Switching Careers...feeling lost.

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  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,862 Member
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    I have never had a job where I was just happy and actually looked forward to going to work. I cant imagine going through life dreading working everyday - and it is mind blowing that people actually do it. I dont know, maybe i just need to "suck it up" and do it anyway...yet on the other hand, I hear of people who find these jobs that they love and look forward to.
    Count me as a guy who worked for many years in a job I absolutely hated because of bills to pay.

    If you can avoid that fate, by all means do it! Still, I've known people to quit jobs they hated and fell into poverty. I hated my job but I hated poverty more.

    At 25, you have a lot of time to figure this out. My advice is to lower your lifestyle as much as you can. As a married guy with children, I had few options until they grew up.
  • dakotababy
    dakotababy Posts: 2,406 Member
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    Money doesn't always equal happiness... unless you love money and find a common ground on career.

    Just look up non-degree job lists and cherry pick possibilities:
    http://www.businessinsider.com/the-40-highest-paying-jobs-you-can-get-without-a-bachelors-degree-2012-8?op=1

    Lol wow - I just looked through all of the suggested jobs, and this must be based in the US. In Canada, you would need degrees for most of those jobs. If not degrees, maybe a tech diploma (2 year).
  • FrenchMob
    FrenchMob Posts: 1,167 Member
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    I still feel like this and I'm 42. I've come to grips that I just want money and no job so I'm waiting for my lotto payout..LOL
  • DentGal
    DentGal Posts: 1
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    When I read your post, it was like reading my last year! I am 31 years old and have just left my career. School for 9 years to become a dentist, and HATED it. I now have an incredible amount of educational debt, but decided that I would rather be happy and less stressed out than rich. Taking the leap was REALLY hard.

    I am now working part-time for an insurance company doing consulting and research. I mostly work from home, and am barely paying the bills. It has taken some time, but I am also trying to find what my passions are. It turns out I love researching and writing, but I have accepted that being more financially stable will take quite some time. God has guided me and sustained me through this time. I hope you can receive some encouragement from all these posts.

    You are never too old!! :) I would only advise being careful of going back to school and not being able to afford it. I went back to school when I was 25 (for dentistry) which is one of the most expensive programs (veterinary school is usually the highest). And since I hated my career, I am now stuck with a mountain of debt.

    I hope you can break free from the agony and frustration of trying to conform to conventional careers beliefs. There are many ways of generating income. Be you :)
  • emdeesea
    emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
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    I went back to school at age 35 to completely change careers. I chose nursing - not necessarily because i really wanted to be a nurse, but because it's in demand, it pays fairly well, and there's a lot you can do with the degree.

    I worked as a floor nurse for exactly one year - and now I work as a corporate nurse in a business setting.

    Do I love it? No. But I don't hate it and honestly, it's hard to find anyone who LOVES their job. That's life. That's what they tell you in school - do what you LOVE. Well, I love sleeping late and lounging around in my jammies. No one is going to pay me to do that.

    So look around and see what's in demand that you could see yourself doing and not despising your job (and check out the pay, that was important to me anyway - I like to have disposable income and travel). You might not even have to make a complete career change - you might parlay that degree into something else.
  • Beautifulreflections
    Beautifulreflections Posts: 86 Member
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    Could you do a job that's related to your addiction counselling but not actually counselling? For example, training courses for counsellors, social studies research, health journalism? Healthcare management? You might not need to completely retrain but a short course might up skill you.

    or...Drug dealer? I mean, you would pretty much corner the market pretty quickly given your connections. :laugh:

    And before you say it. YES-I'm totally ashamed I made that joke but I could NOT resist.

    P.S. 25? you have your whole life ahead of you!

    Good luck OP!
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
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    You could take a briggs myers personality test to determine what would suit you.
  • Luche78
    Luche78 Posts: 3 Member
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    Let me understand this.....You are 25, want a job you love and want good money without going back to school?

    Speaks volumes of the generation....

    My wife has a masters of engineering, she hated it, at 26 she went back to school part time while working full time and now has a masters of education and is a teacher making far less money but is happier.

    I have a bachelors in engineering. I am dissatisfied and am currently working on my MBA. Because of this, I was just offered a management position within the company I'm at.

    Most of the time you have to work for the things you want......complaining about your situation without taking steps to change it does nothing.
  • dakotababy
    dakotababy Posts: 2,406 Member
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    Let me understand this.....You are 25, want a job you love and want good money without going back to school?

    Speaks volumes of the generation....

    My wife has a masters of engineering, she hated it, at 26 she went back to school part time while working full time and now has a masters of education and is a teacher making far less money but is happier.

    I have a bachelors in engineering. I am dissatisfied and am currently working on my MBA. Because of this, I was just offered a management position within the company I'm at.

    Most of the time you have to work for the things you want......complaining about your situation without taking steps to change it does nothing.

    Well what do you mean by "good money"? No where in my OP did I say much about wanting money. I am more than willing to cut back on my cheque to work a job that I love, the problem is finding one. Of course, I would want my basic needs paid for, but geeze it is not like I am rolling in it right now.

    I also did not completely rule out going back to school, if I could find something I knew I actually enjoyed. This is my issue - I dont know what I want to do!

    To assume intentions based on which generation I was born into is pathetic. Jealous? What were you doing when you were 25? Living in mommys basement still, unemployed?
  • red66stang
    red66stang Posts: 38
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    You are going to be hard pressed to find a good paying job that you love without working really hard to get there, especially if you don't like people. Sorry, but it is how life works for most. The way to circumvent this is to marry into money. Have you considered marrying rich and becoming a housewife?
  • dakotababy
    dakotababy Posts: 2,406 Member
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    You are going to be hard pressed to find a good paying job that you love without working really hard to get there, especially if you don't like people. Sorry, but it is how life works for most. The way to circumvent this is to marry into money. Have you considered marrying rich and becoming a housewife?

    See, it is people like yourself that makes it appealing for me to never work with people. Can you please quote me where I said I am not wanting to put the effort in to get a new job? Or where I said how much income I was expecting to get?
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
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    Sorry you feel so unmotivated. I'm 35 and back in school (uni), certainly not the only one to do so either.

    What made you feel drawn to your current work in the first place? And what specifically makes you feel not happy about your work situation? Can you do some other form of counselling with your current education/competences? What I'm trying to say is are you sure it is the line of work in general that is unappealing or is it the branch of it, working around addicts? Is it the team, your colleagues, or just the clients?

    Originally, I wanted to work with youth as a highschool counsellor. After trying university, I did not like the idea of going through 5-6 or more years of school. I found a program in a different city for an addiction counsellor diploma (2 years). I figure - hey, i can work with youth and be a counsellor! So i completed, and got my first job at a youth treatment centre. After 2 years of working with youth - I found them annoying, manipulative and basically liars most of the time. I then switched and worked with adults...and adult addicts are basically teenagers in grown up bodies.

    I believe the only other form of counselling that I could do with my diploma would be possibly career counselling, though I might not be thinking out of the box on that. I think at this time, it is mostly working with addicts. I find it difficult to work with people who dont really want to change, but "do so" because probations/social services tells them to, so of course, a lot of the times they are just playing the system.

    I am currently working with a health region, so I get paid very well for 2 years in school. I find the health region is actually starting to impose too much (forcing either vaccinations or wearing a mask - becoming very intrusive to control sick time) But really...this is just something that bothers me ontop of everything else. It is like cherry on top, but not really the cause.
    This is what I read between the lines. You might still be interested in counselling as long as it's with clients, who are more change-oriented? I get that, it is not always easy to offer suggestions that are turned down or misused even. Dishonesty would totally get to me in the long run.

    But I'm curious whether there's some course or certificate you could take to build on top of what you already have, so you could move to a branch that is more "constructive" for a lack of better expression (constructive out of your own perspective, that is).

    Then there might also be differences between the public and private sectors?
  • HannahLynn91
    HannahLynn91 Posts: 238 Member
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    I understand what your going through, I too am going through something similar.

    I started my job in 2012, dropped out of college to pursue the licensing I needed for it and now.... MOST BORING JOB EVER! (insurance) I am since going back to school, have no idea what I want to do but have rediscovered my love for learning, so.... I think I would love a researcher job of some sort. (Ultimate dream job would to be an explorer for National Geographic :bigsmile:)

    You are definitely not too old to go back to school. My husband is 30 and starts this Month back too school for a business degree. He never thought that he would go back to school, but he hates construction and would love to own his own business.

    What are your hobbies? Where does your train of thought go? Analyze yourself, who you are and what you like and see what kind of jobs you would fit. If your shy, a customer service or sales or networking is not going to be good. If your creative/ don't like desk jobs a job in finance or business probably wont suit you either. Think about all your traits and go from there.
  • _runnerbean_
    _runnerbean_ Posts: 640 Member
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    or...Drug dealer? I mean, you would pretty much corner the market pretty quickly given your connections. :laugh:

    And before you say it. YES-I'm totally ashamed I made that joke but I could NOT resist.

    P.S. 25? you have your whole life ahead of you!

    Good luck OP!

    I'm a drug dealer....
    Well, I ' m a pharmacist, that's the legal version!!

    With regards to working with animals, I know loads of vets and the hardest part of their job is dealing with the owners- who are usually distressed due to their pet being sick/and the cost of treatment.
  • dakotababy
    dakotababy Posts: 2,406 Member
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    I understand what your going through, I too am going through something similar.

    I started my job in 2012, dropped out of college to pursue the licensing I needed for it and now.... MOST BORING JOB EVER! (insurance) I am since going back to school, have no idea what I want to do but have rediscovered my love for learning, so.... I think I would love a researcher job of some sort. (Ultimate dream job would to be an explorer for National Geographic :bigsmile:)

    You are definitely not too old to go back to school. My husband is 30 and starts this Month back too school for a business degree. He never thought that he would go back to school, but he hates construction and would love to own his own business.

    What are your hobbies? Where does your train of thought go? Analyze yourself, who you are and what you like and see what kind of jobs you would fit. If your shy, a customer service or sales or networking is not going to be good. If your creative/ don't like desk jobs a job in finance or business probably wont suit you either. Think about all your traits and go from there.

    Besides fitness...I dont really have much. I have made a list of what I truly enjoy doing, or what I enjoy. Animals was another big one, and as suggested before by another poster - I actually just printed off an application to volunteer at the local SPCA to see how that goes. I dont know if I could handle seeing injured animals, but I wont know until I try.

    I have been thinking a lot about getting my personal training certification...and actually a job was recently posted for a monday-friday (a bonus that I do not have right now as I do shift work) gym manager. I actually have managerial skills from when I was 18. I think it is too quick to jump into this job, but I think if I get my personal training certification I can continue to work part time while still working where I am at, and possibly progress into management in the future. :D I am actually really excited about this. Getting my certification and volunteering might take my focus off of my situation a bit and give me some hope when I am at work.

    I think despite the Personal training still working with people, I can apply a ton of my skills to the job, plus the environment is so much more positive. I sure hope people would not pay big bucks just to lie and manipulate all the time.
  • barbi_jean
    barbi_jean Posts: 87 Member
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    I completely understand where you are coming from. I am 29 and switching careers too. I am going from being a Cosmetologist to having an accounting degree. Being a hairdresser required you to work with the public everyday, every minute, every hour.... and your job was to make them happy. I grew tired of trying to satisfy everyone! This is ironic because I was so dedicated (in the beginning) to my job. My advice is to keep your current job while you pursue an education in something else or, like others have said, try to find a job that your current education would be useful in. Keep in mind that no job is going to be enjoyable all the time.
  • emdeesea
    emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
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    You know if you're interested in fitness you might think about being a physical therapist or some other sort of rehab specialist. I don't know where you are in the world, but here in the US they are in very high demand.

    I don't know what sort of certification or degree you would need because I've never checked. And with you already having some experience in dealing with people who are on the mend (for something else, but it can be related), you might want to check it out.
  • red66stang
    red66stang Posts: 38
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    You are going to be hard pressed to find a good paying job that you love without working really hard to get there, especially if you don't like people. Sorry, but it is how life works for most. The way to circumvent this is to marry into money. Have you considered marrying rich and becoming a housewife?

    See, it is people like yourself that makes it appealing for me to never work with people. Can you please quote me where I said I am not wanting to put the effort in to get a new job? Or where I said how much income I was expecting to get?

    I never said you didn't want to put in the effort..I just said it would be a lot of work, like most things in life are. You did say in your first post that you were "terrified to leave, especially the financial factor" which implies you want a good paying job, doesn't it? No offense but not wanting to work with people really limits what opportunities there are for you. Have you considered being a night janitor, a commercial fisherman, or a trucker?
  • Luche78
    Luche78 Posts: 3 Member
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    No....I graduated from engineering at 20 (which I paid for myself) and I moved to the USA (by myself) and have been responsible for myself ever since.

    As with anything in life, you get out of it what you put in. If you don't know what you want to do, then get outside and start experiencing things....whether that means volunteering, going back to school, taking free online courses, getting certified in something, learning a trade, exploring ways to start your own business, etc.....it all starts with you.

    You like animals....volunteer at a shelter. You like exercise....get certified as a personal trainer. It's not rocket science. In every facet of life you are going to have to deal with other people though, so if that's your #1 gripe, you better start playing the lottery or marry rich.
  • FlashMorehouse
    FlashMorehouse Posts: 138 Member
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    Police Officer.

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