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Working in a job below your education level


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I just finished graduate school, but I've realized I don't want to pursue any jobs in that line of work. I had thoughts of this during school, but I pushed them aside and wanted to finish what I started. I have a great job right now. I work 10 days a month and make good money. Nothing I'll become wealthy from, but I've been able to squirrel away a good bit for retirement. I can also work overtime at any point if I need extra money. I also have really good benefits, and I can get a lot of time off for vacation if I want it. Mostly, I love my quality of life. I have so many days off that I can pursue other hobbies and travel when I want to. Those things are very important to me.

 

My decision is made to stay at this job, but I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience. How did it turn out for you? Did you regret it?

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Good for you!

 

Yep I left a long term job to do something lower paying and new. It's great. Stress free too.

Life is short so do what you enjoy.

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If you are happy, feel fulfilled & can keep a roof over your head, do what you want. Most of us don't get that trifecta.

 

A friend of mine has an MBA but sells real estate. He loves it & is passionate about it. Another friend of mine has an advanced degree in nursing; she runs a pet rescue & babysits her grandson while her son works. Point is, they are happy.

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It's a huge blessing to find work you actually enjoy. I did, and I did it for very little money at times because that's my priorities. You're able to save money, so it sounds like a great deal. As a woman, I really never got paid enough to squirrel much money away. Do what you love. That degree isn't useless. You can't hardly get an interview without one these days -- and it doesn't much matter what it's in or if it's pertinent to the work you're applying for, as long as you have one.

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Happy Lemming
That degree isn't useless. You can't hardly get an interview without one these days -- and it doesn't much matter what it's in or if it's pertinent to the work you're applying for, as long as you have one.

 

^^^ 100% Agree...

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My decision is made to stay at this job, but I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience. How did it turn out for you? Did you regret it?

 

Work to live or live to work?

 

Received my degree in Biology, ended up in the restaurant/club business based on an interest developed while putting myself through school. Enjoyed (almost) every minute of it so no regrets and have made a good living for my family and self.

 

Having had some older family members pass away, none in their final days said "wish I'd made another $100K". Do what you enjoy and enjoy life doing it...

 

Mr. Lucky

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If you are happy, feel fulfilled & can keep a roof over your head, do what you want. Most of us don't get that trifecta.

 

A friend of mine has an MBA but sells real estate. He loves it & is passionate about it. Another friend of mine has an advanced degree in nursing; she runs a pet rescue & babysits her grandson while her son works. Point is, they are happy.

 

I just got an advanced nursing degree. Right now, I work as a nurse. The hours are just better with what I'm currently doing. I applied for a job a few months ago that I needed my masters for, and I didn't get it. The hours were 12 hour days, 7 days in a row, and then 7 days off. The pay was 1000.00 more a month. The other option is 5 days a week in a clinic. The hours I have now are much better and worth less pay to me. I could actually make 1000.00 more a month at my job now if I wanted to work more days, so that option is always there.

 

My sister is an advanced degree nurse, and her job consumes her. My ex was a physician, and I've seen how that job can consume a person's life. I just feel like I've come to a point in my life where I'm not interested in chasing a career anymore. I want to focus on other things like travel, working on the book I've half finished, and getting back into hiking. Last month, I was thinking about how weird last year was and how I feel like I've let some of my goals slide in the past several years. I wrote down some goals, and none of them had to do with my career.

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Work to live or live to work?

 

Received my degree in Biology, ended up in the restaurant/club business based on an interest developed while putting myself through school. Enjoyed (almost) every minute of it so no regrets and have made a good living for my family and self.

 

Having had some older family members pass away, none in their final days said "wish I'd made another $100K". Do what you enjoy and enjoy life doing it...

 

Mr. Lucky

 

I worked with a doctor who would say, "On your deathbed, no one thinks, I wish I'd worked more." It's kind of the same with me. I'm not going to wish I'd left a good job to make more money. I actually have two degrees in English and left a PhD program with no plans. Just up and left during orientation. That was in 2005. I dropped out of my classes, drove 12 hours home, and never regretted it. Crazy decision but turned out so well for me. There are no jobs for humanities PhDs. I wound be stuck somewhere as an adjunct with no benefits.

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I agree with the others.. it's about being happy.

 

I do have a but though... benefits and retirement/pension are also everything today.

Working the hours you are they most likely aren't paying huge benefits/insurance and forget the 401-k or pension..

 

How does your future play into it or are you just living life as it comes..

I have always invested and participated in a 401-k and have almost 40 years doing so since my job doesn't include a pension..

 

That was my priority growing up.. retirement.. many people don't have that as a priority and just live life as it comes.. all are good...

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I agree with the others.. it's about being happy.

 

I do have a but though... benefits and retirement/pension are also everything today.

Working the hours you are they most likely aren't paying huge benefits/insurance and forget the 401-k or pension..

 

How does your future play into it or are you just living life as it comes..

I have always invested and participated in a 401-k and have almost 40 years doing so since my job doesn't include a pension..

 

That was my priority growing up.. retirement.. many people don't have that as a priority and just live life as it comes.. all are good...

 

I have good health insurance, so that's a big plus. I'm full time, so I get full benefits. I have a 403b because I work for a non-profit. I work 60 hours every 2 weeks but get paid for 80. That's how I'm able to work only 10 days (they are 12 hour days). I probably should have explained that. I've done the math, and I should be okay with retirement. Not rich, but I'll have enough put away. Retirement does worry me, but I feel like I've done what I can to prepare for now.

Edited by BC1980
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I was working in a very stressful environment up until a few months ago. My former boss was very stressed out all the time and made everyday stressful. I was working 12 hour days; I had to leave early each morning and got home late each night. I was missing out on things for my kid; I had to rely on my parents and a babysitter to pick her up because I couldn't get home in time; it was rough. I was tired everyday when I came home; I wasn't going to the gym because I was so tired, and I just didn't have time to do anything other than work!

 

I found a job a few months ago that was a much better commute, it's only about 20 minutes from home. The pay is a little lower, and the workload is less -- so far. :-) Anyway, the hours are much more flexible and it's easy to jet out and come back if I have an appointment or whatever. But most importantly, I'm now able to pick up my kid from after school care program and take her to practices, etc. I'm excited to get more workload as the time goes on, and it would be nice to get a bump in salary soon; but overall, my quality of living feels so much better.

 

Sometimes you have to sacrifice a bigger salary, a bigger job for a better quality of life. :-) There's that great quote someone once said, I forget who it was: "No one ever said on their deathbed, I should have spent more time at the office."

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I was working in a very stressful environment up until a few months ago. My former boss was very stressed out all the time and made everyday stressful. I was working 12 hour days; I had to leave early each morning and got home late each night. I was missing out on things for my kid; I had to rely on my parents and a babysitter to pick her up because I couldn't get home in time; it was rough. I was tired everyday when I came home; I wasn't going to the gym because I was so tired, and I just didn't have time to do anything other than work!

 

I found a job a few months ago that was a much better commute, it's only about 20 minutes from home. The pay is a little lower, and the workload is less -- so far. :-) Anyway, the hours are much more flexible and it's easy to jet out and come back if I have an appointment or whatever. But most importantly, I'm now able to pick up my kid from after school care program and take her to practices, etc. I'm excited to get more workload as the time goes on, and it would be nice to get a bump in salary soon; but overall, my quality of living feels so much better.

 

Sometimes you have to sacrifice a bigger salary, a bigger job for a better quality of life. :-) There's that great quote someone once said, I forget who it was: "No one ever said on their deathbed, I should have spent more time at the office."

 

I worked with a guy who would bring that quote up. I have felt peace about this decision. Since May, I've felt like I was in limbo, but I feel good right now. I turned 38 this year and have been taking stock of where I am in life. How I want the next few years to go. I've kind of floundered the past few years. I was so engrossed in finishing my degree that I stopped living my life to some degree and put things on hold.

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I've worked at a job for just over a year and a half that was so stressful, that most of my colleagues had broken down in tears at least once in our group. It was crazy stressful. Near the end, my hands would even shake from nervousness. During that time, I developed gallstones and spent a day in the ER. After speaking to a pushy surgeon, I decided to take things into my own hands. Ever since I changed jobs where I am now very rarely stressed, I haven't had a gallstone attack since and still have my gallbladder.

 

Stress is often very costly, health-wise, and not worth the monetary rewards. I'm currently earning more than at the last job too! I'll probably not make the jump to another job unless this one becomes stressful as I'm finally happy.

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Eternal Sunshine

A random opinion on "deathbed quotes".

 

I keep hearing this time and time again, how when people are dying they always say that they never regret not making more money or working more (and usually it's from a drawn out illness such as cancer).

 

Let's look at this realistically. When a person is dying, their energy level slowly decreases to the point where they drift in and out of consciousness. They have no energy to do anything else but to hold their loved ones hand and maybe talk. In that state, it is natural for a person to be repelled by the mere thought of working. People also have a tendency to remake their memories based on their current mood and state of mind. It doesn't surprise me in the least that deathbed quotes are along the lines "all you need is love". That doesn't mean they should be taken as the gospel or "this is the real truth". This is true for them in their altered state of mind. I have heard of cases of people making miracle recoveries and went straight back to their old lifestyle.

 

There are people out there who derive happiness from dynamic, adrenaline pumped work environment. There are even people that are happier getting a promotion than getting married. If you are the type that doesn't and isn't motivated by achievement then that's fine, but it's not some universal truth.

 

Solid retirement plan is also crucial if you don't want to spend last years of your life leaving in poverty. And for that, you actually need more money than you think.

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I was just trying to be positive with the quote!

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There are people out there who derive happiness from dynamic, adrenaline pumped work environment. There are even people that are happier getting a promotion than getting married. If you are the type that doesn't and isn't motivated by achievement then that's fine, but it's not some universal truth.

 

Solid retirement plan is also crucial if you don't want to spend last years of your life leaving in poverty. And for that, you actually need more money than you think.

 

I agree with you on these points. I've always been very serious about retirement savings. It's true I could die before I see a penny of it, but I will leave it to family if that's the case. I think there are some jobs that are conflated with identity, and that's good if you want it. If I had stayed in academia, I wouldn't have minded that. I left because of the terrible job market, not because I didn't enjoy it. A humanities PhD is just not a path to a career anymore.

 

I've realized that I don't want my current job to spill over into my personal life, and I have other projects I'm more interested in. I've decided to get serious with my writing and get back into hiking and traveling more. All of this means I won't be working towards advancement in my profession. It's new for me because I've always been very interested in career advancement.

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littleblackheart

One of my very close friends went from being a medic to teaching (at uni), taking quite a big paycut in the process, almost on a coin flip.

 

She was all about the pace of life, finding a good work/life balance and going back to converting her MPhil into a PhD. I had my reservations at the time and there were a combination of things in her life that led me to think this was more a hitting her 40s mid-life crisis but I helped her find a job anyway and it all took off very quickly from there.

 

For a few months, it seemed to suit her. She was determined to get her PhD (not in Humanities) and took teaching in her stride. Fast forward to last summer; she jacked it all in and went back to her old job, full-time. She missed the job too much; from what I know of medics, it's like it's in the blood anyway.

 

I'm not entirely sure why she needed to slow down at that point but I know she's much happier now, in her 'natural environment'. I've always known her to be driven and really passionate about her job so that new career path didn't make a lot of sense but I guess she needed to experience that for herself. She changed hospitals since, and it seems to have made all the difference for her.

 

So this isn't really a 'success story' as far as sticking to working a job below education level (or paycheck) but it is as far as following your gut and going for what you need to do for yourself.

 

If working your current job eventually allows you to get more out of life, go for it. Nothing is set in stone. You can always use your new degree at a later stage.

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Let's look at this realistically. When a person is dying, their energy level slowly decreases to the point where they drift in and out of consciousness. They have no energy to do anything else but to hold their loved ones hand and maybe talk. In that state, it is natural for a person to be repelled by the mere thought of working. People also have a tendency to remake their memories based on their current mood and state of mind. It doesn't surprise me in the least that deathbed quotes are along the lines "all you need is love". That doesn't mean they should be taken as the gospel or "this is the real truth". This is true for them in their altered state of mind. I have heard of cases of people making miracle recoveries and went straight back to their old lifestyle.

While I agree that people need to plan for their futures financially, a high-stress job can cause illnesses and shorten their lives, making them closer to their deathbeds. No wonder this wouldn't be on their mind when they're nearing their ends.

 

At my last job, those that cried at the job tended to have a weaker immune system and got sick very often. All of those that left it, including me, somehow got much better health-wise as soon as we started new jobs.

 

Sure, correlation is not causation, but I would put some weight in that quote about the last wishes on the deathbed.

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It doesn't surprise me in the least that deathbed quotes are along the lines "all you need is love".

 

You're missing the point. I certainly don't claim a sample size large enough for universal truths, but the few I've spoken with had a remarkably consistent message - they'd have wished for different priorities, feeling in pursuing the destination they lost sight of the journey.

 

It certainly resonated with me. YMMV...

 

Mr. Lucky

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  • 3 weeks later...

I recently took up a pretty junior position - its not below my educational level (it still needs a PhD) but it’s far below the rank my level of experience, publications record, management track record etc could command. But I took it because the project excited me, and because I just clicked instantly with the person who is now my line manager. It’s an insane commute, so I work from home a good bit, but aside from that it’s been great.

 

My line manager keeps hinting at longer-term possibilities, once the project is finished, and the university does look after its staff very well, but for the first time in a long time I’m just not interested in climbing up greasy poles to career advancement. I’ve done my time on that - and I’m lucky to be in a comfortable enough position where I don’t really need to worry about making more than I do. The kids are all grown, my house is paid off, my expenses are pretty basic. I’d far rather do something that makes me want to wake up in the morning and rush off to do it than something that pays me well but comes at a cost to my soul.

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I just got an advanced nursing degree. Right now, I work as a nurse. The hours are just better with what I'm currently doing. I applied for a job a few months ago that I needed my masters for, and I didn't get it. The hours were 12 hour days, 7 days in a row, and then 7 days off. The pay was 1000.00 more a month. The other option is 5 days a week in a clinic. The hours I have now are much better and worth less pay to me. I could actually make 1000.00 more a month at my job now if I wanted to work more days, so that option is always there.

 

My sister is an advanced degree nurse, and her job consumes her. My ex was a physician, and I've seen how that job can consume a person's life. I just feel like I've come to a point in my life where I'm not interested in chasing a career anymore. I want to focus on other things like travel, working on the book I've half finished, and getting back into hiking. Last month, I was thinking about how weird last year was and how I feel like I've let some of my goals slide in the past several years. I wrote down some goals, and none of them had to do with my career.

 

 

I've been at the same place. It happens because as you get older you start sitting back and saying do I want my entire life to be a career? You can get fulfillment in other things too. Like I started a small online business, picked up some new hobbies too.

 

 

I think there is a stat that once you hit 60k a year, more doesn't really improve your quality of life because you buy more expensive stuff. You adjust your lifestyle to the income.

 

 

I would go with a lower stress job, with a little less pay, if I was comfortable and had other things I wanted to do. Plus, those jobs aren't going anywhere. Maybe travel for a year or two and then if you find you just needed to get that out of your system and go for the higher end job, go for it. The nice thing is, you are in a spot to make a decision and nursing isn't going anywhere. :)

 

 

Good luck!!

Edited by TheFinalWord
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I guess you live and work from USA. 2005 was the year you decided to quit your Ph.D. program. 2005 was the year I decided to join my Ph.D. program, which i eventually completed in 2011. i worked on communication studies at the department of Humanities and Social Sciences in a premier institute in India. Jobs in India, in humanities, are scarce too. I didn't know you had a pretty similar situation in USA as well!

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I guess you live and work from USA. 2005 was the year you decided to quit your Ph.D. program. 2005 was the year I decided to join my Ph.D. program, which i eventually completed in 2011. i worked on communication studies at the department of Humanities and Social Sciences in a premier institute in India. Jobs in India, in humanities, are scarce too. I didn't know you had a pretty similar situation in USA as well!

 

Most faculty are adjunct in the humanities. It's no longer a legitimate career path. Humanities departments are seeing decreased enrollment, which compounds the problem.

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I got the job I went to college for luckily. It’s terribly boring, but my manager loves me and I get along with my co-workers. Plus it pays decently, there’s lots of room for growth, and I can basically do it with my eyes closed. The real world is weird lol

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My decision is made to stay at this job, but I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience. How did it turn out for you? Did you regret it?

 

i've also been in the same place. i got my masters and through that, worked in a top-level fashion industry position...but after 6 years, i was exhausted both physically and mentally. i'd go to work and feel incomplete, because it just wasn't my passion anymore. plus, it didn't help that it was a very stressful and demanding job.

 

in the back of my mind, for a long time, i had always wanted to pursue massage therapy as i felt that i had a natural talent for it and wanted to help people. so, after a week of researching and thinking, i gave my two weeks notice at my fashion industry job and started massage school a couple months later. fast forward to 2019, i'm much happier and feeling more fulfilled. while i don't make as much money as i used to, it definitely beats feeling stressed all the time and not feeling excited about going to work. plus, i have MORE time to pursue other hobbies!

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