General discussion
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Topic
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What do I want to be when I grow up?
LockedHow in the heck did I get here!?! Over the past year I have stalled
in my career plans. Well actually, I identified that I really didn’t
have plan.I started as a CFO for a very small agency. The position also had
responsibility for supervising the IT contract staff. Over the past
5 years I have transitioned the fiscal duties to an analyst that I
trained and have taken on the IT area exclusively. I have brought
website management and network admin in-house, developed
databases, coordinated a massive data conversion from VAX to a
web based application (SQL backend), supervised hardware and
software upgrades (both client and server). As a working
manager I provide support and development as well as supervise
the small operational staff.My B.S. is not technical and in my 13 years of government
service I have written policy, managed budgets, audited
programs and provided technical support and project
management. In order to continue to move onward and upward I
will need to either attain an MBA or several IT certifications. My
varied experiences make me an ideal generalists but I need
either the degree or ?Certs? to get in the door.I really have no idea what is the best avenue to pursue. Right
now I function as a “Jack of all trades”. But I don’t like being a
“Master” of none. I feel that I am missing out on the experience
of truly having expertise in an area. My interests are scattered
and I really fear investing the time and money into certs or a
degree that will not be of interest. I need a starting point of
some kind. I have even considered career counseling which
seems to consist of just a bunch of test to tell you what you may
be good at and not necessarily what you would enjoy.I am interested in learning how others decided where they
wanted to be and how they got there. I really want to feel like I
have a career not just a series of ‘jobs’.