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I'm a fairly new father (two-year-old son), and I have explored switching careers recently. I am a high school teacher, and I have considered switching to progr
by japhyr 13y ago
I'm a fairly new father (two-year-old son), and I have explored switching careers recently. I am a high school teacher, and I have considered switching to programming. Switching jobs and switching careers is a lot different as a parent than as a single person.
There's a lot to be said for stability and security, but there's also a lot to be said for keeping yourself excited to be alive, with your family. My parents worked hard to give my brother and I a good home and a good upbringing. But sadly, one of the clearest things I remember about them now is how much they stopped living when my brother and I graduated from high school. They stopped climbing mountains, they stopped taking canoe trips, they stopped being open to the outside world.
So, I am careful not to let myself "stop living" like this, and I'd be wary of letting yourself do that as well. What country are you in? How easily could you find another company that would value your skills? Even finding a different company, working on similar problems might be more stimulating. Finding a small company where ideas are not so entrenched would be even better? If there really are no opportunities in your country, are there any remote projects you could become involved in, that might lead to full-time remote work? Can you set a timeframe for how long you need to be in this country, so you don't feel like your situation is endless?
I've watched many people burn out in a variety of careers, and it can be a really sad and ugly thing. It's not something to take lightly and just accept, although I understand it doesn't work to suddenly just walk away from a job that pays your mortgage.
- larrys 13y ago"I'm a fairly new father (two-year-old son), and I have explored switching careers recently. I am a high school teacher, and I have considered switching to programming." "There's a lot to be said for stability and security, but there's also a lot to be said for keeping yourself excited to be alive, with your family." (Absolutely 100% correct. If you are not happy and fulfilled it's not good for your kids or your marriage.) "Switching jobs and switching careers is a lot different as a parent than as a single person." Let me say this (knowing a few people who spent their entire working career teaching and are now rotting away in apathy and mediocrity). If you are going to make the switch now is the time to do this. When you have one child who is 2 years old. Once you have more children and they are older the chance of it happening (especially with the golden handcuffs of a tenured teaching job if that is what you have) approaches 0. The time to act is now. You will also have to decide (because from following the links on your profile it looks like you live in a pretty nice place) whether you are willing to give up that geography for giving yourself possibly a more challenging career path. Obligatory: "And only you can make that decision". I can tell you this though. If you do something that has a bigger upside (financially and intellectually) than teaching it will open up an entire world of possibilities for you and your family that in the end might be more beneficial. You have to think long term. One day your kids will be older and move on. (And in fact they will change once they go through puberty but that's a different story all together). My advice just knowing what I know from what you wrote (and what I see after a quick look) is to consider seriously switching careers. You can always fall back on teaching (so we are not talking about the downside risk of turning down admission to Harvard or anything.)
- japhyr 13y agoThank you for the thoughtful response. I have committed to teaching one more year, but I will be in a much better position to switch this spring if I decide that's what I'd like to do. Your words are very encouraging.