# Career Change + Insecurity



## Deagalman (Jul 3, 2009)

Has anyone been successful? I spend most of my days in a state of doubt but I forge ahead. Is sacrificing a lot now really worth the pay off later? Before my career starts, I'll be 31 +. It makes me extremely skeptical. I'm essentially betting on an outcome that I have no way of knowing yet.


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## whisperycat (Aug 9, 2009)

How do you define succesfull? 

Success is a journey, not a destination. It's also pretty subjective :happy:


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## Deagalman (Jul 3, 2009)

I don't know. Good point. I like your castle.


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## The Proof (Aug 5, 2009)

talk to a career counselor, a specialist, or get one of those career ebooks, though I think the counselor would be the better option


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## BehindSmile (Feb 4, 2009)

I feel your pain. I THOUGHT what I wanted to go into was dealing with behavioral adolescents. I lasted about 3 weeks in that job, I had to be locked in the office to prevent them from beating me to death, and then that adolescent knew they wouldn't get to me so they put up another and that adolescent unexpectedly got to me and did beat me pretty badly. It's what I went to school for, and I just couldn't handle it.

Do you have a certain degree or area of interest? Like Thracius said...maybe starting with some books that deal with different careers in your field of interest. That's my first step. :tongue:


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## Deagalman (Jul 3, 2009)

Thracius said:


> talk to a career counselor, a specialist, or get one of those career ebooks, though I think the counselor would be the better option



Thank you but these people more often are the least bit understanding and offer the worst advice which involves what is practical in their eyes and inclined to make me miserable. Why do I ask someone who wears a suit who has a surface understanding of my field to advise me on it? I'd be better off talking to architects, design houses, etc. Keep my dreams alive! Thank you though.


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## Deagalman (Jul 3, 2009)

Oh, there is no way you all could know from my title thread. I want to be an architect but I'm insecure because I'm 26 and I almost already another degree. But with architecture, there are multiple ways to progress and I've found one that makes sense to me but would be seen as unorthodox to others. It involves a second bachelor's. I'm all nervous about it because I keep thinking that I will already have a degree, what am I doing. I've been stalling graduating with my other degree so that by the time I get into possibly finding a job it will be too late to reconsider. It's like a contingency plan designed to prevent me from backing out.


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## Raynekatt (May 14, 2009)

There's nothing to stop you from having both degrees and pursuing what you think you might enjoy. Life is too full of doubt and half thoughts to add another "wish I did". 

Speaking from experience and from what I have seen, most people do change fields/jobs quite often. I went from a study in virology to law. Just take a deep breath and step out. :happy: The other degree would be like your lifeline and would allow you to be considered versitle by companies.


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## Singularity (Sep 22, 2009)

Deagalman, 

It is true that people often change careers. Also, it's common to get a degree in something and work in a completely different field. My undergraduate is in Anthropology. I worked in the Coroner's office for a year and a half and also worked as an archaeologist for 8 years. Then, I decided I could no longer afford that career so I went back to school and got an MBA. I did some small business management for a bit and am now doing accounting. So don't think that you have to do what you have a degree in. 

That said, I would also advise you to find some people in the field you want to go in to and ask them if they would be willing to speak with you about the field. This is what I did. Not only did I make some connections, but I got some good information about what the career really is - not what I would get from a career counselor. In my case, I created a list of questions and emailed them ahead of time to the people that I was to speak to. This gave them time to think about their answers first. The questions I asked had a broad range. I asked questions that I felt were important to me (e.g. how much time do you spend interacting with other staff, outside individuals, etc.; how much time do you spend alone analyzing data; how do others in the company view the person in your position, etc.). The questions that you chose should be important to you. You can always ask more questions later. I also asked the best and worst things about the job and for them to tell me anything they felt was important that I hadn't asked. 

Finally, I would try to fit in an internship or volunteer if possible so that you can see what you might actually be doing so you can see if you like it or not. Not only do you learn things, but you can also use this for networking. 

I hope this is helpful.


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## INFpharmacist (Aug 7, 2009)

I think you should really get a feel for architecture before you switch to it. My boyfriend's sister is an architecture major, and she bounced back and forth from art to architecture for a couple of years before she stuck with architecture.

Basically, I believe that the most important thing to consider is: if you begin to invest your time in that degree path, then it will take a minimum of 5 years before you can start practicing to the fullest. If I'm not mistaken, you have to become licensed and what not to practice as an architect... so it's not like getting an art or music or foreign language degree where you could be doing a job, without a degree, that's exactly the same as something that you would be doing with a degree.
(I see this dilemma in pharmacy pretty often, i.e. people will go all the way through pharmacy school and then decide that they hate working as a pharmacist, because it's too stressful or boring or not what they had expected it would be or whatever.)

Seriously check out the profession...
and Good luck! :happy:


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