Career crossroads at almost 40.
February 7, 2024 11:25 AM Subscribe
Feeling disillusioned and lost about what to do for a living. Any guidance?
I'm 37 and moved to California back in 2018. I worked real hard and started out as a graphic designer for a retail print shop for a couple of years. When I needed to make more money, I found a Production Artist job in the entertainment advertising industry. I learned a lot but got laid off after a year. I was lucky to have a supportive supervisor, he reached out to another agency and I started again recently as a Production Artist.
The company is great but I haven't been inspired enough to move up to any other position. The industry is fast paced and I honestly haven't met anyone in the company that's been inspiring. I honestly feel like an alien in the company. It's especially worse because of my age. A lot of these designers are younger than I and it's been hard to understand the drive and passion they have. The industry is cutthroat and ever since the layoff last year, I really never feel secure with this job. I'm terrified that if I don't show any motivation or desire to move up in this company, they'll axe me. I've been with this company for 3 months now. The only position in the company I have genuine interest in is the illustrator/sketch artist.
I don't have a college degree and I have moderate experience with editing programs. My passion has been my pen and ink art that I've been doing my whole life. Though it can be lucrative through art sales/custom t-shirts - it's never going to be my main source of income.
I really have no idea where to go if this job doesn't work out. I don't know what other industry or job I can go for. I think I just want a day job that pays well so I can focus more on my own art.
There's so much anxiety around the fact that I'm almost 40 and I don't have a solid career that provides for me.
I'm asking for some guidance and maybe ideas for jobs that I could possibly look into? Or to just hear from people who are in the same situation.
Thank you
I'm 37 and moved to California back in 2018. I worked real hard and started out as a graphic designer for a retail print shop for a couple of years. When I needed to make more money, I found a Production Artist job in the entertainment advertising industry. I learned a lot but got laid off after a year. I was lucky to have a supportive supervisor, he reached out to another agency and I started again recently as a Production Artist.
The company is great but I haven't been inspired enough to move up to any other position. The industry is fast paced and I honestly haven't met anyone in the company that's been inspiring. I honestly feel like an alien in the company. It's especially worse because of my age. A lot of these designers are younger than I and it's been hard to understand the drive and passion they have. The industry is cutthroat and ever since the layoff last year, I really never feel secure with this job. I'm terrified that if I don't show any motivation or desire to move up in this company, they'll axe me. I've been with this company for 3 months now. The only position in the company I have genuine interest in is the illustrator/sketch artist.
I don't have a college degree and I have moderate experience with editing programs. My passion has been my pen and ink art that I've been doing my whole life. Though it can be lucrative through art sales/custom t-shirts - it's never going to be my main source of income.
I really have no idea where to go if this job doesn't work out. I don't know what other industry or job I can go for. I think I just want a day job that pays well so I can focus more on my own art.
There's so much anxiety around the fact that I'm almost 40 and I don't have a solid career that provides for me.
I'm asking for some guidance and maybe ideas for jobs that I could possibly look into? Or to just hear from people who are in the same situation.
Thank you
I think I just want a day job that pays well so I can focus more on my own art.
This is me, first of all. There are a lot of people out there who take this kind of easy-to-manage day job so that they can focus on the rest of their life. That's why I am an executive assistant instead of a stage manager these days.
So that said: when I was making this kind of decision, I took a step back from "what job should I do" and looked first at "what CAN I do". I took a look at the skill set I had, and tried to figure out if there was a different job I could apply that to. In my case, I had a bit of a natural advantage - I'd been doing EA work already as a "day job" while I was doing theater, and I'd already noticed that the skill sets were very similar. I'd even made a joke about that to some of my big corporate bosses (they ALWAYS would come up and ask me "so what does a stage manager actually DO, anyway"?). So once I'd made up my mind that actually, yes, I could continue being an executive assistant, then it was just a matter of finding an opening in a company that was doing something not actively evil; I spent the next ten years bopping around from finance to an NGO to a construction company to tech to now a local social work nonprofit. The industries were different, but my skill set is transferrable to all those positions, so I was able to pick and choose and hold out for "fuck no, I don't want to work for finance" or "dammit, working at a museum might be fun but the pay's too low for this job, I'll keep looking".
I'd do something similar; instead of thinking about "what industry should I try to get", I'd focus on "well, what can I do, and where can those skills be applied". You have an art skill set - maybe there's a graphics job in the marketing department of a company near you? Or if you've been a production artist and you liked the "whee I can play around making this place look pretty" but it was the "the schedule and everyone being bonkers around me was the pain" - maybe you could do something similar about production design for a corporate events space. Or maybe that could be spun into a job with a museum helping them design the layout of spaces.
You see what I'm saying though, yeah? Think about what you can do, and then think about what other jobs might use that same skill set. Not everyone will get it (I had several job interviews where I tried to sell people on the "I'm a stage manager and that's like an EA" concept but it was going right over their heads), but I did find a great fit - and, in fact, my last job they called me in for an interview BECAUSE they saw the SM experience (the head of HR moonlights as a director, in fact).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:43 PM on February 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
This is me, first of all. There are a lot of people out there who take this kind of easy-to-manage day job so that they can focus on the rest of their life. That's why I am an executive assistant instead of a stage manager these days.
So that said: when I was making this kind of decision, I took a step back from "what job should I do" and looked first at "what CAN I do". I took a look at the skill set I had, and tried to figure out if there was a different job I could apply that to. In my case, I had a bit of a natural advantage - I'd been doing EA work already as a "day job" while I was doing theater, and I'd already noticed that the skill sets were very similar. I'd even made a joke about that to some of my big corporate bosses (they ALWAYS would come up and ask me "so what does a stage manager actually DO, anyway"?). So once I'd made up my mind that actually, yes, I could continue being an executive assistant, then it was just a matter of finding an opening in a company that was doing something not actively evil; I spent the next ten years bopping around from finance to an NGO to a construction company to tech to now a local social work nonprofit. The industries were different, but my skill set is transferrable to all those positions, so I was able to pick and choose and hold out for "fuck no, I don't want to work for finance" or "dammit, working at a museum might be fun but the pay's too low for this job, I'll keep looking".
I'd do something similar; instead of thinking about "what industry should I try to get", I'd focus on "well, what can I do, and where can those skills be applied". You have an art skill set - maybe there's a graphics job in the marketing department of a company near you? Or if you've been a production artist and you liked the "whee I can play around making this place look pretty" but it was the "the schedule and everyone being bonkers around me was the pain" - maybe you could do something similar about production design for a corporate events space. Or maybe that could be spun into a job with a museum helping them design the layout of spaces.
You see what I'm saying though, yeah? Think about what you can do, and then think about what other jobs might use that same skill set. Not everyone will get it (I had several job interviews where I tried to sell people on the "I'm a stage manager and that's like an EA" concept but it was going right over their heads), but I did find a great fit - and, in fact, my last job they called me in for an interview BECAUSE they saw the SM experience (the head of HR moonlights as a director, in fact).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:43 PM on February 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
If you feel like the lack of a degree is holding you back, California offers free community college to residents.
posted by ananci at 4:10 PM on February 7, 2024
posted by ananci at 4:10 PM on February 7, 2024
Lisa Congdon, Wendy MacNaughton and Jen Hewett are three artists who worked other serious careers in the Bay Area for a long time while pursuing their art and then became fulltime working artists. It might be worth reading interviews and profiles about them to get some inspiration. Might be worth networking and connecting with other aspiring artists in your area to see what day jobs are working well for them.
posted by vunder at 6:33 PM on February 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by vunder at 6:33 PM on February 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
Though primarily Chicago-based (not entirely, though) I had tremendous success and satisfaction from Career Transitions Center. It was recommended to me by my doctor, oddly enough, who knew someone who used it. It's a nonprofit that helps people transition careers. Google the Chicago one, and have a look. Perhaps try to find something similar in your area?
My bullshit detector went off hard on this at first, but my doctor had no possible deceitful reason to point me to this. So I checked it out. As an unemployed person, the cost was only around $300 for four months I think. I did it all online. They had virtual groups with help in discovering just what the hell you want to do, then how to go about getting there. This all sounds facile, I know... but this was an extremely helpful thing for me. I learned my strengths, and most importantly, how to talk about myself easily. I learned how to answer every interview question with an anecdote about a "problem I faced in a past job, how I approached the problem and overcame it, and how the success looked like after that." Again, it sounds facile, but getting to be able to do this takes practice, and this place was great for getting insights to myself and being able to tell strangers about myself. The end result and what I got out of this training was ANYTHING but facile.
We had check-in groups and tons of Zoom-meeting type networking sessions full of other people in similar shoes to mine. It kept me motivated, it kept me looking and networking, I did "informational interviews" which is something I never would have been comfortable with before.
This particular org is like 30 years old, so they have a huge network of people who have used it in the past and were sympathetic to us current wanderers, and were truly generous and helpful. It took work, you have to put in the work, but having this 4 month timer made me extremely motivated, and the overall energy from other participants, coaches, etc was very high, usually very positive without fake sunshine crap, and I cannot recommend them enough.
I sound like I'm advertising for them, but I am not... I have no connection to them except for being an alum. I went from a 20 year career (miserable) as an art director in a hundred different ad agencies big and small (also encountering the fact that my colleagues just got younger and younger every year!) and moved into working at a nonprofit doing similar marketing/creative work. But this nonprofit respects my skills and time and doesn't expect me to work 60+ hours a week. I can't say I have a dream job, but I'm comfortable, more relaxed and in a much less volatile world than the ad agency insanity.
I was 51 when I started making this change. I had burned way, way, way out far longer ago, and finally had a meltdown, got out of the ad biz and worked for a few years at a fancy-pants garden center (loved it, but low pay and zero benefits). During my time at the garden center I did the career transitions thing.
Career Transitions Center is mostly Chicago based, but there were participants from the east coast as well, as everything is online nowadays. The skills I learned had nothing to do with geography, but most of their inner network was in this area. Maybe you can find something similar near you. At least check out CTC, it's worth talking to them. They are very personal, friendly and allow you to poke around, talk to real humans (it's all local), and there's no huge sales pitch. And in the end it cost around $400 because I did an optional paid course. 100% worth every penny.
I would just warn you to look out for similar-seeming places that are scams, though. Good luck.
posted by SoberHighland at 7:41 AM on February 8, 2024 [2 favorites]
My bullshit detector went off hard on this at first, but my doctor had no possible deceitful reason to point me to this. So I checked it out. As an unemployed person, the cost was only around $300 for four months I think. I did it all online. They had virtual groups with help in discovering just what the hell you want to do, then how to go about getting there. This all sounds facile, I know... but this was an extremely helpful thing for me. I learned my strengths, and most importantly, how to talk about myself easily. I learned how to answer every interview question with an anecdote about a "problem I faced in a past job, how I approached the problem and overcame it, and how the success looked like after that." Again, it sounds facile, but getting to be able to do this takes practice, and this place was great for getting insights to myself and being able to tell strangers about myself. The end result and what I got out of this training was ANYTHING but facile.
We had check-in groups and tons of Zoom-meeting type networking sessions full of other people in similar shoes to mine. It kept me motivated, it kept me looking and networking, I did "informational interviews" which is something I never would have been comfortable with before.
This particular org is like 30 years old, so they have a huge network of people who have used it in the past and were sympathetic to us current wanderers, and were truly generous and helpful. It took work, you have to put in the work, but having this 4 month timer made me extremely motivated, and the overall energy from other participants, coaches, etc was very high, usually very positive without fake sunshine crap, and I cannot recommend them enough.
I sound like I'm advertising for them, but I am not... I have no connection to them except for being an alum. I went from a 20 year career (miserable) as an art director in a hundred different ad agencies big and small (also encountering the fact that my colleagues just got younger and younger every year!) and moved into working at a nonprofit doing similar marketing/creative work. But this nonprofit respects my skills and time and doesn't expect me to work 60+ hours a week. I can't say I have a dream job, but I'm comfortable, more relaxed and in a much less volatile world than the ad agency insanity.
I was 51 when I started making this change. I had burned way, way, way out far longer ago, and finally had a meltdown, got out of the ad biz and worked for a few years at a fancy-pants garden center (loved it, but low pay and zero benefits). During my time at the garden center I did the career transitions thing.
Career Transitions Center is mostly Chicago based, but there were participants from the east coast as well, as everything is online nowadays. The skills I learned had nothing to do with geography, but most of their inner network was in this area. Maybe you can find something similar near you. At least check out CTC, it's worth talking to them. They are very personal, friendly and allow you to poke around, talk to real humans (it's all local), and there's no huge sales pitch. And in the end it cost around $400 because I did an optional paid course. 100% worth every penny.
I would just warn you to look out for similar-seeming places that are scams, though. Good luck.
posted by SoberHighland at 7:41 AM on February 8, 2024 [2 favorites]
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My local hospital also runs training for pharmacy technicians and ophthalmology technicians.
If you aren't opposed to looking at an associates degree program radiology techs are fairly in demand and can make pretty good money.
Good luck. Will be watching this space for ideas. My high school age daughter is also very into drawing but unsure if she wants to try for that as a career or do something else and keep the art as a passion project.
posted by MadMadam at 1:03 PM on February 7, 2024 [1 favorite]