Which of the four categories would you say, in general, makes the most sense to you work/value-wise? Also, do you like to compartmentalize, like "work a year then quit for a year" or would you be willing to consider some sort of "work while transient" thing that many people seem to be leaning into in the covid era? (I see it where people either drive all over the US in an RV while working 2 days a week or where they set up shop in an AirBNB for a month or two while working remotely like 20 hours a week.) Would you like to do something more physical instead of something intellectual? What would the prospects of re-entering the industry need to be if you decided to take a 2 year stint to make cheese at a monastery or something
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It's good to be interrogated! I am going through this "what's the point of it all" moment, so trying to parse out my emotions on this stuff will help me to make the next step
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MA in political science here, working in public policy. I got “lucky” in that I work in a job I trained for. Most end up perfectly qualified for retail, or at least that was the joke when I graduated. I can’t wait to retire.
When I was getting my BS in Physics, my advisor often told me "Practice this phrase - 'You want fries with that?'" because evidently that's all I could do with a physics degree.
Instead, I ended up in tech support. I eventually worked my way up to "developer" but really, I'm glorified helpdesk.
I will say though, that finally, after 20+ years, I'm enjoying my job with local government. It took a long time for me to get to that point.
Or maybe I'm just close enough to retirement (6 years) that I've stopped focusing on how much I hate my job and instead on how nice it'll be to leave it.
You know it's strangely reassuring to have people replying saying that they also hate their job. I think there's a bit of myth - especially in the tech industry and tech industry adjacent social networks like LinkedIn or HackerNews - that everybody has to love their job, and that they're all super "engaged" or whatever. It gives me a feeling of disappointment that somehow i never quite had that dream job experience that other people apparently enjoy. But perhaps it's more realistic that everybody hates their job a little bit, the trick is just finding one that you hate mildly enough that you can tolerate it while you earn an income to do the things you actually want to do. I think that attitude toward work is par for the course in blue and pink collar circles, for example, so it's perhaps more of a white collar problem where companies try to portray this image that working is some kind of aspirational life experience to get excited about.
I think i feel doubly unenthusiastic about getting a masters in political science and then trying to find work in Canada due to the bilingualism requirement! Not that i can't or don't want to learn new languages, i guess i just find it annoying in principle. Were you able to strike it lucky twice and avoid that requirement, or can you speak decent French?
These are definitely ideas i have considered during my previous "what am i going to do with myself" periods. One thing that makes me reluctant to go into academia is that it was my mother's career, and she found it tremendously stressful and soul crushing, first because of the constant pressure to publish, then later because of the constant pressure to attract and retain (wealthy) foreign students. I worry that non-profit work might also depress me when i think about how much money goes into the infrastructure and how little into the actual programs, but perhaps if i just work at a lower level in the organization that wouldn't bother me so much. The real question is how to transition out of what i am currently doing into something like that
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I hear you. I did work in politics (eco-label development coordination for the EU), and the lobbying there drove me crazy. I did so many other things, but now I am really happiest doing some low level admin stuff 2-3 days a week and some free lance things in the evenings maybe, enough to live on but obviously not enough to splurge. But I prefer not to splurge and spend my free time reading, walking, writing, whatever.
I think your setup is the dream! In particular if you have found a place where you want to settle down and have a longer term lifestyle. It's difficult to do this in a foreign country due to work visa requirements (usually demand full-time work)... I have to say that i feel like Brexit really destroyed a lot of opportunities for me, in the sense that it used to be anywhere in the EU could be a potential home for me, but now only places where a company will sponsor a visa could be home
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I feel your pain. The prospect of school and learning would be great if you didn’t have to have money coming in. I know you will work it out.
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Instead, I ended up in tech support. I eventually worked my way up to "developer" but really, I'm glorified helpdesk.
I will say though, that finally, after 20+ years, I'm enjoying my job with local government. It took a long time for me to get to that point.
Or maybe I'm just close enough to retirement (6 years) that I've stopped focusing on how much I hate my job and instead on how nice it'll be to leave it.
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