Don't ask me for career advice; my career's been pure serendipity

Water Cooler Careers
#1

From time to time I get PMs here asking me for career advice: how to get a job here, what to do to get a job there, and so on.

The people who ask me these questions are invariably disappointed: I’m probably the worst person here of whom to ask career advice. What little I know won’t be of use to anyone.

Here’s how my career’s come about:

  1. I got my first full-time job when I was 18: working in real estate investments at my father’s company. He cheated me out of $36,000 in commissions (and my cousin – his nephew – out of $45,000 in commissions).
  2. My next job came from a gentleman whose company wrote software that generated code to run CNC (computerized numerical control) machines: mills, lathes, punch presses, and so on. He came to the math department at CSU Fullerton (where I was working on my master’s degree), looking for someone who could solve a few geometry problems for him. They gave the information to one of the other grad students, who decided that he didn’t have time to work on it and passed it on to me.
  3. My next job was at a defense contractor; one of my professors was consulting for them and told me that they were looking for an analyst, so I applied there. That’s where I worked on the first generation GPS software, as well as software for navigation using deep ocean transponders (DOTs).
  4. My next job arose from a phone call from a friend whom I helped earn his MA in math: he was working as a salesman for a CAD/CAM company and had given a demo to some gentlemen from a defense contractor which designed explosively-formed penetrator (EFP) warheads. They’d mentioned that they were looking for another designer, so he phoned me.
  5. When they laid me off, I went to work for their customer at US Army ARDEC, necessitating a move from Southern California to Northwestern New Jersey.
  6. When that contract ended, I needed a job for 6 months; I found a job at Exxon estimating the cost of building petroleum processing facilities.
  7. When I returned to Southern California, I got another short-term job: writing software to run the cameras that monitor the freeways in Orange County.
  8. I saw an ad for someone who knew graphics programming; that got me a job at PIMCO, finishing off some software that another employee had started, but hadn’t finished when he quit. I went on to rewrite the bulk of their MBS and CMO analytics, and to develop prepayment models. I also earned my CFA charter whilst I was there.
  9. When I left PIMCO, I went to work for another defense contractor which I knew from my warhead design days: we’d been a subcontractor of theirs. I was doing project risk analysis/management, which is nothing more than applied mathematics.
  10. When I left there I came across my boss’ boss from #3, above. He’d remembered that I’d tutored his daughter in calculus; I hadn’t remembered that. He suggested that I apply to the University of California, Irvine (UCI) to teach risk management. In the course of the interview for that position the head of the program asked if I could teach finance. I mentioned that I’d earned my CFA charter whilst at PIMCO, whereupon she offered me a position developing and teaching CFA review courses at the university.
  11. While at UCI, one of the board members of CFAOC got a phone call from a gentleman at Stalla, looking for a Level III curriculum director; he told that gentleman to contact me. Thus began my (short) career at Stalla, during which I became lead CFA instructor for the Los Angeles area.
  12. When I left Stalla, I stumbled into CFA teaching gigs with Schweser, Fitch, and Wiley, as well as curriculum development for Wiley.
  13. One of my former coworkers at Stalla taught finance at CSU Long Beach, and heard that they were looking for Accounting teachers. He knew that I had a degree in Accounting, so he recommended me there. Thus began my teaching career at CSULB.
  14. Throughout all of this, I have taught math classes off and on at CSUF; since 1980, I’ve taught a total of about 25 years. Once again, it was serendipitous: I had originally planned to take off a year before starting on my master’s degree, but someone told me that as a grad student I would be allowed to teach math classes, so I started on my master’s immediately and began teaching at the same time.

So there you go. With a couple of exceptions, my entire career has come about through serendipity.

I’m really, really _ not _ the one to ask for career advice.

#2

So what you’re saying is that the road to being a charterholder pulling down 7 figures a year starts with a master’s in engineering (or applied math).

#3

I studied pure math (abstract algebra, topology, that sort of thing), not applied math.

So I’m pretty sure that that’s _ not _ what I’m saying about the road.

#4

#5

I’d be concerned about the many career moves if I was hiring you.

“What makes you think you’ll stick around at Duke & Duke for more than six months?”

:wink:

#6

MobiousStriptease and S2000 alter egos? I think so

#7

Which is sort of my point.

#8

COOL!!! dude. my sister studied accounting csulb. she was a member of beta alpha psi. lol. they have a top notch program over there. so mad respect.

#9

To be fair, it appears that the takeaway from the employment history is to do good work and be available and open to new opportunities. Serendipity, while it appears to have played a large role, is really coming second to the quality of your output (and education of course) else how many of the above opportunities would have just gone to the next person. Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

#10

I’m reminded of Strother Martin in Cool Hand Luke.

#11

S2000, you should just attach this to your signature it’d probably save you a lot of linking.

Hope you’re enjoying a nice dram after going down memory lane.

#12

Every person in career forum- “What degree, experience, charter, certificate, traits, and image do I need to land a job at X company making X salary so I can pop bottles and date models?”

S2K- Spends his life furthering his knowledge on topics he enjoys, does things he loves doing, goes out of his way to help others and believe it or not the rest kind of sorted itself out. Happily married to the same lady for a millennium and has more freedom than any executive you can think of. Pretty good advice from a legit BSD if you ask me.

Key takeaway from GOAB POV: Pick a subject you enjoy and hone your craft. Help others and network. Don’t get down when an employer screws you over, even if it’s your own pops. Don’t pigeonhole yourself, be open to new opportunities and challenges. Success isn’t measured in dollars and cents.

#13

GOAB: you flatter me.

But I gotta say, testing EFP warheads is fun!