I'm a (Senior) Mechanical Engineer that has been working in the Oil & Gas Industry for around 10-11 years. I am interested in changing to a different industry (e.g. medical devices, aerospace, automation), as I am feeling somewhat jaded in my current role and would like to try/learn something new and broaden my experience.
However, every job posting that I look at for Engineering positions in other industries seems to require at least 2-3 years of very specific experience in that industry, which I simply don't have. How can I overcome this barrier?
I don't really see this as a 'career change' - it would still be Mechanical Engineering and I have many transferable skills that would be highly relevant to other industries. There must be some way to accomplish this - I know that people manage to make much more significant career changes to completely different paths.
I guess it comes down to the fundamental question of: "If every position requires specific experience, then how does anyone get that experience in the first place?" It would seem ridiculous to me for Engineers to end up being pigeon-holed to the extent that they are trapped in the first industry they happened to find themselves in out of college.