Hello,
Wondering if I can solicit some brief feedback. I'm new to the group.
I found myself in the tech industry for almost 18 years. Mostly because I fell into it in the late 90's, it paid well and at the time that's what was necessary having just gotten married, then two kids with two more on the way. Selling software and hard ware solutions to health care entities was a good job.
18 years later - I realize I should have been an engineer involved with product development and operations. I have successfully designed and launched two retail products as a weekend warrior, acquired manufacturing in China mostly just because I didn't need that much capital and now also manage logistics of the supply chain and vendor negotiations as my weekend hobby. But I cant do this full time, it doesn't pay enough, maybe someday it will but not right now. I was fun at first but now it occupies my life.
What I would really like to do is work for a company that could provide some sort of product development assistant/apprenticeship for working my way into a position where I could learn the internal/external processes and workings of manufacturing products and someday be a director of operations or manage product development.
Would someone be able to tell me what type of jobs I could search for where I could get in the door and work my way up through the food chain of manufacturing and product development. I've tried to find them on linked in and places like ladders but I don't know what to call them. Almost all product dev requirements ask for some type of an engineering degree and I don't have one. I was hoping that being a member of PDMA someone could provide some advice and possibly help steer me in the right direction. I am passionate about this kind of work - I just need to find it.
Thank you in advance!
Doug
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Doug Krentz
Business Development - New Product's
DRK INTL LLC
Long Valley NJ
908-343-5382
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