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Ask HN: As an experienced engr, how do I change my role?
I have been working in the storage industry as an hardware engineer (system design) for ~8 years. As I look around, I see very few opportunities/openings in other companies which need a similar position. How can I pivot at this point in my life? I have python programming experience when it comes to programming. Ideally, I would like to move into a data analytics/engineer role. I have been doing some courses on coursera/udacity but I am pretty sure that's not enough.Here is what I am aiming for
Sys Design Engineer -> validation/QA role in data center ops (most involve some analytics) -> full time analytics role.
Its hard to find jobs where I can use my experience and get into analytics. Do I need to start all over again? As someone with a family, it would be hard to take a pay cut.
Note:
1. As a system engineer, I do not code at all. I mainly deal with Flash memories - feature design/validation.
2. Reason for a change - open my more opportunities for myself in future.
- imhoguy 9y agoStorage is backbone of the Internet persistence. Just a few quick ideas below. I would keep this "storage" label and invest in some higher abstraction level knowledge like Ceph, GlusterFS, AWS S3. Also SSDs are ousting HDDs nearly in every on-premises application with hot data. Maybe writing some tooling for massive storage fitness/performance analytics would help you land a niche/job. To understand a new role you would need to learn what problems you can solve for potential employer/customer. Maybe try to apply for eng. position at some Internet giant companies G, A, FB. They often get interested in smarties in other fields. Definitely your career transformation will need a lot of effort and sacrifices if you stay full-time at old place but it is doable. I wish you best.
- pivot2data 9y agoThanks! Will work on it.