I have a college senior, high school junior, and a 7th grader. We spend quite a bit of time talking about their interests, what degree or career path they should pursue, etc. I have figured out how very little I know about the diversity of the job market. Since there is so much diversity on this board, I figured I would try and get some thoughts. The college senior will graduate with a ChemE tracked to materials engineering. He has had trouble figuring out where the longevity lies within his field. I told him to try and situate himself in the carbon fiber market. Are there any working materials guys on here that could give me (him) some thoughts? The HS junior doesn't know what he wants to do but thinks he wants to stay in the IT field. That is so broad and I know literally nothing about it beyond the obvious. I would think the cyber security field is growing. Is this true? What are the best avenues for the kids coming up? I'd also be interested to know a little about what folks do for their career on the board. I'm sure there are a lot of niche markets out there that I know nothing about but might be very interesting to kids trying to figure out their path.
I am an aerospace engineer by degree but I wouldn't call myself a functioning engineer because I would be insulting the true aero guys who do real work. I'm basically a CH-47 air frame subject matter expert - who happens to have struggled through an engineering program.
I am no prescient person, so I cannot really help you. I am in the IT side of work (SQL servers, Linux servers running Apache and MySQL, Microsoft Active directory crap, etc), and while my job is safe for now, who knows in the future. Things are really changing fast because of AI and automation, and jobs that my wife worked around that were safe 10 years ago have all vanished because of a) automation (answering phones, etc) and b) moving the jobs to India. So, in short, I have no clue what the future will bring.
I'm a general contractor that also has a mechanical and an underground utilities license. Most days, I'm a general laborer for myself. I do know that welders, plumbers and HVAC guys can name their wages right now in middle Tennessee. Underground utilities guys can too. I don't know how much longer middle Tennessee will continue growing, but about 50% of my work is repairs on existing buildings.
My nephew is a high rise steel worker in Nashville. He makes very good money. Being a general contractor is something that I have talked to my middle son about as well. He is about to start work as a laborer for a home builder friend of ours. At the very least he will learn how to maintain and do his own work around his own house. He may also find out that he loves that kind of work.
I grew up in the construction business, everything from building cabinets to framing houses to building small commercial buildings, went to college to never work in construction again and realized I really like working in construction. My company has kind of exceeded my expectations, it's like having a 2nd wife sometimes, but it's also nice being your own boss too.
If any 3 of them like IT then Cyber Security is an area that is growing rapidly. If I started in IT again I would focus solely on IT/Cyber Security.
I am an environmental scientist working closely to the realm of environmental engineer. I've dabbled in a bunch of things, and only the last couple of years have I had a main gig that pays enough so that I don't need side jobs, so take my professional advice with that in mind. Things are changing so fast, all I can say is that one needs to be flexible, continue learning knew things, and not expect to be working in one niche their whole life (thinking of your college senior, who TT might have better advice about). If I were starting over, I would make sure to learn a programming language. I would take a break after undergrad and just work for a year or two at least. The friends I know that have done the best always knew when to read the tea leaves and move on for better opportunities, rather than waiting for a dangled carrot that doesn't likely come. There are no gold watches.
You were positioned there right when the market came looking for you, which is what we all want to do.
The power industry. I was just in a meeting with a chemical eng. He developed insulation and cable coatings. The power industry is going more computer system operating every day. I'm telling you, there are so many people retiring, and not many new bodies coming in. They can make 6 figures with their eyes closed.
At or near six figures, or less than 50k. That seems to be the job market right now generally, in total.
The chem eng developes insulation for wire. Computer guys can do anything from relays, protective devices that keep wires from burning down, to system operations, guys that control how electricity flows throughout the United States. It's endless. I'm talking about jobs that you sit in an office or an air conditioned control room and push buttons on a keyboard, not climbing poles all day. They also work on programming plc and him. There is a lot of elect engs, but programmng is huge now
Elect engs will do more protection schemes, but the IT guys will program all the devices. And, a lot of newer stuff is being designed to operate over WiFi. It' crazy the stuff that's going on.
Networking is key. Their paths may end up a direction because of who they knew or talked to, more than what. Talk to everyone about everything. Not many of my friends are in the degree they studied. Carpet sales, med sales, finance sales, stock guys, entrepreneurs doing various things...only the chiro studied what his job is now. And the finance major i guess.
I also fall under IT, but in the big data/data analytics space along with a little software administration. While opportunity exists, especially at the data science level, many would consider the field somewhat boring. It's interesting how the field has changed over the past few years. Teams like mine were once called 'reporting and analysis', but the reporting bit is quickly being automated while the need to extract meaningful insights from data continues to grow (predictive & prescriptive). I'm actually in the middle of transforming from a data compilation/distribution function to a true analytics and advisory operation. Current desirable skills include ability to design/build large data repositories (data lakes) and develop in visualization tools like Qlik, Tableau, Power BI, etc.
If you are going into cyber security, highly recommend they learn how to program in multiple languages, learn databases, etc... Not sure what that curriculum entails, but any good IT person should be well rounded. Specialization will come with the job. Also, I'd strongly encourage him to take a job with a startup early in his career... Great opportunity to learn a whole lot about business in general in that environment, make lifelong colleagues and get tied into the local startup community.
When I read the posts that you IT guys put on here it makes me realize just how ignorant I am. I guess that is what is frustrating to me ... when he asks questions about IT, I have no answers.
