r/careerchange

I am between these two. Honestly, I think OT is a better fit job duty wise and low stress but the cost of these programs vs the salary is ridiculous... i cant afford it. I am almost 29, still paying off undergrad debt. I know COTA is an option but in my area there are pretty much no jobs and they only make 50,000. I cant survive on that.

I don't think i would hate being a nurse but the stress and high patient volume is what worries me.. and math.. but im sure i could practice that. I think being an outpatient nurse or a lower patient ratio specialty would be a better fit for me.. hospice, L&D, mother baby, endocrine outpatient.

Any advice from anyone in these careers? Especially regarding nursing stress and getting a lower stress nursing job.

Told my manager I was leaving and he asked where I was going. When I said I was building something of my own he actually laughed. Said most businesses fail in the first year. Real motivational stuff from the guy who's been in the same chair for 15 years watching other people build things. Nobody talks about what corporate actually costs you. The money is fine. The stability is fine. But you spend every day building someone else's thing and calling it a career. I hit a point where the comfort wasn't worth what it was taking from me anymore. Spent the last few months looking at franchise models in home services. Lower startup costs than food or retail, the work is physical and essential, and the businesses hold up when the economy dips. Still comparing options but the numbers are more realistic than I expected. If anyone here made a similar move I want to hear what the first few months actually looked like.

I'm a 45+F that has spent the last 20 or so years in marketing. I am current in a Director level position in mobile tech but at a small, very flat company with no growth potential. I'm seeing the writing on the wall about marketing roles. It's a tough job market, even more so for marketers. While my role is fine, I've been looking for a new role for about a year and a half without much luck. I'm considering going back to school and either getting an MBA/MS in an AI program or getting my JD in IP/copyright/trademark law. I'd love to get some thoughts from strangers on the interwebs.

I’ve been in retail for 8 years 5 of which are management. i have a bachelor degree in management information system but I can’t find a job anywhere unless I take a 20K pay cut which I can’t afford. It doesn’t even have to be IT I’m very good with sales and being personable.

I accepted a role 2 years ago with a slightly smaller company with the view that it would give me more exposure and opportunities to advance my career. I gave up a bonus and took less pension contributions with the assurance that they would push for me to go up a band after a year and become eligible for bonus etc. I was to have 2 direct reports and lead the team, manage workload etc. When I joined, the reporting didnt change but I was to 'mentor' and train, then they made one of the team redundant and had the other member report into someone else and take on other workload. I'm now left doing mostly administrative work to keep things afloat and have regressed about 20 years. In each performance review I'm told I need to learn and be involved in more complex things before I can progress, but I literally cannot take on any more work as all my time is taken up doing entry level tasks. I see other team members grow and thrive and feel left behind as I am 'managing' a department that involves menial boring work. All done by me as they are unwilling to hire more people. I am looking for another role but the job market isnt great and I feel so depressed and burnt out. There is also a level of humiliation as I feel I've been demoted somehow, I see myself de-skilling. Ive gone from building complex financial models, presenting P&L to C-suite and managing teams to copying/pasting and sending emails as a full time job. I cant even send an email to a client without management approval. I was a client focal point previously, its patronising. I'm de-skilling rapidly and my colleagues now see me as an admin person so I am worried about my reputation in the field I work in. I cant go on like this but I need some advise on how to turn things around.

For clarity, I have brought this up with my manager and they said they dont have headcount to add anyone else to the team and they will give me more complex tasks but I need to manage my workload so I can stretch myself. I already work many evenings to catch up and have no capacity for more complex tasks that require a lot more time and thought. Ive been told to 'prioritise'. My mental health is in the gutter and I have lost so much confidence in my abilities.

My friend went from teaching to corporate training to HR. Each switch she was convinced was the answer. Teaching was draining. Corporate training was boring. HR was political. Three careers, three different complaints, same unhappiness. What she finally realized was she kept changing the WHAT without understanding the HOW. She liked small groups, direct impact, fast feedback. Teaching had that in the classroom but the school system killed it. Corporate training killed it with bureaucracy. HR killed it with politics.

She's now running onboarding at a startup and actually enjoys her work for the first time in a decade. Same skills she always had. Different operating conditions. For anyone looking to change careers, it may be the environment. Consider that before making a jump.

I’m currently working a dead-end job that’s good experience. It’s full time and before this I was freelance/selfemployed. I work in English and have a working c1 in German, and I’m doing my degree in AI in Business to be able to pivot better, with more tools and experience. My question is- is it possible to change career fields so drastically, as it’s not just about the industry, it’s the working style, the hours and the ability to work from home that I’m making the change for, and the language. I’ll be 3 semesters into my degree and I’d really like to have control of my time again as a single mom. Any tips?

I’m 30, an emt of 7 years and have a degree in psychology.

I’ve been trying to transition out of the field but recruiters seem to think I’m not a good fit because medicine is where I have experience(aka don’t want to train someone).

I’ve worked more than EMS, also worked some pharmacy at the same time, as well as volunteering for various groups.

What did you do prior and what do you do now? How long did it take, what did you have to do?

I’m my second week at a large commercial building and construction management group as an operations coordinator. For reference I’ve been in healthcare for 14 years in clinical support roles and admin roles.
I feel a little like fish out of water, but I’m surprised how skills translate over.
But, it feels very niche and I’m looking for advice from anyone that has made this type of switch from a similar background.

What are you doing now?

Im 29F a nurse and want to get out. I want to get into something that is not so stressful, more back office than front facing, is stable and in demand, and allows me to be able to live on my own, travel, be independent financially, etc.

I dont think I want to pursue another healthcare career either. I need a career that I can pivot into.

I was wondering if anyone is thinking about transitioning from being employed to starting a business?

And if so would you spend money per month to find what you truly want, help to start it and get tools to promote it on social media organically.

Thanks.

I am 40 female. I live in UK, i am from southern europe. I worked in middle office from 2012-2018. Ive been in threat intelligence since then. I am trying to get into straregic intel, but for the past two years ive been getting rejected because recruiters tell me they prefer ex mod, ex military, and native english speakers.

Ive tried tweaking my cv, hiring pros to rewrite it, make it more cyber risk, ops risk, fintech, grc, fraud, financial crime.etc. Nothing works. I do not enjoy the technical cyber parts, and i dont get them either. Im an econ grad. Ive tried everything. I feel this area is reserved for native speakers and for military background at the moment.

What can i do with this background? I dont speak any other language, so moving to a new country is tricky (my friends who live in other eu countries tell me the same..companies nowadays prefer local. its not how it used to be 15 yrs ago). Ive also gotten CRISC, but hasnt helped. Im now studying for ctia.. I really dont know which career could want or need or embrace my background? (im from a small place in my natjve country which is financially ruined, so there is ni chance i could land a job there)

Im recently in this period of my life and wondering if i can top in to those who have been through it or anyone who left a successful job or family business even though, financially, it looked irrational from the outside?

I’ve started realizing that the stability i have had in this job (thats also been somewhat toxic) is to some degree disconnecting me from yourself, and i am soo far in it that i actually have no idea its impact as i have never left full time. From the outside everything can look good, the income, position, security, trajectory but internally you feel drained, unmotivated, creatively flat, or just… not aligned. And this is even though i have soo much flexibility I can work remote, i dont have major deliverables i dont have a boss over my head constantly, my boss is my dad lol.

What makes it harder is when there isn’t a clear next chapter yet. You know you need to leave eventually, but you also know walking away too early could be reckless.

Curious whether anyone else has gone through this and how you navigated it psychologically.

About 2 and a half years ago I started building a restaurant project that was supposed to become my transition out, and it’s finally meant to open this August. But now I’m also about to have a third child, so I keep going back and forth between wanting to leave immediately and feeling like I should wait until the business proves stable for a while and I’ve rebuilt some financial breathing room first. I guess im writing this in the hope of finding some wisdom from those who are or went through this, learning how to stay present, enjoying my life and maybe deriving some purpose to some degree

35 year old looking for a career to start over. Currently a production technician at a factory and I am completely burnt out. No real schooling (unfinished drafting degree) and I’m looking to start somewhere new but not sure how to even begin. Current workload makes getting any degree feel hopeless. Not sure how many more 65 hour weeks I can endure. Looking into engineering but I feel so unprepared to even begin. Are there any real careers that don’t require a bachelors from the get go? And any advice on how to start looking for anything worthwhile?

I’ve been paralegal for over 15 years and I’d like to change my career by earning a degree another subject. I have concerns, however, about getting a degree online. First, how do employers treat people who have online degrees as opposed to people who have gone into a traditional classroom? Second, how would anybody be able to network with others for job and positions if they were stuck at home working on schoolwork?

'm looking at switching into healthcare and specifically at nurse practitioner programs but the sheer number of options is making my head spin. Every program website looks the same and I can't figure out which ones are good for someone who'd be coming in as a career changer. Has anyone gotten free help comparing nurse practitioner programs? Like an advisor or service that doesn't cost anything and isn't just trying to get you to enroll in their specific school?

Hi all,

I studied physics for almost 10 years, all the way up to a Ph.D. Currently working in a job I hate as a R&D scientist. I want out so bad. The job market doesn't help, I made huge mistake when I chose physics... I hope I will bounce back but currently physics is not valuable and people don't care.

I am trying to transition in anything that can make me leave research and live a normal life away from fucking papers.

I tried quant, didn't pass the OAs, I tried software development but apparently I don't have the experience and AI is crazy good right now. I tried consulting and I didn't make it to the big firms as Mckinsey etc...

I have applied to 600+ applications in 6 months. I would work in any western developed country...

Last choice is focus on AI engineering but engineers will eat me alive. I wish I could go back and study MEng BUT I don't have the time....

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

I’m in my 40s and currently moving from a clinical healthcare background into tech (specifically AI Compliance/QA or web development). I’m focusing on the technical side now but want to make sure I don’t "reset" my career to zero. I've been learning web development since 2023, with a portfolio of 3 healthcare app projects.

If you transitioned into tech later in life, during this AI boom, especially from healthcare, what was the one thing that actually got you the job? Was it a certification, a portfolio project, or just a really good networking connection?

So I took over some airbnb properties from a friend who quit the business and i didnt really think it through. Now I'm just dealing with a bunch of small stuff that adds up and its annoying. Everything is manual like messaging people and talking to cleaners and fixing random things. nothing is written down so every time something happens it feels like the first time even though it happened yesterday. It's just a loop of the same stuff over and over. When there are multiple bookings at once it gets messy. Reviews are starting to go down because I'm slow and i dont have any help or any sops or templates or anything. I paused the listings for now because I don't want to do this anymore. I'm trying to fix the processes first. I think I need to pay for something structured like a pro͏gram, webi͏nar or a cou͏rse because the fr͏ee content online doesnt show how it all works together when you have more than one property. If anyone knows a program that focuses on systems let me know. It's just a lot of work and I wanna do this right. P.S. Posting it here cause for some reason its been getting removed from airbnb subreddits.

I (26F) have been working retail since graduating college and I'm getting sick of it. I'm a middle manager at a bookstore, and I'm in charge of all the non-book product (something I very much hate. I applied for this because I have loved being a bookseller in the past, when I was living at home and didn't have to pay rent). Despite being good at parts of my job, I feel like I could apply my skills towards a more fulfilling career. I'm feeling a little frustrated because it seems like the only things I have ever been hired for have been retail positions, and it does make me wonder if it's all I'm good at.

I have skills in organization, time management, and attention to detail. I've been praised for my customer service abilities, but really I am looking for something that can help people. I have an interest in media, journalism, or some kind of editorial production. I am passionate about environmental causes and cinema. My BA is in Film & Media and my MA is in Humanities. I have strong skills in written and verbal communication.

When applying for other jobs I worry that my lack of industry experience is preventing me from being hired. I'm also wondering if I haven't been saying the right things in my resumes and cover letters, but I genuinely have no idea what those would be. I pull from the job descriptions and match keywords to the best of my ability, but nothing seems to stick for the jobs I actually care about. I am really strongly opposed to using AI, but I fear that it might be the only way for anything to actually stick.

It's also frustrating because I know that this is one of the worst job markets and we are all struggling together. Part of me wonders if it's even worth it to move out of retail when it, at least, is a job that can pay my bills. It's becoming increasingly difficult for me to go to work because I hate it so much, which is why I'm conflicted. I really do think I can do better things in life, but I don't want to be unemployed again, and it's frustrating that I keep getting ghosted or rejected. I was unemployed for 8 months before getting this job in February, and in that time I had maybe 4 interviews. My lease ends over the summer and I'm thinking about moving home again to figure things out, but that really does feel like a last resort.

Does anyone know how to transition jobs, or move from one field into another? Or at least, does anyone have any tips for writing resumes and cover letters that can actually lead to an interview?