THSCC Forums

Obviously I didn't quite find my nitch. I'd love to do something else, but can't seem to make the time/financial sacrifice to re-train (maybe that means things aren't as bad as I think they are).

Anyone out there do a big career change at some point, and if so, how did you pull it off (assuming you had to get additional training).

Scott

I started out life in Nursing Home Administration and was in it for about 12+ years before getting completely burned out on how much emphasis was put on making money for investors and how little was put into spending money on the residents and staff. So, I changed careers and joined the IT field.

I took a big BIG pay cut and it took about 4 years to get back to where I was before I joined the IT field. Now, I am happier, salary is way better, and I am not constantly fighting the internal moral battle with myself.

Bottom line is IMHO if you hate what you are doing to the point of not wanting to get out of bed and go to work, go do something else. Get training, whatever it takes. Life is short, enjoy it. If work isn't so bad, and you can spend off hours doing something you like, you can probably survive.

Just my thoughts.

An observation, since I am just now doing an unplanned and undesired "career change" after 29 years in a pretty good match career and have thought about some of these issues myself, even though I'm in a much different stage of life than you are:

If you consider the training to take "too much time or to be too much sacrifice", maybe it isn't what you really want more than what you are doing. Assuming that what you might be giving up is time and money for racing, then maybe staying in your current "day job" to "support" the racing is the right choice. Conversely, if the strong interest in racing is partially fueled by needing an escape from a job you hate, maybe the racing really isn't that important to you. If you want a new career badly enough because you see it as a much better overall "life", then racing may have to be put off.

These observations may be worth even less than what you are paying for them.

_________________
Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

Chuck should put his thoughts and experience here...

He was originally a nuclear chemist working for a company who reclaimed used fuel cells. His parents had pushed him to go into this area since he had shown such a high aptitude for chemistry, although his first love was art.
He later realized how unhappy he was in that field and the fact that it was particularly dangerous and went back to school for a masters in art education with emphasis on jewelry design and a minor in woodworking. And that's eventually how the store came about... (and me!)

Wow, never would have thought that Chuck was a nuclear chemist. He doesn't have that science nerd aura about him.

I am kind of in the same boat as Scott. I have been servicing airplanes since I was 18. Weather it was as a customer service agent, bag smasher, or a fueler, I have been around airplanes for a big chunk of my life. I can't see myself doing something that doesn't involve airplanes or airports. My origonal plan was to be a professional pilot. That obviously didn't work out. I have now shifted my focus on trying to get a job with the RDU Airport Authority in airport operations.

Basically, I'm ready for a career, not a job.

_________________
Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

When I contemplated going to college at age 27 I lamented to someone that it would take 4 years to get my degree and I would be 31 when I got out. Their question to me was, "How old will you be in 4 years if you don't go back to school?" I took the hint.
For me it had a lot to do with salary. I was making $12,000/year as an electronics technician. Four years later I started at $26,000 as an engineer. The money was better, the responsibilities were satisfying, and I have never regretted those years. I have had to reinvent my career a couple of times to fit the extinuating circumstances. Heck. I even worked for Dick Rasmussen for a while (Hi Dick). During some of my career, the work was not as satisfying as I would like and I, too, found that automotive hobbies helped fill the creative urges. I have done restorations, engine/drive train swaps, even piddly body work. The automotive stuff still interests me, but I decided long ago that to excell in that field would require some sacrafices that I was not prepared to make.
As for reinventing your career, you are young (relatively) and have a long, long way before retirement. Choose your path wisely. It is better to re-evaluate now than at age 50. By the time you get to 50, all you want is a Viper and a red head; all interest in working for a living is long past. Unfortunately it is now considered a scientific fact that the ability to learn begins falling around middle age (I'm surprised that I learned that at my age), so if you have the urge, don't wait until it is a struggle to pick up new technology.
Charlie Guthrie

_________________
1998 BMW Z3
1987 BMW 325is
2000 BMW
1996 F250 Turbo Diesel

I've actually had several "careers". My love of cars and racing as well as needing money to support my car first had me working part time in a service station for 6 years with a top notch mechanic/boss thru HS and the beginning two years of college as a chemistry major. Uncle decided in my third year he needed me more for the VN war effort, so he gave me a "job" teaching biological, chemical and radiological warfare for 2 years (yes, despite the looks I was/am a geek!)
By the time I got out I was married, so I did the "responsible" thing and went to work as a process control chemist in the fledgling nuclear fuel reprocessing industry where my military training was more highly regarded than a degree. It was real good money, and easy work, but I hated the rotating shift schedule and driving 50 miles each way thru the WNY snow belt. My then wife could not find a teaching job in the very tight job market so was managing several depts for a JC Penny store making enough we could live on given our low debt load (we didn't owe on anything) and very low cost of living ( our rent was <75.00/mo). One day I decided I had enough of hating to go to work so I call admissions at Buffalo State to see how many credits I could transfer to persuing an art degree, my first love. Using my GI bill to pay my tuition and working a few hrs a week in a hobby shop for expense money I went back to school full time. I threw myself into my studies which to me were more fun than work and graduated with a dean's list BS in art education 3 semesters later. Graduating in Aug is not a great time to look for a teaching job, and since I had more GI bill eligibility left I continued on full time to get a masters in Art and Jewelry design in 4 more semesters. Meanwhile I had been making jewelry items for sale as my expenses grew along with my reputation until I found myself a niche as a custom designed goldsmith selling at major crafts fairs and to galleries out of my basement studio.
I soon decided I needed a storefront to continue to expand and hated the weather in Buffalo, so I started to look for a warmer location with a stronger ecomomy. That's when I moved here, met Donna, got divorced, remarried, and the rest is history.
Life is WAY too short to be doing something you hate 40 hrs a week, and it's never too late to change. If it's something you REALLY want to do, you'll find a way to do it and you'll be sucessful at it, it's that first big step that's the hardest.

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

I am interested in this thread because I am currently going through a lot of what Scott is going through and what Chuck went through as well.

I am interested in a career change, but I have no idea what I want to do. Within the last 6 months, I have found myself analyzing what other people do and wondering if I would enjoy it. For example, I was watching this show on The Discovery Channel where some guys were recovering artifacts from a shipwreck (off the coast of FL I think) and I remember thinking that would be one of the most fun jobs I could imagine.

So anyway, I applied and was accepted to UNC Wilmington for this fall. My plan was to pick a degree that looked fun and make a career out of it without worrying about money or anything else other than whether or not I would enjoy it. I didn't expect to make more money with a degree, but I was so sick of my job and I was having no luck finding a new one that I decided it would be a good idea to take a couple of years off to go back to school and chill on the beach. I have a couple of years worth of credits from NC State that I can transfer, so I didn't think the debt would pile up too bad if I went back to school.

Right after getting accepted at UNCW, I found myself with a new job offer. I have asked for my acceptance to be extended until next spring so that I can check out this new job for a while. I don't know if I will go back to school or not at this point. It really depends on how satisfied I am with my new job.

I really appreciate Chuck's post. Maybe it would help if some of the other people who enjoy their jobs would make a post about it.

_________________
I sold my Saab to the devil...
And all I got was this crappy SUV.

Very well said. I could not agree more with this idea.

Just to throw my $.02 in, I seem to be one of those lucky few in life. I knew what my career was going to be by the time I was 2 years old (and so did my parents ). I was an expert at building electronic things when I was small, and I built my first (functional) computer by the age of 9. Today, I work for IBM verifying their high-end and embedded microprocessors. According to the acedmic world, it's one of the most challenging problems in the entire field of computer engineering. I like it because I have a direct influence on whether defects show up in our products (anyone remember the Pentium FDIV bug?), and it requires expertise in many programming languages, CAD tools, and research theory to do correctly.

My other word of advice to people: don't ignore your other passions in life. Chances are you are passionate about cars (duh), art, music, the environment, other people, or making a difference in the world. Don't sacrifice these passions in the name of making a buck. You might be surprised at what it is that really matters most to you.

If I could sum it up, I would ask myself this question: What is a life of no regrets? That is a really big question, but an important one. 10 years from now, if there were no chance of failure, what top two things would you have in your life? Start by making choices that would empower you toward those 2 things. It is better to go after them and fall down along the way that to pretend that they never mattered to you in the first place. By the way, if these questions sound really juicy to you, please send me PM or email. It's not in my nature to evangelize, but there is a coaching company in Morrisville that specializes in giving people tools to go after what most matters to them. I am a graduate of the program, and I can give you more details if anyone is interested.

Andy, you might start by asking yourself: What is the experience I am after? Nevermind the things you would be doing during your workday. Maybe you could describe how you would be interacting, either with people or with tasks. Would you prefer creating new things? Providing more value out of existing things? Working with people?

_________________
2000 Honda Prelude

"Younger women, older whiskey, faster cars, and more money."
-- Tom T. Hall on the meaning of life

So you have a job that pays well enough for you to have multiple vehicles, a nice house with a garage, and you get to surf Ebay for Toyota parts all day? Sounds like a tough job Scott!

I've been in drafting my whole life. I started out of HS in the landscaping business and learned on the job (landscaping, not drafting) for about 5 years. They did away with my position so I was forced into another industry to stay employed.

My next job was drafting and designing industrial fiberglass tanks and piping systems. It was a small office so I also learned QA and purchasing on the job as well. I loved my job because I had the fringe benefit of using the facilities to build stereo stuff or work on my car anytime I wanted in our shop. Not to mention we were all like family there. Two years ago they shut the whole plant down (I was there for 13 years) and I was out of a job once again. Lucky for me Sonya is very outgoing and knew lots of people to contact for me to find another job quickly. Within two hours of the bad news she had lined up two interviews for me.

I had some civil drafting experience and landed a job with a local firm here in Wilson where I have my own office (not a cubicle) and the pay is pretty good. I don't *love* this job, but I don't *hate* it by any means. I don't have to work too hard, I can surf the internet and my hours are flexible if they need to be. No real fringe benifits though. The main drawback is the people are not familiy oriented like my old job. If I died tomorrow nobody would notice unless my work wasn't getting done for some odd reason. I'd rather be a person that a payroll number.

Seriously though, if you hate going to work every single day then no amount of pay is worth it IMO. Life is too short to dread 260 out of 365 days per year.

_________________
Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)