u/Best_Introduction865

Hello! I’m posting because I’ve been floundering so much on this decision and my anxiety is higher than it’s ever been. I’d love to get some feedback on this from people who were faced with similar decisions.

I’m 31F in a HCOL city and a wife who makes about equal to me. I am close to paying off my student loans and we have no other debt besides that.

I’m currently working in a technical job where I make ~110k for work that is generally tedious and boring. I got promoted almost a year ago into a senior position, which is pretty surprising to me because I don’t feel like an authority on the technical projects I’m working on, but my knowledge or lack thereof is acceptable because our vendors will correct my work. It makes me feel like my performance doesn’t matter, and because I am a person who wants to go above and beyond, the low expectations make me feel somewhat apathetic which carries into my personal life. I feel like I’m not learning anything and requests for more stimulating work or fixes to other problems I bring up about the position fall on deaf ears (if it matters, management in general is not supportive). I’m generally not happy, but the pay (more than I’ve ever made in my life by a mile) and schedule flexibility keep me coming in.

I’ve been applying for a few months because I know this isn’t sustainable. I’ve found a position with a smaller team that will definitely be more challenging and stimulating, and one of the best parts is that there will be a more senior mentor figure that can teach me the things that I want to learn to get better in the field overall. The work is also more interesting. Besides these, the position is worse in almost every way. The pay is 30% less, it’s hourly instead of salaried, and fewer vacation and paid sick days.

I think ultimately, this represents a crossroads in my career in general: whether or not this is a time where I want to continue coasting or if I’m willing to make my life harder for learning opportunities and more interesting work.

A lot of the advice on Reddit is to keep a cushy but boring job and use the money to find your passions elsewhere. But the monotony is draining and makes me feel like a less sharp, less interesting/interested person outside of work. I’m suspicious this role is contributing to a depressive phase that makes it hard to enjoy other things.

Overall, I understand I’m in a really privileged position and I grew up in a non-stable environment so leaving money on the table is extremely hard for me. It clouds my judgement to look at this from a scarcity/survivalist mentality, so more objective advice is very appreciated.