How do you feel about your career?

[Celtics4ever]

I am happy with my career and it keep the wolf from the door and lets me live a comfortable lifestyle

[Neurotic Guy]

I ended up doing the only thing that I can imagine that I’d enjoy enough to say “I like my career”. I consult with schools and education-related programs.  My work varies (90% remote currently) - different experiences every day. I consult with district and school administrators, teachers, programs, counselors, special educators, teams.  The work is always interesting, only mildly stressful, and I’ve always been able to grow and learn. I do professional development presentations, various program development work, support continuum consultation, school culture consultation, and individual student consultation.

My only regret these days is that I did a less than stellar job preparing for retirement.  And not being 100% healthy,  it would be nice to retire.  That said, my work has slowed down somewhat and when I reach full retirement age for social security (in a couple years), I should be able to cut down to 2-3 days a week.  In terms of enough money to live comfortably with a not too luxurious lifestyle - that wasn’t a problem, but saving should have been more of a priority for us.  All in all, I wouldn’t have done too much differently except cut down on some superfluous spending like buying lunch every day for 40 years….

[jpotter33]

I’m happy for the most part with my career path. I started off pre-med. Cancer was fascinating to me, and I loved the idea of a physician-researcher studying cancer, particularly the use of CRISPR to try and repair cancerous cells.

Then I had my first philosophy/ethics class, and I was hooked. It was so fascinating and stimulated me intellectually in ways that no other class or topic had. And growing up in a very politically conservative and religious home, ethics and values were always hot topics, just with very specific slants. So I knew I wanted to do something in philosophy/ethics for the rest of my life. After some twists and turns, I ended up blending my two previous passions and getting my PhD in bioethics and a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical ethics to become a professional clinical ethicist in healthcare.

So I’ve been a professional clinical ethicist for a little under 6 years now. I recently took a big leap of faith and accepted a position as Director of Ethics for a large health system in the Midwest to create a whole new ethics program and consultation service from essentially scratch. It’s a big promotion with more money and responsibilities and brings us close to family, but it’s certainly a lot of difficult and complex work.

So all in all I’m happy with our decisions. While long-term I did leave some money on the table by not going the MD route, I make a comfortable living for my family while getting to do something I for the most part love and that stimulates me.

[action781]

How's your job?  Are you in the right field / position?  When did you know what you wanted to do?  Is your job something you loathe, but tolerate it because it brings a paycheck?  Or do you love going to work?

I've been thinking a lot about these issues recently.  I've been working since I was 15.  I've been a bus boy, a waiter, a dishwasher for work study at college, a legal intern, a law clerk, and then a lawyer.  I've worked for a firm, I've worked for myself, and I've worked for two separate state governments.  Right now, I'm in a quasi-legal administrative role with the the State of Maine.

When I was a law clerk, I had maybe a half-dozen attorneys speak with me and advise me against becoming a lawyer.  They all hated their jobs.  Most of my friends are lawyers.  Most of them are at least competent at their jobs, but few of them are passionate about the law.  It's basically because they chose law to make money, rather than loving the practice.  And that's a completely valid career choice.  For me, I've know that this is what I wanted to do since 14 years old.  I haven't loved every aspect of every job I've had, but I firmly feel like I ended up in the right place.

My father hated every day of his job, I think.  My grandfather did, too, and his career in construction left his body broken and eventually disabled.  My two brothers are in jobs that they tolerate, but both would prefer something else.  All of it just makes me reflect on how lucky I am to have landed in a good spot.

Where do you fall?

People being passionate (or at least enjoying/appreciating) their careers is something that brings me a lot of joy, so I'm really happy to hear that for you.  I feel really good about myself right now as well, maybe I'll try to dive deeper into that when I have more time, but I just wanted to share my genuine joy to read this post from you and hear about your happiness.

[Neurotic Guy]

How's your job?  Are you in the right field / position?  When did you know what you wanted to do?  Is your job something you loathe, but tolerate it because it brings a paycheck?  Or do you love going to work?

I've been thinking a lot about these issues recently.  I've been working since I was 15.  I've been a bus boy, a waiter, a dishwasher for work study at college, a legal intern, a law clerk, and then a lawyer.  I've worked for a firm, I've worked for myself, and I've worked for two separate state governments.  Right now, I'm in a quasi-legal administrative role with the the State of Maine.

When I was a law clerk, I had maybe a half-dozen attorneys speak with me and advise me against becoming a lawyer.  They all hated their jobs.  Most of my friends are lawyers.  Most of them are at least competent at their jobs, but few of them are passionate about the law.  It's basically because they chose law to make money, rather than loving the practice.  And that's a completely valid career choice.  For me, I've know that this is what I wanted to do since 14 years old.  I haven't loved every aspect of every job I've had, but I firmly feel like I ended up in the right place.

My father hated every day of his job, I think.  My grandfather did, too, and his career in construction left his body broken and eventually disabled.  My two brothers are in jobs that they tolerate, but both would prefer something else.  All of it just makes me reflect on how lucky I am to have landed in a good spot.

Where do you fall?

People being passionate (or at least enjoying/appreciating) their careers is something that brings me a lot of joy, so I'm really happy to hear that for you.  I feel really good about myself right now as well, maybe I'll try to dive deeper into that when I have more time, but I just wanted to share my genuine joy to read this post from you and hear about your happiness.

Good too in the field of law. I have a bunch friends and a brother who are lawyers and it’s a very mixed bag. Some enjoy, some tolerate, a couple very much wish they’d chosen differently.