My approach to the job: an open experience

Knowledge Collection Making a Living
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The subject introduces what I’m going to tell about me and my working life experience, how I approach to, highlighting some notes I want to make you all think about.

When - after the upper school - I had to answer to the big question ‘what are you going to do in your life?’ I absolutely had no idea. That’s why I spend some time as baby-sitter. Then I started making thougths of zero population growth and saying ‘I have to make a choise’. But I was not ready yet.

That’s why I reckressly waited fot the first university course with the absolutely unheard name so, I said to myself, it will surely open some new perspectives. (the name - now I know it - is Geographical Information Systems: it was 1994 and I even didn’t knew what’s a computer).

The last year by the University I had to decide for an internship (please note: I was the only one among 30 students who decided for a location in a different city then the Uni’s one). During this time, a consultant suggested me to collaborate with a team who was working on one of the first projects co-funded by EU in Italy…the team was searching for one candidate with my profile, but even didn’t know where to look for. I obviously accepted but: what about my english? ‘No problem - I said - it’s simply a new challenge’. (please note: I really thing that for italian people the languages unknowledge is still a big gap!). And it was so satisfying to me the decision - at the end of the project - to engage for a new opportunity around Europe.

I searched for institutions operating in my field (please note: it was 1999 and Internet in Italy was not so popular as now) and I selected three, respectively based in London, Paris and Munich. ‘Well Luisa - I said to myself - once again a new challenge: who would have answered first ?’ (that means,  you maybe need to study french and german too. I did!). After a couple of months Iwas working as researcher (half in english, half in german of course) by the army university in Munich, experiencing in many projects in EU.

After a few time I decided to go back to Italy, as I was contacted by many people who could not find someone with my profile but with many projects to carry out: there starded my new job carreer working for plans concerning the e-government scenario and few years lately I applied for a public selection by a local administration, searching for someone with my profile (please note: I was the only one candidate!)

At the moment I am still working there, still in many different projects (maybe the big keyword in my case!) and I am still studying for a new specialization (believe me: this time the name of the university course was known, but now that I’m getting ready, well…maybe I would change it!).

I think I can say that mine is an unusual profile! This makes my mind open to unformal recruitment processes, acting in perspective that what I’m going to do next will encrease the lay of my foundations to the next step, by approaching any new job experience.

Stay open, stay uncertain, stay projects involved: that’s my slogan. Do you have one to share?

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New spaces are comfortable

That’s why I waited fot the university course with the absolutely unheard name so, I said to myself, it will surely open some new perspectives.

HighlanderI think you have hit the nail on the head, Luisa. Here’s the thing: if you work in an established space (for example accounting) it is clear to everyone what you do; also, there are a lot of accounting jobs. On the other hand, you enter a hierarchical world: people compete to be senior accountant, master accountant, Supreme Jedi Master accountant. The criteria for competition are often inherited from the past, and do not necessarily select the best people; also, career development looks a little like a film from the 1980s, Highlander: only one will remain!

If you work in a new space, such as GIS in the 1990s , it’s all different. The number of practitioners is low, so those spaces can’t really afford a hierarchy. Senior professors work side by side with undergraduate students.  Careers are less predictable and more varied, and can be faster.  Certainly those are the spaces that appeal to me,and that I always seeked out: environmental economics in 1989, the creative economy in 1997, online policy in 2007…

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To me the keyword is - Opportunities

Hey Luisa, thank you very much for sharing with us your experience, and what a nice experience!

The lesson I’ve learned reading about your career path is that you were wide awake all the time, and even when doubting whether you could perform you took up challenges (it’s simply a new challenge). I can’t imagine how long it took you to learn German and be able to do research in that language!

Even discovering GIS and taking a course (or was it a degree?) back in the days seems to have been the result of opportunity: the opportunity to know what’s out there, to find a niche in your field. I run into many young people who don’t know what careers are available and what to expect. so by the time they wake up and really discover what they love doing it may be to late. It’s fashionable to say it’s never too late, but really sometimes it is.

My strategy is similar to yours, taking up internships, and project based work (basically enjoying what comes up), so I’m now practically a freelancer , but I’m missing a specialization, a narrow field of research - I was trained in social science research, I have data analysis skills, but even this seems to broad a bit. Yet for finding my field it’s not too late yet, I hope :).

What would you say were the turning points in your path: what kept you moving? was it family, was it financial resources/ rewards? was it really passion - it’s funny you don’t mention that but it sort of comes through alongside pragmatism.

And I’m also curious as to what is your new specialization?

Thanks again, will keep on following you on Edgeryders : )

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To be ot not to be…What?

Hi Noemi! Sorry for being late in answering, but they are never-enough-long days.

Well, I understand what you mean about the physiological need in feeling specialized in something, but it’s definitely impossible in some cases, in some fields…when you what to spend your career following research, you know, it’s always as being in front of new challenges and new upcoming opportunities. I mean, this is exactly the right way, neer being to late in never ending research.

My specialization is in remote sensing and the new sensors I’m studying are the citizens, so it’s a great new opportunity for me to learn more and to - I hope - waking me up in the morning asking me ‘what do you want to do when you’ll grow Luisa?’

I simply understood that my right dimension is working on project dimension, that means renoval in the working group and in the mission of my job every two or three years, that’s - as you say - the turning point in my path…it’s only a physiological need :slight_smile:

So, I really think it’s never too late, until you keep on searching .