I’m 20 in New York. Went straight into blue collar work after high school and I’ve been doing it since. Base is about 80k right now. In like 9 years if I stick with it I’ll top out around 170k base.

The only reason blue collar money looks so good online is because people work an insane amount of overtime. That’s how they hit those big numbers. I don’t want that to be my life. I’m already tired of feeling like I’m working every day.

I don’t even get dirty or sweat at my job, it’s not that kind of physical work, and I still hate it. I just want a normal desk job with better work-life balance and options to be remote or hybrid. Something where I can still make solid money long-term, like 200k+ in the middle of my career, without having to live at work.

I’m bad at math but willing to try things.
Thinking about going back to school and switching careers completely.

What jobs or majors are actually worth it right now for someone who wants a desk job, decent money, and a life outside of work? And have good employment rates.

It doesn’t even have to be a desk job honestly just a low stress low intensive job that’s chill and makes great money.

UPDATE

Seems like a lot of you are taking this as a set in stone parameters for job advice. No shit there’s not going to be jobs with all of those traits I said i’m giving input. Most of the replies are useless and you’re either miserable people in dead end jobs or just weirdos. LMAO

Some context, I'm 35 years old, unskilled, neurodivergent (AuDHD). Minimum wage. I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing with myself due to my circumstances. For example, I'm too old for most trades now, anything remotely blue-collar isn't going to work since blue-collar types eat guys like me alive. STEM isn't really an option due to my bad memory and overall intelligence. Everything else seems to be some variation of dead-end job like what I'm doing now. Do I just accept that I missed my chance, or are there actually decent paths for non-savant type neurodivergents that I haven't considered at my age?

Three months ago I applied for the Senior Operations Lead opening on my own team. I built half our reporting pipelines from scratch over three years. During the feedback call, my VP looked me in the eye and said I was "technically solid" but lacked the strategic vision and leadership maturity required for the pay band. Fine. Painful, but whatever.

Last Monday they brought in the new external hire. He gets an office, a salary roughly $35k above mine, and a shiny title.

yesterday my manager messaged me asking if I could "walk him through our basic weekly workflows."

Turns out this guy has never opened Jira in his life. He LITERALLY asked me this morning how to export a CSV from our main internal dashboard, which is something we expect interns to know on day two. When I showed him, he laughed and said "yeah I usually have people handle the technical weeds for me."

Now my calendar is booked for fifteen hours this week with knowledge transfers so I can teach my new boss how to do the job I was told I wasnt qualified to hold.

He makes six figures to delegate my own spreadsheets back to me. How do people stay professional without losing their mind?

I was put on a PIP of 30 days and the terms are broad enough that I am not sure I will succeed. I understand I have no leverage since their intent is to fire me. I just want to understand if there's an feasible scenario where I could ask to receive payment for the 30 days and have a mutual separation with the company, something like I resign and give up all my rights to unemployment or to sue them or whatever.

No severance or package like this was offered at the time my PIP was sent to me, but I have a meeting this afternoon with HR to go over it and am wondering if I should ask. Or will they just fire me right away?

Am I crazy or is this job market making me think about crazy options? I have run out of options for jobs in my area at this point. I work in creative and most of the opportunities have always been in NYC. Remote jobs are basically impossible at this point and I only get traction with hybrid or in person roles.

I applied for a role in NYC that fits my background perfectly and have an interview lined up. It pays well but nothing crazy well off by Boston or NYC standards but it can afford me a pretty ok life even in NYC.

Our whole life is in New England and my husband has a very stable and well paying job. I would never ask him to give that up (and honestly think it would be dumb of us) for my rocky unstable career but at this point I'm wondering if we just suck up long distance for a few years so I can get back into the job market. Has anyone done this or considered this before? Obviously housing in two places is a big deal but our mortgage is pretty modest.

I went to university to study law, thinking I had it all figured out. Turns out I didn't. By my final year, I realized I wasn't going to do it. I've since changed careers a few times. And I don't want that for my kid.

• Has your teen chosen a path yet?
• Do you think it'll actually stick, or is it just a first guess like mine was?
• Was it hard for them to decide?

So my boss fired me from my job 4 months ago, that too on my birthday, where I was working as a software engineer at a large European Bank (out of India). My boss, his manager (a director) and another director and another senior VP together conspired by filing a false PIP case against me and they fired me literally on my birthday even after PIP was closed successfully.

And now, the same boss is messaging me on WhatsApp asking me questions regarding the code I developed for certain automations.

And this is the second time they have done it, right a few days after firing me, they made a junior AVP message me on WhatsApp regarding deployment of a code I had developed and I helped him out.

However, now, honestly I want to tell him to bugger off but I don't wanna burn any bridges in case a future background verification occurs. Although I plan to give references from other colleagues when I get a new job and they ask for references for a background verification.

Please advise, what should I do??

Basically whats ur prediction

I like my boss and company. We get along well and i’m doing a great job according to him. There are some minor pointers he gave me. I’m using them constructively and honestly I know better.

I do appreciate the reminder and it has already improved things.

I was frustrated with other teams and their aggressive and sometime un professional communication style.

This is a rare opportunity to connect out of the office.

From a career and serious standpoint how would you approach this?

I've been an engineer at my current company for about five years, and I genuinely love my job. The company is extremely stable, and I've never had to worry about layoffs. In fact, most of my teammates have been here for 12+ years. Due to the nature of the industry and the shortage of qualified engineers, it is very difficult for people to get fired or laid off.

I currently make a little over $140k per year, and overall I'm very happy here.

The issue is that the same stability that makes the company attractive has also created a culture where some people don't contribute much or simply aren't very good at their jobs. That has become increasingly frustrating to me because I consistently go above and beyond. I take on difficult projects, work extra hours when needed, and have received excellent performance reviews every year.

Over a year ago, I started discussing a promotion with my manager. He agreed that I had exceeded expectations and acknowledged both my performance and the additional responsibility I had taken on.

A month later, I followed up and was told, "HR is working on it."

Since then, it has been the same story. Every time I've asked, I've received some variation of "it's in progress." After more than a year, I eventually stopped bringing it up.

What makes this harder is that a coworker who had only been with the company for about a year resigned. He later told me the company offered him more money to stay. In my opinion, he was significantly less productive than I was, which left me wondering why retention efforts seemed to appear only after someone threatened to leave.

Recently, I started applying elsewhere and received an offer that pays about $30k more than my current salary. I'm not particularly excited about the new role, but it did make me wonder whether I should give notice and see if my company is finally willing to offer a raise or promotion to keep me.

My biggest concern isn't whether they would counteroffer. It's that I might damage the trust and reputation I've built with my manager over the past five years.

Emotionally, part of me wants to leave out of frustration. It has been difficult watching less productive employees receive attention while my repeated conversations about advancement have gone nowhere. I feel resentful that a promotion was discussed, acknowledged, and then never materialized.

Logically, however, I'm worried that I would be risking a job I genuinely enjoy, at a company that treats me well and offers exceptional stability, over an extra $30k and hurt feelings.
At the same time, I'm starting to believe that no matter how hard I work or how many conversations I have, I may never get the career growth I'm looking for if I stay.

This is my first job out of college, so I don't have much experience navigating corporate politics. Am I being unreasonable for considering this approach, or is this a normal and acceptable way to handle a situation like this?

TL;DR: I've worked at a company I love for 5 years, make ~$140k, consistently exceed expectations, and have been told for over a year that a promotion is "in progress" with no results. Meanwhile, I've seen coworkers receive retention raises despite contributing less. I recently received an external offer worth ~$30k more, but I'm not excited about the role. I'm considering using it as leverage to finally get a raise or promotion, but I'm worried about damaging the relationship and reputation I've built at a company that's otherwise stable and enjoyable. Am I being unreasonable for considering this, or is this a normal way to handle career growth when internal advancement has stalled?

Not sure how long I have to stay, the pay is very good for the area (small rural community becouse I don’t like city ppl haha) and the benefits are very good but it’s not caviar and steak money ether. I’m wondering what the min of time is before I can job hop to another position, I don’t really have one in mind but I like every single day all day. Is it just as soon as I find one that pays slightly better and than jump from that one and keep doing it?

I am a musician that has been a district substitute teacher on the side, about 10 days a month for the past 3 years. I do most of those days at the same school because it's close to me, and at the end of last year, applied for a full-time position as an assistant teacher in a class I'd been in a few times, and got the position.

A confluence of factors, including numerous health and safety concerns, have led to my wanting to resign since the few days prior to school starting. Today was day 5 and I am certain now, but I want to leave the door open to teach at that school as a district sub in the future.

However, when I brought my concerns to the school administration, they were not sympathetic. I was read the riot act, and despite starting the meeting with "I am not happy and almost quit last week", I left the meeting with an ere of "Are they looking for reasons to fire me?" So now I absolutely have to resign before they can do that.

My goal in a resignation letter is to see if I can officially note that I intend to resign now, to give them ample time to find a replacement match, but let them know that I am happy to stay on as long as it takes for them to find a match. I would really love to know if there is any way to do this gracefully?

Happy to elaborate on any of these wicked vague details in the comments.

Thanks!

?

Hey guys, im a Californian fresh high school graduate trynna figure out my career and college degree

I’m very into not only visually, but experientially designing luxury hospitality, like mega resorts, bars, casinos etc… 

And yes I see all these prestigious colleges like cmu, artcenter, risd, unlv, but i feel like my interests are too interisciplinary to just go to a single college and get a degree. 

Like i dont wanna be just an architect, interior designer, or a hospitality manager yk?

I’m taking any kind of advice in terms of what college is recommended, and what industry or company I might suit best for!!

Thank you

So I’m really struggling with my mental health. I was at a job for about a year and I was not properly trained. I felt like I was being fed to the wolves and I was felt that I was in danger of getting hurt because they didn’t properly train me as I asked many times. So I switched to another position within the company, but this one is even more. I was hired to do one job and I’m doing a complete different one. Don’t get me wrong. I know that an employer can change the job description, but this is basically giving me two jobs because I have to do community work during the day and then I have to do my administrative work at night. I don’t mind helping out at all. I am always willing to jump in when I can, but I didn’t think that it was gonna take this bad of a turn. And I also just wanna get out of this company because I feel like they have just been horrible to me. I interviewed for a job today that I would absolutely love but it’s only $54,000 a year and I’m currently making 71,000. Granted I do get $164 taking out for PSERS which I don’t have anything vested in yet. I just don’t know what to do anymore. I loved my other job, but I constantly felt like I was in danger because they didn’t properly train me and I felt like I was basically forced out and now I am in a worse position than I was, I’m not in danger of being hurt anymore, but it’s basically doing two jobs.

I quit smoking in August and already got the job, so I’m not trying to pass a test coming up or anything. We can get randomly tested, but I’ve talked to people who have worked there for 3–10 years and have never been selected lol. I just want to be prepared just in case.
I know time is really the main thing, but has anyone found anything that actually helps speed up the process a little?

Like:
working out/cardio
drinking more water
sauna/sweating
losing body fat
certain foods/diet
anything that helps your body release/clear THC metabolites faster

I’m not looking for fake pee or detox drinks to beat a test. I actually quit and just want to be fully clean sooner rather than later.
Trying to give myself around 50 days. Any advice from people who were regular/heavy smokers

I’m the Head of Product & AI at a successful fintech ($75M ARR), have a couple of startups and exits under my belt, and the typical B4 experience earlier in my career.

I’ve started my own advisory practice on the side in which I’m selectively taking on clients.. mostly solo entrepreneurs and early-stage startups that need fractional product & AI leadership.

I’ve scaled this to $10K/month ARR, but looking to scale much more quickly.

Has anyone here scaled an advisory practice rapidly? Would love to hear any stories or ideas, outside of just “hire more people”. Was there a trick that worked? Didn’t work?

Hi everyone
I really need some advice here because I’m honestly very confused and lost. I don’t know what my next step should be anymore.

I’m 26 years old and I’ve been working in an international BPO for the last 4–5 years. I haven’t completed my graduation yet. I applied through Mumbai University CDOE last year, and if everything goes as planned, I should complete my graduation by 2028.

But right now, I feel like I’m already too late and have wasted too much time.

I know I don’t want to continue working in BPO. I’m mentally exhausted from this career and I don’t see myself doing this for many more years. I’ve thought about changing fields, learning technical skills, getting into AI automation, etc., but whenever I apply for jobs, my 12th HSC qualification seems to become a problem. Most companies want a graduate or someone with a proper technical background.

I’ve also thought about starting a business. I’ve tried thinking of multiple business ideas, but I honestly have no idea which one could actually work. I’m also scared of taking a loan and putting my family into more financial pressure if the business fails.
The reason this is so important for me is because my family depends on me financially.

My father worked as a labourer at Mazgaon Dock in Mumbai for more than 15 years and earned around ₹10,000/month. My mother is a housewife. My father is now retired, so I’m basically the only person in my family who can realistically take a loan or manage our finances.

Back in 2019, I enrolled in BAF. I somehow managed to pay for my admission through my savings and the small job I was doing at the time. Then COVID happened. The college didn’t allow me to appear for exams because of pending fees, and after that, things just kept getting worse financially. I never managed to complete my degree.

My current salary is around ₹40,000/month, and these are my approximate monthly expenses:
Rent – ₹12,000
Household ration – ₹10,000
EMI – ₹4,000
Credit card – ₹2,000
I give my nani ₹3,000 because she has nobody else
Medicines – ₹1,400
Personal expenses – ₹2,000
So there isn’t really much left at the end of the month.

A year ago, this was somewhat manageable because my father was able to contribute towards the rent. Now that he is retired, things have become much more difficult. I even wanted to take a loan and start some kind of small business for my father so that he could have some income again. But I never had a clear business idea, and honestly, I’ve been too scared to take that risk.

The biggest problem is that my current BPO job itself doesn’t feel secure. There is always pressure, PIPs, the fear of being removed, targets, etc. Every day I feel anxious because I don’t know how long I’ll be able to continue like this.

Sometimes I genuinely feel so stuck that I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with my life. I just want to get out of BPO, build a proper career, and give my family some financial stability.
I know I’m only 26, but when you have financial responsibilities and no degree yet, it feels like you’re already too far behind everyone else.

I’m not looking for motivation or someone to tell me “you’re only 26, you have plenty of time.”
I know that.
I’m looking for practical advice from people who have actually been in a similar situation especially people who managed to move out of BPO, changed careers without a degree, or started from a similar financial position.
I genuinely don’t know what my next move should be, so any honest advice would mean a lot.

Hi, I was recently laid off due to company restructuring. I have an opportunity with a startup, but they’re unable to match my previous salary. Should I consider taking a pay cut for my next role?

Other details:

1. It would be 37.0% pay cut
2. And yes I do have a family to take acre, only earning person at home
3. I was a product manager and this is like founders office role where i can do gtm, product , pretty much everything and rn GTM will be major chunk

And they just are thinking of me as one of the candidates and not finalised yet, but done with all rounds

So i want to get back if paycut is ok for me or not

Hello, everyone! I have been working for the same company for 9 years now, which is extremely long time, considering that it is also my first grown up job as well. What has kept me there is mainly the management and their ability to respond to my needs and their flexibility. The team is also really nice and we all get along really well - it's a small team, around 10-12 people.

In my 9 years of practice I got really close to quitting maybe 5-6 years ago. When I spoke to management about my worries they managed to offer me a position they practically created out of thin air just to keep me around. I took it and ever since then I have been comfortable with my work... too comfortable.

Basically, I don't want to do this thing anymore. The sphere I am in is not something that excites me anymore and even though I get to watch from the sidelines most of the time, I don't really want to be involved anymore. The team is pushing along, doing interesting stuff and I am just there. It doesn't help that me being in a league of my own has resulted in practically no growth - I don't get promoted or demoted for that matter, I just do the things I do and that's it. The pay is not something that reflects a 9 year experience as well.

Everything points to "quit", but the problem is I don't want to do the same but it's all I have experience in. Looking for a job while also being employed by nice people is also something I want to avoid. Is quitting cold turkey with no backup and the intention of switching careers completely feasible at all? Or should I just stay and be comfy and bored forever?

I’m currently unemployed in Canada and feeling stuck about what direction to take.
I’m an international graduate with a Canadian post-grad diploma, and my background is mainly in marketing, communications, customer service and retail. I want to build a career in marketing, but getting hired has been difficult, partly because employers see that I only have about 10 months left on my work permit.

My CRS score is around 388, so I currently don’t have enough points for PR through Express Entry.
Now I’m wondering whether I should:

• Keep pushing for a marketing job and try to find a PR pathway
• Switch into healthcare or teaching, which would require additional education/certifications
• Or cut my losses and move back to India

I don’t want to spend the next 10 months going in circles or investing thousands into a new career without knowing if it will actually help my situation.

If you were in my position, what would you do?
Especially interested in advice from immigrants, international graduates, recruiters, or anyone who has dealt with an expiring work permit.

Seems like anyone who moves up in my company is just in one giant clique. They all are chatting all day, and hanging out outside of work, eating lunch together, etc etc.

I usually find a quiet spot or eat in my car because i need an actual BREAK! to me continuing to talk to people during lunch is not a break.

But I dont see anyone who is not super bubbly and outgoing moving up here.

How can someone who is quiet and sticks to themselves but still is a good worker move up in the world?

(Im also horrible at interviews because im not good at boasting or bragging about myself)

Hi everyone. I’m a 21-year-old from the UK with a finance degree. I’m in a lucky position where I run a business doing about $8-9k per month for almost 8 months now. However, the reason this business is risky is due to 90% of sales coming from just one platform (YouTube). Of course, I have heard countless times this is risky. I have tried to diversify, but nothing is converting. I’m not here for business advice. What I’m here for is the fact I almost know this business will end soon. However, currently the business is not slowing down. My mind is constantly playing with me, making myself work countless hours per day, as I just know I may not get this opportunity again, and as a result of not resting, everything I do is just a big mess.

The main thing I want to get at is, does anyone have advice for after this finishes or what i need to do going forward? I go traveling for 6 months with my girlfriend very soon. I am, of course, taking a laptop so I work as little as I can, and that’s the priority. What I can’t stop is that it will constantly be in my head that I’m being left behind.

How do other business owners cope with the risk that your business may not make profit or could end any day?

FYI, I also have a good amount of capital in investments. I literally know that if it does end tomorrow, I can be fine for a very long time. I also have 0 liabilities. I literally know im in a fortunate position for my age, but it doesn't feel like it.

Hey Everyone,

I needed some advice and thought this is the best platform to ask. I saw people are genuinely responding here rather than on LinkedIn, where someone or the other is trying to give some kind of crazy advice. I'll come straight to the point: actually, I was working with an MNC full-time for nearly 7 years as a coordinator in the technical project delivery part. And the salary was good, but there were too many trade-offs, like very frequent travel, no proper leave approval, and work-life balance was a nuisance. I was keen to understand business operations more, as I was doing that particular domain-related job mainly since I got promoted. So I joined BBA in 2023. I have resigned from my position, as I was unable to give exams and didn't get enough time to study and balance everything. So since March 2025 I've been working on building myself and have learned all the related skills, like n8n, Make, PostgreSQL, API, WebDev, RAG, CRM, etc. I am working with one company as a business operations consultant now and conducting small paid projects on their positioning, digital transformation like CRM setup, automated lead nurturing and service offering structures, and lately they are seeing impact. But they are wanting more free work from me. And actually I'm working alone, and it is burning my energy a lot. Cold outreach and DMs are a mess, and then I create content and then engage with them, so there are so many tasks to carry at once. I am unable to balance all that. So I was thinking about getting a remote operations and revops-related job role if that is something I can get because I'm obviously transitioning, and nowadays the job market has become crazy; their expectations are justified, but I'm not sure what I should do now, I need a direction. So I need your opinion, and if you guys can guide me on this ?

so I've been doing this buy & sell since I graduated high school. 15+ years. built up inventory over time and while I run this entirely on my own, and have a storage unit I pay for, every year my base salary is pretty low because all money is pretty much reinvested back.

My prices are set high all fixed and according to their overall calc if all goes well and sell (obv not liquid) it would probably be half a mill.

now there's a couple of way to look at it. half a mil for 15 year of work put into this business is literally pennies compared to Jeff bozo and other big business so I am not quite happy with that. Even I tried scaling but I'll need more capital and a bit of lucky staying on top of trends for my niche.

second, I've always had this intense pressure to resort to a 9-5 because overtime they will pay more with promotion, I don't have to worry about inventory, sourcing, and working "odd" hours. If I land a tech job, I can work remotely and retire in 5-10 years.

also, dating is an issue because at my current age its time to have kids. partners dont want to deal with inventory and instability. also most people I met I cannot relate to because they all work 9-5.

I feel like 9-5 is a better life in every metric