What Career Path Did You Choose That You Strongly Advise Against?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher. The job has changed so much.

+1

[Anonymous]

government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I realize most people think lobbying is like this easy amazing job, but I’m so tired of it. If my daughter wanted to go into it I would say hell no, it’s an extremely old school boys club and I’m so tired of the sexual harassment (and no I’ve never done anything to invite it).

This doesn't surprise me at all. Lobbyist would be on my list of professions to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Women should ask themselves what the traditional male equivalent is of whatever they’re traditionally considering, and consider that instead, because it’s usually more lucrative.

Example, teacher versus tenured college professor.
Nurse versus doctor
Cosmetologist versus dermatologist
Art teacher versus engineer
Admin assistant vs program manager

Obviously these are all very different jobs, but I hope you get what I mean.

Also, women should not shy away from things or jobs with numbers in them. Data science, business analysis, finance, corporate real estate, etc. I wish as many women were interested in business school as they are law school.

Lastly, I wish more women would run for office

This is good advice. So many women shoot so low with their career aspirations, focusing on "soft" jobs in non profits, etc. If you want to be an admin person, be an admin person in a fortune 500 company.

Good advice but I don't think these two are the male/female equivalents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What Career Path Did You Choose That You Strongly Advise Against?

Law. Sort of.

I gained quite a few VERY valuable skills from law school, particularly writing, public speaking, and ability to critically analyze (and communicate on those analyses).

BUT.

Law school is VERY expensive. Most lawyers who come out do not make the salaries needed to justify the investment. BIGLAW is not for everyone (it wasn't for me, though I did pay mine off quickly via working a LOT).

Law, esp for new lawyers, can be tedious and soul-sucking. Lots of time in libraries, doing research, document reviews, etc. And the subject-matter is not always terribly interesting. I went a more non-traditional route in my practice and was doing some very interesting things earlier on than my peers.

Law (litigation, esp.) is just constantly arguing. Arguing for or against. No willingness to compromise, at least not easily. It can be exhausting, esp. when some issues or concessions are cut and dry.

Other lawyers . . . they are not always nice people. In law school, other students ripping out pages from case books so others can't have the benefit of them (I went as the Westlaw's of the world were just starting so we relied a lot on the books at the time). Sneaky. Overly competitive. Willing to do just about anything to gain the advantage. I used the description of soul sucking above and it really can be that way.

Early on in my career, I like the "kill" and winning. The above didn't always bother me. Now, I just find it exhausting. I switched to a nonlitigation position that makes it better, for sure. But, some of the above still is present. I'm too far along to change now. I'm good at what I do. I just don't love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Women should ask themselves what the traditional male equivalent is of whatever they’re traditionally considering, and consider that instead, because it’s usually more lucrative.

Example, teacher versus tenured college professor.
Nurse versus doctor
Cosmetologist versus dermatologist
Art teacher versus engineer
Admin assistant vs program manager

Obviously these are all very different jobs, but I hope you get what I mean.

Also, women should not shy away from things or jobs with numbers in them. Data science, business analysis, finance, corporate real estate, etc. I wish as many women were interested in business school as they are law school.

Lastly, I wish more women would run for office

What? Most of these are absurd and not comparable.

Cosmetologist: 6 wks. Dermatologist: More than 10 years.

Art teacher vs engineer? That's not even worth addressing.

They are absolutely ridiculous. They need to have similar educations/background requirements like:

Social worker (mainly female) vs probation officer (mainly male)
Daycare worker vs. sanitation worker
Cosmetologist Vs. welder/electrician

You guys did not get PPs point. She is saying, give a choice, many women settle for the easier role in that specific industry.

Is that even true anymore? Last I checked, there were more women going into medical school than men.


I also think that many of the aforementioned "women's" roles are more difficult and have a higher level of responsibility than was previously assigned to them, and we are finding that out as more and more women who are driven to succeed in their careers aren't choosing nursing and teaching anymore. I am not saying that the overall quality of people in those roles has gone down, but those rare people who are both brilliant and driven in a particular field and are needed to help it thrive just aren't choosing those fields any longer, and they are missed.

They go into medicine and promptly choose some of the lowest paying specialities. Have you seen the % of women in surgery or ortho or IV radiology or IV cardiology, some of the highest paying specialities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Government contracting. I dislike being at the behest of clients and I hate proposal work.

The Govt always seems to send out rfps just before the holidays. You have no control over your hours and sometimes work through the night and into the next day. Never know when you can go home and it's considered a major imposition if you do. I've worked through every major holiday but Christmas day. My spouse only took Christmas Day and New Years day off for years. There was never a down time so we rarely had time to take a vacation. Once we had kids, often the only vacation time we could take was during the school year. I hate proposals. Jobs where you have no control over your schedule suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Physician
The work is intellectually interesting and I feel like I am doing something worthwhile. Additionally, most of the patients are delightful (or at least interesting) and they teach me so much.

BUT as time has gone on the system has evolved so that the administrators have proliferated, and they have consolidated and expanded their power. So basically I work for idiot administrators who have a business degree with no understanding of medicine (if they compare us to “highly trained technicians - like a plumber or mechanic” one more time I am going to freak out), make slightly MORE money than us (one admin said she “would not get out of bed for what they pay doctors here”), work 9-5 (and g-d forbid they work a holiday! But they’d be delighted to report me if it takes me >15 minutes to reply to a page on a holiday), and just view us as numbers (RVU generators). They also won’t come in during covid (apparently every single admin is immunosupressed?), but are happy to send us 6000 useless emails a day, I guess to prove they are actually “working” from home. But then I have to yank off all my PPE and reply to their dumb emails “in a timely fashion” so they don’t report me. The higher level admins have also begun “encouraging” the older/middle aged docs to leave, and replacing them with MDs straight out of training and PA/NPs because the old guys cost too much money. Apparently competence and experience are of no value anymore. Because $$$. And if we make more money then we can hire more administrators!

Also I have 9 years of training after college and about 15 years experience, and I make less than my friends who are govt lawyers. So, stop with your complaining lawyers!

Well, that turned into a rant. But if things continue this way then being a physician won’t make sense anymore, which is sad, because medicine can be rewarding and fun - and on a great day you can even save someone’s life. Which is pretty cool.

Good read . I have always envied medical professions. Such an admirable profession to be in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Law. And I wasn't an attorney. I worked as a litigation paralegal for 12 long years. It was the most stressful job I've ever had. The pay was really good, but not worth the toll the job was taking on my physical and mental health. My supervising attorney was great. The work could be really interesting. The hours and the pressure were just awful.

I was a litigation paralegal in the government for 13 years until I switched professions. Curious? How much do you make? When I left almost 5 years ago, I was making 112K. I've always wondered if I could have made more in the private industry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Women should ask themselves what the traditional male equivalent is of whatever they’re traditionally considering, and consider that instead, because it’s usually more lucrative.

Example, teacher versus tenured college professor.
Nurse versus doctor
Cosmetologist versus dermatologist
Art teacher versus engineer
Admin assistant vs program manager

Obviously these are all very different jobs, but I hope you get what I mean.

Also, women should not shy away from things or jobs with numbers in them. Data science, business analysis, finance, corporate real estate, etc. I wish as many women were interested in business school as they are law school.

Lastly, I wish more women would run for office

What? Most of these are absurd and not comparable.

Cosmetologist: 6 wks. Dermatologist: More than 10 years.

Art teacher vs engineer? That's not even worth addressing.

I thought the same thing when I read the comparisons. Also, you can't become a cosmetologist in 6 weeks. Last I recall hearing it was like 9 months.

[Anonymous]

Again we’re playing “what do you want to be when you grow up” not, “what career should I switch to in my 40s”. The comparisons aren’t perfect but I get the point: think long and hard about if your career is lucrative and/ or traditionally female, and maybe consider the traditionally male ones instead.

All jobs suck in some way. I wish there was an easier way to try them on and then switch. Like clothes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the women’s roles vs men’s roles poster.

The pp is correct: I’m saying women aren’t always thinking about how to make the most money from a job. Which is largely the point.

Also, the hours in an industry will never change if there’s no women in them. Women going into a field changes the dynamics of an industry.

More women are going to law school and even med school, but there still aren’t enough women going to business school or into engineering or the hard sciences. There are still so few women in the c suite and on corporate boards. Some industries like corporate real estate are just utter boys clubs, but they make a shit ton of money.

Also, women should learn about personal finance. The basics are really not that hard.

Gets me frustrated when I see women picking career paths where money is almost an afterthought.

Money was definitely an afterthought when I picked my career and I would do it again. I selected my career because it’s what I wanted to do, not because it would make me rich. I’ll never break 6 figures, even though I have an advanced degree. That’s okay. I’m comfortable, I’m happy, I’m challenged, and I’m proud of what I do. I want the same for my own children. There’s no reason for your frustration; there are more ways for women to show their strength than a paycheck.

I do agree that personal finance isn’t hard. (Do women not know of personal finance? I suspect many do.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Physician
The work is intellectually interesting and I feel like I am doing something worthwhile. Additionally, most of the patients are delightful (or at least interesting) and they teach me so much.

BUT as time has gone on the system has evolved so that the administrators have proliferated, and they have consolidated and expanded their power. So basically I work for idiot administrators who have a business degree with no understanding of medicine (if they compare us to “highly trained technicians - like a plumber or mechanic” one more time I am going to freak out), make slightly MORE money than us (one admin said she “would not get out of bed for what they pay doctors here”), work 9-5 (and g-d forbid they work a holiday! But they’d be delighted to report me if it takes me >15 minutes to reply to a page on a holiday), and just view us as numbers (RVU generators). They also won’t come in during covid (apparently every single admin is immunosupressed?), but are happy to send us 6000 useless emails a day, I guess to prove they are actually “working” from home. But then I have to yank off all my PPE and reply to their dumb emails “in a timely fashion” so they don’t report me. The higher level admins have also begun “encouraging” the older/middle aged docs to leave, and replacing them with MDs straight out of training and PA/NPs because the old guys cost too much money. Apparently competence and experience are of no value anymore. Because $$$. And if we make more money then we can hire more administrators!

Also I have 9 years of training after college and about 15 years experience, and I make less than my friends who are govt lawyers. So, stop with your complaining lawyers!

Well, that turned into a rant. But if things continue this way then being a physician won’t make sense anymore, which is sad, because medicine can be rewarding and fun - and on a great day you can even save someone’s life. Which is pretty cool.

Now come the cheap HIBs , because we have a shortage of doctors

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.propublica.org/article/hospitals-are-suddenly-short-of-young-doctors-because-of-trumps-visa-ban/amp

[Anonymous]

Diplomat. It sounds glamorous but isn’t.

[Anonymous]

I am a Speech-Language Pathologist but was a teacher. Never would I advise anyone to teach unless they like being dumped on by everyone in society.