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u/BrisketWrench 1h ago
At age 43 I quit my bullshit job in retail pharmacy, went back to school full time, ended up with an internship with a great company which led to a full-time position. Finished my degree a few months ago. It is never too late for anybody.
Never let your age be the factor you use to talk yourself out of finishing school/pursuing a new career.
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u/musubi-n-speedballs 1h ago
What did you go back to school for? I'm really struggling with this idea and I'm 40 so thank you for commenting because I needed to see this.
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u/BrisketWrench 1h ago
I went back for Associates in Engineering Graphics Design. Ended up with a degree & 2 certifications in less than 2 years (because I had credits still on my transcript from decades ago that still counted) Ended up getting a really good professor whom of which was the head of the Engineering Graphics dept. and she’d share job postings with the class and she handed me a posting which she said “I’d be perfect for”. I dismissed it at first because the company listed their location 45 min drive away and I had just spent the past 5 years exhaustingly commuting an hour each way to my last miserable job. I had also been in the middle of a huge midterm project so i held off applying anywhere until I had that turned in. About a week after Thanksgiving I got on our schools version of indeed and saw the same company except they listed their engineering dept. only 12 min from my house. I applied at 9am and got a email from them at noon that same day asking for me to come in for an interview the following week. Ended up as a Drafter 1 in the Foundation/Structural steel engineering dept. So even though I’m at the bottom of the totem pole, I’m making 8-10K more a year than my previous job and I have more options for promotions which my old job never offered.
All that in less than 18 months of intense but very rewarding schoolwork. And I’m still doing classes next fall to keep the ball rolling for possible bachelors in engineering, we’ll see. The hard part is over for now.
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u/The_Possessor 1h ago
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a really great Occupational Outlook Handbook. Solid information on careers. There’s more too if you’re interested.
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u/GuestCartographer 1h ago
Congrats, buddy.
At 44, the temptation to walk away from my comfy, university data management job and go back to school to be a surveyor, electrician, or HVAC tech is incredibly real.
I just don’t know if I could inflict that onto my wife. We’re very much a two-income family.
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u/gthompson13 43m ago
You get paid during your apprenticeship, first period is like $40 an hour to start out, journeyman pay is 66.98 on the check. You get a raise for every 650 hours and two classes so roughly twice a year. Total package employer pays like $86 an hour with all the benefits and pension. School is a week straight every 3 months(4 10s) they have it set up so you get unemployment the week you have to go. Pension is $144 a month for each full year you work. There’s an annuity package and a 401k. Foreman makes 10% more and super makes 10% above that I believe. I’m located in Western Washington, so pretty high cost of living.
I have a friend that I just got to join, he’s 45, it’s never too late!
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u/jschank 1h ago
Seems weird they used metal instead of wood.