u/Whateverdudefake

Tried to post this in r/running but of course posts asking questions are against the rules XD.

Anyways,

I was in decent shape up until a year ago when I started a high stress, insane consulting gig. I would lift weights 4-5 times per week and do a hard hike every weekend or every other weekend with 5k feet of elevation gain and 8-12 miles in 4-5 hours.

Fast forward to now, where after about 18 months of 18+ hour days in front of a computer I was tired of looking in a mirror. I decided to take up running in June, and quickly realized that if I didn't start running consistently, I might not be able to run anymore.

I've worked up to about 12 miles per week now across 3 days, running for 2-3 miles non-stop at a slow pace, then alternating between running and walking for the remainder of the run. To keep myself motivated, I signed up for a marathon at the end of November.

The biggest issue I'm running into now is after 2-3 miles my calf is tightening up pretty bad but it's back to being pain free while walking/running after a day or two. What recommendations does anyone have to keep building mileage and strength without overdoing it? AI recommends I take a complete break until pain free, I feel more inclined to push through it, but there's got to be some happy medium right?

Greetings,

I have 4 years of experience as a software engineer at Microsoft, and then 1 year of experience as a software engineering consultant. The hours of consulting are not working for me, i.e. 19 hour days on a salary without any real deadlines, just teammates overseas. I need to find a new role.

As everyone knows, the market is cooked for software engineering, and I'm not cutting the mustard when it comes to interviews. I've been landing interviews but being rejected even after solving the coding challenge, optimizing, answering questions, and then being rejected without feedback. Maybe it was a culture fit thing, either way, the interviews aren't landing offers.

So my question is, are there careers I could pivot to that are hiring more aggressively right now than tech? I've considered actuarial roles but I need to brush up on my stats before going for the exams. Finance/quant sounds interesting too and I would still need to study up there but I'm not sure how to land an interview in a new industry with all of my resume experience being in tech.

tl;dr what else can I do with my bachelors in applied math besides work in tech? How do I land an interview in that new field with a tech background?

I'm currently in tech but looking for a career pivot or at least something to take evening classes in for my own sake. I've always enjoyed working on cars and motorcycles since I was a teenager, and sort of a dream is owning a performance mod shop or even just a repair shop. I know this is not necessarily as lucrative as tech, but the tech economy is taking a dump rn. I've also heard of independent repair shop owners doing pretty well for themselves.

I looked at some certs and degrees offered by my local community colleges, and some of them offer programs for EV repair.

I have a few questions:

1. Does it make sense to start with an EV repair program or should I just do internal combustion repair?
2. Do shops hire EV only techs or is it more of an add on if you're already an internal combustion mechanic?
3. Can you be an on call EV tech? Could I just offer EV mechanic services on craigslist or something?

What compounds would you recommend, i.e. nootropics or other compounds, to overcome burnout symptoms and weight gain so they can have more energy to apply for jobs and interview and get back to being healthy?

Some background: imagine a consultant working 80+ hours a week and looking to get out of this industry and into a lower stress job with better WLB. They went from 220 to 260 lbs on basically the same diet, total moon face, and sleeping whenever they're not working. They need something to help them have the energy to stay awake after 10-15 hour shifts and apply to jobs and not show up like a zombie to their interviews.

I've experimented with noopept and bpc-157, vitamin d, creatine, wellbutrin, and caffeine. Noopept helps with recall and verbal fluidity, but was giving me heart burn and irritability. BPC-157 helped me get up and make it to a second job and work 80 hour weeks but didn't do much for me mentally. Vitamin D seems pretty negligible, creatine helped somewhat with energy but caused a lot of bloating for me and some gastro discomfort. Caffeine and wellbutrin are the only things that really seem to help. I'm still falling asleep after a few hours with 200+ mg of caffeine but it helps in those few hours, and wellbutrin makes me a lot easier to be around, more motivated, but I'm still completely dead at the end of the day.

I'll preface this with saying there are some really kind, genuine, thoughtful people in AA. Unfortunately in my experience they tend to go back out and die in shame. However I'm sick of the kind of person that quotes the big book and takes some high horse stance telling me "you're not ready" and "you have to be honest with yourself" and thinking people that quit using substances have to be in AA to avoid being insufferable. It would be one thing if any of that was based in science, but it's another thing because it's all based on a sense of moral superiority and glowing wisdom and peace ala cult leader.

Background: I replied to someone in a career subreddit thread who mentioned their career and life all turned completely around when they got sober. I asked them specifically how being sober helped their career. I'm looking for motivation as someone who was sober for 18 months in AA but didn't stick with it due to how fake everyone seemed. I can imagine some reasons, but I wanted to ask for what they saw specifically.

And in response to my question, the op didn't respond, but you better believe 3 AAers came out of the woodwork quoting the big book, telling me I'm not ready, telling me I have to be honest with myself, stop using drinking as a coping mechanism etc etc. Where do these people get off? Do they really think they're going to help someone get sober by browbeating them until they see the light? I hate this bullshit moral superiority, like people sending me unsolicited Marcus Aurelius quotes like they aren't literally sayings used to motivate slaves thousands of years ago. People that will ignore science, lobby to push their Calvinistic bullshit. Coming out of the woodwork to talk down to me and refuse to give any real evidence for anything. Fucks sake!

/Endrant

Hey everyone, I graduated in 2020 with a bachelor's in applied math and took a job in software engineering. I was at that job for 4 years and enjoyed it, but was laid off.

After that I took a job in software engineering consulting, which unfortunately I can't stand, and I need to find something else.

I'm considering pivoting into cyber security or trying to get back into pure swe work, but we all know the market is tough.

I'm looking for recommendations for careers I could pivot to that are less competitive than tech and make a livable wage without much more school, but everything I'm interested in takes a bit more training or at least exams like switching to be an actuary or CC professor. Also considering switching industries and trying nursing or law, but those require a lot more school. I'm ok with a pay cut but I'd probably avoid k-12 teaching due to the pay for now, but I'd still consider it.

Tl;dr what careers do you recommend or have experience in that I could do with a bachelor's in applied math and a background of 6 years in tech? Preferably more stable or in demand than tech.