August 2009 Weddings
Cecilia arrived 12 October 2012
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Do you have a 5 year plan?
At work that is? I was doing some networking this morning, and talking with a senior guy in a business I would like to work in, and he asked me where I wanted to be in 5 years. I hate that question and I don't really have an answer, but I fumbled through and said something. I felt the question was slightly unfair, since the point of the networking I'm doing right now is to try to figure out the answer to that question!
Anyways, I was wondering if I'm the only one who struggles with that question, or if you have a clear career path in mind?
(As an aside, it doesn't help that we've talked about me being a SAHM for a while when we have kids, so part of my mind thinks this is a moot point!)
Cecilia arrived 12 October 2012
Re: Do you have a 5 year plan?
Not at all. I could see myself anywhere from being a mid-level associate climbing the corporate ladder, to not working as a lawyer at all, to being a SAHM for a while. And a lot of it depends on where H is career-wise in five years too.
I am generally not a fan of plans with timelines because I think it is setting oneself up for disappointment and boxes you off from pursuing alternative paths.
Very well said. If someone would have asked me 5 yrs ago where I thought I would be right now I would have said something totally opposite of where I actually am.
Not really. I was able to redirect myself into writing full time; now I have a reviewing/editing volunteer gig that I'm hoping will help build my freelance portfolio. I want to keep on writing full time and do some freelance so I can control my own time (and maybe have some projects if kids come along). Kids are up in the air for us, but if we do have kids, I'd be a SAHM for at least the first year, too.
I just know that in five years I want to be living out west. I like D.C., but staying here forever is not an option.
I am not I have to BE HERE at this stage kind of person. Life likes to laugh at me I think If I try to make to serious plans. I have ideas and small changes that I make but career wise everything is always changing. Lately I feel like not thinking about it at all because it all seems such a tangle and it will get me worked up/ or even more confused. Not to mention it's a bit nerve wracking. I'm at the point in my life now that the choices I made are pretty serious choices. I can't really go back and take a mulligan if I decide I want to do something completely different. Without changing my whole life and changing DH's.
So no I don't think you are alone Sushi in your feelings.
I don't have a 5 year plan either. I used to set goals for myself as far as where I would be and when but that all changed once I got to my current job. I've been here 5 years though I didn't plan to stay this long. As we started discussing having a familly and had a baby, I realized that my seniority here gives me a lot of flexibility with my schedule that I won't get starting somewhere new. I had planned to move on after maternity leave but got a promotion and a raise as soon as I came back.
I guess my point is that life happens and circumstances change so even though you may have a 5 year plan, that can all go out the window in the blink of an eye.
I don't. There isn't any upward mobility in my job. I love my job and I think I could do it for a long time because there are always new projects, but other than union-required salary and step raises, there's no room for promotion.
The default plan right now is for me to stay in this job indefinitely. The benefits are fantastic and include free tuition for my kids
That being said, my boss won't be around forever and once he decides to retire, my team and my job may or may not still exist. But at that point, hopefully I could find something else to do in the university.
To be honest, if I was more career oriented, I'd think it was a good idea to have a plan. I do think it's useful to have some sort of vision, even if it's flexible. But the truth is that I'm focused on family right now. We've talked about alternate careers for me, like teaching music, which I could do if say, V got a job in another city and I had to leave my job.
It's hard for a woman of child-bearing age (who wants to have a family) to have a long term plan, isn't it?
Baby #2: Surprise BFP 9.19.12, EDD 5.24.13, natural m/c 10.19.13 at 9w
QFT.
Sort of...but really I am sort of settled into my career, so I don't see things being too different in 5 years. I would like to be in a different house closer to our families and DH's job. I would like to have a kid or two (currently this one seems like the hardest one to accomplish...). I maybe would like to be starting my PhD (or maybe getting close to starting it...this one is still in the air. I want to do it eventually but I don't know if I am set on doing it in the next 5 years or not).
That said, all but the kid part I could be totally flexible with.
BFP 5/2/11, missed m/c, D&C 6/13/11
BFP 12/8/11--Little Girl E Born 8/22/12