If you could change careers...

[SlowLX]

I'd love to stay in my current career path but with a much smaller municipality or with a state parks department. However, now that I have a kid I sort of wish I had chosen a more lucrative career path.


You need to take your shit and go hike JMT this summer so I can live vicariously through you while I'm stuck here all summer.

[Shaggin Wagon]

I would have worked in custom car shops instead of pushing paperwork for a living. I guess I could still go that route. The hard part is the money.

[BLAKE]

I wouldn't change a thing about where I am now. I would like to have taken a different path to get here though. 10 years of easy followed by 4 years of brutal intensity. I learned a lot though and it got me to running the show before 40, so I definitely can't complain.

[slow99]

I hit the reset button back in '08, 8 years into my career post-undergrad. I enjoy what I do now, but sometimes think it would be nice to do something with a little less responsibility. More comp brings more bills - my life isn't really much different other than a little more in the retirement/savings accounts. As 46tbird posted, I think it'd be nice to be out away from the urban/corporate environment. I'm thinking 7-10 more years in my current industry then making a switch.

[Baron Von Crowder]

I'm planning a drastic career change, getting started next fall. It'll be a few years before I can quit my full time gig and be my own boss.

[SonicblueGT03]

Not so much a career change, as an early retirement, we've been planning our exit strategy for about 10 years now. Savings are just about in the right place now, time to start divesting some material goods.

[jluv]

I would like to be a park ranger, preferably at a national park in the desert southwest US.

I think I'm really sick of the rat race and the concrete urban hell that you have to deal with to scratch out a little bit of money. Fuck that. I go on vacation 3-5 times per year to get away, and the people in those places seem so much happier, even though they have "less."

We're planning the escape route now...

I feel you, man! Been feeling that way for a long time, and very seriously since my mid-20s. Only difference for me is my heart is in the mountains instead of the desert. I've wanted to be a park ranger for many years, but financial needs kept me in the rat race.

I'm super fortunate now to have a job that's going to let me work remote, so I'm closing on a legit mountain home in July, in the only town in the most remote county in the continental US. And shit, I'll be making a heck of a lot more than I ever could as a park ranger.

Crazy how shit works out sometimes. A few years ago, I was close to saying "fuck it" and leaving my job at that time to move to the mountains and do grunt work just to make ends meet. I procrastinated, landed this new gig, and now it's falling in place better than I ever could have dreamed.

So, I guess, to answer the question - no, I wouldn't change it right now. Life is good.

Danny, I hope you get what you're after. This concrete jungle is a cage, but luckily, the door is always left unlocked.

[lowthreeohz]

This concrete jungle is a cage, but luckily, the door is always left unlocked.

That aint no lie. I've said it before, but DFW sucked the life out of me. I can't explain just how much happier i am living in a place with nature and solitude so close and readily accessible.

I'd love do something outdoors like a park ranger as well, but my degree path didn't line up. I've been pushing my dad to bail on vegas and move to central america with me for a while now, i'm just waiting for him to finally say "ok" so we can make it happen. I'd love to sustenance farm/survive on a small ranch somewhere in the middle of nowhere, or even do some short term peace corps work.

[bcoop]

I'll be trying my hand at farming/ranching in the next 3 years. Not bailing on the full time gig, but if things go well I might.

[Big A]

I feel you, man! Been feeling that way for a long time, and very seriously since my mid-20s. Only difference for me is my heart is in the mountains instead of the desert. I've wanted to be a park ranger for many years, but financial needs kept me in the rat race.

I'm super fortunate now to have a job that's going to let me work remote, so I'm closing on a legit mountain home in July, in the only town in the most remote county in the continental US. And shit, I'll be making a heck of a lot more than I ever could as a park ranger.

Crazy how shit works out sometimes. A few years ago, I was close to saying "fuck it" and leaving my job at that time to move to the mountains and do grunt work just to make ends meet. I procrastinated, landed this new gig, and now it's falling in place better than I ever could have dreamed.

So, I guess, to answer the question - no, I wouldn't change it right now. Life is good.

Danny, I hope you get what you're after. This concrete jungle is a cage, but luckily, the door is always left unlocked.

I've been working from a home office for 6 years now, and I don't know that I could go back too a commute and cubicle. The freedom makes work much less of a 4-letter word, besides the fact that I like doing what I do.

As to the OP, I am currently seeking a new job, but it's more a variation of what I do today, than a career change. As mentioned above, I enjoy what I do, I just want to get paid more to do it.

[jammeejamm]

they were adding lines to the power line towers by my work, and they were doing it with a total badass flying a md500 i think. he would hover next to the tower and the guy would hang off and hang the wheel. they also flew out hanging on a line with their ladder and got dropped off on the tower.

i was thinking that guy flying the helicopter must be a bad ass motherfucker to have three dudes trusting him to not fuck it up and kill them all. and it was windy a few of those days.

i bet the edge and intensity starts to wear down, but i thought that would be a fairly cool gig. figure the money would be great too. the pilot that is, no way would i get on the lines. electricity and electrocution is a decent fear of mine.

[Denny]

My wife had an awesome idea. She said as soon as the kids were out of the house, we should both get a job on a cruise liner.

[BMCSean]

My current path is a change, just graduated last week but still haven't been able to nail down a new job. Have a couple of offers but not sure what direction I want to take.

[lowthreeohz]

My current path is a change, just graduated last week but still haven't been able to nail down a new job. Have a couple of offers but not sure what direction I want to take.

Congrats on graduating. I know as we get older it holds less and less "value" to some, but it's still a big accomplishment and you should be proud.

[Gargamel]

NASCAR driver.... lol