{"id":24901,"date":"2024-03-26T09:38:53","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T09:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=24901"},"modified":"2024-03-26T09:38:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T09:38:53","slug":"changing-career-has-been-like-a-breath-of-fresh-air-ou-study-made-it-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/student-stories\/changing-career-has-been-like-a-breath-of-fresh-air-ou-study-made-it-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Changing career has been like a breath of fresh air \u2013 OU study made it possible’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Engineering<\/a> graduate Alastair, 41, was in a stable career, but yearned to shake things up professionally. Alastair shares how Open University study opened the door to an exciting new career with amazing prospects for the future.<\/p>\n

Making it happen<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After several years in the police force, Alastair found himself struggling to find fulfilment in his role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved my time in the police force, but progression led to positions that were heavy on management duties,\u201d Alastair says. \u201cI realised that I was doing less of the stuff I enjoyed and mainly dealing with people issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

With career change on his mind, Alastair was searching for inspiration to discover a new path, whilst needing to maintain his income.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was conscious of not jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. I wanted to make sure that if I took this massive step, I\u2019d find a career I would enjoy in the long term,\u201d Alastair remembers. \u201cI read a book called What Colour Is Your Parachute<\/em><\/a>, which I\u2019d recommend to anyone thinking about changing their job \u2013 it really helped me understand what I wanted and importantly, what I didn\u2019t want!.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning while earning<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Following lots of research and deliberation, Alastair settled on Engineering as his chosen path.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realised that I wanted a specialist technical role and when I looked more into Engineering, it excited me,\u201d Alastair explains. \u201cI still had to pay the bills of course, so I looked for part-time courses and that\u2019s when I found the OU. I loved that you could study in your own time from home, it wouldn\u2019t have been manageable for me to carry on working and then travel to lectures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deciding to take the plunge and enrol for his first Engineering module, Alastair remained in the police service while he studied.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a leap of faith, but it didn\u2019t feel too risky because with the OU, you can sign up for one module at a time,\u201d says Alastair. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t like it, I could have reconsidered my options and chosen another subject. Luckily that wasn\u2019t the case – I loved every module and completed my degree at the end of 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back on the challenge of making a career change while holding down a full-time job, Alastair shares what worked for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to a campus university after I left school and I found the OU way of learning absolutely brilliant in comparison,\u201d says Alastair. \u201cThe course materials are top quality and ratified by several experts. When I did my previous degree, I was relying on the perspective of one lecturer and then my own scribbled lecture notes. With the OU, you can go back and review the content at your own pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alastair adds, \u201cI would say to anyone thinking about OU study – go for it, as long as you\u2019re disciplined. You\u2019ll have loads of support from the OU and more flexibility than you\u2019ll find anywhere else, but you need to be self-motivated and know what you\u2019re trying to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reaching the goal<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In the final year of his degree, Alastair landed a graduate opportunity with a world leading aerospace and security firm as a Submarine Systems Engineer.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting into Engineering was definitely the right thing for me. I love the technical nature of the work, I get to travel and there are opportunities for career progression,\u201d Alastair reflects. \u201cI\u2019m working with communications systems for submarines, so it\u2019s been a steep learning curve, but I\u2019m taking on more and more with each stage of my development. Changing my profession has been like a breath of fresh air \u2013 OU study made it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keen to share his experience, Alastair has this advice for anyone looking to switch their career path:<\/p>\n

\u201cTake the time to find out what you want to do<\/strong> \u2013 look at what you\u2019re good at, transferable skills and the reasons you want to move away from what you\u2019re doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCommit to the plan<\/strong> \u2013 once you\u2019ve decided what you\u2019re going to study, put in the effort you need to succeed. Others can help, but only you can make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUse support networks<\/strong> \u2013 I used forums, went to tutorials and spoke to fellow students who understood what I was going through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBe professional<\/strong> \u2013 update your CV and LinkedIn profile, make the most of any voluntary development opportunities that come your way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Engineering graduate Alastair, 41, was in a stable career, but yearned to shake things up professionally. Alastair shares how Open University study opened the door to an exciting new career with amazing prospects for the future. Making it happen After several years in the police force, Alastair found himself struggling to find fulfilment in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":24902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1525,1643,2142],"class_list":["post-24901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories","tag-news-home","tag-ou-news","tag-student-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}