|
|
New Engineer Switches Career to Become a Financial Advisor.
06-01-2015, 11:21 PM
|
#1
|
Dryer sheet wannabe
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 12
|
New Engineer Switches Career to Become a Financial Advisor.
I thought this might be interesting for the group so here it goes. I'm an engineer that manages a group of about 6 and we had just hired a fresh graduate about 4 months ago. She is incredibly sharp but she decided that engineering is not for her (I'm not biased at all ). Instead she is going to start her career as a financial advisor. She will be a personal assistant to a successful mentor and hopefully she will follow in her footsteps. I wish her luck but I didn't have the heart to mention that she is getting into sales. She was very excited about helping people achieve their financial goals. I wish her the best but I think she will be shocked that the majority of her success will include pushing product.
Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
06-01-2015, 11:37 PM
|
#2
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 11,401
|
When I hear stories like this I wonder whether this career move is prompted by a search for a culture that is perceived to be more female friendly. Notice that I said "perceived".
|
|
|
06-01-2015, 11:43 PM
|
#3
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
|
My son told me of a coworker who left engineering soon after graduation to join a ministry. Strange things happen!
My daughter used to work with a guy who never worked as an engineer despite his ME degree. Perhaps he had trouble finding work as an engineer after graduation, but he was happy doing bookkeeping.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
|
|
|
06-02-2015, 12:27 AM
|
#4
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Lakewood
Posts: 920
|
One of our sharper young engineers quit after only five months. She basically told me working 55+ hours a week but getting paid forty wasn't her idea of a career. I didn't try to change her mind.
But she switched to work insurance! Told me she loves it so far, they have her doing risk assessment so she gets to poke her nose into a variety of businesses and, you know, asses risk. I don't think I could do it, I only seem to get satisfaction from seeing a physical product getting built.
__________________
Why be normal when you can be yourself?
|
|
|
06-02-2015, 06:29 AM
|
#5
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,369
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by hitnuggs
....She was very excited about helping people achieve their financial goals. I wish her the best but I think she will be shocked that the majority of her success will include pushing product. ...
|
You might do her a favor and explain to her the difference between fee-only FAs and FAs who have to rely on peddling products to put food on the table.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cooch96
...But she switched to work insurance! Told me she loves it so far, they have her doing risk assessment so she gets to poke her nose into a variety of businesses and, you know, asses risk. I don't think I could do it, I only seem to get satisfaction from seeing a physical product getting built.
|
At one point in my career I transitioned from financial management in real estate development to financial management in insurance. In real estate development we would take pictures of a site from the same spot at periodic intervals and have them in a slide projector (for those who remember what that is) and run then sequentially as a presentation. You could see the site being cleared, the foundation being dug and built, the steel being erected, and the curtain walls going up, etc.... it was pretty cool and the "result" of our collective work.
For insurance I liked to characterize it as we took in money, shuffled paper and paid out money... that's it.
__________________
If something cannot endure laughter.... it cannot endure.
Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Retired Jan 2012 at age 56
|
|
|
06-02-2015, 01:01 PM
|
#6
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,733
|
I went from engineering to marketing after writing programs for only 3 years. I'd say the majority of my engineering friends were astounded and somewhat disgusted by the sell out.
There were more than a few jokes about the lobotomy that was needed to go into marketing.
I did point out there were actually women in marketing which helped justify the switch.
|
|
|
06-02-2015, 02:14 PM
|
#7
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W Just West of Woman Hollering Creek
Posts: 6,674
|
Quote:
Instead she is going to start her career as a financial advisor. She will be
a personal assistant to a successful mentor and hopefully she will follow in her
footsteps. I wish her luck but I didn't have the heart to mention that she is
getting into sales. She was very excited about helping people achieve their
financial goals.
|
Financial advisor is a very generic term. Could be selling insurance. Could be training to be a stock broker. As I recall most folks that break into that line of work generally start out as a sales person. If you can make it in sales you can usually make it anywhere. But it's tough!
"Personal Assistant" makes it seem like a clerical (back office) job.
The bottom line is that if she realized she was not cut out to be an engineer, it's best to get out ASAP.
__________________
Part-Owner of Texas
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx
In dire need of: faster horses, younger woman, older whiskey, more money.
|
|
|
06-02-2015, 02:53 PM
|
#8
|
Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: San Diego
Posts: 14,212
|
As a woman engineer I would say this is pretty common. A lot of newly graduated women engineers look around and see the old-boy network firmly in place. They see the lack of balance between work and home. They see more lucrative careers. And they make the switch.
I was active in SWE in college. Over half of my college peers changed from development engineering to program management, marketing, field support, the financial industry (a few brokers), etc. Perhaps that's why the percent of women engineering managers is so low relative to the percent graduating with engineering degrees.
I didn't change careers - but most of my peers who did were quite happy with their choices.
__________________
Retired June 2014. No longer an enginerd - now I'm just a nerd.
micro pensions 6%, rental income 20%
|
|
|
06-02-2015, 10:49 PM
|
#9
|
Dryer sheet wannabe
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 12
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by rodi
As a woman engineer I would say this is pretty common. A lot of newly graduated women engineers look around and see the old-boy network firmly in place. They see the lack of balance between work and home. They see more lucrative careers. And they make the switch.
I was active in SWE in college. Over half of my college peers changed from development engineering to program management, marketing, field support, the financial industry (a few brokers), etc. Perhaps that's why the percent of women engineering managers is so low relative to the percent graduating with engineering degrees.
I didn't change careers - but most of my peers who did were quite happy with their choices.
|
I suspect that's what happened here. Her mentor is a woman and i think it is easier for her to see herself in a similar position 10 years from now. This is so frustrating because there is no easy answer. The It has to be beyond promoting women because my boss is a woman, my bosses boss is a woman and my bosses boss is a woman. The examples of successful women in this career were obvious and accessible. I guess at the end of the day each person is an individual and not a statistic. I don't want to read too much into it.
Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
|
|
|
06-02-2015, 11:08 PM
|
#10
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 17,239
|
It is not uncommon for someone to go all the way through college and start their career only to change it to something different...
When I was in high school I did an intern at IBM... the guy that was in charge of the sales team had a chemical engineering degree... one time I asked him about it and he said that a college degree was just a ticket to get into the next level...
Another time when I was working there was a guy who had a law degree.... he would get a magazine from his college that was for all the people who got their law degree but did not practice law... it was a big number... I have been surprised learning that a number of national reporters that you see on TV have law degrees....
|
|
|
06-03-2015, 06:12 AM
|
#11
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 14,404
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Proud
When I was in high school I did an intern at IBM...
|
Braggart!
Quote:
Originally Posted by hitnuggs
Instead she is going to start her career as a financial advisor.
|
Oh, don't worry. I think you'll be seeing her again very soon.
|
|
|
06-03-2015, 06:59 AM
|
#12
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 3,604
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Proud
It is not uncommon for someone to go all the way through college and start their career only to change it to something different...
|
What is particularly interesting is when they wait until after they have finished their PhD in Engineering or MD degree until they decide to make the change.
I have two friends in those situations.
Perhaps some kids are taught not to quit and this gets deeply engrained.
-gauss
|
|
|
06-03-2015, 07:53 AM
|
#13
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 13,145
|
I have a brother who followed this path. After graduating with an engineering degree and working for about a year, guess his path lied elsewhere and he got an MBA. He's retired now. I never new exactly what he did on his job. I think something like advising companies how to invest their 401Ks. But not sure.
I guess he did a Lou Gehrig in the baseball movie. He couldn't be uncle Otto and be the engineer that his parents wanted him to be, but instead chose what he really wanted to do.
__________________
Have you ever seen a headstone with these words
"If only I had spent more time at work" ... from "Busy Man" sung by Billy Ray Cyrus
|
|
|
06-03-2015, 08:57 AM
|
#14
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 17,239
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by samclem
Braggart!
|
Nothing to brag about.... I went to customers and set up typewriters.... and in a pinch I would remove bad paper jams from copiers....
|
|
|
06-03-2015, 09:03 AM
|
#15
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 17,239
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by gauss
What is particularly interesting is when they wait until after they have finished their PhD in Engineering or MD degree until they decide to make the change.
I have two friends in those situations.
Perhaps some kids are taught not to quit and this gets deeply engrained.
-gauss
|
Yea, kinda strange they would go all the way and then change....
I just missed the guy, but when I started to work in accounting... they said that this guy was there one day.... they told him what he was going to do and he said 'this is not what I want to do'... and quit... so, he had his accounting degree, had passed the CPA exam.... and then went back to college and became an MD....
|
|
|
06-03-2015, 09:04 AM
|
#16
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 11,702
|
It is no big deal, for both men and women.
I look at my engineering friends from college and less than 1/2 are in engineering today.
Heck, when I started at Megacorp #1 in the mid-80s, there was a whole group of us fresh faced engineering kids. Within 5 years, 1/4 of us were out of engineering.
|
|
|
06-03-2015, 09:10 AM
|
#17
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,889
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Proud
I ...
When I was in high school I did an intern at IBM... .
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by samclem
Braggart! ....
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Proud
Nothing to brag about.... I went to customers and set up typewriters.... and in a pinch I would remove bad paper jams from copiers....
|
Texas, you missed the joke (I almost missed it)!
' I did an intern'.... versus 'I did an internship'... think 'presidential scandal', 'blue dress'.
-ERD50
|
|
|
06-03-2015, 09:37 AM
|
#18
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
|
But Texas Proud is still right.
It's not something one wears as a badge of honor.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
|
|
|
06-03-2015, 09:55 AM
|
#19
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 14,404
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by NW-Bound
But Texas Proud is still right.
It's not something one wears as a badge of honor.
|
But he was still in high school--attaboy! Okay, okay, enough mileage from a crummy joke.
|
|
|
06-03-2015, 10:06 AM
|
#20
|
Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: San Diego
Posts: 14,212
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by gauss
What is particularly interesting is when they wait until after they have finished their PhD in Engineering or MD degree until they decide to make the change.
I have two friends in those situations.
Perhaps some kids are taught not to quit and this gets deeply engrained.
-gauss
|
Yep - I worked with an engineer who had a law degree but never took the bar.
I was on a non-profit board with a woman who completed her medical residency and then stopped working as a doctor. When I met her she was an overachieving stay at home mom. But she stopped practicing medicine about 10 years before she had her son. She said she never enjoyed practicing medicine but at each stage she figured she had to complete the next level since she had so much invested... until she finished her residency.
__________________
Retired June 2014. No longer an enginerd - now I'm just a nerd.
micro pensions 6%, rental income 20%
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|