Career change at 52?

[John Adams]

I would like some input from the interesting and sometimes brutally honest dwellers.

I am not 52 but I will be by the time I finish school. I currently have a good job, my wife is a stay at home mom, the kids will be going into HS and middle school next year. I work the hours I want as long as I get my stuff done and work from home when I decide to. I have five weeks of vacation in addition to holidays and stuff.

Sounds good, right? The problem is, I have worked in this field since I was 16 and I am now in my mid forties. Although some aspects are still fun I am bored and can't see finishing my career out in this field. I have a different occupation I am interested in (Actuarial Sciences, yeah math) but it will mean going back to school and, when finished, lower income.

What say you? Is it worth it? Have you changed careers later in life? How did it go?

[ZenGum]

Well, sounds to me that your life is set up pretty darn well. So I would be slow to go messing with a working formula.

So, you're a bit bored, sometimes. I suspect you'd find that the grass only looks greener on the Actuarial Sciences side of the hill, 'cause that sounds like it would be dull as plain rice, too.

Don't buy that line about having a fulfilling and exciting career. BS. Maybe one person in fifty gets to be paid for doing what they love. The rest of us accept being paid for doing something we can put up with, and spend the money on having a life.

Job is for getting money. Money is for having a life. If your job becomes your life, you're either really lucky, or you're going to be exploited and sucked dry by a vampiric corporation.

[Lamplighter]

Over the course of 40+ years, I committed career suicide about every 7 years,
and my "jobs" improved each time... so I say go for it.

I found the easiest way to change is to start by moon-lighting.
Another job closer to the new field of endeavor gets your toe in the water,
and is a great learning experience, plus getting to know people in the new field.

I set up a "sole proprietorship" as my vehicle for change.
By contracting my services as an independent contractor,
it was possible to weather the feast-or-famine cycles of a new business,
and yet gain experience and contacts with minimal investments.
It allowed me to control my time and effort, and for the most part I was able to work from home.
Lots of tax advantages too.

[Lamplighter]

Zen, that seems to be a recipe for changing jobs !
(Ummm... seems as thou there once was a Dweller in Aussieland that did that)

I agree a "job" is a means to an end (e.g., $), but a "career" is bigger and more important.

Quitting a job may be scary, and even impractical at a given moment,
but an overview of where one is headed helps bolster the decision when the time is right.

[John Adams]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Well, sounds to me that your life is set up pretty darn well. So I would be slow to go messing with a working formula.

Yeah, that's a big issue with changing careers, as the only income for the family I need to approach changes more carefully. And I like being able to spend so much time with my kids.

Originally Posted by ZenGum

So, you're a bit bored, sometimes. I suspect you'd find that the grass only looks greener on the Actuarial Sciences side of the hill, 'cause that sounds like it would be dull as plain rice, too.

Bored probably isn't the best word. Maybe I should say dissatisfied instead, although that doesn't fit either. My wife knows how I feel and has been pushing me to go back to school for something else. I enjoy math and in looking around for something I found the aog website about a year ago. I have been reading through it and their newsletters ever since and find I enjoy it. I know the grass isn't always greener and I don't expect it to be.

Funny story, last year my MIL was taken to the hospital, the wife had to leave the country on short notice so I took the kids to work with me one day. The day after my older son comes to me and very seriously says to me "Dad, no offense, but your job is really boring". I had to laugh at that and told him it was the mental stimulation that made my job enjoyable. There just doesn't seem to be as much anymore. There are only so many times you can explain to someone that they need to install the intermediary CA's, or the ALG is not configured correctly etc. Yes, you do need to establish a secure connection to receive a SIP call.

[John Adams]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Zen, that seems to be a recipe for changing jobs !
(Ummm... seems as thou there once was a Dweller in Aussieland that did that)

I agree a "job" is a means to an end (e.g., $), but a "career" is bigger and more important.

Quitting a job may be scary, and even impractical at a given moment,
but an overview of where one is headed helps bolster the decision when the time is right.

And that is it on the head. I don't see myself doing this until I am 65. A new career into something that interests me I think would get me through the next twenty years. Maybe?

Can I justify the expense when I have two kids to put through college in a few years?

[infinite monkey]

are your kids planning to go to college?

[infinite monkey]

oooooops, sorry missed your post.

[Aliantha]

I would suggest that maybe you'd be better off looking for a new and exciting hobby. If you do have so much flexibility and plenty of time to do what you want, maybe you need to think of something you could do with that time, which your family would be happy to put up with.

Like the moonlighting post above. Do a bit on the sidelines in the field you're interested in. If I were in your shoes, I'd be really wary of going back into study when my teenagers are just hitting the danger zone, both emotionally and financially.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.

eta: I agree with zen about the job being a way of getting money so you can have a life. Any activity where you know you have to participate regardless of whether you feel like it or not becomes a chore before too long, no matter how much you love it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

ca·reer ... noun \kə-ˈrir\
Definition of CAREER

1 a: speed in a course <ran at full career>
...b: course, passage

2: encounter, charge

3: a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life <Washington's career as a soldier>

4: a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling <a career in medicine> <a career diplomat>

job ... noun \ˈjäb\
Definition of JOB

1 a: a piece of work; especially: a small miscellaneous piece of work undertaken on order at a stated rate
...b: the object or material on which work is being done
...c: something produced by or as if by work <did a nice job>
...d: an example of a usually specified type : item <the limousine was a long white job>

2 a: something done for private advantage <the whole incident was a put-up job>
...b: a criminal enterprise; specifically: robbery
...c: a damaging or destructive bit of work <did a job on him>

3 a (1): something that has to be done : task (2): an undertaking requiring unusual exertion <it was a real job to talk over that noise>
...b: a specific duty, role, or function
...c: a regular remunerative position
...d chiefly British: state of affairs —usually used with bad or good <it was a good job you didn't hit the old man — E. L. Thomas>

4: plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes <a nose job>

Ah, consecutive progressive achievement. Sounds like a series of jobs in the same field. If you're doing the same job, even at a series of locations, is it a career or just a job?

If you've got your shit together financially, go to school to break the boredom, and at the end, decide if you want to make the leap, or settle for more school.

If money will be a problem, then Aliantha's hobby route may be best.

[monster]

Could just be that you need to spend the kids' college fund on a mistress and a convertible?

*coughmidlifecrisiscough

[Aliantha]

Have you tried sudoku?

[jimhelm]

You could run for president

[Sundae]

Given that your kids are getting older, is there no way your wife would want to work?
Sorry, but you did ask for honesty.

[orthodoc]

Get the kids through college and/or on their adult paths and then switch careers if you still want to. You only have a few years left with the kids still at home - don't miss them. If the years are tough, you'll need to not be awol at school and trying to start a new career. And, not to be intrusive (too much), but the next several years are dangerous ones for marriages. Assuming things are stable right now, it can be tough as the kids transition out of the house; then you and your wife will have to decide if you still like each other when there are no distractions left to camouflage cracks in the foundation.