Low earning professionals, do you regret your career?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. I like the freedom of no pressure and eating dinner with my family. I make enough and don’t desire any more.

Yup. And I get to walk my kid to school! Priceless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nurse.
Yes, the low salaries grate after 20 years in the field and no real increases. I just took a new job ($115K--woo hoo!) but prior to this I was making about the same salary for the past 10 years: $90K (in a variety of positions--so yes, I moved around). I know people associate nursing with the astronomical salaries that nurses are making these days as Covid travel nurses but when it comes down to it, the average nursing salary in DC is something like $75K.

I will say that I have loved the work: I've done interesting and impactful things in a large variety of settings.
I will also say that I'm married to a doctor whose salary pays our mortgage. My colleagues who are not married to a higher earner (most of them) live all sorts of great distances from DC because they can't afford to live closer in.

Agreed. Nursing is actually my second career. I love the flexibility. I love what I do. Looking back, I wish I had gone to PA or med school.

[Anonymous]

I think a big part of the problem is that wages have not kept up with inflation and increased cost of living. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to make a decent living. You have a select group of people (Big law, some IT, finance, etc) making insane amounts of money while everyone else is left behind. It’s a shame. We want smart folks to go into nursing, teaching, science/research, mental health, etc.

[Anonymous]

Yes, deeply regret

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a mixed bag. I'm a journalist who transitioned into non-profits and wish I had focused more on profitability when I had the chance. Now, my friends and neighbors who took a business path are making 2-3 times as much as me.

While I regret that I don't make more money, I am happy that I chose careers that have a positive impact on the world. I would have literally killed myself if my sole job was to enhance shareholder value for a company whose only mission is to boost the bottom line -- at any cost to humans and the planet. Most people I know who make a lot of money are doing so at someone else's cost, and I just can't stomach that.

So - there are jobs inbetween this black and white view, and most of them - no offense, but nonprofits and journalism included - often land there. You could still easily get a nice six figure job in the community relations part of a Fortune 500 company or the philanthropic arm of a Fortune 500. Do you think Lowe’s and Home Depot just … randomly pick under-privledged playgrounds and sad local food gardens to fix up? Someone’s job in-house was making those projects happen. Do they do it for good karma? Of course not. Are they going to do it for PR and branding … and still need staff to make sure the projects happen, and do the projects have a positive impact? You bet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I like the freedom of no pressure and eating dinner with my family. I make enough and don’t desire any more.

Yup. And I get to walk my kid to school! Priceless.

Not all lower paying jobs have good hours and give you more time with your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Social worker - totally regret it. I grew up lower middle class at best so when I learned about starting salaries in the 70s for SWs I thought I'd be rich (since my parents never made that kind of money). Of course once I graduated with debt and actually started working I realized what a horrible grind it is, how disrespected and undervalued we are, and wish I would have aimed higher.

Haha yeah another LMC worker who thought a salary of $60k would be amazing, that’s more than my parents ever made combined!

+3. I did not, it turns out, have a great understanding of housing costs, childcare costs etc and thought 60k sounded decent. Anyway, started a new career in finance at 30 and it was worth it to make the transition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I like the freedom of no pressure and eating dinner with my family. I make enough and don’t desire any more.

Yup. And I get to walk my kid to school! Priceless.

Not all lower paying jobs have good hours and give you more time with your kids.

+100. It is often quite the opposite.

[Anonymous]

I am a social worker working as a private practice therapist. I do pretty well - after taxes, I bring home about $70k, which is fine with me (like other PPs, it's more than my dad ever made). We don't live in the DMV anymore, cost of living is lower. It was harder when we lived in DC, but it was still pretty okay there.

I could earn more, but I have made choices in my practice that for me are ethically the right thing to do (e.g., I'm in network with insurance, don't charge more than $100/session for private pay, don't charge for phone calls, don't charge cancellation fees, etc.). If I was charging the same cash rates as my clients, I would probably double my income, but because my $70k is fine for us and I value being able to not compromise my own ethics. If I cared less about that, I would have stayed in corporate America and climbed that ladder.

FWIW also, I heard from social worker therapists like me earlier in my career who very much framed it as "go to SW school, it's a versatile degree, I make $100k+ in private practice, etc." I think that's a little bit irresponsible because no one makes this kind of money right out of school, you have to have clinical licensure which takes time, and most SW I know started in community mental health, where a someone with a bunch of unrelated work experience will be offered a "good salary" of $49k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did as an architect. I left for an adjacent higher paying field. Glad I got out in my thirties.

Which field did you leave for?

I ask because I have a child who is considering architecture.

I’m not the pp but I was also an architect for six years and then left the profession. The pay is low, and the path to licensure is grueling with no real financial reward at the end of it. Unfortunately, this is very common for architectural professionals. A couple of the most common adjacent fields people go into to make more money is either commercial real estate or go work at large general contractors. I myself left the building industry entirely and went back to grad school at 28, moved into a stem field. I left architecture making 58k in dc after 6 years of working and 6 years later I’m making 165k. No regrets in leaving the low paid architecture profession. I have two young girls and would not let them pursue the field.

+1. My sister worked so hard for so many years to become an architect, and then has been disappointed to learn that the pay is about equivalent to a teacher (but without the vacation time and without the benefits).

Honest question, how did she not know that?

I assume she is on her 40s, back then you picked majors and maybe had a Peterson guide for starting salaries of a given major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a social worker working as a private practice therapist. I do pretty well - after taxes, I bring home about $70k, which is fine with me (like other PPs, it's more than my dad ever made). We don't live in the DMV anymore, cost of living is lower. It was harder when we lived in DC, but it was still pretty okay there.

I could earn more, but I have made choices in my practice that for me are ethically the right thing to do (e.g., I'm in network with insurance, don't charge more than $100/session for private pay, don't charge for phone calls, don't charge cancellation fees, etc.). If I was charging the same cash rates as my clients, I would probably double my income, but because my $70k is fine for us and I value being able to not compromise my own ethics. If I cared less about that, I would have stayed in corporate America and climbed that ladder.


FWIW also, I heard from social worker therapists like me earlier in my career who very much framed it as "go to SW school, it's a versatile degree, I make $100k+ in private practice, etc." I think that's a little bit irresponsible because no one makes this kind of money right out of school, you have to have clinical licensure which takes time, and most SW I know started in community mental health, where a someone with a bunch of unrelated work experience will be offered a "good salary" of $49k.

Genuine question: why do you consider corporate = unethical? Isn’t that a bit black and white?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did as an architect. I left for an adjacent higher paying field. Glad I got out in my thirties.

Which field did you leave for?

I ask because I have a child who is considering architecture.

I’m not the pp but I was also an architect for six years and then left the profession. The pay is low, and the path to licensure is grueling with no real financial reward at the end of it. Unfortunately, this is very common for architectural professionals. A couple of the most common adjacent fields people go into to make more money is either commercial real estate or go work at large general contractors. I myself left the building industry entirely and went back to grad school at 28, moved into a stem field. I left architecture making 58k in dc after 6 years of working and 6 years later I’m making 165k. No regrets in leaving the low paid architecture profession. I have two young girls and would not let them pursue the field.

+1. My sister worked so hard for so many years to become an architect, and then has been disappointed to learn that the pay is about equivalent to a teacher (but without the vacation time and without the benefits).

Honest question, how did she not know that?

I assume she is on her 40s, back then you picked majors and maybe had a Peterson guide for starting salaries of a given major.

Remember these lists that ever college career center, it was like engineers make $60k and history majors make $35k.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2017/06/28/college-degrees-with-the-highest-and-lowest-starting-salaries-in-2017/?sh=66ab6a182343

Then you see something like this https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/architect/salary

And think, it’s a top 25% field. Without understating the starting salary is essentially the top salary.

[Anonymous]

Yes, social worker. Ended up stop working when I had kids as I couldn't afford child care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, social worker. Ended up stop working when I had kids as I couldn't afford child care.

Same. And then went back to work in a different industry where, entry level first year in, I was making making more than I had been after 5 yrs in social work. I don’t regret the degree and I’m glad I had the experience I did but there was no way I was going to bust my butt my entire career for peanuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did as an architect. I left for an adjacent higher paying field. Glad I got out in my thirties.

Which field did you leave for?

I ask because I have a child who is considering architecture.

I’m not the pp but I was also an architect for six years and then left the profession. The pay is low, and the path to licensure is grueling with no real financial reward at the end of it. Unfortunately, this is very common for architectural professionals. A couple of the most common adjacent fields people go into to make more money is either commercial real estate or go work at large general contractors. I myself left the building industry entirely and went back to grad school at 28, moved into a stem field. I left architecture making 58k in dc after 6 years of working and 6 years later I’m making 165k. No regrets in leaving the low paid architecture profession. I have two young girls and would not let them pursue the field.

+1. My sister worked so hard for so many years to become an architect, and then has been disappointed to learn that the pay is about equivalent to a teacher (but without the vacation time and without the benefits).

Honest question, how did she not know that?

I assume she is on her 40s, back then you picked majors and maybe had a Peterson guide for starting salaries of a given major.

Yes, I am not that PP but in looking at salary guides in college I thought 40k was reasonable for me as a single person (that was the 90’s). I had no clue about owning a house or raising children.