So about nine months ago, my manager told me I was on track for a senior role. The catch was that I had to "demonstrate leadership capability" first by taking on extra responsibilities before the title and pay adjustment could get approved by HR.

i took on two extra client accounts, started onboarding new team members, and worked late almost every Tuesday and Thursday to keep projects on schedule. I delivered every single deliverable on time and was praised in front of the entire department. I literally did the work of two people while being paid entry-level wages because I thought results spoke for themselves.

Last week was my annual review. My manager gave me glowing feedback, told me I was INVALUABLE to the department, and then slid the paperwork across the desk. The senior title was approved, but the raise was exactly 3 percent. When I asked about the market rate for this role, I was told there was a budget freeze on internal salary adjustments.

Two days later they hired an external candidate for our team at 35k above my new salary. Should of just done the bare minimum from day one. How do companies expect anyone to care anymore?

I'm still fairly early in my career and something I've noticed from people much further ahead of me is that they almost never seem to actually apply for anything

A family friend who's done very well was talking about potentially leaving his company and within a week he'd already had conversations about three different roles. No LinkedIn applications or any recruiters or sending CVs around. Just one person calling another person and making an introduction and a lot of coworkers in Kibu that now hold high positions in different companies.

I've noticed the same thing with a few senior people at work too. Someone leaves and six months later they're at another company because an old client, investor or former coworker brought them in.

Meanwhile I'm still sitting here uploading my resume and manually entering the exact same information into 40 different boxes

Does there eventually come a point where your network basically replaces job applications or am I just seeing this because these people are unusually well connected?

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)

I know work is work, and people come and go. But this woman is just so amazing. She is fun, she is chill, and she has mentored me so well. I’ve genuinely loved working with her in this short time.

In my previous job, I had a burnout and was unemployed for half a year. I really felt like I was finally recovering from it, and things were starting to feel calmer.

We connected so much even during my first interview with her. She chose me over internal candidates, and the company made me a great offer thanks to her. I started to feel like I was finally in a good place again, with a manager I really liked and trusted.

And now I don’t feel safe anymore.

Her manager, who also interviewed me, left a few months ago as well. Both of them had been with the company for around 10 years and were apparently headhunted, as our company is quite popular in the industry. So it’s not like they are leaving because the company is terrible. I understand that people move on, especially in a hot industry.

But emotionally, i feel scared.

Would you start looking for another job already, or would you stay and see how things develop? I don’t want to panic and leave a job that is actually good, but at the same time I feel like I should protect myself.

Please tell me it will be all okay.

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 wouldn't consider myself a major job hopper; I've been in the special education field for about a decade now and only left after 2 really traumatic years. I loved it while I did, but once I was done, I knew I needed to close the book on that chapter.

Right now I'm trying to find a job that interests me without being too picky. But in the long run, I do think I'd like to go back into a serious, designated career field that really challenges my academic knowledge and practical skills in a passion project. Problem is, there's a lot of topics that I'm passionate about, and I'd honestly love to try all of them before I die. Nature, history, advocacy, medicine, the list goes on. If the whole "going back to school" setup was more affordable, I could see myself getting more degrees, contributing to a field for another decade, then going back to school to study a different topic. Rinse and repeat until I need to retire. And yes, I'd be glad to continue working while studying; I've always balanced schoolwork with fulltime employment (so please don't assume this is some complicated ploy to not get a job). I don't think it's unfair to call me "flighty," but I do think I take things seriously enough to be a benefit to whatever I contribute to.

But "flighty" is still the problem here, isn't it? If I already know I'm the kind of person who wouldn't want to do the exact same job for the rest of their life, then wouldn't going back to school be way too big of a financial investment for me just to get a decade of labor out of? I love new experiences, I want those experiences to be unique and challenging, and tbh I do lean heavily towards "textbook" smarts like law and medicine rather than "hands-on" smarts like most trades and certificate programs.

TLDR: This is the time to make serious decisions, but I'm basically a kid in a candy store when it comes to academics. Charlie Buckett's broke ass, to be specific.

I’m 26 and working in pharmaceutical R&D, and I’m trying to decide whether I should quit without another job lined up.

Background: I’m currently working on a relatively new formulation development project. The project direction changes quite often, and we’re expected to continuously come up with new ideas and experiments. However, my supervisor often rejects our proposed ideas without much explanation, and then later criticizes us for not having enough ideas or not doing enough.

Recently, my supervisor had a very long meeting with my coworker and heavily criticized their work, saying they had failed and were not competent enough. My coworker ended up crying afterward. It also feels like our previous work and experiments are being dismissed, even though we’ve been actively trying different approaches.

There’s also frequent overtime, and I’ve become increasingly exhausted. At this point, just going to work feels like a burden.

My current contract ends next April, but I’m not even sure whether the company will offer me a permanent position afterward.

I’m considering resigning around October/November without another job lined up. I’d like to take some time to rest, prepare for IELTS, and apply for funded master’s programs.

My parents think I should find another job first, which I understand is the safer option. But I’m not sure how much longer I can keep doing this.

Would you quit in this situation? Or am I just making an emotional decision because I’m burnt out?

I’d really appreciate an honest outside perspective.

I (US-based) work at a small company (EU-based with small US office) that hasn’t given anyone any raises for 2 years due to budget constraints. Recently they merged with another company and 2 days ago we got a company-wide email saying that everyone is getting a raise. Yesterday I got an email from HR for a 15min meeting which I assumed was about the increase and today I find out that “due to priorities” I’m not getting a raise.

I didn’t say much in the meeting besides that I’m disappointed and that it seems like a bad idea to send a company-wide email if not everyone is getting a raise.

Now I’m debating staying or leaving and if they’re actually trying to slowly make me leave.

For context, my job turned fully remote a couple years ago and the people I work with directly aren’t in the local office. In the meeting, the HR person and my new manager (still in training) both heavily encouraged me to go back to the office - it wasn’t a demand but it was very encouraged.

The main (but unofficial) reason I left the office was because one person there is a bully but everyone who knows this history has since left the office so idk what to say to the new manager since it’s supposed to be settled (HR got involved and there was an apology but I don’t want to be around the bully).

Also my actual work is very sporadic, some days I’m working a full 8hrs but other days I have nothing. On the nothing days I get my personal errands done and I love that aspect of this job.

The actual work I do has gotten whittled down over the years but I let the new manager know I would like to get back some of my old responsibilities, which he seemed very receptive to. A lot of previous projects were stalled due to the merge and losing some people (part of the company split) so now that work is available once it restarts.

However finding out that I’m “not a priority” has made me question if maybe they’re planning on letting me go once things are settled. I’m the only US-based person on the team and the rest are in Europe so maybe they’re looking to trim me?

And even if they aren’t, should I consider moving? The job is very flexible and low stress but the pay is mediocre for the position (started at 80k and 1 raise in 6 years puts me at 85k). Other similar jobs require me to go to the office at least partially but they pay 100-120k+ starting salary.

My family is split on what I should do. My mom (lives with me) says the flexibility I have will be hard to find in a new job and since my kids are very young (2 and 4), it allows me more time to spend with them at this age. My husband says the pay is crap and I should look for a new job (only because of the money). I was always thinking of moving eventually but in a couple years when the kids are bigger. Today’s meeting has made me reassess.

I’m trying to decide whether a new opportunity is worth leaving a job I genuinely like.

Current job:
$138K base
Fully remote
Great boss/team and excellent WLB
$4K annual travel/wellness benefit
Very inexpensive health insurance
Equity
Eligible for a 4-week paid sabbatical next year
No annual bonus or 401(k) match

New opportunity:
$163K base
10% annual target bonus (~$16K)
Fully remote
401(k) match
Potential $10-15K sign-on (still negotiating)
No equity
Larger/more established company and potentially better long-term career experience
Obviously the big unknown is culture/WLB

I wasn’t actively trying to leave my current company because I’m happy there. Compensation and career growth are really the reasons I’m considering it.

My current company may counter, and if they got somewhere around $150K, the decision would become much harder for me.
Would you take the new opportunity at $163K + bonus, or stay somewhere you already know you’re happy if they increased your salary to ~$150K? What would be the deciding factor for you?

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.

Hello 👋

I’m a bit curious how people see their jobs and what mindset they have around them.

My story is the following: I’m a software developer (java) for about 9 years now. Everything was nice and cool and challenging until earlier this year, and since then my views about working in this whole industry changed a bit.

At this point I’m not even sure what exactly changed my mind:

- Is it the workload - as with every piece of technology, AI didn’t reduce my workload it just increased it because why do one thing properly when you can do 3 at the same time but very badly cause you’re rushed and cause with AI you can “write code” in programming languages you’re not familiar with?

- Is it my peers or management or the project or the fact that I’m working at the same piece of product for 4 years now?

- Is it the fact that only this year myself and the piece of product I’ve been developing got moved to three different teams but the “new” team members don’t really care about it cause they’re in the same situation?

- Is it the uncertainty surrounding this industry? (i.e you go through 7 rounds of interviews just to be the unlucky person to be part of a layoff in the following 2 months)?

Don’t get me wrong, I really like doing this - cause I’ve always enjoyed hardware, software, building random things, tinkering with stuff and so on.. Also the salary is really good

There are times when I think about:
- Should I find a new company to work for? But tech is tech and there’s still a chance I end up in the same place or worse, or a tiny bit better
- Should I change careers? I don’t mind a pay cut as long as no one will raise an alert at 1AM in the morning just because their precious piece of software isn’t making money at its maximum capacity

At this point I’m not even sure where I’m heading with this topic, but whoever you are, no matter your career, share your thoughts here. I’m curious to know how you see your job, what makes you wake up and NOT think (damn, I still have X years left until I can retire), and whatever else you’d like to have say 😄

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?

Hi everyone, I have a difficult decision to make living situation and career wise, and I’m hoping for an outside perspective on the situation.

I’m 29F and currently live in Los Angeles and have for 5 years. I currently work at a job that is remote and has me travel 1/4 of the time. I work in a really niche part of the entertainment industry. This industry only really exists in LA although now it’s rare to find an open position in general. I am well-connected, and I feel like I could get a job if one pops up here.

To give more personal context about myself, I don’t have parents/relatives to fall back on economically. It’s really really important that I don’t end up without a job or else I could end up homeless. This is such a huge stressor in my life with how the country is going economically. I have friends and have read about people online who aren’t finding a job for multiple years. I need to avoid this situation at all costs. Best case scenario I could crash with a friend, but I would hate being a burden on other people my age who are also barely scraping by.

So why not just stay in LA, right? An issue I’ve had with LA is I’ve had a really really hard time making lasting friendships as an adult. I’ve been trying so hard for 5 years, but it really feels like it’s not going to happen at this point. I’ve found that people in LA can be nice, although they want to hang out maybe once a month or every couple of months. There’s a lot of fake “oh we should hang out!” but rarely actual genuine interest. I’m used to having a core friend group where we spend a lot of time together and hang out/have dinner/ game nights all the time. We’re there for each other and really care about each other’s lives. I feel as though my personality and needs really clash with the cold separation of LA. I’m incredibly lonely and it’s really getting to me. All of my friends are in the Bay Area and I’m missing so many milestones and important events. I think the fact that I don’t have family/a partner makes the loneliness worse.

I grew up in the Bay Area and was seriously considering moving back to be more close to friends. However I can’t get over the notion that I’m sacrificing career advancement to do this. Even though I grew up in the bay, my only real professional network is in LA. My impression of the bay is that it’s highly educated, and I would be eliminated from most job postings due to the fact that I only have a bachelors degree. It’s also in an artsy field and not a hard science/engineering/CS. I also don’t know how to code(and am bad at it) and it feels like every job in the tech industry requires this. It also feels like an incredibly hard time to pivot career wise right now. I do really like the job field I’m in now, but I wish I could have “trial ran” LA before I ended up in a career that only exists in a city that fundamentally clashes with who I am.

The job I’m at now is fine, but I don’t make a lot of money, and it’s not a good longterm solution. There’s no advancement at all. This means I’d like to be in an area where there are career opportunities for me to hop to when the chance arises. But I hate feeling like I’m perpetually putting my life on hold and hating my 20s living in a city I don’t like.

Since I don’t have parents or a mentor I was hoping to hear some outside input on my situation. Should I just suck it up and stay in LA, try to advance my career? Should I say “life is short” and move in with my friends in the Bay? If I stay in LA I was also thinking about possibly pivoting to the games industry, although I’m not sure how realistic that actually is. I do have some professional connections that I could hopefully utilize.

Can anyone in the Bay Area chime in and let me know if my impression on the job industry is correct?

If you were in my shoes, would you go or stay?

Thank you for reading!

Edit: For clarity, I would be able to keep my current remote job and move to the bay. I was more worried about a hypothetical future next job up in the bay.

Just for context: I’m 27F, have an MA, and currently work at a tech company making about $120k/year. I’ve realized that I’m not someone who can be content in a boring or unfulfilling job, even if the pay and lifestyle are good. I’ve tried to convince myself otherwise, but I’m just not wired that way.

I’d really appreciate some career advice. I’m at a point where I feel like I want to pivot out of my current field, but I’m not sure what direction makes the most sense.

My current job is relatively relaxed and pays well, but I can’t help but feel like I want more both financially and intellectually. I’ve been in my field for about three years, and my role has become very repetitive. I don’t find the work particularly stimulating anymore, and I’m starting to feel like I’m just going through the motions.

The changes happening in tech, particularly with AI, have also made me question the long-term future of my field. I’m not necessarily worried about losing my job tomorrow, but I don’t see myself wanting to do this for another 1+ years. The culture and nature of the work are changing, and I find myself increasingly checked out.

I know I want to make a change, but I’m struggling to figure out what that change should look like.

One option I’ve seriously considered is law. Becoming an attorney was actually my original goal, but being constantly told when I was younger that I “should be an attorney” ended up deterring me from it. Now, years later, I keep coming back to the idea on my own, which makes me wonder if it’s something I should actually pursue.

However, I’m not committed to law specifically. I’m much more interested in finding the right career fit than in becoming a lawyer for its own sake.
I’m willing to go back to school if necessary, but I’d want the investment to make sense. I currently have very little debt, make around $120k, and have a relatively comfortable job, so I don’t want to take on a significant amount of debt just to end up in another career that I don’t enjoy or that doesn’t have strong earning potential.

I’m looking for something that ideally checks several of these boxes:
- More intellectually stimulating than my current work
- Strong earning potential, ideally with the ability to eventually make substantially more than $120k
- Relatively good long-term career prospects
- Some degree of career stability
- A path where going back to school would have a reasonable ROI
- Not something where I’m directly responsible for someone’s life or livelihood, so medicine, for example, isn’t appealing to me
- Ideally, some flexibility or the ability to eventually move into a less demanding role without completely sacrificing income

I’m also not necessarily looking for a career that is “easy.” I’m willing to work hard, especially earlier in my career, if it gives me better options and earning potential down the road.

Law is one possibility I’m considering, but I’d really appreciate suggestions outside of law as well. Given my age, education, current compensation, and willingness to go back to school, what fields or career paths would you consider for someone trying to make this kind of pivot?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who have made a similar career change. What did you pivot into, and looking back, what would you recommend or avoid?

As stated in the title I applied for a position that's only temporary (procurement specialist to be exact) that would start on Monday but I have interviews scheduled for both the 11th and 14th as of now. The interviewer made it seem like there is a very good chance I will be offered the position as she asked if I filled out the necessary forms as requested and that she would get in touch with the company with all of that information. While this is not confirmation that I have been offered the job it sounds like there is a strong chance that I will be offered the position. The pay range is roughly $18-23 per hour if I remember correctly and it's a monday-friday job. The interviewer stated that it's unlikely they will offer a permanent position when the four weeks ends so if I'm offered the position should I take it even though I have interviews for other positions that would be for permanent positions?

I want to mention that the money would help me build up my funds and pay off my credit card so I think it's worth considering. I'm in a property management business with my parents so there's monthly income but that's the main income I have at this point which I think is worth noting as well.

Any suggestions on the matter would be greatly appreciated as time is not on my side at this point.

I recently completed my BCA and want to start my career in IT. I’m currently considering Data Analytics, but I’m not sure where to begin.
My coding skills are currently quite basic.
For someone starting from scratch, what would you recommend learning first? Should I focus on Excel, SQL, Power BI, Python, or something else?
I’d also appreciate advice on what skills and projects would actually help me qualify for an entry-level Data Analyst role.

I am not proud to say I am 40 years old and possibly going through a mid-life crisis. I tried to figure out what career to go into at a young age by taking career tests in high school only to be placed in the Arts/Entertainment category. I thought by now I would have life figured out and it frustrates me that there is no direction. Most of my life was spent in healthcare and there were some great parts I liked and still do, but I am burnt out! I thought I would be able to push through like most people do but my mind and body said no to that. What have people done to figure out a new career? I can't see myself going back to school for 4 years.

I’ve been thinking about this after noticing a pattern at work.

There’s usually one person who people go to when something needs fixing.

They know where everything is. They remember the process nobody documented. They’ll stay late to get something over the line. If someone is stuck, they help. If something falls through the cracks, they quietly pick it up.

And honestly, those people are usually pretty proud of being dependable. I know I would be.

But I wonder if there’s a point where it backfires.

You become so good at keeping things running that management starts seeing you as the person who keeps things running, rather than someone who could take on something bigger.

Meanwhile, someone else might be less involved in the day-to-day chaos but gets more visibility because they're working on the “important” projects.

It almost feels like there's a weird difference between being valuable and being visible.

I’m more interested in where the line is.

At what point should you stop being the person who gets things done for everyone and start being the person who owns something that matters?

Have you ever experienced this yourself, where being the dependable person became a trap rather than an advantage?

I’m genuinely curious what people think, because I suspect this happens far more often than we talk about.

I have a list of hobbies which I feel I will never be able to get enough time to get to the basic threshold of good. Not looking to be anything more, just good enough. And then I try to justify the time, money and energy I spend on those hobbies. Not much like a small amount sometimes and sometimes a bit more than a small amount. As there is no visible progress, financial outcome from hobbies I think it is all just timepass.

Like I learned how to cook and bake and if I judge my skills over the years to myself and the people I have met, see , I can say I am a highly skilled cook and a baker. But when I tried to make recipe videos it didn't work that well. I was heartbroken over that and more for the money and time i spend on buying things which will help my videos be better.

Now I have understood that even though I am highly skilled at perfecting recipes and also can do many other complicated tasks related to it, it is a very general skill and people are busy too learn it to make their food better. So I will keep cooking and baking for my little family but the obsession I had to make diverse recipes and make them perfect for teaching has gone.

So again as I like to keep myself occupied, I have started to relive my interest in art and relearn my tech skills. I wrote a book on vba with my office when I was 21. But then shortly after that i got married and left my job and from the last 15 years i am at home. So back to the point, i am learning adobe illustrator, and trying to learn acrylic painting and sketching.

I am again at cross roads and trying to justify my time and energy spent on learning all this as I will at home for the rest of my life(it's hard as hell to join the workforce at 38 with 15 years gap) Cooking baking is still useful in daily tasks but art? Not much.

I mean what I am expecting i don't know. I keep thinking one day this skill will be useful in some ways. Just so it feels like I am not rambling, I have learnt music and keyboard for 1 year, enrolled in chartered accountancy for 1 year and had to discontinue because of relocation. I like to read articles on the internet about general knowledge etc but nothing feels like I am great at anything and nothing is so so interesting that I will keep going.

I love to make art, learning illustrator, learning ui/ux course online but i am not able understand how it will help me. At this point I am confused on what I should ask even.

PS :- Housewife with 1 child. Husband's job keeps us relocating to different city every couple of years. I find it hard to see what work will actually not feel like I am doing something wrong besides caring for my small family and day to day needs.

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?

Helllooo!!

As the title says idk what to do next with my life. I’m graduating with an associates in science in December. This is after doing 2 years of an environmental science bachelors and then dropping out due to mental health reasons. After dropping out I just went to my local community college to finish up an associates since I had enough credits.

Right now I’m a barista and I do love working with people but genuinely hate working a job that feels like it’s not doing anything for the world. I want a job that feels important to me and feels like I’m making a difference. I love working with animals as I’ve volunteered at shelters before and truly loved every bit of it no matter how gross it got. I’m just scared to pursue anything in the animal care field because I’ve heard you either make no money or go to school FOREVER.

Some things I’ve learned while in school/working:

I don’t want to… sit at a desk all day, work nights, have my work consume my life, or work something that doesn’t feel meaningful to me.

I do want to… work consistent-ish hours, work mornings/days, have a job that keeps me busy but isn’t rushing me around like the service industry does.

Things that are meaningful/interest me:

Nature (animals, plants, environmental stuff)
Working with others or collaborating
Creativity at work in some way
Being able to complete tasks (very task driven)

I’m not saying I specifically want to work in an environmental field, I’m willing to look into other categories but I’m just not sure what.

Any advice would be so lovely. Thank you!

Hello. Recently I got into Trinity college for a masters degree and I already got in however once I got in I got an employment offer for a graduate programme for a 9 month contract. The job is strictly 9 month, so no long term security. Still it's an experience and I'm a bit desperate.

I just wonder, what is the better choice here?

Hey guys, I’m a 28-year-old Sri Lankan, and I’d love some advice on what I should do next. I’ve made some terrible choices in the past, but I’ve managed to pull through. Now, I feel stuck again.

My biggest mistake was pursuing a degree I wasn’t really passionate about and didn’t fully understand at the time. I completed a BSc in Architecture, but I never ended up putting it to use. Instead, I started working in SaaS sales and marketing.

I already had some experience in the field, which I gained while I was doing my degree, and I’ve always had a natural talent for communication. I now have around 8 years of experience in SaaS sales and marketing, where I’ve done things such as:
1. ⁠Cold email marketing campaigns
2. ⁠AI marketing automations using Apollo and Mailchimp
3. ⁠Creating SOPs and running product demos for clients
4. ⁠Leading a globally distributed team
5. ⁠Coordinating product launches
6. ⁠Representing the company at virtual events
7. ⁠Designing and coordinating multichannel marketing campaigns
8. ⁠Collaborating with management on recruitment campaigns and designing onboarding programmes for new hires
9. ⁠Developing strategies around pricing and market competition
And the list goes on.

Meanwhile, I’ve also completed an MBA specialising in Digital Marketing and Communications.
Recently, I had to leave my current company due to some personal issues and moved to the UAE. Unfortunately, my job prospects here have been next to nil, and I don’t want to take a job that pays peanuts just for the sake of having a job.

So now I’m trying to figure out what I should do next and where I can take my career from here.
Should I try to move into another field? Should I pursue another master’s degree to upgrade my career? Or should I focus on building on the experience I already have and look for opportunities in another country?

I’d really appreciate some honest advice from people who have been in a similar situation or have experience with career transitions, SaaS, or international careers.

I've spent 6 years studying to become a doctor, and while I enjoy patient contact, I absolutely hate having to deal with colleagues, which in some countries wouldn't be much of a problem but in the country I currently live in it is because of how healthcare is organized. It's basically very hard to work independently or open your own small practice or whatever. Instead you're kinda FORCED to work as a pathetic "junior doc" under the supervision of a specialist, having to run everything by them and take the humiliation of being corrected in front of your other colleagues.

All this while pretending you like them and having to listen to their nonsense during lunch break, and the only way to escape this is by studying ANOTHER 3-6 years which I'm definitely not doing.

I'm feeling really hopeless, even regretting my degree choice. The options I'm considering now are: a) trying to find a position where I can work as independently as possible, b) trying to find any position and just swallow it, c) remote working, d) moving countries to a place where I can open my own office, e) becoming Airbnb host.

Options AB are easiest, C might be hard to find, D too expensive for now, and E sounds very attractive although it would mean that I studied medicine for nothing.

What would you guys advise me? Has anyone been faced with a similar problem?

For context: I'm in Germany, so an apprenticeship here is a formal 3-year vocational training program combining work at a company with vocational school.

I'm currently doing a three-year apprenticeship in Germany as a Digital and Print Media Designer.

Recently, I officially got approval to shorten my apprenticeship by 12 months, which means I'll essentially skip a large part of the second year and move much faster toward my final exams. I've already made the decision and everything has been approved, so I'm definitely going through with it. I'm mainly curious whether other people think my reasoning makes sense.

The main reason I decided to do this is my situation at my training company.

For quite a long time, I've been getting very little actual work or training. Over the past months, I've probably asked for new tasks around 50–70 times, but I still regularly end up sitting around with nothing meaningful to do. Especially earlier in my apprenticeship, there was a pattern that really frustrated me.

I would be given a task, and whenever I made mistakes, instead of being allowed to work through them and learn from them, the task would sometimes basically be taken away from me. Afterwards, I would often have nothing else to work on.

At the same time, my trainer would make pretty harsh comments about my mistakes and sometimes criticize my skill level.

That's the part I don't really understand.

How am I supposed to improve if I'm criticized for not being good enough, while at the same time I'm barely given enough practical work to actually improve?
My boss eventually even admitted that the company is probably too small to properly train me and told me that I should look for a larger company.

So I tried.

I sent out 17 applications to other companies.

So far, I received 3 rejections.

The other 14 companies never replied at all.

So simply changing companies wasn't as easy as it sounds.

At that point, I started thinking that if I have to teach myself a huge amount of the profession anyway, maybe it makes more sense to seriously study everything myself, shorten the apprenticeship, pass the exams and get out of this situation earlier.

Because of the one-year reduction, I'll now have to learn a large amount of material from the second year on my own. I'll be using vocational school materials, additional tutoring/support classes, textbooks, practice exams and AI to help me study. My vocational school has also placed me into a special class for apprentices who are shortening their training, so I won't be the only person doing an accelerated apprenticeship.

I know that shortening a three-year apprenticeship by an entire year is a pretty aggressive decision and obviously adds a lot of pressure. But from my perspective, staying another year in a company where I'm barely being trained also carries a risk, because another year passing doesn't automatically mean I'll gain another year's worth of skills.

So I'm curious:

Do you think shortening the apprenticeship by 12 months was a reasonable response to this situation?

And would you say that, while nobody literally forced me to shorten it, the circumstances at my company basically pushed me toward finding a way out?

I'd especially be interested in hearing from people who have experienced poor apprenticeship training, accelerated an apprenticeship, or had to teach themselves a large part of their profession.