Some validation of life decisions

[Exterous]

So about 15 years ago I had a decision to make: Stay at my current job which was directly related to my degree (Architecture) or change career paths to go into IT where I had an entry level opportunity (no degree required). At the time, my degree and job didn't seem to have much in the way of upsides: high unemployment, low wages, lots of competition. IT seemed pretty much the opposite but I had minimal knowledge and training (The ability to build a computer and setup a router was very recently gained knowledge). Seemed like the smart long term decision to leave and go into IT but I still wonder from time to time (especially early on) if I made the right decision.

Over the past month I had a chance to catch up with college friends who hadn't left the field AND ran into some former coworkers who were still at the place I left. While things in the field have improved it's still nowhere near as good as IT so it's likely the pressures of starting over would have been more than offset buy a worse job market. So, while I can't say for sure where I'd be, the stories of employment, salaries and pressure told by friends and former coworkers were uniformly negative compared to where I am so this is probably the most validation I can expect to get. Which is nice to have as the decision was not an easy one

 

[BoomerD]

Most important...are YOU happy with the career change choice you made?

 

[Exterous]

Generally but for better or worse my satisfaction is tied to evaluations of what could have been. And trying to divorce that works about as well as me trying not go get mad at all the idiot drivers and cyclists

 

[PowerEngineer]

Well, I am glad to hear that you feel the decision you made was the right one.

When faced with a choice to change career paths (or even jobs), I suspect that most people find it easier to just "stay the course". Whenever (and for whatever reasons) a person gets to the point where he/she is very seriously considering a change, I think a decision to make the change is less likely to cause regret. No matter how the change works out, at least you know! IMHO knowing how it worked out is much better than forever wondering how it might have worked out. In that sense, I think you should feel "validated" in your decision to make a change regardless of what your former colleagues had to say.

My two cents...

 

[JEDIYoda]

keep on keeping on, dude!!

 

[Red Squirrel]

I went to school for IT, took computer science, and generally my goal was to be like a server tech or something in that field. Or even an IT guy for a school board or something. I just liked working with servers, networks, computers and the general work involved in IT.

Started at help desk and eventually did get a server job at one of our bigger customers as an on prem tech. I started to dread it after a year or so. Mostly the environment and the manager. Manager was a huge asshole sociopath. At one point a job for the NOC came up. I thought about it but didn't apply. Months later I was really starting to dread my job to the point that I had anxiety in the morning. The IT manager was just being harder and harder on me, I think he was trying to break me or something, he was equally as hard on the level 2 PC support guy, maybe even more. Basically doing everything to make us feel like a piece of shit. Overall this poisoned environment just started to get to me. When you start fantasizing about ways to kill a manager and make it look like an accident, it's time to GTFO of that place. So around that time another NOC job came up. I jumped on it this time, I saw it as some kind of sign from God as a way to exit. I pretty much got the job as no one else applied. Getting that job was my best career decision ever. Way lower stress, more time off because of the shift work, and just overall better for my mental health.

Funny though, even though I didn't go to school for that, when I was in school and did a co-op I did work in a telecom CO as it was the closest IT/tech related placement they could get me. So who knew I would end up actually working that job full time later in life. I guess it was kind of in me and I just didn't realize.