u/DimensionAbject6545

Nearly 3 years in at a Heavy GC as a PE out of college, and frankly, it only gets worse as the months go on. Bigger projects, more responsibility, and my motivation/love for this work continues to dwindle day after day. Constantly overworked and underpaid, work/life balance continually slipping away, all for an industry I care next to nothing about. I look at my PM and tell myself I never want to be in his position, which is a sign that is clear as day, but unfortunately is currently the track I am headed on. lol. Obviously we all know the heavy GC life is tough with heavy work loads and in-person hours week in and weekend.

I don’t like the work, people, situations, or industry all together. Only reason I’ve stayed this long is because I have not been able to secure a different career completely outside of the industry, which is what I want to do and what I have been striving to accomplish for the better half of the last 3 years… that and I obviously can’t afford to just quit and be out of work. I don’t want to waste my time just switching to another job within the industry because that is not what I want to do at all.

Never was passionate about this work to begin with, but it has been my first job out of college since I graduated, so I am grateful to have it to support my life and have been grateful to have the capacity and ability to be able learn, adapt, and successfully handle this type of work. Only problem is I want out, like completely out.

I see a lot of posts where people make career shifts into parallel roles within the industry, but I am not interested in that at all. I know I am asking for a lot, but I am coming here just to see if anyone has successfully made a switch into a completely different industry that they feel much more passionate about, and enjoy much more greatly. Any advice and success stories would be of great appreciation!!

I have friends from college that work hybrid roles and have amazing pay, benefits, and work/life balances, and I am dying to have the same. Whereas on the other hand, I am constantly stressed, lacking on sleep, and barely can find the energy and time to work on breaking out of this industry and into something I love, or just to enjoy my personal life nonetheless. Feel a bit trapped to say the least lol.

I took the role as a PE at a heavy GC because I had the degree to support it, nailed the interview, and needed to start working ASAP to support my own life. I had no more time to pick and choose.

I wanted to become a solutions engineer out of college, but could not land an interview. Recently, I have found some construction related SE roles that have interested me, but none that I have landed yet.

I also own a vintage clothing resale brand, which has allowed me to land interviews in completely different industries I care about, like creative partnerships, brand activations, partnerships associates/analysts, GTM and ops, and creative marketing/strategy.

I have developed an important skill of being able to translate the many valuable skills I have learned from the construction management industry and be able to convey on paper how these skills apply to roles completely outside of construction, but I have not successfully landed any job offers from that yet.

Any and all advice, insight, and past experiences are appreciated if you were ever in my shoes! Thanks in advance!