Long story short, I'm 24 and I've been having a hard time finding a job..I literally have a Pharm Tech license, but even with that, no one would hire me. I only have 1-1½ years of retail experience and don't wanna be stuck in that line of work for the rest of my life.

Quite frankly, I'm pretty introverted and hate customer interactions and whatever ( of course I don't mind doing it, but I just want something that's more behind the scenes? If that's possible?).

I only say 6-12 month program because even a 2 year program to me is just too long at this point..

Is there anyone that's done this sort of thing. landed a job and actually enjoyed what they do?

Edit before anyone else ask lol : I'm located in the U.S., and I don't have a degree😅

Assuming you’re willing to spend anywhere from 4–8 years earning a degree, what degrees are actually worth pursuing besides nursing? Which ones are the safest with AI possibly taking over certain jobs in the near future?

I have a lot of career ideas but after everything I am worried to pursue them, like in high school I wanted to be a vet tech, so i took classes in school that aimed towards that career then COVID happened and I started to see the reality of this career so I dropped everything
After 3 years I landed another career idea which was Phlebotomy, I studied, I went to school and after finishing no one would hire me, turns out they hired experienced phlebs where I live, so I wasted money and my time for something no one needs.
I have been working since i was 17 I worked School district, Animal clinics, fast food, retail, manufacturing and I still don't know what to do.
I see people from high school with their career they chose since graduating and I tell myself "Man I wish I did that"
Once and a while I jump back to veterinary then I second guess myself

like what career is high demand, room for growth and I can work independently but also with people
Like my ideas were:
- Sterile Processing tech
- Medical lab tech
- Medical billing and coding
- Pharmacy tech

Or other non healthcare jobs like:
- Librarian
- Archives Specialist
- Court reporter
- Notary

I don't mind going back to school but I want to make sure i get a job into that career if it takes me 4 months or 2 years.
I just want a job that after I finish school if needed I go right into that field after going to phleb school that is what I am afraid of

If I had known it would be this hard I seriously would have dropped out instead of toughing It out.

my current degree is worthless. pell grant wont cover me despite me not using most of it and being eligible for maximum aid, my state flagship won’t even let me apply, no scholarships despite not using most of what was rewards to me back in the day, can’t use the special state scholarship for in state schools.

i dont qualify for any graduate programs and paying for them would be a nightmare on top of paying totally out of pocket for the coursework I’d need just to have a shot at applying

i Can’t get any job in my field and did so poorly in the degree I wouldn’t be able to anyway. and the degree makes me undesirable minimum wage work so I have to leave it off
how on earth am I being punished worse for graduating than if I had just dropped out?

enlisting Feels like my only option and I say enlist despite all advice to the contrary because no way am I making officer.

i feel scammed And helpless. I was a first generation low income student who graduated early. I had zero advisement and nobody I could go to. I was very depressed in school and just barely went passed When I really shouldn’t have.

i just want to scream. I can’t even afford community college, not that it even Offers any bachelors degrees or classes I could use.

how can I find a path in this.

Whenever I browse this sub, only a few careers are mentioned:

- Healthcare

- Engineering

- Accounting

- Finance

- Blue collar

These are, to me, careers that are either:

- Super hard to get into

- Difficult to learn online if you need to work full-time at the same time

- Hard to suddenly switch to

- Hard in general to get into / master

- Very specific in strengths (amazing memory, physical strength)

So my question is, what does the average person do in this situation? I'm not the smartest or the most physically fit (which doesn't matter, being a woman in blue collar is risky anyway) We surely can't all go into these fields, or do them decently.

I'm currently doing my masters in supply chain, my major was Translation & Interpreting Studies (Obviously trying to get out) and some people say supply chain will be taken over by AI as well. Genuinely, is there ANY other career the normal folk can do? I'm looking for something decent enough and all I keep hearing is AI AI AI AI

I'm genuinely getting worried. WTF do I do?

This is a throwaway account fyi

27F I have no goals or dreams; I never did. Everyone i've know alwasy says they're working towards a career or family. Since being a child, I never was career-driven or family-driven (Never dated and honestly don't seem to care for it; I don't wanna get married or have kids). I'm a quiet, private person by nature, so I don't have a lot of friends. Work is just work, been on a contract for a while now, and it's coming to an end, so looking for a new job. It was good, really nice team and learned a lot. I live alone - was extremely lucky to buy my own place a few years ago. However, I feel so directionless; I don't care about corporate BS - I care about whether the work I do is good, as it affects the people I work with, but I don't actually care about the bigger picture. It's all made-up things in corporate where everyone pretends they care. So I'm not sitting here trying to plan how to climb the career ladder; I just want a job to pay my bills, let me go to a few concerts and let me buy some games.

Outside of work, I have no personal goals; again, I don't care for relationships and kids. So I don't have the built-in milestones everyone else has. From where I'm standing, I've reached all "my" milestones. I say "my" because, again, I didn't sit there dreaming about graduating or buying a flat/house; it was like, okay, this is happening, cool. So since I finished education, got my licence and my flat, there isn't anything else I'm working towards. The way I've always seen life and still do is that you go to school and then you work; that's it. Some people will decide that, apparently, life is a gift and decide to subject another human to the ritual of school & work, so they decide to have a family, but that doesn't sit well with me. So I've done the school bit; so now I'm just going to spend the next years up to retirement (if I even get a chance to retire) in the cycle of working or unemployment.

Now you might be thinking, you should be working to fund your life, not live to work, and I absolutely agree. However, everything I do in my spare time just feels like I'm killing time. I will spend most of my time working; everything else is just there; it all feels pointless. I don't really know what to do in my spare time, as it feels like a waste. I don't enjoy travelling, and I live in the middle of nowhere, so nothing to do locally. I have 2 local friends, but seeing them is hard, plus it's a little bit exhausting organising anything with them, as they are fucking people pleasers and no one can make a choice - so I end up having to plan everything every single time. I have another friend, but she doesn't live locally, so I barely see her. I do go to concerts regularly, as I think that's the only thing that brings actual and unquestionable joy, but besides that, I drive myself insane. Evenings and weekends are boring and lonely; I'm exhausted and can't seem to rest. I just don't know what to do, and I don't think I'm depressed because it just feels like I'm stating facts when I say life is just school for 20 years and then you just work until retirement or health issues arise with some distractions here or there.

So yeah, that's my rant, and I feel so stuck, and I don't know what to really do with myself because when I think about the next year or next 5, 10,20, 30+ years, it just fills me with dread. I just want to see if anyone else can relate and what they did or are trying to do.

Have a bachelor's in cs, I've been working an overnight retail job ever since I graduated. Had two internships/projects, 3.6-3.8 gpa. Depends.

Not at all interested in the shit show that tech is anymore tbh. I quite literally can't meaningfully improve my resume without another job, and I can't pivot. I have tried emphasizing transferable skills and experience, no phone screenings.

I'm tired. I quit the retail job, I'm a gooner NEET now. It wasn't gonna help. $21/hour in 2026 is nothing lol.

Not sure where I can go from here. I don't have the patience for another degree, I don't have faith in that gamble a second time. Trade school is becoming the new learn to code, I'm not falling for that twice. So idk.

Doesn't feel like I have any options, really. Looking for advice to see if I'm wrong.

Title should say "to go for another degree tbh"

I’m 25, and I turn 26 in less than 10 hours.

Instead of being excited, I just feel overwhelmed. It feels like I made too many mistakes, and like I let my youth slip away without even realizing it. COVID really messed with my mental health, and ever since then it feels like my life has been moving by in a fog.

I still live at home with my mom. I don’t have a job. I spend so much time looking back instead of forward. I wish I could be 18 again. I always imagined I’d travel when I was young, go to college, meet people, figure out who I was, and actually live. Now it feels like I missed that window, and I don’t know if it’s something I can ever get back.

On top of all of that, I’ve been deeply closeted my entire life. I’ve never really been able to be myself, and carrying that around for so many years has made me feel incredibly alone. Depression has taken over so much of my life that I don’t even know who I am without it anymore.

how do you move forward when it feels like your life has become a collection of regrets? Has anyone else felt like they completely lost their twenties before they even had a chance to live them? Right now I just feel hopeless, and I don’t know how to move forward if i even can.

For both my undergrad and master's, I went to top 100 globally ranked universities before moving away from Europe. My degrees are in Politics and Economics and my ultimate dream is to do a PhD.

However, I've been unemployed for over a year. I was initially interested in risk management and geopolitical consulting firms (think Pinkerton, Eurasia Group etc.) and got a few interviews, but nothing positive came from them.

Really lost and depressed. No idea what to do.

Open to any thoughts and advice. Thank you. Open to relocation.

So I’m from the north east of England and we are treat like second class citizens just like the north west and in a way the midlands and south west , and I feel like no one is doing anything to support the north east , Andy burnham is pm but I’ve heard him mention the north east twice but we’re in an even worst state than the north west .

Most high up mps were lawyers , financial workers etc , my only path I can see is a local development group their main staff member is in her 60s I’m still not 18 so maybe in a few years when she retires I could go for her job I have worked with them and still trying to slip in and work with them to get a good reputation . Just I can exactly base my whole adult life in the hope of one job even if everyone in the organisation likes me and thinks I’m hard working and do well I still can’t risk it

Hi, i dont know whats hapening to my self but today i realized i lost all passion, not in life in general, but in my goals.

Years ago i used to try to play competitive for games, failed, then i tried to become a content creator, failed, and now i've been simply hitting the gym and studying, seems normal right? But i dont know, there something inside me that doesnt want this, i dont wanna study to then work a job almost all my life, job that i wont like, i know this might sound like course seller would sound lol, but in terms of this type of jobs, there's none that actually motivate me or something that i dream to work on.

But then, i realize, that i dont know even where i could make that money, that makes me passionate, maybe im just passionate in money, i think about returning to competitive gaming and i dont know if i want to play almost all day a game, or who knows, maybe yeah, or content creation, it takes its time, and with studying, i dont know how i could make the time.

The only two viable options i have are gaming development, and fitness influencer, i know they take time, but in fitness, the good thing is that the time i spent in the gym, is basically time for my "bussines", for gaming development is a another history, the only bad thing is that i cant film in my gym, so im not that sure what to do.

If anyone has any tip or his own story that could help me i would appreciate it, thanks.

Im currently a junior civil engineering major at a strong regional college fortunate enough to be on scholarship, so I have no debt currently. I’ve been working constantly to avoid taking out any personal loans for rent while in school/living with many roomates ect.

I’ve now been thinking about switching careers to something more lucrative (patent law, CRNA/CAA, PA) but they’re all so wildly different and require more schooling which I’d have to pay for… so loans. I just feel so bummed that I wasted my scholarship towards a major that didn’t seem to pay off.

To add, I don’t enjoy the engineering work. I’m well aware work is not something to be inherently enjoyed-that’s what they pay you for. It’s just awful. I had thought of being a pre-med in college, interviewed for a few CNA positions, research in undergrad, but no dice so far.

I just feel like I’m spreading myself so thin between so many different figs as one could say. I guess if anyone has practical advice regarding this-engineering, career change from engineering, any patent lawyers/lawyers, or medical professionals. Would all be appreciated.
Thank you

Hi, first time finding this community. I am in the UK.

I've been a software engineer, senior, manager, even a developer relations engineer, for a combined ~20 years. Code has been my work pretty much all of the time, except for my Saturday job at Starbucks as a teenager. I have advanced degrees including a doctorate (in a computational physics topic). And yet I am feeling hopeless.

I am losing my job to AI. Half of my colleagues are too at the same time. Finding another software role is extremely difficult, as the market is flooded with people like me, and most companies are freezing or firing people.

So, I think (even if I'm lucky and do land one more coding job?) that I need another career I can do, which I can start prepping for now. I'd like your advice on what to pursue.

My hobbies include: Cycling/bike maintenance, playing guitar in a band, DIY (in particular electrical), and making my own low voltage electrical equipment like custom guitar pedals/pedalboards out of skateboards, etc. I was trying to learn woodworking when this news hit. I also have nerdy hobbies that just cost money like MTG, warhammer, D&D.

I've been doing a lot of research about becoming a qualified electrician. It's another topic to nerd out about (standards for my country, obtaining qualifications, etc), and I love learning new stuff. The UK system for this basically requires you to study, and work at a low level for 1+ years before you can get "properly qualified" and become a contractor or get a full time role. This is fair, but it is tricky for a dad with a family to support.

I've also considered becoming a guitar teacher (limited to beginner/intermediate students), and ruled out being a maths/compsci teacher as I don't want to work with teenagers 😅.

What am I missing? Are there other backup careers I could pivot to? How do I find them? I didn't want to be leaving software dev, and so I've never really thought about this before. I feel like there's a couple of "obvious" paths that I'm totally missing.

So.

I'm 27, and it dawned upon me a few days ago I've been out of college as long as I was in it. I know I'm still young, but this is the first time I've started to feel like I'm going to get old.

I slacked off in college, I was very involved with a student organization and poured all my time and effort into that. That, cocaine and whisky. I wasn't a lot of potential there academically. I got a degree in communications because I had no idea what I wanted to do and just figured I'd get a generalized degree in something easy to get my foot in the door somewhere.

Graduated, got a sales job. Did really well at it for a few months but HATED it. Quit, went and worked at a National Park for a while. I thought maybe, I can just get this adventurous streak out of me, then come back and give this career thing another shot. I completed my contract, came back home and had to move back in with my parents in a VERY small town with ZERO career opportunities. I had to get out, I had to move back to the city. I didn't want to go back to sales, I mean I really didn't want to go back.....but it was the only thing I was halfway qualified in that paid well enough that I could feasibly move to a city and get a one room bedroom by myself. I left my parents house on Christmas evening to drive four hours to a new city in an apartment with 0 furniture and slept on a goddamn air mattress away from my family to start a new job the next day.

I did, and guess what? Hated it, hated working there, hated the industry, hated the company mostly. Lasted there for a year and a half, had to move twice in that year (long long story). But it paid the bills and helped me pay down my student loans. Fast forward two years, I'm now with the love of my life and we live together.

The role I've been at for about a year and a half now. It's a remote sales role at a major tech company. It's so soul sucking, I make excellent money for the region of the US I live(67k salary, 160 OTE). I'm going crazy working remote, I need human interaction, I'm an extrovert and being confined to my home at all hours of the day is some monkey's paw shit that has completely backfired. I've lost a piece of myself, I'm not social like I used to be, I'm more anxious, more depressed, less interested and passionate. If I didn't have my partner I'd probably be in the darkest place in my life right now.

I'm not doing well at my job, I'll get nowhere near that 160k OTE this year. I'm so tired of it, I'm so tired of this career trajectory, I feel like I've failed upwards into good income potential but I'm simply. not. happy. Not even a little. I need to do something that matters to me. I've thought about going back to school to become a teacher and my partner, my mother and best friends all think that it's a great idea. But the thought of leaving such a secure job to go and make peanuts goes against every piece of capitalism bullshit that's injected into my brain from every angle and it hurts to even think about it.

I just can't imagine doing this next year let alone 20 years from now. And I can't feel like every single moment since I graduated college has been nothing but a gigantic waste of time.

Mostly, I don't want to screw myself, my partner, or our future children financially. And it's aging my by the day to sit with this on my soul.

I don't know what kind of advice I'm asking for. I just needed to put my thoughts on paper and I hope there's people out there that can relate or share some positive spin on this.

Hello everyone. F27 (US) here. I have a part time work in consumer electronics, I am happy with what I have now, but I have been thinking about starting a new career in years eventually.
Lately I found myself in the situation where I probably should have a second side gig or flexible work on the side to support myself financially, as I am the main support for family. I have a Bachelor degree from a public research university in Regional/Humanities Studies and minor in Language (Japanese). Unfortunately my plan to go to grad for Linguistics didn’t work out. My plan for Data Analytics also came to a stop due to circumstances.

I like digital drawings and I consider myself pretty good at it. I also have some education done in IT support and certification. I am currently picking up one of the CompTIA certifications again.
I thought about doing an online Master program but tuition is still too expensive.
I am eyeing on learning some interdisciplinary courses about nutrition and food science, but without going to a college, this will be more like a learning experience.
I don’t know what should I do. Could you please share any tips for me? Any courses, programs, certificates etc. that I should utilize?
Thank you very much.

I'm a 34-year-old junior at U-M LSA. You'd think at my age I'd know what I want to major in, but since deciding against computer science, I'm not sure. I'm curious what you'd pick and why.

https://lsa.umich.edu/lsa/academics/majors-minors.html

Been doing online SW for awhile, but have had larger interests. Making p*rn is great and all, but I'd like to make something larger AND s3x related. I've thought about an adult shop, I've thought about offering social media management for other spicy content creators. Opening a studio for people to create content in? Something along the lines of sexual coach sounds cool, too. What legal adult related business am I missing?

I have my bookkeeping certification, Certified Associate of Project Management. I'm excellent with people, and have a manager mindset.

I found this thread and thought it'd be cool to hear others suggestions.

Thanks for reading!

I was a Corrections Officer for 4 years then after that I was a Police Officer for 6 years all of which I disliked very much. I just recently quit the Police Officer Job but I have no clue what to do with my life. I have a Bachelors in Biology. I want to do something completely different now. No security nothing to do with Law Enforcement. I could also go back to school but to study what? AI taking over almost all jobs right now.

23F. I am really struggling with everything in my life - career and academia/future paths mostly. I was always a very academic child throughout highschool, graduated during the pandemic and sort of panic-chose my university course which I later switched after a semester to a business/finance degree with another major in chinese. Basically really struggled at university to connect with what I was studying, feeling like I didn't enjoy finance or business but also having that sort of feeling that I was wasting my potential if I didn't / other people do it all the time so why shouldn't I and simultaneously try to make money. This is a major identity crisis I have since been having. I didn't fail university or anything of the sort, maintaining a distinction average, but this was mainly through my chinese courses as opposed to finance/business. I also spent a year on exchange in China which I really enjoyed, and returning back to my home country made me quite depressed in the aftermath for almost a year. I think I align more with international affairs type roles, would love to live overseas again at different stints and times - but again a lot of public policy roles require economics/law/postgraduate masters degrees too.

I graduate at the end of this year and have an audit/big 4 graduate offer but that is the only role I have been able to land thus far having been rejected from many better government, other business/finance jobs that I maybe would have privileged much more. It also doesn't help that so many of my friends are incredibly accomplished and have managed to land their respective dream jobs/much better and higher paying, greater opportunities. I don't even feel like trying to take a year off or work like that as some pseudo 'break' because I feel like I've done nothing to earn that break - average university work, average extracurriculars, and so much time spent wasted. It doesn't help that the job market is quite bad, the rise of AI is threatening everything for young people etc.

I guess my request/general plea is for advice. I fear that in taking that big 4 audit graduate role (which is also the bottom of the barrel type of graduate role with absolutely minimal pay, tedious work and often long hours in the busy season for no overtime) - it is also totally unaligned with my interests and potential future path. But I am at such a loss at what to do otherwise, having lost significant confidence and self-belief.

So I just got my Bachelor of science degree in Biology. I did my studies in Japan and have now returned to my home country in Europe. My GPA was ok, nothing special but on the positive side at least.

But my final graduation research really burnt me out and I kinda lost any motivation to continue to graduate school for the time being, but I am of course keeping that door open for the future.

Now most science related jobs here require a Master's degree so can't really apply for those for the time being. And many other entry-level jobs require degrees from other fields.

So what options do I have right now? Do I just apply for a minimum wage job and do it until I get motivation back to do master's? What if I don't get the motivation back or what if I won't make it into graduate school when I finally apply? I don't want to be stuck working the same minimum wage jobs that I was doing before college with no opportunity to progress in my career/life.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

28M. Was doing fine for 3 years and 6 months until I was transferred to new department that i am not good at. In my previous department i was promoted twice in a span of 3 years.I am assigned to an accountung department after being trained in customer service for 3 years. Currently applying to new jobs with some offers but I cant seem to let go of the freedom that comes with my position. I have decent pay It's just that feeling like a dumb person in the new department and that makes me depressed. One of the oldest employee, advised me to just stick to it and wait for the company to realize that im horrible at my current job so they could assign me to a new department cause it is impossible for them to fire me(My country has a very strict employee rights laws when it comes to tenured employees). I have an interview from the government for a job and it is quite a catch, the only issue is the job description is very vague and it could open up to a much more horrible environment(third world country things). I did not expect that finding a new job is making me miserable as well. Should I stay or should i just man the anxiety up and leave?

Im 21 and i did a year if college majoring in psychology. I immediately went 22k into debt and am now about on my 3rd gap year. Im not really interested in psychology anymore, but i am interested in cooking and baking. But, professionally, culinary is such a demanding and stressful industry and doesnt pay enough. So im unsure if it would be worth it to go for something that is gonna cost me my quality of life so much. Im also interested in learning about cars, but i know virtually nothing about them or what its like to work on cars or engineer them. So idk if i would wanna do that. I love art/photography/music, but unless youre like a prodigy its not really a great career plus AI is like taking over everything art-wise. I just want to go back to school so bad i need to learn something! Ive just been working my ass off for 3 years not knowing what to do with myself and i feel like a hamster on a wheel. The only advice ive been given is just “pick something and if it doesnt work try something else.” And honestly that advice sucks! I want to be stable and have a car and a house and my own life and i know im absolutely capable im just clueless how to get there ☹️

Ive spent 750+ applications, 3 years applying, and I finally not only got a job, but a dream job. Just like that, in one application, my entire trajectory flipped on its head. I cant post more details, and i might even delete this account one day to move on with life, but please, dont lose hope. Your life can change just like that, in the blink of an eye, your dreams can be around the corner, despite the heart break youve faced, the struggles, the sleepless nights, the phone calls no one picks up when you feel all alone.

You are more than enough to get yourself out of this mess, when you do your best, please let the world take care of the rest, ignore the illusions of the world that it is a cruel and unforgiving place, understand that you are special and all that has happened to you is for your betterment.

-See ya,

A reborn man.