"My job is not my passion"

[iceman]

Yeah, but you'd have to live around DC.

They don't though, they all live in PA or WV where it's cheap, and they do fine. It's not a bad place to live at all, compared to most places.

[SumJongGuy]

The idea that education is exclusive to large campuses is pretty dumb. Not saying anyone here has stated that, but the idea in general has a lot of purchase socially. The willingness and ability to read is arguably yudgely more valuable than a diploma.

Start at 3:30

https://youtu.be/ymsHLkB8u3s?t=201

WILL: See the sad thing about a guy like you is in about 50 years you’re gonna start doing some thinking on your own and you’re gonna come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life. One, don't do that. And two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin’ education you coulda got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library.

CLARK: Yeah, but I will have a degree, and you'll be serving my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.

Why yes, I'd like to super size that..

[glademaster]

bzzzt. wrong, so wrong. Access for skiing, hiking, fishing, as well as the much cooler weather trumps DC.

Whoops, my post must have been obtuse. I meant that Ice's example of guys with minimal skills in the trades making pretty darn good money is also true out here.

[Buster Highmen]

Whoops, my post must have been obtuse. I meant that Ice's example of guys with minimal skills in the trades are making pretty darn good money is also true out here.

My bad. I thought your were referring to desirability.

[glademaster]

My bad. I thought your were referring to desirability.

Nah, this area has quite the leg up on DC, but it would be better with fewer people. I'm working on doing my part.

[Bobby Stainless]

* an

Exactly. Wasted a ton of my folks money up east. Learned how to ski tho!

[Kevo]

Well I guess sure, if you put in a couple decades of 50-60 hour weeks you can pull back a bit prior to retirement. Those jobs definitely exist. Pretty much every sales guy is riding his established client base towards the end, but they put the work in busting ass long before that.

I just think grinding it out in hopes of killing it later is not always a guaranteed path. You still gotta be good at it, and there are 10x as many grinders for life as dudes who figured it out and curtailed their workload.

I don't think anyone hits the gravy train right out of the gate, but there are plenty gigs that'll throw off a perfectly respectable income (75K) without much effort.

You keep referencing $75k as a good wage. I believe this is because of a study from years and years ago that most people (and several prominent news articles) misconstrued to say that once you make $75k you won't be happier with additional income. The study actually showed that each additional pay grade above $75k has a slightly diminishing return once you hit $75k, but that people are still generally happier with each additional dollar that they make. E.g. people who make $100k are still happier on average than people who make $80k, etc.

I believe that study was conducted in 2010 or so. Just about every part of the US has a substantially higher cost of living compared to then. That diminishing returns number is most likely way above and beyond $75k today. It's also very location dependent.

Trades are also pretty hard on people's bodies. Electrical work is great for a 20 year old, not so great as people get older.

I know a bunch of people making six figures and working 40 or less. I'm one of them. I'd make more if I worked more as I'd be more of a candidate for more senior leadership, but I'd rather spend time with kids, family and hobbies than work.
Most high pay/low hour jobs are technology focused or high end professional services management. That said, when they need you somewhere, you're on the hook to show up.

This is my life as well. I'm in the tech world (technical sales, product strategy, client consultation). When I'm needed somewhere (and sometimes that is the other side of the world on short notice) I mostly have to go, but I have been able to start being much more discerning with travel in the past year. I did grind for a while and did 75% travel for years on end with many late nights, but now I'm well into the six figure gross range currently doing ~40 hour work weeks most weeks.

Ideally I'd be able to do what I'm doing and work remote. That's the dream/next step perhaps?

[iceman]

...it would be better with fewer people. I'm working on doing my part.

Murder? Suicide?

[glademaster]

Murder? Suicide?

Just moving somewhere with fewer people. No need to get violent.

[iceman]

ah

[RootSkier]

Trades are also pretty hard on people's bodies.

This x1000.

Everyone says do a trade. You know any 55 year-old people in the trades who can still walk? I don't, unless they shifted to a management-type position. I was a timber framer and was dealing with all sorts of weird physical issues at 30. Sure glad I don't do that anymore, though I sure as shit miss it sometimes heading to work in my fucking wingtips.

[Buster Highmen]

This x1000.

I sure as shit miss it sometimes heading to work in my fucking wingtips.

Cheer up, maybe you can franchise the baby wingtips.

[Lindahl]

Sure, I've put in some time, but even then 60 hour weeks were just if you were on big projects.
If you're a semi decent developer, data person or engineer and live in a decent size metro, it's not terribly hard to find.
I'm outside that metro, so my options are more limited, but I have enough internal network to be fine.
Most serious devs I know work much less than 50 working for the big names and startups.

Yeah, tech is a pretty solid place to be and have sane hours with a good salary. But if you’re not good at saying no, its easy to get saddled with not-so-sane hours. Less than 40 hours is pretty easy to swing also, just riskier.

[Harry]

It ain't called "work" for nuthin'! The thing I don't understand is why so many people who clearly have enough money to retire still continue to work. I plan to be out as soon as I possibly can.

I'm one of those. I am in my 60's and I tried being retired, then tried being semi-retired (consultant for my former company) and I found I did not enjoy it. I went back to work in a totally different field, started at the bottom and now run the show. I found that the social aspect of work is what I enjoy. Interacting with my coworkers and the public is why I keep working.

[BCMtnHound]

31 yrs ago I started a summer job in my industry. Loved the science, and loved the field work, mostly alone in beautiful remote locations. Still do. Spent time consulting, sub-contracting, and then working for the government. All had their plus and minuses. For the past 8yrs I’ve volunteered for the local SAR team, been a part of the executive for the past 4.
The common factor in both endeavours that contributed to stress that would drive me away was dealing with other people or their work. Left to my own work, or skill building, and I am happy as a clam. Not the highest paid actor out there by a large margin, as in every case to move up in the billing ladder means dealing with an increasing number of people (that spend most of their time manipulating bullshit to influence other people to do something they don’t really want to do, for someone else’s benefit).
So I like to live in bumfuck nowhere, dealing with as few assholes as possible. Money has almost nothing to do with it.
And passion is for seducing the lady, or for starving ‘artists’ creating something for someone else to appreciate.

[dunfree]

This x1000.

Everyone says do a trade. You know any 55 year-old people in the trades who can still walk? I don't, unless they shifted to a management-type position. I was a timber framer and was dealing with all sorts of weird physical issues at 30. Sure glad I don't do that anymore, though I sure as shit miss it sometimes heading to work in my fucking wingtips.

In addition to the reduced career earning lifetime, there's the potential for substantial injury that will eliminate earnings for a year, or a lifetime.

the trades are a beta play on wealth.

[iceman]

the trades are a beta play on wealth.

There's no doubt about that but it's still a way for people to get through their lives in reasonable style. One of the diminishing number of ways to do that.

[Ted Striker]

31 yrs ago I started a summer job in my industry. Loved the science, and loved the field work, mostly alone in beautiful remote locations. Still do. Spent time consulting, sub-contracting, and then working for the government. All had their plus and minuses. For the past 8yrs I’ve volunteered for the local SAR team, been a part of the executive for the past 4.
The common factor in both endeavours that contributed to stress that would drive me away was dealing with other people or their work. Left to my own work, or skill building, and I am happy as a clam. Not the highest paid actor out there by a large margin, as in every case to move up in the billing ladder means dealing with an increasing number of people (that spend most of their time manipulating bullshit to influence other people to do something they don’t really want to do, for someone else’s benefit).
So I like to live in bumfuck nowhere, dealing with as few assholes as possible. Money has almost nothing to do with it.
And passion is for seducing the lady, or for starving ‘artists’ creating something for someone else to appreciate.

That's pretty fuckin good.

[dunfree]

There's no doubt about that but it's still a way for people to get through their lives in reasonable style. One of the diminishing number of ways to do that.

I know too many trade people who's lives got royally fucked in '07-09 to say that.

edit: at the end all of these things are macro at some level. want to make money in a trade you are a small businessman. subject to the vicissitudes of such a life. cube rat gos on funemployment which is annoying. small businessman eats savings.

[ncskier]

I think some of you live in horribly depressed job markets. My nephew just graduated from unc charlotte. A good but not great school. Starting salary at BofA 75k. 20k sign on bonus. Puts his 40 hours in and goes home. He will have to get mba at some point, but for now fuck passion. He’s 22 pays $800 month in rent and is saving a ton of money.
My other niece is a nurse anesthetist. 25 makes $150k a year. Works 3 12 hour days. Picks up prn days at an outpatient surgery center for extra money. Bought a nice house with big down payment.
This is all in poor old North Carolina. Maybe some here should have skipped English degrees and fly tying classes.
You seem to be angry being poor.
I know a ton of pharma reps making 150k plus who barely work 25 hours a week.

[dunfree]

that's not much of a premium to live in North Carolina.

[old goat]

Heading into the 3rd year of medical school I had no idea what kind of doctor I wanted to be. All that year nothing really grabbed me. My last rotation was general surgery. The first day I got to put in a chest tube--the first procedure other than drawing blood or starting an iv I had done. I knew right then I wanted to be a general surgeon. That Saturday the attending came to the VA to make rounds and I really wanted to impress. I made a brilliant presentation of a complicated patient. As the group walked away from the bedside the attending hung back with me and put his arm around my shoulders. My heart beat faster as I prepared to hear his praise. He whispered in my ear--"your fly is down".

I was lucky to find the profession that was meant for me. I got to use my hands and my brain and it didn't put as much demand on my personality as other kinds of medicine or other jobs would have done. I did work on that my whole career; as the cases got more and more routine the interaction with patients became more and more satisfying. I was also lucky to work at Kaiser, which was very good for me and good to me.

I really enjoyed medical school and residency, despite how much work they were. I tell young people that if they don't like the schooling and training they probably won't like the job. I worry because my eldest son doesn't seem to enjoy general surgery residency that much. I hope my theory is wrong. I think he'd rather be on ski patrol throwing bombs and getting first tracks while all of you wait for KT to start loading.

[ncskier]

that's not much of a premium to live in North Carolina.

it beats keep being poor in your version of paradise. So many angry around here for the lifestyle decisions of supposedly living in paradise.

[BmillsSkier]

I get more excited about a low mileage 90s Toyota product.

Bobby, care to branch out to late 90’s Nissans?

‘95 SE-V6 Black with Chrome Package. Please find her.

I put this on milk cartons for years and only got calls about the missing “children” in the pic.

[dunfree]

it beats keep being poor in your version of paradise. So many angry around here for the lifestyle decisions of supposedly living in paradise.

thinking like that's how I made the mistake of living in the mid-atlantic. if it works for you, great. but this is, well, a ski website.

I don't live in paradise, a dump far from it, and I pay every day in a different way.