I need a new career

Elias Graves

Elias Graves

Common misfit
I am burned right the fuck out on what I do. Don't get me wrong, I actually love what I do but Medicare has made it miserable. Every day it's another cut in fees, expecting me to rent $20,000 chairs, denying claims because the doctor didn't say "the patient can't use a walker," pre-payment audits, etc. etc. etc. Now Medicare has announced the addition of five new audit teams to destroy providers like myself. I give up.

Now I'm wracking my brain trying to decide on a new path that won't set me back to "entry level."

Anybody change careers mid stream? Advice? Ideas on what I can look at?

I have a B.A. In English, have worked for the state, the University of Oklahoma, experience in custom stuff, sales and marketing.

Looking into teaching, that appears to pay about 45% of what I make now. Oklahoma has shitty teacher pay.

Maybe something in a nonprofit? I'm grasping here.
 
I don't know what to suggest. I was 46 years old and took a $10,000 a year pay cut to take an entry-level job in my new career. It has paid off in the long run, but it was a rough transition. If you can afford to, a change of careers is good. You have a lot of knowledge of disability issues that could help as many people need ADA coordinators and such. Good luck.
 
The problem here isn't inexperience. The problem is inexperience in another industry. As a salesman, you're likely to end up at the bottom because you don't have the expertise even though you have the talent. I know it's frustrating. But you're on the front lines of a massive change and you're getting hit with it. Especially since your industry is set for such incredible growth over the next 10 years. If you can stomach it, then ride it out. Sounds shitty, and it very well might be, but you're not a billionaire CEO and won't get treated like one making this kind of change now. It is what it is.
 
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Same boat -- I had an executive position at an energy research consortium and 10 years ago took a 35% pay cut to go to the university environment (a variety of reasons) and haven't regretted it a bit. Sometimes sanity is worth more than money...
 
bsman said:
Same boat -- I had an executive position at an energy research consortium and 10 years ago took a 35% pay cut to go to the university environment (a variety of reasons) and haven't regretted it a bit. Sometimes sanity is worth more than money...
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I'd be willing to work for less if I could lose the constant pressure for more revenue more revenue more revenue.
My work is time consuming and there are only so many customers I can see in one day. Combine that with insurers paying about half for equipment that they did ten years ago, and it's an impossible task.


I'm actually considering driving a salt water truck for an oil company. I have a buddy TAKING HOME two grand a week and he's home every night. Never goes more than 75 miles from the shop.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
The problem here isn't inexperience. The problem is inexperience in another industry. As a salesman, you're likely to end up at the bottom because you don't have the expertise even though you have the talent. I know it's frustrating. But you're on the front lines of a massive change and you're getting hit with it. Especially since your industry is set for such incredible growth over the next 10 years. If you can stomach it, then ride it out. Sounds shitty, and it very well might be, but you're not a billionaire CEO and won't get treated like one making this kind of change now. It is what it is.
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On your first point, definitely. Not sure how to deal with that.
On the second, the industry is growing but is also under intense pressure to do more with less. It gets old. And the documentation requirements are becoming so onerous and contradictory that I don't think it's actually possible to comply with all the regs that are upon us now. Several of them actually contradict one another. In compliance with one puts you out of compliance with another. It's insane.
 
Elias Graves said:
On your first point, definitely. Not sure how to deal with that.
On the second, the industry is growing but is also under intense pressure to do more with less. It gets old. And the documentation requirements are becoming so onerous and contradictory that I don't think it's actually possible to comply with all the regs that are upon us now. Several of them actually contradict one another. In compliance with one puts you out of compliance with another. It's insane.
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Yeah, a lot of occupations deal with regulations and documentation. It sounds like you are tired of that, so you will want to choose your next move carefully. Sounds like that would rule out the teaching as well.
 
Elias Graves said:
On your first point, definitely. Not sure how to deal with that.
On the second, the industry is growing but is also under intense pressure to do more with less. It gets old. And the documentation requirements are becoming so onerous and contradictory that I don't think it's actually possible to comply with all the regs that are upon us now. Several of them actually contradict one another. In compliance with one puts you out of compliance with another. It's insane.
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Doing more with less is simply how it is in our time. There is no company who isn't asking for more more MOAR with significantly less. And then there's the margins. My job also has massive oversight and most of it makes no sense. But I already changed careers and I'm dealing with it in this new setting because there's a significant opportunity to advance to the place I actually want to be at.

If you can drive that truck though, seriously, go for it. Fuck, I'd do it.
 
The truck deal is rather appealing. It's all local and the majority of your time is spent sitting on site.
You haul a load of salt water to a well site and sit while they drain your tank.
Then you sit while they refill your tank with what they just pumped out.
Then back to the shop while you wait for them to empty that into the disposal well. (Those wells are like six miles deep!)
Rinse, repeat.
Mostly driving up and down dirt roads. Never through the city and never over the road. They don't even have sleeper cabs. Just a good old Mack with a nine speed transmission.
 
Elias Graves said:
The truck deal is rather appealing. It's all local and the majority of your time is spent sitting on site.
You haul a load of salt water to a well site and sit while they drain your tank.
Then you sit while they refill your tank with what they just pumped out.
Then back to the shop while you wait for them to empty that into the disposal well. (Those wells are like six miles deep!)
Rinse, repeat.
Mostly driving up and down dirt roads. Never through the city and never over the road. They don't even have sleeper cabs. Just a good old Mack with a nine speed transmission.
Click to expand...

Shit, take that. Grab an iPod and you're good to drive all fucking day
 
Elias Graves said:
The truck deal is rather appealing. It's all local and the majority of your time is spent sitting on site.
You haul a load of salt water to a well site and sit while they drain your tank.
Then you sit while they refill your tank with what they just pumped out.
Then back to the shop while you wait for them to empty that into the disposal well. (Those wells are like six miles deep!)
Rinse, repeat.
Mostly driving up and down dirt roads. Never through the city and never over the road. They don't even have sleeper cabs. Just a good old Mack with a nine speed transmission.
Click to expand...

I wonder if they have that job in Denver......
 
I'm 59 and hope I can continue working forever. I don't think I'd do well sitting around, knocking down job jar items around the house and idle the "free" hours away playing guitar. I've got to be physically pushing myself on something every day. I like what I do, professionally, and wouldn't change that. That's intrinsically priceless to me. Plus, I teach it to kids starting out from tech school so it's a kick seeing them react to things they "finally understand" why they were taught them in school.
 
Don't go into teaching. We went through the same helpful "reforms", but ten years ago, and we're going to be the whipping boy for cowardly politicians for the foreseeable future. Plus, every raise I've gotten in the last few years has been offset by various kicks in the wallet from benefit cuts pushed by the same cowards.
 
Watch videos and read a few books on user experience and user interface design. If it sounds interesting take some online classes, mockup some iOS apps, and try doing a one-week bootcamp. If you’re halfway competent at entry level you can move somewhere with tech jobs and start in the 50–60k range. Here in the Boulder/Denver area people are literally being hired right out of trade-school boot camps and Coursera online classes.
 
I tried making a change a few years ago and found out that the change wasn't that great and the pay cut really sucked. I went back to my old industry with the same old stressors. Sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you don't know.
 
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