I need a career change. I am currently working as a fed contractor/consulting in the international development field with a TC of 53k. I was lowballed on salary this year but needed a job badly to provide for my family as the pandemic really affected my job prospects when I graduated in may 2020. In my current role, I am treated as an intern. I have two masters degrees (one from an ivy) and have lived and worked all over the world. I want more out of life. To make a long story short, I no longer wish to work in this field. I really want to work at a place that challenges me to grow and to be around smart people. I’ve tried breaking into tech, but it’s been hard. I’ve made it to the final round twice at Facebook and Dataminr, and made it to the second round with Palantir. I do not have a background in software development or computer science. Any role that I apply for in tech is usually in the areas of trust and safety, policy, international affairs, etc as these seem to interest me the most. I am not really sure where I am going with this. I guess I am just venting in the hopes that someone might be able to offer advice or understand where I am coming from. If anyone knows of any positions that could use someone with an educational background in international affairs (especially with a focus on APAC) and public administration with professional experience in five countries working in both the public and private sector, I’d love to hear from you. Tech interests me most because of the career growth opportunities, but I have also been looking for other consulting opportunities in the defense and security sector like Booz Allen or Guidehouse. Thanks for reading fam. #tech #advice
finance? lots of risk, policy, etc type roles there where international focus could be useful.
Try project management/program management roles with a PMP certification or scrum master certification. These roles are easy to break into. Then get a good handle on tech stuff or experiment hands on. See if you like tech or the money.
Thank you for you advice. I’ll look into pursuing a pmp
"trust and safety, policy, international affairs" will not get you the money. I personally consider this as mid-office roles. Why not try corporate finance, strategy, product management?
I would be open to considering that type of work. I’m just not sure where to begin.
Maybe begin by reaching out to people on LinkedIn and asking questions, scheduling introduction calls. Do outbound reach out.