.

2. Identify areas of interest

Is there a specific field that you have had interest in and never had the time to evaluate or explore? Is there a hobby or activity you enjoy doing that you can monetize? Write those down and begin doing research.

3. Find your uniqueness

Figure out how the combination of your skills, passion and experience can uniquely serve a new niche. In many cases, your background and story can serve as a unique qualifier or distinguishing angle that can give you an edge in a new area.

4. Rebrand yourself

Once you have decided how you want to pivot professionally, reposition your background, skills and experience in a way that sets you up as a viable candidate to excel in your new career.

5. Connect with others

Reach out to others in the desired industry you want to enter. Use LinkedIn, Facebook Groups and local organizations to connect with others to learn more or offer your services.

The goal is to use a disappointing or unexpected turn of events to propel you in a new direction. A career pivot is a big decision but one that can be extremely rewarding and help you reach your true potential.

If you have a question or are interested in learning more, connect with me.
How the Pandemic Changed My Career Path
By: Adriana Guzman
Tags: Washington DC, Pandemic Diaries, Social Media Manager, Career Change, Layoffs

Like millions of Americans, I lost my job on March 16th, 2020—the first Monday after the shutdowns began.

I was a social media manager for a private relations firm in the Washington, D.C. area for seven months. As soon as I settled in and was finally feeling like I found my work-home in DC, I was laid off.

While this was a low point in my career, I was privileged enough to have a safety net and an emotionally supportive fiancé to lend a hand. Not everyone can say the same, and many are still grappling with the financial implications of losing their job during the pandemic.

Needless to say, our government has failed at providing them with the relief they desperately need and deserve during these hard times.

After feeling angry, sad, pathetic, and completely disillusioned, I decided to go after the real reason I dreamt of moving to D.C. years before: to put my political science degree to use and make a difference. With my mind made up, I got to work pursuing that dream, applying only to progressive organizations that needed my type of skills to help them reach their goals, and only taking interviews I felt aligned with what I wanted to do.

In July, I officially broke up with the private sector and started working on a political campaign to give the Trump Administration the boot and ensure our next president took real action to stop the climate crisis.

I knew that this was where I wanted to be, but I didn’t know how much work it actually would be.

From working until midnight for weeks at a time to dropping weekend plans to prioritize work, the work load was intense—and the more I did it, the more passionate about climate I became.

You learn so much when you focus in on one issue, and this issue happened to be Trump’s destruction of our environment. In his four years in office, he rolled back over 100 environmental protections, placed Big Oil lobbyists in charge of federal agencies sworn to protect our national lands and wildlife, and weakened regulations meant to protect our frontline communities.

If that isn’t maddening, I don’t know what is.

My life since July has revolved around climate—following Biden and Trump press events, responding to breaking news, and keeping Biden good on his word.

It is never-ending and incredibly rewarding work.

As I prepare to exit the campaign world for a role in congress, I remind myself how much easier I have had it compared to the millions of Americans that apply for unemployment every week.

The playing-field is not level. The pandemic discriminates.