The Penn State Alumni AssociationWhat’s been happening: Career change is important because it can alter ones life completely, and change it permanently. The most important thing that one should do is to identify the correct reason for which one is making a change. Although there can be many reasons, lack of growth opportunity has, in my experience, proven to be a major factor. The above comment has been generated partly because it may be of some interest to some of the younger alumni who may are being faced with career change, and partly to provide a sort of preamble to my activities since leaving PSU. I attended PSU as a research assistant, and graduated with a PhD in Fuel Technology. Having done so, I quickly realized that there were few growth opportunities in the coal industry in the USA. Basically, I asked myself what would grow, and what would I really like to know about. Also, I wanted to retain an interest in how things are engineered. Fortunately, the computer industry was just starting and I was attracted by the lure of that industry. After working for two computer manufacturers and one software company, the company which I worked for decided to get out of the computer business. As a result, since my interest in "improving how things are engineered" needed to be revised, I spent the last fifteen years of my working life working for Gilbert Commonwealth on alternative energy systems research for the Department of Energy. |