Do you ever think about changing careers?

Steamfitter

Steamfitter

New member
I do quite a bit. I work in the construction trades as a Steamfitter-Pipefitter, and I am pretty much sick of it except for the money. Why, you ask?

Well, the work is unpredictable, and you have to travel (I'm currently working out of town, living in a camp, working 14 days on/7 off). The money is unpredictable because you could be laid off for long periods of time... I have done well, averaging $100K/year for the past 6 years, but work is starting to slow down and I'm not sure where things will be in a few years. This job is also unhealthy (constantly around industrial dust/fumes), hard on relationships (because of not being at home), and I am at the point where I can't stand a lot of the guys I work with (way too many meatheads, yes men, suck-ups/back-stabbers, and just plain dumb people).

The only positive is that I don't have a ton of debt and I'm single with no kids, so if I really wanted to I could change careers. The downside is I'm going to be 33 this year and want to be settled into something before I am 40. The economy is in a downturn right now and not much is hiring unfortunately, so since I have a job at the moment I don't feel I should quit. I do however feel empty and unhappy a lot of the time and wonder if a career change is the answer.

I know no one has any answers, just thought I'd vent and see if anyone else is in a similar situation?
 
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Don't worry too much my friend. These are common issues that almost everyone faces in their jobs.

At my own job which is in software support, we just laid off a bunch of people in favor of hiring cheaper people in India and South America. I was not a part of the lay offs :) -- Now you have people asking themselves oh what if I did XYZ different earlier? blah blah. This is the worst way to go about things.

We all sometimes wish we were doing something else. With how much interest I have in automotives, I sometimes think of life as a mechanical or electrical or civil engineer that I didn't become, blah blah. I've met the lawyer who wishes he went to med school, and I've met the doctor who wishes he went to law school.

Grass is not always greener. If you get laid off, I say plan from there accordingly, but do not constantly think what if I get laid off? Who is hiring? blah blah --A sickness of the modern age is to consistently be worried about situations we aren't actually in, but that the media or peers or society says we should be worried about. This creates unnecessary anxiety that you are probably having now. I'm not saying hang out on the couch and another 100k will fall into your lap. But I'm saying if you have skills or are working towards them, are doing your due diligence, researching, talking to peers and elders, etc, you are doing your part.

Being single is a plus, if you do get laid off, you can recover and bounce back pretty easy, and remain somewhat flexible compared to if you had a family to take care of. The other advantage is like you kind of said already, you could quickly get into a another gig with little to no debt that you currently have and the flexibility of being single.

As a new father, I do suggest getting into another trade if you want to start a family. I'm not sure of what woman is cool with the man/husband being gone all the time, unless his work absolutely requires it and she 'understands' etc. Plus when you have your own kid one day, you won't want to be away from them anyway. Hell, I miss my baby girl if I don't see her for a few hours :)
 
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I also work in construction, worked my way up from a line/grade field engineer to senior superintendent. Then I got burned out working 60+ hours week after week with no time to engage in personal activities or my family. IF you want to stay in the trades, stay on hourly. The concept of salaried field management will not benefit you, only the company you work for no matter what they say about "it all evens out with rain days and such". Finally in my mid 40's I shifted into a project management role (still in construction) and I am adamant about not giving up my time beyond 40 hours for free.

However if you want to leave, further your education. I am on my kids (adults) all the time about taking a class when they have free time, learn coding, learn real estate sales, learn art history, learn anything and everything you can find time for. But do not be afraid to make a career shift, you are still quite young and it sounds like you are well motivated.
 
Every time I walk in to some tech company that's owned by some 35yr old making half a billion a year I think about starting my own tech company. And then I start working on their av equipment and suddenly realize how much I hate arguing with computers and that dream quickly vanishes.
 
cashmoney said:
Every time I walk in to some tech company that's owned by some 35yr old making half a billion a year I think about starting my own tech company. And then I start working on their av equipment and suddenly realize how much I hate arguing with computers and that dream quickly vanishes.
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Lol, this was great.
 
every day. i do HR and payroll for a commercial painting company (office has about 10 people total between admins and PMs). been here about 15mos and i feel like i've been here 15yrs.

i spend my days reacting to stupid shit project managers push through...like hiring guys with (obviously) fake green cards to work jobs that require background checks and drug screens. i'm told "we need to kinda of hold the project managers' hands. they don't know this stuff." wish i took home 3x more than i do now with no accountability.
 
keep in mind that the people will tend to be sh*theads wherever you may go, its the work that will change

don't spend your life saying "what if" though
 
I dropped out of a finance masters program to progress my career in Dynamics CRM consulting and it has been the best choice I have made to date career wise.
 
Bigshankhank said:
I also work in construction, worked my way up from a line/grade field engineer to senior superintendent. Then I got burned out working 60+ hours week after week with no time to engage in personal activities or my family. IF you want to stay in the trades, stay on hourly. The concept of salaried field management will not benefit you, only the company you work for no matter what they say about "it all evens out with rain days and such". Finally in my mid 40's I shifted into a project management role (still in construction) and I am adamant about not giving up my time beyond 40 hours for free.

However if you want to leave, further your education. I am on my kids (adults) all the time about taking a class when they have free time, learn coding, learn real estate sales, learn art history, learn anything and everything you can find time for. But do not be afraid to make a career shift, you are still quite young and it sounds like you are well motivated.
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I agree, the problem with construction is the company wants you to give them your whole life, heart and soul, then when the job is done (if not sooner) you're dropped like a rock and they won't even remember your name. It definitely burns you out.

I am always torn between working and going back to school. I'm actually going back to trade school this April for instrumentation mechanic. It's four 10 week blocks of schooling spread out over 4 years, so I can still work most of the year and in the end get another trade ticket. My goal is to get some permanent position working normal hours. Hopefully it leads to something better, and if not I'll just be one step closer I guess.
 
I would only change careers within the outdoor industry. I actually was 3 months away from becoming a commercial pilot and decide to quit that and started at the bottom of the Archery industry. I now work directly for Bear Archery and and loving every minute of it. I was told a long time ago, "Figure out a way to get paid for doing something you love."
 
Both my grandfather and father were (God rest both their souls) were brick layers, cement layers, and contractors. they also did roofing, hung dry wall, asphalt work, and carpentry, and many other types of back breaking work (see the program 'Dirty Jobs'). i have spent many summers in my youth working with/for each of them. i must have been the only 8 9 10 yr old with hands of stone, covered in dried over blisters with skin as rough as course sand paper. Both of these men worked 10-14hrs a day, 5 to 6 days a week. I know what a hard days' work looks and feels like. I also watched these men push and push for me to go apply for, attend, and graduate from college, in order for me to have larger opportunities than they had.

Today i sit at a desk, and use my brain to make the internet work, literally (for an international Internet Service Provider), and in doing so for the past 18 years, i have been blessed to make 3 and 4 times as much money as either of these men could have made in their best years. I listen to younger 'geeks' who complain that their jobs are sooo difficult because their laptops arent as fast as they want or because they have to answer too many phone calls in a day. And i fully appreciate the idea that was told to me by both of these men that I "sit upon the shoulders of my ancestors so that i can reach higher goals than they were able to..."

So, would i love to be the back up point guard for an NBA team making millions...of course.

However, am i terrifically appreciative of the career i have been able to carve out...and am i happy with the income that am able to provide my family with?

DOES A BEAR SHYTE IN THE WOODS?!?!?!
 
In my experience, people tend to obsess far too much over their careers and what they should be doing by a certain point in their lives. Consequently, most Americans seem to be very unhappy- I think the skyrocketing rates of antidepressant prescriptions reflect this pretty well. A 'good career' should not come before personal happiness, because a 'good career' often times does not lead to personal happiness. It leads to being able to buy more crap that you think will make you happy, until you own it and realize its just a burden.

I know ski instructors, patrollers, and river guides who were making six figures out of college and 'making it' until finally realizing that the grind still sucked and they were profoundly unhappy even with all the money they were making, because their jobs consumed their souls. So they quit and found a job doing what they loved, making sh*t pay, and were much happier for it.


"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f*cking khakis."
~Tyler Durden
 
I make a little below the average income in my area, I am only able to work part time hours because I suffer from chronic migraines. I make in part time hours what many of my co workers make in full time. Sometimes I get down on myself because I wish I could work really hard and many hours. I constantly think about how to improve our financial status but am unsure how because their is simply not much opportunity out there for part time work that pays well with benefits etc. I feel stuck but at the same time I am very appreciative that I have a job that I can make decent money working only part time. I have my 4runner and some toys, my kids have what they need and we are currently shopping for a house.

All in all I would love to find employment where I can have more financial freedom. I have also thought about starting a small business. At the end of the day I am very grateful for what God has blessed us with.
 
MtnT4R said:
In my experience, people tend to obsess far too much over their careers and what they should be doing by a certain point in their lives. Consequently, most Americans seem to be very unhappy- I think the skyrocketing rates of antidepressant prescriptions reflect this pretty well. A 'good career' should not come before personal happiness, because a 'good career' often times does not lead to personal happiness. It leads to being able to buy more crap that you think will make you happy, until you own it and realize its just a burden.

I know ski instructors, patrollers, and river guides who were making six figures out of college and 'making it' until finally realizing that the grind still sucked and they were profoundly unhappy even with all the money they were making, because their jobs consumed their souls. So they quit and found a job doing what they loved, making sh*t pay, and were much happier for it.
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Bingo, its about finding balance. I make the same money I did killing myself as a superintendent, but in that role I had no time for a life. Where I am now I spend more time at home, but I could probably have found more money if I had been willing to step into a bigger company with a reputatoin for grinding its employees down. I said I am adamant about not working any hours for free. Yes it would equal more money but would also equal more time and that time never comes back. Again the deal is 40 hours per week, its on paper and I will abide by it. A person needs a life.
Something really shifted in the last 20 years, and for some reason it is taken for granted that an employee will work as much as possible in an effort to "pay their dues". Its BS, and I try and tell people that I work with at my level and especially younger employees just starting their careers that their time is not free. I am currently working with a superintendent on a project who is indoctrinated in the "You gotta work as much as the job needs you to work" and I told him, after repeated transgressions, not to call me after 5:00pm just because he can't shut things down. So he calls my boss and I tell him the same thing. They can fire me if they want, I'll find another job. My peace of mind and time are more important than upgrading the CAT scan equipment at a hospital I will likely never visit.
 
Every now and then I think about selling everything, moving to Africa, and starting up a Safari company. Ever since I've been a little kid one of the jobs I've always wanted to do is be a safari guide. Driving around in a Toyota looking at animals, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, spending time with people and swapping stories, and cooking outdoors sounds pretty good. I'm not delusional, I realize it would be hard work. But that is one of the many "fantasy careers" I think I'd enjoy. I recently read an article about somebody who did this, and it re-kindled the idea.
 
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The only other thing I'll add, and this is not addressed to anybody in particular, is that if you're out there working hard, putting food on the table, supporting yourself, supporting your family...that's something to hang your hat on and be proud of.

I've also always felt that respect is something you earn. A fancy job title, big salary, or fancy degree isn't enough to garner respect. How you treat people around you is far more important. My godfather never went to college, is a pretty simple man, has always worked hard and honest, and frankly he's one of the best people I know. I've learned more important lessons form him, than I ever did in any college class.

Just my two cents.
 
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I've found that it's all about perspective. I'm 34, in a job I love that I worked my butt off to get into. I enjoy it 90% of the time and make enough to be comfortable. My career will never make me rich financially, but I'm really happy. I do consider other options available to me from time to time and wonder "what if?" I think a lot of people do. However, one of my peers asked me what I had nightmares about, and it was definitely my previous career, which held much higher income potential and was far less physically demanding. Just that conversation made me so grateful to have the opportunity to work where I do and enjoy it.

At the end of the day, consider what will make you happy, and what is most important to you, and remember everything is a trade off somehow.

Good luck!
 
I worked for 5 years in IT at a small, local college. I was financially comfortable, especially with a wife and little one. But the job was slowly ruining me. The people above me were terrible managers, and really didn't give a sh*t about us employees. The expectations were unreasonable on most things for our dept, especially since there were 6 of us for 3000 people. And then they threw me in a small office with 3 other people...I was miserable and it was starting to affect my family life.

I jumped at an opportunity to be a Project Manager for a commercial painting company, and it was the best decision I ever made. I took a small salary paycut (bonuses more than make that up), but the quality of life has improved, which is more valuable to me than money. I work with great people, the company puts a ton of time and money into personal and professional development, and I get to travel and meet all kinds of new people. The balance of wrok and family life are great, and the execs here push for this. The possibilities for growth are huge at this new place, and I honestly don't think I'll ever leave.

My advice, do what makes you happy. Its not always about how much money you make. You can have all kinds of money coming in, but if you're miserable then it doesn't matter. It sounds like you've made some good money, and being single with little/no debt gives you a great opportunity to try something new. Best thing is, if it doesn't work out, you can always go back to steamfitting. You can't fail at something if you never try. And also make sure you don't burn any bridges if you do leave.
 
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