[Misc] Mid-lift career change - anyone done it?

8049 · Jun 9, 2020

Hello. Wondering if anyone has experiences they can share of changing careers.
I've been a project manager for the last 20 years and am now heartily sick of it. I can no longer generate any level of interest in either the process or end result of the projects I'm working on. I recently moved to a new job in a different technology hoping that would pep me up but it hasn't.
The prospect of another 20 years in this type of role drives me to despair but I don't really know how feasible it is to change at this point in my life. I don't have any alternative career path that exccites me. I would like to study more and am planning on starting a part-time MA but that isn't likely to set me on a new path.

I'd be interested to know what others have done in similar situations. Anyone made the change? If so, what was the result? Anyone stuck with a job they hated and it got better?

Thanks!

Eeyore · Jun 9, 2020

I'd like to come from a different angle and say that not having the drive to do so has caused me to look back with deep regret. Let that be your inspiration.

Fignon's Ponytail · Jun 9, 2020

Not personally...I've always been in the design field one way or another, but my work-mates wife has just given up a long career in stage lighting / show production etc to join the Police force.
Been hard work for her through all the initial interviews / months of training etc, but she goes out on the beat for the first time next week....& is loving the career change shes made.

beorhthelm · Jun 9, 2020

i started by getting a good lifting belt, then looked for a better speelcheaker.

WATFORD zero · Jun 9, 2020

beorhthelm said:
i started by getting a good lifting belt, then looked for a better speelcheaker.

Let he who is without son cast the first scone

Gwylan · Jun 9, 2020

I tried to a few years back. I'd been a journalist for about 15 years and looked for a change. As I'd done maths as a subsidiary part of my degree and had worked as statistician after leaving uni, I thought about retraining as maths teacher. I was told that I'd have to do a full maths degree and then a PGCE and, as I'd just turned 40, it looked like a lot of effort to make the change.

The adviser I spoke to said that I was bit old to be making the change so it seems that it you want to go in a new direction you should do it in your first 10 years - that doesn't seem to be much a mid-life change to me.

Is it PotG? · Jun 9, 2020

I know a few who have been successful with a midriff career change.

before-after-weight-loss-success-stories-fb12__700-png.jpg

schmunk · Jun 9, 2020

I suppose if you really like babies..?

Deadly Danson · Jun 9, 2020

Yep, worked in a completely different field for 10 years and became a train driver in my mid 30s. Best thing I ever did. We have a driver who started recently in his early fifties. Anything is possible. Good luck.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jun 9, 2020

schmunk said:
As I watched my life flash before my eyes, I realised I just wasn't cut out to be a Lift Engineer.

Too many ups and downs?

schmunk · Jun 9, 2020

Tom Hark said:
Too many ups and downs?

Regrettably, I made a mid-post career change...

Grombleton · Jun 9, 2020

Tom Hark said:
Too many ups and downs?

That's wrong on so many levels.

Guinness Boy · Jun 9, 2020

Well, I was going to be kind and correct the thread title for him but it would render half the replies less funny, so I won't!

Dr. No · Jun 9, 2020

8049 said:
Anyone stuck with a job they hated and it got better?

No.

hart's shirt · Jun 9, 2020

Make sure you've got a good elevator pitch.

Frutos · Jun 9, 2020

8049 said:
Hello. Wondering if anyone has experiences they can share of changing careers.
I've been a project manager for the last 20 years and am now heartily sick of it. I can no longer generate any level of interest in either the process or end result of the projects I'm working on. I recently moved to a new job in a different technology hoping that would pep me up but it hasn't.
The prospect of another 20 years in this type of role drives me to despair but I don't really know how feasible it is to change at this point in my life. I don't have any alternative career path that exccites me. I would like to study more and am planning on starting a part-time MA but that isn't likely to set me on a new path.

I'd be interested to know what others have done in similar situations. Anyone made the change? If so, what was the result? Anyone stuck with a job they hated and it got better?

Thanks!

I worked in retail for 17 years, 9 of those in various management roles, until I left three years ago. I'd fallen into the rut of not really knowing what I wanted to do, only that it wasn't retail!

In 2017, I made the decision to leave my job and relocate up North to live with my partner, with the plan being to start applying for jobs once there, but still with no real idea what I was looking for (other than "not retail").

Suffice to say that the job I ended up getting is in a sector that I'd never for a second have imagined myself working in, and in an environment that I had no experience of when I got the job, but it's been totally life changing.

I'm lucky enough to be part of a great team and to have a progression path that would see me through the rest of my career, in an area that I find genuinely interesting to work in and develop my knowledge of.

There's no doubt it's a daunting thing, but I see it as one of the most rewarding changes I've ever made.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jun 9, 2020

@AskTheClub is OP's friend here. During The Withdean Years, so many of our duffers not only realised they were at the wrong club, they realised they were actually in the wrong profession :lolol:

seagull_special · Jun 9, 2020

I was in catering for decades and loved it most of the time but when we moved to Abu Dhabi 10 years ago I decided I wanted to change so became a Teaching Assistant and absolutely loved it. Then bought a camera to go on holiday and fell in love with photography, I started photographing school events and doing the marketing photos and I am now a professional photographer which I never in a million years envisaged. I am now developing my film making and editing skills and this will be the next phase. I would suggest that if you are going for a career change make sure it is something you are passionate about.

ps I am 54 years old.

WATFORD zero · Jun 9, 2020

8049 said:
Hello. Wondering if anyone has experiences they can share of changing careers.
I've been a project manager for the last 20 years and am now heartily sick of it. I can no longer generate any level of interest in either the process or end result of the projects I'm working on. I recently moved to a new job in a different technology hoping that would pep me up but it hasn't.
The prospect of another 20 years in this type of role drives me to despair but I don't really know how feasible it is to change at this point in my life. I don't have any alternative career path that exccites me. I would like to study more and am planning on starting a part-time MA but that isn't likely to set me on a new path.

I'd be interested to know what others have done in similar situations. Anyone made the change? If so, what was the result? Anyone stuck with a job they hated and it got better?

Thanks!

I do think that if you are in a situation where you really don't like what you are doing, and going into work is a pain, you do need to make a change. The simple fact is that if you don't enjoy it you won't do it well and the situation will only get worse.

Obviously, what you can do depends a lot on your circumstances and your responsibilities, but throughout the time I worked, I would move for less money and harder work, if I liked the opportunity. Often, if you're good at it, because you are motivated, you can always make that back up. Of course, I didn't like every aspect of every job I did but generally, I didn't have a job I didn't like until the very end, and then I just took the decision to retire.

Funnily enough, I then discovered that early retirement wasn't for me and went back into part time teaching (very different to what I did professionally) and have done that for the last 10 years. My advice would be if you really aren't enjoying it, make the move. (Although I would probably wait until the end of the year, given what's happening at the moment and see what pans out).

Good luck with whatever you decide

maltaseagull · Jun 9, 2020

8049 said:
Hello. Wondering if anyone has experiences they can share of changing careers.
I've been a project manager for the last 20 years and am now heartily sick of it. I can no longer generate any level of interest in either the process or end result of the projects I'm working on. I recently moved to a new job in a different technology hoping that would pep me up but it hasn't.
The prospect of another 20 years in this type of role drives me to despair but I don't really know how feasible it is to change at this point in my life. I don't have any alternative career path that exccites me. I would like to study more and am planning on starting a part-time MA but that isn't likely to set me on a new path.

I'd be interested to know what others have done in similar situations. Anyone made the change? If so, what was the result? Anyone stuck with a job they hated and it got better?

Thanks!

1998 after 25 years as a supermarket manager, I came home from work one day thoroughly sick of the job and how it had become.
I looked in the argus jobs section and realised that, without a degree or trade, there were very few choices I could apply for with the required criteria.
In fact there were 3.
Traffic Warden, Milkman and Driving Instructor.

I chose the latter and started training whilst still working and qualified a year or so later.
I loved it. Especially the freedom to work when I chose within the needs of my pupils.

Not doing it in Malta but I did think about it.

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[Misc] Mid-lift career change - anyone done it?

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