Who here's successfully done a middle age career reboot? What do you do before? Now?

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I think this is what seahawk was talking about in terms of passion. Entrepreneurship is definitely not for everyone.

Stability, to me, is monotony, is soul crushing. But to others it's comfort and the very definition of success.

The least happy I've been was working 9-5 as an accountant. I remember walking down the long hall, over lit with buzzing fluorescent lights, at the same time every day to wash my hands before lunch. Day after day after day. I hated it.

I do love receiving the rent payments from my tenants every month. I think in a less crazy real estate market, I'd just keep adding properties. Right now, the Phoenix market is absolutely nuts.

[Rick Lee]

The more success I have at my current job, the more I regret having ever worked for the man. I don't have a lot of regrets in life. But the time I spent as a wage slave is really being brought home by my current job.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by LeeH

The least happy I've been was working 9-5 as an accountant. I remember walking down the long hall, over lit with buzzing fluorescent lights, at the same time every day to wash my hands before lunch. Day after day after day. I hated it.

I do love receiving the rent payments from my tenants every month. I think in a less crazy real estate market, I'd just keep adding properties. Right now, the Phoenix market is absolutely nuts.

You've been goofing off for years now Lee. If not slumlord, what's next?

I recommend Vietnamese food truck!

[rusnak]

^ OMG we have a Vietnamese food truck locally.

They make a sort of Thai coffee....holy Hell that is addicting. And they make something called a bao. People don't realize that the French have a lot of influence on Vietnamese cooking. Their bakeries....as Sebastian Maniscalco says: "AH-maze--ENG!".

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I bet one would do well in Phoenix.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I bet one would do well in Phoenix.

I've suggested this to my SO. She has a gov't job with a nice pension, so she's not planning on going anywhere. I'm not sure if a pasty white guy selling Vietnamese food out of the back of a truck would go over or not. The part of town where my house is is woefully lacking in Vietnamese food. Have thought about opening a pho shop there and pasting her pics all over the wall with the label "owner." 😁

[LWJ]

I was in Lisbon a few years ago. There is a giant square leading down to the waterfront. It is essentially vacant. I told my wife that a burrito truck or a small fleet of trucks would kill it there. And they would.

(ever notice that there is no mexican food in Europe?)

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Lee, pasty white guy, Vietnamese guy... no one wants to buy food from from a truck from any guy.

You make the food, you drive the van, GenZ girls (Vietnamese or otherwise) sell the food. Opposite of Hooters girls, go with friendly but demure.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by LWJ

I was in Lisbon a few years ago. There is a giant square leading down to the waterfront. It is essentially vacant. I told my wife that a burrito truck or a small fleet of trucks would kill it there. And they would.

(ever notice that there is no mexican food in Europe?)

Ever notice where there is a McDonalds there is a Burger King, Wendys, and similar FF chains?

It's because the demographics of the area support the food choice.

You can't go anywhere in TX without tripping over a burrito, Mediterranean food, the places go out of business before the food inventory spoils.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

Lee, pasty white guy, Vietnamese guy... no one wants to buy food from from a truck from any guy.

You make the food, you drive the van, GenZ girls (Vietnamese or otherwise) sell the food. Opposite of Hooters girls, go with friendly but demure.

Bikini Barista cart?

[Jagshund]

I got married at 27 & divorced at 39. During that span I worked as the Marketing Manager for a PR firm and the HSSE manager for a Haliburton contractor in Iraq then for a landscape/hardscape company in the states.

When the divorce was final, I decided to leave Atlanta and pursue a relationship here in NC . . . with a veterinarian. We started a mobile veterinary service which went well and now, six years later, we're in year two of having a mobile clinic and a brick & mortar location. I'm using my process management skills from previous jobs but am also working as a Veterinary Technician- which I never thought I'd pursue- and would definitely describe it as my favorite job.

LSS- it's possible & highly recommended. I wouldn't dream of doing anything else (except build Porsches, which I'm still doing in my spare time).

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by jyl

Bikini Barista cart?

How to Make Vietnamese Coffee

[cassisrot]

Traded the corporate world for a ranch 25 years ago. Retired now. Loved every second of playing with livestock and every thing that comes with ranching. Maybe the best decision I made.

[KFC911]

^^^^ I'm gonna become a Spambot when I eventually grow up ... mebbe

[cockerpunk]

im seriously considering two different career moves, one is clown college (100% serious), the second is math teacher.

both would be far more fun than what i do now, which is research and development of manufacturing technology, which was fun 10 years ago, but im now at the point in my career where i can sit down to a new project meeting and within 10 minutes determine if its a good idea and worth the research time/money or not. so i spend 99% of my time, not doing any engineering, and instead advocating up the chain for the projects i do think will work, and against the ones i dont. there isnt much of a mystery here anymore.

im not sure i could make the 100+ grand pay cut work, but im also within 2 years of paying off the house, and probably a few more years of being done with racing. without those expenses, i could live comfortably on a teachers pay. i think id be much happier, and feel like i was actually doing something.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by cockerpunk

im seriously considering two different career moves, one is clown college (100% serious), the second is math teacher.

both would be far more fun than what i do now, which is research and development of manufacturing technology, which was fun 10 years ago, but im now at the point in my career where i can sit down to a new project meeting and within 10 minutes determine if its a good idea and worth the research time/money or not. so i spend 99% of my time, not doing any engineering, and instead advocating up the chain for the projects i do think will work, and against the ones i dont. there isnt much of a mystery here anymore.

Yes, if you get to a point in your job where it's no longer mentally stimulating, that sucks. I've hit that point in lots of jobs over the years, and I hate it. Fortunately, most of the time I've been able to move to another job that pushed me to learn/do more. I could probably make that move again if/when it comes to it, but my current job still comes up with a new challenge pretty regularly.

im not sure i could make the 100+ grand pay cut work, but im also within 2 years of paying off the house, and probably a few more years of being done with racing. without those expenses, i could live comfortably on a teachers pay. i think id be much happier, and feel like i was actually doing something.

That would be tough. There are aspects of teaching that could/would be nice under exactly the right circumstances, but there are too many of the other circumstances. Years ago, I was taking a class and the teacher had originally been a HS, or maybe Jr High teacher, and then she switched to Jr college. Her opinion was that the Jr college was MUCH better, I think both due to less frustration and more money.

Clown school, cool! That would certainly be an interesting change of direction.

Once they meet you, they may decide to make you an instructor.
j/k

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by masraum

Yes, if you get to a point in your job where it's no longer mentally stimulating, that sucks. I've hit that point in lots of jobs over the years, and I hate it. Fortunately, most of the time I've been able to move to another job that pushed me to learn/do more. I could probably make that move again if/when it comes to it, but my current job still comes up with a new challenge pretty regularly.



That would be tough. There are aspects of teaching that could/would be nice under exactly the right circumstances, but there are too many of the other circumstances. Years ago, I was taking a class and the teacher had originally been a HS, or maybe Jr High teacher, and then she switched to Jr college. Her opinion was that the Jr college was MUCH better, I think both due to less frustration and more money.

Clown school, cool! That would certainly be an interesting change of direction.

Once they meet you, they may decide to make you an instructor.
j/k

i mean clown college is a serious thing. ive spent basically my entire adult life becoming good at things. racing things, working on things, fixing things, inventing things etc. but all about being good at things. and i am very good at things. i know how to become better at things.

clown college would be a lesson in being good with my body. something i have not spent a lot of time or energy to do. not like working out, but like learning to move my body in ways to communicate things on purpose that i cannot currently. clown is an amazing art form, one of those, slightly exaggerated expressions that reads as more real somehow.

i might just do it as a sabbatical from work one summer. we'll see.



teaching ... well teaching is the most misunderstood jobs in the world. and teaching math is the most misunderstood of the misunderstood jobs in the world. everyone hates math. but math is amazing. its beautiful. and it should be taught like its amazing, rather than how its currently taught. my opinions on this subject will offend every single person on these boards, but i also know more math than most of them, so like, i dont care what they think.




the golden handcuffs of engineering might hold onto me for longer. life is easy when you make a ****load of money at job you are good at without thinking anymore. hard to leave that security behind.

[masraum]

Yeah, I absolutely understood that you really mean "clown college", as in learning to be a clown, and I think that's very interesting and would love to hear about it if you do it. I suspect it would be a hell of a thing, and not necessarily easy or trivial.

I also love math, and have "taught"/tutored many, many people up through calculus 1 and 2.

I think young kids should be taught to use the abacus (Chinese/Japanese style) early on as it's a different way to think about and visualize some of the basic math/numbers that may help some of those folks that really struggle with the usual visualization. I haven't had to deal with any of the "new" math, but what I've seen of it online looks like they are trying, but going about it wrong.

Responding to your last line, yes, absolutely.

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by masraum

Yeah, I absolutely understood that you really mean "clown college", as in learning to be a clown, and I think that's very interesting and would love to hear about it if you do it. I suspect it would be a hell of a thing, and not necessarily easy or trivial.

I also love math, and have "taught"/tutored many, many people up through calculus 1 and 2.

I think young kids should be taught to use the abacus (Chinese/Japanese style) early on as it's a different way to think about and visualize some of the basic math/numbers that may help some of those folks that really struggle with the usual visualization. I haven't had to deal with any of the "new" math, but what I've seen of it online looks like they are trying, but going about it wrong.

Responding to your last line, yes, absolutely.

not to get too far into it, but common core math was a big step in the right direction. we need to go farther. common core tried to teach math the way math works in practice, which is to understand the relationships between things, and how every *real* math problem in the world, you want to figure out multiple ways to solve it, because you wanna be damn sure of your answer when you build it. common core had that from the start.

instead we spend years teaching children about whats happening in the one's place of a long multiplication problem ... a problem no one solves, and no one cares about the answer to. literally never has whats happening 3 to 6 orders of magnitude smaller than the lead digit ... matter. no one cares. its unimportant. we spend *years* teaching kids this garbage. no wonder they ****ing hate math.

and everyone i ever tell that to, says "yeah but what was wrong with the way we learned math?"

and i say "yeah but what do you think of math?"

"i hate it, avoid do it whenever possible"

welp, thats why we should teach it a different way ya dingus. it didnt work on you, it didnt work on me. in fact, ive never met a person that math education actually worked on them. everyone i ever encountered who actually uses math, figured out there own way to love it, and to understand it.


the notion of mass educating a society is less than 200 years old.

so the "old" way, isnt even old. its just bad. its not how people learn. its not how people learn to solve problems. its just the way mathematicians think of math. and we cannot entrust math to the mathematicians alone.

in conclusion,

1. math education is ****.
2. the "old" way isnt even old, and its ****.
3. we tried to do some new stuff, but everyone complained it wasnt the old way.
4. so we keep doing it the old way, which is ****.

and we get **** outcomes, everyone hates it, and only those who go through a decade of math classes, and then practice doing it for years, get to some place where math actually makes flowing sense.


imagine if we taught music this way. decades of scales, memorization, modes, chords ... before you could play a single song. everyone would hate music if that were the case.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

From 25-35 or so, I was a professional astronomer, working at the big scopes you see on NOVA.

Then, I was a geophysicist in Oil and Gas, from about 35-47.

Now, I'm getting my hands dirty fixing and customizing CNC routers and mills and such, and teaching ASE certifications to people in our low income neighborhoods. Also fixing and upgrading private telescopes. Might do some cool art too, might not, don't know yet, I',m not an artist but I'm willing to try. Maybe get better at welding, for sure get better at woodworking. I'm installing security cameras, getting qualified to be a fire alarm installer, and will very likely have my CDL by summer.

Each time, I was sitting quietly in my life when a burning ember landed in my lap. My first instinct was to knocking it away before it burned me, but both times I instead grabbed it with both hands and made sure it stayed hot, made sure it hurt a bit, made sure it woke me up.

Since it got bumped by a bot...

Since 2021, I've quit that middle age career reboot and did it again. Took it serious, went full time telescope stuff, now I have the rest of the year lined up with jobs. Stupidly busy, and a lot of 5 figure observatory construction projects in several SW states. A bunch of Boomers with too much retirement money, and I'm going to find a way to take ALL of it!