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You make $65,000 (USD 🤢) in a dead end career... (piefed.social)

submitted 19 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) by Tooks@piefed.social to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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You make $65,000 (USD 🤢) in a dead end career doing nothing but showing up sometimes. Guaranteed employment without change in intensity or salary until retirement in 15 years at age 62. You receive 3 weeks paid vacation, reasonably priced medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401k matched at 2.5%, and virtually unlimited sick days as long as you don't call out too often (>3x month). You are given 6 college credits per semester to use at the local university. You're currently working on a PhD.

You live comfortably and have 1 year's salary saved. Zero dependents.

Do you ride it out, or do you seek a career change before it's too late.

I know, infinite unknown variables, but what would you do regardless?

UPDATE: I'm slightly taken aback by how many of you actually took the time out of your day/evening to reply to my personal crisis. I've think I've replied to everyone, which, in doing so, made this morning surprisingly sunnier. So thanks for that.

Adding some thing I've shared in replies. I'm a homeowner with zero debt aside from a very affordable mortgage. Purchased my car outright new in 2024, had household concerns addressed over past five years (new roof, HVAC systems, sump pump, water heater, shed, remodeled bathrooms), have three degrees, and a lifetime of piss poor fortune.

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[-] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 1 points 12 hours ago

I'm a generalist myself. The upswing is that you can probably choose a new career and train up pretty quick, faster if you make a relatively lateral move to a field related to your current one, especially if you can highlight transferable skills built at work. The downswing is you're likely to get bored of any one job eventually.

It's hard to say exactly what fields are transferrable without knowing the specifics of your current career. You can try to find a line of work that presents diverse stimulating problems and rewards generalist thinking. You can always try to fulfill your potential outside of work, since it sounds like the job isn't very taxing. Pick up a productive hobby or start volunteering or get politically active or something. Join an organization devoted to making a positive impact and contribute your time and effort. Maybe identify something you do really well and teach other people how to do it. As a generalist I've done a bit of all of these things, and they all bring some degree of fulfillment, some sense of effectively implementing my potential.

[-] Tooks@piefed.social 1 points 7 hours ago

Thanks! Excellent suggestions on finding one's potential outside of employment. I need hobbies, friends, activities. I'm in a rut socially. I abandoned all social media around 2020 when the insane publicly identified a corrupt, sociopathic, pedophile and chose to make him a leader. My return to socials happened just this year, and you're looking at the extent of it now.

Unfortunate events and failed relationships have guided me to this point socially. Nothing ever within my control, just the way things played out. But these instances cost me some serious time and wasted perspective. Example, I was once a family man. Thought that was my calling. Being a father. A husband. Didn't work out. She discovered she was poly following our daughter's birth. Infidelity, I try to divorce her, turns out we were never legally married despite having an officiated ceremony, reception, the whole nine. During the divorce process, it was discovered the state had no record of our marriage as the certificate had never been returned. Our officiant had us sign the documents immediately after the ceremony, and that was the last we saw them. So all of the family dynamics that play into a divorce were void. She sold the house, gained custody (VA loves to give custody to the mother, especially if they make more $$$) and moved away with our daughter just far enough to make scheduled visitation a challenge. I believe this was intentional, as she was not keen to me being disapproving of her poly lifestyle. She's insane.

this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2026

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