Video- Silicon Valley residents talk about making mid-life career changes
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At an age when many professionals have reached the apex of their careers, some midlife workers are doing what was once unthinkable: They're changing course.
A combination of layoffs, departures from unrewarding or unstable fields, and the desire to follow a dream is leading many to explore second careers.
With opportunities shriveling in everything from the mortgage industry and print journalism to construction, more and more professionals are making dramatic shifts that a previous generation might have viewed as reckless.
Interior designer Angela Gonzalez, a 45-year-old mother of two from Mountain View, says she had always wanted to turn her passion for cooking into something more. Now, she says she's moving toward her "super dream" of starting her own cafe or patisserie in downtown Mountain View through the baking and pastry program at Professional Culinary Institute in Campbell. Gonzalez finishes her schooling this week when she submits her final project, a mousse-like concoction made from guava and dulce de leche that captures some of the flavors of her native Colombia.
"I have little daughters," ages 7 and 10, she says, "and I wanted them to see that if you have a dream you have to go for it."
Denise Ceballos, employment program manager for Campbell One-Stop Career Center, part of the state's Employment Development Department, says though unemployment was higher in Silicon Valley immediately after the dot-com bubble burst, laid-off
Of a group of 21 job seekers who stopped in recently, 13 of them - managers, executives, engineers included - had lost positions that paid more than $100,000 a year.
"They're scared," Ceballos says. "They don't know what skill sets they have that might be transferable. They don't know how to go about becoming a qualified applicant."
If their fields hold little opportunity, they can take advantage of workshops and resources at the center to update their skills or find a temporary job while they continue their search for another.
Melissa Bishop, 38, didn't have the luxury of pursuing an alternate career while employed. The loan processor from San Jose was laid off four times in four years, most recently at the end of 2007.
"My basic instinct was why does the universe hate me so much," she says. "I didn't blame the company. I didn't blame the bosses. I was literally saying, 'What is wrong with me that I keep getting laid off?' "
This time, Bishop is not taking the pink slip personally.
Rather than sinking into the deep depression that followed each previous layoff, Bishop took a proactive approach by "seeing what my options are," turning to self-help books, going to One-Stop and attending a job fair at the San Jose Convention Center, she says. Her interest in a marketing job also led her to the Silicon Valley chapter of SCORE Counselors to America's Small Business, a non-profit association that educates entrepreneurs and encourages the development of small business with the help of executives as volunteers.
"I'm doing it differently this time," Bishop says. "I am doing something to better myself."
Some who are looking to make a change are turning to local colleges, such as Foothill in Los Altos Hills, that offer online classes and programs that increasingly attract career-changing adults.
In the past seven years, the school has seen more midlife students earning skills or career-related certificates, says Foothill dean of counseling Jerry Cellilo. In less than a year of schooling, these students are prepared for jobs in growing fields such as ornamental horticulture or in the burgeoning bio-health industry as paramedics, pharmacy technicians or dental assistants.
"Over 40 percent of the students who come to us from the computer fields and in several areas of bio-health already have bachelor's degrees," Cellilo says. "And they're typically in their 40s. They're saying 'Where's the work?' "
The answer lies in a range of fields, such as bioscience, certain bio-health specialties, wireless networking, voice-over IP technology and child development, Cellilo says.
Dissatisfaction with a current job also leads to midlife career change, says career consultant Carol McClelland, author of "Your Dream Career for Dummies" (2005, Wiley, $16.99, 280 pp.) and founder of the Menlo Park-based Transition Dynamics Enterprises, which offers counseling on career changes.
Since 9/11, more midlife professionals have decided to make such a switch, leaving old jobs for careers more in line with their passions and values, McClelland says.
"They want to do something meaningful," McClelland says, "and they are willing to make those changes in life to make that happen."
Gonzalez, the aspiring chef, made such a change last year when her schedule opened up after both her daughters started going to school for a full day. With more free time, she could take culinary classes with the aim of one day opening her own cafe.
Her packed schedule, which also includes part-time work as an interior designer and hours on her feet as an intern at Chez TJ in Mountain View, has been physically exhausting. But the sacrifice has been worth it, she says.
"Sometimes I'm tired," she says, and finds herself thinking "maybe I'm too old and pulled in too many different directions. I have cried, and at times have felt so stressed out. But if I had the option to do this again, I would totally do it."
Contact Mark de la Viña at mdelavina@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5914.