Changing careers and going back to school

[shootingstar]

One could almost imagine you ...at a farmers' market, with your stand demostrating cooking with a local food or making somethin' tasty, selling it.

Ever thought of this...?

[GLC1968]

It's important to distinguish between I never really liked it and I'm burnt out on it after 10 years. Maybe its the people you work with. Design engineers are one tough bunch to work with on a personal level.

I knew I was going to be an engineer as a grade school kid. Electronics and machinery always fascinated me.

Yeah, I never liked EE. Even when I was a student, I didn't like it. It was challenging for me, and I liked that aspect of it. I also knew that I'd be an asset in EE as a woman with excellent communication skills and a non-engineering background but with straight A's. I knew I could put together a fabulous career. My school also had this new, up and coming, exciting department in wireless technologies with a wireless instruction lab that was getting world-wide recognition. It was hard not to get swept up in it once I'd opened that door. Plus, I knew there was a huge future in it and I was right as evidenced by how fantastic my company is doing during an economic down turn. Basically, I knew I didn't love it then, but I didn't think it would matter. I chose my career for reasons other than enjoyment. I figured that since I was smarter than a lot of the guys I was working with, I'd be fine. I was good at faking it.

Unfortunately, in the real world, you can't fake the kind of enthusiasm that I'd have to show to really get somewhere in my career.

Oh, and I never wanted to be an engineer. Hell, before I hit college, I wasn't even sure what an engineer was! I was always fascinated with science and biology and things of that nature, but the physical sciences held no draw for me. I was always good at figuring things out (from puzzles to mechanical things), but it was not my passion.

LESSON TO ALL YOU YOUNGER BOYS AND GIRLS OUT THERE - DO NOT CHOOSE A CAREER UNLESS YOU ENJOY THE CAREER, NO MATTER HOW SMART OR LUCRATIVE YOU THINK IT WILL BE.

SOMETIMES, WHAT YOU NEED IS A GOOD DISTRACTION FROM YOUR WORK.

What, you mean besides TE?

One could almost imagine you ...at a farmers' market, with your stand demostrating cooking with a local food or making somethin' tasty, selling it.

Ever thought of this...?

Nope. I hate to cook.

[Triskeliongirl]

I don't know the answer to the question I am posing but it's something I think you should research. It concerns age bias. While it may be illegal its often practiced by selection committees at least in the area of science that I do. The issue would be why invest the resources in training a 40 something who has 20 years less of a working life ahead of her than and 20 something? When I say resources, realize that student tuition is a drop in the bucket compared to the real costs to educate a professional of the type you are discussing.

I also wonder if an admissions committee would worry that this is your third career change, so it will be important to articulate why this time you are sure. Its easy to say you made a mistake the first time around, but the second time too?

I am not writing any of this to discourage you, just offering the perspective of someone that sits on admission committees for things to research before you take the plunge.

[badger]

that's a very valid point. A friend of mine has gone back to school to get her pre requisites to apply for medicine. She's been told by 3 schools if she's looked into Osteopathy. She was like "Osteopathy? what's that?" Finally after the 3rd time she was asked, she asked back in return if they were asking this because of her age (42). They said in not so direct way that yes, it's because of her age.

Osteopathy's not as regulated or as popular so it would be easy for her to get in.

[JennK13]

The issue would be why invest the resources in training a 40 something who has 20 years less of a working life ahead of her than and 20 something? When I say resources, realize that student tuition is a drop in the bucket compared to the real costs to educate a professional of the type you are discussing.

I also wonder if an admissions committee would worry that this is your third career change, so it will be important to articulate why this time you are sure. Its easy to say you made a mistake the first time around, but the second time too?

that's a very valid point. A friend of mine has gone back to school to get her pre requisites to apply for medicine. She's been told by 3 schools if she's looked into Osteopathy. She was like "Osteopathy? what's that?" Finally after the 3rd time she was asked, she asked back in return if they were asking this because of her age (42). They said in not so direct way that yes, it's because of her age.

Osteopathy's not as regulated or as popular so it would be easy for her to get in.

Well, now this just worries me! I registered for some classes this morning to get my general studies out of the way so I can apply for the fall Physical Therapy Assistant progam (applications accepted February 1-June 1). But, they only accept 20 students A YEAR into the program. As if 20 students wasn't limiting enough for me to be afraid, now I worry I'm too "old"...

[GLC1968]

I don't know the answer to the question I am posing but it's something I think you should research. It concerns age bias. While it may be illegal its often practiced by selection committees at least in the area of science that I do. The issue would be why invest the resources in training a 40 something who has 20 years less of a working life ahead of her than and 20 something? When I say resources, realize that student tuition is a drop in the bucket compared to the real costs to educate a professional of the type you are discussing.

I also wonder if an admissions committee would worry that this is your third career change, so it will be important to articulate why this time you are sure. Its easy to say you made a mistake the first time around, but the second time too?

I am not writing any of this to discourage you, just offering the perspective of someone that sits on admission committees for things to research before you take the plunge.

Oh, I totally get this. Both from a perspective of why educate me at 43 (or older by the time I actually apply) to why I've changed careers so much.

In fact, framing my past choices in a positive light is something I've thought about quite a bit. With a captive audience, I can easily demonstrate my life-long desire to be a vet (I've headed down that road three times before this one), but I certainly wouldn't bother going into it here. In addition, I certainly don't think that my first career choice was a mistake. It was actually a massive learning experience for me and I don't regret even one second of it. I do regret the choices I made for my second career to some degree. But I can certainly put the positive spin on it from a science/math/technical point of view and sell it as a strength in my application.

From what I've gathered from talking to people lately is that the dropout rate from vet school must be pretty high. It's probably not as obvious due to the relative small number of people who even get in, but as a %...it's got to be pretty large. As someone who has 'been there, done that' twice...I would think that I'm a pretty low risk student. I'm sure as hell not going to get pregnant, fall in love and get married, move to europe to backpack or get influenced by all the distractions of a typical college student. And since I'll be the one paying for this (not my parents), I'll have a more vested interest than some.

And then, is there really a time limit on being a vet? I mean, it's not like professional sports where you get too old, too quickly, right? Does a younger and better looking vet has much of an advantage over a mature one? It's not like sales or business or some other such career where youth/looks really matter, right? (or is it...I'm really asking here!)

But yeah, lots of good things to think about...

[tulip]

Just remember the Scarecrow and Dorothy:

Scarecrow: "Do you think if I went with you this Wizard would give me some brains?"

Dorothy: "I couldn't say. But even if he didn't you'd be no worse off than you are now."

They say the worst regrets are the ones about what you didn't do in life. We all have those, but I'm working hard to not have any more! I do still have time to live in Paris...

[Owlie]

LESSON TO ALL YOU YOUNGER BOYS AND GIRLS OUT THERE - DO NOT CHOOSE A CAREER UNLESS YOU ENJOY THE CAREER, NO MATTER HOW SMART OR LUCRATIVE YOU THINK IT WILL BE.

Please come over and tell my boyfriend this.

[emily_in_nc]

LESSON TO ALL YOU YOUNGER BOYS AND GIRLS OUT THERE - DO NOT CHOOSE A CAREER UNLESS YOU ENJOY THE CAREER, NO MATTER HOW SMART OR LUCRATIVE YOU THINK IT WILL BE.

True words indeed. Software engineer here since the late '80s. There have been times, projects, hours when I loved what I was doing, but those times were short-lived. I never planned on this career (too late to write the story of how I ended up in it, but I was a psychology major originally!!), and I've never been passionate about it. I've felt, for the most part, that although I've done well financially and survived thousands of layoffs at my company over the years, that I am not in the "right" field for me. That *I* got lost somewhere along the way and inertia set in.

I don't have passion for it. I should have done something else, something that got my juices flowing. It is often very hard to know what that is when you make a career decision (which may well prove to be lifelong) at a young age. I still don't really know. I only know that this is not it.

I turn 50 this April and am ready to retire. I can't imagine starting over at something that requires more schooling. I wish I'd figured out my passion many years ago, taken the financial hit, and gone for it.

So, GLC, I've been reading this whole thread, and I can feel your passion. Yes, there will be difficult times and roadblocks, but I think it's worth a try, since it's something you really want. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Good luck!

[Crankin]

Emily, I guess that's why I waited until we could live on DH's income quite nicely. Although I can't say I didn't have passion for my former career. There were times I felt trapped and bored (mostly because I knew I couldn't quit my job, when none of my other friends had to work), so I found the passion by taking on new roles like mentoring, changing jobs (very unusual for a teacher), or investing my passion into the fitness field (where I burned out after 10 years, as opposed to 30 for teaching). I think I got bored by the schedule of teaching... days so highly structured, over which I had no control. While I loved leaving work at 3 or 4, I have found that what i craved was flexibility. I have found I like having control over my schedule, not having to constantly work in a group to mediate decisions, and to have a choice in what kind of setting I will work in. I found that I don't mind working long hours or at night, as long as i have free time elsewhere during the week. While I thought I was ready to retire, with all of my sports activities, etc., I found that staying home was isolating and boring. It dawned on me, that I just needed a different way to work, in a field that I knew I could succeed in. I was interested in a lot of quasi-medical fields, but they all required way too many undergrad requirements, in addition to the graduate training. Plus, I was never good at math when i was younger and i am sure that hasn't changed. My degree has taken a year longer than most of the other programs in the same field (3 yrs. vs. 2), but I knew this was the right program/school for me. The key for me, is that even though I will be almost 60 when I get my license in a couple of years, is that I can continue being a therapist as I get older, on a part time basis, as long as I can talk and write! And i have found that this is a field where my age works in my favor. It doesn't hurt that my co-workers think I am at least 10 years younger than I am, but I have found that my life experiences have helped me a great deal in this field. I could not have done this when I was in my 20's.
DH won't be retiring for at least 8 more years, maybe more. Until then, I don't want to have too much time on my hands.

[emily_in_nc]

Emily, I guess that's why I waited until we could live on DH's income quite nicely. Although I can't say I didn't have passion for my former career. There were times I felt trapped and bored (mostly because I knew I couldn't quit my job, when none of my other friends had to work), so I found the passion by taking on new roles like mentoring, changing jobs (very unusual for a teacher), or investing my passion into the fitness field (where I burned out after 10 years, as opposed to 30 for teaching). I think I got bored by the schedule of teaching... days so highly structured, over which I had no control. While I loved leaving work at 3 or 4, I have found that what i craved was flexibility. I have found I like having control over my schedule, not having to constantly work in a group to mediate decisions, and to have a choice in what kind of setting I will work in. I found that I don't mind working long hours or at night, as long as i have free time elsewhere during the week. While I thought I was ready to retire, with all of my sports activities, etc., I found that staying home was isolating and boring. It dawned on me, that I just needed a different way to work, in a field that I knew I could succeed in. I was interested in a lot of quasi-medical fields, but they all required way too many undergrad requirements, in addition to the graduate training. Plus, I was never good at math when i was younger and i am sure that hasn't changed. My degree has taken a year longer than most of the other programs in the same field (3 yrs. vs. 2), but I knew this was the right program/school for me. The key for me, is that even though I will be almost 60 when I get my license in a couple of years, is that I can continue being a therapist as I get older, on a part time basis, as long as I can talk and write! And i have found that this is a field where my age works in my favor. It doesn't hurt that my co-workers think I am at least 10 years younger than I am, but I have found that my life experiences have helped me a great deal in this field. I could not have done this when I was in my 20's.
DH won't be retiring for at least 8 more years, maybe more. Until then, I don't want to have too much time on my hands.

I think what you are doing is great and have followed many of your career comments on other threads. It makes perfect sense in your situation, since being retired without one's spouse can indeed be a lonely, isolating thing, and you've found something you really enjoy. Nothing at all wrong with serial careers; in fact, they make a lot of sense and keep things fresh.

Our situation is reversed in that my DH was laid off during the telecom bubble burst of 2001 and basically just retired after that as there were NO jobs out there for him, and we were debt-free and could live on my salary. Since then he's been waiting for me to join him so that we could have fun and adventures. I've been the bread-winner, which has necessitated staying put, no job changes, no leaving to go back to school, etc., as we needed the paychecks and benefits my job provided. Having a house husband has some really nice perks, so it actually worked out well for us, as he was very burned out on being in an office, preferred the variety of retirement, and picked up lots of the cooking, shopping, cleaning, laundry, dog care, etc.

Now, though, I'm just so ready to join him so that we can spend time together pursuing our non-technical interests. If he were still working, I'd probably have left my job at least 5-7 years ago to do something completely different. Kinda like GLC!

Sorry for the hijack, GLC...back to it!

[Crankin]

Having a house husband is definitely a plus. My DH was one for about 8 months, during the last semester of finishing up his BS, plus about a quarter of the semester before. He sold his very successful catering truck business (people who know him now cannot believe that he did this) when DS 1 was born. We used the $ to live on, instead of saving it. After my 6 week leave, he stayed home until he graduated and it was the end of the school year in May. Then, when he went back to work, I was on vacation for the summer, so one of us got to be home with the baby for almost his whole first year. It was *not* a wise financial decision; in fact since we already had the nice house in the suburbs and 2 nice cars, it took pretty much until the kid was about to graduate from HS until we were free and clear of debt! Although moving across the country had a lot to do with this. But, it was great to have dinner on the table when I came home. He would go off to class and I would play with the baby, give him a bath, and put him to bed. When DS 2 was born 2.5 years later, I had a pretty tough adjustment, since DH was traveling a lot. I always say (sort of jokingly) that it was the best year of my life . And there truly is a special bond between DH and DS 1, although DS doesn't remember any of this.

[SlowButSteady]

I'm a DVM and have been since 1985. I really think age and age bias is a non-issue within this profession. When I was in school in the early 80's, we had many older students. One was retired from the Air Force before he applied to vet school.

I have two much older vets who work in my practice (I'm the practice owner, so that makes me their boss). I have to plead ignorance to their exact ages! One is about 75 and one is about 65 They're great workers and enthusiastic about the profession.

The oldest one was awaiting a kidney transplant and on dialysis 3 days a week when he started working with me. He had retired and had to study to take the state boards again.

Almost all of my techs are also middle-aged and older (one is 63). At 52, I'm a relative spring chicken.

I do have to express some concern about people with multiple career path changes. One of my friends in college was a Ph.D., a Chaucer professor. This person went to vet school, dropped out...went to law school...dropped out...and is now teaching Chaucer again.

A good many of us leave private practice for other careers--we work for industry, government or do consultant work. And sadly, one of my classmates just comitted suicide. He had changed career paths after vet school, too.

I'm not being biased against you. All I'm saying is that people I've known who have changed career paths multiple times may have deeper issues that result in ongoing frustrations, etc.

Burnout is an enormous problem in my profession. I can't count the number of times I've been to the brink and back. We see so much sad and tragic stuff. We have to deal with non-animal problems--staffing, business, management, cash flow... The animals and their care are only about 50% of the job. Every animal that comes in is attached to a person, and offices don't manage themselves.

Also, in the early 80's, I got through with rather minimal student loans--which it took me 10 years to pay off. I understand that student debt is astronomical now.

That said, I love what I do. I love the medical thought and decision-making process. I love being a clinician. There are still days where I get an endorphin "high" from my work.