Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

General Discussion

Posted by Sankara Narayanan
Sankara Narayanan
6,038 Points

dilemma in choosing my career

What you might hear from me can be some what shocking. (because that was the reaction i got when i explained my situation to people around me). Let me get to the point, I completed my bachelor degree in mechanical engineering two years back (Took me two years after course completion to complete the backlogs i had).

Problem is, After half way through my engineering, i released that i lost interest in mechanical engineering. But no matter what happened, I still had the geeky interest (no hard skills to support my interest) in tech world and when i stumbled on treehouse (from reddit) I fell in love. With treehouse now i have hard skills to support my interest too.

Now the dilemma part, I am starting my first job hunt in Jan 2015, By that time, My plan is to complete HTML,CSS, PHP and basics of ruby. This covers the tech side and my treehouse profile explains the business side (Did freelance content writing and some reselling and managing work with a freelancing team i put together to provide monetary support for the two years i spent clearing out my arrears) Though my freelancing career doesn't have any interesting projects i have first hand experience of how to do successfully do business. Two years is a long time, I also completed certified courses in mechanical engineering design software too.

I hope you can see my dilemma, Which career path should i choose? I seriously don't have any idea.

Three areas to choose from 1) Tech industry 2) Mechanical Oriented Jobs 3) Business, strategy and management related job.

Please provide me suggestions on what i should do?

4 Answers

Luke Glazebrook
Luke Glazebrook
13,564 Points
Luke Glazebrook
Luke Glazebrook
13,564 Points

The best advice I would give you is just to go for what you feel will be the most fun. Make sure that you will be making enough money to pay for your food and bills whatever you take though. There is no point in getting into a field that you no longer remain interested in as its going to be a very dull experience for you.

Thats just my two cents though and I hope that you have fun with whatever you do decide to do!

-Luke

Sankara Narayanan
Sankara Narayanan
6,038 Points

Hi Luke

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking your time to read through my forum post and respond instantaneously with your valuable feedback.

It is true not to indulge myself in fields that are of no interest to me. But the fact that i certificates only on those fields makes things worse.

My friends brother works as HR in a well established local company, when i was sharing this with him, he asked me one thing, How can you back up with certificates or some proof that the skills that you learnt from treehouse are legit and so on so forth.

I don't have any answer to that question too. Only possible thing i could say is, I learnt it and i applied it here in this project and here is the output and you can verify it. But this is not yet satisfying enough.

Can you suggest a solid answer to that question please?

Luke Glazebrook
Luke Glazebrook
13,564 Points

No bother I am glad that I am able to help you out!

The way you can back this up is to show them some real world examples where you have put your knowledge into action and produced a fine looking and working output. Seeing as you don't really have any certificates at the moment maybe you could also en-roll in a course part time at a local college or something similar?

I don't think you will need to do that though as you showing that you have the knowledge needed to work for them should be enough.

Thank you!

-Luke

Lisa Tan
Lisa Tan
4,673 Points
Lisa Tan
Lisa Tan
4,673 Points

Hi Sankara,

While you may not have any credible certificates, when it comes to web development, that is not necessarily a deal breaker. The proof is in the pudding. If you have quality, functional websites to show a potential employer, then you have a chance. Get some freelance web projects under your belt, and take it from there. It is absolutely necessary to be able to show a potential employer a live website that is functioning so that they can see your abilities come to life.

I have noticed quite a few grammar errors in your post. Excellent English skills are a must in any job, so please take more care next time. Perhaps you didn't pay too much attention to the grammar on this post, but next time remember to always pay attention to details. The devil is in the detail!

Good luck and go for it!

Lisa

Ken Alger
STAFF
Ken Alger
Treehouse Teacher
Ken Alger
Ken Alger
Treehouse Teacher

Sankara;

Have you looked at the Career Foundations Course here on Treehouse? It might help guide you a bit, answer some questions about what jobs in the web-development/design are available and what they do.

I might suggest you also look at learning Java and/or JavaScript for a couple of reasons. First, they are a great addition to either front or back end development. Second, with your background in mechanical engineering there are lots of positions out there (I'm not sure of the current market for jobs though) that develop software and controllers for mechanical systems. I would think that having a strong knowledge of both would give you an edge.

With your background in business and management, perhaps a position as a Project Manager would be in order. Having the skill set of what the individuals performing the work and the ability to manage said individuals and projects well is a highly sought after skill set.

Just my thoughts.

Ken

Kanav Mahajan
Kanav Mahajan
497 Points
Kanav Mahajan
Kanav Mahajan
497 Points

While choosing what you like best is important, take into consideration job stability. Engineering is a great field, however many jobs are being sent abroad. Software is more independent and this problem might not occur. Think about this before deciding.