Surprising career changes
April 7, 2022 12:07 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for stories of successful, happiness-increasing, consciously made (not fallen into by circumstance, but an informed choice) career changes that happened in an unexpected direction. Stories where there isn't an obvious presumed explanation along the lines of "well they presumably did that for the peacefulness/ status/ conventional consensus of rewardingness/big bucks".
I was watching a confusingly introduced "happy news bit" on an ambulance driver/paramedic who retrained a psychotherapist which is no doubt a lovely career change for them, but I must admit I was disappointed to not hear the story of a psychotherapist (perceived as a "stable, rewarding, meaningful, esteemed" job) who for reasons of their own decided ambulance life (super important but often perceived as thankless, brief high-stress interactions, little patient continuity, particularly during a pandemic) was better for them and found this to be true.
Does anyone have their own story of successful career changes in an unexpected direction? Things that seem a bit odd to others ("why did you stop doing that for that?") but make sense and worked out for you?
I was watching a confusingly introduced "happy news bit" on an ambulance driver/paramedic who retrained a psychotherapist which is no doubt a lovely career change for them, but I must admit I was disappointed to not hear the story of a psychotherapist (perceived as a "stable, rewarding, meaningful, esteemed" job) who for reasons of their own decided ambulance life (super important but often perceived as thankless, brief high-stress interactions, little patient continuity, particularly during a pandemic) was better for them and found this to be true.
Does anyone have their own story of successful career changes in an unexpected direction? Things that seem a bit odd to others ("why did you stop doing that for that?") but make sense and worked out for you?
The "How I Built This" podcast has a substantial number of stories like this; if you are open to non-MeFite tales, maybe leave a clarifying comment saying so, and I can point to specific episodes.
posted by brainwane at 1:06 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by brainwane at 1:06 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Not me, but I have two close friends make complete changes to become registered nurses from other careers. The first one worked at (I believe) a pharmaceutical company - don't remember her exact position, but it was a middle-management desk job, and she realized she would rather be in a job where she helped people. So she left her job and went for her nursing degree.
Another friend of ours was an elementary school English teacher, watched our friend go through this and be so happy with the change, and realized that she could do that too - and a few years later she also became an RN.
I think the pandemic threw them both for a loop a bit, and I don't think either of them find their jobs less stressful or significantly better paying than their old ones, but neither of them regrets their decision as far as I know.
posted by Mchelly at 1:09 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Another friend of ours was an elementary school English teacher, watched our friend go through this and be so happy with the change, and realized that she could do that too - and a few years later she also became an RN.
I think the pandemic threw them both for a loop a bit, and I don't think either of them find their jobs less stressful or significantly better paying than their old ones, but neither of them regrets their decision as far as I know.
posted by Mchelly at 1:09 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I worked as a national sales coordinator for a multinational appliance manufacturing company. I worked my way up from a temp position in customer service. After working at the company for a while, I was wildly miserable - SO miserable that I would find myself in tears of frustration more often than not. Coincidentally, my then-partner was starting a new job and we had a bit of savings.. so I quit. We relocated to another city for my partner's job and I decided to go back to school. We adopted kids who had been impacted by drug use in their biological family.
Long story short, after 2 years of college (where I intended to graduate and work with kids in the foster care system) I did a field placement with an agency where I was doing harm reduction-focused outreach to people who use drugs. I did it because my academic advisor told me it would help me build empathy (I was so angry at my kids' biological mother!) and because it would look good on a resume. Before I had finished school, I was hired to create and run a similar outreach program. I loved it so much.
Fast forward a chunk of years, and I now run what is commonly known as a safe injection site. It is very much NOT a corporate gig. It is very much NOT about money or sales. It is messy and human and political and stressful and controversial (to some).
If you had asked me 20 years ago whether I would have considered this as a career, I would have laughed at you. But.. when people hear that I previously worked "in the corporate world" they usually laugh - I do not fit that profile naturally. I am far, far happier than I ever expected to be at work, despite the heaviness of what I do. My career path has been very intentional but also fully unintentional, if that makes sense. It's been a wild ride so far.
posted by VioletU at 2:48 PM on April 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
Long story short, after 2 years of college (where I intended to graduate and work with kids in the foster care system) I did a field placement with an agency where I was doing harm reduction-focused outreach to people who use drugs. I did it because my academic advisor told me it would help me build empathy (I was so angry at my kids' biological mother!) and because it would look good on a resume. Before I had finished school, I was hired to create and run a similar outreach program. I loved it so much.
Fast forward a chunk of years, and I now run what is commonly known as a safe injection site. It is very much NOT a corporate gig. It is very much NOT about money or sales. It is messy and human and political and stressful and controversial (to some).
If you had asked me 20 years ago whether I would have considered this as a career, I would have laughed at you. But.. when people hear that I previously worked "in the corporate world" they usually laugh - I do not fit that profile naturally. I am far, far happier than I ever expected to be at work, despite the heaviness of what I do. My career path has been very intentional but also fully unintentional, if that makes sense. It's been a wild ride so far.
posted by VioletU at 2:48 PM on April 7, 2022 [10 favorites]
Po Bronson's book What Should I Do With My Life has several stories like this.
I work in the nonprofit advocacy world and know several people who have left those careers to do something more hands-on. One is in an apprenticeship to be an electrician and one is a bus driver. Both of them are very practical, hands-on people so it makes sense they'd be happier in a job where they can really see/feel the fruits of their labor. Both jobs are lower-status in some circles but pay roughly the same amount eventually. (Electrician may pay more, depending)
posted by lunasol at 4:00 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I work in the nonprofit advocacy world and know several people who have left those careers to do something more hands-on. One is in an apprenticeship to be an electrician and one is a bus driver. Both of them are very practical, hands-on people so it makes sense they'd be happier in a job where they can really see/feel the fruits of their labor. Both jobs are lower-status in some circles but pay roughly the same amount eventually. (Electrician may pay more, depending)
posted by lunasol at 4:00 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I left a non-profit gig that had a pretty clear path to leapfrogging into project management, to take a lower-paid library gig while getting my MLS. The lower-paid gig ended up lasting 8 years. I had very specific requirements for moving on, but I'm now in a faculty librarian position that's more-or-less exactly where I was hoping to be almost a decade ago when I decided the non-profit world wasn't for me.
posted by aspersioncast at 5:20 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by aspersioncast at 5:20 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
You might find some stories that interest you in The Guardian's A new start after 60 series.
posted by Erinaceus europaeus at 6:13 PM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Erinaceus europaeus at 6:13 PM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
My husband left his career as an air traffic control supervisor to become a nurse at 36 years old. It was an enormous pay and benefits cut (more than 50%), and I don't think most of his friends and family saw the move as an obvious career "upgrade" in any traditional sense, especially since he didn't dislike being an air traffic controller. As a career and life move though, it's been WILDLY successful. He is happy and fulfilled by his work in a way that was just never possible in a different career--He was meant to be a nurse, it just took him a while to figure it out.
posted by mjcon at 6:44 PM on April 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by mjcon at 6:44 PM on April 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
Read this recently, I think I'll be up your alley: https://www.mamamia.com.au/women-in-mining/
posted by foxjacket at 7:10 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by foxjacket at 7:10 PM on April 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Lawyer turned baker: https://www.missioncollaborative.com/post/2020/01/01/from-lawyer-to-baker-how-i-created-my-dream-career
Professor turned Twitter Aphorist:
https://items.ssrc.org/from-our-fellows/from-phd-to-twitter-fame-a-conversation-with-eric-jarosinski-aka-neinquarterly-3/
posted by Former Congressional Representative Lenny Lemming at 7:15 PM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
Professor turned Twitter Aphorist:
https://items.ssrc.org/from-our-fellows/from-phd-to-twitter-fame-a-conversation-with-eric-jarosinski-aka-neinquarterly-3/
posted by Former Congressional Representative Lenny Lemming at 7:15 PM on April 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
I used to be a lecturer at a very expensive "Brand Education" college where I started the multimedia department.
I became head of the digital skills department and some people were hinting that I should apply for the school manager job.
I love teaching, and I think I'm not that bad at managing people, but being in management was absolutely hideous, and I also couldn't take all the Brand Management Evangelising.
Totally not my thing. I survived by finding the students who were artists and not advertisers, and creating a sort of safe space for them.
But I was very unhappy. My husband was a freelance sound engineer at that time and I earned almost all of our income. So it seemed crazy to quit without any idea what I would do next. But that's what I did.
I also started writing fiction at that time.
Several other schools tried to head hunt me but I couldn't bear the idea of going back to the same type of thing, even though I was terrified of not knowing how I would earn an income.
Then I heard of an online school that needed someone to write course content, and teach the course online.
I've been working for them ever since. I work from home with very flexible hours, and it means I have time to write fiction. I've written and published nine fantasy and science fiction books since then.
No job security at all! But it's been a lot better for me.
My husband moved from sound engineering to teaching design at a school for the Deaf. He had to learn sign language. He's a fantastic teacher.
posted by Zumbador at 8:51 PM on April 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
I became head of the digital skills department and some people were hinting that I should apply for the school manager job.
I love teaching, and I think I'm not that bad at managing people, but being in management was absolutely hideous, and I also couldn't take all the Brand Management Evangelising.
Totally not my thing. I survived by finding the students who were artists and not advertisers, and creating a sort of safe space for them.
But I was very unhappy. My husband was a freelance sound engineer at that time and I earned almost all of our income. So it seemed crazy to quit without any idea what I would do next. But that's what I did.
I also started writing fiction at that time.
Several other schools tried to head hunt me but I couldn't bear the idea of going back to the same type of thing, even though I was terrified of not knowing how I would earn an income.
Then I heard of an online school that needed someone to write course content, and teach the course online.
I've been working for them ever since. I work from home with very flexible hours, and it means I have time to write fiction. I've written and published nine fantasy and science fiction books since then.
No job security at all! But it's been a lot better for me.
My husband moved from sound engineering to teaching design at a school for the Deaf. He had to learn sign language. He's a fantastic teacher.
posted by Zumbador at 8:51 PM on April 7, 2022 [5 favorites]
I left a really cushy job in tech to go back to undergrad so I could do pre-med, then med school, and now I'm about halfway through my post-grad training to become an ICU doctor. Coincidentally, of course, COVID hit in the middle of all of this.
As my parents would say (they were not exactly on board when I quit my job), I left a position that was a dream job for many people to take on a ton of debt, make very little money (at least for the first 12 years), and work insane hours. But I'm happy. It's a lot easier to work 80 hours/week doing something you love than 40 hours/week doing something you don't care about.
posted by telegraph at 3:26 AM on April 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
As my parents would say (they were not exactly on board when I quit my job), I left a position that was a dream job for many people to take on a ton of debt, make very little money (at least for the first 12 years), and work insane hours. But I'm happy. It's a lot easier to work 80 hours/week doing something you love than 40 hours/week doing something you don't care about.
posted by telegraph at 3:26 AM on April 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
hotcoroner, upon further review I am not sure how suitable How I Built This is, since everyone they talk with is someone who did achieve a certain level of big bucks or status through founding something that became a substantial organization, even if that's not why they initially went in that direction. And it's been a while since I listened to a lot of it and I don't see transcripts so it's hard to refresh my memory of folks' journeys. To my recollection, Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, and Jane Wurwand, founder of Dermalogica, had paths that kind of rhyme with what you are seeking, but I can't confirm. Apologies for my earlier blithe confidence!
posted by brainwane at 8:14 AM on April 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by brainwane at 8:14 AM on April 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
An acquaintance of mine worked in one of the big management consulting firms, and was finding it dissatisfying -- and one of his parents fell ill, and he was impressed by how well medical staff cared for them. He chose to become a doctor and is now practicing as a doctor. I believe he is experiencing some satisfaction now but also some dissatisfaction. Both junior management consultants and physicians often see people making substantial self-destructive errors, and are kind of in a position to help them, but have pretty limited power to influence them and change that path, and I think that wears on him.
posted by brainwane at 8:20 AM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by brainwane at 8:20 AM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
But my work-life balance is great, I love my coworkers, and I don't cry during my commute to work anymore. I lost a pervasive sense of existential dread, and enjoy my life so much more, even if I have had to trim my budget down SO MUCH and am losing out on things like my season tickets to the theater, fancy and frequent vacations, and unlimited takeout.
I get asked if I miss the challenge of fintech, or the salary, and honestly, nah. The drop in pay was offset by better PTO and 401k matching, and not having to work for vampires anymore. I probably underestimated how squeezed I would feel financially, and how complicated my work would be, but I'd absolutely make the same change again. I'm truly proud of the work that we do.
posted by punchtothehead at 12:52 PM on April 7, 2022 [8 favorites]