Mid-life crisis or new beginning?

Been working in IT for 20 odd years and for the last couple have had the growing feeling that there has to be more to life. I only got into it to get out of a really boring job and after getting married and becoming a mortgage slave found I was unable to make any radical career changes.

I can see absolutley no future in my present job other than doing the same thing for the next 25 or so years but on the bright side my circumstances are due to change in the near future and I may have the option to make a complete change of course.

But what to do?

I've been finding computers less and less imspiring so we can rule out any IT related stuff.

Unfortunately all my choices of career have been restricted by virtue of being blind as a bat (ok, a tad short sighted) so I was never going to be able to fly a jet fighter, drive a tank, panda car (at least not get paid for it, 14 years unpaid blah blah blah...) or ambulance.

Teaching? Well, not until they bin the national curriculum, most teachers I know are even more manically depressed than I am.

Social Work? See above

Health? There's a few options I'm looking into here.

Funny how life has these little surprises in store for you, I thought my mid life crisis was when I got my SV, still I'll need my own transport once the company car goes back so I should put a few more miles on the bike.

End of the day whichever one it is depends on how you look at it.

Personally, I try and look at things as new beginnings or new opportunities.

But its good to see youre planning ahead rather than wait for it to all happen and react to it. Hope you sort out what you want to do and it all works out for you.

I used to work in the IT department for a franchise company who had a lot of new recruits from the IT industry. People like yourself who wanted out. Not one of these dodgy companies you hear about either. True growth potential.

Work for yourself?

Dude, im in the same situation, yet im at the start of your 20 year cycle.

I've been doing IT for 6-7 years and hate it. Its boring, its tecchy, its geeky, the people who i work with really don't lead interesting lives.

When i show pictures of my car, or my bike, or me on track/drag strips etc, people think im mad, that im dangerous. Every night the women go "take it easy" before i leave, they know me pretty well it seems.

But now im in that rut. Just got my mortgage, wish i was in another career. Something totally different. (Survayor, or geographical survayor, or one of those peopel who goes around and studies how the earth has changed over years etc)..

Theres so many more interesting jobs to life, i jsut kinda got stuck in this rut where i get paid quite well and have nice things becuase of it, but in reality, its no-where near anything i'd really like to do....

Ho hum, only another 25 years and maybe i can re-think my options

Can't afford to quit work and go to college, but also can't afford to go to an evening class for the next 3 years, then start a new job on a low salary.

Basically, i have to lump it

[tigersaw]

I sympathise. For the last few years I've been in what my appraisal calls my 'comfort zone'. I'm very good at what I do, but not inspired enough make any progression. Midlife crisis manifests itself in many ways - for me I tend to take on challenges I should have got out of my system many years ago, ( snowboarding, scuba diving, worlds highest bunjee, skydiving this year... ) and to be honest none of these things really hit the mark.
20 years ago I knew that life would pass by if I didn't do something, I tried to do something different ( part of a team building a dolphinarium in Tenerife, but thats a long story about spanish organised crime and corruption ), but having failed I settled into mortgage, security and slippers.
Nowadays I'm looking towards the day I can give up work, get on a bike and see the world, ( the short and easy way round! ) - but it will have come at a price.

Daimo - think on.. lifes too short.

I think you lot should start your own business (maby not togeather).

But that way you can specialize in whatever you want.
Say you start out doing something, and then lean towards something else and in the end you got what you want.

"Jimmys bike repair and network solutions, we allso provide software development, relationship advice and marrige cermonies"

I am of the opinion you can do anything you want if you try hard enough and want it enough. Go back to college/uni learn something you always wanted to learn and then get paid to do it. I am in a job that I don't really like but it allows me to live a life that I love so am willing to keep plodding along until something else comes along. I have started doing some exams etc for IT as I would like to get into that (or maybe not now!) but we'll see. At the end of the day I think very few people actually enjoy their jobs. For me a job is a job, it gives me pocket money and a roof over my head. Get to meet some nice people as well. I'm generally satisfied with life right now.

Originally Posted by localhost

I think you lot should start your own business (maby not togeather).

But that way you can specialize in whatever you want.
Say you start out doing something, and then lean towards something else and in the end you got what you want.

"Jimmys bike repair and network solutions, we allso provide software development, relationship advice and marrige cermonies"

Having been a VAT inspector and dealt with a number of sole proprietorships and partnerships, theres no way on earth I would start up my own company with all the paperwork you have to do on top of getting the business in and doing it.

Even passing it over to an accountant has its risks - given the incompetency of some accountants Ive had the misfortune of dealing with over the years. Fine if youve got a good one. Not so if you dont.

Too much of a risk for me to take tbh.

And why I admire people like Ed who have done it.

Daimo - tigersaws right. Lifes short, why be unhappy with what youre doing?. Material things come and go. Time just goes. A Buddhist book I read once phrased it perfectly: The problem is people think they have time.

If youre not happy change now, or go to college to put you on the path to what you really want, even at the expense of your car hobby if needs be. Its a matter of whether you see anything you give up as a sacrifice or investment in yourself.

Originally Posted by tigersaw

I sympathise. ...........

Daimo - think on.. lifes too short.

I have to ask, do you actually work in ATC?

[tigersaw]

Originally Posted by kciN

I have to ask, do you actually work in ATC?

Err yes, why?