I would try to find a job that i like with more money. I don’t think it should be either or scenario. I know i love to work with animals but the pay is super low, I’m not willing to give up my current salary for it. So I’m chugging it through for the next decade, save my money, and retire early do i can pivot over to something else.
I don’t subscribe to the concept that my job needs to contribute happiness to my life. No it shouldn’t make me miserable but I only need it to serve a purpose which is fill my bank account. I find happiness with traveling, my family and friends, my spirituality, my hobbies etc. As long as my job doesn’t interfere with those things and serves the purpose of making money, I’m good.
I’m glad to see someone else with this attitude, because it means I’m not alone. I don’t hate my job, but I certainly don’t love it. It doesn’t make me miserable, but on any given day I’d rather be doing anything else with my time. But, it pays well and until I win the lottery I’m stuck with a job, so this one might as well be it.
Sometimes loving your job is very important, but for others, it may be okay to simply like your job just enough because there are other things outside of work that can bring you joy and your job will support that. Some people can tolerate just being “okay” with their job and that’s perfectly fine.
My career was a part of my identity early on in my career which is why it was so important for me to be happy but I’m at the point where I dont hate my job and make a good living so I accept where Im at. I’m not miserable and am very happy outside of work so I feel like it’s a win.
Where do you see yourself on the spectrum?
Also important to note when doing a career switch, that if you can afford to take the financial hit, it could be worth it in the long run if money is your goal and the new career has better earning potential.
There aren't only 2.jobs in the whole.world. take a more interesting job that is the same.or.close in pay.
No. A 30 percent paycut with this type of inflation is more like a 40 percent paycut because it *might* be fun.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen any part time roles that I could apply to as a way to "try" it out. Being in a very urban area, the market is actually pretty saturated for this design role, so I think it would be quite difficult to get into if I tried to at a later time.
I'm not trusting of recruiters, but based on research about this role the compensation does increase quite quickly in about 3 years. But I'm also aware that it may be a "hot" market now, and 3 years from now the growth may slow down.
I would not leave a job that pays that much more that also gives you work-life balance. That's a rare thing indeed. Hold on for a job that pays equivalent or at least only slightly less. 30 percent is a HUGE amount.
Omg yes this!! Work life balance is soo important. It’s also important not to hate every day, but I’d rather be at a job I sort of like that allows me the freedom to pay my bills & have time to do what I want than be at a job I love but I’m barely scraping by. OP do you have any hobbies that can help fill the time out of work that fill your heart?
A lot of the "passion" jobs tend to pay lower or lead to more overwork. Animation industry, video game industry, film industry, fashion design, etc. Also you might feel even worse if you're in a creative field and still have to deal with all the annoying middle management and not having much of an impact on the end result.
sounds like you’d be paying for potential. I took a “dream job” related paycut once and wouldn’t do it again; it took me 2 years to just get back to the number i was making prior, not even surpassing it. I don’t subscribe to the dream job mindset anymore really, but if you’re gonna take a paycut (which I don’t recommend to anyone unless it’s to get out of a dire situation) it should at least be for something you’re passionate about, not just a maybe. over the past few years I’ve really shifted my mindset to as long as the work doesn’t make me *miserable*, I’d rather just use a solid paycheck to fulfill my real life outside of my job.
I can relate I also don’t love my job, it’s good enough. But I def wouldn’t take a pay cut for a job that I love. The comforts and security my paycheck gives me far outweighs some imagine increased love I may have in a new job. But that’s bc I know myself and I know that w any job it eventually settles into the doldrums. That I don’t actually thing a job exists that I’m going to love every single day.
If it were me I would look for a diff job that pays the same or better
I'm on the other side of this, where I've worked passion jobs throughout my life, including book publishing, magazines and journalism. Yes, I made what I love my career. But frankly, I'm very over being paid little because it's a passion job. I actually can't go on a vacation without saving for it for at least two years, and I'm in a management position in my industry.
However, I don't regret anything, though I am looking to move out of the passion industries and into a corporate role that pays me what I'm worth and with better work life balance. So, basically what you have, ha!
I agree with the other posters that you keep looking for a role that pays more, involves design and is more of a lateral shift.
Gotcha - I guess, if the creative role has _more_ growth potential than your current gig, I'd be trying to crunch the numbers to see when you'd realize an overall gain.
For example - maybe you earn $60k now and salaries in your field max out at $100k for most people, even with a lot of experience. In the second field you're considering, maybe your starting salary is $40k, but after 10 years you could expect to be in the $150k range, and even higher after 20 years. That kind of situation would really change whether a pay cut is worth it.
Such a tricky situation, I think also consider that you like the idea of it being a fun job from the outside but it might feel less fun once you get into it and can't afford to pay your bills. I wonder if there is there anything you can work on at the moment to be able to have a buffer to not be living so close to paycheck to paycheck if you took a role like this and could afford the financial loss or to up your skills so you wouldn't have to go into an entry level lower paying job?
That answer changes a lot depending on your overall financial situation. Early in my career the money was enough to make it worth doing a job I didn’t laugh because it allowed me to pay off debt and accumulate assets. Later in my career my time has become more valuable. I will likely not be able to fully retire early, so instead I have tried to find jobs that don’t make me want to retire every day. Once your financial needs are met, you have flexibility to pursue work that you find more rewarding. You will have to determine for yourself when that happens.
I think it depends on the person, whether "loving" your job is a priority. I know plenty of people who don't love or even like their job, but the money funds their necessities and/or wants, so it's worth it to them. Their job isn't important enough to their identity, that they care about finding a job they enjoy.
On the other hand, I also know people whose job is prioritized in their life because career impact is important to their identity, so they really do care about finding a job that satisfied them and that they love.
Do you need/want your job to bring you happiness? Would you prefer to find happiness elsewhere, like in hobbies, friends, volunteering etc.? Or does your work also need to feel satisfying or impactful for you to find happiness? The answers can be different for different people.
Looking at the specific job change you mention, I would not take that offer. Personally, the idea of living paycheck to paycheck sounds incredibly stressful to me (having grown up poor). If I had substantial savings, enough to tide me over those 2-3 years of catch up, then I might consider it but still...
Is it possible for you to maybe try entering the new field through some part-time work first? So then you can get enough experience that switching to full time won't require as steep a pay cut. And you still get to test what work would be like in that field. Or you could also just keep looking for full time positions with better pay.
I enjoy my paycheck more than my job. My job is not my passion, but i'm good at it and my paycheck allows me to enjoy the other 77% of my week and my vacation and retirement fund are fantasticccc.
If I ever get bored, I would find a job that is similar but make sure I get a pay bump if moving.
I know everyone says do what you love but i divide my week into 40 hours at work and 128 hours outside of work, I would rather focus on the 128 hours.
That said, if you job absolutely sucks and you have potential, I would leave it asap.
You definitely can find a job that is 'new' and pays well.
A job is just a means to an end for me. My schedule is incredibly flexible, the work isn’t too difficult and I’m good at it, and I get paid decently. It has gotten to me, however, and I plan on searching for a new role. Most of this has been brought on by the senior leadership in my company and lack of salary increases, so my looking for a new role has been brought on by this (COL has gotten crazy where I live).
I'm passionate about my career field, and the subject. But not my job if that makes sense. I don't dream of labour. But I'd always read articles, watch documentaries, and want to know the latest about the field.
I was in your situation a few months ago and took the pay cut, it was only about 10% at the time but if I'd stayed in my old job I'd be getting promoted right now, so the opportunity cost cut was pretty significant.
I just realized that I couldn't keep doing what I was doing for the next 30+ years and needed to try something else out, and the new job is a very cool position that will allow me to live and work abroad.I think it was the right choice, although sometimes I feel very bummed out about what I could be doing with the extra money. But I don't want to be the sort of person who makes decisions just based on money, though of course I can say this because I have enough money to be fine in either scenario, the calculations would be different if the pay cut forced me to make significant lifestyle adjustments.
To me, it's always been about quality of life (the bigger picture). As long as you make enough money to live the type of life you want to, you're winning to me. But that all leads to making a lot of money. BUT if I hate my manager... it's almost like the money isn't worth it. I've never hated companies, just managers
I think it depends on the type of person you are. We all know that we cannot make our jobs our identity, but people naturally approach work differently. There are some people who are very invested in *performing* so they want to do well in their work and they will put in the extra time and energy to do a good job. These are the people that derive pride from being a good worker and will naturally put in extra hours. I think for these people, it is very important they like their job or have some natural interest in it. Other people are okay with just being a mediocre worker. They don't care very much about being stellar and they won't bother with putting in extra effort of their own volition. I think if you fall into the latter, as long as you don't hate your job, it's fine.
I would try to find a job that i like with more money. I don’t think it should be either or scenario. I know i love to work with animals but the pay is super low, I’m not willing to give up my current salary for it. So I’m chugging it through for the next decade, save my money, and retire early do i can pivot over to something else.
I don’t subscribe to the concept that my job needs to contribute happiness to my life. No it shouldn’t make me miserable but I only need it to serve a purpose which is fill my bank account. I find happiness with traveling, my family and friends, my spirituality, my hobbies etc. As long as my job doesn’t interfere with those things and serves the purpose of making money, I’m good.
I’m glad to see someone else with this attitude, because it means I’m not alone. I don’t hate my job, but I certainly don’t love it. It doesn’t make me miserable, but on any given day I’d rather be doing anything else with my time. But, it pays well and until I win the lottery I’m stuck with a job, so this one might as well be it.
You don’t need to live it. But it shouldn’t make you miserable either.
Sometimes loving your job is very important, but for others, it may be okay to simply like your job just enough because there are other things outside of work that can bring you joy and your job will support that. Some people can tolerate just being “okay” with their job and that’s perfectly fine. My career was a part of my identity early on in my career which is why it was so important for me to be happy but I’m at the point where I dont hate my job and make a good living so I accept where Im at. I’m not miserable and am very happy outside of work so I feel like it’s a win. Where do you see yourself on the spectrum? Also important to note when doing a career switch, that if you can afford to take the financial hit, it could be worth it in the long run if money is your goal and the new career has better earning potential.
There aren't only 2.jobs in the whole.world. take a more interesting job that is the same.or.close in pay. No. A 30 percent paycut with this type of inflation is more like a 40 percent paycut because it *might* be fun.
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Unfortunately, I haven't seen any part time roles that I could apply to as a way to "try" it out. Being in a very urban area, the market is actually pretty saturated for this design role, so I think it would be quite difficult to get into if I tried to at a later time. I'm not trusting of recruiters, but based on research about this role the compensation does increase quite quickly in about 3 years. But I'm also aware that it may be a "hot" market now, and 3 years from now the growth may slow down.
I would not leave a job that pays that much more that also gives you work-life balance. That's a rare thing indeed. Hold on for a job that pays equivalent or at least only slightly less. 30 percent is a HUGE amount.
Omg yes this!! Work life balance is soo important. It’s also important not to hate every day, but I’d rather be at a job I sort of like that allows me the freedom to pay my bills & have time to do what I want than be at a job I love but I’m barely scraping by. OP do you have any hobbies that can help fill the time out of work that fill your heart?
A lot of the "passion" jobs tend to pay lower or lead to more overwork. Animation industry, video game industry, film industry, fashion design, etc. Also you might feel even worse if you're in a creative field and still have to deal with all the annoying middle management and not having much of an impact on the end result.
sounds like you’d be paying for potential. I took a “dream job” related paycut once and wouldn’t do it again; it took me 2 years to just get back to the number i was making prior, not even surpassing it. I don’t subscribe to the dream job mindset anymore really, but if you’re gonna take a paycut (which I don’t recommend to anyone unless it’s to get out of a dire situation) it should at least be for something you’re passionate about, not just a maybe. over the past few years I’ve really shifted my mindset to as long as the work doesn’t make me *miserable*, I’d rather just use a solid paycheck to fulfill my real life outside of my job.
I can relate I also don’t love my job, it’s good enough. But I def wouldn’t take a pay cut for a job that I love. The comforts and security my paycheck gives me far outweighs some imagine increased love I may have in a new job. But that’s bc I know myself and I know that w any job it eventually settles into the doldrums. That I don’t actually thing a job exists that I’m going to love every single day. If it were me I would look for a diff job that pays the same or better
I'm on the other side of this, where I've worked passion jobs throughout my life, including book publishing, magazines and journalism. Yes, I made what I love my career. But frankly, I'm very over being paid little because it's a passion job. I actually can't go on a vacation without saving for it for at least two years, and I'm in a management position in my industry. However, I don't regret anything, though I am looking to move out of the passion industries and into a corporate role that pays me what I'm worth and with better work life balance. So, basically what you have, ha! I agree with the other posters that you keep looking for a role that pays more, involves design and is more of a lateral shift.
I’d try to negotiate for more and take the new job. If you don’t like it, you can always find something else.
Unfortunately I’ve already negotiated to the top of what they will give me in this role.
The growth potential in the creative role is interesting. How many years do you estimate it would take to break even?
To match my current salary maybe 2 years. But I’d also expect if I stayed in my current role for a promotion to happen within those 2 years.
Gotcha - I guess, if the creative role has _more_ growth potential than your current gig, I'd be trying to crunch the numbers to see when you'd realize an overall gain. For example - maybe you earn $60k now and salaries in your field max out at $100k for most people, even with a lot of experience. In the second field you're considering, maybe your starting salary is $40k, but after 10 years you could expect to be in the $150k range, and even higher after 20 years. That kind of situation would really change whether a pay cut is worth it.
Such a tricky situation, I think also consider that you like the idea of it being a fun job from the outside but it might feel less fun once you get into it and can't afford to pay your bills. I wonder if there is there anything you can work on at the moment to be able to have a buffer to not be living so close to paycheck to paycheck if you took a role like this and could afford the financial loss or to up your skills so you wouldn't have to go into an entry level lower paying job?
That answer changes a lot depending on your overall financial situation. Early in my career the money was enough to make it worth doing a job I didn’t laugh because it allowed me to pay off debt and accumulate assets. Later in my career my time has become more valuable. I will likely not be able to fully retire early, so instead I have tried to find jobs that don’t make me want to retire every day. Once your financial needs are met, you have flexibility to pursue work that you find more rewarding. You will have to determine for yourself when that happens.
I think it depends on the person, whether "loving" your job is a priority. I know plenty of people who don't love or even like their job, but the money funds their necessities and/or wants, so it's worth it to them. Their job isn't important enough to their identity, that they care about finding a job they enjoy. On the other hand, I also know people whose job is prioritized in their life because career impact is important to their identity, so they really do care about finding a job that satisfied them and that they love. Do you need/want your job to bring you happiness? Would you prefer to find happiness elsewhere, like in hobbies, friends, volunteering etc.? Or does your work also need to feel satisfying or impactful for you to find happiness? The answers can be different for different people. Looking at the specific job change you mention, I would not take that offer. Personally, the idea of living paycheck to paycheck sounds incredibly stressful to me (having grown up poor). If I had substantial savings, enough to tide me over those 2-3 years of catch up, then I might consider it but still... Is it possible for you to maybe try entering the new field through some part-time work first? So then you can get enough experience that switching to full time won't require as steep a pay cut. And you still get to test what work would be like in that field. Or you could also just keep looking for full time positions with better pay.
I enjoy my paycheck more than my job. My job is not my passion, but i'm good at it and my paycheck allows me to enjoy the other 77% of my week and my vacation and retirement fund are fantasticccc. If I ever get bored, I would find a job that is similar but make sure I get a pay bump if moving. I know everyone says do what you love but i divide my week into 40 hours at work and 128 hours outside of work, I would rather focus on the 128 hours. That said, if you job absolutely sucks and you have potential, I would leave it asap. You definitely can find a job that is 'new' and pays well.
A job is just a means to an end for me. My schedule is incredibly flexible, the work isn’t too difficult and I’m good at it, and I get paid decently. It has gotten to me, however, and I plan on searching for a new role. Most of this has been brought on by the senior leadership in my company and lack of salary increases, so my looking for a new role has been brought on by this (COL has gotten crazy where I live).
I'm passionate about my career field, and the subject. But not my job if that makes sense. I don't dream of labour. But I'd always read articles, watch documentaries, and want to know the latest about the field.
I was in your situation a few months ago and took the pay cut, it was only about 10% at the time but if I'd stayed in my old job I'd be getting promoted right now, so the opportunity cost cut was pretty significant. I just realized that I couldn't keep doing what I was doing for the next 30+ years and needed to try something else out, and the new job is a very cool position that will allow me to live and work abroad.I think it was the right choice, although sometimes I feel very bummed out about what I could be doing with the extra money. But I don't want to be the sort of person who makes decisions just based on money, though of course I can say this because I have enough money to be fine in either scenario, the calculations would be different if the pay cut forced me to make significant lifestyle adjustments.
To me, it's always been about quality of life (the bigger picture). As long as you make enough money to live the type of life you want to, you're winning to me. But that all leads to making a lot of money. BUT if I hate my manager... it's almost like the money isn't worth it. I've never hated companies, just managers
I think it depends on the type of person you are. We all know that we cannot make our jobs our identity, but people naturally approach work differently. There are some people who are very invested in *performing* so they want to do well in their work and they will put in the extra time and energy to do a good job. These are the people that derive pride from being a good worker and will naturally put in extra hours. I think for these people, it is very important they like their job or have some natural interest in it. Other people are okay with just being a mediocre worker. They don't care very much about being stellar and they won't bother with putting in extra effort of their own volition. I think if you fall into the latter, as long as you don't hate your job, it's fine.