i think i want to change careers.

[Gareth]

ugh.
i've only been in my job a short while but i already lack motivation.
over a decade of training/working in law only to find out that the further in you get, the shitter it gets. awesome.
i feel like it's now all about management, admin and meeting fee targets. no research, not much drafting (cf my old job). i was happy doing that.
basically i'm saying i pretty much want to quit law.
but i'm starting to feel like i have no other skills, cos all i've ever done is one very very specific thing which doesn't really translate that well into other stuff.
:(
fuck.
and i feel like i have to stay in my job for the next few months at least cos finding work in london isnt easy and you need coin to live.
need to sort my shit out.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x88old_cam-ron-i-hate-my-job-new_music
don't hate my boss employer though. no complaint there.

[venusvenus123]

argh Ricardo we need to meet up! After the next couple of weeks I'll have more time (and energy) as we go on summer recess break. pm me your UK number.

I'm sorry you hate your job. Sounds like you and Bob have a lot in common with the specific training thing.

I'm currently dealing with similar issues, having been trained in a very specific discipline (reporting parliamentary speech) but now not being in a fit physical state to withstand the pressure of the role so finding myself in a boring admin job that massively underuses my skills. *weeps*

At least you're young enough to retrain? Or at least retrain your law discipline?

[Adam]

Everyone is young enough to retrain. If you're 60 and took 7 years out to become a doctor, you're only 67 and could easily work after that. Try telling a generally sound of mind 67 year old with a skill that they are useless - you wouldn't, they aren't.

There is still a chance that at 25 and 67 years old that you're gonna die today, or tomorrow or whenever.

Obviously I don't practice all that I preach.

I'm thinking of becoming self employed again roasting my own coffee to the local geeks. Been unemployed since April and I look at jobs and I try to imagine being there two years, most I can't - the ones I want I'm not qualified for or there is super hard competition. This time I go self employed though I won't just smoke pot and play WoW.

Also, from my experience; don't leave your job before you have something else in place. I can't believe how being unemployed takes up so much of my time recently.

[Gareth]

hah yea in theory retraining is easy, but in practice...not quite the same.
giving up security isnt easy (esp when finding work is super tough. i got lucky here tbh)
giving up a decade of experience isnt easy either.
also i'd have to take a paycut. this isnt so important but its still something to consider.

[Nuzzolese]

It sounds like you're going about this backwards, by looking at what you already know how to do and trying to find something else into which your current skills will fit. I mean, I guess that doesn't sound like a backwards idea when I explain it that way but it FEELS backwards. It's like, there's a zipper in the back of my dress so it makes sense to put in the front because that's easier to reach but when you do it it just feels wrong and backwards. Ahem. Anywoots, I was thinking of asking you, what is it you want to do instead? Maybe you could teach law.

[Kid Presentable]

You can con the civil service with a legal qualification, since most of their work is simple stuff made complicated. Just saying.

[Gareth]

haha...there's quite a few of these quarter life crisis type posts right now

err, i'm thinking about leaving law behind altogether. so no teaching, no public policy analysis, no in-house roles. maybe something in a more creative environment, not necessarily as a creative but something more to my liking.

i'm an intellectual property lawyer and i'm finding it dry. not as dry as what i imagine proper commercial transactional law to be like, but it's increasingly boring. and although i have the skills to do it (i've been doing this type of of work since 06), i don't have the ambition to move up the ladder. i just don't think it's for me. what is the non-backwards way to look at it?

also, the analogy i'd draw is that i got married really young to my high school sweetheart (aka ip law, which i feel for in like 2002). things were good and it's all i've ever known. we have a nice house and a comfortable lifestyle. but now it's different (it's not you, it's me) and i want out.

[Nuzzolese]

When I was young I wanted to be a secretary. I thought it would be nice and satisfying to work in an office and organize things. It's pretty boring but I just have to keep reminding myself that this is what I wanted.

I considered changing careers and going back to school to get a masters in library science because I thought it would be fun to be a librarian - to gather research materials for people coming in with questions, to help teachers assemble educational material for their classes, to categorize books and stuff. But I realize that libraries are changing because of the proliferation of digital media and I'm really not sure what the future of libraries will be like. Will the change be a bad thing or a good thing? Will it be exciting to be a part of it? Or sad to be a part of the decline?

I'm sorry, this is really just about me. I tried to tie it into your experience but I couldn't find a connection.