Career Journey (compulsory career reading)
A long-time ACMA client has retired and documented his career changes, upskilling, retraining and outcomes. This is a valuable story that every career-focused person should read.
- I started as a telecommunications technician (apprenticeship, then a qualified technician).
- My specialty (telegraphy) disappeared overnight in 1985, so I switched to emerging data communications and assembly language.
- Switched to PABX installation. Memorized PABX manuals to make myself more useful.
- Then, I became a technical writer.
- Progressed to be a technical trainer.
- Used the experience to be a Communications Specialist drifting into mobile phones, automation and paging.
- Taught in Western Samoa.
- Became a Business Analyst (IVR) and taught myself Visual Basic, Pascal and Traffic Engineering to develop and sell software.
- Taught in China.
- Went to Cisco Academy and got a CCNA, CCNP, CCDP and CCIE written.
- Worked for network integrators working in security and qualified as a CISSP.
- Trained as a Genesys Engineer and trained in UNIX.
- Worked in the deployment of networking technology and trained in Disaster Recovery.
- Taught in TAFE in cabling, radio, planning, satellite and geomorphology, with earthing after receiving earthing technology training. Went to night school to study accounting. I also taught myself quantitative thermodynamics to allow electronics to be taught to kinaesthetic students.
- I received diplomas in project management, management, HR management, and Dip VET.
- Taught online and at colleges for international students.
- Certified people for work in the NBN, training cable joints, working at heights and enclosed spaces, and first aid.
- Prepared instructional design after receiving instruction on neurology of learning and expertise and accelerated learning.
- I spent 6 years of distance study with business studies (including law, economics, and accounting).
- Finally, I was involved in VET regulation at TAFE level.
By my count, that is 15 careers over 47 years.
The reason...I had a very good grounding at secondary school, an apprenticeship, and a commitment to lifelong learning.
As I was told a number of decades ago, there is no such thing as a secure career, just secure people.
In my early career, businesses supplied training (but that pretty much disappeared by 1990). Then, you needed to invest in your own training using personal income to get the next job.
I was also lucky enough to receive career advice when I over-specialised in one career stream that disappeared almost overnight in around 2002.
And along the way, I survived the 1982, 1986, 1990, 1997, 2002, 2008, and 2015 recessions.
Surviving these recessions meant being flexible and trading on skills rather than job titles.
One of the problems is that for the last 15 years, vocational training has concentrated on skills acquisition (usual motor skills) at the expense of domain-specific knowledge. This has left the trainees ill-prepared to change course when skills become outdated, and they have little domain-specific knowledge to reinvent themselves with new strategies to become useful expertise-wise in the future.
Note: This article has been published with the permission of the author, who wishes to remain anonymous.
ACMA creates successful career paths through detailed individual assessments, research, job market analysis, and expert personalised coaching.
Note: A Career Development Association of Australia research paper found that when professional career guidance occurred, the participant was 2.67 times more likely to secure a job.
All program services can be delivered via our interactive online cloud-based career management "Career Talk" system and/or "one-on-one" in our Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne, Cairns, Darwin or Auckland offices.
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