The college bargain is not what it used to be. Gone is the exchange of four years in return for a guaranteed, lucrative job. Today's higher education is more competitive and more expensive. It not enough just to get a degree. Candidates considering a first or second career path must approach the matter with clarity and precision.

Career Recon is a data-driven approach to career transition, leveraging unconventional techniques to maximize success in a new field. It provides a framework to reconnoiter the path forward, to avoid pitfalls, and to take advantage of little-known opportunities in any field, any industry, and any job. Inside this book is a step-by-step guide to assimilating relevant subject matter, arriving at informed decisions, and building an influential network, while taking into account the cost, time, and stress of navigating career change.

"Seth Jaffe takes a whole new look at a topic that has been written about extensively. That's no small achievement. He questions all the issues, ranging from the necessity of higher education to developing a more practical, financially sensible approach to choosing and changing careers. This book is essential reading for anyone thinking about career decisions or career transitions." Ellis Chase, author of In Search of the Fun Forever Job and Career Strategies That Work.

Seth Jaffe has had no fewer than seven different careers, from engineer to fashion photographer, from alarm technician to robotics project manager, from patent lawyer to dotcom owner. Currently, he makes a living as a cybersecurity attorney, usually from somewhere in Houston, Texas.

Blindly transitioning careers the way he did took a lot out of Seth--not just in cost, but in time and stress as well. During his final career change, he packaged the lessons learned from his prior mistakes into a framework designed to better foresee the outcome of a career change before committing the effort. The result is Career Recon.