Some jobs have straightforward requirements. If you want to be a doctor, you head to medical school. If you’ve set your sights on becoming a lawyer, you’ll need to enroll in law school.
But professionals can come from a wide variety of backgrounds and wind up doing development work. Take World Bank President Jim Yong Kim — a physician by training, he’s now managing a multibillion dollar multilateral institution.
Chuck Chopak, vice president of technical services at DAI, had a similar circuitous route to his current work after studying biology and sociology at Tulane University. Confused about what to do with his dual degrees after graduation, he ended up working on an aquaculture project in northern Senegal under the U.S. government’s Peace Corps program.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
