So a good amount of 20 somethings I know, at varying degrees of financial success, are thinking about going back to school. Reason being, for the most part, they don't find their current careers to be exactly fulfilling.
Random observation - most people I know in the 35+ bracket find this to be an amusing '20 something thing' - it's a job, it doesn't have to be perfect or have meaning, it just needs to pay the bills. The early 20 somethings are being almost hopelessly romantic about their careers; there will never be one to meet their expectations.
Anyhow.
A friend of mine mentioned that one shouldn't go back to school, it's not necessarily the key to getting a good job. I find this to be an interesting and somewhat accurate point. Some people end up in lines of work that have nothing to do with their degree/major. Some lines of work require a very specific background, obviously, but other lines of work provide training specific to the industry that can only be learned through experience, rather than in a classroom. That then lends itself to the age old question of 'how do I get experience if no one will give me a chance?' I guess my question is - if there's a 20 something, or anyone, for that matter, who wants to change career paths - what is the best way to go about this? Is it going back to school? What are the other viable options?
Your thoughts?
Random observation - most people I know in the 35+ bracket find this to be an amusing '20 something thing' - it's a job, it doesn't have to be perfect or have meaning, it just needs to pay the bills. The early 20 somethings are being almost hopelessly romantic about their careers; there will never be one to meet their expectations.
Anyhow.
A friend of mine mentioned that one shouldn't go back to school, it's not necessarily the key to getting a good job. I find this to be an interesting and somewhat accurate point. Some people end up in lines of work that have nothing to do with their degree/major. Some lines of work require a very specific background, obviously, but other lines of work provide training specific to the industry that can only be learned through experience, rather than in a classroom. That then lends itself to the age old question of 'how do I get experience if no one will give me a chance?' I guess my question is - if there's a 20 something, or anyone, for that matter, who wants to change career paths - what is the best way to go about this? Is it going back to school? What are the other viable options?
Your thoughts?
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3 comments:
i had a job right out of college. great pay. great hours. hated every minute of it! i finally hit a point where i knew that there had to be something more to life, so i went back to school. i'm now 1 semester away from an MBA and just landed a dream job! my opinion is that you should follow your heart. don't just stick something out because "it pays the bills." we're all too young to have that mantra.
ooh interesting becky - what is your new job?
Maybe you work with a bunch of disillusioned cynics. You spend most of your life in a job. Why should it be something that you hate? I don't get that sentiment.
I can't say that any of the people I work with over the age of 35 feel that way. In my school, there are many people who "went back to school" after many years of working in other jobs. We have a science teacher who was a doctor. A woman who worked in advertising now teaches business classes. Another guy got sick of running his own business, and is now a science teacher at 55. My own boss worked as an airline gate agent for 10 years before deciding to get her library science degree. The thing these people have in common is that they had to go back to school to get teaching certificates. Maybe I am lucky, but I feel that I work in a job that does have meaning. And I would hate to have a job that doesn't. I love having a job that I am passionate about.
I feel that getting a job that you like that also pays the bills-or changing careers into a completely difference field-requires specialized training, so going back to school is necessary. I'm not sure what jobs you're thinking about that provide training 'specific to the industry'...I'd still think that you would need some sort of educational training from that.
Really interesting thoughts!!
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