I am starting a journal, an anonymous journal to precise, because I want to chronicle my journey, my professional journey to be exact, from here on. I feel I am at a significant cross-road of my career. I have no idea what turn it will take, how long this process will last, and where I will end up at the end of this voyage.
I am a 45 year old married man with an 11-year old son. I have a decent job with decent pay with decent benefits. I am not struggling financially but I am also not where I thought I would be at this point in my life. To be honest, even if my finances have not done as well as I wanted, I am not too worried because I can manage as I am frugal (Note, I don't consider myself to be cheap and there is a a big difference between the two; a frugal person orders chicken instead of steak; a cheap person leaves 10% tip while frugal leaves 20% - I am the "chicken & 20%" kind of person).
What is really bothering me, and which is starting to become really unbearable is the state of my career. I feel my career is coming to an end imminently because I will lose my job either voluntarily or involuntarily within a year and I have no idea what I will do next. As I told a friend recently, "I feel like my career is in a plane that is about crash but I am helpless about it. All I can think of is, "is this how this going to end?"."
First thing first. Why am I frustrated with my current job in the first place? For someone from outside, it does not look that bad. I work at a well-know Fortune 100 company located in a big city in the US East Coast. My works requites lot of reading and being up-to-date with market and industries; so I am familiar with lot of topics. The pay is decent (but great if consider what I do). Benefit is good, especially important for my family. Manager does not act like a manager, so I have lot of flexibility - I can work from home whenever I want; I just have to tell, not ask, if I am away from work. Since I am good/efficient at what I do, I have spare time to do other things, like trading, getting up to date on news (for instance, on Thursday, I spent the whole day (in-between my tasks) watching the live-stream of Ford/Kavanaugh hearing in the US Senate, which was fascinating), and helping my professional association where I am a volunteer officer. Someone may ask, what's so bad about it. Two things. First, I am not making progress position-wise or salary-wise; I am earning as much as I did 10 years ago; I don't see myself getting promoted from my current position ever, and that's not good; as saying goes, stagnant water attracts parasites and germs. Second, since I have stuck professionally and everyone around me has moved on or moved up, I am working with people that are 15-20 years junior. So I really don't fit in my office environment.
I have to do something about career, and that also very soon. I have toyed with lot of ideas in my head but that's about it. I am like a deer frozen by a headlight, stuck at a cross-road and very frustrated.
First thing first. Why am I frustrated with my current job in the first place? For someone from outside, it does not look that bad. I work at a well-know Fortune 100 company located in a big city in the US East Coast. My works requites lot of reading and being up-to-date with market and industries; so I am familiar with lot of topics. The pay is decent (but great if consider what I do). Benefit is good, especially important for my family. Manager does not act like a manager, so I have lot of flexibility - I can work from home whenever I want; I just have to tell, not ask, if I am away from work. Since I am good/efficient at what I do, I have spare time to do other things, like trading, getting up to date on news (for instance, on Thursday, I spent the whole day (in-between my tasks) watching the live-stream of Ford/Kavanaugh hearing in the US Senate, which was fascinating), and helping my professional association where I am a volunteer officer. Someone may ask, what's so bad about it. Two things. First, I am not making progress position-wise or salary-wise; I am earning as much as I did 10 years ago; I don't see myself getting promoted from my current position ever, and that's not good; as saying goes, stagnant water attracts parasites and germs. Second, since I have stuck professionally and everyone around me has moved on or moved up, I am working with people that are 15-20 years junior. So I really don't fit in my office environment.
I have to do something about career, and that also very soon. I have toyed with lot of ideas in my head but that's about it. I am like a deer frozen by a headlight, stuck at a cross-road and very frustrated.
