Anybody done one in their 40s? I have a job, it's fine, but I'd like to earn more and while I am enjoying my job, it's a bit menial. I think I'd like to do a little more and something that I enjoy. I'm looking at some community college classes and possibilities. McHenry and Elgin have degrees I'd consider (I don't think Dupage does but will check) but I don't want to pay out of district tuition.

I'd like to try something new in areas that I enjoy but have never explored. I'm not sure how to go about it and any advice would be appreciated.

1.I think you're going thru somewhat of a career mid life crisis. You're in your 40s where you're still young enough to do something else and have that option.

2.Does your menial job pay the bills, put food on the table for your kids (if you have kids), puts a roof over your head? If yes, then once you leave that, there's no coming back. Sure you're job may be menial but you have to seriously consider you may struggle financially starting over in a new career. You have to be prepared to take a big financial hit.

3.Taking classes is fine. Especially if you're current employer will pay for tuition. If you do like another career you like, I'd suggest moonlighting or doing it part time if possible. At least that way you can get your foot in the door and put it on your resume and then build from there.

4.Check for startup's in your area and in your new career. They're probably the best option to take a chance on you. My son in SF did that where his college degree is completely different than what he is doing now. It's some kind of project management IT related work. The way he got it was apply to one of these startups as they were the only ones willing to give him a chance vs say a more established fortune 500 type company. But he's in his 20s and no dependents so its a bit of a different story where he can take a risk like that while you may not if you have a family.

5.Pursue these goals QUIETLY! Others, especially at work, will get JEALOUS. And if management finds out, they'll think you're going to quit and your cushy job is no more. Pursue your passions but maybe other than your family, don't tell anyone.

6.Hobby vs Career change - make sure this is not a hobby type thing. If it is, then forget about quitting your regular work. Make sure it's a career change and not just picking up another hobby.

Summary - at your age it's normal to sort of dream about doing something else. But if you're going to pursue that dream, you got to get all the boxes checked before taking the plunge. My advice : don't quit your day job but at the same time, if you really want to do something else, do it cautiously and make a 5 year plan. And all the stuff I typed above.

Hope this helps.

If your district community college does not offer the program you want, you should qualify for chargeback (to pay the same tuition rate elsewhere).

If she is in her 40s, shes got like 20ish years left to work. Go for the change.

My mother in law was laid off from being a grocery store manager around that age. She went back to school and got a 4 year nursing degree. She was probably a nurse for 5 years before quitting as she decided it was too taxing for her.

She will occasionally work as a nurse at a girl scout camp, but I doubt the degree ever paid for itself.

Overall decent advice but your #3 and your #5 are contradictory.

Go for it Spalding. Seems like you want to make more money and you want to be more fulfilled.

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I actually did this a few years after finishing my undergrad work. As I have mentioned in the past, I went to school to become a doctor and received my undergrad degree in BioChem. Once I decided against going to med school, I ended up working in labs. I did not like that- boring and low pay. I knew I needed to go to grad school to get ahead and decided to use that as a way for a career change. I stayed at my current job for a few years while I went to night classes. Once I saw that I really enjoyed accounting and finance, I got a job in the financial services industry.

So my advice:
1) Find an area that you will enjoy and can be successful in,
2) Take classes to work toward a degree or training in that area,
3) Transition to a job in that field or something close to it as soon as possible.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I'm starting to quietly get a variety of project management and related certifications. I'm taking the Certified Scrum Product Owner in a couple of weekends, as it's the one closest to my current job even though I'm not managing software these days. That'll let me pick up an advanced certificate at the end of 2019 once I finish the project which I just currently started managing. Early next year, I'm going to take the Project Management Professional certifications, of which I am not a fan but are required in many industries.

Mid 50s, nearly 25 years with the current job, but it's more of a struggle each year, including a lot of business travel. Eventually, I'll get laid off, once they identify somebody younger who has the skill set to manage some of the staff I am currently managing. I'm moving to NC next year, and I'll be about 15 minutes from most of the Research Triangle Park complex, and 25 minutes away from three big universities (Duke, North Carolina, and NC State). I won't be able to sell my domain or client experience, but I'll be able to get myself either some 1099 body shop positions, or a lower paying but much lower stress project management position.

I need to keep working as long as my dad is alive; he's in his mid-80s in pretty good health, but definitely declining, but I pay for his retirement community which runs me $50k/year. After he's gone, I just need to work enough to pay for health insurance, food, and entertainment, my house will be paid off and my 401k will cover annuitizing a retirement village/long term care setup. So doing a 1099 deal for 13-17 weeks a year is all I'll really need.

But what would I really like to do? I'd like to find a niche assisting empty nesters my age with their first trip to Europe. Not really a travel agent, but more "give me $250 and I'll help you with all the checklists, logistics, and crap I've been doing for 35 weeks a year since 1997."

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

embellish your resume. fuck going back to school, you already know 80% of what makes a valuable employee. if anyone asks 'have you ever..' just say hell yes

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Agile is dead.

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Careers are dead. The gig economy is here. Start a business. Its relatively cheap and easier to do than most people think. Target the gig economy.

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Didn't you just reenter the workforce?

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Yes and here is my long boring story.

The job I have is nice, I really do enjoy it, but I'm making about $10/hr and work 15-20 hrs/week. Part of it was I needed that 1st job and with flexibility to see how the house can run without me and what I can handle. I will do it for at least a year maybe more. This job will never have full time option though and I'll probably make about $600/month.

I would like to earn a little more maybe $12-15/hr and do something a little more specific. When I started looking about a year ago I went on job sites and searched all part time jobs. It was mostly sales, retail, pet, customer svc, food, etc industries. It's mostly the same types of jobs are out there and some of those I passed but other things that I never considered popped up. Grocery, food prep at businesses, florist, cake decorator are all things I could do part time and move to full as my kids get older. I wouldn't change my life but I always wanted to go to culinary school. That's too expensive and too difficult for where I am in life but certification for florist or cake decorator isn't and I'd be able to see if I enjoyed it if I took classes at low cost and low risk. I'd have to do some planning first and that's kinda what I'm doing to see if it's feasible.

Thanks! I will look into that. If true, that's pretty sweet.

Comm Colleges sometimes offer culinary courses. Not so much for the culinary degree, but for people to take a basic course for home cooking. You might want to look into that for a start.

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Have you considered the porn industry?

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I just did at 35. I'm going from white collar office sales to blue collar union. Going to be an interesting transition.

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I've never been much of a fan. But since I've been with the same company for what will be 27-28 years by that point, I need some things that show that I can fit into a larger organization's methodology. Especially if I'm going to be going the contract route.

I can usually take a few interesting pieces from various training like this, even if I don't try to use the entire methodology.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

You're talking to Spaulding, right?

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

DEVOPS baby

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You never miss your wealth, till your well went dry
Seem like only yesterday, you were here smiling
Now you gone away, but I know you in a better place
No traces of you, what can I do?
Alone and confused

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

That's basically min wage. You could make a lot more bartending...

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

You will have no issues finding work in RTP or the areas around here. Moved here almost 4 years ago now and best thing I ever did for career, family, health, etc. Let me know when you are down this way next and we can grab a beer and chat.

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A couple things from my experience and observations on the job market in general:
1 - That community college education might be a waist of time as its not concentrated enough for a specific job. You might waist 2 yrs to get an associates degree in a field that might not have enough demand for NON-Experienced workers where you might end up at step 1 without a job and in some debt from the education you paid for.

2 - Most full time gigs especially in IT require some experience in that field (regardless of the certification and degrees) especially for people not in there 20's anymore.

3 - Culinary school will only get a job as a line cook which again pays close to min wage and it may not be worth it long term.

4 - In the 'NEW' Economy we live in today, there are a bunch of on demand independent contractor jobs that require little to no experience other than owning a car and pay more than your current salary (Uber, Lyft, Amazon delivery drivers, Instacart Grocery Delivery, etc..) --you may want to look into those to supplement your income.

5 - If you want to stay in food service, Waiters at fancy $$$ restaurants make greater income than many skilled white and blue collar workers in today's workforce, but this is a competitive industry which more than likely has ageism and look-ism and many other discriminatory factors throughout!

/polster

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"You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither" ~Steve Martin

My brother thought along the same way with respect to culinary classes. But starting as a prep or line cook was way too demanding for most above 25.

But I'm definitely rooting for you.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Yes. It wasn’t easy but I couldn’t be happier with my decision.

I agree. I don't know your circumstances, maybe you took off to raise kids or something, but in your 40s you should be earning more than what you are. Also, change your mindset. Don't think about how much an hour you're wanting to get paid but how much a year.

Having seen most of the people from this board in person, really none of us should ever consider taking our clothes off.

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Understandable. I just am sick of the fact that the tooling seems to now drive everything. If you don't have Jira, you aren't doing it right or some crap like that.

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No software. I led one of our products for two decades, although I didn't manage the developers for the last 10. i'm too old for that shit, software geeks are weird.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal