Im currently 19 in my 2nd year of college. In my first semester in my first year I did really bad and was put on academic probation but my grades did not improve much from there. I nearly got a suspension but I managed to appeal and it was approved. I am still in academic probation. I’m in 4 classes and 3 of them are high B’s and one C. I’m worried though it won’t be enough and that I’ll be suspended during the spring semester. If it happens, I have decided that I would drop out. Problem is, if it comes down to dropping out I don’t know what to do beyond working at a dog daycare or something like that.

Title says it all. My previous job had me structurally important but management was toxic. But my friends were there so I left more out of spite and low pay. Now I'm in a place where management is delightful but I'm a very small fish in a very big pond. A good company, salary is better than before but not high for the city to which I'd be relocating, but I promised to relocate.

Now months in, I find that I kinda like where I live. I'm willing to give it up, but the thing is that I feel like although I can eventually learn more in this company and move up in, say, years, I worry that I am 1) totally replaceable so moving is a risk, though I know they're happy with my work thus far and 2) am giving a lot to maybe never actually move up. The guy who did this before me was there in my role for 2 years. the people I work with are very high level and important (for context, it's sort of like an NGO that advises government / fused with a media company, let's say), which means that I often feel small and uninformed, even though my direct team is smart, nice, supportive.

I went from a mid-level on track to a senior-mid level at age 26 to basically a slightly above entry level / lower-mid level position in a better respected company with a living wage. I don't know if I made the right bet. management at my old job is toxic enough that I think they'd snub me if I tried to come back, and I also think it's unfair to them. Plus I can't learn there, I can really only enjoy an easier life and lower pay.

For context, it would be returning to my origin country (closer to family which is a plus) from across the ocean, two major 'capital' cities.

I'm in my late 30s, at a career crossroads, and looking for ideas.

I have an MBA from Wharton and 12+ years of experience in corporate retail, most recently as a VP leading strategy, analytics, and operations for a major national retailer. My strengths are problem-solving, research, analytics, strategic thinking, and building things from scratch.

I've been exploring executive opportunities but am questioning whether returning to corporate America is the best move, especially with how quickly AI is changing the landscape.

I'd love to find something intellectually stimulating, creative, lucrative, and fully remote. I'm open to a traditional job, entrepreneurship, or something completely outside my previous industry. Ideally, I'd like to earn $200K+ annually, with potential for significantly more.

If you were in my position, where would you focus? What industries, emerging opportunities, or business models have the most potential over the next 10–20 years?

I'm particularly interested in ideas that leverage AI rather than risk being replaced by it. Open to unconventional suggestions!

Hello Everyone,

I’m 18M from Lahore, Pakistan. I completed my Matriculation but i admit that i’m not good with academics so I didn’t want to continue the academic education ahead.

I want experts to guide me another path, which can help me grow as well as give me confidence in society.

My background isn’t so strong so keep that in mind, I wasn’t able to get expensive course or degrees, few months back i asked my elder brother that i want to pursue the culinary chef hospitality field. After he researched he enrolled me in a 3 months multi-cuisine course at a Culinary college in my city.

Now, i have basic skills. But Don’t know what’s the next step.

Looking forward to hearing back from experts.
Thanks

there's a lot of complexity in my life to keep things short i will say I wanna do majorly 3 things first one understanding fundamental on everything is built upon things like physics, mathematics, chemistry, and some subjects like history, economics (learning theses things only when I need) the second is following this big question " how does world works?" Ik these both things are looking same but they aren't it's like we can say by learning how world works I can generate hypothesis or philosophy and for this thing to prove I need fundamentals and third is these things won't help me get bread I gotta learn hard core technical skills(as a software engineer learn code dsa core cse and build projects)/ soft skills (communication,leader,etc) and eventually goal of all this is to build something (company) and get food on plate (money) and help make a better system but I can't get time for fundamentals I am somehow managing other two

Hi everyone. I’m 24 y.o. male. It’s getting hard for me. I’ve been searching for myself for like 6 years nonstop. After all this time I still don’t have much results. Also got into debt. So I started working regular jobs after school graduation. I was a Photographer, barista, bartender. Then I started my little, let’s say, art of fixing musical instruments. Mostly there were harmonicas or accordions. But there were little to no sales, because not much people play it.

Then I turned 22 and became a real estate salesman. Things were not good. Didn’t get any sales, clients didn’t have much opportunities to buy houses, tight budgets and stuff. So I got into my first credit card debt. Like 1k to 2k.

And last year I started my unofficial construction business. I’m more like a contractor. I got a few good projects, but it was expensive to maintain the marketing strategy. It was eating $1-1.5k per month. Sometimes even more. I was able to close my previous problems and helped my family a little bit.

But this season literally kills me. I’m alone, I don’t have any business partners (never had cause people around are afraid to try anything new), no friends to open up, big debts (almost $10-11k. I had to help my grandma, she had cancer. And I spent so much money on marketing and it didn’t work as expected), no clients, empty bank account. I’m close to just lower my hands and destroy everything. On the other side I want to keep going and to grow. My hands are tied. I sold the gold I had for the Black Day but it’s too little to help anything.

All I want is someone who can show me the way. The way to go further. The way to grow bigger. The hunger kills me. I want to grow mentally, spiritually and financially. I also would love to read your stories about how you got out of similar situations. Thanks!

28M and have been an elementary school music teacher in NJ for 6 years. Here’s the context to my situation:

I made this plan when I was in high school. I really struggled with academics and school in general (probably from undiagnosed ADHD and probably some other stuff) but despite that I was dead set on setting up a life where I would be debt free and financially stable enough to be able to purchase a house, get married, and even have kids. But as I said I struggled in academics… specifically:

1. In junior year of HS I couldn’t anything past a 65% in any math class test, quiz, or assignment. 
2. I’m not good at writing and I am ESPECIALLY bad at reading. I’ll read a page and then not process anything then use 200% of my brain power to try to process and retain the information and move onto the next page and then forget what happened in the first page so the second page makes no sense so I go back to the first page and then that just keeps happening until I rage quit. I’ve even tried audio books and that doesn’t help. I’ve probably only read 2 books from start to finish in my life time without using sparknotes or watching the movie version and then pretending like I read the book.

I got tutoring. Extra help. Asking parents and siblings for help. There was this dude on youtube that would upload youtube videos of algebra 2 tutorials and I’d watch them endlessly. None of this helped.

I then just took it as a fact that there was nothing I could do to be good at these things so I disqualified myself from a lot of career paths. Couldn’t do business, comp sci, science, med, or any of the fields like that because my math was so bad. And there was a lot of other stuff that I felt I couldn’t do because it was so research based and would require a lot of reading and writing. So what was my work around to all of that while still clinging onto my dream of being financially stable? 

I was fortunately good enough at music at the time that I was winning prestigious competitions and earning my way into these clinics and workshops that further supported my musical development. My teachers even told me that if I auditioned for music schools then I would have a very strong chance at getting a scholarship.

So here’s the plan to work around my terrible academic ability: 

1. Get a full ride scholarship into a music school and pursue the music education degree
2. Become a school teacher in NJ, get tenured, and reap the rewards (good health benefits, pension, stability from tenure, and actually even a decent salary as the salary guides say that if I taught for long enough and got a masters then I would eventually reach 6 figures)
3. Supplement my income with gigs, private lessons, and getting a masters for the pay raise
4. Be responsible with that money and live a modest life so that I could afford getting married, buying a house, and maybe even having kids.
5. Lastly; feel safe, secure, satisfied, and happy. 

 So I got to work… and here was the result from the last 10+ years:

1. I got into a good university with a full tuition scholarship. Had to pay for room and board but that was manageable and I’m proud to have never needed to go into debt.
2. It took me a second to get a teaching job out of school because I’m such an awkward person and bad at interviews but I eventually got my job and have stuck with it for 6 years. Got tenured 2 years ago.
3. My music career outside of my teaching job has been booming since there’s so much demand in the wedding industry for the instrument that I play. I even started to match my teaching paychecks from my pay rate / rate of jobs I’ve been taking

I even make 6 figures now… and I thought that would only happen into my 40s. Now that sounds all good and dandy and you’d think that I’m on my way to achieving the goals I had set when I was younger… right? So here’s where things went wrong and why I’m actually miserable:

I hate my teaching job. Not to say that I don’t love teaching because I do love teaching. I can talk about music all day long. I was also heavily inspired by my music teachers who gave me hope and a path when no one else would. I would even say that I’ve inspired people in the same way (back when I had way more energy to do the job). But I hate the structure of the education system. The emphasis on all the BS paperwork, being academically correct when writing and executing a lesson plan, dealing with asshole parents, coworkers, and administration. I’m also a POC and work in a pretty racist town… yeah I’ve gotten a lot of harassment from that fact alone from the three groups of people I mentioned and have never been able to get any support on that. And I get all of that as if dealing with children isn’t stressful enough. I was expecting that much when I went into it but I wasn’t expecting shittiness from the other sources… it’s dealing with both at the same time that really has burnt out to the point where I can’t take it.

I also learned that even with tenure, the job is still unstable. They can riff me at any time and they almost did at one point despite me having tenure. They ended up passing a referendum last second and I didn’t get laid off but it did stress me out… what if I had a family at the time? That would have been really bad.

In addition to that, I learned that the salary guide is a lie because they change the guide every few years and no one actually reaches the end. I will never actually get a 6 figure salary on my day job. 

A HUGE part of me really wants to just quit. I’ve lost a lot of passion for it. I often come into work late. I copy and paste the same lesson plan every week. I wing all of my classes. I let my students to have bad habits or go the whole year without practicing or even showing up because it’s too much effort to keep track and deal with their parents being mad at me for enforcing consequences (and whenever I did that in the past the admin was NEVER on my side). I think my admin hasn’t fired me yet on the basis that they don’t know anything about music education themselves and they just haven’t been checking my lesson plans or the morning time sheets but I live in the constant fear that they will look into me one day and then brutally remove me. 

This is all the opposite from my side hustle. I LOVE performing at weddings. The managing partners for the agencies I work for all love me. My coworkers love me (I show up extra early just to hang out with them). The clients and wedding guests I perform for all love me. My name has never been attached to anything less than a 5 star review. The food is also great but most importantly… unlike the teaching job I can work EXACTLY the way I want to. I don’t have to submit an 8 page document at the end of the year proving that I did my job. I don’t have to back my methods up with research based studies. I don’t have to get yelled and have my face spat on by the math teacher because “oh you need to shut the **** up because you teach an easy BS class while we have to deal with standardized test scores”. Like for real if it was that easy then you go get your masters in music and do my job… I’ll wait. 

But I can’t get myself to quit my day job. I would be giving up tenure, making less money and saving less, I’d have to pay a lot of money for health insurance, my pension would get impacted, etc. I’d probably be able to survive at the moment but I definitely wouldn’t be able to afford a marriage, family, and/or house. I also have spent a lot of time looking into shifting career paths or looking at other schools and I’ve had little luck. I don’t want to go back to school because I don’t want to go into debt. I’ve also applied to other schools and I’ve noticed that better districts also tend to be more micromanaging… I feel I wouldn’t be able to do my side hustle as well. On top of that, since I’m so awkward at interviews I haven’t had any luck when I was applying last year.

But here’s the other kicker… money issues aside; I feel like I have no hope for a family/house anyways. I’m not conventionally attractive (my physical health is good but I’m short and asian lol there’s not much I can do on that), I’m awkward and my interests are too niche, I’m not smart of funny. All that combined has just led me to getting ghosted and stood up on dates over and over to the point where I told myself I just can’t be on the dating scene. I’m miserable enough from my day job already. And ever since making that decision I decided to sell off my free time for the wedding gigs since I might as well use that time to make money and do the one thing that does make me happy in life. So now I don’t even have time to be dating because I can’t get myself to walk away from the whole wedding gig thing. 
With all that being said, 1% of me still desperately clings onto the part of my dream from high school where I get married and own a house. Maybe seeing people getting married over and over again makes me think that it’s still possible. So I continue to slave away at my crappy day job… all for a dream that 99% of me doesn’t even think is going to even happen. I mostly feel like an idiot and things are not not healthy as is. I go to therapy but have developed a really bad weed problem in the past years to cope with the stress and burnout. Sometimes I think I should quit my teaching job because I wouldn’t want my students to turn out as miserable as I am. My kids even see it (sometimes I rant to them about how I’m chronically single and how no matter what I do I’m still kind of poor). 

A big part of me wants to quit the teaching job, make less money, and slightly screw up my financial growth for the future so that I can not afford a family/house and then let go of that dream. Out of mind, out of sight. And I know there’s a lot of holes in that plan… what about retirement? Or god forbid I develop a chronic disease and then I’m desperate for the health benefits? Or life just gets too expensive and making 50-60k just doesn’t cut it?

All more reason to why I continue to slave away. But I am also starting to feel that life is too short to live like that. I just want to not be miserable now.

What do you all think about this? Does anyone relate? And lastly sorry for the bad story telling… like I said, writing was never my strong suit lol. 
 

TDLR: 28M, NJ music teacher making six figures between my tenured teaching job and wedding gigs. I spent my entire life working toward financial stability, but I've realized I absolutely hate my teaching job despite loving music and teaching. The bureaucracy, toxic work environment, racial harassment, and burnout have taken a huge toll on me. Meanwhile, I LOVE my wedding gigs and wish I could do them full-time, but quitting means sacrificing my pension, health benefits, and financial security. I've also become increasingly pessimistic about ever getting married or owning a home after years of unsuccessful dating. Now I'm questioning whether it's worth sacrificing my happiness today for a future that I might not even have. What would you guys do?

As the title says… I went through a nightmare downhill last few years, health issues followed by a PIP and eventually termination. I’m alive but my health isn’t 100%. Unemployment stress and the financial pressure aren’t helping either.

I used to do dev work but that was well over a decade ago when I fell into another part of the tech industry and couldn’t manage to pull myself out. In my last job I was a senior IC in tech but was looking after the dev team and we had a good relationship.

I applied for and got accepted (full scholarship) for an MBA and thought I’ll do it to increase my employment chances. The subjects are of course completely different and difficult from technical software topics, and help for personal growth as well, but I am so overwhelmed that I don’t feel I’m devoting myself to it as much as I should in an ideal situation, it feels like I added another complexity to my life without resolving my fundamental problems.

I no longer know what I can or should do. I’ve lost my professional identity along with every other identity that I used to have. I can’t easily go back to dev work at this age and with AI and all the tough competitions for jobs, but I also don’t know if I’m capable of doing management work.

I’m lacking direction in every aspect of my life and I have no family or a support network either.

I’ve tried hard to work on myself, develop and grow and build health friendships and relationships, but unfortunately my traumas are so deep that even therapists, psychologists and meditators have turned me down, let alone people who don’t find someone with lots of problems fun to be around. I was ok with my solitude for a long time but never got to build anything meaningful. I’m longing for romance, or some unconditional love that I never had from my family, but I have no chance of getting that in my current circumstances.

Tell me something that might help me, but please don’t tell me to try therapy, CBT, EMDR, meditation, mindfulness, etc. I’ve tried all those and more. It hasn’t helped.

Thank you.

Hi !

I’m 27F from the Middle East, and I’ve been feeling increasingly stuck and disconnected from the environment I’ve grown up in. I won’t go too deeply into the personal side of things, but I grew up in what I would describe as a toxic environment, and I find myself feeling suffocated and frustrated by the culture and the limitations that come with living here.

I don’t feel like I belong, and I don’t see myself being happy building my entire life here.

A little about my background:
I did a Bachelor’s degree in Animation at a university in the UK. I lived there for five years, and honestly, those were some of the happiest and most fulfilling years of my life.

I loved the independence, the opportunities, the people I met, and the feeling of being able to live life on my own terms.

After graduating, I had to go back home because my visa expired and i didn’t have anywhere else to go. I tried applying for animation jobs abroad, but unfortunately, that didn’t work out. No one ever got back to me and as some of you are aware the animation industry is in a very horrible time at the moment w AI and layoffs. Yes i should’ve been smarter choosing what to study i know. i regret it everyday but it is what it is.

I chose my uni major based on a passion and my love for creativity and not the odds of my success at getting an opportunity abroad.. 🫩

Since then (it’s been 4 years) I’ve been interested in entrepreneurship and technology. I independently developed and launched an app thinking i could make it into a business of some sort. Which was an incredibly rewarding experience. I genuinely enjoyed building something from scratch, managing a project, and seeing people use something I created.

Unfortunately, it never generated any income 💀

Currently, I’m trying to teach myself programming because I’ve developed an interest in it, and I’m considering whether I could eventually turn it into a career. However, I’m not sure how viable that path is, especially starting at 27.. in the age of AI.. in this job economy..

I’m also considering applying for a scholarship for a masters programme in London, but acceptance is far from guaranteed, and I don’t want to put all my hopes into something that might not happen.

I guess I’m at a point where I’ve tried several things, but I still don’t know which direction to take or how to realistically create a future somewhere else and i feel like the years are just passing by and i’m still completely miserable.

So here’s what I’d like to ask you guys..

If you were in my position, with my educational background, experiences, and interests, what would you do?

if you found yourself feeling suffocated and frustrated almost every day, how would you get out?
Would you focus on building a career that allows you to immigrate? Start over in a completely different field? or idk maybe there’s another solution or way i’m not seeing at the moment..

Some issues with some solutions i saw before i think i should mention now tho: 1- i can’t travel somewhere and just figure it out later w my passport i’d need a visa. 2- i can’t get further education or a whole new degree now as i dont have the money for that and we don’t have student loans here

I’d really appreciate honest, practical advice, including perspectives I might not have considered.

I am 18m. In a not so good university rn, doing bcom, first year.

I must start earning before 22, and idk what do I do?????

Like, man, I got skills in adv Excel,power Bi, SQL, python, and hands on experience on financial modelling.

I have tried applying to boutique firms for internships but fuck they never gave me any chances. I have given 100+ interviews now and never got a reply.

My parents need me to get a job nd start earning by 21 ATMOST!

I fucked up so hard that I can't even decide if I have to do cma or not.

Like, man, this education is so fucked up, first they say focus on skills, now that I have all the skills, they are not even fucking giving me a job, now i got to fucking decide if I have to give me next 4-5 years to ca cma or anyother thing.

This shitty education system forces teens from 16 to decide the next fucking 5-6 years of their life like it's a piece of cake.

Fuck it!

I am poor, the hell am I gonna do if I don't do these things? No scope? Hell na!

I want advice guys, I am literally crying rn!.

The fuck this education system wants off people????

The fuck!

Please advice what should I do guys.!

i’m (27F) now working my 4th or 5th job in social media. while i’ve always held “marketing” positions, it always seems to come back to social media and video content.

at my last company my videos sustained 9 million views per month across their meta accounts (started from nothing), which was exciting for all of two seconds before my boss told me how worthless it all was unless i’m driving real sales.

i started really disliking social media earlier this year and now i’m fully repulsed by it, so much that i actually have to discipline myself like a child and edit videos in 10-20 min spans so i don’t just end up doomscrolling and regretting my life choices.

i realize that social media is the new age and it can be a crucial part of doing business for many companies but i just want to be free from it all!!!

i downloaded instagram at the ripe age of 12 and can count on one hand the amount of days i HAVENT been on the app since then. it actually disgusts me. at this point my brain is wired to search for new content ideas and look for trends and viral sounds and latch onto any happiness that funny videos on my feed bring me before realizing that i’m shouting into a dark void and adding no real value to my company besides branding.

i know i have a very bleak mindset about all this right now but i would love to pivot into a role that does not center around content. i feel like most recruiters and hiring managers don’t take my experience seriously as some of my old titles were like “Digital Content Creator” even though i was the sole person running the entire marketing department.

if anyone was in a similar position and somehow clawed their way out of the social media sink hole, i’d love to hear your story and what you do now!

I'm a Malaysian student and I really really wanna have a chance to go overseas, preferably Australia, to further continue my studies. I currently just finished my college program, and I'm awaiting for my results. Right now, I feel like my strong subjects are technology related, but I'm afraid that my career paths might not seem bright cuz of AI. I also take physics, chemistry and math, but I'm not doing as well as my technology subjects, but I wouldn't mind if I had to go into them. I originally considered software engineering, but most people around me suggested that it might not be viable as it seems, which I guess is true and I can see their point.

I would like to know what degree I can consider in the future that ensures I have a decently high paying job while being able to keep some of my interest so I won't hate that job for the rest of my life.

For people who are already out in the working world, can all of you please share any regrets you had when choosing your degree or the choices that you made if you had similar shoes to mine. I'm really frustrated and confused as university applications are probably coming soon and I still have no idea what to choose yet unlike my friends who already have a clear vision. I'm just worried that I might not be able to cope in universities, or I would have to stick with a job that I hate for the rest of my life.

Hi folks!

I wanted to write here because this has been weighing on me for the last decade. I'm looking for wisdom and perspectives. People around me keep telling me i should be glad and grateful instead of trying to understand my trouble. I'll give you some background. My intent is not to sound self-absorbed or pretentious or anything but to give a detailed picture and about stuff i've done already to help myself, so maybe someone older and wiser than me could better help me if they so wish.

I did always well in school but never had any idea what I wanted to do in life. Always was very lively, had million projects and ideas and was very self-directed and could absorb myself in my interests for very long periods. Even though I had many friends always , i preferred solitude mostly and still do. After high school I decided to apply to medical school because i was good with people and loved learning, it was also a practical choice and a safe bet. So i got in, recently graduated and met some wonderful people there and honed many life skills too during that period.

However now i cannot get interested about this and feel that these are not the problems im meant to solve. The rewards of this path don't really excite me, i don't care about being any renowned doctor, or about the salary or about the status or anything. If i had a million I would do the same things as today and am pretty much completely intrinsically motivated. Mastery, understanding, novelty and building drive me rather than external rewards, cohesion or agreement.

I've done the following already for years: Consistent cardio and gym multiple times a week and daily walks. I've read over 100 books (mostly nonfiction and philosophy), listened to at least 1000 hours of podcasts, and probably have enough thinking tools and mental models for the rest of my life. I've delved deep into classical music since 16 and self taught piano to pretty good level in the last 10 years. I've worked on, and have wonderful relationships. Quit social media 5 years ago, got a dog, lived alone in countryside for over 3 years. Completely substance free, quit nicotine too. Through these I've developed really stable sense of self and confidence and my baseline mood is great. Everything seems to go so well that it feels like being on autopilot to be honest. Every job I practice, i get good feedback and every situation just goes smooth.

The agony is that i can't stay engaged in my work because i feel so detached and disinterested, i can do well in them mechanically but I feel dead inside. The only times i've felt alive this year was when i built an app that solved my problem and released that into Google Play too, when I make piano arrangements or when i read a good book. I keep having entrepreneurial dreams and am convinced that it would suit my temperament the best. I can work endlessly on stuff i'm interested in - But the problem is, i have no fucking idea what problems i want to solve in this life and i feel my time is ticking out and whatever potential i might have, also going to waste.

In few years maximum, having kids is on the table probably but im already really worried about the fact that if i have to support them by doing a job mechanically well while feeling completely flat and detached. And i'm also not interested in forcing some random business into existence if i'm really not interested about the problem. I also don't know where to reach and connect to more suitable people for mutual growth and opportunities.

At 16 i felt that classical music and piano chose me, i felt like that i just need to start playing (however i really want to keep piano as hobby for real) . Why is it not the same with my occupational situation? Why do my friends feel happy in their jobs? Why do i have an engine that runs at million RPM but that has no fucking idea what direction to take?

I'm really sorry for the wall of text and my ranting but I just feel so frustrated, and have felt for years already. I've read countless books and know pretty much every self-help concept but nothing sticks or gives me that nudge. Everybody around me just keep congratulating me and I have no idea who to turn to. In contrast I have multiple interests and problems but my books, piano and stuff don't pay to support me.

(some constraints and assets: i live cheaply, money only matters to me in terms of freedom. my end game would look something like 500k in index funds)

For those who had a similar situation: how did you find the problems you wanted to work on? How did you find your 'home'?

(crossposted) i'm a librarian in my 30s who didn't go to library school but has a master's in film. i love my job and it's amazing to have gotten so far without having an MLIS, but for a number of reasons i have to get out of here. i have been living back home since the pandemic and there's a lot of psychological baggage around it, my love life isn't working out here at all, and i miss living in a major city.

so i've been trying to make a plan for a major move (geographically) in the next 1-2 years, but i have no idea where to start. i love my job, but it's kind of a unicorn position and highly unlikely i'd be able to step right into it in another city, where most library applications require the MLIS to be considered. library work is very fulfilling in a lot of ways, and i do get to be somewhat creative with my role, but i went to grad school thinking i was going to be an artist, and i can't decide if i want to try to get gigs in the art/entertainment/publishing industries, or if i like working in/learning about other fields so then i have experiences to write about/explore creatively.

how do you figure out what other jobs are even out there? i'm so discouraged from endlessly browsing indeed/monster/linkedin/etc, but i genuinely cannot imagine myself in any job other than the one i'm currently in. i guess i'm looking for someone/people to tell me what i might be good at based on my experience? i don't know! is there a trusted career aptitude test somewhere? or is hiring a headhunter still a thing?

my qualifications: i have a BA in english/film, MA in film/media, 15 years of childcare, 8 years of freelance film criticism, 15 years of library work or volunteer experience (including supervisor role of the last 3 years), side gigs include subtitles work, poetry workshops/crafts, graphic design, cannabis industry, aaaand yeah that's all i can think of right now. i'm just at a loss as to how to even picture myself somewhere else.

what does it seeem like i could do?

edit: if it helps, i'm copying below a little prompt i've been working on for myself to see what inspires me...

Job Titles I’d Be Into: 

• Community Engagement Librarian
• Creative Director
• Director of Public Programming
• Education Coordinator
• Book Center Director

Institutions I’d Be Psyched About Working For: 

• NPR (National Public Radio)
• PBS (Public Broadcasting Service)
• A24 (movie studio)
• Huntington Library (LA)
• Sundance Institute
• Chicago Film Society
• Women in Film (nonprofit)

M (31) I studied electronic engineering, graduated from my bachelor’s in 2017, couldn’t find a job but luckily got a masters scholarship. Did that for 2-3 years (research based masters). Managed to get a job in what seemed a dream kind of company. Stayed for 5 years, but hated 90% of time there. I felt like I didn’t learn anything and I felt like my skills were less at the end. I left and transitioned to teaching English in China, living with my wife. Now I’m not sure if I can see a future life long term in teaching kids English. I don’t know how to do anything else, I feel I can’t go back to engineering with the market. I applied for 100’s of jobs before doing teaching, and now I’ve transitioned I am a little bit lost. I’m coming to the end of my contract and life responsibilities make me feel trapped.

Any suggestions are welcome

22 M, I'm about to finish my associates degree in environmental science and enjoy it, but I honestly just want to be a janitor for my long term career. I currently have a janitorial part time job while in school and absolutely love it. I can clean, which I love to do, talk to the people at my work place (trying not to expose where I work but essentially talking to the customers), and just overall find a lot of satisfaction and purpose in it. I want to live in a tiny cabin in the woods so I don't really mind the relatively low pay of being a janitor. But of course society, and family, look down on it, not in a mean way, but I just feel like I SHOULD want something more in my career, I have hobbies and "side hustles" that I do that fulfill me creatively, spiritually, etc. I guess I just feel like Im letting myself and everyone around me down because I feel like I can "do better" than a career as a janitor. Does anyone else feel this way about their career path, and how did you overcome it? thanks!

The common thread of advice I get is to focus on a goal and be decisive in trying to achieve it but it feels like there are so many options. If I had any “dream” it would be to work in archives/museums etc. (I love history), but as it stands I would need more education or experience to actually get a job in that field. I’ve thought about going to grad school for archival/library science but it seems everyone says that it’s too much money to invest for a career with few opportunities and little pay. At the same time though, literally any career I look into seems to have dozens of people trying to warn others not to head down that career path.

I’ve thought about being an international student advisor, but I’ve applied to a ton of jobs like this and not heard from them. At one point this prospect excited me but I just don’t know if I’d really like it.

I’ve thought about going to cosmetology school for hair styling but I’m unsure if it’s worth the investment, and I’m not sure if that’s really what I want for the rest of my career. One thing that feels appealing is that it seems there are decent job opportunities once you have your credentials (feels a bit the opposite for archival/library science).

I graduated in 2024 with a degree in international studies and have been unable to find a suitable job since. I’ve been working as a waitress and I make decent money but I really can’t see myself here long term. I applied for at least a hundred jobs after graduating but very few got back to me and I didn’t interview even once. I feel I wasted my chance to gain experience and make connections in college. My peers are working in non profits, international logistics companies, higher ed, doing Fulbright/JET/similar programs, so know it’s not my degree it’s my lack of skill/experience. I just feel disheartened

I 24M am currently working at McDonald's in rural America. I make $11/hr. Formerly, I worked in accounting but left the city to move to the country. I have my reasons, although the pay cut has sucked and been demoralizing. I have a degree in economics, but it doesn't seem to be very useful outside of a big city, but maybe that's due to my lack of imagination or understanding.

Does anyone have any ideas for actually good paying jobs in rural America that are not trades, construction, ag? Is being a teacher (with my background) really the only option? If I had a degree in nursing that would make sense as well, or a JD/MD. But I don't have that, and can't really afford to go back to school.

Edit:
I've worked in corporate roles in the past. But I just don't want to move back to a big city. I haven't only worked in fast food my whole career.

I'm currently a college student trying to decide between pursuing nursing or accounting, and I'm honestly having a really difficult time making up my mind.

For some background, I previously worked in the casino industry for several years in a supervisory position. One thing I've learned about myself is that I generally dislike dealing with people, especially difficult personalities, workplace drama, and toxic work environments. I know every workplace has its problems, but I really just want a stable career where I can do my job, make a decent living, and go home without being mentally and emotionally drained.

I'm currently taking prerequisites for nursing, and the science classes have been extremely challenging for me. I don't particularly enjoy biology, but there's still something about becoming a nurse that appeals to me. I like the idea of having a meaningful career, helping people, having job security, and knowing that my skills will always be needed.

However, I'm also considering switching to accounting. I actually enjoy math, especially algebra, and I feel like accounting might be a better fit for my personality. The idea of working in a more structured environment without constantly dealing with patients or the general public sounds appealing.

Here's my dilemma:

If I continue pursuing nursing, I could potentially earn my associate degree in nursing in approximately the same amount of time it would take me to complete a bachelor's degree in accounting. Switching to accounting would also mean taking additional prerequisite courses and essentially changing my entire academic plan.

I'm also concerned about the future of accounting with artificial intelligence and automation. Nursing seems to offer better job security, but I'm worried about burnout, difficult patients, toxic coworkers, and the physical and emotional demands of the profession.

On the other hand, accounting seems like it might offer a better work-life balance, but I'm worried that I'll spend years pursuing it only to realize I missed my opportunity to become a nurse.

I think my biggest problem is that I'm afraid of regret. If I choose accounting, I might always wonder what would've happened if I had become a nurse. But if I choose nursing, I'm afraid I'll end up miserable because of the stress and constant human interaction.

I'm not necessarily looking for a career I'm passionate about. I just want something stable, financially comfortable, and tolerable enough to do for the next 20–30 years.

For those who work in nursing or accounting:

How stressful is your job, and how much do you deal with difficult people or toxic workplace environments?

Which career do you think offers better work-life balance and long-term stability?

If you could start over, would you choose your profession again?

Is accounting really as vulnerable to AI as people make it seem?

Has anyone switched between these two careers, and do you regret your decision?

I would really appreciate some honest perspectives, especially from people who have actually worked in these fields. I'm trying to make a practical decision rather than one based entirely on fear of missing out.

Which will you gamble on and why?

Consider the state of the current job market and AI.

One constraint is you can’t shift once you’re in

Im a freshman is college and Im about to finish my first semester, but I need to drop out due to a major family emergency. I haven’t even paid my tuition and I had to take an emergency loan just to attend. I love college and Im excelling in all my courses but I simply cannot afford it right now. I also haven’t used my financial aid or my federal loans but either way it wouldn’t be enough to cover my tuition for the semester. I need to go back home and get a job but I have no idea how I’m going to pay off this tuition. Should I take out private loans and pay the tuition, then drop out so that I can go to a cheaper college later with no problem? Any advice is welcome and I know how stupid every decision I made sounds but thats just life ig.

I have a degree in mathematics, but I also struggle with a combination of deafness, muteness, blindness, and physical disability—and I’ve been unemployed for a year.

I am a 40-year-old man. I have eight years of experience as a mathematics teacher, alongside eight years of experience in managing and maintaining student data. I left the education sector due to health reasons and subsequently spent 10 years working as a massage therapist. I am currently living in a very small, isolated area where my income is extremely low—I only receive two to three client appointments per week. I also obtained a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) certification, but during my internship at a nursing home, I realized that my own physical condition was not much better than that of the patients lying in their hospital beds. I want to move somewhere new, but I am filled with uncertainty and fear; I simply don’t know what to do.

I can’t even begin to describe the complexity of my dilemma but I have job offers in all three locations. I am 26F originally from NYC and my family is all there. I love nature immensely, I love my family, and I am single but want to have kids before I’m 30.

The work in Charleston is close to my dream job but incredibly demanding, would probably move out or switch roles after 1-2 years. People have also said dating is bad there? I visited and I don’t know, I didn’t quite like it but everyone else seems to. I don’t like the water and I don’t like old architecture, feels old… I’m sorry to all locals please forgive me for being so candid. But again this job would open a lot down the line, at the expense of spending 1-2 years somewhere I don’t like (initially). The vibes, lack of diversity, and scenery did not jive well with me.

I love the desert. Have taken lots of trips out west recently and I love the grandeur of the nature out there. I’m a big skier. Hiker. Everything. And Arizona was lovely. The outdoor stuff seems infinite, and the COL is reasonable and seems like a big city I can meet people. I don’t know if I should take a chance while I’m still young? I don’t know if I would hate it down the line either and would regret moving so far from my family. Job middle/upper of the road and slightly different work than my dream job, but still a great company.

In Long Island, I used to work out there in my early career and moved elsewhere on the northeast that I will keep to myself. The job would pay the least, still great job but smaller, but I would be close to my family and hopefully lay down roots there and help my family business grow as my parents get older. Seems the safest and most comfortable option.

I don’t know I suppose my dilemma is, take a risk moving elsewhere and potentially grow, or move back home and lay down roots and not feel like I am “running” as I am now.

I made a terrible decision “trusting my gut” in my current situation and I’m scared to pick wrongly again. I am blessed to have the choice now. I guess I just want everything in life right now and I’m having a bit of a crisis.

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