I‘m thinking of ditching my very safe and very well paid office job with the option to work from home for a job in the field where I drive around and inspect buildings. Taxes included I’d get a 300€ paycut but would gain the ability to get paid for overtime, which I do not have at the moment. Also, due to austerity measures I have no chance of ever getting into a higher position at my current job.
I don’t know maybe I just want the validation of something I’ll do anyway, maybe I want to get shown what makes my current job better than the might-be one.
If I was in my 20s, I’d be off like a shot.
At 30, I’d think for about 5 minutes before doing it.
At 40 I’d try to have a backup plan in place.
Now I’m in my 50s, I’d cling onto that safe and boring job like a limpet.
Thats because you dont have savings. If you did, you would feel like you could actually work less and choose more fulfilling work instead of sucking the corporate tit until you retire.
If you are young reading this, start saving money so you can get the hell out while you still have some life left in you.
I’m sorry, why did you assume that?
I guess you never considered that someone older might like a safe and boring job because they’ve finally worked out how to compartmentalise work and life, or maybe it lets them work from home or is conveniently close, or that they have friends there and are accepted as who they are, or that they believe in the work they’re doing, or their health isn’t so great and they don’t want upheaval, or they’ve already had an exciting job and it demanded too much of them, or any one of a lot of other possible reasons.
Maybe they even have enough to retire today, but that they like that boring job you’re so dismissive of and don’t fancy facing the void that retirement can bring, having seen friends retire and just… stop, because they had nothing else to fill their days with, dying soon after.
Maybe, just maybe, your bleak experience of a working life isn’t the same for everyone.
I hope you figure things out a little better as you get older and not jump to conclusions.
My backup plan is that I have an assessment in the near future that, if passed, states me as someone who’s good with taxes and that certificate is valued higher than a bachelor‘s degree