Just a warning - pretty much everywhere will bitch about you coming in and Californicating the place. Of course, this has been going on for at *least* 25 years, so nothing new...
Job change this late? Maybe.
- Thread starter jimmydean
- Start date
The wife and I have been together 6 years now and she has put up with 4 job changes. It sucks and I am tired of it. This is one major look at a serious change. Maybe this isn't what I was meant to be doing.
Yeah - I guess moving somewhere more miserable than SoCal might work... say, like, any small town in the Midwest? Bonus - he could probably retire NOW to a place like that.
But at what cost?he could probably retire NOW to a place like that.
There's no doubt in my mind there's plenty of places we could retire to now if we really wanted. My brother and I road tripped to Missouri a few years ago and there was quite a few places it wouldn't be hard to cash out and move to. Not that I'd actually want to. Plus, kind of want my kids to have more than a 3rd grade education, so there's that. I'm sure nothing's perfect, but the crazy costs of everything gets old after a while.Yeah - I guess moving somewhere more miserable than SoCal might work... say, like, any small town in the Midwest? Bonus - he could probably retire NOW to a place like that.
I would normally never recommend this to anyone, but, get your Private Pilot's license? I mean, it's kind of :monocle:, but you can knock it out pretty quick in Hillsboro or Troutdale and pick up another +1 for that specific job. Or at least take ground school, you'll know how to read the charts and you can tell them you're "Working on your private license"?Well, looks like they chose nobody. So it wasn't just me, then.
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i'm in the same boat. we'll be sticking with larger metro areas until the kids are in college.
We talked about that aspect in the interview process and there were plans in place for that sort of thing. They seemed well aware that it is a big ask, but the fact I made it to the demo phase was promising.
I just made a poor judgement on my demo and knew it going in. I know exactly what they are looking for.
Same. We are definitely staying put until the kids are done with HS. We love our house and where we live. Good neighborhood and schools. I actually really like our immediate radius. We were actually able to purchase a house here at the right time, unlike a lot of people, so we are pretty set there. I just get tired of a lot of the 'other stuff' around us. Traffic, crazy taxes on everything, too many people in general, etc. Both of our whole families live within about 30 minutes, so we would probably only move if the kids leave at some point and don't think they'll come back.
the cost of living is why we left socal, we knew it wouldn't be feasible to live how we wanted in socal. we're hesitant to relocate because we are in a great neighborhood and we're in fairly close proximity to both our families, and moving where we'd like to would require airplanes to visit family. then there's the lawsuit wildcard, so who knows.
Big relief for us will be once we get at least the first kid out of daycare, which should be maybe another couple years. Daycare for the two kids is probably more than what a lot of people pay for a damn mortgage. If we didn't have literally all of our family here, we would have been gone already.
when our kids were in daycare it was like $300 more than our mortgage per month.
Sounds about right.
some of us actually get along with our families.Sorry, but are you saying this is a NEGATIVE?
Oh, I get along with my family & inlaws... just don't want to live near them. Well, there's also the fact that where they live SUCKS.
you are such a delicate flowerOh, I get along with my family & inlaws... just don't want to live near them. Well, there's also the fact that where they live SUCKS.
So a bit more insight. Just before the shit hit the fan in my world, the wife was rethinking her career. As a dental hygienist for 18 years, she made good money, but started at $40/hr and after 18 years was at $45/hr. She had wicked neck and shoulder issues from being hunched over folks for hours. But without any other real experience, her options were limited. She ended up taking a huge cut to work for a local healthcare company doing dental claim processing. While her experience is helpful, it wasn't required. But her benefits are awesome and that was huge. There is also a lot of growth potential, so that was big, too. But again, we thought I was straight at least until the end of the year.
Haha this. Man, I don't know what we'd do without both of our families. Wife and I are headed to Vegas this weekend for anniversary. Her parents are watching one kid and her sister the other. My parents watch the kids all the time. We are pretty lucky that the whole family both sides gets along.
our families get along, but neither of our parents are old enough that they are willing to watch our kids for any extended period. the last time any of them watched the kids for a weekend was when we only had 1 kid.
All this sunshine and mountains has spoiled me. Rotten.
We have friends that used to watch the kids for weekends occasionally. For "extended" periods, we would just fly my mom in from Michigan. Frontier is cheap as SHIT DTW<->DEN.
Now we just leave the kids to their own devices (which is, literally, their devices).
Now we just leave the kids to their own devices (which is, literally, their devices).
Have you considered taking a long walk in the woods to think about things ? Say five to six months...
I have no illusions, I'm working till I get I'll and die.
I'm the high end of pay scale for my occupation, don't know what else I could do.
I actually still like what I do, hope there will be a future long enough for me to keep doing it.
I'm the high end of pay scale for my occupation, don't know what else I could do.
I actually still like what I do, hope there will be a future long enough for me to keep doing it.
Along similar lines, this is in all likelihood my wife's last year of teaching. She *loves* the kids, but parents and administration have pretty much driven her to the breaking point. She is now exploring the possibilities of moving into radiology of some sort. Think ultrasound or MRI tech. I'm very much in favor of this. Teaching is making her a headcase, and pretty much any medical tech of any sort is an immediate raise. She will however have to go back to school for what, at this point, seems to be a minimum of two years. Will make for lean times, but we've done it before, and the long term picture is better. Hopefully, she will also be much happier.
I've had my eye open for the larger part of a decade now, and it seems I pretty much can't go any where or do anything else without a pay cut and/or a relocation. Plus, I like my current position just enough to keep me from being very serious about it. The Gilded Cage is real.
Automation is practically the biggest ticket in IT right now.
My company has like 4 open automation engineer/manager positions right now. We've got an entire team of people automating our (heavy, regulatory-driven) testing.
DevOps is also a big new world. Automating cloud deployments is a guaranteed ticket to $100k+, and you get to play with new shiny toys all the time.
20 companies in 30 years sounds awful. Maybe part of your problem is just that it sucks to constantly going through that phase where you're familiarizing yourself with systems, people, processes, etc. Finding a good company and staying there for more than a year might go a long way.
If you're just burnt out on sitting behind a keyboard, though, and you can afford the pay hit now, I don't think it's ever too late to switch.
My company has like 4 open automation engineer/manager positions right now. We've got an entire team of people automating our (heavy, regulatory-driven) testing.
DevOps is also a big new world. Automating cloud deployments is a guaranteed ticket to $100k+, and you get to play with new shiny toys all the time.
20 companies in 30 years sounds awful. Maybe part of your problem is just that it sucks to constantly going through that phase where you're familiarizing yourself with systems, people, processes, etc. Finding a good company and staying there for more than a year might go a long way.
If you're just burnt out on sitting behind a keyboard, though, and you can afford the pay hit now, I don't think it's ever too late to switch.
Well... at 36, my life is kinda cautionary tale.
Went to college in the States, dropped out, moved back to Peru... slacked off for a couple years in my early 20s until I got dumped by a girl who said "I dont see myself long-term with a guy who sleeps until noon"... then got my first "real" job (in a huge corporation) at age 24 doing technical billing.
Worked my ass off, delivered record performance evaluations, then results, then profits... rose up the ranks, travelled the world doing business.... and about 10 years later, I got my first C-level job.
Now am a C-level at a medium/large sized company, got fancy perks (a fancy company car, fancy meals paid, busines trips to vegas/europe, etc).... but my job requires me to be a heartless asshole.
I work about 60 hours a week, including saturdays and some holidays, see my kids very little, management suck, I have to fire people almost everyweek and decide on pay cuts and layoffs, and suck it up to the board.
The whole "promotion" thing is way overated. I enjoyed work the most when I was "doing" actual technical work and not punching numbers in excel, pitching business plans in excel and putting whatever facade needed to extract performance/results from people.
I´ve seen people cry in my office from news/decisions I´ve made/delivered. I´ve been backstabbed a lot of times, I´ve seen talented people I´ve fired against my judgement be unemployed for months and their careers destroyed. I´ve made mistakes that have costed some people their livehoods and I´ve knowingly poached employees from great-places-to-work jobs, only for them to be miserable at high-stress positions.
I dont see an exit for at least 10 years. I think almost every week I´ll regret most of this by the time am 60.
Went to college in the States, dropped out, moved back to Peru... slacked off for a couple years in my early 20s until I got dumped by a girl who said "I dont see myself long-term with a guy who sleeps until noon"... then got my first "real" job (in a huge corporation) at age 24 doing technical billing.
Worked my ass off, delivered record performance evaluations, then results, then profits... rose up the ranks, travelled the world doing business.... and about 10 years later, I got my first C-level job.
Now am a C-level at a medium/large sized company, got fancy perks (a fancy company car, fancy meals paid, busines trips to vegas/europe, etc).... but my job requires me to be a heartless asshole.
I work about 60 hours a week, including saturdays and some holidays, see my kids very little, management suck, I have to fire people almost everyweek and decide on pay cuts and layoffs, and suck it up to the board.
The whole "promotion" thing is way overated. I enjoyed work the most when I was "doing" actual technical work and not punching numbers in excel, pitching business plans in excel and putting whatever facade needed to extract performance/results from people.
I´ve seen people cry in my office from news/decisions I´ve made/delivered. I´ve been backstabbed a lot of times, I´ve seen talented people I´ve fired against my judgement be unemployed for months and their careers destroyed. I´ve made mistakes that have costed some people their livehoods and I´ve knowingly poached employees from great-places-to-work jobs, only for them to be miserable at high-stress positions.
I dont see an exit for at least 10 years. I think almost every week I´ll regret most of this by the time am 60.
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For real.
Everytime I think about it I realize telling the airline to pack sand after my accident and being told how bad I "burned the career bridge in this organization", is one of the smartest things I've ever done.
There is peace to be found in just being a cog in a soulless machine sometimes, if you can find it.
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my parents trusted us alone as soon as my older brother had his license.We have friends that used to watch the kids for weekends occasionally. For "extended" periods, we would just fly my mom in from Michigan. Frontier is cheap as SHIT DTW<->DEN.
Now we just leave the kids to their own devices (which is, literally, their devices).
If I could earn what I earn now, doing the bartending job I had 25 years ago I'd happily change job. (Probably wouldn't like the hours and my liver would hate me)
I wish I could regress to a job where I don't have to give a shit after my shift ends. Instead of having to manage lots of people and all the BS that entails plus be on call 365 days a year.
But I earn okay money, have plenty of PTO and manage to ride my bikes lots. So I keep turning on the laptop every Monday morning for the time being.
Wife is further up the career ladder than I'll ever be and she hates all the management BS and not really getting to do the "real work" anymore.
I wish I could regress to a job where I don't have to give a shit after my shift ends. Instead of having to manage lots of people and all the BS that entails plus be on call 365 days a year.
But I earn okay money, have plenty of PTO and manage to ride my bikes lots. So I keep turning on the laptop every Monday morning for the time being.
Wife is further up the career ladder than I'll ever be and she hates all the management BS and not really getting to do the "real work" anymore.
I don't think it's solely a management-inherently-sucks issue, there are companies that people want to and like working at, and places where it's sheer hell every day. Sometimes, the place you work at varies a bit, but sometimes, just sometimes, management even at the highest levels actually understands that people want to work at places where they are treated like human beings and the company isn't continually trying to find ways to cheat and demean them. Most of us have been in both situations, but some of us have only been in one, which probably skews our perceptions. You can usually figure this out these days and see the "warning flags", but it's always a bit tough on the outside.
I'm kind of nearing a juncture too, I could jump ship from my current job, where I'm 8 years to retirement, and put in a full 20 years at airlines, and earn more money, but be stuck doing 4-day trips for a few years, living in hotels all the time, working crazy hours, min rest, and so on. I don't think I want to put my body through that. It's especially lucrative at Fed Ex, you can be around 200K second year if you play it right. Currently, I'll probably make the next level, 14, which I've already been promoted to temporarily a few times in the past, and with locality/cola it's not bad money, if not still behind the times and the industry in general. They are literally begging me to be a manager, because they are so short-staffed for those positions. Manager=a 6% pay increase...but that's it, so there's no incentive until I top out at 14, which is the highest level for my field. There are also step-increases, so after a few step increases 14 isn't so bad, and again, steady work and I get to work mostly normal hours with great QOL, benefits, etc. If I do have to work over or take a long flight, I am always compensated for that time and management has the attitude that your earned leave time is your own and you can take it any time you want.
Still, more money is always lucrative. I've thought about doing something on the side. I think I could do well as a consultant and am floating some plans for that...
I'm kind of nearing a juncture too, I could jump ship from my current job, where I'm 8 years to retirement, and put in a full 20 years at airlines, and earn more money, but be stuck doing 4-day trips for a few years, living in hotels all the time, working crazy hours, min rest, and so on. I don't think I want to put my body through that. It's especially lucrative at Fed Ex, you can be around 200K second year if you play it right. Currently, I'll probably make the next level, 14, which I've already been promoted to temporarily a few times in the past, and with locality/cola it's not bad money, if not still behind the times and the industry in general. They are literally begging me to be a manager, because they are so short-staffed for those positions. Manager=a 6% pay increase...but that's it, so there's no incentive until I top out at 14, which is the highest level for my field. There are also step-increases, so after a few step increases 14 isn't so bad, and again, steady work and I get to work mostly normal hours with great QOL, benefits, etc. If I do have to work over or take a long flight, I am always compensated for that time and management has the attitude that your earned leave time is your own and you can take it any time you want.
Still, more money is always lucrative. I've thought about doing something on the side. I think I could do well as a consultant and am floating some plans for that...
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