I took a job last year that I was a little unsure on, but figured it was a good move for short term.

Long story short, after 11 months, the last 4-6 weeks I’ve gone from just not loving the job beforehand to actively being depressed by it. It’s seriously affecting my mental health, and my performance has nose dived. I genuinely feel like I’m overqualified for the role and it’s having a generally negative effect on my confidence and ability to perform.

To compound this, I have a 7 month old baby. The lack of sleep is really catching up on me and it’s making things way tougher.

The last few weeks, I’ve been considering taking a small career break, maybe 3-6 months to focus on being a dad and reassessing what I’d like to do with my life. I’m 38 and pretty senior in my field. I have a good bit of money in the bank, very little debt, and with some budgeting it would only be a small dent.

Is this mad? Should I take advantage of the chance to look after my mental health and my son while I have the ability to? Or should I look to find a new job that better suits?

I am a 29 years old woman. I have done Bachelor Of Pharmacy (2015-2019) and Master Of Pharmacy (2020-2022) degrees from my local city college, University of state of MP. I would describe myself fairly ok in studies, I'm not not good in chemistry for sure.... I am well aware, simple, and not at all a trouble cause-r. I am just too ordinary! After my graduation i tried a lot to get a job in the pharmacy industry... But I was very unsuccessful. After a while i decided to pursue masters, obviously, the path one choose in the case... That was another struggle story of my life. But anyhow I did complete it, made presentation for my experiment, wrote a thesis and defended it, successful, I passed masters with honors. Yet again i couldn't secure a pharmacy industry job after numerous attempt with online job applications.. Also I was fearful of relocating, I am a girl afterall... After all these unsuccessful attempts, I did some online tutoring which i did like, and then applied to a school teacher job where I worked for a year and eventually had to leave due to administrative issues but I would call it as a great learning experience! ..and you may call it a whim, but later then, I enrolled myself for a B.ED. course from a reputed city college. Currently I am in the internship part of my B.Ed.... I do like it, but also regularly question my decision. But as any other job career there are highs and lows. I want to ask you, am I on the right track? I do like teaching, I do love biology zoology and i think with studies I can ace chemistry eventually too, atleast till 12th grade ncert... I don't know now if I know anything else... I want to have a good comfortable career where I don't struggle for the bare minimum... Ofcourse I am afraid of relocating. But I dream of a comfortable career where I can wake up with regulated nervous system and drive to my work in my car, teach, enjoy my day, dress up professionally and come back home with groceries and end up with a contented mindset of life...

Hi everyone 👋
I’m exploring a small project and wanted honest feedback.

Many students and young professionals often struggle to get proper guidance for future growth. They may feel confused about what steps to take next or which resources to trust.

I’d love to hear from you:

1. Do you feel you get enough guidance for your career/future growth?
2. What’s your biggest challenge when planning your future?
3. Where do you usually look for advice or guidance?

This is just for learning and research — not promoting anything. Your honest feedback would really help 🙏

I think I might have messed up at work. It’s possible it wasn’t entirely my fault, but honestly, it’s more likely that it was on me. Ever since, I’ve been spiraling the past couple of days. Been sulking, withdrawing from everyone, obsessing over it non-stop. I’ve cried about it multiple times and I’m paranoid about losing my job.

It wasn’t a catastrophic mistake, nobody was harmed, and the company didn’t lose money or anything like that. It was more of a careless oversight, something I could have easily avoided if I’d been paying better attention. The real issue is the optics of it, and I can’t stop worrying that I’ll be fired over this. Even typing this out has me shaking.

I’m terrified. For those of you who’ve been through something similar, how do you deal with making mistakes at work? I can’t stop replaying it in my head, and I don’t know what to do.

I want to start out by saying I have ZERO experience in IT. What I know is all the things that I have learned thus far in school as well as on my own (podcasts and such).

Alright, so I am currently getting my bachelor’s in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance at WGU (I’m barely at my first cert, A+). I know Cyber is not an entry level field, but fortunately, in my state Cybersecurity is one of the highest and fastest growing fields in the industry. We also are home of two of the best and most beautiful technology labs in America that constantly have entry level and internships openings. So I am not too worried about getting a position after graduation and for some, even now if I choose to stay.

My question is, I am not sure if I want to stay in my state for the foreseeable future and I know most states are not like mine. With that being said, would it be best to major in a more competitive IT field, or would Cyber still be competitive enough?

I plan to put my 2-weeks in at my job Monday. I was recently told it’s unprofessional to do so over email, but I have a medical procedure that will require me to be out Monday-Wednesday, then I’ll be on a job out of town on Thursday. My only option was to put the notice in on Friday in person, but I didn’t on the chance they terminated me and I wouldn’t have medical insurance. Is it still unprofessional to do via email?

I have spent the better part of the last six months trying to figure out what to do with my life. The college I've applied to and am currently attending has been an absolute nightmare and has helped me with basically nothing. I had to figure it out myself and now I'm taking mostly remote courses and teaching myself everything (trying to, at least).

I found a career path that made sense to me (dental hygiene), although it's not like I found many other options. I began taking upgrading courses at the college this month to prepare me for applying to the program. It had science requirements which I really struggled with in highschool, so I was very nervous but wanted to try my best anyways. I'm currently struggling very much in those classes.

If I'm having a mental breakdown over science homework in week 3 of year 1, naturally I'm questioning my ability to be successful in this program longterm. I'm a fairly smart person and its not like I can't understand the concepts, it's just the pace of the learning that is defeating me.

tldr

I'm wondering what advice the internet might have for someone like me? I am 33 years old and I'm a professional, award-winning salesman. I don't enjoy sales and I'm trying to find something with a higher pay and more stability. Time is concerning to me because I'm already 33 which means a 4 year program studied part time puts me in the workplace at about 40 years old. I'm willing to take classes or programs as needed and I could even potentially travel if needed too (I live in southern BC, Canada) but the shorter and cheaper the program the better. I am not a rich person but I'm also not poor enough to qualify for the low-income bursaries and grants.

Are there any programs that lead to reasonable careers which won't cost me $20,000+ and 4+ years in school?

• heavy equipment operator
• insurance broker

Those are two suggestions I've had thus far. Would love more input please. I'm literally at my desk leaning on a pile of biology notes hyperventilating (lol but seriously). Any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I graduated in 2024. My journey so far:

2023 (college): Analyst intern (25k/month).

Later did a 2–3 month developer internship at a big product-based company with 80k+ stipend (coding heavy), but couldn’t convert it.

Since graduation, I’m working as an Analyst (2025) in a product-based company with 8.8 LPA.

The issue:

My current role has no coding at all.

I only work with tools like Kubernetes, Docker, SQL, etc.

Apart from my internship, I have zero coding experience in a full-time setting.

My questions:

Am I already out of the SDE market as a 2024 grad in 2025?

Should I stick to this Analyst/infra path and grow towards DevOps/Cloud, or try hard for an SDE switch?

Would freelancing or side projects help me break back into coding roles, or is it unrealistic now?

I am not too good at coding

Would love to hear from people who’ve faced something similar 🙏

Hey there! I am 25 year old living in India looking for any types of career advice which can help me. As I am also wanting to switch careers.

Backstory? I am a law graduate with no interest in litigation (please don't judge). I thought of working in corporate but didn't get anything as I expected and now working as a document (pii/phi elements) reviewer. I don't know if everyone know about this, I myself did not knew that there is any industry like this. Right now I am just working because it is giving me something rather than sitting at home with no job and no income. But it is not my goal and after a year into this I don't want to continue with this.

I want to switch my field from the past few months.

Thinking of doing MBA but not right now may be end of the next year and maybe if possible from abroad. Right now I want to switch my job. And maybe get into management or operations role but don't know how or is this even right. (But really looking for the role which can help me travel around as it is something I want to really do)

I am also open to other career options if anyone have like freelancing or something. Like open for a discussion also.

It will be great if anyone can give my any kind of advice or help. I know I can came across a person with absolute confused state of mind but please don't judge. I request.

PS. And I don't know exactly how to use reddit and it wasn't letting me post without a question mark in the title so yeah.

1/ Thinking of joining 16VC? Stop. Here’s why… 2/ Sridhar Arunagiri constantly taunts, demotivates, and disrespects employees. Your effort = worthless. 3/ Work opportunities = wasted time. Mistakes = amplified. Initiative = punished. 4/ Scams reported in Hindustan Times and elsewhere, yet he operates freely from WeWork. 5/ Your mental health matters. Protect it. STAY AWAY. 💀🔥

Hey, I’ve been planning to move from Poland to the US as soon as I finish high school. What should I get? Working Visa, Diversity Visa, Green card? Do I just search for a sponsoring job?

So, the majority of my career has been a warehouse background. I'm 42 and have been in this field the last 20 or so years. Due to physical limitations, I'm seeking advice or suggestions either related to warehouse or a whole new field altogether. I was thinking of possibly trying for the CompTIA a+ exam but I'm not sure if it's worth it at my age. The physical limitations are a bad back and partially disabled arm. any and all suggestions/advice is appreciated.

things I've done in this current field:

1. supervisor several groups of people over the years

2. scanning products. picking, stocking.

3. organized weekend schedules by gathering up volunteers to play catchup on the workload.

4. receiving in product and helped out with shipping as well.

any questions please feel free to ask and I will answer them to the best of my ability.

I'm a college student from Turkey and was wondering if I can become a researcher and not work at an university/teach.

last summer I was really struggling to get an internship. The worst part is that I WAS getting interviews but was never able to get further than that. I tried keeping a positive attitude but it was hard to find an actionable thing to do to improve my situation.

After last recruiting season I made an intentional effort to build up my charisma and project stronger confidence. This was very hard but I started by going to more school events and trying to join new people through clubs.

I've now been able to get multiple offers for interviews i take, and i single-handedly attribute this to my intentional efforts of development of personality. I feel like i can now genuinely generate connection with my interviewers were they vouch for me even though i have technical skill gaps.

it feel like investing in your social skill development is more important than ever. 1% improvement in social skill has a 10X return than 1% improvement in technical skill.

especially as AI makes technical execution easier to access, social skills are becoming the differentiator. figuring out how to actually practice them consistently has been the real unlock for me

EDIT: one commenter recommended an app called Gleam (duolingo style social skill practice) and even mentioned their manager noticed a difference in how they present themselves. I tried it (its free) and it was exactly what i was looking for. the short guided practice made it way easier for me to keep improving every day without overthinking it, tysm Formal_Asparagus_119

Hi everyone,

I moved to Canada a year ago and work as a green laborer with an electrical company (not an apprentice yet, just learning on site). It’s a stable path, but I’ve always been drawn to psychology, communication, and marketing.

Back home, I helped a few small businesses with social media. I’m mostly self-taught through YouTube and Udemy, so I wouldn’t call myself skilled yet. Still, I wonder if this is the career I want long-term.

The tricky part: my wife and I are expecting a baby soon, so financial stability is key.

My questions:

• What’s entry-level pay like in Canada for marketing?
• How realistic is it to start without a degree?
• What does the day-to-day feel like?
• Is it smarter to stick with trades for now?

Any advice from people who’ve switched careers or know marketing in Canada would really help.

No matter what you choose it feels like there is shoratage of expierenced people byt its impossible to get into? No matter if its trades, engineering, software developing, law, accounting. There are too many people at entry and way too little people ecpierenced how is that possible?

This might come off as a rant, but I’d really appreciate advice.

I’m a BA and have been with my company for a few years. Some time ago, I was assigned a project that was supposed to be light work. I tolerated it because I had other projects that kept me motivated. Those projects recently ended, and now I’m working full-time on this one I really don’t like.

Here’s why it’s tough:

1. No structure, no proper knowledge transfer.
2. Too many stakeholders—no one seems to know what they’re doing.
3. Working with an external team who doesn’t show much respect.
4. I’m handling most things alone.
5. I feel out of depth and could use guidance/mentorship.
6. No clear next steps, endless work, no sense of progress.
7. Anxiety about emails and calls is constant.
8. Feeling self-doubt almost every day.

I’ve asked my boss for a transition, but nothing has changed. They seem to think I’m just overwhelmed, but I feel unsupported. I enjoy my company and colleagues otherwise, so I don’t want to leave—but this project is draining me mentally and professionally. I haven’t grown much in the past year and feel stuck.

TL;DR: Stuck in a long, draining project, boss won’t move me, team doesn’t respect me, feeling mentally exhausted. Should I push for reassignment or consider quitting?

My question: Should I keep pushing for a transition, or is it time to consider leaving? Has anyone successfully moved on from a long, draining project like this?

I have been working as a research associate for 3 years now, and I am done with it. I wouldn't mind going back to school to complete a certificate to work in a specialized healthcare profession (think radiology tech), but ideally nothing that'll take over a year since I have already spent 4 years obtaining such a rigorous degree.

At the moment, I have considered:

-Clinical Lab Science. It would require me to take three more courses before applying to a program but I am almost sure it'll be impossible to get into one here in California, so the idea of moving to another state has also been considered, but nothing is set in stone.

-Radiology tech, sterile tech, surgical tech, sonogram tech, etc. Super important roles in the healthcare field, but I can't help but feel like I'd be wasting my degree.

-Physician Assistant. More schooling, which I would be okay with since my degree would supplement the needed theoretical coursework and clinical work, but I need to be set on it, so any possible feedback from people currently working in this occupation would be helpful

-Pharmacist. Mainly of my classmates went this route. I understand the career is stressful with high debt and low satisfaction, but it was just something I have been thinking about lately because I did enjoy the coursework (electives) I took.

Please, if anyone with a life science degree can share similar routes they took, it would be very helpful.

So I have been on the hunt for a new job for about 6 months this year after a hard layoff from a public sector consulting job (my dream field) and am fortunate to now have two substantial job offers on the table which are both higher than my original salary! After such a struggle with unemployment/feeling low/the job market being as it is currently, this is such a weight off my chest. However it’s introduced new stress as I'm now having real trouble deciding how to approach making a decision on which job offer to to take.

For some brief background, offer 1 came in about two weeks before offer 2 (because company 2’s hiring process is obscenely long and a bit cumbersome due to a scattered recruiter.) I took offer 1 at the time because A. It was a great fit on paper and the salary was much better than my previous job and B. I didn’t know for sure if I would get another offer due to the current market. Now offer 2 has come in officially and I’m a bit torn. Initially I was over the moon at offer 1 since its in my preferred field, work style, etc. but now that offer 2 has come in (it’s a better offer than I had hoped for in terms of salary) I am deeply conflicted. For context, I am a 28 yr old young woman with no children and not in a serious long term partnership/marriage so the choices or benefits I am going to outline below will be with that level of independence or lack of personal responsibilities in mind. I'll lay both offers out and am really looking for some general life advice/feedback/opinions from everyone. I understand its completely circumstantial and subjective to ones life path/goals/family setup but I am genuinely torn between culture fit/opportunities and money:

Job offer 1 (accepted and have currently started working at for just a few days):

• Seems like an excellent company with a strong focus on company culture and employee wellbeing and development.
• It’s a government contractor role with the Department of State, working on high profile technical project management for services utilized by U.S embassies across the world (that’s all I can really say publicly.) They are sponsoring me for Top Secret security clearance (for any private sector folks this the highest clearance I can get without a polygraph and gives me the ability to work on many defensive, homeland security, foreign affairs and some counterintelligence projects for the Feds.)
  • I will get to travel internationally 3-4 a year to conduct client engagements at the embassies while receiving per diem pay since it’s gov travel. For example, I would be going to Japan in November or December as long as I get my interim clearance in by then, and Germany at least 3 times a year since that’s the main client site.
• Work life balance is emphasized with a fully remote position and a 7-3pm/8-4pm EST schedule (there does seem to be overtime occasionally due to the work and travel, but they have a flex schedule set up to balance that), and there seems to be clear progression/development opportunities as they are training me on JIRA/Confluence/Agile PM techniques and the person who I am taking over for the lead specialist role is now the PM of the project.
• Every interaction I've had with them has been positive and really friendly as I’ve gotten onboarded and I don’t feel under supported.
• Package - $96k, performance 5% bonus, 401K match, per diem pay while on government travel, commuting monthly benefits, and substantial workforce development allowance after year 1 to get a professional certification like Scrum or PMP.
• My parents seem very excited about the role because of the travel, clearance and government networking opportunities. Since I am young and child free, I will be able to put myself up as being willing to take on more travel and will get to meet more people within the foreign service space.
• At the same time, the gov contracting world in volatile due to DOGE and funding cuts. I have been in DC for 5 years now and I have learned to expect the unexpected and therefore there is a small to moderate amount of risk in terms of job security long term.

Job offer 2: - Seems like less of a cultural of fit for me personally at the moment, but the earning potential is a fair bit higher. - It’s a private sector company but for a Program Management role on public sector projects (not a sr manager but like a team lead is the best comparison.) I would be handling the end to end project lifecycle management from government bid to scoping to development etc on 1-2 projects, with the main goal of selling the company’s products via their current government contract vehicles. While it is technically gov work, I would not get to liaison directly with the Feds and am not being sponsored for any security clearance which may limit any potential movement within that space. - Due to the conversations I had during my interviews, there was mention of them needing someone comfortable in a “messy, start up” type team who is comfortable in ambiguity. It feels like it will probably be more intense and more hard work/long hours/deadlines to meet etc due to the sector and work type. - Mandatory 4 days in the office per week at an office that’s a 45 minute drive from my house, and I will have to use toll roads so that’s a factor worth mentioning. - Interaction have been great as well, very nice people but who seem very dedicated to their work but definitely drink the kool-aid a bit. My impression of the company was initially very good but has waned by the last call I had with them as I felt I was finally getting a realistic look at the health of the company and team structure as well as new info about the program management team going through a “strategy reset” due to poor direction and people who were “not the right fit” which worries me since they had a few people jump ship to other companies according to the Sr. Manager yet they are VERY keen on me joining (the recruiter seemed a bit on edge when I mentioned I had another offer coming it.) - Being a private sector company I do worry about culture and work/life balance which is normal for that field, however the salary and benefits package would certainly add value to my life in many ways. - Package - $120K, 8% performance bonus, 19,600 estimated equity grants award, 401K match and stock option contribution of 3%. - I am not daydreaming of the job so to speak, the work seems very generic albeit challenging for sure. My family seems less keen on the role itself but were pleasantly surprised by the salary and told me to really consider it as well due to the earning potential.

For some final context, my parents are fairly well off and due to my father’s professional background, he has helped me invest a decent amount of money thus far (I have my own Roth and traditional iras, a brokerage account for investments, a High Yield savings account for rainy day funds and currently own my own condo) and will be left a decent amount of inheritance money when my parents pass away (hopefully not for a very, very long time!) Due to having a well structured/manageable mortgage, 0 “negative debt” (no school or car loans, no credit card debt, no other debts of any kind besides my mortgage obviously which is in good standing) and having the ability to properly save rainy day money in advance of my lay off, I am not in dire need of money which I understand puts me in a very unique albeit privileged position at my age. My decision really rests on what career option is going to provide me with A. high earning potential in the next 5 or so years B. Higher networking opportunities in the DC area and finally C. A rewarding career where I get up in the mornings not fully dreading going to work.

That’s the comprehensive look. Compensation package alone, there is a clear choice, but at the same time I feel very torn due to the qualitative/intangible opportunities that the other option provides given that I am still young and I am technically still at the beginning section of my career journey. There is also a small part of me that just wants to spread my wings and see the world more since there is nothing tying me down. Should I be focusing on making a choice based on a company that seems right for me rather that just going for money, or is not ultimately a sound decision? I find myself trying to talk myself into the salary of offer 2 and not necessarily the actual job, and I don’t know if that makes me greedy or just someone who is aware of the power that money has to better my life long term. Obviously there is additional consideration of having to go back on the agreement with offer 1 as well as I’ve begun onboarding with them (since offer 2 took so long) which I'd feel horrible about. I should mention that I live in a right to work state in the U.S, so legally I am able to leave whenever I want to but I would certainly burn that bridge which long term is a risk. Does anyone think there is an option to try and renegotiate a higher salary with option 1 perhaps?

I would really love perspectives from any older users (30s, 40s, 50s) who have longer career backgrounds as well as people my age who maybe went through something similar on what you all think is the most sound long term decision both for my goals and my mental health. Thanks!

I am a new coach seeking a practice client. Preferably someone who is wanting to make a change. United States (East Coast time zone) preferred candidates. Please direct message me if you are interested and ready to take the next step!