Starting over post 40

[utahjeepr]

Congrats, and good luck. Hope it works out well for you.

Give it your best, but don't abandon keeping your feelers out. Often the best job opportunities come around when you least expect it. Besides, I've always found that the best tool to finding a job is to have one.

[17K]

Past 40? I hope not. I did at 33. Left a horrible, stressful, nomadic, $200K/year job for a much more satisfying $50-70K/year that allows me a lot more time for important things. Like hanging out with my wife and kids, riding a bicycle, cooking, and sleeping in.

[1986s4]

Well, my search is finally over. I'll be starting soon with an emergency management company out here in OK doing recruiting as soon as my drug screening comes back. Slight pay cut on the top end over what I was making, but they seem to be growing pretty rapidly and I'm on the front end of that expansion so there's a potential for growth in that area.

But most importantly, they seem to be fast paced and make decisions quickly. I literally did an initial interview less than an hour and a half after I dropped my resume, did a follow up interview a few hours later with my new section chief, the ops manager and the CEO and received an offer letter by 4 PM that very same day at the salary I requested. Less than 24 hours from interviewed to hired.

One thing is certain though, I will be completing my degree regardless. I've found out the hard way it really gets you in the door as a minimum in many places. Something I should have rectified in my time in the service when it was free (or close to free) but certainly will be fixed now.

With a lot of people moving around, there are a lot of jobs available. But at the same time, there are a lot of applicants for those same jobs and competition is tough.

Good luck ! Don't even consider failure, instead envision success and victory, tell your own story. Many years ago in my youth, I wanted badly to be on the US Olympic Team. I never got much encouragement save for my parents and very close friends. I had zero concept of failure on this, only moving forward.
1988 United States Olympic Team member.

[TBAR_94]

One thing is certain though, I will be completing my degree regardless. I've found out the hard way it really gets you in the door as a minimum in many places. Something I should have rectified in my time in the service when it was free (or close to free) but certainly will be fixed now.

Congratulations on the new position. Being part of a growing organization is often really fulfilling. I agree 100% with you on the college thing. I work with a lot of military guys who feel their resume is strong enough to make up for lack of a degree. While in a perfect world that should be true, in reality it just isn’t.

[Slater]

I fear change. Guess that's why I've been working in the munitions field for the last 43 years.

[fred]

Glad to hear you got a good gig. At 50+ I'm right there with you in spirit. Retired early due to my agency being turned into a smuggling org, saving cartels/child traffickers money on the back end. Couldn't do it, not again.
God bless!

[jwfuhrman]

I retired from an LEO career after 20 years and went back to school. I attended a coding boot camp and have been in that industry for a few years now. MUCH better job, easier, less stress, and MORE money.

Good luck on your journey, friend.

I've been working in the medical field now for most of my adult life (I'm 37, started when I was 22). Worked EMS full time from 22 until I turned 34, when I met my wife and got married shortly after. I still work EMS part time (more like part time full time hours) and work in a Optometrist's Office as a Office float doing literally every job in here including billing. I've seriously been considering a course in Medical Coding and Billing. So so many work from home jobs in that field. Considering I have a out building on my property that I run my gun business from already, I could just work from home and do everything from there.

I may have to really look into that route now.

[kerplode]

So, I'm about to make a seriously life altering decision... probably today... and resign from my current position. Long story short, the job I'm in is starting to cause me health problems and I need a new gig with way less wear and tear on my body and mind for lack of a better term. There are other factors at work here that I don't want to get into, but I'm probably going to be starting over with my life somewhere else.

The question is, has anyone else ever made a similar decision and hit the big "reset" button this "late" in life and potentially pursued a new career? I'm unsure of my next steps at the moment, but I'll be okay financially for a bit while I seek out my next employment in an unrelated field.

I'm working through this. In fact, my last day was a couple days before your original post.

At 44, with no real backup plan, I walked away from my job as a senior electrical engineer with a major tech company as well as my almost $300k/yr total compensation package and world class benefits. I just couldn't do it anymore. The stress of the daily work environment coupled with the random chaos caused by a thoroughly incompetent management chain and the general pointlessness of the work was literally killing me. I gained like 50lbs while working there, I was constantly exhausted, constantly on edge, had trouble sleeping, was blowing my lid at people with the slightest provocation...It was all bad.

So I just left. Management fell over themselves trying to get me to stay, but I knew they gave no shits about my experience or what the grind they had us all on was doing to out mental and physical health. They weren't going to change or do anything and everyone knew it. Offering me another set of golden handcuffs to stick around was just a way for them to help themselves.

I'd also grown weary of the direction CO was heading, so I fixed that problem at the same time....Packed my shit, sold my house, and moved back to my home town. I said I'd never come back here, but times change. It's simpler, quieter, and cheaper. In general, it's just a more honest life.

For the last several months, we're just living on savings while I decompress. I am thankful that that career gave me the luxury to do this...I know it's not an option for the majority. However, I don't have any intention of returning to engineering. Working on starting a business, but if that falls through, I'll find something. Hell, driving a trash truck or flipping burgers would be better than sitting on pointless Teams calls from 8am until 9pm with a bunch of system architects and VPs who are incapable of making a simple decision without needing a 30 member workstream to talk it to death twice weekly for 6 weeks first.

I didn't read the whole thread, and I'm sure you've already done what you're going to do. So, I will simply wish you the best of luck and happiness. I'm sure you'll be fine, and probably come out the other side a happier and healthier person.

[Black_Sheep]

I changed my career path at 50 when the cumulative wear and tear from wrenching on semis for 30 years got to me. I stayed in the transportation industry and work as an account manager for an independent parts and repair facility. It's worked out well, yesterday was my 13th anniversary with the company.

Have faith in yourself...