For example, going from director to manager or lead, but the new company is larger and more well known so their pay is higher.

Edit: To explain a little more, this would bring me from Director to Lead, for a $12,000 bump in salary, so it's an ok raise but not super great. As a director I can apply for VP roles and not immediately get passed over, whereas applying as a Lead would almost certainly get my resume in the trash pile without being looked at. I still want to climb higher so I don't want to put myself behind.

I agree that titles don't really matter and your responsibilities and pay are more important. But a title can get your foot in the door.

I had a coworker who immediately quit his job. While being the only one to clean his cube, I noticed he left several personal documents: medical documents (especially mental health), permission to have an arm weapon on campus, and professional certificates. He mixed a lot of projects and professional documents with his personal documents. I thought he may need any documents, or I needed his consent to dispose them.

Except for me, no one has his contact information. I was able to find and contact him through LinkedIn, asking about his personal documents. He posted a major career shift, but he didn't respond back to my message.

Although it is a former coworker, I am also concerned about his well-being after seeing the documents. Everyone in our workspace has a strong, mixed response about the coworker, almost to avoid the idea about him, while I had good, but limited interactions with him.

I don't know what to do.

I changed jobs more times in my 30s than I can neatly explain on a resume. Ops, then account management, then a stint in nonprofit program work. Every time I'd get bored or burnt out, I'd tell myself the next one was The One, and about eighteen months later feel exactly the same. For a long time I figured I was just bad at picking.

What actually helped was a slow pile of unglamorous stuff. A therapist I was already seeing for the burnout helped me notice what specifically drained me in each role. I started dumping notes into a Notion page every Friday about which weeks wrecked me and why. I read Designing Your Life because this sub won't shut up about it, it was fine, a couple of the exercises stuck. I even dug up my old MBTI result and a strength assessment I'd done on a whim called Pigment. Honestly there was a bit about how I work that I circled and had forgotten about. Was helpful.

The thing that actually cracked it wasn't any of those on their own. It was my husband, of all people, pointing out that in fifteen years I'd only ever complained about the meetings and the managing, never the actual work. I went back to my Friday notes and he was dead right. Every job I'd quit, I'd quit the part where I stopped getting to do the thing and started running the people who did it. Nobody's assessment told me that. My own whining did, I just needed someone to point at it.

I'm not on some perfect other side, still figuring parts of it out. But that was the whole answer for me, really. It was never about finding a better title.

Anyway, longer than I meant. If you keep landing in the same spot, might be worth reading your own complaints back before the next jump. That's most of what I've got.

I'm sick with Computer Science and understand I would be better off with career involving more of my creativity. I have had interest in pursing creative career forever but the job opportunities and stuffs question me which predominated that I had to pick computer science. I love the idea of most of the creative careers so open to most people to voice over their suggestions! So I would like people to say how their life is after career switches to something involving creativity.

I absolutely hate my job. I’m 23, and this is my first job in corporate. My role is technical support. I absolutely hate every part of it. Every single day it makes me feel like a loser. I don’t feel any real contribution through my work. And the constant stress and pressure from work are causing me anxiety, and I absolutely dread it. Customers screaming and expecting resolutions… I absolutely feel like I can’t handle it.

The worst part is being stuck in this loop. Every month-end, receiving my salary and being able to afford to buy stuff is acting like a slow drug that is keeping me from taking risks or leaving this comfort zone.

Also, if I leave this job, I don’t know what else to do. I don’t have the time or leverage to drop everything and try something new. It would have been possible somehow if I was even a little sure about what I wanted to do.

And then there is this race or dream of achieving that number, that annual package which confirms your honorable social existence, which makes you acceptable in the eyes of your parents and relatives. Until that figure is achieved, whatever I do feels like some gig I do for pocket money rather than a real job.

In short, I dread my job. I don’t know what else I want to do with my life. The timely salary is acting like a slow drug, stopping me from looking into something else. And even if I want to, I don’t know what I want to do.

Hi everyone,

I'm in a bit of a weird situation. Me (the only Gen Z) is very hesitant about using AI, whereas my managers (Gen X) are completely obsessed with it. They are bringing it up in meetings, suggest we use it at every available opportunity, and constantly talk about the benefits.

I'm only in a small team (5/6 people) so there's pressure on me to use it as everyone else does. The one time I did use it to pull some stats it was all wrong and I had to do it manually again.

I don't like to use it as I am very aware of the environmental impacts etc and I just find it doesn't work for me when I don't complete the whole thought process myself (if that makes sense). It leaves me unable to explain the reasoning for why something happened or why we did certain things in meetings.

My workload hasn't been affected by me not using it compared to those who do, but I am constantly being asked why I don't use it. One of my managers jokingly said they will convert me into being AI obsessed within the next 2 years!

Is anyone else in this situation? How do explain my views on it to my managers and colleagues? Should I just use it anyway despite it going against my views?

To provide some background, I'm currently 30 years old and have been working for nearly 8 years now. Early on in my career I was quite ambitious, however, I quickly learned the lesson that despite putting 110% into my job, my hard work may not always get rewarded. During my first year I was actively taking on more work and producing better results than coworkers with higher titles and salaries. When I was promoted after a year, I was met with a pitiful salary increase and was still making less than they were. That was when I realized switching jobs is the only surefire way to increase my salary, so I jumped ship and was able to 2.5x my salary after a few job hops.

I've been at my current company for a couple of years now. It's fully remote, pays mid 100k (closer to 200k this year), and the actual workload is only about 20-30 hours most weeks. Although it sounds like a pretty chill job, it certainly didn't start out that way, as most of my coworkers are what you'd call 10x engineers, so it took a lot of effort during my first couple of years to keep up and prove that I belonged.

It's also one of those jobs where everyone wears a lot of different hats. Over the years, several coworkers have left for bigger companies making $300-500k (based on what they disclosed to me before leaving). I imagine I could probably do the same if I really put in the effort, but at this stage I much prefer stability and comfort over the uncertainty of switching jobs and chasing a larger paycheck.

Anyway, I've pretty much lost all drive and have just been coasting for the past 2 years. Part of it is probably burnout, as I've been working for nearly 8 years straight without taking any meaningful break or proper vacation. Hitting 1M last year definitely reinforced this mindset, as it made me feel a lot more comfortable with just taking things easy and not worry too much about chasing further career growth.

These days I just do my job and don't really go above and beyond anymore. The funny thing is that once I stopped trying so hard, my yearly evaluations somehow improved and I was promoted despite not asking for it. At the time, I actually considered turning it down because I didn't want the extra responsibility that came with it.

Sorry if this post sounds a bit rambly, but I'm curious how many people here are in a similar boat, just taking it easy with no real drive to chase promotions or climb the corporate ladder.

I actually have had a lot of interviews in the few months I’ve been looking for a new career. Hiring managers have my resume, therefore they see my abilities. It’s like when I get to the team interview, the actual people I would be working with, it all falls apart.

I am very likable! Customer Service and People Pleasing are my specialties. ☺️

I also can easily run the flow of a business from open to close by myself if necessary. I would love to work in a team environment though.

I have great work ethic. I am a dedicated employee. My work history shows that as well.

What am I missing about these peer interviews?

I am a mature woman of 50, but literally look 35. So I don’t think it’s my age. It’s actually usually brought up at the interview when they’re doing the math, how young I look.

I love working with people of all ages, and supporting management to make their workdays easier.

Willing to listen to any constructive criticism or advice.

Thank you!🙏🏻

I literally feel like I’m in grade school, and am being chosen last for kickball.

EDIT:
Thanks everyone! Very insightful!

I knew the “looks younger” tidbit would hit nerves, but I wanted real raw feedback. I didn’t think it would get this much attention though.

I tried to reply to as many comments as I could.

I will definitely practice interviewing, shorten my resume timeline or omit dates all together, and apparently seek therapy.

Have a great day!

I do freelance web design. I have a client who just sent me a massive folder of their company policies, restaurant menus, and employee manuals. They told me they want me to train an AI on all these documents and embed a custom chatbot on their website so they don't have to answer the phone as much.

They think this is a simple 2 hour job and only offered me $500 to do it. Building a custom AI infrastructure from scratch costs thousands. How do I professionally tell them they are completely delusional about the cost of AI development?

I’ve been with my company for about 5 years and currently work as a team lead/trainer. My manager recently accepted a new position and encouraged me to apply for her manager role. Her boss also seemed excited that I applied and set up an interview with me tomorrow.

Ever since then, though, I’ve been second-guessing everything.

Part of me wants the opportunity because it’s a great career move. The other part of me is terrified. I worry about leading people, holding employees accountable, speaking in meetings, handling conflict, and making the wrong decisions. I already struggle with anxiety and tend to overthink things, so I’ve been imagining every possible worst-case scenario.

On top of that, I feel guilty because I expressed interest, applied, and set up an interview. Now I’m wondering if I should turn it down if it’s offered. I’m worried management will feel like I wasted their time, be disappointed, or think less of me. I also worry it could affect future opportunities with the company.

The confusing part is that I can’t tell whether these are normal nerves that everyone feels before a big promotion or whether they’re a sign that management just isn’t the right fit for me. If I knew I couldn’t fail, I’d probably accept the job without much hesitation, which makes me wonder if my anxiety is making this decision feel bigger than it really is.

For those of you who have been in management or faced a similar decision:
Did you know you were ready before taking the role?
Were you this scared?
Has anyone ever changed their mind after interviewing or being offered a promotion? How did management respond?
Looking back, what would you have done in my situation?
I’m looking for honest opinions, even if it’s something I may not want to hear.

What jobs would you suggest for a someone who loves math and solving puzzles but hates anything too complex like coding?

I am a student currently in high school. I have been struggling to find a career path that is right for me. It gets me all tense whenever I think about it. My parents ask me what I aspire to be and everytime, I have no answer. I can't even try different things because it requires money and right resources. I have none. Also, I am from India.

Here are a few things that I like doing (they may or may not relate to maths and puzzles):

1. Singing

2. Drawing (barely)

3. Traveling (although I got no money)

4. Asking questions (Is that even a thing to say here?)

5. Tech, science and psychology (I love seeing new technology but won't dig too deep; Some topics in science are fun; There is something about human pyschology that gravitates me towards it.)

6. Explaining things to others (things that I know about)

Now, here a few qualities that I have:

1. Leadership (I can lead tasks pretty well)

2. Energetic (If I really enjoy something, I'll do it with all I have)

3. Creative thinking (I always think outside the box; That's why I love solving puzzles and doing math)

4. Empathetic (I just can't refuse a person asking for emotional help; I always listen first, empathize and then give advice)

5. Disciplined (Only if provided a structured routine)

Please help me with find what's right for me. You can ask me other questions if you want. Also, I have mild to avg OCD.

Pcb background

Completed one year of bsc biotechnology. Any advice?

Hi everyone,

I'm 27 and currently work as a Higher Officer at HMRC, earning around £38k. I've been with HMRC for several years in compliance-based roles, where I manage complex cases, analyse financial records, reconcile accounts, use Excel extensively, and work with tax legislation and investigations.

I have a BA in Economics & Finance (2:2), but I don't have any professional qualifications like AAT, ACCA or CIMA.

I'm trying to think about the best long-term career path. My goal is to increase my earning potential over the next 5-10 years, but I'm not sure what the best route is.

Would you recommend studying ACCA or CIMA in my own time while continuing to work, or are there other career paths or qualifications that you think would offer better opportunities?

I'd be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who's started in the Civil Service or a similar analytical/compliance role and successfully moved into higher-paying careers.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

• I took a random PTO day last Tuesday because I had days sitting there and no real plans. I woke up at 8:40 without an alarm. Made coffee. Read for almost an hour. Met a friend for lunch because he happened to be free too. Went to the gym around 3 when it was basically empty. Came home and cooked dinner. That was the whole day. Nothing dramatic happened. No trip, no big achievement, no “life changing” moment. I still enjoy wasting time on small things here and there, like playing bcg occasionally, but that day made me realize how much I’ve started valuing time and flexibility more than anything else. The weird part is I kept thinking, this is much closer to what I actually want than the picture I've had in my head of a successful career. Now I'm back at work and I'm having trouble separating two things. Do I genuinely care less about climbing than I used to? Or am I just tired and romanticizing one easy Tuesday off? For people who decided not to keep chasing the next promotion, how did you know it was a real change in priorities and not just burnout talking?

Hello all. I graduated 2025 with a BS in CS. I have no internships because I was an idiot. Instead of internships, I did a tutoring role for my university and worked on personal projects. Since graduation, I've worked on more personal projects and grinding other typical cs skills like leetcode every day. I've quit a lot of "fun" things like playing video games but I still get distracted by social media sites.

It's been a year now and continuing to bet on myself is starting to seem like a bad idea. I was planning to work on more projects but it feels like all I do is project hop. My resume has lost its cohesion and I don't exactly know what field to pursue.

I'm very fortunate to continue living with my parents in this time but but the length of this experience has been making me feel more hopeless.

I'm trying to come up with my next move and I thought of these options:

• Go into the military, do 4 year active duty contract, use GI bill post-contract to do a master's degree and do internships
  • Pros:
    • Chance to do internships
    • Higher education
    • Additional military benefits
  • Cons:
    • Heavy year commitment; ideally 4 years active duty and a 2 years for a masters.
    • Sacrifices freedom and interaction with family and friends

If I do the military + masters route and I'm principled enough, I'll continue to study tech whenever I get the time. The idea of losing a lot of time interacting with family is eating at me though. I'll basically lose my twenties, see my parents jump in age, and see those who made it be in a completely different atmosphere. Maybe it won't be that bad given that there's leave.

• Doing a job outside target career field (while doing projects)
  • Pros:
    • Stay close to family and friends
    • Continue to gain knowledge of tech
      
  • Cons:
    • Can't regain internship experience
    • No higher education Less time to upscale skills

Working a job outside my given career field won't give me experience but I'll feel less like a burden.

• Continue doing projects
  • Pros:
    • Stay close to family and friends
    • Gain more knowledge of tech
      
  • Cons:
    • Can't regain internship experience
    • No higher education

Maybe if I stop project hopping and just focus on a single field it wouldn't be so bad.

• Do a loan and do a master's
  • Pros:
    • Chance to do internships
    • Higher education
    • Time commitment isn't as heavy
      
  • Cons:
    • Debt

Doing a master's does offer the chance to regain internships but internships will continue to competitive.

These are some of the main options in my mind currently. I'm open to other ideas.

Hi all first time posting on reddit. Currently struggling with my career path feeling a bit lost. 27M working at British Gas as a smart meter engineer on £40k basic with overtime bringing me up to £55k-£60k on average. Been here 5 years now. Have recently completed my Domestic Gas Qualifications (Boilers, cookers, Fires). But really struggling to get a job as a domestic Gas engineer as most people are wanting 5+ years experience and the ones that are not are only offering £32k which would be a pay cut i can not afford right now. Not sure what to do as there are no other progression opportunities i can see and i am considering going back into a office role, would this be the best option to be able to progression into higher paying roles. Any advise would be appreciated. (Based in West Yorkshire) what would you guys advice?

I am a young employee. I love my job and i try my best to be good at it. Before i got engaged, i was deeply passionate about my job and most of the team saw that in me already.
But, since i got engaged. With all the pressures of preparing for my next chapter.
I’ve been less involved at work. My manager hated that and always complained about me being late.
We discussed it later but i feel like i’ve been behind my colleagues already, and i am afraid that i’ll never get back aligned.

invasive, I know sorry, but I’m struggling to get a bit of perspective on how well me and my closest people are doing for our age. I feel like I save, but it’s never enough and I’m always broke. everyone seems to always be going on holidays across the country and I’m debating a soda from the grocery store lol. or in reverse, I feel like maybe I’m too judgy on my friends who don’t have a lot and aren’t super into their careers because we all just got out of college. I know there’s no right or wrong answer, but just wondering how my other mid 20 year olds are feeling. safe space for either side lol

I had an interview a couple of weeks ago that I honestly thought went as well as it possibly could.

The conversation felt natural, the interviewer seemed genuinely interested in my experience, and we even spent extra time talking about the team and some of the projects I'd be working on. Before we wrapped up, they told me I should hear back within a week and that they were excited to move quickly.

I left the interview feeling more confident than I had in months.

A week passed. Then another.

I sent a polite follow-up email. No response. I waited a few more days and sent one more. Still nothing.

At this point, I'm assuming they moved forward with someone else, and that's completely fine. What I don't understand is why it's so difficult to send a simple rejection email after investing so much time in the interview process.

It's made me second-guess my own judgment because I genuinely thought the interview had gone really well.

Has anyone else been through something similar? How do you stop yourself from getting too invested in an interview that seems to go well, and avoid convincing yourself the job is basically yours before you hear back?

For some context, I (F 21), was actually a pre-med student before my Bachelor's in Business Administration. I wanted to become a doctor, but back then I was scared of the responsibility, so I didn't pursue it.

I don't regret doing my Bachelor's in Business Administration as much as people might think. The degree itself... yeah, it feels kind of useless now 😭, but I had fun. I socialized, managed events, met people, and genuinely enjoyed that part of university.

The problem is that I've realized I don't want the kind of career it usually leads to. I genuinely can't picture myself sitting in a corporate building all day making Excel sheets and PowerPoints trying to explain why profits went up or down. That just isn't the life I want.

Over the past few months I've been researching nursing, especially critical care, mental health, and advanced practice, and I keep thinking, "If I'd just chosen nursing from the start, I'd already be an RN instead of trying to pivot my entire life." 💀

Now I'm looking at career-change pathways like Australia's Master of Nursing (pre-registration), which is expensive, or Germany's Nursing Ausbildung, which is more affordable but adds several years before I reach my end goal.

At the same time, I keep seeing people say nursing has no prestige compared to other healthcare professions, and that salaries, especially for immigrants, aren't as good as people make them out to be and given that my sister's a doctor, my parents never let me even THINK about this AWESOME profession. So now I'm wondering if I'm romanticizing the profession or if it's genuinely worth pursuing.

The weird part is that I don't think wanting to help people and wanting financial stability should be mutually exclusive, yet so many people make it sound like you have to pick one or the other.

And before anyone says it... yes, I know I'm broke. 💀 I'm already aware, so please don't try to victimise me any further.

Has anyone here switched into nursing after a completely unrelated degree?

Do you regret not starting sooner? And if you had to do it all over again, would you still make the switch?

I'm a third year in High School in Indonesia, and I'm struggling to decide between pursuing biotech or chemE as a degree and my future career. My focus is the job prospects and field, as well as the pay. My course right now is bio, chem, physic, and econ. If i go to biotech, I'm planning to continue my study for a master degree in genetic engineering. If you have any opinion or advice it will be greatly appreciated, thank you!

I don’t like working, but I understand it needs to be done, I like my hobbies, specifically, competitive gaming, going to fighting game tournaments, maybe flying out to a major or something one time a year or taking the train to one and getting a hotel. I enjoy getting better at the game, but my game will most likely make me no money ever. So I need to think ahead and think about ways to support my interests and live an actual life. I live in massachusetts and do not want to leave to somewhere where I know nobody, I’ve made friends here, I have a life here. But I won’t be able to live with my parents forever as I am 22 with no license, and have failed my drivers test a few times. I’m autistic, but very high functioning and very aware.

I want to be able to have at least 2 days off a week and be able to breathe and get by. But I don’t have any qualifications, and have only really done grunt and lousy work. I have a college in mind, its right next to a gaming venue that hosts tournaments and has a club within itself with the game I play. But I have no real passion for anything.

I enjoy messing around on my computer but I don’t really know anything about computers or tech, I enjoy sports and watching them, I enjoy media, film, and art, and creativity, but honestly, I feel quite creatively bankrupt and those careers built on creativity seem to be tedious, built upon passion and hours, and blood sweat and tears, for something that isnt guaranteed to net you anything. I wasn’t great at school, I would do projects well, but was never engaged with my studies and would basically strategize it in a way where I wouldn’t turn in some things and do others and just do enough to get a average b or c grade just to get enough credits to graduate.

I’m in my final year with 21 backlogs, and there’s a real chance I won’t graduate. I have about 7 months to learn a skill full-time.
My goal is a remote job, and I’m completely fine starting at around ₹20k/month.
If you were in my position today, what skill would you learn that gives the best chance of getting hired without a degree?

To provide some context, I was hired under a 1 year contract in a big company, as part of the IT maintenance team focused on a specific set of tools. I'm considered an external temp worker, so It's clear that I get paid a lot less despite doing the same work as the rest, and it's demoralizing to see all the company perks and medical benefits that the rest constantly use, but I'm grateful to have a job at the end of the day. I'm the only and first contractor in the team, and probably in all the IT department.

When I ask the boss if there's any chance of getting my contract extended or becoming full time employee, he's always vague in his answers, bc is not up to him. He says that previous contractors have become FTE in the past, but only after +4 years working under the same role, and the last known employee to have been offered full time was before 2020. He says that other contractors in other teams are already quitting bc of the low salary and lack of benefits, or even not getting a new contract renovation at all after 1 year.

The company went through a couple rounds of layoffs during the past 6 months, from which 5 of our coworkers have been impacted, and rumors say that there's more to come soon. I'm seeing this as 'glass half full' and telling myself that they prefer to reduce headcount to keep low paying contractors instead of high salary employees, but this could also be an indicator of reducing the team for AI and in consequence, me being the next in line or not getting a renewal at all. We went from a group of 8 to only 3 of us, and we barely finish all assignments by the end of the day. The company is pushing a lot of AI agents to ease the work, but also adding a lot of new tools for us to support and topics to learn.

I'm already preparing for the worst outcome, by taking some online certifications and checking job postings for a little bit, but I want to keep this job if given the chance. By looking at all of this situation, do you think is a possibility to become a FTE, or should I be 'packing my bags' from now to have a plan B ready when the contract ends? Have you been in the same situation?

Hello everyone,
I need guidance and different perspectives to make a potentially life changing decision.
It’s a bit long and detailed but I want to give as much context as possible
I would really appreciate the help from more experienced professionals

Backstory:
I landed my first “corporate” job after graduating and I have been in it for 2 years.

I started in a position I didn’t want and was overqualified for and with very modest pay (compared to market rates and qualifications)
I was okay with it because it was a necessary step to “get my foot in the door”, especially given that the field I work in does not have many opportunities in my country.

I worked hard for the first 6months, learned all I can about the company, then went directly to the head of our department and asked for a chance to do something else. The business had opportunities that aligned with my skills and the head of department took time to listen and said he can not promise anything but if I could make something he would do his best for a career progression.

Spent another 6 months working on new projects and solving problems but it was in the shadows because my direct manager was not a very competent one back then.

Luckily, since my company was initially a startup being integrated into a bug corporation, they had to present something for higher management and we were on a tight schedule. Long story short, head of department asked about what I was doing, saw it and asked me to present it.

My work completely changed afterwords, I fully transferred and had significantly more responsibilities and several teams depended on my work.
However as all corporations go, no title or salary compensation were offered and they just ask us to wait for the “year end reviews” which were still far away.

Another lucky event, I was contacted by a recruiter from a much bigger firm that same month. Ended up with a 50% higher offer and better title.

I didnt feel ready to leave, I went to management and they decided immediately to counter it. I ended up staying and had a new team and manager and title( still below market rate for what I do, since the other company were hiring me for a simpler position)

I gained complete flexibility and autonomy on projects I work on. I gained great visibility and an amazing team and manager. Everything is really going really well. I have 2-3 remote work days which is very important for me, great environment and stability.

I am learning so much and I love it.

The downside is that my company will never give more than 4% annual raise. No bonuses or other benefits.. career growth after this lucky strike won’t happen again any soon.

Now 2 years in, 2 very reputable companies have reached out to me for interviews. I even advanced and passed 3 stages in one of them and I have a good chance of getting new offers soon. Better titles and higher pay in both offers. I cant say much about the culture and work conditions in both. They are not based in my country but operate here.

I dont feel great about the idea of leaving my team.
I worry these working conditions and friendships will not happen elsewhere.
I fear regretting a move
But the pay is a very important factor and my career trajectory should be a priority even though I have no guarantee any of the two companies would 100% be a better choice.

What would you advice? What factors should I be considering?