Perhaps the hardest part of switching careers is staying focused and staying the course.  Why: there will be resistance; there’s always resistance.  When I went for my Masters degree several years ago now, I got a lot of resistance, yet I was dogged and determined because I felt this was God’s direction for my life, and I also had awesome support from my wife (which admittedly waned when we started having kids), which helped a great deal.  This time around, nothing much has changed: I truly feel this is God’s direction for my life at this moment in time, and my wife is actually pushing me to make the switch.  Semiconductors is slowly killing me and teaching is my passion.  The resistance this time will come from: my need to make money on occasion, my old career wanting to “snare” me into long hours (study hours!) to make that money; and all the hoops I will need to jump through to do something I feel I’m already able to do: teach.  The hoops (bureaucracy, put in place to see who truly belongs) are a necessary evil.  I have no doubt that there are no shortcuts to this process, nor am I looking very hard for them.  As for money, the need is real.  I just spent most of my safety net last year on not succeeding in business.  I still have some cash, but I doubt I can stretch it for too long — I’ll need to work while I study, so I’ll need to do the occasional consulting gig to replenish my cash reserves.  I am definitely NOT thinking of a traditional job right now, unless that job is flexible enough to allow me to go to class when I need to (my former, former company allowed me to this for my Masters — I worked a split shift, which was perfect for my line of work anyway).

OK, so I don’t have the job thing nailed down at this time.  I would absolutely love to do my studies without the need to work.  Ideally, I’d like to find teaching opportunities, even at low pay, for the experience I will need to fulfill my requirements.  To start with though, I need to plan, focus and execute.