career change at 32

[Peikko 1,575]

Only poor people say that. World's richest man has more than 62 billion dollars. He still works full time. Why? Because mo'money = mo'happiness. By your theory, he should've stopped working after earning his first 10 million because by that point he was resonably comfortable. The more money you have, the more easier it is to be happier. If you have 1 million dollars you're x amount happy. If you have a million and 1 dollar, you're one whopper junior more happy.

Um, no. Rich people sometimes continue to work, mostly because they are driven to work, perhaps the work itself gives them pleasure, but it's a pretty empty kind of pleasure if it means all relationships are neglected. The acquisition of more and more money is meaningless at that point.

Comfortably off people have a pretty good life balance for the most part and say things like money isn't everything - being poor is never fun so a poor person would never say lack of money brings happiness - and it's not what has been proposed either.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Only poor people say that.

Only ignorant people make such statement.

[Gemmie 142]

My Mom's reading this book by an economists in 1992 who was predicting all the things that are happening now. Basically the economists says forget careers. They don't exist anymore because the bottom line is corporations don't give a ####### about you. Quit your job in your head and just see it as the bottom line way to make a living. He also says that before the early 1900's retirement didn't exist either. That retirement is a myth and was created after the war as a way to get the older generation out of positions so that the younger generation could have those jobs. That the statistics for those that go into retirement now days is exceptionally high for depression for feeling useless and being put out to pasturer and for suicides and natural causes death rates. That we should just plan to work the rest of our lives as that is what people did in the old days before the retirement myth was created.

Those are just some of the things she told me from the book.

I went back to college at 28 and finished my bachelors degree in a field that is ever changing or going extinct but completely different from what I did before as a career. Now I'm out in the job market and I've been looking for work for the past 7-8 months. I've applied for 115 jobs and only had 3 call backs and 1 interview. Yesterday on NPR I heard that the state I'm in is number 6 on a gallop poll for the worst in the nation for jobs and job creation and also tied with Maine.

I think that if you're going to change your career pick something that is hiring a lot like in the health field and you don't have to do as much schooling in if you're going back to school. A lot of the jobs that are hiring only require a 2 year degree and you don't need a more expensive sometimes useless 4 year degree for it. These tech degrees are medical transcription, medical coding, graphic design, nursing, dental assistant, medical assistant, culinary chef, paralegal. I think there is a lot to be said for getting a 2 year degree when you spend less and get out and make more money then those who went longer, spent more, and got out and can't find a stupid job.

Hmm, it's a good theory but doesn't always work. My husband has a two-year degree and a little experience in his field, but he's not been able to find a job there. So he ended up going to a different field. He earns less than $10 p/h but was told at the beginning that he would progress to make more money, get a benefits package, and also training to better himself in the company. Well he was told the other day (after a year in the company) that his hours are being cut and there will be no raise. And his benefits? He couldn't even get a simple answer about health insurance for months. Corporations really don't care about entry-level people, it seems. His boss came in after my husband, from a Sales field, no experience in the housing industry at all. He's making a lot of money, works few hours, and little responsibility for anything that happens in the office. We heard that he only got the job because he knows someone at the head of the company.

As for me, I have a 4-year degree and experience in my field, and have been looking for a job for 7 months. I've come close to getting a job in my field, but again, there wasn't funding or positions available. I've been told there are 5 people to every job in the state.

I think it's just hard for a lot of people, no matter where they've come from or what they've done.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Hmm, it's a good theory but doesn't always work. My husband has a two-year degree and a little experience in his field, but he's not been able to find a job there. So he ended up going to a different field. He earns less than $10 p/h but was told at the beginning that he would progress to make more money, get a benefits package, and also training to better himself in the company. Well he was told the other day (after a year in the company) that his hours are being cut and there will be no raise. And his benefits? He couldn't even get a simple answer about health insurance for months. Corporations really don't care about entry-level people, it seems. His boss came in after my husband, from a Sales field, no experience in the housing industry at all. He's making a lot of money, works few hours, and little responsibility for anything that happens in the office. We heard that he only got the job because he knows someone at the head of the company.

As for me, I have a 4-year degree and experience in my field, and have been looking for a job for 7 months. I've come close to getting a job in my field, but again, there wasn't funding or positions available. I've been told there are 5 people to every job in the state.

I think it's just hard for a lot of people, no matter where they've come from or what they've done.

I think it depends on what it is and where you're at and what the market is like there. I completely agree with you that it also depends on who you know. Here we're told that we have to know someone to get a job now.

My cousin makes $20 an hr as a dental hygienist after doing it for a couple of years and her degree is a 2 year technical one. She works for a dentist in her church. My other cousin peaked at $17 an hour as a paralegal and finally married one of the partners in the firm and no longer has to work if she doesn't want to. She also had only a 2 year technical degree.

I know a girl who got a job as a DJ at a Radio Station down in Texas. I'm well qualified for the position with my education and work history and she had no experience what-so-ever. She got the job based on votes which I saw were rigged though the social networking site, facebook. One she very attractive & two one of my high school best friends who is well connected and liked in Austin is her roommate and basically asked her friends on facebook to call in and vote for her roommate to get the job. From facebook they had people calling in from all over the country for her.

It's not unlike what people often request on this website when they know a bunch of people will vote for their sister, brother, mother, daughter, son, cousin, friend here.

Edited July 22, 2010 by Cleocatra

[that_girl 9]

with the current state of the economy my chosen career is much like not having any career at all.

been thinking of going back to school, get another degree or some certification in a different field etc.

anyone here have done this at the age of 32 or later? I feel like I'm too old to go back to zero and start over.

For what it's worth:

My mom's career when I was born was as a mechanical engineer. She worked this job for 20 years (from the age of 23 to 43) then went back to school because she wanted to be a teacher. She makes a lot less money now, but she's much happier as a high school physics teacher. And she was way older than you were when she went back to school. It can be done!

[melusine 5]

it can definitely be done !

I went back to school the year before I moved to US (I was 32yo), I came to US and started working in my new line of work

then followed an online program for 2 years (I will be done at the end of the year) at... 35

That really depends what kind of job you are talking about, in my kind of job, age doesn't really matters.

IndigoSkies

There is actually studies that shows that finances are related to happiness but not quite the way you present it.

in general there is a big bump up of happiness when people make 65k a year (or so) then it's relatively stable then....it goes down and more down....

Basically Once you get basic human needs met, a lot more money doesn't make a lot more happiness

random article on found on the matter, there is plenty everywhere

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2006/08/01/8382225/index.htm

[andresbonifacio 7]

thanks for the input and the encouragement guys!

I agree that "moremoney=morehappiness" not because material things could make me happy (maybe temporary happiness), but because I could help people in need which gives me happiness.

[alienlovechild 75]

He also says that before the early 1900's retirement didn't exist either. That retirement is a myth and was created after the war as a way to get the older generation out of positions so that the younger generation could have those jobs. That the statistics for those that go into retirement now days is exceptionally high for depression for feeling useless and being put out to pasturer and for suicides and natural causes death rates. That we should just plan to work the rest of our lives as that is what people did in the old days before the retirement myth was created.

Now I'm out in the job market and I've been looking for work for the past 7-8 months. I've applied for 115 jobs and only had 3 call backs and 1 interview.

I think that if you're going to change your career pick something that is hiring a lot like in the health field and you don't have to do as much schooling in if you're going back to school.

Tnanks for putting retirement into perspective. People are holding onto their jobs because they sometimes had their money in risky but higher ROI and some just never saved enough money. Personally, I'll probably work til I'm 70 because I wasted (or had good time) for a few years of my youth.

I fully understand the agony of long term unemployment but many people luckily never had to go though it so they assume you're lazy or stupid. I've some people worked their entire adult lives then lose a job when they are 40 or 50 and they are crushed because they've never had to deal with not having a job to go to for months and face employers who don't care how many years worked in a field or job that isn't useful now.

Don't konw about all medical jobs and two year degree or less might help retrain people but but don't believe the hype about a nursing shortage- it doesn't exist now and hasn't for the last couple of years. New RN grads are finding out there are plenty of more experienced nurses competing for the same jobs.

[Ladylethal 12]

Well, I'm 30 and a bachelor in Law in my old country (which means nothing here). Due to the recession I have basically no work experience since arriving in Puerto Rico, and am moving to the US soon. I'm going back to school as soon as I can and most likely won't be going back into Law (with my husband in the AF I'm afraid I'd get a new Law diploma and then we might get sent overseas, where I'd be sitting on two law degrees that have nothing to do with the country I'm living in). I know it will be hard to get in the market but hopefully getting a new degree will help me out a bit. I keep reading of a lot of people making career changes or starting late in life, and I'll just study and do whatever I can (whatever job I can find, doesn't matter what) until/if the job market improves again.

[slim 1,525]

For what it's worth, I'm 31 and going through a career change myself. I've been doing factory work for the past six years and making decent money. I've put in a whole bunch of OT to make extra money, around 1,000 hours a year.

I've been unemployed now for almost four months. While it's definitely different, I've been forced to realize working all those hours wasn't necessarily making me happier because I had more money. That post above about more money = more happiness isn't necessarily true for everyone.

I rememember seeing a question one day about "do you live to work or work to live?" Every since I read that, my outlook has changed tremendously. I've never lived to work, but I realized I'd been missing out on my life in order to work for stuff I didn't necessarily need. I'm reminded of the line from Fight Club "we work at jobs we hate to buy sh!t we don't need." That's the story of most Americans' lives.

I'm not going to work at a factory again. I'm not going to make as much money and I'm not in a position - nor do I want - to go back to school and pursue an education for something. What I want to do is spend my time from now until the end enjoying my family and my life and not worrying about how much is in my non-existent 401k or what my portfolio looks like. Memories don't pay the bills, but I know a lot more happy people with a full memory bank than those who are working for the future.

[Atencio 43]

Don't konw about all medical jobs and two year degree or less might help retrain people but but don't believe the hype about a nursing shortage- it doesn't exist now and hasn't for the last couple of years. New RN grads are finding out there are plenty of more experienced nurses competing for the same jobs.

I don't see that happening. I think the oldest paper below is from December of last year. So this is current literature.

Nursing jobs are around. You just might have to look around to find what you want.

http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media/pdf/NrsgShortageFS.pdf

http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media/factsheets/nursingshortage.htm

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/17/news/economy/nursing_shortage/index.htm

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/viewpoints/viewpoints/view/20100606-274144/US-raises-alarm-over-nursing-shortage

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos083.htm

[slim 1,525]

A big thing with nursing jobs too is the average nurse is something like 45 years old and something like 75 percent of the workforce is that age. They're going to literally die off in the next few years so nursing jobs will be secure well into the future.

[Atencio 43]

A big thing with nursing jobs too is the average nurse is something like 45 years old and something like 75 percent of the workforce is that age. They're going to literally die off in the next few years so nursing jobs will be secure well into the future.

I think one of my references stated that each year 75,000 nurses leave the field for various reasons.

[slim 1,525]

I think one of my references stated that each year 75,000 nurses leave the field for various reasons.

I was looking into colleges a few years back and could've cared less what job to go into. I read several studies on what jobs had the highest pay and best job security. Since I was only about 25 (so was the OP) I figured time in the workforce was against me and I'd known so many people who'd gotten degrees in one field and were working in another. I didn't want that to happen so I found what would be a steady job for the next 40 years.

1. Nursing

2. Power production operator

Engineering and medical-related specifics were high on the list too but so many immigrants and kids in school now were going for those degrees the salaries were driven way down. The typical American who is going for a career change would be very wise to go for one of those two fields above.

[Atencio 43]

I was looking into colleges a few years back and could've cared less what job to go into. I read several studies on what jobs had the highest pay and best job security. Since I was only about 25 (so was the OP) I figured time in the workforce was against me and I'd known so many people who'd gotten degrees in one field and were working in another. I didn't want that to happen so I found what would be a steady job for the next 40 years.

1. Nursing

2. Power production operator

Engineering and medical-related specifics were high on the list too but so many immigrants and kids in school now were going for those degrees the salaries were driven way down. The typical American who is going for a career change would be very wise to go for one of those two fields above.

I was 29 when I started nursing school. I was like the third youngest person in my class.