#CareerChange #LifeAdvice #PassionProject #Architecture #MusicJourney
Hey everyone! 👋 So I’m in a bit of a pickle right now, and I could really use your wisdom. I’m a 27-year-old guy who recently graduated with a Bachelor’s in Architecture. But let’s be real—this industry is tough. We’re talking low pay, long hours, and a snail’s pace when it comes to career advancement. Plus, my heart belongs to music 🎶, and I desperately want to incorporate it into my life, regardless of what my job is.
I’m seriously considering a career change, even if that means diving into a one-year master’s program to help me pivot. The thing is, I keep hitting a wall when it comes to finding a new path that excites me. It’s frustrating! There are so many options out there, but I can’t figure out what I’d actually be good at. 😟
Of course, I notice how people love to point out the negatives of every job on platforms like Reddit, which doesn’t help my anxiety! It’s like the more I think about my future, the more overwhelmed I feel. I worry that I’m running out of time and that I’m stuck in a life that revolves around a job I don’t love.
Here’s where I need your input: What life or career advice would you give? Is there something you wish someone had told you before making a big change? I believe it’s crucial to find a balance where our lives aren’t just about our jobs but also about our passions. It feels like with every passing year, the pressure builds up even more.
To anyone who’s been through a similar struggle, how did you find your way? Did you make a big leap or take smaller steps? And for those who’ve managed to successfully juggle a passion alongside a career, what’s your secret? Let’s brainstorm together! 💡
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Thanks for taking the time to help me out! ☺️
Mine would be “don’t go to college, it’s a waste of time and money.”
This is my biggest fear lol,choosing a profession I’ll later on dread and going into debt for it,I graduated high-school last year so I’m always looking at advice people give on here as insight into the working world to make my decision,earlier on I was into graphic design but I fell out of the idea quickly earlier in the year,thought of tech but yeah…hectic things happening there lol.and I’m a firm believer that passion doesn’t necessarily come from doing but from accomplishing.
Save and invest early
Job hop
Always try to be a thought leader in at least one emerging field, does not take a lot to be ahead of the rest of the population
I wish someone explained me the subjective part of the “creative” careers. Would have saved me like 15 years of battling with that.
Take your PTO. Don’t make enemies
Your company does not care about you – unless you own it. You are completely replaceable in 99% of jobs.
1. Most knowledge of the career you will learn on the job but not in academic courses. Keep your mind open
2. Your career choice is not the highlights, be comfortable with day to day
U studied architecture so u can use u’re laptop.. , u can be creative. If u’re tired of long hours of work and low pay, then work any part time job to pay the bills so u can have time to work on ur skills and a YOUR OWN BUSINESS. The secret is to not stick on a career path, breath air and take time, forget ur architecture degree and search within u WITHOUT EGO. U Will find a path 100%
Be careful not to burn bridges, you may have to cross them again more than once!
In less old people terms, be cordial with most everyone even if they’re complete a-holes and you despise them. If that’s the case and it will be sometimes, just keep it high level friendly. That person could one day end up being your manager or could work at a company you’re interested in joining and could help get your resume to the right team. Another thing I’ve witnessed, if you quit your job, be professional and leave on good terms. I worked at a start up in an industry that purchased distressed companies. One of our first mergers, we had a guy who was a complete ass, childish and very dramatic when he quit (took client contact info, etc.)! We went on to purchase the companies he went to not once, but twice!
Be very careful with women. They will strip you off your resources and leave you standing butt naked in the streets in winter. The best investment in todays times is you and noone else 😀
No one is going to pay you what you deserve unless you expect it and fight for it. A year comes and goes and you don’t get a raise? You have to say something and be willing to start looking elsewhere if they don’t compensate you more.
Job hop every 2/3 years.. Always ask questions, people always remember who asks questions, build relationships and dont burn bridges. Always go to the work party, Do not initiate any type of intimacy.
Always be looking and applying to other jobs. You never know when you’ll get let go or a better opportunity is out there. Do it even if you really like the job. I feel like you get rusty with interview skills the longer you’re away from interviewing.
The earlier you raise your 401k contributions, the better.
I recently discovered that I would have 8x the amount I would have now had I followed that advice 5 years ago. And it wasn’t that much more money out of pocket.
You are not your career. You don’t need to depend on a job or career to give you fulfillment or happiness. Some people are lucky enough to have that, but most don’t. We also only ever hear about the success stories, but those aren’t a good snapshot of reality. So, you should prioritize finding a job you’re decent at, hopefully can tolerate or maybe even like a little, that helps you pay the bills and gives you the power to pursue your interests and passions outside of work. Do hobbies, start side projects that give you the fulfillment you crave. Don’t revolve your identify and self-worth around a job. And don’t make the mistake of trying to force making a passion a career – it doesn’t work for 99.9% of people and it’ll only make you miserable, especially if you can’t achieve it.
Since you’re looking for life and career advice, you can take a look at the GradSimple newsletter. It’s a resource meant for college graduates who are feeling stuck or unsure of what they want to pursue in life/career. So, they interview graduates about their post-grad journeys and experiences. People share things like what degree they got, whether they struggled to find work, what they’re working as now, and if they see a future in the path they’re on. People often self-reflect on their life decisions which can be a great way for you to get indirect life advice based on what people actually did with their lives. I think it can be a pretty good way for you to get the type of advice or comfort that you’re looking for.
If music is your passion I’d look into being a network disc jockey.. or an agent of young up and coming singing performers and bands. Or a booking agent for the same. The challenge would be where and how you would start. It should be easy to research.
Although I’ve heard it before but it didn’t sink in until it happened to me. Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life. Lost 14 years to the food industry working my tush off. Randomly took a shot at a part time job at a university library shelving books. Instantly fell in love with the field because it is quiet, slow paced and a surprisingly funny job. I got HR’d once because I told a kid to drop out because he asked if this was the library. The joint is the 25th largest research library in the world with over six million books on campus and over two million. We’re a little hard to miss.
Disregard 90% of the advice you read on this sub. Especially the ones that are basically vicarious hate-boners towards their own employers.
You need to work your ass off and put in the hours to get good. I really started doing that when I was 28, when I could have started in 22. Just putting in the hours is not enough to pull ahead
Play nice with others is so hard to do without getting burned. I keep meeting people who take credit. It’s 💯 everyone but 80%. I’m very very very grateful when I meet someone who gives credit e.g. when presenting to the boss and the boss mentions they liked an idea that came up that was yours that person states who it came from. If you work with someone who is always trying to make themselves look good in front of the boss you don’t even want to participate anymore. I’m meetings they take over and you MUST follow them.
Fortune 500 company here.
No matter how “close” you think your colleagues are at work… Your company and colleagues don’t care about you. They will choose their career over you.
I never planned or dreamed I’ll be where I am. I stumbled into it. I still don’t think I’m where I’m meant to be but that’s fine, few are, some doors open when you least expect it. Just need to trust that it. If you’re interested below is how I got to where I am. It’s probably a messy read and I think it missed the point too. Sorry 😅
Just turned 30,I bounced around on jobs. Had no goal. At 24 had first job in years, the rest were trial/temp I got from job centre. At college did software development for a year, dropped out after family member death, I lost interest in everything at that time. after a bit of time I almost got my full lvl 3 electrician qualification but I failed the math test too many times and couldn’t find an apprenticeship so total 3 years wasted with nothing to show.
I cleaned planes for a couple months but couldn’t keep as no solid work history, did part time DJ, made signs for a couple months. Had an apprenticeship in a cafe restaurant, left when apprenticeship wage had me paid less after a full week than a 2 day part timer. the order is all wrong but after airport job I Decided to get a simple job for 5years then I can work anywhere with a solid work history that was my only thought.
I applied to a recruitment agency for a warehouse and thought I’d be a simply packing for 5 years and move on. I ended up getting contract after 6months, then progressed kinda at breakneck if I think about it, I had no real goal or passion at the time. I did packing, then support for the area, to running a small area, to stepping up to team manger, getting put onto a major site project. Talked myself out of applying control room as I thought I wasn’t good enough even though everyone was telling me I was good enough. Lost my step up manager as I didn’t meet the company behaviours, went back to support (this is in 2 years time, Covid time wrap is real) control room came round and I applied before I could talk myself out of it. After 3years in control room I was about to do all the roles. Recently I become the incident manager for the site. I also cover the shift manager. I never thought I’d be where I am now if you asked me a couple years ago.
I’m a 5th year union apprentice. The trades aren’t for everyone. Right now I’m working 60 hours a week at a steam plant. It can be loud and it’s dirty. Think long and hard before you join the trades. If you do, go union. I’m tired boss.
Hard work gets you a long way. I have hustled everywhere I’ve worked, and it’s always helped me get ahead. Networking is key too, but hard work will get you noticed. The people that say hard work doesn’t matter, in my experience, don’t work hard.
Enjoy life when you’re young, and don’t obsess about making the most money, or kiving up to some image of success. Ultimately, dying people tend to wish they’d spend less time focused on work.
Go on YouTube and watch so e videos about how much money .musicians make. It really isn’t much. Also, if ypu think it’s hard moving up the architecture field, try moving up in a field like music where everyone else is chasing their dreams. A masters degree might be nice but when was the last time you looked up the resume of an artist that you’re listening to?
Music is a fun hobby. Unless you really hit the big times, you’re not going to pay the bills with it.
If you’re single feel free to chase the money for a bit. If you want a family find a company you can grow in. Stick up for yourself because no one else will.
STEM and play music in your free time. You’ll enjoy playing/writing music more that way. I was in the same boat as you are
Plastics.
Being informed (trends etc.) + Make connections + recognizing the transferability of your skills and being able to communicate it
That gives you longevity and ensures you aren’t holed into one thing.
Do not ignore cold emailing companies when looking for a job. Vacancy application is fine and all but cold emailing gets you a lot of feedback
that the CEO doesn’t know or give a fuck about who you are, and don’t outdo yourself if you aint sure enough for a reward after and again everyone is innit for something so everyone does it for they own selves
Biggest penny dropped for me was: You don’t have to do it forever. You can switch carreers in 10 years. In 5 years. After 6 months if you don’t like it. Carreer decision making is about making the decision at some point and getting the first workingexperience, not neccessarily sticking with it.
After that revelation, my anxiety to pick “the wrong thing” really eased up.
Everybody dies, more than you would think, before they are 40. Any spreadsheet for planning ought to include “if I knew I would soon die suddenly and unexpectedly would my attitude be different today?”
Hey, I’m in a similar situation as you, I studied architecture and don’t like it, but I’ve had a few years of experience since I graduated (mostly outside of the field).
I chose the degree randomly due to some outdated advice from people around me, but quickly realized that people that choose this career path either come from wealthy families and don’t need the money (unlike me), or are really passionate about it and are willing to do sidegigs for years to support themselves financially. Being an architect is like being an artist for a living. I understand people in this sub are trying to be helpful, but telling you to stick it out for a bit and be patient in this field is a recipe for long-term debt and bankruptcy. And I’m saying this as a European, I didn’t even have student debt. Also, don’t trust success stories of architects either. All the times I was surprised by someone making it in this field, I found later they had a wealthy family supporting them, even though it wasn’t obvious on the surface.
I’m still figuring it out in my early 30s, but here’s my journey. Before I really decided to seek positions out of architecture, I tried many unpaid internships and one starter job. I followed the logic of “try it out, it will get better” and it never did. All this did was get me in debt to affort my rent and hit my mental health like a truck. Other people might do what they hate for a living, but for me it was really impossible, I was on the verge of doing something stupid to myself. So I decided I needed to get out.
The path I followed was getting into academia, which was still initially badly paid, but served as a bridge to my later positions, that gave me more stability. Because academia gives you freedom on the topic you’re researching, you can do it even having studied something remotely related. For example, you could find the intersection between what you like and architecture and find an institute that does that research, something related to acoustics since you like music. After academia, I went more into 3D modeling and rendering, and that became my bridge to other industries. So many fields use that skillset and sometimes even big companies hire for 3D artist positions. I’m still unsure if to pursue another degree because this path is what I found to make a living, not what I would have wanted to study since the beginning. But education is long and costly, and often not even related to what you’ll do in your daily life in the profession.
My advice in a nutshell: find something at the intersection of architecture and what you want to do and use it as a bridge. Don’t do a masters, go for a job, a professional experience teaches you way more. Initially it might be a not ideal situation financially, but don’t do it for very long if it doesn’t pay well, maximum 1 year otherwise it will take a toll on you. Look for jobs in small companies or academia, they are more likely to hire you for a non-architecture job with your degree. Keep in mind it still has to be a bit related, the full transition will happen over time, as you switch to jobs further and further from architecture.
And remember, everything works out differently for different people. I don’t want to discourage you from trying out architecture jobs. Just please trust your gut feeling. If you see you don’t like it and it affects your mental health, get out and don’t wait for it to get critical like me. Your fears about the field are valid, you won’t get stability until you’re 40 if you stick to it, and even that’s not guaranteed, so you decide if it’s worth it. If you want to get out of the field, some of the common paths I see architects follow are: UI design, website design, industrial design, technical drafting (for production and manufacturing), 3D modeling, rendering, animation, game design. All of these offer way more stability and better work-life balance. You can get in by just doing courses online (youtube or coursera) and building a portfolio with the excercises you gave yourself (don’t use the default ones). It will be harder than people who have studied that specific thing, but it’s possible. Good luck!