Need some IMHO's (Changing careers/ moving)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hi, SDMB! I need help, and I don’t know where to start, so I’m turning to the smartest group of people I know.

I am sick and tired of my career. Tech support has been great - it’s proved a place where I can get a job I’m really good at. And that’s it. It’s not satisfying, or enjoyable. I don’t find joy in or hate in my job. It’s… fine. The company I’m with is a mid-size, specialty software company, and because it has lots of internal politics it’s unlikely I’ll get out of the tech-support side of things there without moving to sales (which I’m not terribly good and and don’t enjoy at all).

Well, screw that. I don’t want Fine. I deserve better than a Fine life. I don’t want to exist in my life that is the way it is because of inertia.

After some soul searching, and some talking with family and friends, I know the right decision for me is to change, both careers and my city. I have a boyfriend, and things are becoming fairly serious with us, so I’d like to be much closer to him (he’s currently a 2.5 hour drive from me). I moved a year ago to be closer to my family, but that… hasn’t worked as planned. Plus, I’ve discovered that the years haven’t mellowed my mother’s boundary and control issues (haha! Quite the opposite!), so I’d like some space between us (boundaries are easier to enforce with a river in between).

So… Now what?

Discussing this with my boyfriend, I described job hunting as a giant mountain, in a jungle, with no paths, and there’s poisonous snakes. And you don’t have any water. Also there’s pirates.

So… my first step is figuring out a map through the jungle. How does one even go about changing careers? How do I even figure out what the right career is? And how does one figure out how to make that happen from 2.5 hours away?

Once I figure that out (Or at least get some ideas), I’ll move on to how to fix my resume and cover letter. As a solid tech type, my cover letter is somehow wordy yet not informational enough.

So… a little about me in case anyone has any thoughts. I have a bachelor’s in physics, and a master’s in Human Factors Engineering. My resume for the last five years consists of a couple different tech support jobs, including a fair amount of management for mid-sized teams (10-20 people), prior to that was a bout of unemployment preceded by a short time as an Industrial Engineer. I love science, of all types, and I love and am great at explaining it to people, especially kids. My best volunteer experiences have been when I’ve been at the Nature Center working with kids, and when I worked with the first response team as a volunteer victim (turns out I’m great in a crisis. The firefighters loved having me as a volunteer body, since that’s the kind of person who keeps character when they add an explosion). Part of me wants to do something medical (nursing?). The thing I really, really don’t like about my current career is that, at the end of the day, I can look at myself and say, “I did the best job I could,” and the net result of that is… making $5 more for someone in Texas or some company loyalty for someone in California. I want to be able to get to the end of the day and be able to say that I did my part to make the world a little better of a place.

I’m not opposed to going back to school, but I also know that I will be doing that entirely on my own - my mother has made it clear that she will NOT support me (money, housing, emotional), so that seems a little overwhelming. I don’t have kids or anything to worry about, but I also don’t love the idea of taking out a couple years of student loans - I have enough savings to move without issue, but certainly not enough to live on for a couple years while I’m going to school. (While I want to move to his city, I do not want to move in with my boyfriend).

So… Help?

Also, if you have all sorts of awesome connections, the city I want to be in is Louisville.

2

I think the path to figuring out a new career is talking to friends to find out if they have interesting careers, AND posting to IMHO.

One option that occurs to me is becoming an actuary.

Pros:
Your degrees are enough, no more school required (more on that later in Cons)
Liking to explain stuff is good for that career
I’m not sure about Louisville, but there are apparently plenty of actuaries in Cincinnati or Indy
A couple of exams is enough to get your resume considered
Providing insurance is marginally better for society than selling stuff
If you’re good at it, you can make lots of money

Cons
You have to study a lot over many years and pass exams, but usually you’re not paying for those exams or material once you have a job
You’d have to pass a couple of exams on your own first
Some people don’t like office jobs
Some people don’t like insurance in general

I have friends who are actuaries and who like it, but I’m probably missing some of both pros and cons.

3

Careers don’t make people happy - the science supports this. Jobs are not meant to be fulfilling in any grand way; either you have a vocation which fulfills you deep in your soul and which you make sacrifices for (poverty, low social status etc.) or you just have a job. People drive themselves crazy trying to commingle the two IMHO.

Staying away from your mom sounds like a good plan, I think avoiding toxic people is something people should focus on more. Taking things slow with your boyfriend seems very wise - if that works out it could be a very good thing of course.

Other than that, I got nothin’.

4

I changed carriers a few years ago and bounced around and tried lots of stuff that didn’t work and then I ended up in the life insurance industry. I could not be happier. I work for myself and have a business plan in place to go from a one person operation to a full fledged agency in the next 5 years. I make good money and I get to spend my days with people. It’s lots of fun.

The downside is… Anyone can do it, but not everyone should. You have to have the right personality and be the type of person who can realize that their job is not them. You get rejected a lot. It doesn’t bother me. I also help people every day. That makes me happy. The way I do it there is a bit of overhead because I refuse to cold call, but I am really pretty profitable as a business. You have to be willing to travel a bit to see people. You have to watch out to make sure you aren’t taken advantage of when you are new. But it can be an amazing gig.

5

How much money do you need to make? Seriously. We all have some sort of baseline for feeling secure.

6

I agree with Mr. Nylock, up to a point. I don’t think the division between the soul-fulfilling work that you make sacrifices to do and the job that you slog through just to keep body and soul together is quite so clear. There’s a lot of middle ground in there. But I do agree with you that working a job that essentially just makes money for someone else is not particularly satisfying. It wasn’t for me; my answer was to go to work for my state’s court system, which is intensely satisfying (most of the time).

I think it’s important for you to assess your strengths not only in education and experience but in what you like to do and are good at. You say you are good at explaining things, especially to children. Would you consider becoming a teacher? Science teachers are always in demand or so I’m told.

I applaud your courage, both in moving away from your mother, and in redefining yourself and your career. Best of luck!

7

You will quickly find that more money means more choices as to where/when you do your soul-satisfying activity.

As I explained it at work once: “This is not me. Me - im out doing…; this is how I finance me”.

It came down to this: I was very good at what I did and that gave me the option of consulting (hired gun). In that position, I could decide how much of my time I would spend working and how much time I’d spend doing what I wanted.
Very few people get that option, but here’s the thing: With money, you have many more options than you do without it. You will probably not find deep personal satisfaction AND money in the same place and same time, so find the highest-paying gig you can perform and perform well.

Some musicians manage to make money from their passions, some doctors and teachers also.

98.7% of the workforce does not.

8

Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful replies!

Maserschmidt - I hadn’t considered that my background is right for that. I’ll have to do further research!

For the folks warning me about looking for a satisfying job instead of finding satisfaction in my life… Thanks for the reminder. I’m well aware that my satisfaction comes from me, not from my job. That being said… Tech support is a drain. It’s so tough to explain, because I don’t hate tech support… I’m just profoundly “blah” about it. It is profoundly boring and unchallenging. I can learn new products and such, sure, but that feels more like grinding for levels in WoW than something I’m doing because I’m interested. I suppose that’s an apt description - it’s like feuding for levels, but with no boss. I don’t expect I’m going to find a job where I’ll just leap out of bed every morning with all the excitement in the world. I just don’t want to be so bored I feel like my brain is atrophying.

Manda JO - roughly $35k is my floor. I’m making $36k right now, and living pretty comfortably. Louisville is a bit more expensive of a city, but I’d also be downsizing my living situation, so it more or less comes out as a wash.

9

I’d go teach physics. Lok into alternative certification program. High s hol physics teachers are in high demand
It’s a hard job, but never boring.

10

My daughter is a science teacher in middle school. I’ve watched her work - she’s a really good teacher, but she’s more than frustrated by the requisite BS of being a public school teacher. Knowing what she knows now, I don’t know if she’d go that route. I used to think I’d teach after retiring, but based on her experience, I’m enjoying my idle time. So while I admire people who want to teach, I think anyone considering that career path should talk to a number of teachers in different schools and systems just to get a big picture.

With a masters, you might be able to teach at a junior college. I did that one semester, and I enjoyed it. I didn’t have to deal with the crap of helicopter parents or indifferent parents along with the public school policy nonsense. My students were, supposedly, adults and for the most part, they acted that way.

Have you considered consulting a career counselor and/or taking some aptitude tests?

11

Staying close to your field, work in QA or systems analyst or business analyst could work. PM work on related projects could work.

Outside your field, HR, teaching could work too. I’m surprised to learn with your education your pay is where it is. It seems like you’re under achieving potential at that rate. Entry level administrative assistants will clear more than that and is probably more fun.

12

First, what would be good to do broadly? Do you want to be creative? Do you want to help people? Do you want to solve problems (probably not, since that is your job now.)
Then, research industries, and when you find one you like, start researching companies in industries. Go to their web sites and look at their openings.
If one looks good, you can apply on-line. But you should also try to find someone who works for this company, call or email them, and tell them what about the company appeals to you, the highlights of your relevant qualifications, and ask if you can chat with them by phone.

You might think your average manager gets deluged by calls and emails about jobs - but in fact nobody does this. You might not get any particular job, but you will be miles ahead of someone who just submits a resume or worse, just uses job boards. If you can network in a more personal way using friends of your boyfriend that is even better.
If you are good at explaining things to people, which is a great talent, you should be good at explaining yourself.
Good luck.

13

This sounds extraordinarily low for someone with your academic background and management experience. I know that it’s a job-hunting jungle out there and you’re not in Silicon Valley, but you seem to be selling yourself short at $35K.

14

Your education in physics and human factors engineering is a perfect fit for automotive companies working on autonomous driving cars and ADAS.

Automotive may not be interesting to you and I have no idea if anyone is working on that in Louisville, but ADAS is a growing part of the industry and the technology is very cutting edge.

15

Don’t listen to the people that say what you do doesn’t matter. Maybe it doesn’t for those people, but lots of us do feel a strong need to make some meaning out of the thing we do 40 hours a week. I’ve worked crappy jobs and I’ve worked great jobs, and the great job wins every time.

I did a career change relatively early on. I think the most important thing is not to drift and hope, but to really figure out exactly where you want to be and then figure out how to get there. If you know an industry well, it’s easy to figure out which companies offer entry level jobs, what advancement looks like, etc.

LinkedIn is a great tool. Go on and look at people a few years older than you with your background. What are they doing? How did they get there? What companies keep coming up again and again?

16

Step 1 = figure out how to answer that question
Step 2 = write a book so the rest of us can figure it out for ourself
Step 3 = Profit!

Honestly, I’m 51 years old and still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. I like what I’m doing now, I’m good at it and it more than pays the bills, but it’s not what I would be doing if money were no object.

Good luck!

17

Some random career thoughts, some of which will undoubtedly be TERRIBLE.

Nurse (you said it! Don’t blame me!): It would require going back to school. Lots of different career paths with a nursing degree. Said to be shortages of nurses, but I’m not sure that translates as well as it should into a great career. Based on talking with nurses, both an aggravating and a fulfilling career. Sometimes both at once.

Pharmacist: It would require going back to school. I think for five years. Lots of different career paths. Like nursing, there’s a shortage but that doesn’t mean great options all the time. I think this is a fascinating field (I have a bit of a chem background, so I looked into it at one point).

Patent attorney: Back to school. I sense a theme. I don’t know anything about job prospects, only that they look for people with certain backgrounds when it comes to patent law.

Teacher: Not sure about schooling. One of the most aggravating and most fulfilling potential careers.

Mad inventor: You get to blow up a garage! That’s always good!

18

Thank you to everyone for your valuable insights and suggestions.

I found on their website today that one of the hospitals in Louisville offers a program to cover tuition in an accelerated nursing program, in exchange for promise/guarantee of work. (I was actually looking for other job opportunities).

… Whelp, that takes out the hardest parts of the equation, as far as I’m concerned. Paid tuition AND a guaranteed job upon graduation? For the career I’ve thought about doing since I was a senior in college, ten years ago?

I do want to respond to Finagle - Yes, I’m undervaluing myself at $35k, given my education and experience. I had bad timing with the recession, followed by a couple bouts of depression and a very unhealthy marriage. To say I’ve struggled with my career would be an understatement.

19

Let me float an alternative: take the opportunity to take time off to become a mother. Obviously this will require you to decide if your boyfriend is The One and some serious discussion between the two of you.

20

The Air Force Research Lab has a Human Performance Wing.

And the greater Dayton area is really not a bad place to live.