Career Unhappiness / Career Change

LegacyUser

I am in my mid to late 30’s, married and have a young family. My domestic life brings all the challenges of any family life but overall, on that side of things, I could not be happier. The issue I have is that my career is and has been really getting me down for a long time and it is impacting on my family life. Like lots of young people, I did not know what I wanted to do in college and ended up picking a course that suited me from a location perspective more than anything (stupid, to pick a course on that basis, I know). Having graduated from college, I then landed myself in a job relevant to that course. I am now 15 years down the career path in this job, having got a few promotions along the way and relatively speaking, I am doing quite well. However as I progress in my career, as with any job, the pressure and expectations increase, requiring me to have to work lots of longer hours which in turn results in me not seeing much of my family. When I get home I am tired and in bad form. The pressure from work combined with the guilt of not being around as much as I would like for my family weighs down on me, impacting me even on my days off.

In the back of my mind, I have always known that this job is not for me. I have always found it difficult but persisted with it as it provided me with a decent life away from work. I feel like I am bluffing at times and it is only a matter of time until I am caught out. It has never made me happy and is literally a means to an end. Even though I am doing relatively well in work, I have always believed I have much more to offer and I could be happier if I was working in something totally different and not related in anyway to my current career path. Basically, it is only in recent years I have really begun to really understand what makes me tick and what I am good at. The problem is, with a young family, getting paid relatively well, a mortgage and very little time on my hands due to the requirements of my current role, I cannot envisage a scenario whereby I could ever be in a position to ‘start again’ or even undertake studies outside of work to so as I could forge out a career change. My current career path does not really cater for movement into the types of jobs I would actually be interested in doing. As a family, we cannot afford for me to do something totally different and new which would mean a big drop in wages. So it kind of feels like, I am locked into this career path because I am too far gone down this road. At times, I feel like I should suck it up because my career provides me and my family with a decent life outside of work but on the other hand I feel like my own happiness should also matter given that I have another 25/30 years work ahead of me.

I am just wondering, has anyone else ever found themselves in a similar situation or feel like they are in similar circumstances. Has anyone made career changes at this stage of life and how did it impact on both yourself and those around you. Any advice welcome.

whiskeyman

Sounds like you need to tackle your current job if it's taking up too much time where you can't consider going to do a course in something different.
I really think you'll need to do this if you want a way out.
I'm doing it myself (with young family and mortgage).

You'd be surprised how you manage your time better when you've less of it, and it's something you really want to do.
You will need full support of your family though.

Dont stick in your job if you're not happy. It may take time, but make a start.

unattendedbag

If you found yourself back at 18 years old and finishing your leaving cert then what would you choose to do given your hindsight now? Is it too late to take that path now?