Inspiring Career-Change Decision Makers

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Ph.D. Up to His Elbows in Dough

By Harrison Sheppard

Twenty years ago David Schmidt was working to help educate the public about hunger issues as an employee of nonprofit The Hunger Project.
     Fifteen years ago he was researching an obscure Native American language for his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis and then teaching college on a small island off Nova Scotia.
     Five years ago he was a database analyst for Sutter Health.
     And now? Today Schmidt is up to his elbows in yeast, flour and sugar as the owner of Brioche Artisan Bakery, an up-and-coming shop in Sacramento’s Land Park neighborhood that’s quickly earning a reputation for its high-quality French pastries and cakes.
     Schmidt, 48, has gone through some serious career changes in his life. But his current venture, he says, is probably the most difficult, and yet the most rewarding.
     “This is the biggest game I ever played,” Schmidt says. “Getting a Ph.D., I thought (at the time), was the hardest work I’d ever done. “This,” he says, “is harder.”

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