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Small town, tough choices
After getting married, my husband decided that we would live in a small town. We're both engineers in the same discipline. My husband was already employed, but finding work for myself was more difficult.
I took a civil job 4 months ago for a municipality for a couple of reasons:
1. it was related to my career field. although not quite engineering, I still deal with local engineers and site plans.
2. my husband wanted the great benefits that a civil job offered
3. the pay was decent
what I didn't realize was that I have a 5 year old for a manager who's created a lot of problems for the department I work in. If I stay there long enough, I would inherit his position (and his problems). Also, I find that I am frequently bored at work , not because of a lack of work but because it really holds no interest for me.
I began looking for other employment almost immediately after being hired. I've found a job that would most likely be an increase in pay and I would still keep my civil benefits but it's no where close to being in my career field. Being in a small town, waiting for something to open up in engineering might take a very long time. Do I forget my career goals and apply for this other position? I sort of feel guilty for even thinking about it because at my current employment my manager's bosses are expecting me to stick around for a while.
Re: Small town, tough choices
The Out-Of-Date Bio | The Blog I've Started Updating Again
I kind of agree with PP... It seems like you are making decisions about your life based on other peoples opinions. Fine if you and your DH have an agreement to live in a small town, but I would totally not care about the bosses who expect you to stay. If they want you to stay then they need to fix the five year old manager issue right away.
As far as changing careers... I would not be concerned about it not being in your field. I studied music education and came very close to becoming an assistant director of visual merchandising for a major retail chair. Change happens and if the change makes you happy, then go for it, but if it's just to please others, then you need to look inside and make sure you can live with those choices.
well first of all, plenty of people end up in fields that are different from their college study area.
why do you have to stick in this small town? it sounds like it's going to severely limit your career choices and, potentially, happiness in the long run.
did you go along with this for your DH's sake or did you really want to do this?
how much does this field matter to you? is it what makes you excited or will another field potentially be more challenging so long as it's not as boring as your current job?
how often do people switch back and forth between fields? if they don't, I would think long and hard about switching, though more money is always attractive
GL. Sorry you're in this situation.