Changing Careers Is Difficult

I heard back from a user-oriented design and engineering firm that I applied to a few weeks ago. Here's the email I got from the contact person in its entirety:

"Your resume does not seem to be a good fit. Just wondering why you want to change careers and do a 180?"

This is the exact sentiment that I fear many HR people experience while looking at my application materials. Because of that fear, I address the sentiment in my cover letter. Which I sent to this guy.

Whatever. Cover letter aside, my fear is that people see I don't have a degree in Industrial Design and don't give my application a chance. Or that people get stuck in the most conservative possible view of careers: that we must do what we picked to do at the age of 18 or 20 or whatever and we are allowed to change our path only if we can do it without any dead spots on our resumes.

I had feared these things without any evidence that I should fear them. But now I have this email, so I know I'm not completely crazy.

And I know changing careers is hard. It's not that I didn't expect this. I think my problem is more with the seemingly-simplistic nature of his thoughts: "Y U wan 2 change careers?!?!"

Also, his firm does engineering. I am an engineer. It's not a 180. It's maybe a 50.

I could also just be a little sensitive about everything.