Changing Careers when Middle Aged

[Jesus was a Lestes]

Telecom is something that keeps getting overlooked but is critical. We just hired a temp field telecom engineer (not a degreed engineer) for $170k a year because those who know how to install telecom equipment are really hard to find. The reason why it’s a temp is because this guy is waiting for another job to come through for him that pays more. It’s a very lucrative niche that not many people know about.

The electrician suggestion is a really good one too. Electricians are very recession proof because there will always be storms, someone renovating their basement and needs a rewire, etc. The IBEW has some very strong benefits. It’s safe too unless you’re one of those dumbasses who don’t wear the proper PPE and get shocked.

Welding is a good one too and even with the grip issues, I guarantee you someone has found a workaround. Lots of welders are grizzled old welders who have all kinds of various conditions.

I went from emergency telco/heavy machinery work into adult education as a trainer for advanced jointing/fault finding, that and the related whs/ohsa and occupational first aid is a very good niche if you have have a trade/tech background.
Contract and temp work can pay some insane rates, I get more than my GP for working first aid tents at festivals and events on weekends and all I do is hand out bandaids and hydralite.

Electrician you need a like 4 year apprenticeship and then like double that in experience to do A grade work before you get the big bux. Is a great field if you get into it young or find a good contractor to work with but probs not the best for a middle age scenery change. A basic training and assessment cert/dip will give you the ability to train what you are qualified/experienced in, student support/liason work, or even a librarian at an adult college and over qualifies you for most admin/management roles. Case management for gubmint agencies that do vocational rehab for injured workers/traffic injuries for example.

Another good middle aged scenery change is caretaking coastal holiday/campervan parks, if you can do admin/basic handyman work and can deal with the peak tourist season, you can often find jobs that offer free accommodation, utils and a company car/4wd paying over 6 figures.

 

[SirCliveSinclairdabbing]

Another good middle aged scenery change is caretaking coastal holiday/campervan parks, if you can do admin/basic handyman work and can deal with the peak tourist season, you can often find jobs that offer free accommodation, utils and a company car/4wd paying over 6 figures.

That's something I'm interested in organising for transients. Cross hemisphere work. It's always summer somewhere.
I spent time volunteering with off grid/off the system communities last year (to step outside the social bubble of beliefs that we all live in) and it opened my eyes to how we can help them feel involved year through instead of bunkering down for the winter.

Back on topic, a family I was talking to in Hong Kong were telling me how they were instilling the idea of don't train in anything that can be automated in their daughters.
To me that is middle class jobs. counsellor and psychologist is flow charts. Same goes for accountancy and programming. Trades are an option but always face the immigrant pressure to drop wages like happened in the UK and the body wear and tear.
Art shops are interesting solely for money laundering, no need to declare source of purchase under £30k.

Personal opinion, flip houses if you have the trade skills. £30k in 6 weeks work + sale time. Live in a much cheaper country.

 

[Jesus was a Lestes]

That's something I'm interested in organising for transients. Cross hemisphere work. It's always summer somewhere.
I spent time volunteering with off grid/off the system communities last year (to step outside the social bubble of beliefs that we all live in) and it opened my eyes to how we can help them feel involved year through instead of bunkering down for the winter.

Back on topic, a family I was talking to in Hong Kong were telling me how they were instilling the idea of don't train in anything that can be automated in their daughters.
To me that is middle class jobs. counsellor and psychologist is flow charts. Same goes for accountancy and programming. Trades are an option but always face the immigrant pressure to drop wages like happened in the UK and the body wear and tear.
Art shops are interesting solely for money laundering, no need to declare source of purchase under £30k.

Personal opinion, flip houses if you have the trade skills. £30k in 6 weeks work + sale time. Live in a much cheaper country.

Interesting, I have some experience with the off-grid/earthship community also, no I'm not a hippy, just an ex trade/tech nerd that is into eco-friendly/self sustainable construction methods.

To add, for that kind of work there's vocational courses on tourism if in need to side/upskill for the basic requirements for an application. Not only is it always summer somewhere, there's coastal and regional towns that will still have a year round tourist industry for families getting away on school holidays, camping/fishing on beaches, lakes and rivers, historical towns/festivals etc as well as foreign tourists/backpackers. Quite often will have foreigners on working visas doing part time work in that sector. Lots of Britbongs and Irish around here in summer for the hospo work.

F/T caretaker roles are usually salaried positions with free lodging and utils and possibly a car/4WD. They want people who can handle the peak tourist seasons as well as the boring off season, dealing with the permanent retrirees in cabins - beach shacks or a campervan lot. Not ideal for taking on alone, is best with a partner or friend due to being on call 24/7 to check people in/maintenance, repairs and cleaning, split the salary and ideally work from home or regionally doing other work in the free time.

 

[⋖ cørdion ⋗]

I work in a psych ward and not half the health staff are qualified. Unironically a firm handshake can get you in; it's all about character towards patients. That said: the bully2nurse pipeline is real. Bitches get into this field to tell the world they're little angels.

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)

Being wealthy enough to retire at 40 to then working 40 hours a week for fun is fucking nuts. Actual boomer? Have you tried hobbies, clubs or other societal value type shit? A fucking partner? Call it envy but idk, die wealthy? Sounds crazy to me.

 

[Gender: Xenomorph]

Have you tried hobbies, clubs or other societal value type shit? A fucking partner?

Wait till she's on her deathbed and realizes she can't take all her money...

It's sad that boomers who've been corporate busybodies know nothing else but to be corporate busybodies...

 

[The King-In-Chains]

As someone who wants to change from compsci/gamedev to anything else, any advice?

Was thinking network engineer or cybersecurity, but all these require knowing people/mentorship, and nobody mentors/trains anymore...

There are plenty of programs for entry-level cybersecurity, you'll be placed with literal retards in some cases, so assuming (you're using the farms, I have a higher regard for you right out of the gate) you have familiarity with computers beyond a high school graduate level you'll be fine. Some of these programs are being cut as we speak due to Donnie Boy (this is a good thing IMO).

I'm trying to avoid PL'ing but I've provided consultancy/panel-related stuff to a variety of these programs, here's common misconceptions/pitfalls of both the orgs and people in them:

- You're not going to be on red team, or a pentester anytime soon. You're absolutely retarded if you think that with no experience (and even having a degree). I've had 40+ year old men spin tales of themselves thinking they will be attractive to HR or a recruiter when the reality is there's fresh meat in the form of 20 y/o graduates right out of Uni who will work longer, cheaper, and have had ~4 years of related coursework under their belt for the field. Same kind of unrealistic expectations of burnout people/hoodrats who think they'll be getting six-figures with an entry-level cert.

- GRC (Governance, Regulation, & Compliance) is very, very underrated. Don't like code/programming? Ok with reading documentation, being a pedantic asshole, and filing paperwork? Here's a discipline that pays a lot for what you're asked to perform. Nobody in the programs ever pushes GRC hard, but that's because you actually have to not be a fuckup and be held accountable.

- SOC I Analyst jobs are all over the place, and won't be having a shortage anytime soon. Generally, as long as you're reliable and competent, you'll be wanted and you'll beat out most of these people in the programs.

Finally, you don't NEED the programs to get a job in the industry. There's nothing preventing you from studying, getting the official study guides/books via piracy, and then having the pay the fee to take the exams(dosh, I guess is the limiter in this case). After that, it's having a good body of work in your portfolio, tailoring your resume, and knowing people/actively networking (this common in the gamedev scene too).

 

[Gender: Xenomorph]

There are plenty of programs for entry-level cybersecurity

Huh, I'm discouraged from Cybersec because you need those costly time consuming certs to get a foot in the door...

It's not like coding/web where you can learn from tutorials online, you need certain certs that cost money...

 

[Smokeski]

Huh, I'm discouraged from Cybersec because you need those costly time consuming certs to get a foot in the door...

It's not like coding/web where you can learn from tutorials online, you need certain certs that cost money...

I tried cybersecurity. Got a sec+, pentest+, cissp, and an oscp with years of experience coding and i couldn't even get an interview. I gave up on it.

Thanks for this thread. I'm going from coding to graphic design and indie game development. its refreshing to know im not the only one.

 

[Gender: Xenomorph]

graphic design and indie game development

How's that going?

I'm having pain trying to get a job even though I had a good start.

 

[Smokeski]

How's that going?

I'm having pain trying to get a job even though I had a good start.

its refreshing to engage in my creative pursuits. its like drinking from a firehose for a lot of it, but its fun. I know the pains of job searching man. With my resume the people helping me try and find a job were perplexed, especially with all the bullshit you need to go through to even take some certs. I wish i could give you some wise words, but in the end i gave up since i decided to embrace the fact the universe was telling me something. I'll say a prayer for you, i hope you get a job. A good job, not some shitty boiler room job.

 

[Spergerella Junior]

Update: I’m a tard and just took a new digital marketing related job doing less for a little bit more money at a company with more stability. Not exactly a power move. But I’d really just like to go live in the mountains with Sasquatch.

 

[SmugAutist]

I can't imagine starting a new career path while middle-aged. There would have to be some good prospects for the limited time you have left in the labor market. I have recently changed careers in my late 20s but it was because I got enrolled into the new family business, which is extremely profitable. Unless you have great opportunities waiting for you on the other side, I wouldn't waste my time and money.

 

[Major]

I really want to stop doing my stem related job. There's no money in it and the industry is shrinking fast. It's just so hard to find anything even good that isn't either sales or management level government work. Plus there's the perennial need experience to get experience problem.

 

[Dawdler]

STEM pays, it's a dead end train wreck, but just ride it till it stops.

 

[Not A Bunny]

I can't imagine starting a new career path while middle-aged. There would have to be some good prospects for the limited time you have left in the labor market. I have recently changed careers in my late 20s but it was because I got enrolled into the new family business, which is extremely profitable. Unless you have great opportunities waiting for you on the other side, I wouldn't waste my time and money.

That's because you don't know what it's like to come to an age where you realize you not only hate your job, but every job you ever had as an adult, and you realize it's not going to get better no matter what job you move onto.

Everyone around me is telling me to stay calm, stay put and power through it. Everyone around me also knows that everyone seems to be patting me on the head and telling me I'm doing a good job even though all I do is put things in PowerPoint, and other engineers in my peer group do far more technical work than I do.

If you have over 20 years of experience of people doing that to you, or screwing you over, or bullying you, there comes a point in your life when you start getting really honest about how much more of this shit you're willing to put up with, because you know how long 20 more years will be.

 

[Flatline]

I really want to stop doing my stem related job. There's no money in it and the industry is shrinking fast.

Without giving away your power level, what's your job? Are you a programmer? How many years of experience do you have?

 

[Major]

Without giving away your power level, what's your job? Are you a programmer? How many years of experience do you have?

I'm in the chemical industry. About 10 years experience. I earn about average money. Chemical industry is dying fast, even pharma. I see PHDs earning less than I do, it's brutal.

 

[1999 prick]

I'm in the chemical industry. About 10 years experience. I earn about average money. Chemical industry is dying fast, even pharma. I see PHDs earning less than I do, it's brutal.

I am in pharmacy and I know retail pharmacists earn less than those in retail or cashiers, despite their educational and practice qualifications.

working 3-4 years switching pharmacy specialties and no matter where , the qualifications, the pay, job stability and work expected to be done is brutal. as you are expected to be a perfectionist and any mistakes on my side is unacceptable.


There is a joke in healthcare where everyone makes fun of pharmacy as all they do is count drugs, Sadly the joke is true and and I hate how all of my colleagues pretend it isn't.

Stock variation is a constant problem in the pharmacy and both management and regulators hates it, depending on the drug you can lose your license.

The reality of most pharmacy jobs is you barely do your pharmaceutical responsibilities, you instead deal with insurance, manage inventory, regulatory paperwork, cashier and customer service for pissed off patients.

And switching to a different hospital/clinic is a pain as not only is the pharmacist profession over-saturated I have to restudy my fundamentals for each interview just to make the pharmacy manager look smart to management and HR knowing that if I land the job I am not going to use it anyways.

Despite landing a better paying position than most pharmacists, mass layoffs has made me realize my position isn't forever and unfortunately maintaining the mental focus I need to do my job has lead me to substance abuse.

Technically their prescription but I do not want to live a life relying on drugs just to do my job. So I am honestly looking for a plan B.

 

[lIllllIiiiiLLLLiiiiIIIIll]

Protip from somebody who switches jobs/careers literally whenever he feels like it.

You can spam applications (5 a day for 7 days a week, for example) and just attend every single interview that gets offered to you, and you are guaranteed to land somewhere that is desperate to hire within like two months max. If you need a job faster, just spam applications faster.

Very rare for anyone these days to actually call references or grill you about your work history. The average company that's hiring these days is layers within layers of recruiters and HR people just trying to get a slot filled ASAP so they can check it off their list. Literally just spam applications (having several versions of your resume helps, so you can vaguely target different kinds of jobs), and then attend every interview and just do your best. You will land somewhere.

Edit to add: Main thing is not to lose your positive mood. Treat the interviews like a game and don't let the rejections stick in your mind at all. Easier said than done, I know, but if you can show up and seem relaxed in interviews someone will scoop you up.

 

[mellstroy]

Weord

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.

Weird place to ask this