You make $65,000 (USD 🤢) in a dead end career doing nothing but showing up sometimes. Guaranteed employment without change in intensity or salary until retirement in 15 years at age 62. You receive 3 weeks paid vacation, reasonably priced medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401k matched at 2.5%, and virtually unlimited sick days as long as you don’t call out too often (>3x month). You are given 6 college credits per semester to use at the local university. You’re currently working on a PhD.
You live comfortably and have 1 year’s salary saved. Zero dependents.
Do you ride it out, or do you seek a career change before it’s too late.
I know, infinite unknown variables, but what would you do regardless?
UPDATE: I’m slightly taken aback by how many of you actually took the time out of your day/evening to reply to my personal crisis. I’ve think I’ve replied to everyone, which, in doing so, made this morning surprisingly sunnier. So thanks for that.
Adding some thing I’ve shared in replies. I’m a homeowner with zero debt aside from a very affordable mortgage. Purchased my car outright new in 2024, had household concerns addressed over past five years (new roof, HVAC systems, sump pump, water heater, shed, remodeled bathrooms), have three degrees, and a lifetime of piss poor fortune.
So, what am “I” hoping for, I guess? More money, more possibility for advancement? What other jobs could I get?
Not to be a dick, but the median personal income for a full-time employee in the US is ~$55,000, and half are definitionally below that. If you live in San Fransisco and are working towards your PhD in data science, I guess sure, vomiting face, but that detail wasn’t in there.
Yep, sorry about that. I was trying to make this sound as unrelated to my actual situation as possible when I originally posted. Gave up the ghost on that almost immediately. WV eastern panhandle is where I’m located. Work in VA. On the edge of what they call the DMV (Delaware, Maryland, VA). Yes, they omit the omnipresent WV lurking just alongside big money northern VA in the colloquialism. Our area has just as many people commuting to DC for six figures, as we have folks living in squalor. It’s definitely WV up in here, but maybe a little shinier.