How 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’.