Anonymous wrote:You should have taken sick leave while you made a plan.

Agreed. LOA for burnout, possibly with STD or LTD payouts, would have been a better play. Then use that paid time off to look for a better job.

Apply for Tech roles at a university. Many are upgrading their numerous IT systems (housing, payment/bursar, accounting, registrar, email, sign on, VPN, etc) and looking for skilled workers.

You should have taken sick leave while you made a plan.

Ok I know this isn’t helpful in that I don’t have actionable next steps for you OP, but I am SO HAPPY FOR YOU. Congratulations! Seriously, you have taken back, or maybe even *saved* your own life. Sure, you didn’t listen to yourself until your subconscious forced the issue; and that may make the immediate short term a little uncertain or bumpy, but please take this opportunity to really identify, examine, and restructure things/routines/people in your life that just DONT WORK. Don’t wait for golden years you may not have to realize what matters. I am excited for this new strange clear path forward for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you just quit? I don’t get it. You can’t be young, maybe 40’s? You don’t just quit because it gets hard. You make a plan… you get another job, you take leave, you work less hours, etc. It was very poor decision making on your part and considering it was likely your only recent supervisor, hard to get a reference or recommendation. OP, I would think short plan. Work in the school system, bus driver, substitute, IT or even teach. Then while doing that, look for other jobs. You get benefits and a steady income until you find something else. You have to also get your mental checked out too because it just doesn’t seem right for an adult to do what you did. I am not trying to beat you up but just being honest.

I have $ in savings that I can rely on until I get another position. I tried to look in tandem but I didn't have time to take it seriously, and couldn't activate my network without raising eyebrows.

I have been doing a ton of research and some classes in AI so have some more modern skills.

People keep suggesting teaching. Don't you have to have some credentials for that?

You rely on savings to make you money. There's an app you use to buy and sell stocks. You can make 5% every few days. It's not that complicated. Also, ubereats is hiring.

This had got to be a troll post.

DP. I would not call it a troll post, just very bad advice.

Buying and selling stocks short term is the equivalent of gambling unless you have extremely high discipline and patience to baby-sit a portfolio.

You have to perform due diligence on a stock, research if it has cycles like mining or tourism. You need to find out how much debt vs earnings a company has.

Then there are events: FOMC meetings, earnings releases, dividend dates etc.

You can look at charts guessing what it could do but you cannot know the if or when nor foretell the future.

I absolutely would not recommend day or swing trading to a novice any more than I would take someone from the Pee-Wee league and put him in the Professional league.

Anonymous wrote:I just quit my job yesterday without any sort of backup plan. I haven't been in the job market in 22 years and I don't know where to start.

I know I did a dumb thing but there's no going back.

For those looking, what are the best sources for jobs, either remote or specifically in DC?

It's somewhat like being in an emotionally abusive marriage where you feel devalued and disrespected. Some people just wake up one day and say "Enough" and end it. Others spend years "preparing" for the inevitable, all the while living, or more accurately surviving, in a unhealthy environment. Then they end it.

Or, as time moves on, they get older and they quietly quit, no longer invested, and await being set free by one or the other moving on to the next level in the circle of life. Nothing changes.

It's the ending that matters, not how you do it.

The important thing is that you are free.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you just quit? I don’t get it. You can’t be young, maybe 40’s? You don’t just quit because it gets hard. You make a plan… you get another job, you take leave, you work less hours, etc. It was very poor decision making on your part and considering it was likely your only recent supervisor, hard to get a reference or recommendation. OP, I would think short plan. Work in the school system, bus driver, substitute, IT or even teach. Then while doing that, look for other jobs. You get benefits and a steady income until you find something else. You have to also get your mental checked out too because it just doesn’t seem right for an adult to do what you did. I am not trying to beat you up but just being honest.

I have $ in savings that I can rely on until I get another position. I tried to look in tandem but I didn't have time to take it seriously, and couldn't activate my network without raising eyebrows.

I have been doing a ton of research and some classes in AI so have some more modern skills.

People keep suggesting teaching. Don't you have to have some credentials for that?

You rely on savings to make you money. There's an app you use to buy and sell stocks. You can make 5% every few days. It's not that complicated. Also, ubereats is hiring.

This had got to be a troll post.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you just quit? I don’t get it. You can’t be young, maybe 40’s? You don’t just quit because it gets hard. You make a plan… you get another job, you take leave, you work less hours, etc. It was very poor decision making on your part and considering it was likely your only recent supervisor, hard to get a reference or recommendation. OP, I would think short plan. Work in the school system, bus driver, substitute, IT or even teach. Then while doing that, look for other jobs. You get benefits and a steady income until you find something else. You have to also get your mental checked out too because it just doesn’t seem right for an adult to do what you did. I am not trying to beat you up but just being honest.

I have $ in savings that I can rely on until I get another position. I tried to look in tandem but I didn't have time to take it seriously, and couldn't activate my network without raising eyebrows.

I have been doing a ton of research and some classes in AI so have some more modern skills.

People keep suggesting teaching. Don't you have to have some credentials for that?

You rely on savings to make you money. There's an app you use to buy and sell stocks. You can make 5% every few days. It's not that complicated. Also, ubereats is hiring.

Anonymous wrote:Hope you have some savings. Expect to be looking for a new job for a while. It’s rough out here, particularly if you’re in your 40s or older.

Our own federal government has been importing over a million h1bs to take US jobs. Then OPT is flooding the entry level jobs

Unless you speak Hindu you cannot get a new IT job at your age , Indians stick together and rarely higher non-Indians

OP, you have gotten some good advice above. Reach out to your network, go to alumni events and career fairs. Create a LinkedIn profile. Are there additional tech credentials you could earn now? Can you consult or pick up adjunct teaching work at a community college to avoid a gap? What about HS teaching jobs in STEM?

Anonymous wrote:FWIW I already feel like crap so for people inclined to tell me I'm a moron, I already know that I am. I also fully understand I'm on a public forum and I get what I get. But anything constructive will be much appreciated.

Reach out to recruiters.

Life’s too short for a horrible situation. Time to try something new. Sure, it would have been preferable to do it in a different order but nothing’s perfect. Sometimes you have to jump.

Anonymous wrote:So you just quit? I don’t get it. You can’t be young, maybe 40’s? You don’t just quit because it gets hard. You make a plan… you get another job, you take leave, you work less hours, etc. It was very poor decision making on your part and considering it was likely your only recent supervisor, hard to get a reference or recommendation. OP, I would think short plan. Work in the school system, bus driver, substitute, IT or even teach. Then while doing that, look for other jobs. You get benefits and a steady income until you find something else. You have to also get your mental checked out too because it just doesn’t seem right for an adult to do what you did. I am not trying to beat you up but just being honest.

pbbtt. Of course you're trying to beat her up. Do you feel better about yourself hitting someone when they are down? How do you know it was a very poor decision? You don't. It sounds like she made the jump because it was time. Just because you are not brave enough to make a move without having everything in place doesn't mean she was wrong to do so. Your plan is a slow boring walk to nowhere, and no guarantee anyway.

Op, polish your resume and interview 3 head hunters this week!
You got this!

Anonymous wrote:I just quit my job yesterday without any sort of backup plan. I haven't been in the job market in 22 years and I don't know where to start.

I know I did a dumb thing but there's no going back.

For those looking, what are the best sources for jobs, either remote or specifically in DC?

Apply for everything and start going on interviews, online or whatever to get some new experience. Learn about AI and how online job sites apparently use it to screen resumes/applications. Or so I've heard. Never talk bad about your prior employer. Make something up if you have to explain why you quit after so many years at the same place. But focus more on why you stayed at the same place for so many years, i.e. coworkers, job satisfaction, whatever. People will be curious. Know what you're going to say. Focus on whatever is different in the new job that attracted you and how you're looking forward to a new opportunity. Say you were thinking about returning to school, but will do that part-time if you decide to - sounding like you're having a mid life crisis is better than sounding like you snapped and quit. btdt. Use each interview as a learning tool. If you screw up an answer, figure out a better answer. Use the interview as an opportunity to tell them what you want them to know about you. Remember, you loved everyone you worked for and with, it was hard to leave but it was time to leave, yada yada, stress your good work relationships. I'm not a tech person so no clue what sites are best for that. Go to job fairs. Work out a routine of applying to a few jobs every day. I am constantly looking for jobs, after a bad experience of getting laid off I trust no one. Go to company websites and see if they have a careers link or jobs posted. Same with local colleges and your state and county government websites, also your state judiciary website. Narrow it down along with putting your resume into the pile on larger sites. Register at a temp agency. Federal employment is a mess so I don't even look at that site anymore. Take a breath, get some sleep. It's just a job and I've quit for similar reasons and lived and worked again. After a while, you learn the game and you get a job. I've had it take from two weeks to several months. There is no rhyme or reason, it's a lot about hitting both the employer and yourself on a good day. You will learn a lot in the next few months. That's how you grow. You got this.