Serious Career path alternatives during the COVID pandemic

[Ashaebi]

It's clear as day that COVID has severely disrupted and affected workforces around the world with some industries clearly taking a bigger hit than others. I decided to make this thread so that people who are either currently employed or are in academia to get ready for employment in their respective industries share their experiences on how COVID has affected their field of practice if it did and if or if not people have had considered maybe switching to an entire career path altogether that has been less impacted because of it so that others that might be in a similar situation as you can also consider following suit or take note as a possible action to make.

Suggestions on discussion points:

1. What field of profession do you currently work in/are studying for
2. Has COVID affected/is likely to affect your future employment and if so how specifically
3. Have you considered switching professions either temporarily or permanently because of the pandemic and if yes what might that be

As for myself I'm a commercial pilot cadet in training in Australia without about 1400 hours (as of posting this thread) of training left before the Civil Aviation government can grant me a license for employment. Aviation around the world took an especially big hit by the COVID pandemic considering so many international routes have to either be limited strictly or even shut down altogether which is a really unfortunate timing is you're training to work in the aviation industry. Qantas the local Australian airline has already sacked a significant chunk of their workforce and Virgin Australia has filed for administration back in April but that was due to their business already going belly up before COVID struck Australia. Even the regional airlines including Jetstar and Tigerair have sacked a significant chunk of their workforce and are even retiring their aircraft fleets one by one because they're just unused or not worth operating anymore and my pessimism for a place in commercial employment is quite through the roof.

Currently thinking of a career in the Royal Air Force as well as the Royal Flying Doctors because that's the next best alternative that will never go out of business even in the midst of a pandemic. If the commercial airlines industry finds a turning point and resurrects from the current rut they are in, will probably join whoever pays more.

 

[MegaFlareon]

1) Graduated college with a degree in Biology. Right now I work as a sales representative in a pharmaceutical company. Our clients are usually doctors and we usually go to hospitals to present our products to them.

2) With Hospitals full of COVID patients, we cannot present our products to the doctors personally. Even if we could present our products over Zoom, I myself am not really comfortable doing that considering that doctors are already stressed out with our current situation. Aside from that, sales from our less crucial products are dropping hard though the crucial medicine (the ones patients really need to take) remain relatively stable. With sales lower and because we work at home right now, the company doesn't give us food and transportation allowance which cuts our earnings by a significant amount. Still, I am thankful that our company chose to keep their employees and still pay us our salary.

3) I plan to take Master's degree in Biology (maybe next year, though I'm fine with online classes) and switch my career as a scientist / researcher. While I'm thankful for my current job, I'm not really comfortable on the sales industry. Sales talk is not really my forte. This pandemic made me realize that I want to help the society in the future by helping create medicines and vaccines in case future epidemics and pandemics happen.

 

[Ashaebi]

1) Graduated college with a degree in Biology. Right now I work as a sales representative in a pharmaceutical company. Our clients are usually doctors and we usually go to hospitals to present our products to them.

2) With Hospitals full of COVID patients, we cannot present our products to the doctors personally. Even if we could present our products over Zoom, I myself am not really comfortable doing that considering that doctors are already stressed out with our current situation. Aside from that, sales from our less crucial products are dropping hard though the crucial medicine (the ones patients really need to take) remain relatively stable. With sales lower and because we work at home right now, the company doesn't give us food and transportation allowance which cuts our earnings by a significant amount. Still, I am thankful that our company chose to keep their employees and still pay us our salary.

3) I plan to take Master's degree in Biology (maybe next year, though I'm fine with online classes) and switch my career as a scientist / researcher. While I'm thankful for my current job, I'm not really comfortable on the sales industry. Sales talk is not really my forte. This pandemic made me realize that I want to help the society in the future by helping create medicines and vaccines in case future epidemics and pandemics happen.

Not all heroes wear capes, gotta salute our medical personnel to assist the public during difficult times!

 

[doublenikesocks]

1. What field of profession do you currently work in/are studying for
I work in the pharmaceutical industry as a process engineer.
2. Has COVID affected/is likely to affect your future employment and if so how specifically
One of the industries that employs the largest number of chemical engineers is oil and gas. Because of COVID, increasingly stringent environmental controls, and increased competition from the Middle East, the industry is in its worst shape in quite some time. This has led to mass layoffs of engineers in that industry and closure of refineries in the US and Europe. My plan during school was to work in oil and gas, but there's no chance of that happening anymore, so I switched to pharmaceuticals because it has been less affected by the pandemic and because it is an industry with long term growth potential.
3. Have you considered switching professions either temporarily or permanently because of the pandemic and if yes what might that be
I have not considered switching out of engineering, but changing industries or going to grad school. Another industry I was interested in is semiconductor chip manufacturing but that has also experienced slowdown due to the pandemic as well as Intel's process troubles.

 

[SOMALIA]

1. I work in Education - Secondary/high School physics
2. Thankfully this is one of those sectors that won't be affected much. Yes, there is a general switch to online learning at the moment but I am already use to it. Funny that being a YouTuber a decade would help in terms of recording / streaming etc lol
3. I am very happy with my job, I use to work as a Reservoir engineer (like the don xtra$hine) as an intern for a few months and while that'd pay me over £100,000 at the moment had i managed to keep that job since 2015, I'd still be kinda weary had I still had a job in that field due to the uncertainty with COVID + The butchering of the field in recent years.
With teaching, I am slowly progressing to hopefully becoming a senior leader within the school and then head teacher / principal. Additionally, I tutor in my spare time and the extra money is nice, the lack of consistent teaching in schools in some areas means alot of parents are trying to get some form of tutoring to supplement their kid's education. Job is really fun as well and is very fulfilling, this is someone who quit 3 jobs (all within 3 months of starting) just because I found them boring.