Career Counseling 101 -- advice needed

[Mike Niendorff]

Ok, my fellow DUers, I'm looking for some advice from all the good and thoughtful people here.

Basically: given the following traits/skillsets, I'm wondering if anyone can suggest a good career-field for me to look into. I've worked mostly as a housepainter for a LONG, long time, and, frankly, I'd like to do something a little more interesting and fulfilling in the years to come. So I'm looking to revamp things.

I actually do have a college degree (electrical engineering, 1995), but since I haven't been working in the field I am (*ahem*) "a bit out of practice". To say the least.

However, that caveat being given:

-- I'm still very strong at mathematics (for obvious reasons), and actually have earned about 3/4 of a bachelor's degree in mathematics via my college elective courses
-- I'm reasonably proficient as a programmer (C, Perl, plus several other languages and assembly-languages), although not "professional" grade by industry standards yet
-- I'm a strong typist (70+ wpm)
-- I'm a *solid* writer and communicator, and I can be highly pursuasive on matters close to my heart
-- I have some experience in web-development (Javascript, PHP, HTML/CSS, etc)
-- I have experience working on both Microsoft and Linux platforms (I've run Linux on my home-system since 1995)
-- obviously, anything electrically-related is a strong area for me
-- I also completed and passed the first year of Harvard's JD program back in 1997, so I do have some good background in law, as well as the legal system in general.


My wild-and-crazy wish list:

-- flexible hours, if possible
-- 20-40 hrs/wk (as opposed to 40-80)
-- interaction with like-minded people (progressive, questioning, not "Bush/Corporate" types)
-- a non-heart-attack-inducing level of stress
-- working on something that's actually *interesting*, and may actually help make the world a better place
-- a reasonable paycheck (I don't need to be rich, but I do need to pay my bills and keep a roof over my head)
-- safe and non-toxic environment, ponytail-tolerant :)
-- ?benefits?
-- ?actual vacation time?
-- opportunity for travel, if at all possible

I freely admit that much (if not most) of this list is wishful thinking, and the whole thing is pretty ambiguous right now. But I would like to hit as much of it as I can, if at all possible, and I need to start "somewhere". However, given that most of my work experience is in the trades, I'm really not sure where that "somewhere" might be found. So I'm asking around among those whose opinions I respect :)

Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you all can provide.


MDN

[midnight armadillo]

1. Find a job in academics

A job in the support staff at a research group doing programming work sounds like it'd be right up your alley. Academics is certainly more laid back than industry, you'd be working in science where your ee and math skills would be useful, and benefits are typically decent along with salary.

The downside is that you could wind up in a grant-funded position that might only last a few years, but there's always the next grant... The number of such opportunities will depend on how many universities are in your area. Around Boston these crop up pretty regularly.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Grant writing

a lot of non profits out there need help in obtaining grants. To be a grant writer, it helps to be a great communicator and to know about math. Hours are flexible and rewards are great!