Life/Career advice needed

I'm at a serious crossroad in my life. I'm soon to be 29, a have a BA in languages (bad call) and currently work as a front desk/night audit at a 4 star hotel. My twenties where mostly squandered on nothing.

The job that I do at the moment doesn't satisfy me in any way;

- it provides low salary
- it has little prospects of advancing
- I don't want to work in hotel industry / around people in general
- the most important thing of all is that it leaves me empty, without any sense that I've achieved something (it's a meaningless service job).

I need a career change, but the problem is I don't have any real skills or knowledge that I could cash in, so any career I decide for I would have to start from the scratch. At 29, I kinda feel embarrassed to, but there no helping it. Better late than never.

I'm looking to get some advice, what would you do in this situation?

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I also have a BA in a foreign language, take a skilled trade bro you’ll learn new skills on the job.

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Yes, you can try to learn some sort of trade. You are still pretty young, your life is not over. You can learn to weld/mount/dry wall/construction/whatever you are interested in and use that skill.


You have to decide what you want, none of us can answer that

Look up "trade school's in my area" on google and look at what is offered.

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Sounds like the kind of job where you have a lot of down time. Learn a new skill on the job. If you can use your computer then there are a million things you can learn online. If not then bring books or print learning material. Off the top of my head you could learn coding / web design, online marketing, crypto/forex trading, graphic design, video/audio production/editing.

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Not enough information to provide a distinct recommendation. This all depends on your career preferences.

Do you want to make a lot of money? What are you good at? Do you want to start your own business someday or just work for the man? What are you goals?

The only thing I gathered from your post was that you don't want to be around people but still want to make a lot of money. I'm going to be the first to tell you that you are in for a rude awakening if that's your mindset.

Here are some generic recommendations:

-Want to have a high earning potential but don't want to be an entrepreneur? Go into sales. (oh no, you'll be around people!)
-Want to learn a valuable skill that can translate to your own future business but don't care about making a lot of money right off the bat? Go into digital marketing. (oh no, you have to know people inside out!)
-Want to be your own boss someday and make a decent living, but not rolling in the dough? Learn a trade, put a few years in then branch off into being an independent contractor. (oh no, you have to deal with people!)
-Mostly concerned about career satisfaction? Review your strengths and interests and pick a career that aligns with those the most. Warning: It probably won't make you a lot of money unless you're extremely interested in programming or other specialized tech fields. I am going to assume you're not if you work in a hotel.

I recommend the following free career quiz: https://www.careerexplorer.com/

Most of them are shit but this is the best one I've ever taken. It was extremely accurate based on my own results.

The reality is, if you don't want a job "around people" you are not going to make a lot of money unless you choose a highly specialized technology field like programming or big data. Even then, you have to interact with stakeholders or managers. Even a tradesman has to deal with people, especially if you want to make good money.

Barring certain rare exceptions (which you likely would have to work for years to gain the skills to be even employable), there is no such thing as making a lot of money but not being around people, because people are everywhere and they have the money.

Good luck

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How hard are you willing to work?
What do you want do want from your future job?
How much do you want to make?
How much can you sacrifice-time wise and money wise?
Are you prepared to spend 5-8 years in school or training,or 16 months, or 8 months?
STEM field, Military,LEO, Finance, Law or Trade-what value do you see yourself providing?

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What language?

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(05-18-2019 04:37 PM)H1N1 Wrote:  What language?

Croatian and Italian. I could work in a school, as a transaltor, tourist guide ecc. None of those job is any better than the one that I do now in terms of salary / interest

(05-18-2019 02:12 AM)deyowulf Wrote:  Sounds like the kind of job where you have a lot of down time. Learn a new skill on the job. If you can use your computer then there are a million things you can learn online. If not then bring books or print learning material. Off the top of my head you could learn coding / web design, online marketing, crypto/forex trading, graphic design, video/audio production/editing.

That's right, there's about 2-4 hours of down time and I indeed have access to computer and could spend that time studying/passing various online courses ecc. Coding/web design seem like areas that you can go a long way just studying like this by youself, does anyone have any experience with this?

(05-18-2019 02:22 PM)Atlanta Man Wrote:  How hard are you willing to work?
What do you want do want from your future job?
How much do you want to make?
How much can you sacrifice-time wise and money wise?
Are you prepared to spend 5-8 years in school or training,or 16 months, or 8 months?
STEM field, Military,LEO, Finance, Law or Trade-what value do you see yourself providing?

I would like to amass enough money to be able to retire eary or use that money to establish streams of passive income (rent ecc). I'm frugal by nature and save a big chunk of my salary, but with income like mine it would take me like 10 years living frugally to save measly 50 000$ (barring any unexpected large exenses).

Two primary criteria would be that it's a good paying job and that I can start doing it as soon as possible, on the lowest level. I mean, If I could bring back time I wouldn't study languages but enroll to medical school to become a doctor, but doing that now I would need to spend at least 5 years on college (working a full time side job to sustain myself/help my parents), then do my internship and then start climbing the ladder from there, at which point I'd be at least 37 years old. So that's for example an unrealistic course of action for me. Basically anything that has college as a prerequisite.

At the moment I have 5 more months on my current contract and enough money saved to live comfortably one year. During that period I would be able to dedicate a lot of time (8+ hours a day) studying new profession.

My interests are not a factor for me in this. Job is a job, if need be you suck it up to bring the buck. I don't particulary enjoy my current job, but I do it anyway, only I have nothing to show for it. If I think about it, I would be the happiest if I could achieve financial independence as soon as possible, then I could use my time for my interests (which would be a hobby, I wouldn't want to do them as a career)

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(05-17-2019 09:43 PM)scotian Wrote:  I also have a BA in a foreign language, take a skilled trade bro you’ll learn new skills on the job.

That's a good option, one that I've considered. Actually, my uncle has a car paint shop (is that how you say?) and my first neighboor/family friend is a carpenter with his own shop so I have to potential routes to take without much hassle.

(05-18-2019 02:16 PM)tonysoprano Wrote:  Not enough information to provide a distinct recommendation. This all depends on your career preferences.

Do you want to make a lot of money? What are you good at? Do you want to start your own business someday or just work for the man? What are you goals?

I've answered to some of these questions in previous post.

(05-18-2019 02:16 PM)tonysoprano Wrote:  The reality is, if you don't want a job "around people" you are not going to make a lot of money unless you choose a highly specialized technology field like programming or big data. Even then, you have to interact with stakeholders or managers. Even a tradesman has to deal with people, especially if you want to make good money.

Barring certain rare exceptions (which you likely would have to work for years to gain the skills to be even employable), there is no such thing as making a lot of money but not being around people, because people are everywhere and they have the money.

Good luck

Regarding working with people, maybe I wasn't clear enough. I work in a hotel, so I'm well accustomed with dealing with people, and I'm not an autist, I have decent people skills. Only thing is that I'm an introvert so a lot of interacting with people quickly drains my energy, so I'd like that the core of my job is dealing with stuff, not people. Sales and marketing I would write off though, I would be deeply unhappy working in those fields.

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Programming: If you spend 6 hours per day (4hrs @ work, 2hrs @ home) close to every single day for the remaining 5 months you have left at your current job, to study Python, you can be in a position to score a jr programming gig at the end of it. Salary depends on your location and a few other factors.

Within a couple of years you can find yourself within $70-120k a year. And many companies are open to remote employees.

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I would second Python. Automate the Boring stuff is the book I would recommend for beginners (free).

Remember that programming is just a skill, there are many directions you can take your career if you have programming skills.

If you learn Excel, Python, and SQL you can become a data analyst which pays pretty well out the gate and is not very people-intensive.

Or you can go the web developer route with Python and learn a web framework like Django which is in high demand.

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I'll add - don't make the same mistake twice.
You've already made one by getting a BA in a low prospect field you have no personal interest in.
So, this time around, you have to learn something with true potential. From your personality description, I'd say go with a flexible and in-demand programming language.

As someone noted, the downtime available to you at work right now is a great opportunity. Don't waste it.

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(05-18-2019 09:44 PM)Zagor Wrote:  Two primary criteria would be that it's a good paying job and that I can start doing it as soon as possible, on the lowest level. I mean, If I could bring back time I wouldn't study languages but enroll to medical school to become a doctor, but doing that now I would need to spend at least 5 years on college (working a full time side job to sustain myself/help my parents), then do my internship and then start climbing the ladder from there, at which point I'd be at least 37 years old. So that's for example an unrealistic course of action for me. Basically anything that has college as a prerequisite.

I was in a similar position like you some years ago: Useless degree in languages and business, no clear direction in my professional life and consequently, was struggling massively. All I was getting were shitty monkey jobs. While my peer group started to get established, I was sitting on the bench watching them passing me by. People didn't take me seriously, I was broke and felt like a failure.

Usually, I have a pretty happy predisposition and am a cheerful guy, but damn, this situation depressed the hell out of me for almost 2 years. After another unsuccessful bout of sending out resumes, going to interviews, etc. I decided that I needed to massively change my situation or otherwise I felt like my professional life would turn out to be endless shit show. So I did some introspection and research. Eventually, I found an M. Sc. programme that I was eligible to start due to some fortunate circumstances. It outlined it here.

I was 35 by the time I finished it and thanks to it, my entire situation and outlook on life changed immensely: I make a very nice salary, my job is quite enjoyable and my skill set is becoming more and more valuable.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is this: Even if the overall RVF sentiment is that college is a waste of time, don't rule it out completely. If you do go back to college, be sure to have a solid plan, though. I knew where I wanted to go and planned accordingly.
Also, always remember that despite what it feels like right now, in life sometimes all you need is just one "yes".

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(05-18-2019 02:12 AM)deyowulf Wrote:  Sounds like the kind of job where you have a lot of down time. Learn a new skill on the job. If you can use your computer then there are a million things you can learn online. If not then bring books or print learning material. Off the top of my head you could learn coding / web design, online marketing, crypto/forex trading, graphic design, video/audio production/editing.

Would you recommend app development?

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Hey Zagor,

Just wanted to share my story, since I think the situation was a bit similar.

I used to work in accounting, and got ''stuck'' in that as well since it was the only field I knew.
I hated it, and this was one of the most unmotivated moments in my life.

At 29 years to old? You're kidding right? To me that's young! Age is just a number too.
It says it takes 10.000 hours to master something completely. Spend 4-5 hours a day at something you LOVE, and be a master at it at 35 years!

I'm turning 29 on Thursday. Right now, I LOVE that I hated my last job. I would have never taken action if the comfort of that job was bigger than how much I hated it.

I turned to SEO / online marketing. Every night after my boring day job I would read blogs, learn about it, etc..

That was in 2016. Now I got a remote job in the same field, and invest my saving in the market and own a blog (I just started this year).

The thing I want to say:
You are not too old to learn a new skill.
Do you know your passion? Hussle! I got my first remote job in SEO because the guy liked my motivation and I would literally read blogs over breakfast.
My skills were shit at the time, but I found someone that believed in me.

Don't quit your job, but find your passion first.

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A lot of people recommend learning a programming language, BUT this isnt as easy as it sounds. Programming, or more specifically software engineering is NOT a blue collar job that you can pick up in a few months and be hired by Amazon. First of all you need a certain aptitude to learn it, its very abstract and complicated, many people simply aren't smart enough to learn it. Most of these "coding" bootcamps are scams, just like the for profit "colleges" that were selling bachelors degrees to people who could barely read. Judging by your major and the fact that you've been working in a hotel this long I would say not to waste your time trying to learn software. I would recommend you get the catalog of your nearest community college and check out the trades programs and pick the one that has the best job prospects, not necessarily the easiest or the one that sounds more interesting.

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"What color is your parachute" is a book that's been around forever. It's helped some people in your boat and not some as well. Find an objective source for inspiration and follow your own set of interests...the goal is to continue growth in whatever you choose.

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