Anyone ever change careers?

VaSteve · 03-21-2006, 03:50 PM

Anyone here change careers? Please answer some questions for me....

What did you do before? Do now?

How old were you?

How much did you suffer financially? Not a dollar quantity, just qualitatively. Or a %, maybe.

How long did it take you to recover (assuming you did)?

How long did it take to make a full transition?

Was it worth it? Really, we all make mistakes.

What other pitfalls, problems did you have?

madmmac · madmmac's Garage

Steelworker in an aluminum smelter. Software development.

42

0% and had every weekend off and only had to work day shift.

Never had to recover.

Yes, best thing I ever did.

No pitfalls. In the 8 years since my yearly income has more than doubled.

Moneyguy1 · 03-21-2006, 05:04 PM

Systems analyst working in the space program. Three projects cancelled in two years, laid off between projects. Age at the time 30. Went back to school, got a masters in business, went into finance and never looked back although I try to keep current with technology. Gets harder over time.

asphaltgambler · 03-21-2006, 05:54 PM

Auto Technican then..............in my 30's started to seriously burn-out, Lot of it had to do with the fact I'm also a car /motorcyle fanatic. I made very good money.

I wanted more of a career and a future. Made a promiss to myself by the time I hit 40 (2000) I would be out, off and on my way. Somewhere.

Decided computer technology/support might the ticket. In the late nineties the tech section of the help wanted in the major local paper contained more ads than the ENTIRE rest of the employment paper.

Went to night school, week-end school, boot camp school for IT. Used my savings, borrowed $$, cashed in my 401K, etc.

Exactly TWO months before I turned 40 I landed my first IT job at a nearby attorneys firm for less than half of what I was making prior.

Worked very hard, struggled in every way but it was worth it when after two years I had lobbyed for and won a 50% increase in pay.

Less than 3 weeks later while on top-o-the world the firm lost a major contract, then 1 week after............ 911, all the while the IT world was imploding. Guess what happened to my IT career?

Like to guess what I'm doing now??

Bottom line it WAS worth it and I WAS on my way. Can't control the economy or world wars.

Joeaksa · 03-21-2006, 06:23 PM

Sales rep covering 17 states to pilot/mechanic. At age 28 realized that I loved flying more than my very good job as a sales rep. Took two years off and retrained myself as a aircraft mechanic to back up the private pilots license I had gotten a few years earlier.

Took another 2-3 years to get rolling but was never out of work. Was in the left seat of a Learjet within 6 years of making the move and never looked back.

Do something you love to do. Life is short and you should enjoy it...

VaSteve · 03-21-2006, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Joeaksa

Do something you love to do. Life is short and you should enjoy it...

Yes.....now if I could just figure out what it was I'd love to do.

It's not what I'm presently doing.

M.D. Holloway · 03-21-2006, 06:57 PM

What did you do before - Chemist, then Engineer, then Marketing, then Sales - Do now - Establish & Direct Reliability Concepts - someday I will teach and write fulltime.

How old were you - 21 - 26 - 34 - 38 - 42

How much did you suffer financially - None, actually increased 25% to 40% each move.

How long did it take to make a full transition - each job took about 2 years to understand and 4 years to master.

Was it worth it - Absolutely!

What other pitfalls, problems did you have - Tried to hard at first.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

not sure about "change" but definitely deflection.

chemistry professor to web developer to managing director of a communications research center to (current) researcher (on stuff not even close to chemistry).

Made the jump from my faculty position at 38. Very stressful as I'd spent 10 years in school, 1.5 years as a postdoc, then 5 years as faculty. But I got more interested in the web than in chemistry.

I'm still trying to figure out what i want to do when i grow up. I'm in a transitional state right now...not sure what the future holds. I'm on soft money (just got a year grant from Hewlett Foundation to fund part of my salary), and the other part of my salary is in flux.

I would do it again...and in fact will have to do it again. My problem is that i've got a level of income that I need to maintain in order to stay in LA and near my son. So that causes some stress.

masraum · 03-21-2006, 07:05 PM

Hmm, quit college because I didn't have the drive to go and didn't know what I wanted to do. I got into the 'real world' in retail auto parts. In 2 years I was managing a store and knew that it was not a good "career". So after a year as a manager I met a woman and moved to Houston. She knew the manager of a night club and I started bartending. Financially that wasn't too hard a move because retail pays crap, but either way I was pretty poor. After a few years of that I knew that I needed to find something that might be a career and decided to get into IT. I got my foot in the door and kept bartending 1 day a week to supplement the meager money I was making in the beginning. Part of the problem was that I had self taught myself a lot of stuff, but I didn't have any certifications or formal training. After about 4 months I moved into a different position and got a sizeable raise. Things were much better financially, but I was still working the extra day a week bartending. After about 6 months in the new position I was making more than double what I had been when I started a not quite a year earlier. I stopped bartending. Then things started going REALLY well, then a year later the stock market crashed before 9-11 and IT went to crap. I got out of IT for a year and actually was making really good money working a weird job, but was eager to get back into IT. I'm still in IT and not quite making what I was in the heyday, but I'm glad I'm still in it and I'm doing well.

I went back to college a year ago. I'm mostly starting over and planning to go Mechanical Engineering. I'm afraid that it'll probably take me about 8 years, but I'm in no hurry.

I've heard stories and read stories about people that were able to seamlessly change careers. It can be done, but as they say in those 'get rich quick' commercials, "results not typical". I think it greatly depends upon a couple of things, how well are you doing in your current field, the better you are doing the harder it'll be to move, what field are you going to, some will be better than others, and who are you, some people have the right drive and personality to really pull this off well.

Good luck, it may be the best move that you ever make.

VaSteve · 03-21-2006, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by nostatic

I'm still trying to figure out what i want to do when i grow up.

Yup. I know that one.

Quote:

Originally posted by nostatic

My problem is that i've got a level of income that I need to maintain in order to stay in LA and near my son. So that causes some stress.

Yes. The golden handcuffs.

VaSteve · 03-21-2006, 07:35 PM

Allright, since you all have been open and I'm a closemouthed gatherer of information, I figured I'd share where I'm coming from.

Right now, I'm a 32 year old CPA doing federal government consulting. Which is pretty much only applicable in the DC area where I live. Semi-non-transferrable. I finished my MBA in 2003. (the 911 was a grad gift to myself

)

I don't like what I'm doing as a fed gov't consultant. When it's busy it can be fun but honestly it's a lot of compliance and "make work" for the beltway banditos. It's unfulfiling for that same reason. Nobody wants to do it, I'm not helping anything, just doing the work the govt has to do but doesn't want to.

It pays well. Well, it pays OK.

I'm pretty certain that I would like to work for myself. No "performance reviews" and any bull**** work is my b/s work. Not generating junk just to keep my firm happy.

I have (almost) no experience like a typical CPA would with small biz clients. To get this experence I'd need a job with a CPA firm which would likely mean a pay cut that the family budget couldn't accomodate. A smaller CPA firm would likely take the risk with a quick learner who can do a variety of things - but you need to be billable. Since I haven't done a lot of small business work, I don't know how billable I could be. Anyway, I'll spare the discussion of how the industry works.

I don't really know what I would love doing for myself. I have considered opening my own CPA firm - a one man operation. But, with little experience, it would be difficult to acheive a critical mass to replace my current income. Plus I'm concerned that the repetitive nature of the work would bore me to death after a while.

I have also considered going to law school. There is a good part time night program that takes 4 years. Assuming I could get accepted, I couldn't enroll until next fall (2007). When I'm done, I'd be 38 with no experience (unless I switch over to some law work partway through the program). Starting salaries for law firms (so I'm told) are pretty good, a little better than what I do now, (but I'd likely catch up if I stay where I am). Lawyers in general make more than CPAs and I think there is more variety to the work. I don't know if I'd enjoy it however and that's a lot of time and money to invest. But combined with my other degrees, I think I would be well suited to do a variety of things. A one-stop shop of financial and legal solutions, if you will.

I'm kind of confused as to what to do. I have my wife's full backing to go back to school even though we have a 1 year old and are planning on having another.

Any thoughts?

snowman · 07:45 PM

I feel very sorry for people who do not know what they want to do by age 20. At this point you have spent 1/3 or your entire life and only have 2/3 left. as it takes almost 10 years to become sucessful, how many choices can you make and still succeed? Not many.

Push any children in the direction of whatever talent they may have and push them to choose by age 12. Even if they do not know what they like, at least they will be doing what they are most talented at.

For some of us, we have ALWAYS know what we wanted to do. That is a true blessing when you look at people who are past the middle of their entire life and still do not know what they want. My personal opinion is that at that point, its to late to be sucessful, and nearly impossible to ever be happy. Why, well because, if by half of your entire life, you haven't found what you like, you never will.

jyl · jyl's Garage

Was a lawyer. Now I'm a stock analyst for a mutual fund company.

I was 34 when I left law, in 1997. Spent most of a year traveling around the world, then 1.75 years getting an MBA. Started the new career at 37, in 1999.

The "financial suffering" is hard to measure.

My income went to zero for about two years, during the traveling and school, and my wife, baby daughter, and I burned through most of our savings. So in that sense I suffered.

A year or two after getting into stocks (say in 2001), I was making as much as I had made in my last year as a lawyer. So in that sense I did not suffer.

However, had I stayed a lawyer I would have started my own firm with a couple of friends who left the firm right when I quit, and had asked me to go with them. If things had worked out, I'd have at least doubled my income. So in that sense I suffered.

And when the stock market crashed my income as an analyst crashed too, and stayed down for a couple of years. At its lowest it was about 30% lower than in my last year as a lawyer. So in that sense I also suffered.

But my income has recovered and this year it will be about 2X what it was in my last year as a lawyer. So in that sense I haven't suffered.

See, it depends on how you measure it.

It was totally worth it. I was really bored with being a lawyer, many of the other lawyers I had started with were bored. I don't think I could have remained a lawyer for another 9 years. Well, maybe I could have, but I'd likely be a miserable guy by now, anguishing over lost opportunities and wasting my life. Instead, I like what I do - sometimes I love it - and I'm challenged to learn something new every day.

One thing to remember is that the workplace penalizes older people. By the time you're 40, it's damn hard to change careers. Unless you can slide sideways into some related field, you're probably going to start at the bottom rung again, and some 25 y/o guy isn't going to want to hire or supervise someone 20 years older. I ran into that a lot when I was looking for my first job out of B-school, and I was just 36-37. I guess this will depend a lot on the field, but beware.

Another thing to remember is that you are in fact starting as a novice. You can't come in with a big head, feeling that you know more than everyone, or that you're owed special treatment, because of your years in the prior career. Some of the older guys I went to B-school with had that problem, and they had a really hard time transitioning. You've got to be just as humble, hungry, and hard-working as you were when you were 20.

The biggest point to remember: all of the challenges and pitfalls of changing careers don't compare to spending the rest of your one and only life toiling away doing something you don't want to be doing.

Quote:

Originally posted by VaSteve
Anyone here change careers? Please answer some questions for me....

What did you do before? Do now?

How old were you?

How much did you suffer financially? Not a dollar quantity, just qualitatively. Or a %, maybe.

How long did it take you to recover (assuming you did)?

How long did it take to make a full transition?

Was it worth it? Really, we all make mistakes.

What other pitfalls, problems did you have?

VaSteve · 03-21-2006, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by snowman
I feel very sorry for people who do not know what they want to do by age 20. At this point you have spent 1/3 or your entire life and only have 2/3 left. as it takes almost 10 years to become sucessful, how many choices can you make and still succeed? Not many.

Push any children in the direction of whatever talent they may have and push them to choose by age 12. Even if they do not know what they like, at least they will be doing what they are most talented at.

For some of us, we have ALWAYS know what we wanted to do. That is a true blessing when you look at people who are past the middle of their entire life and still do not know what they want. My personal opinion is that at that point, its to late to be sucessful, and nearly impossible to ever be happy. Why, well because, if by half of your entire life, you haven't found what you like, you never will.

At the risk of offending any other honest replies to this thread, I'll thank you for your rediculously simpleton advice.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by snowman
I feel very sorry for people who do not know what they want to do by age 20. At this point you have spent 1/3 or your entire life and only have 2/3 left. as it takes almost 10 years to become sucessful, how many choices can you make and still succeed? Not many.

Push any children in the direction of whatever talent they may have and push them to choose by age 12. Even if they do not know what they like, at least they will be doing what they are most talented at.

For some of us, we have ALWAYS know what we wanted to do. That is a true blessing when you look at people who are past the middle of their entire life and still do not know what they want. My personal opinion is that at that point, its to late to be sucessful, and nearly impossible to ever be happy. Why, well because, if by half of your entire life, you haven't found what you like, you never will.

imho questionable advice. I will not push my son in any direction. I will provide opportunities, but he will make his own decisions.

I'm somewhat envious of people who seem to know exactly what they want to do, and are doing it. But I harken back to the advice of one of my thesis comittee members: "don't peak too soon."

You can be happy and/or sucessful at any point in your life. It's all about expectations and perspective. I've loved a lot of stuff I've done. But there is so much to be experienced out there, why do I have to just stick with one thing? Maybe if you're only good at one thing...but frankly, I'm not. I have a lot of talents. And I'm exploring them to the best of my ability.

but...to each their own.

jyl · jyl's Garage

Geez, who the heck knows what they want to do for the rest of their life, by the age of 20? Not many.

I agree that when you are in your thirties, you have to make the right choice if you're going to change careers and make it work. You don't have three or four chances left - you probably have one or two.

But if you're unhappy in your current career - or, looking ahead, you anticipate being unhappy - then it'd be a shame not to take those one or two chances.

A lot depends on your personality. I like learning new things and being challenged and interested. I can't stand being bored. I liked being a lawyer for the first 8 or so years. But the next 5 years got worse and worse. So I took the chance, and it has paid off. My goal is to have three interesting careers by the time my life is over. Hopefully the next one can be something really different and the income won't be as critical. We'll see.

Also, don't forget there's a lot of things you can do with that CPA. A good friend from B-school was a CPA, when he graduated he was extremely employable - in all sorts of fields, people want an MBA who is also a CPA. He was controller for a dot-com for a while, then treasurer for another company, now he is doing forensic accounting and litigation support, manages teams of accountants who investigate financial fraud, gets involved with securities lawsuits and so forth. A long way from the audit drudgery that he was doing before we went to school together.

I'm sorry I was so negative on the legal profession. Some people like it. Talk to more lawyers and get a balanced view.

Quote:

Originally posted by snowman
I feel very sorry for people who do not know what they want to do by age 20. At this point you have spent 1/3 or your entire life and only have 2/3 left. as it takes almost 10 years to become sucessful, how many choices can you make and still succeed? Not many.

Push any children in the direction of whatever talent they may have and push them to choose by age 12. Even if they do not know what they like, at least they will be doing what they are most talented at.

For some of us, we have ALWAYS know what we wanted to do. That is a true blessing when you look at people who are past the middle of their entire life and still do not know what they want. My personal opinion is that at that point, its to late to be sucessful, and nearly impossible to ever be happy. Why, well because, if by half of your entire life, you haven't found what you like, you never will.

Moneyguy1 · 03-21-2006, 09:23 PM

Forcing a kid one way or another?

Each individual should have the option of finding their own way. That is the true reward associated with the miracle of being alive. To do oterwise would be similar to living in the Nazi state of the 1930s with all children pre programmed to devote their lives to whatever the state dictated.

I did not know what I wanted after high school. I went in the service, came out and attended night school for 7 years to get my first Bachelor Degree. From thsn it was a short time (2 years more) to the Masters. I feel I did quite well even though I was a few years behind my (then) more mature buddies.

Would I change it? No way. I found myself along the way; and I would have resented being forced along a path that was not of my own choosing.

Rodeo · 03-22-2006, 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by VaSteve
At the risk of offending any other honest replies to this thread, I'll thank you for your rediculously simpleton advice.

My working theory is that Snowman is a 14 year old kid typing away in his parents' basement.

livi · 03-22-2006, 05:17 AM

Soon. Real soon. I have had it with the stiff legged, old school way of managing a hospital clinic. Rather big money soon to be pouring into my accounts.

See you on the 997 GT3 forum..

M.D. Holloway · 03-22-2006, 06:45 AM

Markus - you selling out? Heck, if I was a good stitch man I would get into cosmetic surgery - huge bucks and all the titties you can stand!