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I've come to realize I will never be happy with a job unless it materially helps people. How do I even start facilitating this? (hexbear.net)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've worked in SaaS tech my whole life. Been out of a job for a few months now, and while I do have debts to pay that would be much easier with a paycheck from the tech field, I wouldn't be fulfilled with an office job.

The thing is, I'm not even sure what Id want to do yet. I've known my whole life that I was put here to help others, and there are so many causes out there I could work with that would help. So I think figuring that out is probably the very first step.

I'd also need to make above a certain threshold to be able to really function unless/even if I get a roommate (someone is checking my place out this month, so that might happen in January for me). Seems like figuring out what that number is between bills, rent, food, etc would be a good second step.

Beyond that, anyone else here made drastic career changes (I also don't give a shit about having a "career") that worked out for them like this? Would love any advice or tips! Tell me your story!

Thanks all, love you!

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

So I know that you've been through rehab and it's hard to imagine a person who has done rehab who doesn't experience mental illness alongside it. (Yes, there are unicorns but unicorns are rare.)

My advice to you would be to pursue peer work jobs.

You might be able to do peer work in the evenings or on the weekend voluntarily or perhaps in a paid position (generally speaking peer work roles aren't high paying.)

Keep your current profession for the time being, get into peer work to scratch that itch and in doing so set yourself up for getting paid peer work jobs or beginning to climb the ladder with middle-management peer work jobs as they occasionally emerge by building your experience and your CV. While you're doing that, if you are capable of taking on more, try doing a bit of correspondence learning to work on a qualification as a social worker.

Of all the qualifications, a social worker has a lot of lateral mobility and generally a lot more scope for helping people than most jobs.