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

[Anonymous]

Is this thread just for women? I'll assume it isn't. I'm a man and was a teacher before it made more sense to be a SAHD for a while.

Any time I meet someone who is thinking of becoming a teacher I encourage them to talk to at least a dozen current teachers.

Teaching in and of itself is great. Kids are usually great. But there are so many things about the job that are awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll bite. Teaching. And sadly after this year there will be many others that feel that way. I encourage women to find a different path if they are interested - physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, etc. You can still work with kids but get more respect, more career opportunities and be able to go part time with more ease if you want to.

Question for you about something I've been wondering. I'm an attorney and at one point in my career, I was job sharing with my partner working half the week and me working the other half. Do you think this is something that could be done in teaching to provide more flexibility?

It can be done! I know of a few that offered this when I lived in Colorado (not sure if they still do.) It was mainly used by teachers with young children. They were even able to share daycare providers that way. I’d love to do that here. I work as a part-time assistant because full-time teaching demands and hours don’t work for us right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many people will say law.

I'll start - law.

Law. Let’s keep the chain going.

Sign me up - I'm not even a lawyer, just a glutton for punishment. And the hazard pay that comes along with working with attorneys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hospitality industry. The hours are terrible and your coworkers are not the best representative of society. My brother is in a no where mid-management position. Glad I went to law school and love working as an attorney. It’s all relative.

This thread is for personal experience, not for you to crap in the choices of others, Mr. Big Shot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll bite. Teaching. And sadly after this year there will be many others that feel that way. I encourage women to find a different path if they are interested - physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, etc. You can still work with kids but get more respect, more career opportunities and be able to go part time with more ease if you want to.

Question for you about something I've been wondering. I'm an attorney and at one point in my career, I was job sharing with my partner working half the week and me working the other half. Do you think this is something that could be done in teaching to provide more flexibility?

It can be done! I know of a few that offered this when I lived in Colorado (not sure if they still do.) It was mainly used by teachers with young children. They were even able to share daycare providers that way. I’d love to do that here. I work as a part-time assistant because full-time teaching demands and hours don’t work for us right now.

I hope that the pandemic will cause us to think about ways that we can improve every profession to improve the professional services we deliver while improving the work-life balance of workers, and not just those with families. Job sharing requires a very good relationship between participants, but it can lead to less stressed and therefore more productive workers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many will say engineering. Rough road for a woman in the oversaturated male dominated industry. If it's not management diminishing your work, it would be the clients. Many days I ask myself why did I not peruse medical school. Ugh...

I have mixed feelings about this. I definitely had a rough start in a male dominated engineering career, and once I had kids the lack of flexibility was killing me. But my old boss retired and my new younger boss is definitely more flexible and doesn’t belittle my work. I make decent money and my job is stable. Maybe once all the old guys retire it won’t be so bad!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Journalism.

Lasted 20 years before leaving; should have left after 10 years at most.

Well, I did that too and have my regrets. Did not last as long as you. Wish I were better at it, honestly. I had the opportunities and education and didnt excel or persevere. If you have the steel for it, it’s a thrilling and rewarding profession. I was never in it for the money, but was able to easily double mine by hoing into communications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll bite. Teaching. And sadly after this year there will be many others that feel that way. I encourage women to find a different path if they are interested - physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, etc. You can still work with kids but get more respect, more career opportunities and be able to go part time with more ease if you want to.

Question for you about something I've been wondering. I'm an attorney and at one point in my career, I was job sharing with my partner working half the week and me working the other half. Do you think this is something that could be done in teaching to provide more flexibility?

It can be done! I know of a few that offered this when I lived in Colorado (not sure if they still do.) It was mainly used by teachers with young children. They were even able to share daycare providers that way. I’d love to do that here. I work as a part-time assistant because full-time teaching demands and hours don’t work for us right now.

I hope that the pandemic will cause us to think about ways that we can improve every profession to improve the professional services we deliver while improving the work-life balance of workers, and not just those with families. Job sharing requires a very good relationship between participants, but it can lead to less stressed and therefore more productive workers.

Four day work week! It’s a whole movement. Join us!

[Anonymous]

My mom's a retired nurse. She remembers a time when the medical system put the patient first. As she got older, she saw the situation move in ways that seemed unsafe to her. She also saw the nurses get squeezed to accomplish more with less. She repeatedly told me to avoid nursing.

[Anonymous]

Journalism. I made it work for 30 years. I have doubts that anyone seeking a career can really do it now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many will say engineering. Rough road for a woman in the oversaturated male dominated industry. If it's not management diminishing your work, it would be the clients. Many days I ask myself why did I not peruse medical school. Ugh...

I have mixed feelings about this. I definitely had a rough start in a male dominated engineering career, and once I had kids the lack of flexibility was killing me. But my old boss retired and my new younger boss is definitely more flexible and doesn’t belittle my work. I make decent money and my job is stable. Maybe once all the old guys retire it won’t be so bad!

Some of it depends on the industry too. Something might be better like biomedical as opposed to automotive engineering.

[Anonymous]

Social work. Low pay, not respected, no work life balance, stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many people will say law.

I'll start - law.

Yep. Every day when my wife says that my son “wants to grow up to be just like daddy.” I always say “I hope he picks a better career.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Social work. Low pay, not respected, no work life balance, stressful.

Social workers are the unsung heroes, and apparently the key to everything in social justice reform. I'm still not sure how that will work given the low pay, lack of respect, and incredible stress.

[Anonymous]

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

I’m a doctor and wish I had been a nurse. Nursing was really what I wanted to do looking back on it. I spend a lot more time with charts than I do with patients. And really, the pay isn’t that much better considering the commitment I put in up front and the amount of responsibility I have when I am there.

The nurses I work with in the ED get paid ~ $90k for 36 hours/wk. I work 30 hours/wk, which means that I am 0.6 FTE, and make ~$120k/yr.