I’ve been seeing several posts on this community about deep loathing of the job, becoming cynical, doing things to intentionally get fired, etc. From someone who has worked in the call center environment for about 2 years, I empathize. So today in this moment, how are you feeling?
Sending healing to all those suffering working in the call centers.
I’ve been seeing several posts on this community about deep loathing of the job, becoming cynical, doing things to intentionally get fired, etc. From someone who has worked in the call center environment for about 2 years, I empathize. So today in this moment, how are you feeling?
Sending healing to all those suffering working in the call centers.
Okay, so this is my first Reddit post. Yay me. 😂
I’m not really looking for attention here. I’m genuinely hoping to hear from people who have more career/life experience than I do and can give me some perspective as I figure out what the hell I’m doing with my career. I’ll try to give the full context without writing an entire autobiography, but there’s a lot of history here.
I graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Information Systems. Unfortunately, I had a really difficult time breaking into my degree field because almost every job wanted experience that I obviously didn’t have as a new graduate.
As I’ve gotten older and worked in multiple industries, including staffing/recruiting, I’ve learned firsthand that experience can often matter just as much, if not more, than the degree itself.
Unfortunately, right after graduation, life basically forced me into survival mode. My parents moved from our small town to Florida around the time I graduated, and I was living with a toxic boyfriend at the time and needed an income for rent and basic expenses. I wasn’t in a position to hold out for the “perfect career opportunity.”
The first job I could get was a call center job paying $12/hour.
I absolutely fucking hated it.
Call centers were basically the only places willing to hire me at the time because they were primarily looking to fill seats and weren’t terribly concerned with my background or lack of experience.
Thankfully, I eventually escaped call center hell and have never gone back.
After that, I worked at two different banks. One lasted about seven months and the other close to a year. Both were pretty terrible work environments and I eventually left banking altogether.
Then I drove for Lyft and Uber for about a year and a half until the pandemic hit.
Once I returned to the traditional workforce, I entered staffing/recruiting.
I’ve worked for three different staffing companies.
The first was a small business where I worked as an onboarding specialist. I actually liked the job and learned a lot, but eventually the company started going downhill, there were layoffs, and I experienced sexual harassment. At that point, I knew I needed to move on.
The second staffing company was honestly pretty decent, and I worked as a Revenue Coordinator where I sent invoices to vendors. The job itself was easy, fully remote, and I was rarely bothered. The biggest problem was that my boss wasn’t particularly good at his job. After my performance review, I was told there wouldn’t be raises, so I started looking elsewhere.
That eventually led me to a startup.
Ironically, I joined that startup as a contractor through the first staffing company I had worked for.
As you can probably guess, working for a startup can be risky. Four months later, I was let go.
That kicked off another brutal job search. After several months, I eventually landed a job with what was, on paper, a really good company. The pay and benefits were excellent.
Unfortunately, I ended up working with two people who made the environment absolutely miserable for me.
At that point, I was also completely burned out on staffing and knew I didn’t want to stay in that industry.
Eventually, the combination of the toxic work environment, my declining mental health, and my frustration with staffing put me in a really bad place. I made what I now recognize as a bad decision and quit without another job lined up.
My boyfriend, who works at a director level, tried to coach me through it and encouraged me to think strategically. But at the time I felt like I was either going to completely lose my shit at work or walk away for my own sanity. I chose to walk away.
I went back to driving Lyft/Uber temporarily to make ends meet while searching for another job.
Eventually, I landed my current position in Accounts Payable at a Fortune 500 company.
And this is where things finally started changing.
I had to make some sacrifices. I took a pay cut and gave up the fully remote work arrangement I had previously enjoyed because the company was rolling back its WFH flexibility.
But I’ve now been here for 10 months, and I’m still here.
And honestly? I’m proud of that.
The job isn’t perfect. The pay isn’t amazing. I don’t necessarily see myself staying forever. But the work itself is manageable, my team is good, the environment is professional, and I’m finally getting consistent corporate experience.
Most importantly, I’m trying to break the cycle.
I’ve also been working on myself outside of work. I’ve been in therapy and have been taking my prescribed medication consistently. I’ve had issues with my mental health that contributed to impulsive decisions in the past, particularly when I became overwhelmed by a job.
One of the best things I’ve done was find a therapist who I specifically asked to hold me accountable and challenge me if I start wanting to quit a job without another job lined up.
That has helped me tremendously.
I’m 34 now, and I honestly feel behind. Not necessarily because I think I’m a failure, I actually think I’ve learned a ridiculous amount from all of these experiences, but because I don’t have the clean career trajectory that I thought I’d have when I graduated in 2015.
My résumé basically screams:
“This person has done a lot of shit, but what the hell is he actually trying to do?”
And that’s what I want to change.
Financially, I’m actually in a much better place than I was years ago. I’ve gotten my credit and finances under control, I automatically pay my credit cards in full each month, I’m putting money into savings, and I’m finally becoming more intentional about retirement.
My boyfriend has also been incredibly supportive. He’s in a stable career and has helped me financially during some of my rougher periods. I’m extremely grateful for that, but I also don’t want to build my entire future around relying on someone else’s career.
I want to be able to stand on my own two feet.
I’m also not interested in going back to school and taking on more debt just to collect another degree.
So here’s where I’m stuck.
What the hell should I do from here?
My current plan is to stay at my current company for at least two years before seriously exploring other opportunities. That would give me a solid stretch of experience at a Fortune 500 company and hopefully demonstrate that I’m capable of actually sticking somewhere.
But I’m not sure if two years is enough, too long, or even the right strategy.
I’m hoping people here can help me develop an actual roadmap.
What I’m trying to figure out:
How long should I realistically stay at my current job?
Is two years a good milestone for someone with my employment history, or should I stay longer to demonstrate stability?
Once I have enough time here, what types of positions should I realistically target?
My background includes accounts payable, staffing/recruiting, onboarding, compliance, administrative work, and various operational roles.
I have a bachelor’s in Information Systems, but I don’t have the traditional IT experience that would make me competitive for many technology positions.
Should I lean into operations? HR? Payroll? Compliance? Finance? Something else?
What can I do between now and then without turning my entire life into a second job?
I’m willing to learn and develop skills, but I don’t want to spend every evening taking courses, collecting certifications, and living on LinkedIn.
I’d rather make a few strategic improvements than chase every credential under the sun.
How do I make a messy résumé work in my favor?
I’ve had a lot of jobs, but I’ve also accumulated a pretty broad range of experience.
Is there a way to position that as versatility rather than “job hopper”?
If you were 34 and in my position, what would YOU do over the next 2–3 years?
I’m not looking for someone to tell me that I ruined my career or that I need to go back to school.
I’m trying to figure out how to take the experience I’ve accumulated, stop repeating the mistakes I’ve made, and finally build something sustainable.
I know I’m not starting from zero.
I have a degree. I have more than a decade of work experience. I’ve worked in multiple industries. I have corporate experience now. I’ve learned what kinds of workplaces I absolutely do NOT want to work in.
And most importantly, I’m finally at a point where I’m willing to stay somewhere long enough to actually build something.
I just need to figure out what I’m building. So Reddit, hit me.
If you’ve been in the workforce for a while, changed careers, recovered from a messy employment history, or have experience hiring people with nontraditional backgrounds, I’d genuinely appreciate your perspective.
I’m looking for honest advice, even if it’s not what I want to hear.
**TL;DR**: Graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s in Information Systems but couldn’t break into IT because I lacked experience. Since then I’ve worked call centers, banking, gig work, staffing/recruiting, startups, onboarding/compliance, and now Accounts Payable at a Fortune 500 company. I’ve had several short/rough employment experiences and made the mistake of quitting one job without another lined up. I’m 34 and actively trying to break that cycle. I’ve now been at my current job for 10 months and want to stay at least two years. I don’t want to go back to school or take on more debt. I’m looking for advice on how long to stay, what career paths I should consider, how to build useful skills without sacrificing my entire free time, and how to turn my messy background into an asset rather than a liability.
Okay, so this is my first Reddit post. Yay me. 😂
I’m not really looking for attention here. I’m genuinely hoping to hear from people who have more career/life experience than I do and can give me some perspective as I figure out what the hell I’m doing with my career. I’ll try to give the full context without writing an entire autobiography, but there’s a lot of history here.
I graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Information Systems. Unfortunately, I had a really difficult time breaking into my degree field because almost every job wanted experience that I obviously didn’t have as a new graduate.
As I’ve gotten older and worked in multiple industries, including staffing/recruiting, I’ve learned firsthand that experience can often matter just as much, if not more, than the degree itself.
Unfortunately, right after graduation, life basically forced me into survival mode. My parents moved from our small town to Florida around the time I graduated, and I was living with a toxic boyfriend at the time and needed an income for rent and basic expenses. I wasn’t in a position to hold out for the “perfect career opportunity.”
The first job I could get was a call center job paying $12/hour.
I absolutely fucking hated it.
Call centers were basically the only places willing to hire me at the time because they were primarily looking to fill seats and weren’t terribly concerned with my background or lack of experience.
Thankfully, I eventually escaped call center hell and have never gone back.
After that, I worked at two different banks. One lasted about seven months and the other close to a year. Both were pretty terrible work environments and I eventually left banking altogether.
Then I drove for Lyft and Uber for about a year and a half until the pandemic hit.
Once I returned to the traditional workforce, I entered staffing/recruiting.
I’ve worked for three different staffing companies.
The first was a small business where I worked as an onboarding specialist. I actually liked the job and learned a lot, but eventually the company started going downhill, there were layoffs, and I experienced sexual harassment. At that point, I knew I needed to move on.
The second staffing company was honestly pretty decent, and I worked as a Revenue Coordinator where I sent invoices to vendors. The job itself was easy, fully remote, and I was rarely bothered. The biggest problem was that my boss wasn’t particularly good at his job. After my performance review, I was told there wouldn’t be raises, so I started looking elsewhere.
That eventually led me to a startup.
Ironically, I joined that startup as a contractor through the first staffing company I had worked for.
As you can probably guess, working for a startup can be risky. Four months later, I was let go.
That kicked off another brutal job search. After several months, I eventually landed a job with what was, on paper, a really good company. The pay and benefits were excellent.
Unfortunately, I ended up working with two people who made the environment absolutely miserable for me.
At that point, I was also completely burned out on staffing and knew I didn’t want to stay in that industry.
Eventually, the combination of the toxic work environment, my declining mental health, and my frustration with staffing put me in a really bad place. I made what I now recognize as a bad decision and quit without another job lined up.
My boyfriend, who works at a director level, tried to coach me through it and encouraged me to think strategically. But at the time I felt like I was either going to completely lose my shit at work or walk away for my own sanity. I chose to walk away.
I went back to driving Lyft/Uber temporarily to make ends meet while searching for another job.
Eventually, I landed my current position in Accounts Payable at a Fortune 500 company.
And this is where things finally started changing.
I had to make some sacrifices. I took a pay cut and gave up the fully remote work arrangement I had previously enjoyed because the company was rolling back its WFH flexibility.
But I’ve now been here for 10 months, and I’m still here.
And honestly? I’m proud of that.
The job isn’t perfect. The pay isn’t amazing. I don’t necessarily see myself staying forever. But the work itself is manageable, my team is good, the environment is professional, and I’m finally getting consistent corporate experience.
Most importantly, I’m trying to break the cycle.
I’ve also been working on myself outside of work. I’ve been in therapy and have been taking my prescribed medication consistently. I’ve had issues with my mental health that contributed to impulsive decisions in the past, particularly when I became overwhelmed by a job.
One of the best things I’ve done was find a therapist who I specifically asked to hold me accountable and challenge me if I start wanting to quit a job without another job lined up.
That has helped me tremendously.
I’m 34 now, and I honestly feel behind. Not necessarily because I think I’m a failure, I actually think I’ve learned a ridiculous amount from all of these experiences, but because I don’t have the clean career trajectory that I thought I’d have when I graduated in 2015.
My résumé basically screams:
“This person has done a lot of shit, but what the hell is he actually trying to do?”
And that’s what I want to change.
Financially, I’m actually in a much better place than I was years ago. I’ve gotten my credit and finances under control, I automatically pay my credit cards in full each month, I’m putting money into savings, and I’m finally becoming more intentional about retirement.
My boyfriend has also been incredibly supportive. He’s in a stable career and has helped me financially during some of my rougher periods. I’m extremely grateful for that, but I also don’t want to build my entire future around relying on someone else’s career.
I want to be able to stand on my own two feet.
I’m also not interested in going back to school and taking on more debt just to collect another degree.
So here’s where I’m stuck.
What the hell should I do from here?
My current plan is to stay at my current company for at least two years before seriously exploring other opportunities. That would give me a solid stretch of experience at a Fortune 500 company and hopefully demonstrate that I’m capable of actually sticking somewhere.
But I’m not sure if two years is enough, too long, or even the right strategy.
I’m hoping people here can help me develop an actual roadmap.
What I’m trying to figure out:
How long should I realistically stay at my current job?
Is two years a good milestone for someone with my employment history, or should I stay longer to demonstrate stability?
Once I have enough time here, what types of positions should I realistically target?
My background includes accounts payable, staffing/recruiting, onboarding, compliance, administrative work, and various operational roles.
I have a bachelor’s in Information Systems, but I don’t have the traditional IT experience that would make me competitive for many technology positions.
Should I lean into operations? HR? Payroll? Compliance? Finance? Something else?
What can I do between now and then without turning my entire life into a second job?
I’m willing to learn and develop skills, but I don’t want to spend every evening taking courses, collecting certifications, and living on LinkedIn.
I’d rather make a few strategic improvements than chase every credential under the sun.
How do I make a messy résumé work in my favor?
I’ve had a lot of jobs, but I’ve also accumulated a pretty broad range of experience.
Is there a way to position that as versatility rather than “job hopper”?
If you were 34 and in my position, what would YOU do over the next 2–3 years?
I’m not looking for someone to tell me that I ruined my career or that I need to go back to school.
I’m trying to figure out how to take the experience I’ve accumulated, stop repeating the mistakes I’ve made, and finally build something sustainable.
I know I’m not starting from zero.
I have a degree. I have more than a decade of work experience. I’ve worked in multiple industries. I have corporate experience now. I’ve learned what kinds of workplaces I absolutely do NOT want to work in.
And most importantly, I’m finally at a point where I’m willing to stay somewhere long enough to actually build something.
I just need to figure out what I’m building. So Reddit, hit me.
If you’ve been in the workforce for a while, changed careers, recovered from a messy employment history, or have experience hiring people with nontraditional backgrounds, I’d genuinely appreciate your perspective.
I’m looking for honest advice, even if it’s not what I want to hear.
TL;DR: Graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s in Information Systems but couldn’t break into IT because I lacked experience. Since then I’ve worked call centers, banking, gig work, staffing/recruiting, startups, onboarding/compliance, and now Accounts Payable at a Fortune 500 company. I’ve had several short/rough employment experiences and made the mistake of quitting one job without another lined up. I’m 34 and actively trying to break that cycle. I’ve now been at my current job for 10 months and want to stay at least two years. I don’t want to go back to school or take on more debt. I’m looking for advice on how long to stay, what career paths I should consider, how to build useful skills without sacrificing my entire free time, and how to turn my messy background into an asset rather than a liability.