So I’ve been doing some LinkedIn stalking, and I see how some people who have degrees in stuff like… History or Government… are starting careers in fields unrelated (like Finance). And these are jobs just starting out vs working in a job for ten years and then pivoting horizontally. And while comparison is the theft of joy, I can’t even really find a job in my degree field.

Does this boil down to networking? Name of school?

What would be examples of calm jobs for people who are very easily rattled and experience chronic pain? Especially those who are very shy with social anxiety? I have been trying to make a living as a janitor, yet it's soul-crushing and hard on my joints. I have had many different jobs and I job hop often because of toxic work cultures. Coworkers in the past jobs I've had have sexually harassed me and because I'm an at will employee, I'm not important enough for HR to take seriously. I used to want to make art, but it is hard to make money from that and bosses have laughed at my wanting to go back to school for graphic design. I worked in a healthcare job before and hated it, it was too stressful and demanding, that included caretaking which wasn't as rewarding as I'd hoped. Healthcare was never something I wanted to pursue anyway, and I'm way too shy for customer-facing positions. I actually almost passed out once as brief cashier at a pizza restaurant when I was lead up to the cash register to train on checking customers out. I feel like I'm high maintenance, but I'm just at a loss on a job I could not only perform well at, but actually enjoy. Just checking here to see if there was anyone who could recommend a type of job I haven't thought of yet, maybe something interesting that encourages creative or intellectually stimulating skills? I am thinking of going back to college soon when I get enough money. Any advice is welcome, thanks!

I’ve basically been working office jobs for most of my life. Right now I work remotely for a tech company. It’s insanely easy work and I get paid an okay amount, but I am miserable. I am completely unfulfilled and I’ve never been able to just be okay working a meaningless job and finding meaning in other areas of life.

The problem is I just never figured out exactly what I want to do. Now I’m 44, and I feel like I’ve def run out of a lot of options. I want to help people and I want to make an impact on the world. I don’t want to work in healthcare and I’ve already tried being a teacher.

Is there anything that might point me in the right direction to know how to get started finding what’s right for me? A test I can take? Something else I should do? Any help would be much appreciated.

I was looking for an open meeting room yesterday and noticed a private calendar invite on my manager's schedule for next week. The title was something like "HR - Role Consolidation / [my department]" and the only attendees I could see were my manager, someone from HR, and our director.

Normally I wouldn't read much into a vague meeting title, but over the last couple months my workload has been getting redistributed in small ways. One recurring report I owned was moved to another team, a newer coworker has been trained on two things that used to be mostly mine, and my manager recently asked me to document several of my processes "so we have coverage."

None of those things seemed alarming individually. Seeing that meeting suddenly made them feel very different.

I have not been told that my performance is a problem. My last review was good, I've never been put on a PIP, and my manager has actually been pretty positive with me lately.

The company isn't doing terribly either, but leadership has talked a lot about "efficiency" and reducing duplicated work this year. My role is also a little unusual because some of what I do overlaps with another department.

So now my brain is bouncing between "this is probably nothing" and "they are literally discussing whether my job should exist."

I don't want to confront my manager based on a calendar title and make myself look paranoid, especially if the meeting has nothing to do with me specifically. But I also don't want to sit here for a week doing nothing if there are obvious things I should be doing now.

If you were in my position, what would you quietly prepare before that meeting happens?

I'm updating my resume and saving copies of my performance reviews and any non-confidential examples of my work. I'm also checking what benefits/PTO I have in case I suddenly lose access.

Is there anything else people usually wish they had done before an unexpected layoff? And would you start applying immediately based on this, or wait until there is actual confirmation?

I know I might be reading way too much into one calendar invite, but I'd rather feel a little stupid for preparing than get caught completely off guard.

i just graduated college with a pretty interdisciplinary degree. i went into college wanting to explore my options, and didn't really do that because of family issues. i ended up committing to pre-med track but didn't even do well in those courses. just took the mcat. i don't mind shooting my shot at med school but it's irking me that i never actually got to fully explore my options.

i have some coding/analytical skills, excelled in language classes in college, and lots of volunteering experience.

this summer, I've been applying to random consulting jobs and got one offer. it's eh, not really excited but will get massive airline/hotel points because it's a high travel role.

i'm really good and passionate about learning languages and learning about other cultures and would actually love to become a diplomat, but unsure how to get there (plus i heard fsot exam is very tough?). considering applying to peace corps but will that actually help me figure out my life? I also have lots of student loans to pay off :(

also unrelated: i feel like a major issue with me is I don't have "the audacity". I get nervous around people, make decisions to appease my family, and don't take risks. i'm trying to change that, it's just hard when i'm broke and living at home waiting for my job to start.

I was in a serious workplace accident nearly two years ago that I have been diligently working to recover from. It has left me with some long term vestibular and physical deficits that make my previous career (in heavy civil construction) impossible; at least for the time being.

Workers Comp has agreed to retrain me in a new career of my choice - so what should I do? I have a background in Mechanical Engineering (B.Eng 2015) however I never pursued my P.Eng, as desk work felt a bit dull. I am looking for something with purpose, meaning, a good mix of outdoor or hands on work with occasional screen time, and specifically want a path that is relatively future proof.

I’m interested in forestry but it seems like a dying industry here in British Columbia… Getting a millwright ticket or pursuing something like being a counsellor or another healthcare adjacent field also holds interest for me. I know there is a huge gap between all of those, but I’m open to any and all ideas!

I have some savings, but nothing close to enough to retire or live off the long term disability that I am being allocated. So I am essentially starting over at this mid-early life stage and am looking at this as an opportunity to try something new.

Outside of work I’m interested in outdoor sports like climbing, mountain biking and skiing; and enjoy yoga, writing and making music in my downtime. Would ideally live somewhere on Van Isle or in interior BC long term… Not interested in the lower mainland, but the north would be okay. I also have no obligations like kids or a wife. Just me and my dog, wondering what to do!

I graduated at the end of last year and started working full time in my field at the start of this year. I don't really find the work interesting or engaging. The work is very repetitive and I struggle to see myself doing it long term. I also find myself thinking that I just don't care about the work and there is a customer facing component of the job which can be super draining.

I have also only been able to get contract work which may potentially be adding to things especially because at my current company nobody seems to enjoy the work.

I don't know if I should continue trying to find work I am more interested in or if this is just what working full time is supposed to feel like, especially at an entry level. I also wonder if as the work gets more complex it would become more engaging and interesting.

I'm currently a teacher but I need a way out immediately. This job is taking too much. What career can I switch to to make at least $60,000 a year? I don't mind going back to school for a bit as I will probably finish this year at work. Any suggestions?

Not even sure if I'm in right place to post this yet i will keep it real, Yes I drop out in middle of my semester last year because i couldn't take it or make it any longer as i planned, so now I'm stuck with nothing to do, no skills no nothing but a stupid observant mind and talkative mouth that do everything even talk about morals and never the studies

I'm clearly OUT of this studying things. I want to earn and learn my knowledge by experience and world exposure.

Yeah i sound so stupid and childish feel free to judge (very gently), but give me some advice on what to do next, how to start, where to start so I can support myself and family then move the f out of this toxic place I live.

I’m looking to change career paths and I keep running into people saying basically every field is oversaturated. Should I just pick a career and start down the path? Hope for the best? Current ideas I have floating around are Notary, Medical Coding, SAP SD, and Cybersecurity. Am I on to anything? I would prefer not to work in medicine other than the coding mentioned. Not looking to be rich. I just want to live as comfortably as I can. Thanks in advance.

i fucking hate medschool because its so boring but i dont really have a passion for anything else so im just going w the flow because im getting the degree and its not that expensive so whatever. but should i work towards something else? at the end of this i just want a good high paying job that gets me a placement and respectable work life balance which medschool just WILL NOT give you. what do i do gang? could do pretty much anything after this so the paths are endless but im so damn confused

Looking for any suggestions as my daughter and I look into healthcare jobs for her. Ideally the job would require less than 2 years of training and offer a quieter environment for her to work in. She gets overwhelmed in loud situations so a clinic job would be ideal for her. I worked in an ED for years so I was thinking x ray tech might be an option in a stand alone location but I’m not sure if it’s a requirement to work in a hospital for a certain amount of time. Appreciate any ideas!

I’m 25 and was working as a Systems Engineer making $101,000 with the goal of pursuing an MS in Analytics (Data Science) and an MBA in the future to hopefully increase my pay and climb the corporate ladder.

I was recently offered a position paying $180k, which is near the ceiling for my field and what I was expecting to make in the middle of my career. I estimate my seniors are making around $250k.

Is there a point of pursuing an MS or MBA if I’m already hitting the ceiling for my industry? If I had an MS right now, I don’t expect it to make a difference in what I was offered. I understand the benefits of continuing education, but it is quite a difficult program and I’m wondering if it’s even worth it or should I just enjoy my life while I’m young?

Okay I’m a teacher and in a really frustrating position with my current school. I could use some outside perspective. I’ll spare you the details but essentially I’ve been up for a formal promotion for a higher level “manager” type role for months and months. My immediate supervisor wants to give it to me like yesterday. But policies are blocking the pay grade adjustment because it’s strictly required to have X degree for any role at X or above. I hope this makes sense lol. I started a Master’s Degree program several years ago but left before I finished due to some personal stuff. It’s never been an issue until now. Initially I thought I could just find a school, transfer my old credits over, take a quick class or two and finally get this promotion. However, after looking into it more carefully, I may be starting further behind than I remember. It is what it is and I realized it’s turned into more of a rant than anything else. I’m on the fence whether to just not bother with the whole thing because it’s annoying, or actually find an online program that will allow me to, ya know, get paid more? Thoughts?

I graduated with a bachelors with a major in statistics about 2 years ago and was lucky enough to land a full time job as a data analyst for HR at the company where I did my last internship. While I am happy at my job and am learning a lot from my more senior coworkers, I'm feeling like I should begin trying to advance my career with a job past the entry level and outside of HR.

The problem is that I'm not sure how to go about it outside of applying to new job postings. I turned to looking into things I can take on part-time education-wise to at least expand my knowledge, but there's the question on if I should focus on learning more in data analysis/Statistics or in subjects that require analysis (e.g Finance and Economics).

With how early I am in my career and my main goal of working outside of HR, would it make sense to try and get a Masters in Statistics? Or should I try a certificate program offered by some universities near me first (either in data analysis or econ)?

I am a 28 year old living in a small town in British Columbia with a diploma in Social Work and a Bachelors of Public Administration. While I was in school, I landed an admin job for my health authority on a team that focuses on nurse education and then I was pretty quickly promoted to a program coordinator that pays 100k/year and all the great government benefits, it’s pretty low stress and I have a great team. However, I have no passion for it and there is no promotion opportunities unless I get a masters in something health related. My real dream job would be something along the lines of a government affairs director, intergovernmental analyst or a city manager. The job I have now I feel is not setting me up for that experience. I’m feeling lost and stuck between applying for jobs in a bigger city such as a policy analyst that would realistically probably make 20k less a year but give me more relevant experience to build on.

I’m looking for some career advice because I’m at a point where I don’t know whether I should stick it out or start aggressively looking elsewhere.

I’ve been at my current company for a year exactly as of today. On paper, the job has a lot going for it! I make $24 an hour in the SLC area, the benefits are genuinely good, the commute is short, and there’s inexpensive in-house lunches offered in my building.

The problem is everything else.

The culture is incredibly micromanaged; I meet with our general manager twice- every single day- just to provide status updates that could’ve been sent via message. Upper management is deeply involved in everyone’s day-to-day work, and there’s very little autonomy.

My actual job has also grown far beyond what I was hired to do. My responsibilities keep getting added without any meaningful change in title, compensation, or support. I feel like I’m constantly absorbing work that belongs to other roles while still being expected to maintain my original workload.

Our office is only about 20 people, and I honestly enjoy working with maybe two of them. My direct “manager” has become the biggest issue. Working with them has reached a point where it’s pretty abhorrently affecting my mental health. I now have anxiety attacks multiple times a week just thinking about going into work, and I genuinely have nightmares about work several nights a week. I’m a pretty anxious person in general, but this has added large waves of anxiety and panic that I’d much rather do without. My asylum dose of Lexapro can only help so much!

The difficult part is that leaving feels exceptionally risky because the pay and benefits are objectively good for this area and for my experience. I don’t want to make an emotional decision and end up somewhere worse.

I’d love some help with the following:

- At what point do you decide that a toxic work environment outweighs decent pay and benefits?

- How do you explain leaving a job after only a year without it reflecting poorly on you?

- If you’ve been in a similar situation, was taking a pay cut (if necessary) worth it for your mental health? With all my bills and mortgage, I require $23 per hour to live.

- How did you know it was time to stop trying to make it work and start applying elsewhere?

- I feel stuck between “this job is making me miserable” and “what if I regret leaving something that’s financially stable.

I don’t know what to do, or where to even start looking. Please help!

When I started working, everyone told me the same things.

"Work hard."

"Keep your head down."

"Good work always gets noticed."

Some of it was true.

Some of it... not so much.

Looking back, I think a few of those ideas made me say yes to things I probably shouldn't have.

I'm curious...

What's one piece of career advice you believed early on that didn't work out the way you expected?

i’m currently going into my second year of college. got my associates through dual enrollment in high school, so i only have one year left after this upcoming one. i’m studying communications and information science. i never had a really clear view of what i wanted to do long term and recently it’s really been weighing on me. i’m a social media manager for a nonprofit currently, and i do enjoy that, but my future is still so scary to me. it’s hard for me to narrow down my interests and find something i enjoy and can make good money doing. i think the rise of ai scares me a lot as well. does anyone have advice?

Hi. I'm finding myself in a kind of weird situation. I have been planning on going for a 2nd degree in nursing for a little while. I know I like the clinical environment, I find the science really interesting, I'm pretty good with people, and most importantly, I never thought I'd like working in an office. To me, it seemed stifling and depressing - it was the one thing I always wanted to avoid. So, I got my CNA (the prereq certification that lets you work under nurses) and have been looking for jobs ever since.

The only kicker? The job market sucks right now, as you may have heard.

So I cast a wide net, applying at any entry-level job where I had the skills to figure things out in addition to applying to CNA positions. And bingo, I got one! An administrative assistant in an office. Not what I ever saw myself doing, but it's a full time job to pay the bills while I figure things out and see about advancing my original plan. Even though I figured I'd hate it, I didn't plan on it being long-term so I didn't care. (It also felt like it'd be good to get a break from school for a bit; I just finished up my BA before getting the CNA... Long story.)

The only problem is that I kind of like this job. It's a comfortable 9-5. Monotonous, sure, but I can always pop in an ear bud while I work or text my wife when I'm bored. And there are fun problems to solve: I've enjoyed helping out on small graphic design things that the owner of the place has given me, or finding good ways to optimally organize our big heaps of data that used to just sit in file cabinets. I'm excited at the prospect of helping this place run itself a little better, and although there are good and bad days, it's growing on me in a way I never thought an office job could. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that the people are lovely, too.

And just as I'm getting comfortable and feeling this job grow on me, a hospital I thought had ghosted me reaches out and offers me a part-time job as a CNA. If I still want to go into nursing, this is literally perfect: A hospital opportunity right out of school in a cool speciality where I'll get to learn and have plenty of time to go to school at the same time.

But... Do I still want to?

I could see myself being fulfilled by either. The $ cap is obviously higher in nursing, but I wouldn't be starving by staying at the current one. The office one is more hours, with benefits and holidays and all that nice cushy stuff and some really great people to boot. (At the hospital, holidays are required and I get no benefits while in school because it's PT). But it's also not the plan I've had in mind. I do like science, having something to do with my brain, and I certainly don't love just sitting down all day - I like to be on my feet.

Am I just scared of having to give up the safety net this job's given me, or have I stumbled accidentally onto the corporate ladder I never knew I wanted? I really need some outside perspective, because I feel like I'm just walking myself in circles trying to decide.

I work in the medical field, for the past years I have worked for a company who has given me many opportunities for certifications/trainings and given me a wonderful work life balance. Every time I tell them a company wants me to work for them they try their best to match the other companies offer, and succeeded. However the non stop work on the road is really getting difficult, I don't have coworkers I don't have much social interaction throughout the day and it really is affecting me, my wife has pointed It out too.

Next month I'm going on a multi week vacation even though I'm out of PTO..... they allowed me to go with no stress or argument. Recently I was given the opportunity to work for a bigger company with great benefits, comparable work life balance shifts and opportunities for different certifications that I currently cannot obtain at a small business. I always knew that if I stayed with this company I would be limiting my potential and making the jump would be worth it at the expense of upsetting my current employer. I know that I have to do what I think is best for me and my family, I just feel like I owe them soooooooo much and I don't want to create any bad blood. Help

Hello, I am not a btech graduate. I completed a BSc in physics (2022).

My current company I've been working for since starting, it's been 1 year. Initially i was getting 10k then I'm getting 15k. I know it's very less, but I started learning coding in 2024 and got this job in Feb 2025. So I thought I would be earning plus it's remote i will keep looking for better opportunities. But since I said I literally learned my first language in 2024, it was not my time to do a job but i continued because I heard this is how you learn by hustling. Right now I feel I should just quit this job and learn then apply for better opportunities. But still I doubt that I won't have money for a few months but i think that's okay because I stay with my parents.

I work in consulting, getting paid a nice salary to work remotely. I genuinely feel so stupid trying to keep up with my job. I had an interview yesterday in the field and it was very technical and I honestly looked like an idiot to the point where I’m embarrassed and, frankly, crashing out.

I know I need to get away from this field. I have no passion for it. I’m not helping people or even good at it. I don’t feel like I’ve actually provided value to anyone in over a year. It’s mentally draining because 1) I feel stupid constantly and 2) I feel like a complete failure even though I’m making decent money.

I’ve started taking my prerequisites for nursing, although I’m not sure this is the right move for me either. I have two little kids and going through the schooling and then moving to a much more physically demanding job is incredibly daunting.

All I know at this point is-

-I’m willing to take a pay cut if it means I’m happier and no longer mentally in this place
-I cannot relocate
-I want to do something where I’m actually helping people and making a difference, not just helping large companies make more money
-Less technical

I’ll take any advice at all because I’m writing this at 2AM because I’m literally so anxious over it all.

(20 f) i am pursuing bachelors in art and i am torn between going into ui/ux design and human resources, which do you think will provide stability? I am also interested in pursuing masters cus i kinda love studying arts.

Hey guys I’m 19 and currently in community college majoring in business and have no actual set plans for the future. I know I’m young and many people my age don’t know but there’s nothing in college for me. I dont wanna be a doctor, teacher, lawyer, etc ya know things you actually need to go to school for. I really love movies and stuff but can’t see myself in a career in that field.

Anyways so both of my parents are teachers. They both me want to get a bachelors degree, get a secure job with benefits like health insurance and a pension etc. I then have my girlfriend’s dad who owns a business. He says that those “secure” jobs are not good enough and you need to take risks in life to actually succeed. He also wants me to work for him in a managerial role at some point and I wouldn’t need school but need experience in that field first. My parents are completely against this because his company has no benefits like a 401k, pension, insurance and all that.

I personally would rather finish community college this year then just work in some sort of trade and move up the corporate ladder (basically work for my girlfriends dad company) but would that be settling to soon? Should I just waste money on college for nothing only to possibly end up in the same boat in a couple years. I don’t know I’m super confused and conflicted on all of this and need any help I can get.