I’m torn as to whether I should put this here. I posted to regular career advice, but I also thought asking here might get more understanding and less “bootstraps rabble rabble” etc.
For the record, I’m staunchly anti work and anti capitalist. I draw HARD boundaries at work on what they can expect from me and why, I call out martyrdom and bullshit from the old heads who say “I gave my life up for this job, why won’t you?” I hope we can pull off a general strike, I won’t keep my mouth shut when big wig work contacts (our biggest vendor’s customer rep, for example) say things like “no one wants to work” I read them the riot act.
However. I have to work. And I’ll have to work for more money the older I get to not end up as fucked as my parents were at the end of their lives. And my body is falling apart.
So. What are the fields/careers that have some combination of the following:
-work/life balance
-not totally saturated job market
-potential for remote or partially remote
-emphasis on meeting actual goals in however many hours it takes, not on being seen sitting at your desk/online for the number of hours a week (40+) that makes bossman feel like he got his money’s worth out of you
Context: I’m 35, based in the southeast US, no degree, minimal college credits from 15 years ago. I’m young enough to start over, but old enough and behind enough to be at a huge disadvantage without a degree, even arguably once I do have one. This is the first time in my adult life that this all feels like a massive bummer and I’m ready to do something about it.
I currently have the major privilege of an opportunity to start school again, fully paid, while maintaining a flexible level of part time work w/ great benefits at my organic foods co-op job. My partner and I are happily DINK homeowners with minimal expenses, I can get away with working part time for the foreseeable future, but will need to get back to saving/planning for retirement etc eventually. These are not things I take for granted.
Trying to pivot from 2 literal decades of dead-end service industry jobs that destroyed my body, to something I can do at least partly from home, ideally with some flexibility of hours/scheduling based on productivity, not on hours wasted looking busy.
What are these mythical jobs people have where the company doesn’t care how many/which hours they’re at their desk/online as long as the productivity goals are met? I’ve seen evidence that I could find something like this in accounting/payroll and cybersecurity, any others come to mind for y’all? Any anecdotal evidence for or against those claims?
I know the job market is insane right now, and I know I won’t get my unicorn company/boss/job off the bat or maybe ever, but there must be fields where this is more possible than others.
I also plan to look into the possibility of tapping my medium sized co-op company (4 stores) for training/experience in accounting, admin, etc to get a foot in while in school. I could easily stick it out with this company in my current role or in admin for however long it takes to transition to a new career, and my superiors would be supportive of school needs etc. I also have a great personal connect higher up in the company, which is how I got the job mid-pandemic in the first place, he basically got me hired sight unseen.
It seems that for some people, finding a job they’re passionate about is important, for some people it’s hustling to make tons of money no matter the cost in the rest of their life. For these folks work is a big part of their identity – I don’t want that.
I want my job to ultimately be the least important part of my life, but I’m beyond ready to be done with the service industry, and I’ll put in the work of schooling/training/entry level jobs to get to a point where I have a decent job in five to ten years that won’t swallow up my life, but also won’t eventually destroy my body/soul, as service jobs do.
Please help me y’all, I can’t spend the next 30 years hauling ass all day with a bunch of bratty 25 year olds and deluding myself that getting promoted to assistant department manager/department manager/even store manager will be the answer.