A portfolio career of second passions

Two pieces of advice influenced my career decisions. My electrical engineering professor suggested that the road less travelled would yield pleasant surprises. A classmate told me to use my head to follow my heart.

Instead of continuing with my postgraduate studies in the US, I chose do my master’s degree in a different discipline in London.

Somewhere along the way, my sister noticed that I was motivated by what I hadn’t done before. She calls it “deficiency motivation.” I call it curiosity and temptation of the novel and the diverse. This would keep me busy for the rest of my life, for the grass is always greener on the side I haven’t trodden.

Indeed I seem to swing from one extreme to another, always diversifying my portfolio of skills and experiences. After working in a small company where everyone knew everyone else, I tried a big company where job titles were more important than names and personalities.

I enjoyed a brief period in a start-up company, followed by short-term contract work as a project manager, database analyst, desk-top-publishing temp, statistics analyst, and then back to the corporate world of permanent, full-time employment.

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... extract from 8 pages of stories and experiences by career changers from Canada, US, England, Holland, Malaysia, and Taiwan --"Career change and second passions," Le Bon Journal e-zine for self-expression and arts sponsorship, at http://www.bonjournal.com/ezine/issue05passions.pdf including expert advice on changing your career. July 2004

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