Career Path Change

Off Topic
1

Well, as of today it is official. I had a little chat with the boss and informed him that I intend to transition out of my current career path.

Bye bye.

However, the “bad” news is that I’ll have to shepherd through a couple projects that are currently in progress. That will keep me where I am probably until Christmas.

Oh well, it seems like a long time, but early in the new year I’ll be able to start cutting back on hours, maybe shortening my days and skipping mondays and fridays.

I guess I’ll be looking forward to Christmas this year more than normal…

2

Does that mean less or more time available for T-Nation?

3

Congrats on that.

I currently am seeking a new career, hopefully will have the new position I’m seeking by Christmas.

4

Of course it means more time for T-Nation…

5

You mentioned in another thread that you were going to be doing something you loved. What kind of career are you leaving? What will you be doing?

I recently had a bit of an epiphany, later supported by taking a couple of those nice little personality and temperament career tests, and have decided to resume an old course of employment, leaving behind a very nice income. So, I’m curious to hear about your change, and what prompted it.

6

Well, I’ve been in the technology field, programming Internet applications and the like for a long time now.

However, while I do enjoy the more strategic aspects of it, I hate having to go and implement bullshit little things like not just disabling a button, but then removing it when a user doesn’t currently have permission to use that feature.

Christ, I end up with a matrix of possibilities for each button based on a users permissions and the last action they did. What a waste of time.

It’s incredibly annoying to go to extreme levels of adjustment like that… and I waste my life dealing with incredibly minor and useless little technical logic details that neither I nor anybody else cares about.

I’ve decided, that long term, I’d like to get back to dealing with people. Even the most obtuse people are incredibly smart and deal with very high level concepts compared to programming details.

Considering that I spend so much time posting in the politics forums, I’m going to look into doing some writing. Maybe I’ll do some blogging, or perhaps some freelance article submissions. I’ll probably do some consulting to keep food on the table while I exlore these areas.

The big thing, that I’m going to like a lot, is that I’m going to remove the 9-5 considerations on my life. The alarm clock will be turned off permanently. That is a big one to me. I’m creative and productive when it strikes, not when the alarm clock decides the rest of the word is supposed to be working.

It’s going to sound stupid, but I will no longer have to go out and scrape the ice off the windshield in freezing weather every day. I hate that, half awake freezing my arse off day after day. What a crock.

Part of my decision has been inspired by hanging around this site. From time to time you hear articles or posts from people saying do something you love. When I go to work day after day and loathe what I am doing, I need to find something else.

Can I make a living spouting my opinion via writing? I don’t know. Am I going to try? Yes. Again, I will be doing some Internet projects as well that I can fall back on – in particular, there is a directory project I’m simmering on the back burner.

7

I’ve always said, “I work to live not live to work.” I think your action is brave and very admirable. Sounds like your doing it for good reasons too. It’s the little things that can cause the most discomfort.

[quote]vroom wrote:
Well, I’ve been in the technology field, programming Internet applications and the like for a long time now.

However, while I do enjoy the more strategic aspects of it, I hate having to go and implement bullshit little things like not just disabling a button, but then removing it when a user doesn’t currently have permission to use that feature.

Christ, I end up with a matrix of possibilities for each button based on a users permissions and the last action they did. What a waste of time.

It’s incredibly annoying to go to extreme levels of adjustment like that… and I waste my life dealing with incredibly minor and useless little technical logic details that neither I nor anybody else cares about.

I’ve decided, that long term, I’d like to get back to dealing with people. Even the most obtuse people are incredibly smart and deal with very high level concepts compared to programming details.

Considering that I spend so much time posting in the politics forums, I’m going to look into doing some writing. Maybe I’ll do some blogging, or perhaps some freelance article submissions. I’ll probably do some consulting to keep food on the table while I exlore these areas.

The big thing, that I’m going to like a lot, is that I’m going to remove the 9-5 considerations on my life. The alarm clock will be turned off permanently. That is a big one to me. I’m creative and productive when it strikes, not when the alarm clock decides the rest of the word is supposed to be working.

It’s going to sound stupid, but I will no longer have to go out and scrape the ice off the windshield in freezing weather every day. I hate that, half awake freezing my arse off day after day. What a crock.

Part of my decision has been inspired by hanging around this site. From time to time you hear articles or posts from people saying do something you love. When I go to work day after day and loathe what I am doing, I need to find something else.

Can I make a living spouting my opinion via writing? I don’t know. Am I going to try? Yes. Again, I will be doing some Internet projects as well that I can fall back on – in particular, there is a directory project I’m simmering on the back burner.[/quote]

8

Vroom,

Is this the first stage of your transition to becoming a woodland hermit, or are you reconsidering the house move?

9

Massif, I’m just disconnecting myself from the 9-5 office environment at this point, which is a huge goal.

The move will have to wait until I am able to get established in this new direction. So, that is a remaining goal I guess.

10

Way to go, Vroom. Congrats on being one of the few people to have the balls to escape the rat race.

I’ve been working on doing the same thing; I’m hoping to be doing my own thing in the next 2-3 years. I can’t wait; I too have had it with the 9-5 routine.

Best of luck to you.

11

Way to go Vroom. I hope things work out for you. My husband went through a major career change a few months ago and now he works from home. He makes amazingly good money and makes his own hours and schedule. If our baby is doing something neat I just go to his office and he can come and see. He won’t miss out on anything. Life is a dream. Everyone should live this way.

He is a very disciplined and hardworking person so I think that is why it works so well for him. But at the same time, he has the option of working a long day later if he needs to work a short day, or he can start his day at whatever hour works best. I think flexibility is such a huge thing these days. To a lot of people flexibility is worth more than an extra few dollars an hour.

12

heh heh. I’m glad to see I’m not the only guy that thought about combining his political posts into some essays and trying to make a book out of it. Capitalism gives us these great ways to make some dough, don’t you think? :wink:

That’s a good thing. Start reading some Nietzsche and T.S. Eliot, start seperating from the herd, and do your own thing. That’s very admirable. Lots of guys get older and subscribe to the fact that the 9 to 5 is all that is in the cards for them; many of them I wish I could convince otherwise.

I would much rather do something I enjoy and get paid far less for it than make wonderful money and hate the shindig I’m at.

What’s that old quote about wanting to have the job where you never feel like you’re working? Go for it Canuck.