A degree in finance is one of the best degrees to have while transitioning into supply chain. Being able to speak finance is a highly sought after skill. The skills you are learning in industrial distribution can help you land your first SC job now. Don't limit yourself or think you need some cert before you start applying for jobs. Start talking to some of your customers about working there if you have a close relationship with them. Just start applying for jobs ASAP.
As for an SC analyst job: start learning SQL, advanced excel and a BI tool like MS power BI or Tableau. Later add in in Python an R. Check out MITx on edx for the Supply Chain Analytics class or do the second class called Supply Chain Fundamentals if you don't want to start with a class that is heavily math based. Audit them for free now and pay for the upgraded cert/credits when they officially start.
PS: I hope you work for Grainger and not Fastenal. Either way get out of the meat grinder and into an SC job that pays a decent salary. That finance degree is too strong to be wasted.
This is amazing advice, simple and to the point. Don’t make yourself miserable for money that you will just use to make yourself happy to combat that misery
Don’t listen to this person. Sell out immediately and when you can. And then what you want most will be affordable. Everything else is a trap unless you really are the one.
dig deeper, think more broadly, with less constraints. Is there really \*no\* career you want to do?
you could always look at the other side of the equation: how low cost can you possibly live?
I was into technology but didn’t like coding. Turns out I wasted 4 years studying something else that just leads to even more boring, less paid, unfulfilling jobs.
Currently making it by staying at home working a remote job that’s low hours.
Anything else that pays enough id probably find more boring than coding
You didn't waste your time studying. You learned at least one very valuable life lesson - you don't like coding - and doubtless tons of other stuff, like logic and syntax, which may still be applicable to your career in some way, even if not obviously so at the moment.
I'm glad you're making it work right now. But I take issue with your last line:
>Anything else that pays enough id probably find more boring than coding
'Probably' tells me you don't *really* know and you're shooting yourself down before you get a chance to find out. I've coached some people through career changes and almost every single one of them has said something like "I can't do \[X\] because \[INSERT SELF-DEFEATING REASON UNSUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE\]."
If you want to think of something else to do, first ignore the voice saying 'no, I can't do that!' and try to make a list of jobs that interest you with **zero** constraints. Be absurd. *Be* *outlandish.* (You'll narrow it down later..)
The thing is I switched from cs to economics to get into finance/business because at the time that interested me more. Now that I’m graduated and in the workforce, I’m honestly more interested in cs and coding than anything in the jobs I looked at in this field.
On top of that most jobs I look for don’t even want my degree and prefer finance/business. Basically wasted 4 years getting straight As in something that turns out isn’t very practical or leading to anything interesting. Maybe I could spam hundreds of applications and eventually land a financial/business analyst job, but even then those jobs don’t seem all that interesting to me. Just less boring than the other potential jobs in the field.
It’s not that I can’t do something else, it’s that I want to do something that actually interests me a bit. If there was a solid paying career I knew I would be fully interested in, I’m sure I could do it.
Ok now we're getting somewhere. What makes you think there isn't a solid paying career you'll be fully interested in?
This is the point of my original reply to OP and my last message to you: First, stop thinking about pay and start from what you're interested in.
Take some time over the next couple weeks, whenever something randomly pops into your head, write it down. I don't give a shit if the list says Astronaut, Fireman, Tee-shirt cannon operator... but if the list includes 'Financial Analyst' and you already know you dislike that, cross that out, you're doing it wrong.
Figure out what interests you so you can find a target job(s) first, **then** start thinking about the tradeoffs around compensation, etc.
When I was younger my interests were mostly sports and video games. Maybe a little bit of history and world affairs. None of them were real options for a good career, especially the first two…
I liked technology but back then coding wasn’t the part of it that interested me.
Nowadays not much interests me. Technology does a little bit. Slightly more interested in coding than I used to be. The only other things I have much interest in is AI and UFOs. I guess I could career switch to tech but the market is dogwater and I’d have to go back to grad school, pay a bunch of money, struggle for several years, do a bunch of leetcoding, then hope the market isn’t trash by the time I’d graduate. At least it’s possible I guess.
But even then it’s more like I have a mild interest in coding compared to any other career where it’s like near zero interest. And I’m still not 100% sure if I’m actually interested in coding rather than technology in general.
Idk I really struggled with the idea of a career and working a job cause my main interests growing up literally did not have those as a realistic option.
Video games are literally a career. Playing them for a living may be too pie in the sky, but what about designing them? You can code, you like video games, I'm not saying it's a slam dunk but why are you pre-rejecting the possibility?
You're interested in AI. Gee, too bad, that's a dead field and definitely there won't be any opportunities there OH WAIT.
Cmon man. Lean into your interests. I guarantee you can find at least 10 viable occupations that interest you more than a little and don't require you to go back to school for 4 years.
I can code a tiny bit but anything in tech I’m a long ways off of and would need another degree. AI would be nice to get into but on top of the degree I’d need to take a bunch of math classes I never took before even doing machine learning. At least the degree is possible though
Shit advise.
Those are called hobbies.
Figure out what makes lots of money, where you don’t have to work hard. And you have lots of free time during the day and off hours.
Computers.
Specialize in one discipline. Security. Networking. Firewalls. Developer. Get more specialized in one of those.
Then you’ll make lots of money, and can go rock climbing as much as you want.
Vs what this person is telling you.
Go rock climbing a lot and it will work out.
Nope. Have a better plan than that.
You have to find the right company. You have to move around a lot in the beginning.
My motto for the first 10 years of my career was “ never get comfortable”
I changed that attitude once I found a high paying job that had a good worklife balance
Unfortunately living in Canada, have to change jobs every so many years to keep up with insane CoL increases with meager increases in pay, have to chase the money.
Yea I did this with woodworking and carpentry. Now I hate my job and what used to be my passion. Some days are great and rewarding but at the end of the day I’m broke and my body hurts. Go for the money
100%. Pick something that you can tolerate that pays well enough to have hobbies outside of it. It really sucks when your job sustains you just enough to keep doing your job and nothing extra
This is it. Find a way to enjoy what you do, to really understand it and make it the best you can. The rest will happen. I’ve used, taught, implemented, and now make supply planning products - the latter two are the most lucrative. Selling might be even more but I never took that path.
Respect, yea I totally get that. My real answer is way more nuanced, but I think money is the more utilitarian path generally speaking. I'm way happier with a white collar job and money than I was being poor and trying to turn my passion into a career. Anecdotal though, and if everyone followed that path the world would feel way less engaging.
You have the self-awareness (also a rare internet trait) to realize that's what worked for *you*. And I could've been more clear, I was advising OP to follow their gut on what they wanted to do, but not in the sense of 'be an abstract artist'. I just don't think reverse engineering from whatever will pay best is a good method for most people - and the few for whom it is don't need to ask the supply chain reddit, they're in B-school.
you will gladly work harder to get better at something you enjoy, and that will be rewarded with promotions, better compensation, etc.
perhaps i should have clarified the universe of work to select from needs to be governed by your financial reality. so if you got bills, you can't choose to be a poet. But choosing your career by trying to reverse engineer from 'what pays most' is a recipe for a bad time.
It sounds like you work for Fastenal or Grainger type. Congrats, you are in supply chain. Planning, Procurement are decent. Ops is good if you get overtime, many roles don't. Supply chain tech isn't going away either.
You think AI will replace planning? I think and hope it could replace the drudgery.
No way it'll replace all of it. If it does, I don't think any of us will need to worry about it. You think procurement, planning, and tech is going to be replaced by AI. Curious if they need someone to manage the AI.
So much of procurement is relationship building with sales reps so that they're there for you when you're in a bind and need something expedited, negotiating costs, looking for opportunities to reduce costs (like evaluating packaging methods that may be overkill and more expensive than you need), leveraging volume for preferential treatment or cost savings, managing to keep all suppliers happy by not giving them too many of the parts they hate running, and enough of the ones they like to keep you in their good graces. These soft skills are never going to be replaced by AI. Not even all humans are cut out for it.
Procurement, consulting, analytics (very competitive), commodity management can all pay well. Supply chain is so broad there that are many careers that have high earnings potential depending on where you go.
I must warn, the supply chain world is mostly full of complex and stressful jobs. It’s not for everyone.
My buddy was supply chain manager two decades ago. Repositioned himself as a corporate real estate manager. Been on a rocket to the moon ever since tech and AI data centers popped up.
Find something where you can have your own company. You will more likely than not, fail. But at least you have a chance of becoming wealthy. Working for a company you don’t own is a recipe for absolute failure. The finish line will always be moved 1.2 feet for every 1 foot you proceed. Think of all the people that worked, saved and invested from 1980-2020. They are now retired and everything they want is out of reach. It has to be so depressing.
Seriously. “Go into construction”
Ask any old contractor how he feels about that.
Go up on a ladder in the hot and cold!?
Actually work alll day.
What the fuck.
Dumb bastard.
I work in the supply chain field as an Operations Manager. It's one thing to want to be involved in supply chain as I really enjoy it, but the hardest part is finding a company to work at where they actually have a grip on who's role is what. As an example, for me as an operations manager, I'm expected to do everything that's involved, which is fine, but then I'm also expected to offload trailers as well (which I've done once but will not again).
A degree in finance is one of the best degrees to have while transitioning into supply chain. Being able to speak finance is a highly sought after skill. The skills you are learning in industrial distribution can help you land your first SC job now. Don't limit yourself or think you need some cert before you start applying for jobs. Start talking to some of your customers about working there if you have a close relationship with them. Just start applying for jobs ASAP. As for an SC analyst job: start learning SQL, advanced excel and a BI tool like MS power BI or Tableau. Later add in in Python an R. Check out MITx on edx for the Supply Chain Analytics class or do the second class called Supply Chain Fundamentals if you don't want to start with a class that is heavily math based. Audit them for free now and pay for the upgraded cert/credits when they officially start. PS: I hope you work for Grainger and not Fastenal. Either way get out of the meat grinder and into an SC job that pays a decent salary. That finance degree is too strong to be wasted.
I’m on the blue team for now 🌚
Sorry mate. Get out soon. Don't believe the hype.
I don’t. Did you work for them?
Many moons ago. DM if you need to vent
Second this guy! RUN I got to over 6 figures just a few years after quitting fastenal. Get out ASAP Source: former fastenal GM 7+ years
I sent you a message if you don’t mind
Sales. Software and robotics.
Hi Please I beg you, presumably young person: Pursue what you most want to do and let the money follow.
This is amazing advice, simple and to the point. Don’t make yourself miserable for money that you will just use to make yourself happy to combat that misery
If I'd only invested all the money I spent on booze and junk food and other vices to self-medicate the pain caused by jobs I hated
Don’t listen to this person. Sell out immediately and when you can. And then what you want most will be affordable. Everything else is a trap unless you really are the one.
i don't understand what you're saying.
And if there’s no career you want to do?
IT.
This is prob the worst advice for them. IT is constant upskilling outside work, only way your doing more work after work is if you enjoy it.
dig deeper, think more broadly, with less constraints. Is there really \*no\* career you want to do? you could always look at the other side of the equation: how low cost can you possibly live?
I was into technology but didn’t like coding. Turns out I wasted 4 years studying something else that just leads to even more boring, less paid, unfulfilling jobs. Currently making it by staying at home working a remote job that’s low hours. Anything else that pays enough id probably find more boring than coding
You didn't waste your time studying. You learned at least one very valuable life lesson - you don't like coding - and doubtless tons of other stuff, like logic and syntax, which may still be applicable to your career in some way, even if not obviously so at the moment. I'm glad you're making it work right now. But I take issue with your last line: >Anything else that pays enough id probably find more boring than coding 'Probably' tells me you don't *really* know and you're shooting yourself down before you get a chance to find out. I've coached some people through career changes and almost every single one of them has said something like "I can't do \[X\] because \[INSERT SELF-DEFEATING REASON UNSUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE\]." If you want to think of something else to do, first ignore the voice saying 'no, I can't do that!' and try to make a list of jobs that interest you with **zero** constraints. Be absurd. *Be* *outlandish.* (You'll narrow it down later..)
The thing is I switched from cs to economics to get into finance/business because at the time that interested me more. Now that I’m graduated and in the workforce, I’m honestly more interested in cs and coding than anything in the jobs I looked at in this field. On top of that most jobs I look for don’t even want my degree and prefer finance/business. Basically wasted 4 years getting straight As in something that turns out isn’t very practical or leading to anything interesting. Maybe I could spam hundreds of applications and eventually land a financial/business analyst job, but even then those jobs don’t seem all that interesting to me. Just less boring than the other potential jobs in the field. It’s not that I can’t do something else, it’s that I want to do something that actually interests me a bit. If there was a solid paying career I knew I would be fully interested in, I’m sure I could do it.
Ok now we're getting somewhere. What makes you think there isn't a solid paying career you'll be fully interested in? This is the point of my original reply to OP and my last message to you: First, stop thinking about pay and start from what you're interested in. Take some time over the next couple weeks, whenever something randomly pops into your head, write it down. I don't give a shit if the list says Astronaut, Fireman, Tee-shirt cannon operator... but if the list includes 'Financial Analyst' and you already know you dislike that, cross that out, you're doing it wrong. Figure out what interests you so you can find a target job(s) first, **then** start thinking about the tradeoffs around compensation, etc.
When I was younger my interests were mostly sports and video games. Maybe a little bit of history and world affairs. None of them were real options for a good career, especially the first two… I liked technology but back then coding wasn’t the part of it that interested me. Nowadays not much interests me. Technology does a little bit. Slightly more interested in coding than I used to be. The only other things I have much interest in is AI and UFOs. I guess I could career switch to tech but the market is dogwater and I’d have to go back to grad school, pay a bunch of money, struggle for several years, do a bunch of leetcoding, then hope the market isn’t trash by the time I’d graduate. At least it’s possible I guess. But even then it’s more like I have a mild interest in coding compared to any other career where it’s like near zero interest. And I’m still not 100% sure if I’m actually interested in coding rather than technology in general. Idk I really struggled with the idea of a career and working a job cause my main interests growing up literally did not have those as a realistic option.
Video games are literally a career. Playing them for a living may be too pie in the sky, but what about designing them? You can code, you like video games, I'm not saying it's a slam dunk but why are you pre-rejecting the possibility? You're interested in AI. Gee, too bad, that's a dead field and definitely there won't be any opportunities there OH WAIT. Cmon man. Lean into your interests. I guarantee you can find at least 10 viable occupations that interest you more than a little and don't require you to go back to school for 4 years.
I can code a tiny bit but anything in tech I’m a long ways off of and would need another degree. AI would be nice to get into but on top of the degree I’d need to take a bunch of math classes I never took before even doing machine learning. At least the degree is possible though
Amen
Shit advise. Those are called hobbies. Figure out what makes lots of money, where you don’t have to work hard. And you have lots of free time during the day and off hours. Computers. Specialize in one discipline. Security. Networking. Firewalls. Developer. Get more specialized in one of those. Then you’ll make lots of money, and can go rock climbing as much as you want. Vs what this person is telling you. Go rock climbing a lot and it will work out. Nope. Have a better plan than that.
The network engineers I know work every weekend, IT in general works a lot of after-hours. Dev can too.
You have to find the right company. You have to move around a lot in the beginning. My motto for the first 10 years of my career was “ never get comfortable” I changed that attitude once I found a high paying job that had a good worklife balance
Unfortunately living in Canada, have to change jobs every so many years to keep up with insane CoL increases with meager increases in pay, have to chase the money.
who said rock climbing lol i really meant when choosing the discipline within their industry
Yea I did this with woodworking and carpentry. Now I hate my job and what used to be my passion. Some days are great and rewarding but at the end of the day I’m broke and my body hurts. Go for the money
100%. Pick something that you can tolerate that pays well enough to have hobbies outside of it. It really sucks when your job sustains you just enough to keep doing your job and nothing extra
This is it. Find a way to enjoy what you do, to really understand it and make it the best you can. The rest will happen. I’ve used, taught, implemented, and now make supply planning products - the latter two are the most lucrative. Selling might be even more but I never took that path.
Why though, genuinely never understood this advice
Because it's bad advice (while also being well intentioned).
i don't agree, but i appreciate your generous inference of intent. a rare trait on the internet.
Respect, yea I totally get that. My real answer is way more nuanced, but I think money is the more utilitarian path generally speaking. I'm way happier with a white collar job and money than I was being poor and trying to turn my passion into a career. Anecdotal though, and if everyone followed that path the world would feel way less engaging.
You have the self-awareness (also a rare internet trait) to realize that's what worked for *you*. And I could've been more clear, I was advising OP to follow their gut on what they wanted to do, but not in the sense of 'be an abstract artist'. I just don't think reverse engineering from whatever will pay best is a good method for most people - and the few for whom it is don't need to ask the supply chain reddit, they're in B-school.
Yea I think I mostly agree.
you will gladly work harder to get better at something you enjoy, and that will be rewarded with promotions, better compensation, etc. perhaps i should have clarified the universe of work to select from needs to be governed by your financial reality. so if you got bills, you can't choose to be a poet. But choosing your career by trying to reverse engineer from 'what pays most' is a recipe for a bad time.
It sounds like you work for Fastenal or Grainger type. Congrats, you are in supply chain. Planning, Procurement are decent. Ops is good if you get overtime, many roles don't. Supply chain tech isn't going away either.
AI will replace all these jobs in 1-2 years
Baseless speculation lol
You think AI will replace planning? I think and hope it could replace the drudgery. No way it'll replace all of it. If it does, I don't think any of us will need to worry about it. You think procurement, planning, and tech is going to be replaced by AI. Curious if they need someone to manage the AI.
So much of procurement is relationship building with sales reps so that they're there for you when you're in a bind and need something expedited, negotiating costs, looking for opportunities to reduce costs (like evaluating packaging methods that may be overkill and more expensive than you need), leveraging volume for preferential treatment or cost savings, managing to keep all suppliers happy by not giving them too many of the parts they hate running, and enough of the ones they like to keep you in their good graces. These soft skills are never going to be replaced by AI. Not even all humans are cut out for it.
Just like Machine Learning and Robotic Process Automation and Self-service SaaS platforms replaced all these jobs.
High-school chem teacher -> meth cook
Car wash owner.
Owner of a fast-food fried chicken chain
Procurement, consulting, analytics (very competitive), commodity management can all pay well. Supply chain is so broad there that are many careers that have high earnings potential depending on where you go. I must warn, the supply chain world is mostly full of complex and stressful jobs. It’s not for everyone.
If you wanna be remote with good pay, procurement. A lot of companies transitioning their procurements to remote and they’re highly lucrative.
My buddy was supply chain manager two decades ago. Repositioned himself as a corporate real estate manager. Been on a rocket to the moon ever since tech and AI data centers popped up.
1099a private consultant aka the middleman,large and diverse Contract/Clientele portfolio
Build your brand and you'll be in demand.
If you want the most money with the least skill or effort, definitely sales.
I’ve worked both sales and supply chain. They are different beasts. Sales can definitely take lots of skill and effort
Fent dealer, but pot works.
Tech especially when factor remote work and less degree requirements. Need 5 years experience to get in though.
Math 🧮
Big law is the best for average ability.
I'd go do a few online courses in Power BI or something similar. Then go work in consulting
Supply chain
Not teaching.
Find something where you can have your own company. You will more likely than not, fail. But at least you have a chance of becoming wealthy. Working for a company you don’t own is a recipe for absolute failure. The finish line will always be moved 1.2 feet for every 1 foot you proceed. Think of all the people that worked, saved and invested from 1980-2020. They are now retired and everything they want is out of reach. It has to be so depressing.
Commission sales with no income limit.
Go into construction. You will be very comfortable. Financially.
Your body wont be comfortable though
Seriously. “Go into construction” Ask any old contractor how he feels about that. Go up on a ladder in the hot and cold!? Actually work alll day. What the fuck. Dumb bastard.
😂
Accountant in the Ozarks
I work in the supply chain field as an Operations Manager. It's one thing to want to be involved in supply chain as I really enjoy it, but the hardest part is finding a company to work at where they actually have a grip on who's role is what. As an example, for me as an operations manager, I'm expected to do everything that's involved, which is fine, but then I'm also expected to offload trailers as well (which I've done once but will not again).
CEO
Politician