How do you realistically change career after working in the same field for nearly 10 years?

28 comments

1. For what it’s worth, it’s never too late, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. And I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. And if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

2. Just do it, OP

3. it’s not always probable, but almost anything is possible.

   if you’d tell us what you want to do specifically, we could give more specific opinions.

4. My boyfriend just did this. He was a store manager at Wendys and worked for the company for 11 years. It’s taken him awhile to find another job outside of the food/ retail industry. The most important thing that lead him to job offers is taking the skills hes gained at Wendy’s and generalizing them so they can apply to a lot of other jobs. Teamwork, time management, multitasking etc. Another important thing is studying every job description you apply too very well and slightly altering you resume to fit that position. It really helped him when he added words that were specifically mentioned in the job description he was applying to, to his resume

5. Find what you want to do. Study if needed. And prepare to go in on the ground floor. I was a baker for 20 years and started my accountancy degree. Halfway through covid hit and then we had a baby and now we have 2 😄 got a Taxi license so I can work when I want and not have to worry about huge childcare fees and have time to spend with my kids. I’ll finish my degree though because before long they’ll both be in school all day.

6. Went from banking and investments to becoming an RN with a Master’s degree. The housing crash helped me with that decision after losing my job. Could have went elsewhere or became a financial advisor but was tired of the long hours and the cutthroat business model. Went through really tough times going through nursing school and going on welfare with my now ex and now teen sons to make ends meet, but I rebounded nicely and don’t regret my decision.

7. I mean you certainly can, no guarantee you will make the same salary, but if it’s a lateral move, pretty realistic. I’d say look for things that you’re current skill set would be applicable with, or something you think you could pick up quickly.

8. I applied to a temp contract in the new field, and worked it for a time before they hired me.

   Temp contracts can be very iffy. A lot of them are weighted heavily for the employer who can terminate you basically without notice, so leaving something secure can be a major risk

9. I’ve seen quite a few do this. If you have to spend time in school, it can be a time/money suck, but whether its worth it or not is up to you. It’s not like you’re changing careers after 30 years, and even that can be practical too.

10. Just do it. I did it when I was 34.

11. While I didn’t change my career. I did a major industry switch. One thing that really helped me was, I figured out what I need to learn in first couple of failed interviews. And spent 6 months of dedicated effort studying those mostly on Internet and YouTube.

12. Short answer – you can do it quickly and easily, as long as salary considerations aren’t a big deal. Live debt-free or minimal-debt, and you can take a 50% pay cut and survive.

    Live paycheck-to-paycheck, you’re probably going to be stuck in that field indefinitely.

13. Spite, mostly.

    Never underestimate the power of absolutely fucking hating your job.

14. By saving money and downgrading your lifestyle to afford a change in career and starting at the bottom.

15. Look for a job you want to do.

    Apply for job.

    Get job.

    *Et voila*.

    Seriously, it’s as easy as that. I change careers every six years or so. There are too many fun things to do out there to stay in one job forever.

16. You work on the skills/training on the side (or maybe in your current job) and keep an eye out for your opportunity.

17. It’s less about the field and more about the skills.

    Take a real inventory of all the roles you’ve held and the responsibilities and tasks that entailed. Then take a high-level sweep and look at what skills you’ve managed to develop through all that work.

    Skills transfer across fields, specific tasks and activities not so much. Sell your skills.

    If there’s a field you want to break into, find out what skills are needed in that field, compare to what you have and find ways to develop what you’re missing. It could be training, part-time work, a low-level position with potential for growth, going back to school, etc.

18. I started in a trade, then engineering, but now I’m a scientist. The economy crashed and I still had a job but we weren’t building anything so it was slow. I had a modest leftover 401k from an old job that I never rolled into anything, so I took the money out and used it to advance my education in a local program, absolutely crushed it grade-wise, got some good recs from profs and had a job before I graduated. Then I took advantage of the tuition benefits from those jobs to put myself through grad school.

19. I went from an auto mechanic to an automation engineer.
    Just follow your skills and see where they take you.

20. I assume this depends on in which field you were working, and into which field you want to change.

    PS: When I think of career change, I always have to think of Haruki Muraki. He owned a jazz club until his early 30s, then, while literary watching a baseball game, he thought it might be a good idea to sell the club and write a book. Now, I assume, he can live off writing bools (not suggesting that there arent thousands that did similar things and cant live off that).

21. Apply for job, be honest about your current skillset, get job, learn to be better at job.

22. In my case a head hunter found my profile on Linkedin and contacted me about a job she was looking to fill in my area that was in a different field than I was working in. I left the environmental consulting field after more than a decade and went to work in defense contracting. I had previously done some environmental consulting work for the DoD but what I do now is completely unrelated.

23. Went back to college, was 37 in a sea of 20 year olds. My student placement turned into my new career.

24. I have worked in food industry nearly 10 years.. now im fed up with it (hehehehe) and applied school trade this fall. Studie for year and maybe two into IT, working myway towards admin. It will require hard work, some part time job and whole lot of willpower and spite.

25. I worked in civil engineering for 7 years. Was laid off and out of work for about 5 months. Unfortunately in that line of work, need for more people was dwindling, hence the layoffs.

    Thankfully I have a very heavy tech background, so I eventually got in to IT. Started overqualified as Help Desk, promoted every year to network engineer, and I like it here.

26. Took me 15 minutes to get into retail and 15 years to get out. For me, I needed a lot of initiative, actually having an aptitude for the second career, and an employer willing to “take a chance” on someone with a less direct career path (in my case a smaller org with fewer resources to attract ideal candidates).

    Take every opportunity to connect in person or over the phone with the hiring team, you likely won’t be in a position to sell yourself off a resume alone.

27. Just do it. I switched from finance to IT and I certainly don’t regret the additional compensation.

28. Depends on the field. I’m a doctor with 7 years in the field, no one thinks i can do anything else apparently even with a master’s degree in business management.

    Everyone sees my experience and thinks “too stupid for anything”

    It’s a nightmare trying to break out of a field after a long time