Now that you have kids, would you have picked a different career

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have great flexibility and love my work but only get 60k. Good thing DH earns more. My DD is choosing not to pursue an MD for work life balance concerns, as well as the cost and length of med school.

I think your daughter is smart.
I am jealous sometimes of people on this board who made a ton of money before they had kids and were able to SAH a few years or have some flexibility that way.
Yes. I make pretty good money, but I didn’t get my first real job until I was 31, and even then, I still had almost $200k in student loan debt. Staying at home when kids were little was not really an option.

[Anonymous]

Yes.
I am going to encourage my kids to study whatever they are passionate about, then get an MBA. My sister went this route, and it really seems that she has a lot of options with different amounts of flexibility and pay grades.
I pretty much know how to do one thing, and the pay and flexibility are pretty set.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have great flexibility and love my work but only get 60k. Good thing DH earns more. My DD is choosing not to pursue an MD for work life balance concerns, as well as the cost and length of med school.

Is she perhaps going the PA or CRNP route? I'm curious because my DS is re-thinking his medical school goal because of the amount of time and money, and I've encouraged him to look into these alternatives.

[Anonymous]

No, I am lucky that my (male) supervisor is very family friendly and I have alternative work schedule options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! I would have never gone into anything education related. The pay is horrible and the hours are horrible. I would have gone into corporate America and at least would have been paid for the long hours.

I’m the opposite. I would’ve gone into teaching because summers are off and there’s a pension!

Teachers work 80 hour weeks the first few years and summers are not off completely because you need CEUs to maintain your license in addition to a Master's. Not as good of a deal are you might think.

[Anonymous]

I have a PhD in clinical psychology, which the vast majority of those with this degree end up in clinical practice (either private, in a hospital, etc.) but a pretty good chunk go into academia (professor, researcher, etc.). When I had my first I was a professor and had one day per week practice. I deluded myself into thinking this was flexible and I was living the dream but the pay, although decent, didn't match the time and effort and the professor position was not flexible at all due to the culture of the specific institution. One of the reasons I went for a doctoral degree was the versatility of settings and roles one can fill. The advent of modern technology resulted in the creation of positions for people with clinical PhDs that didn't even exist when I finished grad school (just 5 years ago!). I jumped ship this year and am in a completely new industry and role. I travel 1-2 days/week on average and work from home the rest of the time. The compensation is 2.5 times higher so to me that offsets the difficulties associated with frequent travel. So there is much more flexibility in a lot of ways (I'm also nearly completely in control of when and how long I travel for) and no one micromanages my every move. I realize I was able to change careers without needing to return to school or anything and that is a fortunate position to be in. But, if you can manage to translate your skills and education into something that suits your life goals better, I think it can be so worth the risk.

[Anonymous]

No. I am a lawyer (partner) at a small firm. I have a surprising amount of flexibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. I am a lawyer (partner) at a small firm. I have a surprising amount of flexibility.

What kind of firm?

[Anonymous]

I would've chosen a much higher paying one!


-a teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you choose something that you know has very little flexibility - like classroom teaching or surgery - it has much more to do with your career path (a lot of which is luck) and the companies you end up at etc. It’s rarely about the field. And flexibility issues will change as technology changes as well.

+1

Most of our work needs are not possibly anticipated, OP. Plus, there are far too many variables. The best firm can go out of business, etc. See above.

+2

What kind of job can be anticipated to pay well and have flexibility in 10-20 years? Do you have a crystal ball?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would've chosen a much higher paying one!


-a teacher

I have a lot of respect for teachers but you had to know it didnt pay well when you studied to do it, right?

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! I would have never gone into anything education related. The pay is horrible and the hours are horrible. I would have gone into corporate America and at least would have been paid for the long hours.

I’m the opposite. I would’ve gone into teaching because summers are off and there’s a pension!

+1

And you can be home with your kids after school. And during spring break and winter break. It's perfect for parents.

[Anonymous]

No, not at all. I worked my ass off for almost 10 years before having kids and now I do pretty much what I want and have a ton of flexibility. I also make a lot of money. I'm a lawyer (tax), and there are a ton of paths I could have taken but the one I did set me up really well. I have other friends who work 100 hours a week and are miserable (also tax lawyers), so there's a lot to say about choosing the right firm, etc. But if my daughters wanted to be lawyers I would not steer them away from that, like I know others have said they would.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would've chosen a much higher paying one!


-a teacher

I have a lot of respect for teachers but you had to know it didnt pay well when you studied to do it, right?

DP here, I'm not a teacher but I can say that at 18 years old I was pretty ignorant of how expensive life is and what I would need to get by. I didn't have any idea how much money my dad made to support our lifestyle, and what different lifestyles would be offered by different jobs. I mean, I kind of knew intellectually that teachers are paid less than bankers but honestly it didn't feel like the differences were that big. I was also an idealist who thought that being motivated by passion and helping people was more important than salary. I was raised in a total bubble suburb though and was kind of sheltered/dumb.