(This story is sponsored by Vancouver Community College.)

Whether you’re straight out of high school or looking for a career change, it’s never too late to start living your dreams.

But motivational quotes aside, sometimes limitless possibility can be overwhelming.

Heather Beaulieu is a civil/structural graduate at RJC Engineers who studied electrical engineering and then went on to complete the computer-aided drafting (CAD) and building-information modelling (BIM) program at Vancouver Community College.

In her current role, she relies on all her qualifications to take on responsibilities from drafting to site reviews.

But her journey to get where she is now—doing a job she loves—was not the linear path we might expect.

Below, she shares her experience and some of the tips she’s learned along the way.

Figure out what you enjoy

“It’s really cliché but figure out what you enjoy, look at a bunch of different options, and see where you think your interests cross.”

For Beaulieu, diversity and being able to work on a variety of projects are really important.

After completing her electrical engineering degree, she was lucky to land a job as a construction engineer in training. This is not the typical path for someone with her qualifications, but she realized it was something that she really liked.

“I was looking at some of the ways that I could possibly get back to that point. And I thought perhaps drafting might give me a bit of a leg up. Thus far, it’s working out splendidly!”

Find out your options

Knowing your different options can be very helpful.

Many schools, including VCC, offer open house events and information sessions where you can learn more about the different programs available.

But it’s important to understand the type of real-life jobs courses might lead to. Beaulieu says that VCC was very good at preparing her for her current role, but she notes that now, unlike being in the classroom, she deals with many responsibilities at once.

“At school, you work on one project for a very long time until you get it 100 percent done and ready to hand it in. But I’ve found for me, when you’re actually working for a company, it’s much more along the lines of, ‘Today you’re going to be working on this, tomorrow you’re going to be working on something different.’”

Working environment

This might seem simple, but a quick way of filtering down your career options is by determining the type of working environment you’re looking for.

For example, would you be happy sitting at a desk all day or would you like to be on your feet? Are you a team player or a lone wolf?

Depending on your answers, you will find different options best suited to your skills and motivators.

Talk to people

“By all means, draw on the people around you. You don’t need to make all of the mistakes yourself,” Beaulieu advises.

If someone is doing something you’re interested in, she encourages you to talk to them and find out how they got there.

“I took a very roundabout route to get to where I am now. So sometimes it’s about talking to those people and saying, ‘How did you get here?’ ‘If you could do it again, how would you do it?’ ‘What steps would you skip?’ For me, since I’m essentially working as an engineering technologist, maybe I wouldn’t want to go for a full engineering degree because they’re very different.”

Change is good

 “Be open to change. Obviously when I got my electrical engineering degree, I did not expect to enjoy construction. That was the job I managed to get and I really enjoyed it. So just because it’s something you don’t expect, doesn’t mean it’s something you won’t enjoy.”

Learn more about your options at Experience VCC taking place on Wednesday (April 25) from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Vancouver Community College’s Broadway Campus (1155 East Broadway).