Need (mid-life) Career Advice 5

[legersalazar]

I'm 33 y/o, making good money analyzing private jets interiors structures, bored to death and I feel like I'm working for the devil.

I want to do something new where I can find intellectual challenge, be creative and inline with my core values (humanity & the environment).

My main problem is that I have too many fields of interest and cannot seem to be able to make a decision. I'm at cross-roads and I feel totally paralyzed.

Any advice? Any books suggestions?

 

[urgross]

If you are used to working for the devil, want to be creative, and can't make up your mind I would suggest looking into being an architect.

 

[ornerynorsk]

Peace Corp?

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[bigTomHanks]

Work to live, not live to work. Get a hobby, family, take vacations, etc. etc. etc. Be thankful you have the means and an easy job that will allow you to have a life outside of work.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Sounds like Déjà vu all over again. I changed careers myself when I was 33 years old, back in 1980.

I left what had been a very rewarding 14 year job as a Machine Designer working in the R&D department of a large manufacturer of commerical Food & Chemical machinery. I sold my house located in a medium sized Midwest city. Packed up my wife and three sons (the oldest being 10 years old) and moved 2000 miles from Michigan to SoCal and took a job selling software for the automation division of a huge aerospace company. And while I'm currently on my 27th business card, I'm still with the same organization (which in 33 years has been sliced, diced, sold, spun-off, repurchased, merged, sold to vulture capitalists and finally sold again) although I did move from sales to development 26 years ago (after all, I am an engineer). But I can safely say that I've never regretted a minute of it although it was disruptive at first for the family, if for no other reason than the culture shock of moving from the Midwest to the 'Left Coast' and leaving the rest of your family behind. But as I said, it was the right thing to do at the time and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. That being said, I'm not saying that my situation was typical, far from it, just that whatever you do, don't ever look back. In for a penny, in for a pound.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[casseopeia]

I'll take bored to death for good money.
I'll take very little money for personal reward, satisfaction, self-direction, and happiness.
I'll even take bored to death for adequate money without having to worry every day if I will be fired.
But I have not found any of those options.

What I have found is worked to death for little money,micro management, no personal satisfaction, and despair. I definitely do not have the answer for you but I wish you luck.

If you are offended by the things I say, imagine the stuff I hold back.

 

[spongebob007]

Worked to death for good money gets old fast. Lately I am thinking I would take a 20% pay cut if I were guaranteed never to have to work over 40 hours a week.

 

[legersalazar]

Thank you all for your input.

One of the main problems I find in my job is that the incentive is backwards.

I am a highly efficient employee.
I get paid by the hour.
I also get paid 1.5 OT.
I am encouraged (almost forced) to work OT, which leaves me little time to spend on my hobbies but increases significantly my income.
I know I can get the work done in half the time I'm asked to, so knowing this I feel like half of the time I'm just a prisoner in an office, a hostage of the system and this is where it gets depressing.
When I say I work for the devil is mainly because I feel guilty that they're throwing money at me for sitting there "doing my time", while others are struggling to survive.
I wish I could work intensively half a day (for the same pay) and get out and do more fulfilling things.

 

[Cevers1988]

Whyowhy,

I read that last post, it rings loud and clear with me too! I started up my own LTD to try and bypass this, hoping to find similar minded (not going to be difficult, me thinks ) engineers who want to take control of their own careers. Working for the 'Fat Cats' does nothing but sterilise the inovation and creativity of our abilities.

Given the opportunity; would you risk the steady for management by objective? Paid on delivery, on time and to scope? Take on the chin any failures personally rather than from the 'Budget'?

Evo

 

[ztengguy]

On a side note, as engineers we have allowed ourselves to be bullied into working OT just so the project can be done, the contractor can get it built, and the owner can start making money faster.

So everyone else is getting rich why engineers are working their butts off for good money, but not rich money.

I get paid to work 40 hours a week.

 

[sibeen]

So everyone else is getting rich why engineers are working their butts off for good money, but not rich money.

I get paid to work 40 hours a week.


So render unto Caesar your 40+ hours, and then spend the rest of your free time into developing your own company.

It is quite easy.

1. You start out with no income.
2. You work 80 to 100 hours a week.
3. You spend all your initial capital (savings).
4. You eventually get some work, such that 80 hours a week seems a dream.
5. You begin to hire staff.
6. After they have to work a grueling 42 hour week, your staff start complaining about you being a rich, fat bastard.

 

[legersalazar]

@Cevers1988

"Working for the 'Fat Cats' does nothing but sterilize the innovation and creativity of our abilities. " - very well said!

"Given the opportunity; would you risk the steady for management by objective? Paid on delivery, on time and to scope? Take on the chin any failures personally rather than from the 'Budget'?" - I've been dreaming about this for a while now. I'd even settle for working from home by myself, where I can work 2 hours and bill 8 (if my work is showing the results). But in this industry data confidentiality is an issue and the "fat cats" want us to be on site, locked between 4 walls clocking the clock.

I have my own company for onsite contracting purposes, but it seems like the old guys (long time friends with the VPs) get all the offsite contracts. How can I compete with that?

 

[ztengguy]

@sibeen. I am not looking to get to be a fat cat. I enjoy my time off from work.

It just seems engineers are expected and accept that the work week is much more than 40 hours.

 

[tygerdawg]

I'm 33 y/o

Ha, I gently suggest that you need a reality check, Bud. 33 ain't "mid-life." I suspect that when you get to be 50+ you'll wish you had this job because you will have developed your "life after work" by that time.

Back to the issue at hand: if you're not happy doing what you're doing, then do something else. Unless there are extenuating circumstances that require you to stick it out. It really is as simple as that, don't agonize over it.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[TheTick]

One of the most important things to do at this (or any) point in your career is to adjust expectations to reality. We are engineers, after all. We traffic in manipulating reality, not wishes and magic.

What makes you think "the devil" isn't also running enterprises in environmental hoo-hah and green tech?

 

[Jboggs]

It sounds to me like you're ready for a bigger slice of the responsibility where you are. I have found when i get bored on a job that if I look around (and often upwards) long enough I uncover more than enough to keep me mentally challenged. Have you looked around for management, sales, or other opportunities where you are now? You already know the business.

And I have to ask - do you call them "the devil" because they are profit-making capitalists, and you are part of that process? Frankly I wouldn't be surprised at that feeling from someone whose core values are, as you say, "humanity and the environment". Not trying to start a row, just curious.

 

[legersalazar]

@Jboggs

I call them the devil in part because I believe that a considerable share of our customers are world class criminals.

Nothing wrong with capitalist money-making businesses as long as you don't make profit by harming others. Is that too idealistic?