searching for....something

April 9, 2009 10:03 AM

Zero to Career Change in 2 years flat? Long, vague and indecisive, with details and arbitrary personal restrictions inside. Hope me, strangers!

So last week I got laid off from my job as a video game designer. I had been really tried of sitting in an office for 40 hours a week anyway, so I'm taking this crisistunity to potentially go back to school and/or choose a new career path.

I had been working in the game industry for six years. My education is a BA in Anthropology from a liberal arts college. Besides being able to use a computer, I don't have much in-demand marketable skills. I'm 30 years old. And after 8 years of office work, I'm hoping to find a job that doesn't have me staring at a screen all day long.

So I got to thinking thinking about going back to school. Here's where things get complicated. My wife and I are expecting our first child this summer. And within 2-3 years we intend to move across the country (west coast -> east coast) to raise our family closer to our parents. So if I go back to school, I need a program which will: 1. take about 2/3 years, not 4+ years. 2. doesn't demand a ridiculous amount of my time, especially over this summer when mama & baby will be my highest priority. 3. doesn't cost 3 arms and 2 legs.

Some of my ideas and interests and why I'm hesitant to pursue them right now.

Pastry Chef: I have worked as a cook before, and I love kitchen work. Not really into working nights, weekends and holidays, tho.

Massage Therapist/Acupressure: I have a strong interest in TCM and Acupuncture, but I don't have the undergrad science chops to get into those fields right now. I am also not confident that Massage Therapy is really a wise/viable career option.

RN/Radiology Tech/Nutrition: I'm interested in healthcare, but lacking the undergrad science chops to make this happen quickly.

Teacher: I really like the thought of teaching. However, most of the teaching fellow programs in my area require a serious commitment over the summer, which is not in the cards for me this year.

Am I being unrealistic? Should I hold off on pursuing more education until after I move and we adjust to being parents so I can devote more time and energy to it?

posted by gnutron to education (9 comments total)

Should I hold off on pursuing more education until after I move and we adjust to being parents so I can devote more time and energy to it?

Yes.
posted by jquinby at 10:06 AM on April 9

Sorry, probably should elaborate a little: the first child is always epic and will draw a lot of your time and energy, especially during the first few months. There will be alot of change going on in life anway - moving, new family. Sounds like a whole lot of additional stress to take on.
posted by jquinby at 10:09 AM on April 9

I concur with jquinby.
posted by The World Famous at 10:14 AM on April 9

doesn't demand a ridiculous amount of my time, especially over this summer when mama & baby will be my highest priority

Children will have the least demand on you when they're newborn, 'cause all they do is poop, eat and sleep. It's when they start walking and talking that they really demand your time, so keep that in mind.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:17 AM on April 9

Community College Associates RN is 2+ years, very cheap, and you can do well with it. Here in Maine the waiting list is quite long to get in a program, almost as long as the program is itself. But that's very different depending on the area.

You can also do an accelerated RN program in about 14 months, but you have to have a bunch of prereqs done. So you can do them at a community college in 2 (very busy) semesters) and then do an accelerated program. Again, they are in demand and a lot of them only start once a year. But you end up with a bachelors in less time than it takes to do an associates.
posted by sully75 at 11:05 AM on April 9

Becoming a parent changes everything, from your daily routine to your stress level to the amount of money you have to your hopes, needs, wants and desires. It'll even change the way you dress, the way you eat, and the way you sleep.

Focus on stability for now; get a job you're good at that pays reasonably well, but doesn't over-tax your time. After your child is born and you're in the routine of things, you can start thinking about what the future holds.

Personal experience: once I knew my twins were on the way, I switched from a job that required a lot of travel and was exciting/challenging to one that was boring and local, but still in my industry. Not only did this allow me to focus all needed energy on my kids, but -- completely unexpectedly -- it turned into an exciting, challenging but still not time-intensive job within a few years, right when I was ready to start focusing on my job again. Lucrative, too. Meanwhile, I found having kids made me enjoy this industry more rather than less, and the extra money helps me pay for the kids, the things they need and want, and for the stuff I like to do now that I didn't have any interest in before I had kids. YMMV.
posted by davejay at 12:30 PM on April 9

Oh, and time frames for me, perhaps relevant to you: First two years of the kids' lives, it was all about them. Last year and a half, the level of attention my job can get (since the kids need a lot less) went up. And in the last half of a year, my interest in my (old and new) hobbies has come up.
posted by davejay at 12:31 PM on April 9 [1 favorite]

Dude - congrats on the pending baby and life-change. My advice would be that you should go ahead and start moving in whatever direction you feel best, but that you need to figure that out by yourself. I would recommend, however, that you start with something that you can do part-time while continuing to earn cash and that won't require going back to school.

I know that most of us think that getting a degree or training/qualifications is the best way to start a new career but you probably don't really want to start at the bottom and work your way all the back up to a decent level, competing with people 10-14 years younger than you with no time restrictions or family commitments.

My actual suggestion for you right now: start your own company doing what you were doing in that office for the last 8 years. The difference between working for someone else and working for yourself is night and day and, if you're successful, you'll soon be delegating all the work and spending most of your time just growing and managing the business.

Or, start a fertilizer company, or anything else that will get you out of the office environment, if that's what's really important to you. If what's really important to you is just the whole 'going back to school' thing. Then do a correspondence course or something.

Good luck!
posted by gwpcasey at 2:49 PM on April 9

If you want to pursue the RN/etc. thing, you might want to start by working on some of those undergrad science classes at your local university/community college. That way, you can feel out that path while still having a job and more time for you family. My mother went back to school for her nursing degree when my brothers and I were little kids by starting with the basics at a community college. Research some nursing/whatever programs and see what they suggest.
posted by MadamM at 6:29 PM on April 9