Changing Majors

[callmej75]

Well I guess its time to change majors since Mechanical Engineering would require me to still do laborous work and right now I have alot of things wrong that are making my body hurt badly. I got a lot of things going numb at night and will be going to reschedule my MRI this week to see what maybe screwing with me that is causing numbness and bad pain. Trust me,...the pain lets me have maybe 3-4 hours of sleep per night and I am not happy about it. Anyways....looking into these careers and before I decide to change, I would like to know how the job market may be out here for these career choices. So far I have 4 choices:

Information Systems Technology
1 Programming and Database Specialization
2 Network Specialization
3 Internet Graphics and Programming Specialization

4 Geographical Information Systems Specialization

I am really looking into the Geographical specialization because it appears that they make up maps and such and deal with land. The only thing that steers me away from this is where are the jobs for this kind of career? I know there are usually a bunch for the above computer areas, but I also question if I will find that boring later on in life. I will be going tomorrow to reschedule this MRI and hopefully having it done soon so I know where my career change shall take me. Plus I know without a degree, I will continue to make the crappy wages and still be treated like a piece of crap like in any other labor job I've had in the past.

Anyone have any insights or personal experiences they would like to share with the above positions?

[Seanz0rz]

www.esri.com in my home town does GIS stuff. great company. they have some examples of what they do, such as plotting where fires have and will burn, population density and crime, those types of things. i did it for a year in highschool, loved it!

im sure something to do with off road land management and trail upkeep would be very cool.

http://careers.esri.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=dsp&tmpl=articles.cfm&nav_id=20

http://www.esri.com/showcase/case-studies/index.html

good luck j, i might have parts coming your way soon!

[callmej75]

Thanks for the info Sean! I am looking at these careers because they may be fun and challenging as well as rewarding. I have never heard of how many jop opportunities that there may be here so I may consult the counselor at the college before I choose it. I know there are a bunch in the It field and what not, but I also know there are broadened careers available on what the degree specializes also. I just simply need something a little easier on the body because I have beat it a lot in these few years I have been alive.

[YotaGirl]

I have a friend who is going to school for GISS. From what she heard there is a pretty good demand out there.

You might want to check out the National Parks Service...I have come across a couple job openings for GISS. I don't remember what the pay scale was like, but a Government job would be pretty cool.

Jenn

[mastacox]

I'm a Mechanical Engineer, and do precisely zero physical labor. Most of what my job entails is designing parts on the computer, and getting them made and put together by other people :king: It's sweeeeet :D As general rule, it's far too expensive to have your engineers laboring away at turning screws and gluing parts, when a lower-paid tech can do the same thing as long as the MechE makes good assembly drawings and straightforward bills of materials.

Anyway, it sucks you are having health problems. Hope you get better soon :thumbup:

[callmej75]

I have a friend who is going to school for GISS. From what she heard there is a pretty good demand out there.

You might want to check out the National Parks Service...I have come across a couple job openings for GISS. I don't remember what the pay scale was like, but a Government job would be pretty cool.

Jenn


Thanks Jenn...I believe I will ask the college if they have some kind of intermship with a company so that way the job finging part won't be so frustrating.

[callmej75]

I'm a Mechanical Engineer, and do precisely zero physical labor. Most of what my job entails is designing parts on the computer, and getting them made and put together by other people :king: It's sweeeeet :D As general rule, it's far too expensive to have your engineers laboring away at turning screws and gluing parts, when a lower-paid tech can do the same thing as long as the MechE makes good assembly drawings and straightforward bills of materials.

Anyway, it sucks you are having health problems. Hope you get better soon :thumbup:


Maybe I need to move out to NM so I could be in that situation! In Virginia, I believe their motto is work harder, not smarter.

[Peter]

The most important thing is that you do something that you enjoy. Nothing will hurt you or age you faster than a career you hate. I hope things turn out okay for you... I'm hoping it's just prolonged stress.

[callmej75]

Well they rescheduled me for the 31st for my MRI....so I guess we'll see then. In the meantime, we are going over tomorrow morning to the school and get all the info I need on all of these careers before I make a change and get all my paperwork lined out for starting the Fall semester.

[Henrythewound]

I work for the AZ state Geological Survey. We use ESRI's Arcmap package daily. There are a couple of GIS specialists who work here who mainly deal with databases to house all the mapping and linework we do as well as make the final map product layouts. I suppose you would have to enjoy working with databases to enjoy their job. As a geologist I spend a fair amount of time in the field and then a fair bit of time back in the office digitizing my linework. For me, I could not sit in front of the computer all day, I need to get out. If you have any questions about more details of what they do, let me know.

I would say the job market for GIS people is fair but should not get any worse over the next few years, if anything it should get better as GIS is pretty powerful and is catching on for previously unused applications. There are ALWAYS tons of old maps and datasets to digitize.