u/rnnr25

In 2018, I was waitlisted for my PhD at UCLA; it was my first choice school. Unfortunately, I never moved off the list and kind of just set aside my dream of getting that last degree.

I was lucky to work in my field part-time, and had another part-time job for supplemental income. That job ended up hiring me full-time, so I pivoted. After almost 8 years with the company, they laid me off in February of this year. EDD recommended I take advantage of the WIOA program while I looked for work, and luckily, I was able to enroll in the UCLA Extension program where I'm now working towards a Data Science certificate. I also got a new (and much better) job that wants to dive into data science more next year, so the timing felt kismet.

I've seen a lot of debates on whether or not folks in the Extension program can say they went to UCLA or are alumni, and I don't consider myself a student of UCLA itself. As someone who went through a rigorous application process, just to ultimately be rejected, I know how hard and expensive it is to actually attend UCLA. However, it feels so good to be adjacent to it in some way after wanting to attend the school so badly all those years ago. I do feel a little self-conscious wearing a UCLA hat or sweatshirt (I have corrected someone that I'm just in the Extension program, not an actual student/alum), but truly, I'm just so happy that I can be affiliated with the school as an offshoot.

I don't know what the point of this is, but I just wanted to share that my dream (kinda) came true.

I do have an BA/MA in Film Studies, but when I was at my most recent job, I learned how to code from a really great mentor and worked my way up to a data analyst, which is what I did for the 5/7 years I was at my company until I was laid off in February.

I didn't love my job, and I had ethical conflicts with it because I felt like we were pushing expensive greenwashed product onto customers, but I was thankful for my job nonetheless. However, in my time there, I knew I wanted to pivot to working in conservation/environmental science; I wanted my work to make a positive impact, especially since my five year old has been coming home from school with climate anxiety (everyday I pick him up, he says he's "...just worried about our oceans and our planet" after learning about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. But don't worry, we do a lot of volunteering like beach clean ups and native plant restoration to help out!).

I interviewed for an entry level position doing dev ops for a local aquarium which I thought would be a great place for me to start to not only learn more about and be more involved with conservation work, but also allowed me to flex data skills I had. I found out today I'm not moving on in the hiring process and I'm devastated. I have been applying to general analyst jobs, but keeping an eye out for things in environmental fields but just don't have the degrees or experience. Since I got an MA, I'm pretty deep in debt, so going back to school isn't an option. However, I'm working with a career specialist through EDD to see if I can't go back to get a data science certificate through a special program; I've talked to some nice folks in r/marinebiology who said R would be great to learn, and I could do that if I get approved to enroll.

I guess to get to the point (sorry, I think I'm just word-vomiting my feelings right now), are there places you folks would recommend to look for entry-level work, or would you suggest getting experience in something else first? Are there maybe job titles I'm missing when searching? I've thought about the California Climate Actions Corps, but fellow positions don't start until September. I know this is a huge pivot and finding a job for anyone right now in any field is stressful, so I really appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or even criticism in all of this. Thank you so much for your time!