Has anyone considered going into "the biz?"

[barbx]

My hubby threw this out there the other day since I''m considering changing jobs. He asked, "Why don''t you do something you really love, like something with diamonds, since you''re always on ''that diamond website?''"

Have any of you much more experienced gals/guys considered going into the diamond business as a broker or gemologist or ??? I think I would want to be an appraiser because I would stink at sales, but I''m only about 20% serious at this point.

 

[JCJD]

Yes. If I decide not to pursue an academic career after I finish my PhD, I think my next course of action might be to get GIA certified and see where I end up!

 

[fountainfairfax]

Yes! I am seriously considering becoming a Graduate Gemologist through GIA. My job is changing to where I will be in NYC Monday- Friday and if I can arrange to take classes later in the year I will, if I can''t work it out during the day I''m going to pursue it through online studies. For me it''s to indulge an interest while opening up other possible career options.

btw, the person who appraised my inherited omc mentioned to me that there were many options in the world of gemology, that the field is wide open...that''s what got me thinking!

 

[strmrdr]

If the right offer came along id jump.
Hmmm now if i can find a way to mix my 4 hobbies into one job: gemstones, electronics, computers and guns hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Kaleigh]

The GG takes two years and the field is wide open. I hear their distance program is excellent.

 

[cflutist]

I got my Gemologist Diploma from the GIA in 1989 from their "Distance Education" program. Back then, I had to complete classes in Diamonds, Diamond Grading (graded actual stones), Colored Stones, Colored Stone Grading, and Gem Identification where you learn to use a refractometer, SG fluids, polariscope, spectroscope, dichroscope etc. Sweated the dreaded Gem ID final where you fail if you mis-identify any specimen. Passed the comprehensive final to get my Gemologist Diploma. To get my GG, I would have to go back and take the 3 Extension lab classes (Diamonds, Colored Stones, Gem ID).

Work in the IT business (been doing so since I got my degree in Business Data Systerms starting out as a mainframe programmer) but would like to work in the jewelry business when I retire. Do keep up by subscribing to JCK and National Jeweler though. Reading the annual JCK salary survey, I can make much more money right now in IT (unless you are the owner of a very successful independant store).

 

[cflutist]

Date: 5/9/2005 8:32:39 PM
Author: strmrdr
If the right offer came along id jump.
Hmmm now if i can find a way to mix my 4 hobbies into one job: gemstones, electronics, computers and guns hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Storm, maybe you can pull a "John Quixote" with the gemstones, electronics and computers. I don''t know about the guns though.

 

[JohnQuixote]

Hee hee.

Strm could use the gemstones, electronics and computers to create the ultimate gun... The Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator of course!

 

[Mara]

I would love to play with gems all day but the right opp has not presented itself.

I took the first GG class and it was fun and all but to be honest I learned more on PS than I did in that $400 class. So I decided I didn't want to take anymore classes.

I'd love to be an appraiser, but I recently read an expert's post on here re: how they were in the industry for something like 10 years before being experienced enough to be an appraiser, and I just wouldn't have the patience to sell and do other things to get to that level. My appraiser locally was in the industry for something like 20+ years before she went into appraisals.

So who knows....you never really know where life will take you, but so far nothing gem-related sounds right for me. Yet.

 

[Kaleigh]

Mara,
Just curious when did you take your first class??

 

[Regular Guy]

Regarding the main topic of this thread...I think I may need to plead the 5th...

But, Storm...you may want to get with Joel Schmacher, as a remake may be in the works, and his story, I think, pulls it altogether for you!

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 5/9/2005 9:30:42 PM
Author: JohnQuixote
Hee hee.


Strm could use the gemstones, electronics and computers to create the ultimate gun... The Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator of course!

hmmmmm
Wonder if dbl still has that mutant martian egg diamond available.
That might just work.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 5/9/2005 9

4:48 PM
Author: cflutist

Date: 5/9/2005 8:32:39 PM

Author: strmrdr

If the right offer came along id jump.

Hmmm now if i can find a way to mix my 4 hobbies into one job: gemstones, electronics, computers and guns hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Storm, maybe you can pull a 'John Quixote' with the gemstones, electronics and computers. I don't know about the guns though.

Iv got some ideas for gizmos in that direction but no cash for parts.
Maybe someday.........

 

[Mara]

kaleigh...if memory serves me....i took it 2 years ago...maybe about 6 months after i joined pscope. i was surprised at how primitive the education is in the first class. seemingly just the basics...aka color, clarity, carat, cut...i knew all that already thanks to PS!!

oh and DEFINITELY not enough emphasis on cut.

i think the more important stuff happens in classes 2 and 3, but after class 1 i just wasn't that interested...i found PS more stimulating.

 

[valeria101]

There''s a "Romanian Gemology Club" in the works... but I would not call that "business".

 

[jellybean]

I would love to go into the biz but I just spent 6 additional years after I graduated with my bachelor''s to get my pharmacy degree! (2 years pre-requisites, 4 years pharmacy school). My husband always calls me the diamond god. However, it is not something I am seriously considering at this point in my life.

 

[sjz]

Date: 5/10/2005 11:49:20 PM
Author: jellybean
I would love to go into the biz but I just spent 6 additional years after I graduated with my bachelor's to get my pharmacy degree! (2 years pre-requisites, 4 years pharmacy school). My husband always calls me the diamond god. However, it is not something I am seriously considering at this point in my life.

I considered going to school to be a pharmacist for a little while. But the desire to be a nurse was always tugging at my heart, so that's the way I went. Besides...I always hated school, and when the guidance counselors told me that you had to go to school longer to be a pharmacist than you did to be a doctor, I was like "no way!" The counselor was pushing me in that direction for a while, because I scored really well on my college entrance exams, and he kept insisting that being a pharmacist or a physician would be much more financially lucrative and "rewarding" than being a lowly nurse. While I know that's true, I really really wanted to be a nurse, so that's what I ended up doing. My degree is in biology, but I have an ADN in nursing. I have considered doing many things if and when I re-enter the work force. The jewelry business is definetly one of them. I'm just not sure which facet of the business I would want to focus on. I love design, and have seriously considered that. I also am a scientist at heart, so gemology is very appealing to me as well. I even think that the retail end of the business would be very enjoyable. But I've talked to several jewelers over the years, and from what I've gleaned from them, it's a very difficult business to get into and make a career in.

So, if and when I go back to a paying job again someday, it will probably be in nursing again. Either patient care or maybe as a clinical instructor. I sometimes think I'm too old to do emergency medicine anymore. It can be very stressful. I honestly don't know how my hubby keeps on trucking...lol. I am also teetering on the cusp of a musical venture. But that is still very much in the embryonic stages yet

. But who knows...one day I just might go and get a part time job at ZALES...just for fun ya know!