Changing Careers when Middle Aged

[Spergerella Junior]

I’m old and need a career change and some anonymous outside perspective. I’ve worked in the arts(the biz side of it) and of course, that is a dead end unless you were born into it and daddy buys you a gallery or advisory job. I’m too blue collar for it. I can’t fake the pedigree. I’m also the child of autists so therefore part socially retarded.

Have any of you switched careers? What worked for you? What didn’t? I actually wish I was a lady welder(loved it in school) but have some grip issues with my hands.

Is programming now a dead end? IT? Cyber security? Is it too late to go into nursing?Being in the arts, people keep pushing me to teach. I’d rather die, and the pay is shit.

 

[Legalize Asbestos]

1. go to welding school in your spare hours. the tools can be modified to make up for your shitty grip/pinching ability.
2. start making metalwork sculptures, the wind-mobiles and windchimes are particularly popular with homeowners and city halls.
3. use your artbiz experience to market the sculptures.

congrats. you're now a savant-welder while leveraging the hours you sunk into the arts.

 

[Your Starter for 10]

A couple things from me, I didn't so much change careers, but I had retired, got bored and depressed, and then started a completely new and unrelated career in my (very) late 40s. And I freaking love it. I'm a huge benefit for the company I work for, since I have a ton of experience dealing with people, situations and tasks, that someone younger simply would not have. It's also really good for me since it hits all my requirements (outside, varied locations, no administrative supervisees).

I don't need the money, so I don't stress over shit like hours (i mean I get 40 a week, but I'm not hunting overtime like someone doing this as their sole income would). Which is a big adjustment because it's an odd mindspace in which to have a job. My only fear is that at some point some bureaucrat or safety faggot is going to pester me more than absolutely necessary and I will fucking melt them and leave.

As far as nursing, basically unless you are in your late 50s, it's definitely not too late to get into it. There's a huge need EVERYWHERE, and there's a ton of really varied positions (from 2 year (or less) degrees that essentially are just monitors (CNAs and such) to administrative nurses to the real surgical RNs. And if you start by the time you're 55 you can work til you are 70. If you really are interested in it and have the fondness for it you really should get started. I know of 2 formerly retired RNs who just got hired in their 60s with no problem at all. And this is in a small hospital in a small rural town.

I can't answer any of your IT questions but I'd stay the fuck away from that side as it seems miserable for all but the most mercenary of personalities.

 

[Spergerella Junior]

1. go to welding school in your spare hours. the tools can be modified to make up for your shitty grip/pinching ability.
2. start making metalwork sculptures, the wind-mobiles and windchimes are particularly popular with homeowners and city halls.
3. use your artbiz experience to market the sculptures.

congrats. you're now a savant-welder while leveraging the hours you sunk into the arts.

If I had money, I’d start an art school where you couldn’t graduate without earning some professional accreditation in the trades related to your art major.

 

[PFM]

I know several women who switched to nursing well into their 40's and couldn't be happier.

 

[Cougar Pump]

I wouldn't bother with IT. 20 years ago it was still an interesting and diverse field where you could get thrown into situations and systems that were all kinds of weird and wonderful. Now it's write up a process to push a button on a cloud provider platform then submit ticket for change request #949594923 then attend the meeting in three weeks to discuss change and then hand off to someone else to implement (they actually push the button, but you still get blamed if it doesn't do what was expected). It is no longer a creative industry and it will suck the life out of you. That said, the pay can still be good, and there's a very easy progression path (join a helpdesk, learn, move into technical work, take on ownership of things nobody else wants).

 

[Magicicada_septendecula]

How old exactly? The Army will accept recruits as old as 42 and though you will still be required to meet most of the same physical standards as the typical recruit out of high school, they won't make you cannon fodder if you have a skill. If you're in the arts, there are positions for people in media in all different areas of production. You'd probably be making (or working with the makers of) recruiting posters, flyers, brochures, advertisements, and a number of things seen around base. And if you don't want to do that, it's pretty easy to move into other areas depending on your ASVAB score.

 

[The Connected Nose]

Start wrangling pixies. Wiring, be it electrical or datacomm, is always going to be in demand (especially in new construction). You can work as an electrical apprentice and get trained on the job, and then once you reach journeyman status, you can really start making some decent money. For datacomm, you'll need a couple years experience before getting your BICSI certification, but it's not strictly required to have that cert (although highly recommended).

Both can suck ass in existing structures, but also present interesting challenges. But in new construction, it's nice to be able to work all day and see what you've accomplished. Then later on you can point to a building and say "I worked on that."

Also, before anyone says "everything is wifi now", that's only true to a point. You still gotta get cabling TO the access point. And more and more houses/offices are seeing the reliability and security benefits of wired connections again.

If you can do both, you're golden. Because I can count on one hand the number of sparkies I know who can sling Cat-6 and have it actually work properly. "What do you mean "pair order"? It's got continuity, it should work!" I've seen houses where the sparky did the data, and not only was every single termination wrong, they were all wrong in different ways. To say nothing of the nightmares where they staple the data cable to the studs and joists like it's romex, coil leftovers in tiny boxes with no mind for minimum bend radius, kink cables that are impossible to re-run once the drywall is finished, and don't label anything so you have to re-terminate and pray the cable is intact just to know what goes where. Especially when they do all of the stuff I mentioned just now in the same building...

tl;dr - "Some pixies are angrier than others, but they all have places to be, and there's money in making sure they get there safely."

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Slinging wire is a great job for the autistic and the socially retarded. You only deal with minimal people, and autistic attention to detail is usually seen as a good thing. Get known for making your installs pretty and easy to maintain down the line, and you'll definitely get a lot more work. "Wow, who did this??" when someone opens a breaker panel or network enclosure, vs "Ugh, who the FUCK did this!?"

 

[Spergerella Junior]

I’m 43 and a mother to a 4 year old, if that info helps at all.

My husband is a general contractor, so it could be nice to acquire a skill that complements his business like becoming an electrician.

 

[Idiotron]

The arts are definitely not dead.
You might not get many corporate gigs if you're unknown but you can go indie and make it that way.
The thing is, you have to be reeeeeeeally good at social media.
You can be great but sell nothing because nobody knows you exist.
You can also be mediocre but you know exactly how to market yourself and you make big bucks.

I've been doing "the arts" for 25 years but only now have things finally started moving because I've learned how to exploit social media algorithms properly.
The hard part today is that you can't be generic.
Generic is what AI can do.
You need to have style to stand out.

However, if you really want a complete change of careers and want the job to be recession proof, a trade like plumber or electrician is great.
Sure, you will be working physically and getting dirty but the money is really good and you won't be replaced by a robot this century probably.

 

[Chickin BBQ]

Compsci related career options are pretty dead. There's a glut of people in the industry and even the modern fake & gay state of AI has basically double if not tripled productivity of an individual that knows what the fuck is up. The industry is fucked, doubly so for newcomers getting into it.

 

[Spergerella Junior]

The arts are definitely not dead.
You might not get many corporate gigs if you're unknown but you can go indie and make it that way.
The thing is, you have to be reeeeeeeally good at social media.
You can be great but sell nothing because nobody knows you exist.
You can also be mediocre but you know exactly how to market yourself and you make big bucks.

I've been doing "the arts" for 25 years but only now have things finally started moving because I've learned how to exploit social media algorithms properly.
The hard part today is that you can't be generic.
Generic is what AI can do.
You need to have style to stand out.

However, if you really want a complete change of careers and want the job to be recession proof, a trade like plumber or electrician is great.
Sure, you will be working physically and getting dirty but the money is really good and you won't be replaced by a robot this century probably.

Just to clarify, while I am an artist, when I said I worked in the arts, I worked in gallery admin roles and for companies that specialized in buying and selling for millionaire type collectors, so like in auctions and appraisals, the type of price point that collectors buy in to hide assets. Not uplifting stuff.

I am looking for recession proof definitely. I am content being an unknown painter because I despise having to spend creative time trying to keep up with social media. I think it really depends on the type of art you produce too. I’d say most successful gallery artists I know aren’t dependent on social media, but more on building in person relationships with gallerists and collectors in a different realm. I could go on forever about this and never make sense. If you ever want to talk shop feel free to shoot me a dm.

 

[FedPostalService]

Have any of you switched careers? What worked for you? What didn’t? I actually wish I was a lady welder(loved it in school) but have some grip issues with my hands.

It sounds like you have a lot of transferable skills. Have a bit of confidence, I’ve no doubt there’s a lot of industries you’d slot right into.

You could get yourself established in a company then think what you want to do next. Badger your line manager about job shadowing and training opportunities once you’ve made yourself part of the furniture.

The arts is fucking horrible from what I’ve heard. I’ve been told too many stories about people being the outsider and never being allowed to fit in. It’s all about contacts and no one is willing to share them.

Find a place and work hard, then get yourself in front of senior management as much as possible.

Im sure you’ll excel wherever you go. You’ll have put up will a ton of bullshit and have a level of resilience us corpo scum will marvel at.

 

[Flatline]

Is programming now a dead end? IT? Cyber security?

Absolutely, especially if you're older and starting from scratch. The market is saturated beyond recognition, and you'd be competing with kids who will work for next to nothing and, depending on their background, have been using a computer since they were in diapers. If not the kids, it's tech companies' obsession with using AI to replace workers and reap the savings as profit.

 

[Mordecai "3 Finger" Brown]

As far as nursing, basically unless you are in your late 50s, it's definitely not too late to get into it. There's a huge need EVERYWHERE, and there's a ton of really varied positions (from 2 year (or less) degrees that essentially are just monitors (CNAs and such) to administrative nurses to the real surgical RNs. And if you start by the time you're 55 you can work til you are 70. If you really are interested in it and have the fondness for it you really should get started. I know of 2 formerly retired RNs who just got hired in their 60s with no problem at all. And this is in a small hospital in a small rural town.

I know several women who switched to nursing well into their 40's and couldn't be happier.

As a contrarian view, nursing is a hellish career.

Most of the younger nurses that are actually working in the traditional hospital ward roles are always planning their exit: the more determined do some BS online courses to get certified as a Nurse Practitioner fake doctor so they can Dunning-Kruger their patients.

Or the more middle-aged ones start migrating to managerial, bureaucratic and community roles where they do zero actual nursing but transform into lazy laptop class petty tyrants.

 

[Your Starter for 10]

As a contrarian view, nursing is a hellish career.

Yeah I'd imagine it is VERY dependent on the facility you work in, and it wouldn't take too many assholes in a few key positions to make it a miserable experience.

Everyone I know work in fairly small facilities in fairly small (read: white) towns.

I guess the key part is that you CAN move just about anywhere and get a job. So if a place or situation sucks, you can just move elsewhere. Or decide if the hassle of moving is less than the hassle of dealing with the job.

 

[pursuitsnail]

Cyber security

The primary issue with cyber security is that every company is desperately trying to hire same the 5-10 guys who just placed first at the regional college CTF competion, and when there isn't enough meat to go around gets very upset about how they don't have enough qualified applicants. Chances are by the time you train and get certifications, they'll have automated away what entry level jobs there were and cry even harder about the fact that they can't fill roles.

If you really want to go into tech, try to see if you can't find places offering retraining for women reentering the workforce. There are companies that are OK with people who went through bootcamps, but also value the soft skills and lower drama factor that come with second career professionals.

edit: To clarify what I mean by 'places offering retraining' I mean look for something like Tech Firm That You've Probably Heard Of running their own hire-to-retrain program. There are train-to-staff companies of varying reputation/quality where you'll work for them for a contracted length of time as a contractor at another company. Some of these are legit and try to do right by the people they bring in, but some of these are borderline, if not actually, predatory, and some outright scams.

 

[Dawdler]

Have any of you switched careers?

From elecchicken to pharmacist to it and back to electrician. It just pays way more and I am free to do what I want when I want to.
Sadly I don't get along with IT folks, we are completely different breed and medical stuff is just underpaid crap. All other small jobs I tried are utter garbage.
Arting, crafting, data entry and so on are obsolete on modern capital market. You simply can't sell your skills.
Pharma degree was a complete waste of money sadly.

This may be pure cancer, but you can try something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnIow0VOKHY
HVAC certs are easy to get and there is a never ending log of work to be done.

 

[Spergerella Junior]

Thank you all for the insightful comments. The back and forth is helpful.

Any thoughts on SEO specialists? Is AI going to wreck this biz as well? I ask because I already do it as a freelancer, but have no professional credentials related to it. I enjoy the work, strangely enough, but can’t see a profitable way forward.

I may just be burnt out at the moment.

 

[Sargon's wife's son]

I’m old and need a career change and some anonymous outside perspective. I’ve worked in the arts(the biz side of it) and of course, that is a dead end unless you were born into it and daddy buys you a gallery or advisory job. I’m too blue collar for it. I can’t fake the pedigree. I’m also the child of autists so therefore part socially retarded.

I mean I would recommend carpentry but unless you're like 30 that's gonna **** your body up then again it really doesn't if you actually go to the gym.
If you have enough disposable income maybe 16 or $17,000 getting your crane and class ACDL allows you to be a truck crane operator that's about 95 starting out.

Concrete pump operator is also a good career that's about 97 really any high end piece of machinery is a good thing to learn how to operate

friend of mine does high end woodworking that's a pretty good field if you're an artsy type person and you have that clientele already.


Elevator mechanics are also a great career there's always a lack of them 'cause it's a very specialized form of electrical work and it pays about 110 an hour in major cities