Career Advice

noblepaladin · 2013-11-27T20:12:04+00:00

At age 24, I was an engineer (mostly did algorithm design, so heavily on the computer science side). Pay was good, but I was getting bored of it and I developed a passion for investing. I studied finance all the time and by age 26, I was good enough to get into a hedge fund.

If you don't like what you do, make a change. It's going to be really difficult though, so you have to have the mental toughness to work on it all the time for a year or two before you are competitive with people who studied it in college.

mrust · 2013-11-28T02:49:25+00:00

You've got two choices:

Take a break if you can afford it. I was in your position once, and the best decision of my life was to save up and then go travelling for a year. After a year of avoiding electronics, the interest came back and I was able to enjoy it again.

BTW, the loss of "passion" often comes from either having poor management or being assigned unchallenging drudge work. If you've been in the same position for three years, try switching it up by finding a different employer.

Your second choice is to switch careers. If you opt for this route, try to leverage your existing skills but realize you will likely take an earnings hit until you're able to get some experience.

My final bit of advice is that you can get more money and become more involved in your work if you can find a project, a new client, or a new strategy that will affect the bottom line of the business you are in. Do the ground work and then take the responsibility for driving it to completion. Focus on things that will increase profit, rather than savings.

thethirdcoast · 2013-11-28T01:57:49+00:00

Save as much money as possible from your current job.

Look around for free online resources in the financial and legal sectors - folks on LinkedIn, Meetup groups, websites, online courses. This will help you get your feet wet and build a network before you spend a ton of time and money making the acutal leap.

noblepaladin · 2013-11-28T03:06:29+00:00

25 is a dangerous age to be changing careers. There's a kind of a wall coming up for you. Up to 25, you can coast along on being the smart kid whose talent and potential impresses everyone, and who could do all sorts of things if you put your mind to it. But that dispensation is running out for you - nobody hires a 30 year old for his potential. Some people your age already have seven years of training and/or experience in their chosen profession. Maybe you think you're smart enough to catch up. Good luck with that, but take a hard look at your own talents: do you have a solid math/science training that you can apply to many fields including finance, or are you a code monkey? The new wisdom says you can be anything you put your mind to, but the old wisdom says ars longa, vita brevis.

You don't have to be passionate. This is a one-true-love fallacy applied to careers. There's no economic law of passion. Most of the things that need to be done aren't inherently passion-inducing. That's why they pay you to do it.

Old_Pine_Tree · 2013-11-27T22:14:32+00:00

What would you do in my position?

Never use the word 'passion' again, or at least not in the context of my career.
Over the short-term, try to get involved with projects or positions that offer raises or opportunity to handle more money/responsibility.
Begin a second degree or professional certification in another field that can be completed part-time or by distance.

This is essentially what I am doing with my own career track.

HGLucky · 2013-11-27T20:10:33+00:00

Shit man, im in the sane spot. Working at a great company great benefits with a major I went to school for five years for. Thanks to my parents support. Now I am working on another degree in a field that truly interest me. My advice, keep making money, use that money to further your education in the field you want then you can make a decision.

UselessMaxims · 2013-11-28T19:29:10+00:00

Everyone wants to be a hot shot investor. It's difficult to bring in any sort of decent profits unless you have massive capital to throw around.

Maybe do "fantasy investments" for a year. See how well you do without spending the money. Everyone with half a brain thinks they are a special snowflake who can play with the stock market and make money, but few can do much more than keep up with interest rates.

Title	Career Advice
Author	x7CR7x
Upvotes	6
Comments	12
Date	November 27, 2013 8:04 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/1rleyq/career_advice/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/career-advice.8311 https://theredarchive.com/post/8311

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