From Law Enforcement to Tech Sales Engineer: How A Mid-Career Change Translated 24 Years Behind the Badge into a $35K Pay Increase

After twenty-four years in law enforcement as a Captain, Tavis made a mid-career change into tech that translated his public sector experience into a $35K pay increase. The story of how he made the jump from a long-tenure law enforcement role into a Sales Engineer position is the kind of executive career change most people in his position assume isn't possible. He had to work through the fear that his background would be a strike against him, the doubt about whether his transferable skills would carry into the private sector, and the years of quietly considering the move before he actually did it. What he found on the other side was that the skills he'd spent two decades building were exactly what tech hiring managers were looking for, once he knew how to talk about them. In this episode: What Tavis was telling himself to stay in law enforcement, and when he stopped believing it The Clifton Strengths work that gave him clarity on what he actually wanted next The negotiation that landed a $35K pay increase on top of an already-strong offer Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here ! Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation Free Resources What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out! Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over. Related Episodes Designing Career Experiments and Testing New Careers ( Spotify / Apple Podcasts ) Executive Burnout: Making A Midlife Career Change ( Spotify / Apple Podcasts )

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From Law Enforcement to Tech Sales Engineer: How A Mid-Career Change Translated 24 Years Behind the Badge into a $35K Pay Increase is an episode from Happen to Your Career | A podcast for people who want Career Happiness ; Also Career Transition, Career Change Tools, Dream Job, Figure out what you want, Jobs, Strengths, How to Be Awesome at Your Job, by Scott Anthony Barlow.

This episode is 22:53 long.

This episode was published on May 28, 2026.

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