is this a bad idea? considering a career change

[Kroggers]

This might just be a case of mid-life-crises creeping in - I am 39

I have been with the same company doing the same thing for the last 13 years or so, and I am getting bored with it!

My education is in Electronics. I qualified as an Electronics Engineer but quickly after this got sucked into the computer and software world. I now (and have been for the last 13 years) work for one of the large American IT/Consulting companies as an IT (Enterprise) Architect.

Whilst I like the company and the pay is good, I am not feeling the same pleasure and drive for the work as I did before.

Having spent the last 6 months or so trying to define what I am missing and why I do not feel the passion for my work any more, I have realised that I miss the physical aspects from my electronics days, and which I get when I work on the Porsche cars etc. Computers have become so pervasive and I miss actually getting to hold and feel what I have created - almost like having the ability to pick something up and say "I did this"!

And as such I have decided I want a change (or at least feel like I do!). Putting down on paper what I like about my job and what I do not like along with what I enjoy and know I have ended up with the following.

Electronics background + Computer and software experience + a passion for cars = A new career in Motor-vehicle Electronics.

After all, cars are getting more computer controlled and filled with more and more electronics. But is there a good career to be made in this, or is it limited to a select few?

[livi]

Pål, I have no knowledge of that area of expertise so I can´t be of any help but I fully sympathize with your sentiments. Particularly the part about creativity and hands on physical work where you can actually see and hold your results.

As a side note, I believe I had a thread like this a few years ago - contemplating a carrier change. An unfortunate piece of language confusion on my part had a fellow Pelican deduct that I needed a "delete the whole thread-button", before he cringed with laughter.

[sc_rufctr]

It's not a bad idea but... Why now? What was stopping you before?
Getting bored with your current job is something you can fix without interrupting your income.
Changing careers is entirely different. Back to school and so on...

I don't mean to be negative but if you haven't done it before now then maybe you need to take stock and really think this through.

[LeeH]

Same boat here. Can't wait to see the responses. I "accidentally" got into accounting as I needed something I could do from home. I actually have a great client base and could easily have more. Just don't really like the work... It's a constant battle with myself. I *should* be happy. I'm self employed, work from home, make a decent hourly rate. What more could I want? Umm, NOT accounting, that's what!

[Kroggers]

Peter, I am not to sure I am following your thoughts and comments.

What was stopping me before? Well, at one point I did enjoy my job - but I have matured, got older, changed focus on life etc. The things that drive me now is not the same as it was before.

I should maybe say that it is not just the job I am bored with - it is the industry I work in. A bit like Lee, I can stay here and continue to do what I do. I will get a good pay, but I will not get the job satisfaction that I seek...

like I said, I am just throwing my thoughts out into the community and interested to see what others have to say - I can not believe that I am the only one in this situation or who have been in this situation. Lee already proved this. Just interested to know what other who have been here before me have done.

Bottom line, we spend to much time at work to not make sure we enjoy it. After some time we get to dragged down by the lack of motivation and drive that it effects our family, life and self-respect...

Markus - we will see if my thread ends up in the same state as yours did. Always scary to throw our thoughts out into a large community like this.

[DanielDudley]

Because of the economy, I get to work like a dog for significantly less than I used to.

But... I am never bored.

[Rick V]

I am in the same boat, I loved working on cars, I grew up doing it, so I took the advice of others and made it my career, "Find something you love.................". Now after a few decades of wrenching, I have found that I detest every aspect of a vehicle. I too am looking for a change but with this economy it is not a good time.
As for your question about Vehicle Electronics, yes there is a need but you will starve, shops are not willing to pay an outside contractor to do what their employees are already doing.
Now having said that, you could make a rather good living doing custom programming for vehicles, Jim Conforti is a perfect example. A good, reliable, cost competitive, custom programmer can make a mint, and you will be able to be hands on, and go home clean. I see this as an immediate gratification type of thing. Just my .02. Good luck

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I wouldn't advise changing jobs or careers until the economy stabilizes. There's way too much uncertainty out there right now. If you're lucky enough to have a good-paying, stable job I'd hold onto it tightly with both hands. That's what I'm doing too. I "like" what I'm doing but certainly don't love it. If it were normal times I'd already be looking to go elsewhere (likely into practice for myself full-time). But right now it's just plain stupid to walk away from six figures worth of salary, paid time off, benefits including full health care, a pension plan, a 529, etc etc etc...

No harm in boning up on other skills or taking classes in your off time so that when things turn you're positioned to make the leap, but I definitely wouldn't pull that trigger right now and actually leave unless the job just sucks and you hate going in every day (even then I'd probably advise sucking it up for a while...)

I've made the most of this present situation knowing that it's probably temporary (a few years) - it's a pleasant existence overall and a welcome change from the full-on ratrace life I had a couple of years ago. I'm much in the same situation you are - content and doing well, but unsatisfied and knowing I'm capable of much more.

I'm guessing another 2-3 years and it'll be time to start seriously looking at getting out of this gig. I like Texas. Maybe Florida or Virginia or AZ too. We'll see. I like many things about living here but winter is not one of them. I won't miss it at all when it comes time to skeedaddle.

Enjoy life for now and look to the future but my $0.02 is that now is definitely NOT the time to be jumping around. Enjoy what you've got. I'm sure it's not all bad.

[silverwhaletail]

Originally Posted by Kroggers

Whilst I like the company and the pay is good, I am not feeling the same pleasure and drive for the work as I did before.

Work is work. That's why they call it work...

If you aren't married, and/or don't have kids, then do whatever you want. If others depend on you, then suck it up and continue to do the safe/responsible thing.


We all hate some aspects of our jobs.

Saturday night, San Diego Police Officer Jeremy Henwood was shot in the face with a shotgun as he sat in his police car. For no reason, other than that he was a cop.

Sunday night I was involved in a police pursuit in which a "suicidal subject" bailed out of his vehicle and led us on a foot pursuit with one hand in the air and the other hand shoved inside his front waistband (simulating that he was carrying a handgun) in an effort to get us to shoot him. (When he was captured, we found that he was holding a Bible in his waistband. He thought that it would make fantastic national headlines. "Man executed by police for reaching for a Bible..."

You take the good with the bad.

Sometimes your the fly, sometimes your the windscreen.

[Kroggers]

Just to clarify, this is not a react now and jump thing. I appreciate that my skills in Electronics are greatly out off date and will need some new knowledge. I also agree that this is the wrong time to do anything but sit tight and keep your head low.

But I am the type of person that needs to plan, plan again - and then execute. So this is a long term slow change process. I was thinking three years getting my old skills up-to-date outside of my day job for the next three years or so along with other relevant education and then make the move.

Something does have to change though. I feel like Rick - sick with computers and IT. Maybe it is the "grass is greener" syndrome or something else like that...

I do have two friends that changed career half way threw their life. Both say they had to take a cut in pay, but the improvement in life and happiness was worth every penny.

Thank you for the insight Rick. I suppose that in the aftermarket car business there is no need for specialists as you say, it can all be done in-house by the main dealers...

Custom programing requires a dyno set-up etc, does it not? Not impossible, but it sounds like a big up-front investment.

[Kroggers]

Originally Posted by silverwhaletail

Work is work. That's why they call it work...

If you aren't married, and/or don't have kids, then do whatever you want. If others depend on you, then suck it up and continue to do the safe/responsible thing.

We all hate some aspects of our jobs.

I appreciate this, and yes I am married with three kids - so keeping food on the table is a priority.

But at the same time I partially disagree. We live only once, so why spend what is the majority of our life doing something we do not enjoy - I just do not get this!

If we decide our relationship does not work anymore - we get a divorce. If we decide the weather is not good for us where we live - we move etc. But if we have a job we have decided does not satisfy us any more - we should just accept it and say "that is how it is"?

[silverwhaletail]

Originally Posted by Kroggers

I appreciate this, and yes I am married with three kids - so keeping food on the table is a priority.

But at the same time I partially disagree. We live only once, so why spend what is the majority of our life doing something we do not enjoy - I just do not get this!

If we decide our relationship does not work anymore - we get a divorce. If we decide the weather is not good for us where we live - we move etc. But if we have a job we have decided does not satisfy us any more - we should just accept it and say "that is how it is"?

I have/could/do make double/triple my annual police salary in Real Estate/Property Management, capitalizing on the fact that I have three days off every week and about six weeks per year of paid time off.

At several times during the California Real Estate Boom, I was tempted to quit my cop job and form a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). I am confident that I would have made several million dollars for a few years.

But I didn't quit. The California Public Employee Pension that I am working toward is too valuable. My steady, dependable income is too valuable. The fact that my wife can be a Stay At Home Mom is too valuable.

Working nights (sometimes) sucks. Having a front row seat to the decline of civilization sucks.

Having a solid, dependable income stream for the last 21 years has not sucked. Having very economical access to a "Cadillac Health Care Plan" for 21 years has not sucked. Being able to methodically plan my life for 21 years has not sucked. Working with a fantastic bunch of guys for 21 years has not sucked.

And I disagree with you on the divorce part, if you have kids. (If kids are involved, I believe that it is my unwavering, moral obligation to stay married until my youngest child is 18 years old. My "happiness" is so far down the list "priorities", that it is not even worth mentioning)

[LWJ]

I seem to often find myself coaching others looking for work. It is something I am passionate about. You are struggling with the "golden handcuffs." That is, you make too much to accept the risk of a career change. I had this same situation and fortunately, the company I worked for made a decision for me and about 1/2 the rest of the sales force. I reinvented myself and make significantly more than before.

Here is what I learned.

1) Work in an area that you have talents. This will reward you financially and emotionally.

2) Save your love / interest / hobby for your free time. The best example I know is someone who loves to fish. He guides hopeless idiots (like me) all week long and watches them commit mistake after mistake. When this guy has his weekend, does he go fishing because he loves it? No. Now he has a job he hates and has lost his passion.

For me, your decision is really about weathering a temporary (if that) income reduction. If you can float this financially, the decision seems easy. If you need to save and make a plan, then you have something to work towards.

Best of luck! This may be the most rewarding decision you have ever made.
Larry

[MotoSook]

If you chase your passion and find a job doing that, you may find it's not as fun as you thought it would be. Better to work to live...that is, if you have a good job and it pays well, then pursue your passion on your own time using the money someone paid you to do a very easy and boring job.

[krichard]

I recently went through the exact thing your are describing. I spent 15 years in the computer industry and up until around year 13 I really liked it. Around the time I turned 35 I stopped liking it and wanted a change. I couldn't rationalize it because I was getting paid an insane amount of money, had 4 weeks vacation a year and very flexible schedule. I struggled with the decision for another two years while socking away as much money as possible and getting all of our finances in order. My wife works as well but only makes about half of what I made so we had to prepare to live on 1/3 the salary if I quit to pursue something else.

So I quit in December of 2010 and am currently back in school pursuing a business degree and developing a business plan to start a micro-brewery. Complete career change, lifestyle change from a monetary standpoint and mental change. I wake up happy everyday, which is something I didn't do for a very long time leading up to quiting my job. It's harder in the sense that we have to watch our spending now, but so far totally worth it. We'll see how it all turns out in a couple years..... I may be begging for my old job back.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

[LakeCleElum]

I have to agree with the advice above about not jumping ship in this economy. Listen to SilverWhale, especially if you have good pay and benefits now.....I retired for a job that was not always fun at age 52, my wife retired with Teamsters retirement at age 56. She hated her job, I always told her: They are not obligated to "Entertain you"; do that in your time off!

Following your dreams doesn't always pay the bills.

[svandamme]

The times are to weird to change for things like "bored".
The times themselves are interesting enough in my opinion, i'de rather be bored at work then bored sitting at home.

[masraum]

The economy right now is not stable. That doesn't mean that you can't successfully make the change. It just means that you should plan better and hopefully, have a bit of luck.

The practical side has been stated, and is absolutely what I would do. I tend to err towards the practical conservative side of things.

THat said, if you really want it and you are driven, you can do it. LOTS of folks have successfully done what you're talking about before, and will continue to do so. IMO, it takes brains (to plan and understand the best way to do it), drive (to perserver when it seems like it's not going well), balls (to attempt it in the first place) and possibly, a bit of luck.

I've been doing essentially the same work since 1999. I've worked at several different places since then. I get the itch usually between 1.5 and 2.5 years in. When I notice myself getting the itch, I actually don't leave, I look at myself and adjust my attitude. I change jobs when opportunity comes knocking (or in 2001 when I got laid off). Changing workplace certainly helps to keep things interesting.

[billybek]

Is it possible that you are good enough at your job to contract yourself out and take on some side work and keep your current job?
I was with a company for 16 years before I made a change.
It wasn't because I hated my job, rather that physically I was unable to continue it. It was surprisingly emotional for me as I had to accept the fact that I am aging. That damn mortality thing staring you in the face.
What ever you decide to do, best of luck with it!

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by Kroggers

But at the same time I partially disagree. We live only once, so why spend what is the majority of our life doing something we do not enjoy - I just do not get this!

When my 11 year old looks at her dinner plate and says, "I don't like this!" my wife and I reply, "That's ok. You don't have to like it. You just have to eat it." That's how I feel about my work.

There are times when I truly dread what I do. I hate it. I avoid it. I put it off. When the deadline approaches I know the client is counting on me to get it done. I put on Pandora, pop on the headphones and before I know it a couple of hours have gone by and I'm done. The interesting part is that doing the work is never as bad as the thought of doing the work. Maybe I just need a good therapist?