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Originally Posted by Dwane J.  Try the National Career Development Association NCDA
I'm not coding for a living anymore but still involved with technology. Like you taking a pay cut is hard to do.
Here are a couple of ideas:
Try volunteering with an industry that you think you might enjoy.
Ask for a temporary leave of absence from work. Use this time for some soul searching, maybe some traveling would help clear your mind
The sooner you make this journey the better off you will be. The older you get the harder it is to make this kind of change.
I'm 32 and looking back I wish I had experimented with different careers during my 20's. If I had seen a CC earlier in my career I might have made the switch. |
Thanks, Dwane. With me not only is taking the pay cut hard to do, but there's also the matter of whether or not I'll actually be able to find a job at all doing anything else. Not everyone has the opportunity to experiment with careers in their 20s--some of us (me included) don't get to enjoy the diverse choices of internships in college nor a highly mobile career life afterwards due to not being offered the opportunities.
I'm definitely aware that it's difficult to make the change later in life (I'm glad I'm still single and [relatively] young at 27).
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Originally Posted by Ellesse Almost 7 years ago when I made the career switch from an accountant to a financial systems implementation consultant, I told myself this :
- "I'm still young, and can jolly well go back to auditing/accounting if things does not work out"
- "I would rather fail at what I love than to succeed in something that I hate"
I wished I had a career coach at that time to talk to but I knew they wouldn't be able to make decisions for me as well. Eventually, it's back to how much I wanted to move on that propelled the change because at the end of the day, I know only myself will be held responsible for my own actions.
Perhaps you can try consider mind-mapping as a good way to brainstorm some good ideas, while taking the leave/break suggested by Dwane. I've tried mindmapping before and realise it's a very useful and interesting tool. Wished I'd known about it back then.
All the best in your pursuit... |
I understand. I don't really know if I'll be able to return if I quit the industry though--I'm not sure if I'll truly be competitive with the market. I'd like to do just that though, try something else and hope to come back if I'm desperate for money.
What is mind-mapping? I know no one can make decisions for me, it's just that I've lost all sight of what I actually like at all, and that I'd like to do something better but don't know what or how I would get any hope of competitive advantage in it to get in nor how to excel enough to be able to make it big.
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Originally Posted by mustard76 As you think about what you want to do next, think about what you like about your current situation, not just what you want to change. You could spend so much effort focusing on what you want to change that you could lose sight of the things you like.
There has to be a reason you chose your current job in the first place. Maybe it was the money, the routine, the people, etc.
As you transition into your next job you want to keep the things you like about your current situation and change the things you don't. |
My specific job is secure, but the industry and overall line of work isn't (outsourcing and downward wage pressure due to white-collar labor globalization). I took the job because it was the only work I could find after years despite being educated (college is the new high school, it is said), and I'm there because there's not so much pressure on me or my department, and it's better pay and benefits than anything else I know of that a bachelor's degree alone can get. The routine is quite okay too (8-to-6).
I want more adventure in my life. I hate the local area (I'm sick of suburbia), and I'd like to be in different cities or even countries while I'm still young. I'd like to see other lines of work. I'd like to find a job without forever being limited to what nepotism via my family's friends can provide for me, and no longer be indebted as such nor limited as such again. I'd like to eventually "find my passion" and learn of a way to make this kind of money (and, later on, more) doing something I'd genuinely like.
People talk of "Turn your passion into empire". I wish I knew how I could find what I'm passionate about at all and how I can turn it into empire.