You talking about a completely new direction, or switching to something tangentially related?

You could say that I'm in the middle of that process right now (turning 41 next month). Although probably not quite like what you may be about to go through. I've been working here and there over the last 10 years while Mrs. JMH has worked in her more lucrative field. I recently completed a 9-month web development course hoping to break into that field somewhere. I've put out a lot of applications with very little human response however. I have a BS in WFSC btw.
As far as the transition being successful, that is yet to be determined. However, the definition of success can be somewhat relative. Mine would mostly include relieving my wife of being the primary income provider.

I have been trying to transition into a different field for sales. Been in corporate oil and gas for over 15 years but am totally tired of the up and down nature. Been trying to get into software, pharma, and medical to not much luck for the last few months. Actually have a interview with another oil and gas company next week but not sure what I will do if they offer me the job. I am shocked at how hard it is to get into another field. I thought someone with experience in sales knowing they had the ability to sell and trainability would be a nice commodity but so far that is not true.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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You talking about a completely new direction, or switching to something tangentially related?

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Really, it could be either. I'm open at this point. Realistically, I would add the most value at a JD preferred type position. Most importantly, I want to be able to earn and believe in what I am doing. That is not the case presently (and hasn't been for a long time).

I see it all the time in our industry. Think about it...Most people pick a college at 18, a major at 19-20, and a career at 21-22 that they'll be living with when they're 40+. "Kids" are making MAJOR life-impacting decisions in rapid succession and at a point in life where they have little to no experience. Fast forward 10-15 years and they've established a good standard of living in a job that they figured out they don't like with seemingly no options for how they could leverage their past to go a new, satisfying, and economically viable direction.

"Oh if I only knew then what we know now." - So many people feel this way.

This post embodies the passion and rationale for why I am so active on this forum. Like many, I have lived the herculean frustration of not having a professional alternative to an unfulfilling career. Entrepreneurship can certifiably be the answer. For those who have grit and a clear-eyed understanding of what they want out of life, entrepreneurship offers a viable and accessible option that can take them to an entirely new world.

Most of the time, the biggest problem that individuals suffer from is that they don't have the entrepreneurial vessel to take them where they'd like to go. That is exactly where I am equipped to assist in a very special way.

In all candor, "second career" professionals like the OP are the best to hire in our business because they've got experience, perspective, and they know what they want (maybe just as important, they know what they DON'T want in terms of working conditions). When this type of person is offered a path to leverage the entirety of their past in pursuit of a fresh, new and rejuvenated future, they thrive.

To answer the OP's question, over the years our company has brought in former bankers, corporate administrators, superintendents, high school principals/educators/administrators, O&G specialists, and even a former home builder. The most common predicate to a major career shift stems from desire for one of the following: escaping the "rat race" and all that implies, fleeing bureaucratic nonsense, seeking escape from office/industry politics, more manageable working hours, less travel, more earnings potential, more work/life balance, more industry stability, and/or one of MANY other common professional afflictions.

Entrepreneurship (our path) requires a lot of work, but it is so doable with the right opportunity and the benefit of a work ethic, grit, perspective, motivation and the unwavering drive to succeed. The breadth and combination of what we do and how we do it creates a viable entrepreneurial outlet for anyone seeking an exciting new start.

This stuff gets me fired up. Good people who want to build something special do not have to be in the "rat race." Add to that the fact that corporations in 2020 are now requiring people to bow at the alter of political correctness (or risk their job) and the need for alternate career paths has gotten stronger than ever.

Nature OR nurturing yourself to discovering your inner entrepreneurial spirit is a gift. Meaningful & highly relational work, stable industry, God/Family/Country based company, uncapped earnings potential...We provide the conduit through which that gift can build a new reality.

I'm happy to talk to anyone: careers at rolloinsurance dot com



Sorry...Rant over. :-)

I'm in Tennessee. I'd be interested, but would consider I'm in the wrong state. Please advise.

I feel like I could have written that post.

I left law and opened a franchise business, now closing it down after going back to law. Of course now I am remembering why I left law in the first place.

Not just sales. I have category management experience in supply chain ( in O&G), a skill that's also pretty transitional across all industries.

I applied for a close to entry level category specialist position a large convenient store chain. Spoke to the HR rep and did some excel work to show them I know the processes and how to do some simple calculations but wouldn't even get an interview because I didn't have category food management experience.

And, again, this wasn't a lateral move. A couple steps below what I was doing in O&G and about half the pay.

I am 50 and would totally love to do something different for my last few years of work...Kids are all out of the house so my main responsibilities are done...time for me to do what I like....whatever that is....

Shoot me an email...We just opened an office in Georgia and are looking hard at a couple of other states.

I did it at 38. It was kind of forced when I was laid off, but I made the jump from construction to Agriculture. I don't miss the construction world AT ALL. I deal with some of the finest people on the planet and have made much more money doing it. Find something you are passionate about and truly enjoy. While I don't particularly care for sitting at my desk working tech support during the irrigation season, I love the other 9 months of the year. We are closing in on the end of irrigation season over the course of the next 6-8 weeks and hopefully I'll be back on the road doing my thing!

I retired from banking/credit underwriting at 35. I now do some casual/part-time software development remotely while I travel.

Basically develop some sort of other skill thats of interest, but then leverage your prior-career skills such as organization, attention to detail, ability to hold a conversation with people/clients, etc. Its not hard to convince someone you can do a job.

FarmerKeith said:

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I see it all the time in our industry. Think about it...Most people pick a college at 18, a major at 19-20, and a career at 21-22 that they'll be living with when they're 40+. "Kids" are making MAJOR life-impacting decisions in rapid succession and at a point in life where they have little to no experience. Fast forward 10-15 years and they've established a good standard of living in a job that they figured out they don't like with seemingly no options for how they could leverage their past to go a new, satisfying, and economically viable direction.

"Oh if I only knew then what we know now." - So many people feel this way.

This post embodies the passion and rationale for why I am so active on this forum. Like many, I have lived the herculean frustration of not having a professional alternative to an unfulfilling career. Entrepreneurship can certifiably be the answer. For those who have grit and a clear-eyed understanding of what they want out of life, entrepreneurship offers a viable and accessible option that can take them to an entirely new world.

Most of the time, the biggest problem that individuals suffer from is that they don't have the entrepreneurial vessel to take them where they'd like to go. That is exactly where I am equipped to assist in a very special way.

In all candor, "second career" professionals like the OP are the best to hire in our business because they've got experience, perspective, and they know what they want (maybe just as important, they know what they DON'T want in terms of working conditions). When this type of person is offered a path to leverage the entirety of their past in pursuit of a fresh, new and rejuvenated future, they thrive.

To answer the OP's question, over the years our company has brought in former bankers, corporate administrators, superintendents, high school principals/educators/administrators, O&G specialists, and even a former home builder. The most common predicate to a major career shift stems from desire for one of the following: escaping the "rat race" and all that implies, fleeing bureaucratic nonsense, seeking escape from office/industry politics, more manageable working hours, less travel, more earnings potential, more work/life balance, more industry stability, and/or one of MANY other common professional afflictions.

Entrepreneurship (our path) requires a lot of work, but it is so doable with the right opportunity and the benefit of a work ethic, grit, perspective, motivation and the unwavering drive to succeed. The breadth and combination of what we do and how we do it creates a viable entrepreneurial outlet for anyone seeking an exciting new start.

This stuff gets me fired up. Good people who want to build something special do not have to be in the "rat race." Add to that the fact that corporations in 2020 are now requiring people to bow at the alter of political correctness (or risk their job) and the need for alternate career paths has gotten stronger than ever.

Nature OR nurturing yourself to discovering your inner entrepreneurial spirit is a gift. Meaningful & highly relational work, stable industry, God/Family/Country based company, uncapped earnings potential...We provide the conduit through which that gift can build a new reality.

I'm happy to talk to anyone: careers at rolloinsurance dot com



Sorry...Rant over. :-)

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I'd be interested

Shoot me an email...Let's talk!

we have some resources that should prove helpful at Former Student Career Services. ppausky78@aggienetwork.com

If you want to switch to custom meat processing, I know a great little place for sale that has huge upside for expanded sales. May force you a move to a smaller town but i live in the town and love it so far. I am not the seller but a very interested party to the purchase.

Dark_Knight said:

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I'm kinda in the same bind. Was in O&G as a geologist. Was laid off over a year ago, started my own consulting but lost all work back in March due to current events. Now I'm truck driving just to get a paycheck. Definitely not a long term solution.

Not sure what to do. Been trying to break into other industries, but nobody gives me a chance. I think I need to revamp my resume some more to portray certain skills a little bit better. Maybe worded more generally and not too much O&G jargon.

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Same here. Went to school for Engineering & Environmental Geology. Essentially tripped and fell into a position with a family owned Oil & Gas Company. I loved the big fish in a small pond feel, being involved in a wide variety of projects, and the quest to find and produce economical resources. Family dynamics ultimately came to play when the patriarch passed, and Geology was largely outsourced. I spent three years with a startup Oilfield tech firm on the completions side, but this year killed us.

I've been looking at environmental positions and am planning to test for my PG in October, but so far not even a nibble.

I hate unconventionals. It's not exploration, it's mining.

Business Time said:

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I feel like I could have written that post.

I left law and opened a franchise business, now closing it down after going back to law. Of course now I am remembering why I left law in the first place.

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Right? Even having been in civil for several years now, I look back at my time as a criminal attorney and think about the fire and passion I had during that practice. I then stop myself and think about all of the BS, railroading, client control issues, etc., and remind myself why I left that practice.

I will retire from public education in 2 years at the age of 52. I will definitely be looking for a new job in a different field.

I hear three things in your comments:
1. Make sure you're in an industry that is stable
2. Make sure you're with a company that has character-centric leadership
3. Make sure you're positioned to determine your own outcome

I haven't gone so far as an attorney as some of you that have completely left the practice.

But I'm out of BigLaw now and I have one partner (who happens to be a friend). We are in a really really niche practice in a great location (business bankruptcy in Houston). We both just said, "screw it" and ejected from our biglaw jobs this spring. Craziest part of this is that since we started during "work from home" is that we didn't take a lease and we have almost no overhead. I can replace my salary by billing 50 or so hours/month. I like it so far.

I did 15+ years in offshore structural engineering before jumping into software development last year. It's definitely a better fit for me, but right now is a ****ty time for a junior dev to be looking for work.

OCEN99 said:

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I did 15+ years in offshore structural engineering before jumping into software development last year. It's definitely a better fit for me, but right now is a ****ty time for a junior dev to be looking for work.

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Did you do any coding boot camps or self taught ?

jaggiemaggie said:

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OCEN99 said:

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I did 15+ years in offshore structural engineering before jumping into software development last year. It's definitely a better fit for me, but right now is a ****ty time for a junior dev to be looking for work.

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Did you do any coding boot camps or self taught ?

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I did the computer science post-bacc program offered by Oregon State.

Lots of burnt-out lawyers chiming in on this thread, so it seems like a great place to get informed opinions.

I'm married to a lawyer who's at ~8 years of experience (2 as a prosecutor, 6 in civil insurance defense). Her hours are terrible - she bills 7-8 hours every weekday and usually 6-10 over the weekend - and it's grinding her into dust. It's seriously been 8 months since she took a weekend completely off.

Any recs on achieving legal escape velocity? What have y'all done or what have your friends done to escape the firm grind?

Deputy Travis Junior said:

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Lots of burnt-out lawyers chiming in on this thread, so it seems like a great place to get informed opinions.

I'm married to a lawyer who's at ~8 years of experience (2 as a prosecutor, 6 in civil insurance defense). Her hours are terrible - she bills 7-8 hours every weekday and usually 6-10 over the weekend - and it's grinding her into dust. It's seriously been 8 months since she took a weekend completely off.

Any recs on achieving legal escape velocity? What have y'all done or what have your friends done to escape the firm grind?

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I don't know how anyone can sustain this schedule for more than a few years. I somehow kept up a similar routine in a law firm for 6ish years. In court at least a couple of times a week, meeting with clients 4 days a week. It was brutal. Looking back, I'm not sure how I made it. I was very fortunate to move in-house two weeks after my first child was born. If I hadn't, I'm sure my wife would have killed me (which would have been sweet release at the time).

I do work more than 40 hours a week (probably average 50 hours or so). I'm actually working right now . But it's a different kind of work. Stress level went from 11 to 3.

In terms of getting a foot in the in-house door, also consider compliance roles. A lot of my compliance counterparts are attorneys.

You know, I've actually recommended compliance. She's sent out 2-3 apps with no interviews, but the sample size is definitely too small to draw any conclusions. Do you know if your compliance counterparts did anything to improve their hireability and facilitate the law -> compliance jump (eg earned a certification, joined some professional group that offers classes, etc.) or were they able to break into the field fairly easily?

I'm going to go against the grain a little on this latest discussion re in-house legal work.

I would actually recommend building a much more niche legal skill set and then going on your own or with a small group of partners before going in-house. I don't know how to get from A to B with insurance defense work but there has to be an avenue. I happen to have lucked into being a business bankruptcy lawyer so I'm already really plugged into the bar and its a practice where 75%+ of my work is referred from other BK lawyers. Clients are almost all solvent/creditworthy/willing/able to pay bills.

The upshot of being in my own boutique with one partner: all of the money we make billing hours goes straight into our pockets. We started during WFH. so no need for a lease and we can't see needing one for the foreseeable future. I can replace my salary billing about 10.5 hours per week. The downside is that I have to come up with that 10.5 hours and time between bill until collection is at least 30 days and usually closer to 60 -- even with big corporate clients. So you'll need some liquidity to bridge the gap in the short run.

Here's my take on the in-house part: my wife is in-house at a large manufacturing company as a corporate/transactions lawyer. Working from home, we are often stuck sharing our home office. Overhearing one side of her job makes it sound like it absolutely sucks and I would have rage quit/rage killed half of the people she deals with by now. The problem stems from the fact that until you hit very senior executive people, the business groups don't really understand the cost associated with using a lawyer. So they just sort of shove anything written straight to the legal department without even considering business terms. The amount of politics associated with having to tell business people to get business terms done before bothering the lawyers is crazy. Since work from home started, the professionals in the company have basically been expected to be available 24/7, so my wife works all. the. time.

On the firm side, I'm happy to do nonsense like that because I do the work, write my time, and invoice you for it (or I can tell you beforehand what it will cost to have me do work that could be done without a lawyer). I have the luxury of only interacting with other lawyers and people willing and able to pay for lawyers. I'll have ups and downs, but right now, I work about 6 hours/day that splits about 50/50 between billable and business development and make more than I did in BigLaw. Not a bad life.

One last thing about in-house gigs: everyone has the perception that life in-house is better. So when, for instance, my wife's company posts a spot in their department, they usually get at least 500 resumes. Of that, probably at least 20 are in the target range -- right experience and right number of years post-license. Of that, they usually interview 2-4 people and pick one. Long story short, "good" in-house jobs are hard to come by and actually getting one is incredibly competitive. And as I stated above, the work can actually be significantly more stressful.