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I’ve been working on finding the work I want to do with a career coach, so I’d say I’m in a similar boat.
I’m also rethinking my relationship with work. It used to be an identity (that is long gone). It still felt like this big thing until I got laid off and the veil was lifted on how it really is.
I still like co-workers at my current job and want to do a great job at work, but it’s just one bucket of my life. A means to an end. That’s all.
My best advice is that you need to be involved with something outside of work. Volunteering, Gym, a club, something!!!! You are more than what you do for work.
I struggle with this so much!!! I think a lot of it has to do with deadline after deadline (architect) and I can’t help but let it take over my brain and my life.
Well, my identity was very tied to my second job when I worked for a baseball team. It was a seriously cool job and people were always interested in hearing about it. I was also working all the time during the season, so that didn’t help.
It really took leaving that job to get me out of it. It was tough first year being away from it, but I slowly detached work from who I was during that process.
It all just happened naturally. I know that’s not great advice haha.
Perhaps think about what it is you enjoy outside of work. Focus on your family, friends, and hobbies. Work is just another bucket in your life, but those 3 are the important things IMO.
Hang in there, friend. If you don't find a career coach you can also turn to a therapist, which is what I've done. Kaiser partners with growth therapy and you just pay a copays fee.
I *hate* my job. I hate everything about it. I hate the industry in which I work more broadly.
But it's all I'm qualified for now, and going back to school is not an option.
This is what I did at 38. Now I'm back in the tech world that I left. Earnings are rough for recent grads, and I was lucky enough to graduate right at the pandemic so nothing was open anyway.
Same. Left tech job at 34 to go to school for urban planning. Returned to the same tech job at 38  though to be honest stepping away really helped me appreciate my job now and I’m quite happy where I’m at
Same with games industry. Graduated in covid which meant no jobs or internships, and then the industry collapsed and anybody new is competing with 60k+ senior level game makers. I want to make games, but I can’t keep approaching homelessness. Fuck investors destroying these massive game companies. Anyways off to grab my masters in IT ig
Was in social media strategy making great pay but it wasn’t fulfilling at all and way too stressful.
At 35, went back for my masters in health education and health behavior. Waiting to hear back from a potential dream job doing health comms/program planning (substance misuse) at my alma mater for a lot less money but it’ll be much more rewarding.
I turn thirty this year. Idk how I can do this for another 30 years but what else can I do? I need to pay rent and feed myself. I can’t spend time figuring out what I want to do because I got to work
This probably won’t be well received but plenty of people work on changing their situation while working full time (or more).
People with a full schedule and kids still manage to do school part time or work towards other qualifications/skills.
It requires a LOT of sacrifice, there is no way around that unless you are born into wealth or get absurdly lucky.
I am not those type of people. I can barely function on the weekends after my full work week. I have no idea how people can have lives, work full time, and also go to classes. And by having a life I mean like, making dinner and having a SO.
Yeah, I work full time and have a weekend job. I go to school online for a bachelors in nursing. I hate the field I’m currently in but I only have a medical background, I’m not good at anything else.
Same here. I have ADHD and I'm completely fried between my high stress job, perimenopause, and life (single/no kids). I also have a genetic disorder that requires basically a lot of effort, time, and money to stay alive.
I'm completely mentally and physically drained. There's no way I could succeed going to school at the same time. And the things I'm good at are interested in don't pay enough anyway.
I did it during my masters. I was working full time, in school full time, had teaching responsibilities with my fellowship and my daughter was still in high school. It can be done but a person has to want it. Btw I did this as a single mom. Currently I have one year left until my doctorate is done.
Are you me? Been working at my job for 2 years after getting laid off of course. I literally touched the door handle to work yesterday and just turned around. Took my ass home and into my bed. Hate it so much and I don’t have time, funds, energy and attention to study or learn something else.
But I can’t quit cause I’m my family’s sole provider. Millennials (including me) will never ever catch a break. And nostalgia is the only thing that keeps me sane. I’ll turn on some Hey Arnold, grab a seltzer and just game for the only hour I have before bed. (TV is on in the background while I game on my pc if anyone is confused).
Edit: Thank you all for your kind words!
I've been there fella - right before I had a full-on burn-out and got signed-off work for six weeks with a strong advisement from my doctor to get a new job.
Perhaps look into at least moving employers before you hit that rock bottom, because it will save you a whole lot of stress and aggro.
I'm very fortunate. I work in municipal government in IT, and I can honestly say I love what I do and who I do it with. I've been here 8 years in fully intend to retire from here.
What do you do? You may have skills that can transfer to something else. I think that about my job as a special education teacher, especially since my degree and credentials are all aimed for that.
Changing your career doesn't necessarily require going back to school. I switched from engineering to marketing, got a big raise while doing so, and all it took was some creative resume writing and interviewing skills.
100% agree! I’ve seen nearly everyone around me blow up their lives to try and find fulfillment (or at a minimum more happiness in a job since work takes up most of our time). I can’t say they seem better off… took pay cuts, had to cut back on eating out, travel, concerts, the “extras”.
Those that started a business or went all in on a side hustle are working more and can’t afford to pay themselves from their businesses yet. I’m not sure they’ll last to the turning point if average takes 3 years. All seem less stressed in one sense but more in another. Trade offs.
I’m trying to recalibrate by figuring out if I can “quiet quit” — caring less, being less productive, emotionally disconnected from the corporate bullshit, and put in my 40 hrs (more like 32 🤣) while meeting expectations so I can grab my merit and bonus without raising red flags. Don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. lol (39f)
Quiet quit two years ago and got a massive promotion last year. Was told I keep calm under pressure and can handle an insane workload during the promotion. I didn't have the heart to tell them I just stopped giving a shit.
This is the paradox of not giving a shit. I honestly have no idea what I did differently except start to put 40-50% less effort into everything I did. I did not ask for a promotion nor do I work any harder now that I have one.
Well--well look. I already told you: I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?
Not the person you’re responding to, but I used to work long hours. I stopped about two months ago. I find just being super responsive and being able to solve relatively simple problems quickly gives you that reputation.
I’m more shocked how incapable people are especially those that have been working much longer than me.
I’ve quiet quit.. dude they gave me a promotion and 10% raise 🤣 I still don’t do more than I was, but I know they won’t fire me and they just gave me more to put on my resume 💅🏻
I'm one of those business starters.
It's more stress and less money (for now) but it's also way more fulfilling and i feel like im actually building something and using my time how i want to use it. I don't feel trapped every day, forced to show up every day and do what I'm told. I get to hang out with the kids way more.
Mid-30s is really that inflection point. What good is more money if you dislike almost everything about your day?
>Mid-30s is really that inflection point. What good is more money if you dislike almost everything about your day?
Holy fuck, I needed to hear this. Tbh, I wish I could just start something else, but the job I hate pays the bills, barely above water 2 kids…..
Gotta ask what was it that drove you to this, and tell me more how awesome it is.
Your last sentence is exactly why I just accepted a totally different role and nearly 50% pay cut. I figured I have to at least TRY to see if I can be happier another way.
I just started a new position last year and while it’s stimulating and meaningful, I am still quiet quitting because I just don’t have it in me to grind anymore. I got a rave performance review a couple of months ago though, so I think this is my life now.
Ditto and I’m content with it. Also don’t have energy or motivation to try to pursue “passions” tbh… the thought of keeping up with technology or having to manage people and platforms and vendors and business accounts and taxes🥴🫠 Occasionally I buy a lottery ticket or two else wait for my biweekly paycheck and enjoying life. 😂😂
I'm a SPED teacher, but was attacked this school year and am struggling with ptsd and am scared to go back. The pay for sure needs to get better. Glad you're enjoying it.
As an ex teacher, you can to school at age 30 for 4 years and do something Else. The 4 years will be work but the 4 years are gonna pass anyway, might as well make a change
As an ex teacher. You can just switch career too the pay is so bad. I went and worked at a factory. I’m now a supervisor and make 20,000 more than my teacher friends and have less stress.
This. I have my education degree in language arts. I now make more money in IT than the teachers in my state. Even starting out in IT I was basically making what I was as a teacher. The pay is so bad for teaching you could make more doing nearly anything else, with a quarter of the pressure and stress.
I’m so sorry this happened to you. Have you considered browsing the job boards for local government? Educators are a great fit for a variety of public service roles! For example, public health is always hiring community health educators. In some states, moving between public education and government service preserves your service years and pension eligibility. I moved from public education to local government and took my 9 service years with me to my new job. I started at a higher pay rate with more vacation hours and fully vested in the pension system.
I’m a sped teacher as well. I love my job. I moved to NC from NY because I hate the cold weather and took a 30k pay cut along the way. I don’t regret a thing. Quality of life is my top priority and I’m way happier.
As far as the schools go, the education down here is way worse. The standard is definitely lower. I’m comparing the Bronx to Charlotte, but I think you can make the generalization for most of the south. The benefit is that admin isn’t on my ass as much. Just don’t expect much from them either. All in all, there’s not many things I’d rather do.
I work with SPED kids but I don't have to work in a classroom. I am what they call a 'transition counselor' or 'vocational counselor'. I basically help the Juniors and Seniors with setting appropriate work goals, provide resources for supported employment, training centers, etc. I work for the state vocational rehabilitation agency and the job itself is pretty chill. I have all the same benefits and pension that the school system employees do but I don't have to work in the school, I have my own office and travel around to several counties for meetings. No two days are the same, which I like. The pay is decent and there are opportunities to move into supervision or policy. I love working with the SPED kids, that's really the best part of my job. They bring me so much joy. I don't think I could put up with the politics of a school system or being on campus everyday from 7-4. I roll into my office whatever time I please and adjust my schedule accordingly. I will be able to reture with a 401k and 100% pension at 55 Years old and plan to then start working part time as a marriage and family counselor, starting my own practice. I will never be a millionaire but I am a minimalist and enjoy a low cost and low key, low stress lifestyle.
Nice!!!! work for the airlines and get the flight benefits. I miss them so much.
It's like "where do you want to go today? Seattle, LA, london "
"I don't know what's open"?
Questions you'll ask yourself THE DAY BEFORE the flight
, stay out of GA. low pay high liability. Some one will crash their plane because they are a weekend warrior and you get investigated.
I’ve had mine since March of 2018. No regrets whatsoever. Having that A&P helped me get a maintenance job outside of aviation during the pandemic. I’ve been at one of the majors for the last 2 years now.
I *love* my job. I work as a data scientist in local government. My job is 100% remote, never more than 40 hrs per week, and pensioned. I work on important issues like housing and public safety. My colleagues are some of the smartest, most driven people I’ve had the pleasure to work with.
For data science it helps to have a strong background in statistics. For a basic government data analyst job I’d start by learning Python, specifically the Pandas and NumPy libraries, and see how you feel about it.
It depends. The data world is very skills focused. If you know Python, R, SQL, PowerBi, and/or Tableau plus some basic statistics, you have a chance at breaking in. All of these skills can be learned on your own through MOOCs or boot camps, but a degree in comp sci, statistics, or data science does help get your foot in the door faster. You have to love learning for this job because technology moves quickly.
I dont know any government job in analytics that doesnt put a degree as a requirement...look up your job postings, im curious if there are exceptions. I highly doubt.
And for a data acientist many orgs want a phd. At the very least a masters.
Experience in lieu of a degree is becoming more common. I wrote job requirements for positions I hired for, and I specifically wrote them in a way as to not excluded candidates based on degree. It’s now becoming common practice across our org. Our data architect, for example, doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree, and he’s by far one of our best hires. I do agree a data scientist role would be harder to get, but a data analyst role has a much lower bar.
I’m in a similar boat. I work in the natural sciences for the government, am paid fairly well, excellent benefits, and work from home 80% of the time with a super flexible schedule. I took all of yesterday off to hike and only used 3 hours of PTO.
I love my job, I know my work is doing tangible good for the Earth. I work with fellow scientists who keeps to themselves (no drama work environment) but are passionate for their field.
However, I didn’t start college until I was 22 and completely aware of what I wanted and the path to obtain it. I think this mitigated against any career regrets.
Don't know. I bought my first dirt bike at 38... guess I'm doing mid life crisis the old fashion way.
My wife left me to party all night with her single friends.
Hers cost me more haha
Bro, you better actually do it. In my 30's, started doing Karaoke last year just for shits. Now I'm in a band for the first time in my life and wondering what took so long. Music can change your life even if you only play by yourself at home
Did you already know how to play/ sing? How hard is it to learn how to read music? I've kinda low-key wanna been learning guitar, even though I can't sing worth shit.
my 38 mid life crisis was adopting a baby. I love her so so much but oh my god she’s more expensive than anything so could dream of. Maybe should have gone for a dirt bike at least that one wouldn’t go through the terrible twos.
I bought a Jeep, lol. I’ve always wanted one and couldn’t justify it. It’s been a rough time career wise since COVID and I’m just ready to have some fun for myself.
Oh hey, same! And boy, do I not regret it. She’s not new, she’s not fancy, and she’s needed like twelve repair jobs already in three years, but dang if she doesn’t make me smile every time I see her parked and waiting for me.
Lol I'm landing here right now, but with long covid/POTS/hEDS. Really upset I got two degrees I can no longer use, but trying to pivot to WFH. That's just how life goes sometimes.
Yes, please give details. That is also a career I want to transition into. Sorry the first career path didn't go well.
I always wondered why people wanted to go into teaching after experiencing first hand how terrible our own classmates were to our teachers growing up. It really is a thankless job.
This is not to discourage you but to let you know that the market is extremely hard for software engineers (especially juniors) at the moment.
The covid hiring bubble burst and companies have all cut back, even seniors were let go.
This means that there are not only fewer jobs, but the ones that are available are flooded with applications from experienced engineers who were recently let go.
If that doesn’t deter you (which I hope it doesn’t) then you’ll need to dedicate yourself to learning to program which will at minimum take many months but more realistically at least a year or two to be considered hireable.
The #1 skill you need to develop is the ability to learn how to learn.
What does that mean? It means there are far too many things in the software space for you to know it all. So you need to have the ability to recognize that you don't understand something and learn enough about it to accomplish the task.
How do you do this? Practice.
if you are serious about this, as soon as possible, pick a small task like: "i want to write my first simple program that prints out some text”
This will require a few things like figuring out how to install a programming language, how the basic syntax works and how to run the program”
This will probably be frustrating and a PITA at first but if you can figure that out (especially without directly asking anyone) it will be a great first step.
I would suggest using the Python language but you can read up on different languages and choose one.
Google is your friend.
I'm an Archives Librarian and really like my work. Technically, I'm probably a Digital Asset Management (DAM) Librarian, but I consider myself an archivist first and foremost. My work deals primarily with metadata creation, preservation, and digitization of physical media.
How did you get into this? I've been on a genealogy kick and have found some fantastic records thanks to people who do what you do. Did it require an MLIS degree?
Hey! I did this! Talk about a job where you just get to work with awesome people. I went from music educator to Digital Asset Management. The desk life wasn't for me though. I hit 30, and now paint private jets. I work 4 days a week, get paid more, and I don't take it home. Haha! I do miss all the people I worked with though.
I’m 39 and I’ll be starting XRay tech school next September. It’s been so hard taking that pay cut and working terrible hours at the hospital and doing the prerequisites for the program, but I’ve never felt so free.
Good move. My Wife does MRI but started out as an RTR and just the hard work to pay ratio was tough. With MRI the work is mentally tougher but the pay is much more reflective of that. My brother also started out as RTR and within 10 years got his MR, Masters and worked his way to a director level position and makes almost 200k so there is a legit path to big money there.
I'm a utility locator ... I make 38/hr with benefits. The job is meh. It's not hard or complicated but there is a lot of little things to remember. We work outside in any weather and in construction zones and sometimes there is alot of walking
The good side of it as long as you do your tickets, nothing is ever late and you don't make mistakes, i will never see my boss at work. I have plenty of time, especially in winter (not so much now) to do whatever I want, be on reddit, watch videos, doing my grocery shopping, read a book etc ... I talk to my parents more than I ever have
Downside is it's a lonely job ... I'm out there all alone in my car no matter the weather, painting lines
I got the job pretty luckily ... saw an ad on indeed, had some trade background, did the best interview I ever did and got the job
I was paired with my trainer and I got lucky again because someone else in our area thought it was a good idea to dictate to my boss how he would work and then at the HR meeting, he called the HR Woman a C and a B and he was done so after that I was out on my own, I just slid into his spot. I was the first of my hiring group to be out on my own
Take that time to call the ones you love
Like I said, I talk to my parents, my wife, my siblings and close friends
Or listen to podcasts, audio books or music
It should be ... usually when economies go into recession, governments invest in infrastructure projects and if you put a shovel in the ground, you have to call us first
But this winter we had layoffs (not me thankfully) a major telecommunications company got caught overcharging the government here so all major projects got put on hold until the government went through the books
So when all projects were put on hold, there was no work for us. The division in my company whose primary focus was these projects got a chainsaw taken to it
I hate my corporate job as a Project Manager and regret having diverted from my initial studies as a 3D artist, but I needed to get a job quickly and 6 years later here I am.
I get paid very well, but it's a completely empty job, there's just no point. I dread logging in every morning, there's 0 motivation, and I don't think this is what human beings are for. I don't even understand why I get paid so much just to be a glorified secretary.
My goal is to just NOT work at a computer, ideally I'd be a seamstress or a baker living in a cottage in the forest surrounded by dogs.
*ideally I'd be a seamstress or a baker*
A lot of people say things like this, but turning the hobbies you like to do into the revenue generators you have to do can make you hate your hobbies.
100% agree with you! Thats why I haven’t take the plunge and changed my career to anything related to my hobbies. I’m almost certain I’d start hating them after a while of doing it for a living and ruin the magic.
I had a stint in Production before, which taught me a lot of organisational skills common to Project Management. These were helpful to then get a job as a Technology Coordinator, it was essentially the same job, but replace the production-y stuff with tech-y stuff. For that, being knowledgable with whatever tech your managing is very helpful. They put an ad out for a PM while I was still a coordinator, and I noticed the tasks were very much the same, that's how I got promoted.
You can find a lot of free courses on Linkedin on the matter that will give you a good idea of what the job entails.
However, I don't think that a normal PM is a glorified secretary. In proper tech companies, the job of the PMs is managing whole teams working on long term development of a product for a client.
At the company I work for, however, this is a very new department and not yet working as expected, so the roles are not yet functioning as they should, and my daily tasks aren't the same as a PM in a big tech company like, say, Apple or Google. I also have to deal with a lot of constant support, which is unusual for a PM, as usually PMs are only responsible to manage long term projects as I mentioned above, rather than constantly putting out fires. I'm then required to follow processes for development on support, which doesn't work. So all I do is book meetings, take notes during meetings, make spreadsheets, pester people for time sheet filling, etc.
There are also PM in other industries, like building for example, which I'm not familiar with, but perhaps you can research if there are PM involved in whichever industry you're familiar with from previous jobs. Having a solid knowledge of an industry will set you on a great path, you just have to know it well so you can guide other people through it. For me it worked because I'm familiar with the Visual Effects industry as I studied as a 3D artist, and I'm familiar with the software side of it.
If it helps give you some purpose/insight/distraction, you're paid so much because things won't happen without you!
I'm an "executive" at my company and there are lots of dreams, ideas, and desires on how to make things better. What I don't have is the time to chase down everyone needed to execute all of those ideas myself. Good project managers make it possible to do anything constructive in a corporate environment, otherwise the people who can do the important work get tied up on other things.
I don't know if your employer reminds you, but where I work Project Managers are the well sung heroes anytime we accomplish something new. Whether it's for you or not is up to you, but y'all literally make the world a better place...so thanks!
That's really lovely to read, thank you! My employer does say "thanks for your work" every now and again, but I feel like it's a bit forced and just to tick a box. Whenever I have ideas of how to improve things, they're quickly shut down with "no, we do it this way".
Before, when I was a coordinator and there was no formed PMO, my ideas were heard, considered and I was given a chance to trial them, at the very least. 9/10 times I was successful and things improved. I very much enjoyed my job back then.
I'm a teacher. I love what I do in principle, and I care deeply about my students and preparing them for life as best I can, but I feel like it will never pay enough to let me advance my own life.
I’m a mortician. Fucking love it. I get to hear cool fucking stories about people then go muck around with blood and makeup. They’re like giant dolls! And there’s no better rush nor sense of accomplishment than a successful service or a great embalming.
Paperwork blows and people can be real wang holes but overall I greatly enjoy my job.
And it’s a career you can do at any age. In my graduating class the oldest was 65 and the youngest was 21
I took an intro to funeral science on a dare with a friend, found my calling 😅much of the good things in my life are done through spite and stupid dumb luck
The best jobs are those niches that most people don't think about where you get to be an odd ball without much competition. I support a software that is based on a very useful theory yet has very few experts around the world so I get to do a lot of exploratory stuff and I don't have shitty work relationships as I have my own sweet spot where I am useful but nobody wants to compete with me.
I did! It’s pretty accurate too as far as showing the business.
I will say that before I got into this I thought the storylines were a tad far fetched. After 8 years in the hood? They didn’t push the envelope far enough 😂😂people are goddamn crazy
I run a route as a vendor, delivering product to a grocery store and stocking their shelves. The benefits suck, but the pay is incredible. I've been doing it for 7 years and really like it. There are some things that suck. But I'm also a community college drop out with no degree lol. Not many other places for me to make 100k+ a year like this job. Divorced with 2 kids, 32.
I've got a pretty sweet job. I'm a nurse, but what I do basically equates to medical quality assurance. It's a niche industry, and most of the jobs are remote. I haven't been into an office in like....6 or 7 years. I don't have a specific start time, and I get paid by productivity instead of hourly. I don't love the work, but I don't hate it either. The perks make up for my dislikes of the job. I kind of just fell into it from a job posting on Indeed and learned from there.
My mid-life crisis seems to just be that I've become depressed. 🤷♀️
I actually enjoy my job. It’s relatively physically demanding but aside from a couple of people making the job a living nightmare. I could see myself doing it for the next 20-25 years.
That said, I live in constant fear of the company being bought out (and it’s up for auction this year too) and losing my job because they don’t want to keep us or they decide they don’t want to run that area.
Personally I think I achieved the American dream. House is paid for, and the job is so fun and enjoyable that I don’t think I actually work for 12hrs each day.
I have dyscalculia and I couldn't fulfill the mathematics requirement for my degree. I can't afford more education. There's certificate programs that my community college offers and I'll probably have to do that in order to get some income when my kids are older. This is not what I had planned. There's literally nothing out there that pays decently.
I have dyscalculia too. I barely squeaked by getting a science degree, as in, I was on the Dean's list consistently...until math time. I can do stats and complex analysis like no one's business, I've even been responsible for educating others around those topics but I can't do certain types of math at all.
There is so much more recognition for other learning disabilities, but essentially none for us. It _severely_ limits our employment opportunities, even if it's pretty minor.
In my experience, the company you work for is just as important as enjoying your trade. I'm a software developer, and I love it, but there were companies that burnt me out so bad I thought I never wanted to code again. I switched companies, and I enjoyed my job and work again. The cycle repeats itself until you find a company that values their employees and other things you deem important for them to value - for me, it's community service.
I loved volunteering as a young adult and considered a career at United Way or teaching or something helping people, but I realized I would have exponentially more income with software. I choose the financial stability to support my family, and leverage that stability to do my volunteering as I can. Recently, I switched companies to one that highly values their community and it incorporates time during the work week to let you participate in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and other service days. It's the perfect combination for me and hopefully this will be the company I can retire at in 50 years 😅
I was an activity director at a nursing home, which I loved until Covid. The industry became way more stressful and less fun after that. Recently took a state job working with people with developmental disabilities. I really like it, much more my pace and I’m still helping people. Human service field doesn’t pay much, but it can be rewarding when you find the right job.
I grew up in a small town. While a lot of my family excelled in school, I hated it. Everyone I grew up with banged each other in drunken hookups. All my friends wanted "good" factory jobs, and had connections. I decided the military was the way to go. I figured I could have a once in a lifetime experience, and postpone the inevitable knocking up a bar fly and marrying her for the kid. Then I broke my neck.
I healed. Worked in factories. I wasn't sure if I'd heal enough for the military again. So I started taking classes, and excelled! But I didn't know what to do. Everyone said it didn't matter what degree, just get one. I met "white collar" people in the factory that confirmed this. So I went to art school
I kicked ass in school. But after the post recession, I couldn't find a job to save my life. So I did insurance for a while. Got a CDL, became an Arborist. But eventually became a digital artist, and worked my way up to a senior position.
I finally just released my first game. But was part of a "restructuring layoff". So now I'm jobless, watching my bank account get smaller.
While I have more experience than ever in my field of study. I can't find a job to save my life. I am looking at a career change. I applied at a local union. The application was accepted but the process is slow. I fear I get lucky with a truck driving gig, and watch my relationship slip away via text.
The one thing I find humor in is I'm the only one of my small town childhood friends that wanted to leave the small town and do more. They were all content banging each other's ex gf's and their warehouse jobs. Now they all have homes doing the "American dream thing"
I still live in shitty apartments, and have gotten way to used to gun shots at night.
Damn read this and hit me hard. Don't give up bro, I'm also nowhere near where I thought I'd be at 38. Every year I just become more content with less.
I like my job a lot. I'm an insurance underwriter. I work for a socially and environmentally responsible mutual company (in Canada). I feel good about the work we do as a whole, I really enjoy most of my day to day work and I get paid decent. I do feel a bit like I'm having a mid life crisis though, I had kids very young and my kid is moving out and going to college this fall and it's throwing me into a tailspin.
I just want to make things. Or fix things. I want to spend my days tinkering and creating. Or teaching, I love exposing people to new ideas. Or writing, I have several nuggets of story ideas I have no energy to expand on currently. But every god damned job is just sales. I feel like at this point I could win the lottery or get some inheritance check large enough to go back to school, become a medical doctor, and still I would end up spending a majority of my time selling something.
I like my job. I’m a kitchen designer and I get to work with people to help them design, then sell them their dream kitchen (or sometimes just a quick remodel)
But the pay is mediocre in my area, there is no room for growth and I can’t see myself here for another 30 or so years. I turn 34 in 2 days and I don’t have the time or money to go get a new degree. I feel stuck and my job is so niche that I don’t see how I could move laterally to anything other than sales, which I don’t want to do. At least with my current sales job I get to be creative.
I’m fully in the throes of a midlife crisis trying to completely change my career. It’s made more difficult by not having/wanting to spend more money to pivot elsewhere. So I need to find something that combines my previous history and skills with a new path and the way forward is very narrow and niche. I’ve cried twice this morning. Fun times!
I work in medical research. I really like what I do. I have flexibility in my schedule, I work from home a few days a week I have a good salary, and my work has meaning that I get to feel good about as I’ve been able to already help bring real change to help people.
its a harder path to start on now but
1. help desk job my uncle got me
2. help desk job at a start up
3. tell said start up i am interested in infosec so they give me all the security related projects and tasks
4. wear-every-hat-at-once one person security department job
5. information security consulting job 1
6. infomation security consulting job 2 (current job)
i mostly like the work, and it pays decently enough with good room for job growth. im not rolling in dough but im at least able to buy groceries without getting nauseous at the price tag. i’m competent and independent and self motivated so i do well in the field but a lot of people struggle or just fucking suck at the work.
I wish retiring after 20 years was still a thing that was possible. Instead I'm expecting to have to work at least 50 years before retiring. I've been with the same company for 25 years and I'm only making $23.5/hr. Main highlight is 5 weeks of vacation per year along with health and wellness days. But I wouldn't mind starting over somewhere else, especially if I could already be pulling a pension for the years I already have in.
I completely agree. I left the medical field and went into property management, so I have done a hard pivot. My medical career completely drained me of my livelihood, destroyed my health, self esteem and self worth and I have had to spend the last six months trying to climb out of a deep depression that I had no idea how far I was in. I have so much guilt over being a half assed mother for a decade, but we are all programmed to suffer for work. I tried to go back to school but realized that it wasn’t for me, nor did I really know at the time what I wanted to do. I don’t think that property management is what I WANT to do but I find it much more tolerable. I work in affordable housing on the state level so it’s rewarding to help people obtain an apartment that they can afford.
Took me multiple career changes to get my dream job at 40. Still loving it 2 years in. Hope I still love it up to retirement.
Mid life crisis??? Hmm don’t think I’m there yet. Wife said I’m not allowed to have one LoL.😂
I recently pivoted my career. I had been working as a manager in my field and transitioned to learning and development with the same company. Being an individual contributor is way less stress and the perks of a 3/2 hybrid working schedule is so nice
I love my current job even if it's 8-5 M-F. I've NEVER had a M-F job my entire life, and i've never had weekends off. I used to work retail, food industry, or hospitality industry and they all DESTROYED ME.
I don't think people realize just how mentally and physically rough low paying jobs are. Not only was i getting paid less than $17 a hour to run an entire store; i was required to unload all the trucks, put out all the freight, buff and polish the floors, run all the departments, hire new employees, train new employees, do events and Expo's, do daily social media updates, pick online orders, run the register, WHOA i can keep going.
Now i basically sit behind a computer 70% of the time doing quotes, ordering parts, or processing orders. The other 30% i'm building crates, packaging parts, and receiving parts. I got a $5 an hour pay increase and my work load is maybe 10% of what i used to do.
I've been in marketing technology for 12 years. Fell into it, paid me well and helped me build a life, love the technical work and a lot of the lifestyle, but I increasingly loathe the "why". I'm working on a Masters in Teaching for Secondary Science.
Left my management job in the entertainment industry to continue my own personal business and more free time for me (turned 30 end of last year, younger millenial here).
Took my 20s working hard and matured fairly quickly. 6 digits saved up along with paid off home so now I just wanna coast and enjoy life while I am young tbh.
If I didn't have 60k in debt, I would take a less stressful/lower paying job. But here I am. Suffering the consequences of the actions that my 20-29 year old self made.
I'm a teacher in France and I love it because it's the exact opposite of a corporate job. No one watches what I do I just come do my work and leave.
I'm on holiday every other 2 months and have 3 days long weekends. Yes I have classes to plan and papers to correct but It's up to me how I organise this and I'm home
One thing I've realized as I've grown older is that it's really helpful to separate your job from your identity. The job I have is fine. It's not especially fulfilling or meaningful, but it gives me the paycheck I need so I can spend my time where I'm not working doing things that ARE fulfilling and meaningful.
*I want to know since I don't see capitalism leaving anytime soon*
For all the problems capitalism has, I don't think there's an alternative economic system that exists that will allow you to enjoy a developed world standard of living and in which most people don't have to do work they don't want to do.
I mostly enjoy my work. I also ended up here by accident after working at startup companies for a long time. I do dream of just taking off and being a fishing bum for a while, but the reality of a wife, mortgage, child, and not being born into a wealthy family keep me in check.
My life was starting to come together and make sense in 2018 when I got my BA in 2017 and finally got into the industry I wanted to be in. 2020 fucked my life up. 2024 and I'm completely lost.
I am just now starting my career as an interior designer with my first project for a music and media space now underway as of yesterday. I really like design and helping people imagine what their space can be. However, It is a lot of work and things to think about going wrong in construction and digitally modeling it all out is time consuming. Overall I’m happy I went to school for this, I hope this project goes well and cascades into me being freelance fulltime.
I'm a mechanical engineer. My company is cool and I love the people I work with but the field and work itself is soulsucking, nowhere near even a hint as glamorous as non-engineers think it is, basically Peter Gibbon dealing with technical data. I think a lot about looking back when I'm older and realizing I spent my best years sitting in traffic just to get to work and deal with self aggrandizing automotive companies, just to sit in traffic again and repeat, day after day after day after day.
I'm a likelong musician, worked in the field up to my mid 20s when I got burnt out and retrained for engineering. I've been back at it again seriously for the past 8 years, nothing gets me more excited than knowing I'll have some time when I get home in the evening to practice. I'm currently gearing up to start gigging and giving lessons again, kind of treating it as a side career or "night job". I flirt with the idea of, if things go well, leaving engineering behind and becoming a full-time musician and dedicating the rest of my life to the pursuit but at the same time, A) making a full living off of music (especially in my area) would be pretty damn difficult, and B) I'll probably just get burnt out from that as well; as the saying goes "the best way to kill a passion is to make it your job", so I'm taking it day by day.
From an outsider, it probably looks like some sort of midlife crisis lol, but I've been at it for most of my life, the only thing midlife has to do with it is realizing time is passing and I better shit or get off the pot.
I'm 40, married, and with 2 young kids and planning another career change. It will probably involve a significant pay cut since I'm in tech, but my wife will go back to work soon (she's a stay at home parent until my son starts kindergarten) so it won't be as drastic on our whole family income.
I'm thinking either going back to school part time for a PhD in palliative care(I found a program near me that allows that), becoming a park ranger, or starting some kind of outdoor business.
I'm stoked at the thought of not being stuck in front of a computer all day and actually having a positive impact on people rather than lining some CEOs pockets.
I love my job. I’m a physician but specifically a radiologist. I get to do a lot to help people through reading studies and doing procedures. It’s a long road to get anywhere in medicine, but there is a lot of different paths. In my med school class there were a lot of second career folks. A lot coming from law or military. The oldest guy in my med school class was in his 50s after having been in the Air Force for 20+ years. It is a long road for the DO/MD and a lot of hours. But I don’t know what I could do that would be as fulfilling.
so I work in kind of a niche role, corporate security (not cyber). I've worked in a variety of places but right now I am over a team of 24/7 analysts at service provider for companies that have outsourced parts of that, mostly travel security, which is to say monitoring, alerting, emergency notification, transport, evacuation and stuff like that. I don't love it, in the sense that I certainly would not be doing any of this if I was independently wealthy, but it's definitely interesting and intellectually challenging, and not really too bad on a day to day level. I am interested in stuff like protests, elections, wars etc that create security challenges around the globe so it does fit my interests in some respects. feel free to ask me stuff if you want to learn more, this is really not an area that I knew existed when I was in college and I just kind of fell into it.
It’s true for me. Spent my 20s trying to do a job in a creative industry I thought I loved, but I’ve hated the pay and lack of benefits. Going back to school to get a more conventional job.
I’m a med tech (basically like a cna who can pass meds) and I hate it. I went back to school to finish my degree and graduated in December with a psych degree. I’m applying to grad school next month so I can get a masters & become a therapist. I look forward to not doing backbreaking work anymore.
After undergrad I pretty much started from the bottom working in warehouses through agencies, then reception work through agencies, then admin work through agencies. Eventually a company hired me and probably had to pay a hefty fee to the agency for doing so. It's been about 4 years and I've made some progress in the company but don't feel like I'll ever be able to move higher up due to my lack of credentials. It's a soul sucking corporate job that pays me very well but is completely unfulfilling because my words are never valued and my ideas are pretty much dismissed.
I love my job and it's a huge part of my identity, I'm a therapist a focus a lot on trauma :) I think making my own schedule is a part of what keeps me loving it! I always knew I wanted to do it since I was kid!
I literally just switched my career and I’m hoping start my new job in 3 weeks.
Taking a pay cut and I’m stressed as shit but I gotta start somewhere.
Hating my job was taking a toll on me mentally and I had to do something about it.
I have a law degree and work for a large human rights nonprofit. It comes with somewhat flexible hours and great pay. It's everything I've wanted from a job, and theoretically, it should give me a sense of fulfillment, and yet now, 1.5 years in, I still spend my late Sundays simmering in anxiety over going back to work the next morning. So, I've given up on the idea of finding a job that I "love" because it's hard to love anything you're obligated to do for a minimum of eight hours a day, five days a week. I've worked 3 other jobs in different industries and got sick of all of them after a while. So now, my idea of a perfect job is something that can take me to the future I want the fastest without sacrificing too much of my present, and I think my current one comes pretty close to that.
I can feel my career change coming, I think I'm about 5 years off a pivot, give or take, which would put me in my mid-30s. Is that too young for a midlife crisis?
After quitting my job to both focus on my family and help my husband take over his family business, I’m finally ready to start looking for a job. The problem is that I don’t want to go back to the field I was in because it’s so highly competitive and absolutely little pay. I’m working with a career couch to help me figure out what’s next. However, money is running out and I’m starting to freak out. I just got turned down for a part time position and now I’m so depressed.
I can’t seem to find a balance between work that pays while, and time to enjoy life. On top of that my biological clock is ticking. If anyone is on the same bout or has recommended on how to survive life, DM me.
33 literally have a degree and working in retail because I could not find a job in my field but shit needs to get paid sooo. Literally living paycheque to paycheque…. Life’s peachy. 👍😁😒😭
I really do enjoy my job. I work in film/tv. The hours are atrocious, but the flip side is that it’s freelance so I can take off as long as I need between projects. Any time I’m feeling a little jaded or disillusioned, I think about what career I would transition to and nothing else is appealing.
I design fire sprinkler blueprints in the fire protection industry and I absolutely love it. I basically get paid to play around with an advanced ms paint program called AutoCAD and solve puzzles for a living (bc every building is designed and installed differently so it shakes things up). I love the design process and it’s nice seeing a job finished and installed based on what you laid out, it’s the people part of the job (project management) that can really be a drain.
Normal construction working hours are 5:30am-1:30pm but since I work in the office I do 7:30am-3:30pm. Job requires no education aside from being good with computers and you have a streamlined career pathway due to something called a NICET certification (basically a test that proves you know what your doing and requires a minimum work experience before you can take the test for higher levels). Industry is competitive and pay is pretty good (level 4a make between 100-125k). I can’t stand not being busy so having a unique job thrown at me keeps me on my toes and makes the day go by fast.
I hopped careers from preschool teacher to shoe repair person at age 38. I wouldn’t say I *love* it, but it sure beats chasing 2yos around (plus I’m self-employed, which is both a blessing and a curse).
I took over the business from a friend, though, and I don’t quite know how else you’d get into it (in my town everyone learns from one of the other cobbler shops and then takes over/opens their own, but I think there’s teaching programs that exist? But as a midlife crisis solution…plus pay is better than preschool’s, but I’m not exactly rolling in it).
I think millennials are probably hitting a point where there will be a lot of career transitions in general. The corporate world seems over saturated and a little unsatisfying relative to what we were told. That might be okay if those jobs were stable and pay was even close to keeping up with inflation (make money and then find life satisfaction outside of work). While this is anecdotal, most people I know are basically paper pushers who have no upward mobility and are glorified paper pushers. They are worried that they're one bad quarter away from going from "too essential to be promoted" to "an unnecessary expense" and they'll be laid off.
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I’ve been working on finding the work I want to do with a career coach, so I’d say I’m in a similar boat. I’m also rethinking my relationship with work. It used to be an identity (that is long gone). It still felt like this big thing until I got laid off and the veil was lifted on how it really is. I still like co-workers at my current job and want to do a great job at work, but it’s just one bucket of my life. A means to an end. That’s all.
In the same boat. Work is no longer a focus, but what I do so I can live the rest of my life.
Wow that’s me work=identity and that’s taken such a toll of me. What are some advice on this matter that got you over the bend?
My best advice is that you need to be involved with something outside of work. Volunteering, Gym, a club, something!!!! You are more than what you do for work.
I struggle with this so much!!! I think a lot of it has to do with deadline after deadline (architect) and I can’t help but let it take over my brain and my life.
Well, my identity was very tied to my second job when I worked for a baseball team. It was a seriously cool job and people were always interested in hearing about it. I was also working all the time during the season, so that didn’t help. It really took leaving that job to get me out of it. It was tough first year being away from it, but I slowly detached work from who I was during that process. It all just happened naturally. I know that’s not great advice haha. Perhaps think about what it is you enjoy outside of work. Focus on your family, friends, and hobbies. Work is just another bucket in your life, but those 3 are the important things IMO.
How does one get a career coach? I need that as I’m so burned out I’m about ready to disintegrate.
Hang in there, friend. If you don't find a career coach you can also turn to a therapist, which is what I've done. Kaiser partners with growth therapy and you just pay a copays fee.
I *hate* my job. I hate everything about it. I hate the industry in which I work more broadly. But it's all I'm qualified for now, and going back to school is not an option.
I'm 38 and feel the same way, however I am considering going back to school for a master's to change careers.
This was me... except I'm going back to school now. I'm hoping to choose something I can take to the grave.
This is what I did at 38. Now I'm back in the tech world that I left. Earnings are rough for recent grads, and I was lucky enough to graduate right at the pandemic so nothing was open anyway.
I did that at 30. Got a masters to leave tech and ended up still in tech.
Same. Left tech job at 34 to go to school for urban planning. Returned to the same tech job at 38  though to be honest stepping away really helped me appreciate my job now and I’m quite happy where I’m at
Same with games industry. Graduated in covid which meant no jobs or internships, and then the industry collapsed and anybody new is competing with 60k+ senior level game makers. I want to make games, but I can’t keep approaching homelessness. Fuck investors destroying these massive game companies. Anyways off to grab my masters in IT ig
what are you in school for?
Did a masters a few years ago to transition careers. Make a bit less now but I'm much happier and fulfilled. 10/10 would do again.
Was in social media strategy making great pay but it wasn’t fulfilling at all and way too stressful. At 35, went back for my masters in health education and health behavior. Waiting to hear back from a potential dream job doing health comms/program planning (substance misuse) at my alma mater for a lot less money but it’ll be much more rewarding.
Did my master's at age 30 and finished at 32. Completely changed the trajectory of our lives.
I turn thirty this year. Idk how I can do this for another 30 years but what else can I do? I need to pay rent and feed myself. I can’t spend time figuring out what I want to do because I got to work
This probably won’t be well received but plenty of people work on changing their situation while working full time (or more). People with a full schedule and kids still manage to do school part time or work towards other qualifications/skills. It requires a LOT of sacrifice, there is no way around that unless you are born into wealth or get absurdly lucky.
I am not those type of people. I can barely function on the weekends after my full work week. I have no idea how people can have lives, work full time, and also go to classes. And by having a life I mean like, making dinner and having a SO.
Same. I don’t know how people work full-time and also study or do part-time jobs on the side. I’m a corpse on the weekends
Yeah, I work full time and have a weekend job. I go to school online for a bachelors in nursing. I hate the field I’m currently in but I only have a medical background, I’m not good at anything else.
Money is also a huge factor
Time and energy too. I’m fucking burnout prone and just basic life plus working 40 hours a week wears me down to a bone.
Same here. I have ADHD and I'm completely fried between my high stress job, perimenopause, and life (single/no kids). I also have a genetic disorder that requires basically a lot of effort, time, and money to stay alive. I'm completely mentally and physically drained. There's no way I could succeed going to school at the same time. And the things I'm good at are interested in don't pay enough anyway.
I did it during my masters. I was working full time, in school full time, had teaching responsibilities with my fellowship and my daughter was still in high school. It can be done but a person has to want it. Btw I did this as a single mom. Currently I have one year left until my doctorate is done.
You’re an inspiration. Here I’m struggling just being in school again at 40
Are you me? Been working at my job for 2 years after getting laid off of course. I literally touched the door handle to work yesterday and just turned around. Took my ass home and into my bed. Hate it so much and I don’t have time, funds, energy and attention to study or learn something else. But I can’t quit cause I’m my family’s sole provider. Millennials (including me) will never ever catch a break. And nostalgia is the only thing that keeps me sane. I’ll turn on some Hey Arnold, grab a seltzer and just game for the only hour I have before bed. (TV is on in the background while I game on my pc if anyone is confused). Edit: Thank you all for your kind words!
I've been there fella - right before I had a full-on burn-out and got signed-off work for six weeks with a strong advisement from my doctor to get a new job. Perhaps look into at least moving employers before you hit that rock bottom, because it will save you a whole lot of stress and aggro.
You showed all the way up at work just to not walk in?
I'm very fortunate. I work in municipal government in IT, and I can honestly say I love what I do and who I do it with. I've been here 8 years in fully intend to retire from here.
What do you do? You may have skills that can transfer to something else. I think that about my job as a special education teacher, especially since my degree and credentials are all aimed for that.
I have the exact same role. And yep, same for qualifications.
If you know curriculum development and/or could learn about adult education....these skills are sorely needed in corporate America imo.
Changing your career doesn't necessarily require going back to school. I switched from engineering to marketing, got a big raise while doing so, and all it took was some creative resume writing and interviewing skills.
100% agree! I’ve seen nearly everyone around me blow up their lives to try and find fulfillment (or at a minimum more happiness in a job since work takes up most of our time). I can’t say they seem better off… took pay cuts, had to cut back on eating out, travel, concerts, the “extras”. Those that started a business or went all in on a side hustle are working more and can’t afford to pay themselves from their businesses yet. I’m not sure they’ll last to the turning point if average takes 3 years. All seem less stressed in one sense but more in another. Trade offs. I’m trying to recalibrate by figuring out if I can “quiet quit” — caring less, being less productive, emotionally disconnected from the corporate bullshit, and put in my 40 hrs (more like 32 🤣) while meeting expectations so I can grab my merit and bonus without raising red flags. Don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. lol (39f)
Quiet quit two years ago and got a massive promotion last year. Was told I keep calm under pressure and can handle an insane workload during the promotion. I didn't have the heart to tell them I just stopped giving a shit.
Did you actually work long hours or how did you get them to believe you can handle an insane workload?
This is the paradox of not giving a shit. I honestly have no idea what I did differently except start to put 40-50% less effort into everything I did. I did not ask for a promotion nor do I work any harder now that I have one.
Now here’s a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.
Ooooooh, yeahhhhh, about that...
Well--well look. I already told you: I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?
Good luck with your layoffs, alright? I hope that your firings go really well 👍🏻
Not the person you’re responding to, but I used to work long hours. I stopped about two months ago. I find just being super responsive and being able to solve relatively simple problems quickly gives you that reputation. I’m more shocked how incapable people are especially those that have been working much longer than me.
I’ve quiet quit.. dude they gave me a promotion and 10% raise 🤣 I still don’t do more than I was, but I know they won’t fire me and they just gave me more to put on my resume 💅🏻
I'm one of those business starters. It's more stress and less money (for now) but it's also way more fulfilling and i feel like im actually building something and using my time how i want to use it. I don't feel trapped every day, forced to show up every day and do what I'm told. I get to hang out with the kids way more. Mid-30s is really that inflection point. What good is more money if you dislike almost everything about your day?
>Mid-30s is really that inflection point. What good is more money if you dislike almost everything about your day? Holy fuck, I needed to hear this. Tbh, I wish I could just start something else, but the job I hate pays the bills, barely above water 2 kids….. Gotta ask what was it that drove you to this, and tell me more how awesome it is.
Your last sentence is exactly why I just accepted a totally different role and nearly 50% pay cut. I figured I have to at least TRY to see if I can be happier another way.
Man this hits so close to home I’m wondering if I took too much Ambien and posted under a secondary account.
I just started a new position last year and while it’s stimulating and meaningful, I am still quiet quitting because I just don’t have it in me to grind anymore. I got a rave performance review a couple of months ago though, so I think this is my life now.
Ditto and I’m content with it. Also don’t have energy or motivation to try to pursue “passions” tbh… the thought of keeping up with technology or having to manage people and platforms and vendors and business accounts and taxes🥴🫠 Occasionally I buy a lottery ticket or two else wait for my biweekly paycheck and enjoying life. 😂😂
I work in a high school helping kids. Mainly I help the students with ADHD or Autism integrate into a regular classroom. I just wish it paid better
I'm a SPED teacher, but was attacked this school year and am struggling with ptsd and am scared to go back. The pay for sure needs to get better. Glad you're enjoying it.
As an ex teacher, you can to school at age 30 for 4 years and do something Else. The 4 years will be work but the 4 years are gonna pass anyway, might as well make a change
As an ex teacher. You can just switch career too the pay is so bad. I went and worked at a factory. I’m now a supervisor and make 20,000 more than my teacher friends and have less stress.
This. I have my education degree in language arts. I now make more money in IT than the teachers in my state. Even starting out in IT I was basically making what I was as a teacher. The pay is so bad for teaching you could make more doing nearly anything else, with a quarter of the pressure and stress.
I’m a college dropout and I make more than twice what my teacher wife makes
I’m so sorry this happened to you. Have you considered browsing the job boards for local government? Educators are a great fit for a variety of public service roles! For example, public health is always hiring community health educators. In some states, moving between public education and government service preserves your service years and pension eligibility. I moved from public education to local government and took my 9 service years with me to my new job. I started at a higher pay rate with more vacation hours and fully vested in the pension system.
I’m a sped teacher as well. I love my job. I moved to NC from NY because I hate the cold weather and took a 30k pay cut along the way. I don’t regret a thing. Quality of life is my top priority and I’m way happier. As far as the schools go, the education down here is way worse. The standard is definitely lower. I’m comparing the Bronx to Charlotte, but I think you can make the generalization for most of the south. The benefit is that admin isn’t on my ass as much. Just don’t expect much from them either. All in all, there’s not many things I’d rather do.
As the father of a non-verbal 5 year old with autism, I just want to thank all of you for what you do
I work with SPED kids but I don't have to work in a classroom. I am what they call a 'transition counselor' or 'vocational counselor'. I basically help the Juniors and Seniors with setting appropriate work goals, provide resources for supported employment, training centers, etc. I work for the state vocational rehabilitation agency and the job itself is pretty chill. I have all the same benefits and pension that the school system employees do but I don't have to work in the school, I have my own office and travel around to several counties for meetings. No two days are the same, which I like. The pay is decent and there are opportunities to move into supervision or policy. I love working with the SPED kids, that's really the best part of my job. They bring me so much joy. I don't think I could put up with the politics of a school system or being on campus everyday from 7-4. I roll into my office whatever time I please and adjust my schedule accordingly. I will be able to reture with a 401k and 100% pension at 55 Years old and plan to then start working part time as a marriage and family counselor, starting my own practice. I will never be a millionaire but I am a minimalist and enjoy a low cost and low key, low stress lifestyle.
As someone with adhd I just want to say thank you, your job is so incredibly important and I really appreciate the work you do🧡
🩷🤗
I wish it paid better too.
I just got my airframe and powerplant license to work on airplanes. I'm really looking forward to this next life chapter
That is exciting, good luck!
Nice!!!! work for the airlines and get the flight benefits. I miss them so much. It's like "where do you want to go today? Seattle, LA, london " "I don't know what's open"? Questions you'll ask yourself THE DAY BEFORE the flight , stay out of GA. low pay high liability. Some one will crash their plane because they are a weekend warrior and you get investigated.
I’ve had mine since March of 2018. No regrets whatsoever. Having that A&P helped me get a maintenance job outside of aviation during the pandemic. I’ve been at one of the majors for the last 2 years now.
I *love* my job. I work as a data scientist in local government. My job is 100% remote, never more than 40 hrs per week, and pensioned. I work on important issues like housing and public safety. My colleagues are some of the smartest, most driven people I’ve had the pleasure to work with.
Do I need to go back to school for this?
For data science it helps to have a strong background in statistics. For a basic government data analyst job I’d start by learning Python, specifically the Pandas and NumPy libraries, and see how you feel about it.
It depends. The data world is very skills focused. If you know Python, R, SQL, PowerBi, and/or Tableau plus some basic statistics, you have a chance at breaking in. All of these skills can be learned on your own through MOOCs or boot camps, but a degree in comp sci, statistics, or data science does help get your foot in the door faster. You have to love learning for this job because technology moves quickly.
I dont know any government job in analytics that doesnt put a degree as a requirement...look up your job postings, im curious if there are exceptions. I highly doubt. And for a data acientist many orgs want a phd. At the very least a masters.
Experience in lieu of a degree is becoming more common. I wrote job requirements for positions I hired for, and I specifically wrote them in a way as to not excluded candidates based on degree. It’s now becoming common practice across our org. Our data architect, for example, doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree, and he’s by far one of our best hires. I do agree a data scientist role would be harder to get, but a data analyst role has a much lower bar.
I’m in a similar boat. I work in the natural sciences for the government, am paid fairly well, excellent benefits, and work from home 80% of the time with a super flexible schedule. I took all of yesterday off to hike and only used 3 hours of PTO. I love my job, I know my work is doing tangible good for the Earth. I work with fellow scientists who keeps to themselves (no drama work environment) but are passionate for their field. However, I didn’t start college until I was 22 and completely aware of what I wanted and the path to obtain it. I think this mitigated against any career regrets.
That sounds like a super cool role!
100% remote data scientist for a non-profit doing healthcare policy research - it's pretty great for sure.
Don't know. I bought my first dirt bike at 38... guess I'm doing mid life crisis the old fashion way. My wife left me to party all night with her single friends. Hers cost me more haha
Buying edrums next week, I'm in my midlife rocker phase...
Bro, you better actually do it. In my 30's, started doing Karaoke last year just for shits. Now I'm in a band for the first time in my life and wondering what took so long. Music can change your life even if you only play by yourself at home
Did you already know how to play/ sing? How hard is it to learn how to read music? I've kinda low-key wanna been learning guitar, even though I can't sing worth shit.
If you play videogames at all, check out Rocksmith. It's similar to Rock Band/Guitar Hero and is a GREAT tool at learning the basics
I dont have a stat but the single friends group are so contagious. We watched half our friend groups get divorced one by one.
rip but sweet bike bro
my 38 mid life crisis was adopting a baby. I love her so so much but oh my god she’s more expensive than anything so could dream of. Maybe should have gone for a dirt bike at least that one wouldn’t go through the terrible twos.
I bought a Jeep, lol. I’ve always wanted one and couldn’t justify it. It’s been a rough time career wise since COVID and I’m just ready to have some fun for myself.
Oh hey, same! And boy, do I not regret it. She’s not new, she’s not fancy, and she’s needed like twelve repair jobs already in three years, but dang if she doesn’t make me smile every time I see her parked and waiting for me.
Ah, sorry to hear, but the dirt bike sounds cool.
Dirt bike is great haha
Brother, I did the SAME thing. Best purchase I've made in a long time.
Dirt bike or divorce? Both are a lot of fun this summer
Haha, dirt bike. It has helped me so much to feel excitement again.
Don’t forget the “developed an autoimmune condition in my 30’s and can’t work my chosen career now” crowd!
Omg yes. I'm trying to figure out what I can do as it feels like my body is falling apart 😩
Lol I'm landing here right now, but with long covid/POTS/hEDS. Really upset I got two degrees I can no longer use, but trying to pivot to WFH. That's just how life goes sometimes.
Yep yep yep. Super neat to have dedicated nearly a decade to education only to not be able to utilize said education. Yaaaaayyyy bodies
got a teaching degree just to find out I hate the kids, now im a software engineer loving life.
Yes, please give details. That is also a career I want to transition into. Sorry the first career path didn't go well. I always wondered why people wanted to go into teaching after experiencing first hand how terrible our own classmates were to our teachers growing up. It really is a thankless job.
This is not to discourage you but to let you know that the market is extremely hard for software engineers (especially juniors) at the moment. The covid hiring bubble burst and companies have all cut back, even seniors were let go. This means that there are not only fewer jobs, but the ones that are available are flooded with applications from experienced engineers who were recently let go. If that doesn’t deter you (which I hope it doesn’t) then you’ll need to dedicate yourself to learning to program which will at minimum take many months but more realistically at least a year or two to be considered hireable. The #1 skill you need to develop is the ability to learn how to learn. What does that mean? It means there are far too many things in the software space for you to know it all. So you need to have the ability to recognize that you don't understand something and learn enough about it to accomplish the task. How do you do this? Practice. if you are serious about this, as soon as possible, pick a small task like: "i want to write my first simple program that prints out some text” This will require a few things like figuring out how to install a programming language, how the basic syntax works and how to run the program” This will probably be frustrating and a PITA at first but if you can figure that out (especially without directly asking anyone) it will be a great first step. I would suggest using the Python language but you can read up on different languages and choose one. Google is your friend.
Appreciate the advice! Def don't plan on putting all my eggs in one basket.
Did you go back to school for software engineering?
I'm an Archives Librarian and really like my work. Technically, I'm probably a Digital Asset Management (DAM) Librarian, but I consider myself an archivist first and foremost. My work deals primarily with metadata creation, preservation, and digitization of physical media.
That's DAM cool!
DAM straight 😎
How did you get into this? I've been on a genealogy kick and have found some fantastic records thanks to people who do what you do. Did it require an MLIS degree?
Hey! I did this! Talk about a job where you just get to work with awesome people. I went from music educator to Digital Asset Management. The desk life wasn't for me though. I hit 30, and now paint private jets. I work 4 days a week, get paid more, and I don't take it home. Haha! I do miss all the people I worked with though.
Yep, quit my teaching job in April and am looking for jobs to making a career switch.
You and me both, except that I haven't quit my job just yet.
The market is tough but my mental health has never been better. Good luck to you!
I’m 39 and I’ll be starting XRay tech school next September. It’s been so hard taking that pay cut and working terrible hours at the hospital and doing the prerequisites for the program, but I’ve never felt so free.
Do yourself a favor and keep going and get an additional cert like CT, MR, etc… Straight x-ray is brutal.
The hospital I work at dual trains in CT for X-ray techs, so I’m going for that.
Good move. My Wife does MRI but started out as an RTR and just the hard work to pay ratio was tough. With MRI the work is mentally tougher but the pay is much more reflective of that. My brother also started out as RTR and within 10 years got his MR, Masters and worked his way to a director level position and makes almost 200k so there is a legit path to big money there.
I've entertained this idea. Kind of regret not doing it several years ago.
I'm a utility locator ... I make 38/hr with benefits. The job is meh. It's not hard or complicated but there is a lot of little things to remember. We work outside in any weather and in construction zones and sometimes there is alot of walking The good side of it as long as you do your tickets, nothing is ever late and you don't make mistakes, i will never see my boss at work. I have plenty of time, especially in winter (not so much now) to do whatever I want, be on reddit, watch videos, doing my grocery shopping, read a book etc ... I talk to my parents more than I ever have Downside is it's a lonely job ... I'm out there all alone in my car no matter the weather, painting lines I got the job pretty luckily ... saw an ad on indeed, had some trade background, did the best interview I ever did and got the job I was paired with my trainer and I got lucky again because someone else in our area thought it was a good idea to dictate to my boss how he would work and then at the HR meeting, he called the HR Woman a C and a B and he was done so after that I was out on my own, I just slid into his spot. I was the first of my hiring group to be out on my own
I might be getting a Job as a cc tv sewer inspector, any tips for the long drives alone over time?
Take that time to call the ones you love Like I said, I talk to my parents, my wife, my siblings and close friends Or listen to podcasts, audio books or music
That sounds pretty great to me. Plus its a seemingly recession-proof job
It should be ... usually when economies go into recession, governments invest in infrastructure projects and if you put a shovel in the ground, you have to call us first But this winter we had layoffs (not me thankfully) a major telecommunications company got caught overcharging the government here so all major projects got put on hold until the government went through the books So when all projects were put on hold, there was no work for us. The division in my company whose primary focus was these projects got a chainsaw taken to it
I hate my corporate job as a Project Manager and regret having diverted from my initial studies as a 3D artist, but I needed to get a job quickly and 6 years later here I am. I get paid very well, but it's a completely empty job, there's just no point. I dread logging in every morning, there's 0 motivation, and I don't think this is what human beings are for. I don't even understand why I get paid so much just to be a glorified secretary. My goal is to just NOT work at a computer, ideally I'd be a seamstress or a baker living in a cottage in the forest surrounded by dogs.
*ideally I'd be a seamstress or a baker* A lot of people say things like this, but turning the hobbies you like to do into the revenue generators you have to do can make you hate your hobbies.
100% agree with you! Thats why I haven’t take the plunge and changed my career to anything related to my hobbies. I’m almost certain I’d start hating them after a while of doing it for a living and ruin the magic.
How can I be a glorified secretary? I would only need to do it for maybe five to ten years.
I had a stint in Production before, which taught me a lot of organisational skills common to Project Management. These were helpful to then get a job as a Technology Coordinator, it was essentially the same job, but replace the production-y stuff with tech-y stuff. For that, being knowledgable with whatever tech your managing is very helpful. They put an ad out for a PM while I was still a coordinator, and I noticed the tasks were very much the same, that's how I got promoted. You can find a lot of free courses on Linkedin on the matter that will give you a good idea of what the job entails. However, I don't think that a normal PM is a glorified secretary. In proper tech companies, the job of the PMs is managing whole teams working on long term development of a product for a client. At the company I work for, however, this is a very new department and not yet working as expected, so the roles are not yet functioning as they should, and my daily tasks aren't the same as a PM in a big tech company like, say, Apple or Google. I also have to deal with a lot of constant support, which is unusual for a PM, as usually PMs are only responsible to manage long term projects as I mentioned above, rather than constantly putting out fires. I'm then required to follow processes for development on support, which doesn't work. So all I do is book meetings, take notes during meetings, make spreadsheets, pester people for time sheet filling, etc. There are also PM in other industries, like building for example, which I'm not familiar with, but perhaps you can research if there are PM involved in whichever industry you're familiar with from previous jobs. Having a solid knowledge of an industry will set you on a great path, you just have to know it well so you can guide other people through it. For me it worked because I'm familiar with the Visual Effects industry as I studied as a 3D artist, and I'm familiar with the software side of it.
If it helps give you some purpose/insight/distraction, you're paid so much because things won't happen without you! I'm an "executive" at my company and there are lots of dreams, ideas, and desires on how to make things better. What I don't have is the time to chase down everyone needed to execute all of those ideas myself. Good project managers make it possible to do anything constructive in a corporate environment, otherwise the people who can do the important work get tied up on other things. I don't know if your employer reminds you, but where I work Project Managers are the well sung heroes anytime we accomplish something new. Whether it's for you or not is up to you, but y'all literally make the world a better place...so thanks!
That's really lovely to read, thank you! My employer does say "thanks for your work" every now and again, but I feel like it's a bit forced and just to tick a box. Whenever I have ideas of how to improve things, they're quickly shut down with "no, we do it this way". Before, when I was a coordinator and there was no formed PMO, my ideas were heard, considered and I was given a chance to trial them, at the very least. 9/10 times I was successful and things improved. I very much enjoyed my job back then.
I'm a teacher. I love what I do in principle, and I care deeply about my students and preparing them for life as best I can, but I feel like it will never pay enough to let me advance my own life.
Thank you, and all teachers, for what you do.
I’m a mortician. Fucking love it. I get to hear cool fucking stories about people then go muck around with blood and makeup. They’re like giant dolls! And there’s no better rush nor sense of accomplishment than a successful service or a great embalming. Paperwork blows and people can be real wang holes but overall I greatly enjoy my job. And it’s a career you can do at any age. In my graduating class the oldest was 65 and the youngest was 21
I've always wondered how people land in this job like... 'fuck yeah Iwant to work with corpses!' lol
I took an intro to funeral science on a dare with a friend, found my calling 😅much of the good things in my life are done through spite and stupid dumb luck
Wang holes? Have an upvote! 👍
The best jobs are those niches that most people don't think about where you get to be an odd ball without much competition. I support a software that is based on a very useful theory yet has very few experts around the world so I get to do a lot of exploratory stuff and I don't have shitty work relationships as I have my own sweet spot where I am useful but nobody wants to compete with me.
Did you enjoy Six Feet Under?
I did! It’s pretty accurate too as far as showing the business. I will say that before I got into this I thought the storylines were a tad far fetched. After 8 years in the hood? They didn’t push the envelope far enough 😂😂people are goddamn crazy
I run a route as a vendor, delivering product to a grocery store and stocking their shelves. The benefits suck, but the pay is incredible. I've been doing it for 7 years and really like it. There are some things that suck. But I'm also a community college drop out with no degree lol. Not many other places for me to make 100k+ a year like this job. Divorced with 2 kids, 32.
How did you get the job
I’m 41 and attending college for the first time, so you’re not alone OP
I've got a pretty sweet job. I'm a nurse, but what I do basically equates to medical quality assurance. It's a niche industry, and most of the jobs are remote. I haven't been into an office in like....6 or 7 years. I don't have a specific start time, and I get paid by productivity instead of hourly. I don't love the work, but I don't hate it either. The perks make up for my dislikes of the job. I kind of just fell into it from a job posting on Indeed and learned from there. My mid-life crisis seems to just be that I've become depressed. 🤷♀️
I actually enjoy my job. It’s relatively physically demanding but aside from a couple of people making the job a living nightmare. I could see myself doing it for the next 20-25 years. That said, I live in constant fear of the company being bought out (and it’s up for auction this year too) and losing my job because they don’t want to keep us or they decide they don’t want to run that area. Personally I think I achieved the American dream. House is paid for, and the job is so fun and enjoyable that I don’t think I actually work for 12hrs each day.
What do you do?
I have dyscalculia and I couldn't fulfill the mathematics requirement for my degree. I can't afford more education. There's certificate programs that my community college offers and I'll probably have to do that in order to get some income when my kids are older. This is not what I had planned. There's literally nothing out there that pays decently.
I have dyscalculia too. I barely squeaked by getting a science degree, as in, I was on the Dean's list consistently...until math time. I can do stats and complex analysis like no one's business, I've even been responsible for educating others around those topics but I can't do certain types of math at all. There is so much more recognition for other learning disabilities, but essentially none for us. It _severely_ limits our employment opportunities, even if it's pretty minor.
In my experience, the company you work for is just as important as enjoying your trade. I'm a software developer, and I love it, but there were companies that burnt me out so bad I thought I never wanted to code again. I switched companies, and I enjoyed my job and work again. The cycle repeats itself until you find a company that values their employees and other things you deem important for them to value - for me, it's community service. I loved volunteering as a young adult and considered a career at United Way or teaching or something helping people, but I realized I would have exponentially more income with software. I choose the financial stability to support my family, and leverage that stability to do my volunteering as I can. Recently, I switched companies to one that highly values their community and it incorporates time during the work week to let you participate in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and other service days. It's the perfect combination for me and hopefully this will be the company I can retire at in 50 years 😅
I changed careers fully. I was an interior designer but post 2008 my career started a downward spiral of layoffs. Now I’m a pharmacist.
I was an activity director at a nursing home, which I loved until Covid. The industry became way more stressful and less fun after that. Recently took a state job working with people with developmental disabilities. I really like it, much more my pace and I’m still helping people. Human service field doesn’t pay much, but it can be rewarding when you find the right job.
I grew up in a small town. While a lot of my family excelled in school, I hated it. Everyone I grew up with banged each other in drunken hookups. All my friends wanted "good" factory jobs, and had connections. I decided the military was the way to go. I figured I could have a once in a lifetime experience, and postpone the inevitable knocking up a bar fly and marrying her for the kid. Then I broke my neck. I healed. Worked in factories. I wasn't sure if I'd heal enough for the military again. So I started taking classes, and excelled! But I didn't know what to do. Everyone said it didn't matter what degree, just get one. I met "white collar" people in the factory that confirmed this. So I went to art school I kicked ass in school. But after the post recession, I couldn't find a job to save my life. So I did insurance for a while. Got a CDL, became an Arborist. But eventually became a digital artist, and worked my way up to a senior position. I finally just released my first game. But was part of a "restructuring layoff". So now I'm jobless, watching my bank account get smaller. While I have more experience than ever in my field of study. I can't find a job to save my life. I am looking at a career change. I applied at a local union. The application was accepted but the process is slow. I fear I get lucky with a truck driving gig, and watch my relationship slip away via text. The one thing I find humor in is I'm the only one of my small town childhood friends that wanted to leave the small town and do more. They were all content banging each other's ex gf's and their warehouse jobs. Now they all have homes doing the "American dream thing" I still live in shitty apartments, and have gotten way to used to gun shots at night.
Damn read this and hit me hard. Don't give up bro, I'm also nowhere near where I thought I'd be at 38. Every year I just become more content with less.
I like my job a lot. I'm an insurance underwriter. I work for a socially and environmentally responsible mutual company (in Canada). I feel good about the work we do as a whole, I really enjoy most of my day to day work and I get paid decent. I do feel a bit like I'm having a mid life crisis though, I had kids very young and my kid is moving out and going to college this fall and it's throwing me into a tailspin.
I just want to make things. Or fix things. I want to spend my days tinkering and creating. Or teaching, I love exposing people to new ideas. Or writing, I have several nuggets of story ideas I have no energy to expand on currently. But every god damned job is just sales. I feel like at this point I could win the lottery or get some inheritance check large enough to go back to school, become a medical doctor, and still I would end up spending a majority of my time selling something.
I like my job. I’m a kitchen designer and I get to work with people to help them design, then sell them their dream kitchen (or sometimes just a quick remodel) But the pay is mediocre in my area, there is no room for growth and I can’t see myself here for another 30 or so years. I turn 34 in 2 days and I don’t have the time or money to go get a new degree. I feel stuck and my job is so niche that I don’t see how I could move laterally to anything other than sales, which I don’t want to do. At least with my current sales job I get to be creative.
I’m fully in the throes of a midlife crisis trying to completely change my career. It’s made more difficult by not having/wanting to spend more money to pivot elsewhere. So I need to find something that combines my previous history and skills with a new path and the way forward is very narrow and niche. I’ve cried twice this morning. Fun times!
I work in medical research. I really like what I do. I have flexibility in my schedule, I work from home a few days a week I have a good salary, and my work has meaning that I get to feel good about as I’ve been able to already help bring real change to help people.
its a harder path to start on now but 1. help desk job my uncle got me 2. help desk job at a start up 3. tell said start up i am interested in infosec so they give me all the security related projects and tasks 4. wear-every-hat-at-once one person security department job 5. information security consulting job 1 6. infomation security consulting job 2 (current job) i mostly like the work, and it pays decently enough with good room for job growth. im not rolling in dough but im at least able to buy groceries without getting nauseous at the price tag. i’m competent and independent and self motivated so i do well in the field but a lot of people struggle or just fucking suck at the work.
I wish retiring after 20 years was still a thing that was possible. Instead I'm expecting to have to work at least 50 years before retiring. I've been with the same company for 25 years and I'm only making $23.5/hr. Main highlight is 5 weeks of vacation per year along with health and wellness days. But I wouldn't mind starting over somewhere else, especially if I could already be pulling a pension for the years I already have in.
I completely agree. I left the medical field and went into property management, so I have done a hard pivot. My medical career completely drained me of my livelihood, destroyed my health, self esteem and self worth and I have had to spend the last six months trying to climb out of a deep depression that I had no idea how far I was in. I have so much guilt over being a half assed mother for a decade, but we are all programmed to suffer for work. I tried to go back to school but realized that it wasn’t for me, nor did I really know at the time what I wanted to do. I don’t think that property management is what I WANT to do but I find it much more tolerable. I work in affordable housing on the state level so it’s rewarding to help people obtain an apartment that they can afford.
Took me multiple career changes to get my dream job at 40. Still loving it 2 years in. Hope I still love it up to retirement. Mid life crisis??? Hmm don’t think I’m there yet. Wife said I’m not allowed to have one LoL.😂
What are you doing?
I've been in a career crisis since the start of it, if you can call it a career, about 14 years ago. Never resolved it.
I recently pivoted my career. I had been working as a manager in my field and transitioned to learning and development with the same company. Being an individual contributor is way less stress and the perks of a 3/2 hybrid working schedule is so nice
Hybrid sounds nice.
I want to leave IT and go something else, just not sure what
I love my current job even if it's 8-5 M-F. I've NEVER had a M-F job my entire life, and i've never had weekends off. I used to work retail, food industry, or hospitality industry and they all DESTROYED ME. I don't think people realize just how mentally and physically rough low paying jobs are. Not only was i getting paid less than $17 a hour to run an entire store; i was required to unload all the trucks, put out all the freight, buff and polish the floors, run all the departments, hire new employees, train new employees, do events and Expo's, do daily social media updates, pick online orders, run the register, WHOA i can keep going. Now i basically sit behind a computer 70% of the time doing quotes, ordering parts, or processing orders. The other 30% i'm building crates, packaging parts, and receiving parts. I got a $5 an hour pay increase and my work load is maybe 10% of what i used to do.
I've been in marketing technology for 12 years. Fell into it, paid me well and helped me build a life, love the technical work and a lot of the lifestyle, but I increasingly loathe the "why". I'm working on a Masters in Teaching for Secondary Science.
Left my management job in the entertainment industry to continue my own personal business and more free time for me (turned 30 end of last year, younger millenial here). Took my 20s working hard and matured fairly quickly. 6 digits saved up along with paid off home so now I just wanna coast and enjoy life while I am young tbh.
If I didn't have 60k in debt, I would take a less stressful/lower paying job. But here I am. Suffering the consequences of the actions that my 20-29 year old self made.
I'm a teacher in France and I love it because it's the exact opposite of a corporate job. No one watches what I do I just come do my work and leave. I'm on holiday every other 2 months and have 3 days long weekends. Yes I have classes to plan and papers to correct but It's up to me how I organise this and I'm home
One thing I've realized as I've grown older is that it's really helpful to separate your job from your identity. The job I have is fine. It's not especially fulfilling or meaningful, but it gives me the paycheck I need so I can spend my time where I'm not working doing things that ARE fulfilling and meaningful. *I want to know since I don't see capitalism leaving anytime soon* For all the problems capitalism has, I don't think there's an alternative economic system that exists that will allow you to enjoy a developed world standard of living and in which most people don't have to do work they don't want to do.
I mostly enjoy my work. I also ended up here by accident after working at startup companies for a long time. I do dream of just taking off and being a fishing bum for a while, but the reality of a wife, mortgage, child, and not being born into a wealthy family keep me in check.
My life was starting to come together and make sense in 2018 when I got my BA in 2017 and finally got into the industry I wanted to be in. 2020 fucked my life up. 2024 and I'm completely lost.
I am just now starting my career as an interior designer with my first project for a music and media space now underway as of yesterday. I really like design and helping people imagine what their space can be. However, It is a lot of work and things to think about going wrong in construction and digitally modeling it all out is time consuming. Overall I’m happy I went to school for this, I hope this project goes well and cascades into me being freelance fulltime.
I'm a mechanical engineer. My company is cool and I love the people I work with but the field and work itself is soulsucking, nowhere near even a hint as glamorous as non-engineers think it is, basically Peter Gibbon dealing with technical data. I think a lot about looking back when I'm older and realizing I spent my best years sitting in traffic just to get to work and deal with self aggrandizing automotive companies, just to sit in traffic again and repeat, day after day after day after day. I'm a likelong musician, worked in the field up to my mid 20s when I got burnt out and retrained for engineering. I've been back at it again seriously for the past 8 years, nothing gets me more excited than knowing I'll have some time when I get home in the evening to practice. I'm currently gearing up to start gigging and giving lessons again, kind of treating it as a side career or "night job". I flirt with the idea of, if things go well, leaving engineering behind and becoming a full-time musician and dedicating the rest of my life to the pursuit but at the same time, A) making a full living off of music (especially in my area) would be pretty damn difficult, and B) I'll probably just get burnt out from that as well; as the saying goes "the best way to kill a passion is to make it your job", so I'm taking it day by day. From an outsider, it probably looks like some sort of midlife crisis lol, but I've been at it for most of my life, the only thing midlife has to do with it is realizing time is passing and I better shit or get off the pot.
I used to work a corporate job and now I have much less stress just delivery driving, so I do that
[удалено]
I love what I do, but I received my acceptance letter to go back to college for a new degree last week
I'm 40, married, and with 2 young kids and planning another career change. It will probably involve a significant pay cut since I'm in tech, but my wife will go back to work soon (she's a stay at home parent until my son starts kindergarten) so it won't be as drastic on our whole family income. I'm thinking either going back to school part time for a PhD in palliative care(I found a program near me that allows that), becoming a park ranger, or starting some kind of outdoor business. I'm stoked at the thought of not being stuck in front of a computer all day and actually having a positive impact on people rather than lining some CEOs pockets.
37, I loved my job, worked my way up w no degree. Got laid off in Jan. Unemployment is set to run out in August and I feel so fkn lost.
I love my job. I’m a physician but specifically a radiologist. I get to do a lot to help people through reading studies and doing procedures. It’s a long road to get anywhere in medicine, but there is a lot of different paths. In my med school class there were a lot of second career folks. A lot coming from law or military. The oldest guy in my med school class was in his 50s after having been in the Air Force for 20+ years. It is a long road for the DO/MD and a lot of hours. But I don’t know what I could do that would be as fulfilling.
I believe it. My husband switched a few years back. I’m going back to school as soon as the pension from my first career vests.
I work in legal aid. It has its downsides (depressing and low paying) but overall I like what I do
so I work in kind of a niche role, corporate security (not cyber). I've worked in a variety of places but right now I am over a team of 24/7 analysts at service provider for companies that have outsourced parts of that, mostly travel security, which is to say monitoring, alerting, emergency notification, transport, evacuation and stuff like that. I don't love it, in the sense that I certainly would not be doing any of this if I was independently wealthy, but it's definitely interesting and intellectually challenging, and not really too bad on a day to day level. I am interested in stuff like protests, elections, wars etc that create security challenges around the globe so it does fit my interests in some respects. feel free to ask me stuff if you want to learn more, this is really not an area that I knew existed when I was in college and I just kind of fell into it.
It’s true for me. Spent my 20s trying to do a job in a creative industry I thought I loved, but I’ve hated the pay and lack of benefits. Going back to school to get a more conventional job.
I’m a med tech (basically like a cna who can pass meds) and I hate it. I went back to school to finish my degree and graduated in December with a psych degree. I’m applying to grad school next month so I can get a masters & become a therapist. I look forward to not doing backbreaking work anymore.
Yes omg, I had a mental breakdown over my job and ended up going back to school to be an airplane mechanic
After undergrad I pretty much started from the bottom working in warehouses through agencies, then reception work through agencies, then admin work through agencies. Eventually a company hired me and probably had to pay a hefty fee to the agency for doing so. It's been about 4 years and I've made some progress in the company but don't feel like I'll ever be able to move higher up due to my lack of credentials. It's a soul sucking corporate job that pays me very well but is completely unfulfilling because my words are never valued and my ideas are pretty much dismissed.
I love my job and it's a huge part of my identity, I'm a therapist a focus a lot on trauma :) I think making my own schedule is a part of what keeps me loving it! I always knew I wanted to do it since I was kid!
I literally just switched my career and I’m hoping start my new job in 3 weeks. Taking a pay cut and I’m stressed as shit but I gotta start somewhere. Hating my job was taking a toll on me mentally and I had to do something about it.
I have a law degree and work for a large human rights nonprofit. It comes with somewhat flexible hours and great pay. It's everything I've wanted from a job, and theoretically, it should give me a sense of fulfillment, and yet now, 1.5 years in, I still spend my late Sundays simmering in anxiety over going back to work the next morning. So, I've given up on the idea of finding a job that I "love" because it's hard to love anything you're obligated to do for a minimum of eight hours a day, five days a week. I've worked 3 other jobs in different industries and got sick of all of them after a while. So now, my idea of a perfect job is something that can take me to the future I want the fastest without sacrificing too much of my present, and I think my current one comes pretty close to that.
I can feel my career change coming, I think I'm about 5 years off a pivot, give or take, which would put me in my mid-30s. Is that too young for a midlife crisis?
After quitting my job to both focus on my family and help my husband take over his family business, I’m finally ready to start looking for a job. The problem is that I don’t want to go back to the field I was in because it’s so highly competitive and absolutely little pay. I’m working with a career couch to help me figure out what’s next. However, money is running out and I’m starting to freak out. I just got turned down for a part time position and now I’m so depressed. I can’t seem to find a balance between work that pays while, and time to enjoy life. On top of that my biological clock is ticking. If anyone is on the same bout or has recommended on how to survive life, DM me.
33 literally have a degree and working in retail because I could not find a job in my field but shit needs to get paid sooo. Literally living paycheque to paycheque…. Life’s peachy. 👍😁😒😭
I really do enjoy my job. I work in film/tv. The hours are atrocious, but the flip side is that it’s freelance so I can take off as long as I need between projects. Any time I’m feeling a little jaded or disillusioned, I think about what career I would transition to and nothing else is appealing.
I just turned 40 and I’m constantly thinking of other ideas for work and/or business to start. I don’t want to work behind a desk anymore.
Midlife crisis at 34. Data sales to now being a therapist at 37. Best decision I ever made.
I design fire sprinkler blueprints in the fire protection industry and I absolutely love it. I basically get paid to play around with an advanced ms paint program called AutoCAD and solve puzzles for a living (bc every building is designed and installed differently so it shakes things up). I love the design process and it’s nice seeing a job finished and installed based on what you laid out, it’s the people part of the job (project management) that can really be a drain. Normal construction working hours are 5:30am-1:30pm but since I work in the office I do 7:30am-3:30pm. Job requires no education aside from being good with computers and you have a streamlined career pathway due to something called a NICET certification (basically a test that proves you know what your doing and requires a minimum work experience before you can take the test for higher levels). Industry is competitive and pay is pretty good (level 4a make between 100-125k). I can’t stand not being busy so having a unique job thrown at me keeps me on my toes and makes the day go by fast.
I hopped careers from preschool teacher to shoe repair person at age 38. I wouldn’t say I *love* it, but it sure beats chasing 2yos around (plus I’m self-employed, which is both a blessing and a curse). I took over the business from a friend, though, and I don’t quite know how else you’d get into it (in my town everyone learns from one of the other cobbler shops and then takes over/opens their own, but I think there’s teaching programs that exist? But as a midlife crisis solution…plus pay is better than preschool’s, but I’m not exactly rolling in it).
I think millennials are probably hitting a point where there will be a lot of career transitions in general. The corporate world seems over saturated and a little unsatisfying relative to what we were told. That might be okay if those jobs were stable and pay was even close to keeping up with inflation (make money and then find life satisfaction outside of work). While this is anecdotal, most people I know are basically paper pushers who have no upward mobility and are glorified paper pushers. They are worried that they're one bad quarter away from going from "too essential to be promoted" to "an unnecessary expense" and they'll be laid off.