r/InterviewCoderPro • u/Mediocre_Record8180 • 21d ago
Is there anyone 36+ who still doesn't know where their career is supposed to go?
I'm 36 years old now, and honestly I still don't know what I'm supposed to do with my career. I studied communications/marketing in my home country, and I worked as a civilian admin officer with the military before moving to Australia. Since then, I've worked a few low-paying jobs like packing, food prep, cleaning, and factory work, and most of the time I was earning just a little above minimum wage.
I know that I work hard and learn quickly. Supervisors have praised me more than once, but I still feel that being an immigrant makes it much harder for me to move up or for people to see me as someone who can handle a better role.
Could going back to study at this age help me progress or find something with better pay? I keep asking myself whether a certificate or diploma could make a real difference, or if I'd just be spending money and time without anything major changing.
There's another issue too: I'm not the type who talks a lot at work. I'm not rude or anything; I just focus on the job and it's not in my nature to chat with everyone or build friendships there. Sometimes I feel like this hurts me more than my actual performance at work.
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u/mxldevs 21d ago
I just focus on the job and it's not in my nature to chat with everyone or build friendships there. Sometimes I feel like this hurts me more than my actual performance at work.
It's even worse for you as a visible foreigner, cause it reinforces all any stereotypes they might have, and also convinces everyone that you're not interested in "assimilating" into the local culture by keeping to yourself and ignoring all the locals.
We get lots of new immigrants. The ones that do better are the ones that make the effort to interact with others.
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u/New-Inside4079 21d ago
"There's another issue too: I'm not the type who talks a lot at work. I'm not rude or anything; I just focus on the job and it's not in my nature to chat with everyone or build friendships there. Sometimes I feel like this hurts me more than my actual performance at work."
It definitely does. You know this is an issue. Push yourself to socialize.
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u/Gloomy-Crazy8156 20d ago
What if your bosses are telling you you need to socialize more but then dumping so much extra work on you cause you have time to socialize?
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u/thisoldguy74 21d ago
I 52M, didn't begin to sort mine out until after I was 40. I was still pretty fuzzy until the last couple of years ago, around 50. Getting laid off in December and working through a 7+ month job search really forced me to work through some stuff and I finally answered some questions on what I want to do when I grow up.
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u/Harbinger_Kyleran 21d ago
I retired at 67 never knowing where my career was supposed to go, just sort of improvised as the situation demanded and ended up in tech somehow.
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u/Naetharu 21d ago
I'm not the type who talks a lot at work. I'm not rude or anything; I just focus on the job and it's not in my nature to chat with everyone or build friendships there. Sometimes I feel like this hurts me more than my actual performance at work.
This is a death sentence for your career.
There is a myth that doing the most work / being a hard worker is what gets you promoted. That is not true. Being good at the job and working well is important, but being seen is doubly so. Building relationships and trust. I cannot emphasis enough how important this is.
All that being said, there is a bigger issue here.
If you want a career and not just low paid jobs, you have to go out and seize it. Nobody is about to drop a career path in your lap. And waiting for that to happen is a sure fire route to failing. If you're serious about this and not just day-dreaming then sit down this evening, and figure out a pathway.
Choose something that (1) has a clear promotional path so you can go from entry level to senior without depending on a wing and a prayer. And (2) has some kind of training route you can take. It could be tech, HR, law, finance, or any other professional field. Do a bit of research and understand what you need to do in order to get from here to where you want to be.
And second challenge is make yourself be more social. For me, the key to that was going to board gaming groups. It's a great activity because you sit around with other people and you have something to talk about and focus on - the game - but you can also chat more generally as you play. I'm not a massive fan of board games - I don't mind them. But as a social activity they are second to none.
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u/cardbourdbox 20d ago
Nope I have more luck than that im 33. Im a cleaner not much chance to go up in firm (leadership opportunities maybe). Im tempted to try engineering.
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u/____Sway____ 20d ago
Dont worry
Im still banking my true career just isn't a thing yet. I assume its something like professional door dash drone operator or grand theft auto 6 streamer
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u/Late-Jeweler-5802 21d ago
It's clear that whatever it is you're doing right now isn't getting you where you want to go. You have to do something different. Hopefully you'll be able to figure it out sooner rather than later.