Career change -- University Language Teacher to Physics....

[ibtissem]

Hello,
I am new here , I am 28 years old with a Linguistics Master degree and a three years experience as a language teacher at University. Since my childhood I was fond of engineering and Physics, but unfortunately and due to some personal circumstances I was not able to pursue a degree in the field.

After seeing a number of inspiring career changes stories I became convinced more than ever that this might be the right path for me . Everyday ,the lack of passion while doing my job reminds of this .

So , please I want to know your opinion of this ?Is it possible for me to realize this dream ? and what are the prospects since I am particularly interested in Computer engineering and Electronic engineering, Thank you in advance.

 

[Dr.D]

It is certainly a possibility for you, and both computers and electronics are in demand.

The main thing I would recommend to you is to look very seriously at two things:
(1) are you sufficiently motivated to see it through? There is absolutely no point in starting if you cannot stay the course.
(2) are you able to finance the whole thing in a reasonable way? I strongly advise against student loans; this is path to life-long bondage. You need to have the resources to get through the whole process, 4 to 5 years, without going deeply into debt.
On the last point, do you have a family that you need to support? If so, don't try it. Can you live with your parents or another relative? Is there any part-time employment available through the school? How can you support yourself all the way through?
These are the critical issues, and I urge you to do it if they are positive, and not to do it if either is negative.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Great questions have already been asked above, which I boil down to: do you really want it badly enough, and do you have a clear path to pay for the needed education and meet other financial needs during the process?

I'd add another: Are you ready for college calculus, or are you willing to learn or relearn the high school math to become ready?

You need a good assessment of where you'd need to start in math to count the cost and estimate the time and effort you might need to spend in math before you are ready for calculus. For $20 or so, you can sign up for a month of ALEKS precalculus. The early assessments will tell you where you stand, and then the system will begin building your skills. If you are not ready for precalculus, then you should take a step back to Algebra 2 or College Algebra, etc.