Under Achieved in your career?

Grandeeod · 21-11-2016 10:05PM #1

Are you at the point in your life where you think you may have under achieved? I guess this question applies to those who are over 40. Im over 40 and seriously believe that I have under achieved. While I would still like to achieve things, I reckon its harder as the years pass because the younger bucks get more chances at it. Age can be a barrier perhaps.

osarusan · 21-11-2016 10:09PM

I have a great future behind me.

suicide_circus · 21-11-2016 10:12PM

F*ck the rat race man

gumbo1 · 21-11-2016 10:14PM

I'm my job in the airport they only seem to progress people in their 40s. I'm mid 30s and a fair few others in their 30s seem to get overlooked for forward movement!

kippy · 21-11-2016 10:17PM

It depends on what your metrics are for achievement.

Grandeeod · 21-11-2016 10:20PM

gumbo1 wrote: »

I'm my job in the airport they only seem to progress people in their 40s. I'm mid 30s and a fair few others in their 30s seem to get overlooked for forward movement!

Some jobs are like that. Public Service etc. If you are happy to wait on the scale, then you aren't under achieving. I guess I'm talking about being very ambitious, creative etc.

doolox · 21-11-2016 10:27PM

I spent over 30 yrs in the wrong job because of various factors.

I came from a part of the country and a time when ANY job was seen as a bonus, there was no such thing as having a choice in a career you took what you could get and were happy with it.

The place I worked in closed down after 15 years of my joining and I was forced to move for a similar job elsewhere. I stuck this out for a further 12 years and left that job as well.

I was never fully happy at work although the first job were excellent people to work for and were very good at development etc. The second place had a different work philosophy and were very pressurised in comparison. I now know that I was not good at my job although I was not bad, somewhere in between. Trouble is that in the modern workplace only the very talented and people who interested in their chosen field survive for long in a job.

At the age of 52 I was diagnosed with aspergers syndrome, a kind of autism which went some way to explaining my lack of progress at work, I never made it to supervision or any management role and had difficulty "fitting in" when meetings or teamwork was involved, I preferred to work on my own which was fine for some roles but disastrous for others as the workplace became more team oriented and collaborative as the demands and rate of change in the technologies got faster and I was left behind.

Additionally most of my peers moved on to management and other senior roles and I did not fit in with the younger and differently motivated work colleagues and earnings began to decrease, not just for me but for everybody in that job. Other people my age seemed to be able to adapt and move on with their lives but I could not.

I had to make a radical change in my worklife and I am now more happy than I used to be. It is not easy and the money is not good but then the hours and workload are not onerous. at 58 I am now too old to retrain and re-educate in any big way to earn more money but at least work is not the onerous terror it once was.

Grandeeod · 21-11-2016 10:45PM

doolox wrote: »

I spent over 30 yrs in the wrong job because of various factors.

I came from a part of the country and a time when ANY job was seen as a bonus, there was no such thing as having a choice in a career you took what you could get and were happy with it.

The place I worked in closed down after 15 years of my joining and I was forced to move for a similar job elsewhere. I stuck this out for a further 12 years and left that job as well.

I was never fully happy at work although the first job were excellent people to work for and were very good at development etc. The second place had a different work philosophy and were very pressurised in comparison. I now know that I was not good at my job although I was not bad, somewhere in between. Trouble is that in the modern workplace only the very talented and people who interested in their chosen field survive for long in a job.

At the age of 52 I was diagnosed with aspergers syndrome, a kind of autism which went some way to explaining my lack of progress at work, I never made it to supervision or any management role and had difficulty "fitting in" when meetings or teamwork was involved, I preferred to work on my own which was fine for some roles but disastrous for others as the workplace became more team oriented and collaborative as the demands and rate of change in the technologies got faster and I was left behind.

Additionally most of my peers moved on to management and other senior roles and I did not fit in with the younger and differently motivated work colleagues and earnings began to decrease, not just for me but for everybody in that job. Other people my age seemed to be able to adapt and move on with their lives but I could not.

I had to make a radical change in my worklife and I am now more happy than I used to be. It is not easy and the money is not good but then the hours and workload are not onerous. at 58 I am now too old to retrain and re-educate in any big way to earn more money but at least work is not the onerous terror it once was.

Major respect to your post and its honesty.

diomed · 21-11-2016 10:55PM

What career?

_Kaiser_ · 21-11-2016 11:04PM

I'm early 40s and at department head level/senior management. Career wise I'm doing OK really, but I'll need to change companies to progress any further - just the way it is.

Where my mistake was was in not getting carried away in the "Good Times" and taking all the "free money" that was on offer. I figured that overextending myself financially to buy a house in the middle of nowhere would be a bad idea, but instead when I got laid off anyway and subsequently finally back to a position to do something about buying, time and other priorities meant that chance had/has probably passed me by so now I will probably have to deal with the wild west rental sector indefinitely. A bad relationship didn't help the finances either.

Still, since then I did become a daddy a few years back which wasn't part of the plan but turned out to be something I'd never change (and which is a big reason for my career success as it's not just me to think about anymore) .. but I still have a while yet before I retire, so hopefully there's time to sort out the rest.

BrianD3 · 21-11-2016 11:16PM

I'm 40 next year and I believe that I have underachieved. I showed great promise in school and had advantages over other kids (e.g. my parents were very interested in education and also financially comfortable).

My LC points put me in about the top 3% of candidates nationally the year I sat it. Actually, top 3% was probably the start of my underachievement, I should have done better than that.

I went on to third level and did well, I have level 8 and 9 "STEM" degrees and I did have opportunities to go to PhD level but chose not to go down that route.

With regard to my career, based on the Revenue income distribution stats for single male employees, my income looks to be in about the top 10%. Not too bad - but as a frustrated and pigeonholed public servant, I have very little prospect of progression from my current level.

I suspect that posters are going to attack what I've written above and say that money and LC points don't mean anything and will probably accuse me of boasting and/or whinging. In that case, let me know your method for determining whether you have under or overachieved in your career.

Grandeeod · 21-11-2016 11:34PM

BrianD3 wrote: »

I'm 40 next year and I believe that I have underachieved. I showed great promise in school and had advantages over other kids (e.g. my parents were very interested in education and also financially comfortable).

My LC points put me in about the top 3% of candidates nationally the year I sat it. Actually, top 3% was probably the start of my underachievement, I should have done better than that.

I went on to third level and did well, I have level 8 and 9 "STEM" degrees and I did have opportunities to go to PhD level but chose not to go down that route.

With regard to my career, based on the Revenue income distribution stats for single male employees, my income looks to be in about the top 10%. Not too bad - but as a frustrated and pigeonholed public servant, I have very little prospect of progression from my current level.

I suspect that posters are going to attack what I've written above and say that money and LC points don't mean anything and will probably accuse me of boasting and/or whinging. In that case, let me know your method for determining whether you have under or overachieved in your career.

I don't think money should have anything to do with it. Really its about personal satisfaction and fullfillment.

Sue Pa Key Pa · 21-11-2016 11:57PM

I didn't under achieve. I just reached a level where I was earning enough for my needs and then reassessed my priorities. Luckily, I have always provided for my family and never got to the point where the job controlled me or interfered with my home life. No regrets whatsoever

ChikiChiki · 22-11-2016 12:19AM

Did my leaving cert then went and studied engineering for a year even though didn't know what I wanted to do. Dropped out and got a job at 19 in a bottom rung role in a financial institution and worked in that until I was unmercessily got rid of in an outsource three years ago at 26. Decided to go back to college and study P/T to do a degree.

Quickly got a new role and doors just started to fly open really fast to the point that I was back operating at a strategic level in same financial company a few short years later albeit as a consultant with my own company.

I found it amusing engaging with those smug gits who made the decision to outsource me and my colleagues under awful conditions. There were some interesting conversations.

Swings and roundabouts eh.

cantdecide · 22-11-2016 12:36AM

Big time underachieved.

I was bullied terribly in primary school which made me hate it and in secondary, I had no interest either. I got some very bad direction/ advice at home (I was practically forbidden from doing a trade, which I absolutely should have done - we were all supposed to 'do better than he did' ie his bloody pride and I was too young and impressionable to argue).

So I didn't do well in the leaving cert and didn't have a plan. In the boom, I ended up doing a lot of stores/ warehouse work for companies that supplied to the construction industry and I discovered my work ethic. I've made the best of every job I've had, I advanced and always was thought highly of at work.

Eventually, the world moved on and in my mid twenties, I ended up working for my dad as a buyer in the glazing business he bought... in 2007 and by 2011, I was emigrating with experience but no qualifications. By 2012 I was home again after suffering a pretty bad accident abroad. In 2013/ 2014 I got back to health thankfully and was almost stringing together a couple of temporary and casual jobs and managed to scratch together a couple of grand to pay for first year of my distance degree course in supply chain. I got a really crummy full time job within weeks of the course starting but at least it was permanent.

Third year of my four year degree is well underway now and it's my ambition to get a better job soon and start my career proper. I hope to get on my way to buying the little house (with a big garage) that I've promised myself.

Fleawuss · 22-11-2016 12:44AM

Well my career is over and I went out at what was considered the top of it. The strange thing for me is that while I achieved in the eyes of work mates I feel there are still whole areas of my ability that I haven't explored. I'll be savaged no doubt but it's like I got as far as I did in an area that wasn't really me. So to answer OP it's not underachievement it's a sense of under realization. There's more to do but not in a career way.

ligerdub · 22-11-2016 12:58AM

Depends on what metric and when you'd ask me.

Financially speaking I was doing very well about 6 months ago, and in a job which would probably have looked good from an outsiders perspective. The only problem was I absolutely hated it! Well not just that, but that the role itself was basically there because it had to be (I worked as part of a regulating body which had resources thrown at it in recent years). The function of the role was also poorly described to me.

I therefore was left in a position where for the sake of my sanity I left the job, and haven't found one since. I've found great difficulty over the years in pinning down a role I'd targeted a career in, and in a company with the scale to advance my career. A few years back I was working in a role and company I loved but they didn't have the scale to push me forward in terms of responsibility and a salary which would enable me to get a mortgage, and other life goals.

It's not like that job was easy either, and I'd spent a good chunk of the last 10 years doing various professional qualifications to enhance my CV. Even with this in addition to a degree and a masters I struggle to get traction in the same industry. Basically I've reached a point whereby I can't break through in the roles I'm good at, and in that I enjoy (too small a market perhaps), and the roles which offer me the financial benefits are really not to my liking. That's life I guess, but I look at some other people who chose a different path, and seem to find progress a hell of a lot easier, and without the need for additional professional qualifications.

In retrospect I wish I had chosen a different qualification in university, one tailored to a specific career. The career that I'm in now, well at least the one until recently (finance), is very easy to enter with different qualifications, and in many ways it's easier to get a job than for somebody with a background in finance in academic terms. I feel I have wasted the rather open-ended opportunities I had given myself by working hard earlier in life to get a good leaving cert, and even after that in terms of a good degree and other things.

Shergar6 · 22-11-2016 01:04AM

I have but it's partly because i picked a career where the money is **** (hindsight is a great thing - kids, don't sniff your noses up at people telling you where the money is), partly because i graduated right slap bang at the beginning of the recession and things were bleak, partly because i had a sick family member that meant i couldn't move anywhere where there was a decent job. It has gotten me down over the years, made me retreat into myself a lot - it's hard when you want to make something of yourself but literally everything is working against you. But anyway a couple of years ago i kind of gave myself a talking to, partly because i needed to get out of a rut and only you can do that for yourself, and also because an old friend of mine passed away. It really shook me up to be honest. Nicest person ever and dying at 31? So when i do start feeling that my life isn't what it should be i think of this person and it forces me to stop the pity party. At least i'm still alive and while my life isn't perfect (at all - not a lot has changed in my life career/money/family commitment wise) but i did change my attitude.

So while i still wish things could be more optimistic for me in certain ways, i also know that there's not much i can do about it at the moment but to try and enjoy life as much as i can - everyone has ****ty days of course but you get over them

I do know that i am lucky that i had the mental capacity or whatever you want to call it to change my attitude. A lot of people don't have this and it's what leads to depression and the rest.

Under Achieved in your career?

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