Anonymous wrote:I'd help him start a landscaping firm. It's hard work, outside, varying tasks and environments.. but leading one would require using his brain with business skills, customer service, recruiting and retaining, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the jobs you’re listing don’t have 9-5 hours not lots of them have extensive hours that are not at all flexible.

For other non-office jobs, I have a friend in technical theatre. She works several movies a year, which are crazy 12+ hour days for a few months at a time… and then takes weeks to months entirely off work. It would make me crazy but she enjoys it. Another friend is a writer — novels and freelancing journalism and stuff. Totally flexible but she sure has to be able to motivate herself to get stuff done. Someone else I know is a woodworker. He has normal hours but no office work, obviously. He started vocational training at the end of high school. His brother is an EMT, which seems a bit more flexible but doesn’t always pay terribly well: for a while he joked he worked at a rehab center to be able to support hours EMT habit.

What is your son looking for/trying to avoid? Work life balance, in my experience, is best found by being a white collar cog in a large company in the middle of the organization (this is what I do — it’s WFH, flexible enough for me to be the primary parent for my young kids, pays fine, etc). But not everyone is cut out for that kind of thing.

Came here to say this. All the jobs listed by OP sound much easier and less flexible than a typical WFH/flex schedule white collar employee.

Anonymous wrote:All the jobs you’re listing don’t have 9-5 hours not lots of them have extensive hours that are not at all flexible.

For other non-office jobs, I have a friend in technical theatre. She works several movies a year, which are crazy 12+ hour days for a few months at a time… and then takes weeks to months entirely off work. It would make me crazy but she enjoys it. Another friend is a writer — novels and freelancing journalism and stuff. Totally flexible but she sure has to be able to motivate herself to get stuff done. Someone else I know is a woodworker. He has normal hours but no office work, obviously. He started vocational training at the end of high school. His brother is an EMT, which seems a bit more flexible but doesn’t always pay terribly well: for a while he joked he worked at a rehab center to be able to support hours EMT habit.

What is your son looking for/trying to avoid? Work life balance, in my experience, is best found by being a white collar cog in a large company in the middle of the organization (this is what I do — it’s WFH, flexible enough for me to be the primary parent for my young kids, pays fine, etc). But not everyone is cut out for that kind of thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working for yourself. Writer. Professor. Consultant. You may need to work some hours between 9-5 but you have a lot of flexibility.

I'd argue that a consultant isn't all that flexible. You're beholden to the whims of your clients, including being available when they expect you to be - in person or otherwise. Plus, junior consultants don't get to chart their own course and need to earn their stripes through lots of hours usually spent colocated with either the client or colleagues.


OP is asking the wrong question. It should probably read "My son is okay working hard, but he wants to do it on his own schedule. What kind of jobs don't require set schedules?"

The answer to which totally depends on his level of experience and skill set. But in general, not many and vanishingly few for junior folks.

Not necessarily on his own schedule, just not a full 9-5 every single day of the week.

Well he will get Sat and Sunday off.

Teachers work 9-330pm, maybe he can be a gym teacher who phones it in?

He basically wants a part time career with benefits? Don’t we all?

No, he would be fine with a nursing type schedule, so on, then off, or working "all the time" but with flexibility. Just not a desk job that you do all week every week.

Can you say what you mean by "flexibility" = Do you mean that he wants to be able to choose when and how hard to work? Or that he wants to be doing a variety of things during the day? Or wants to be able to take his degree and skills and switch jobs every couple of years? Or do you just mean he doesn't want to be tied to a computer?

^ Let me add: I think it's great he's thinking about this, and that you are helping him figure out a good path. Just want to understand better what you are looking for/looking to avoid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working for yourself. Writer. Professor. Consultant. You may need to work some hours between 9-5 but you have a lot of flexibility.

I'd argue that a consultant isn't all that flexible. You're beholden to the whims of your clients, including being available when they expect you to be - in person or otherwise. Plus, junior consultants don't get to chart their own course and need to earn their stripes through lots of hours usually spent colocated with either the client or colleagues.


OP is asking the wrong question. It should probably read "My son is okay working hard, but he wants to do it on his own schedule. What kind of jobs don't require set schedules?"

The answer to which totally depends on his level of experience and skill set. But in general, not many and vanishingly few for junior folks.

Not necessarily on his own schedule, just not a full 9-5 every single day of the week.

Well he will get Sat and Sunday off.

Teachers work 9-330pm, maybe he can be a gym teacher who phones it in?

He basically wants a part time career with benefits? Don’t we all?

No, he would be fine with a nursing type schedule, so on, then off, or working "all the time" but with flexibility. Just not a desk job that you do all week every week.

Can you say what you mean by "flexibility" = Do you mean that he wants to be able to choose when and how hard to work? Or that he wants to be doing a variety of things during the day? Or wants to be able to take his degree and skills and switch jobs every couple of years? Or do you just mean he doesn't want to be tied to a computer?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working for yourself. Writer. Professor. Consultant. You may need to work some hours between 9-5 but you have a lot of flexibility.

I'd argue that a consultant isn't all that flexible. You're beholden to the whims of your clients, including being available when they expect you to be - in person or otherwise. Plus, junior consultants don't get to chart their own course and need to earn their stripes through lots of hours usually spent colocated with either the client or colleagues.


OP is asking the wrong question. It should probably read "My son is okay working hard, but he wants to do it on his own schedule. What kind of jobs don't require set schedules?"

The answer to which totally depends on his level of experience and skill set. But in general, not many and vanishingly few for junior folks.

Not necessarily on his own schedule, just not a full 9-5 every single day of the week.

Well he will get Sat and Sunday off.

Teachers work 9-330pm, maybe he can be a gym teacher who phones it in?

He basically wants a part time career with benefits? Don’t we all?

No, he would be fine with a nursing type schedule, so on, then off, or working "all the time" but with flexibility. Just not a desk job that you do all week every week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a 911 call taker/Police Dispatcher. I work 12s, I just worked this weekend but next week I only work 12 hours Weds and 8 on Thurs. that’s it. 3 day weekend every other weekend. Any time I work OT or a holiday I bank hours instead of pay. This allows for extra time off in addition to what is accrued.

Do you get benefits? Can I ask about pay? It must be very stressful.

Last year I made 67k. I do not have a degree. It can be stressful but I enjoy the work and the schedule. Yes I get full benefits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working for yourself. Writer. Professor. Consultant. You may need to work some hours between 9-5 but you have a lot of flexibility.

I was going to say: academia.

Some adjacent roles (like not admin but scientific staff at a university) are flexible too.

But academic job market is pretty grim..

Academia is flexible in a technical sense, but there is immense pressure to be working all the time. BTDT.