Is changing career as terrifying as it seems?

amandacat

I worked in care for a couple years, then customer service/admin for 5 years before I decided I wanted to be a Nurse, gave up a full time salary to do my nursing degree, which was a risk but by my third year decided it wasn’t the career for me. I finished the degree and briefly did some nursing work before moving to the financial sector for a couple of years. I then decided education was my calling and stopped work to complete a PGCE teaching qualification for a year. I then moved into the further education and have been doing this for 10 years and love it. Moral of my story, I’ve made several career changes and many were wrong for me but I spent a long time in jobs I hated before finally finding something I don’t dread getting out of bed for.

gomer

Initially it was a bit scary but like everything, the thought of doing it is a lot scarier than actually doing it. Once i did it i found it exciting and new. I loved it.

annetheman

Nope. I've changed my field of work (albeit in the same industry - pharma) so many times, managers don't know what to do with me.
I've worked in the legal side, then in operations, then in diagnostics, then in sales, then in medical affairs.

And you know what that has given me? Total freedom to choose a path that is completely to my liking - and potentially change it if it isn't. I would be restricted to one "field" e.g. legal if I hadn't taken the risk each time of going for something I definitely had no experience in but all the enthusiasm in the world.
I must say there was an element of luck involved, as at every turn I was underqualified but leveraged transferable skills.

If you are lucky enough to be able to go into different fields, I would definitely do it. You will only open up more options for yourself in future, and who knows - you might actually need those options.

My company's UK office is facing headcount cuts, but I have been offered a job in San Francisco and another at a central London firm because I took all those risks and dipped in and out of everywhere whilst I could - my only problem now is too much choice!

For all my UK colleagues who stayed in their lane e.g. only have regulatory backgrounds, they're going to all be applying for exactly the same job soon - don't let that be future you.

zehua

If you are ready, then do it quickly. Otherwise, stay still.

worried_jim

You are along time dead, whatever you do, be happy doing it. If you get paid for being happy too, what a bonus. Go for it!

trailingspouse

You ask if it's as terrifying as it seems.


Some people are terrified of spiders when (here in the UK at least) there's absolutely no need to be. I know someone who is terrified of going over bridges. Other people will jump out of planes with nothing but a bit of silk to stop them plummeting to the earth. I think we all have to decide our own level of fear and work accordingly.

suki1964

The job for life mindset does seem so terribly British

Its very common for Americans for example to have 2 or 3 or even more careers in their lifetime

dimestorediamond

Yeah, honestly it felt completely terrifying to me. ( I went from a skills based self employed career - the kind you do an apprenticeship for and moved into the civil service in a policy type position) BUT, 2.5 years later, I cannot believe I let that fear allow me to take so long to take the leap. It was fine. You will be fine too! I know now that I have done it once, I could absolutely do it again if the time or inclination came upon me

Murphybear

About 30 years ago, when I was 38, I was stuck in a job I hated. I took the bull by the horns and left. I enrolled at a local college to do a course that was admin and office technology. This included computer usage, word processing and typewriting. It was one of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry courses which had a first class reputation

Back then rules about claiming benefits were very different. The course was paid for, I got unemployment benefit and my mortgage (interest only) paid. They could do this because I was training for a skills shortage.

The course was brilliant and I found myself helping a lot of the other students. As a result of this they suggested I take another course to train as a teacher of Word Processing. I did this and they offered me work teaching evening classes. I got paid £25 an hour which was pretty good for 30 years ago.

The icing on the cake was that the LCCI awarded prizes for their courses and I got the first prize for my course . I still have the silver medal

Armed with this I found a brilliant job with a charity and only left it to move out of London with my new partner. My new skills and experienced landed me a brilliant job at a University and I never looked back.

The year I was at college was hard as I had very little money. I had basic food and didn’t go out much. It was worth every little bit of hardship and I still have the skills I learnt.

ThemeOne

A lot depends on your financial situation and your personality.

If you have high monthly outgoings which can't be reduced then a change of career can be a challenge as it nearly always means a reduction in income, even if only temporarily.

If you have a risk-averse personality, then the stress of it might just prove too much, particularly as there will almost always be a few bumps in the road.

I changed career so many times and didn't even have a permanent job for the last 20 years of work, and had a much more interesting and fulfilling life as a result. But I only had myself to support, and never aspired to a high-spending lifestyle.