first career: electromagnetics, design/test, lasted 4 years. great boss and team, terrible employer, not seeing growth or long-term prospects.
2nd: system design/integration/test engineering for IT systems, lasted 7.5 years
3rd: cloud engineering/developer, 1.5 years and going (was dabbling with this in 2nd career, got spotted and poached)
seeing where tech and jobs are going, connecting dots, getting the latest tech certs helps make the wallet fatter. having a BS and MSEE helped, makes me a better well-rounded engineer to understand projects from multiple facets, and got to be the lead on several projects.
having a side RE hustle made me understand costs, deliverables, timelines.
running to where the futbol will land.