Changing Professions



This friend of mine periodically says he wants a break from work, how he wished the company would allow him to go on a sabbatical but sadly, in India, companies don’t yet do that. The root of his feeling is something most of feel at some point or the other: the job sucks.

So if going on a sabbatical is not an option in India, are there any real practical options? Or do we just have to grin and bear it as a way to pay the bills? I found another trail on this topic on Slashdot which seems to confirm what most of us feel.

One guy suggested teaching as an alternative career where you could leverage your area of expertise, “If you have experience on a given subject, coding or otherwise, there is a market for books and teaching.” A recommendation to teach provoked the inevitable response, “He's already demonstrated that he "can", which means he's ineligible to teach.” A pretending-to-be-ignorant wag asked, “Is that a Star Trek reference?”

Another response trail was the just, well, suck it up: “I've seen too many people quit jobs 'on a whim' and screw up their lives (and their family's) permanently. All jobs suck at one level or another. Grow up, suck it up, and keep working. You need to learn to work to live, not live to work.” Another guy felt the married couples did have an option saying, “What kind of advice is that? You'd be surprised how little it costs to get by. And if you're married, you can divide the labor between you two.” Which got dismissed as impractical-unless-you-planned-this-before-you-got-married, “You are correct, but you apparently have no experience in a typical marriage with typical women and children. If you want to live the simple life, you can, but you have to find a wife who also wants to live that way, and raise your children up in that environment from the start.”

One guy backed up the all-jobs-suck line with data, “My brother's a jazz musician. He loves it, but he doesn't make much money and he STILL HAS SHIT TO DEAL WITH. All jobs have shit to deal with. Find one you like that pays well.”

Which pretty much left only the do-something-illegal option, “Spend a tour of duty with the Dark Side.”

The comment on this trail pretty much sums up what most of us conclude when we consider changing professions altogether. Looks like there is no magic bullet to solve the problem. Sad, but true.

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