Life changing moments....

Whilst considering quitting my job I wonder if it is normal for people to make decisions as rash as that. If I quit my job, I may find it hard to find another in todays economic crisis. Also, I would lose years of long service leave, however maybe it is better for my health to get the hell out of here!

What were those moments were you made a life changing decision? Did it all work out for the best?

Have you ever made a decision that changed everything for you?

unless you can afford to, I wouldn't leave a job unless you have another one lined up.

Pretty much.

You would have to be retarded to quit a job in the current climate without having something lined up to go to. Even then it's a risk, what if the job you move to is even worse, can't exactly go back can you.

how much longer til you can get your long service leave or get it paid out pro rata?

like Q said, i would jump unless i had somewhere to land...

Within the same week I got into uni and also got a job. So I deferred uni for one year and worked, but after that year I could either keep working or go to uni. I'm not normally a risk taker and quitting my job was a huge risk, but I would always regret it if I didn't go to uni, so I quit my job.

Then in my final year of uni I was offered work back at the same place but in a slightly different area. The new job was similar but without lots of the bad bits of the old job and more room for advancement.

I also use lots of the skills I learned at uni in many areas of my current job and I would have been very frustrated and disadvantaged if I hadn't studied.

I thought it was a huge risk at the time but really I ended up on the same path but in a better position!

I'm probably going to have to take a bit of a jump soon, doing uni on top of working 35-50 hour weeks isn't working out so well.

Well if you do quit, you should certainly take your long service leave before doing so!

i wouldnt mind changing careers, but the two things stopping me are

1 - what the fuck else am i gonna do?

2 - can i really take a pay cut to start at the bottom of some other occupation

Seems like the only thing stopping you here Khemy is your own perspective on your capacity and limitations. 

Spend some time working out what you love to do, then do that.  The money will follow, there is no rule stating you will have to 'start from the bottom', but even if you do, would that be such a bad thing if you are working in a field that you find interesting and enjoyable?

Take a risk! Take a risk! Its so worth it, the universe loves big acts of 'faith' ... with great risk comes great reward and all that jazz. 

You know I moved to Brisbane with 2 suitcases, no job and a big sense of adventure.  I'd never even visited Brisbane before I moved here and its one of the greatest things I have done.

I'm going to move to Melbourne in a few months for more or less similar reasons why I moved here, and I'm so excited because I know how amazing and thrilling it is going to be.  Mindful of the way things are atm this time I will get a job first, but it still feels exhilarating.

Life really is too short to spend most of your waking hours doing something as a means to an end.

Take a chance, even if it's just for the sheer thrill of it =)

every day i think about leaving my profession

5 years of full time study
$13,000 in HECS finally paid off
12 years experience
professionally registered

its not a decision i am going to take too lightly but there have been times i think that the stress simply aint worth it and suddenly up and leaving would be fantastically liberating. at the mo, the abovementioned factors tend to make me feel more chained to architecture than assetts.
im also not overly concerned about finding more work, im able to do pretty much anything i put my mind to.

kind of locked in a little more now though, with the family factor (and potential mortgage soon) to consider


aaah how id love to sell everything i own and go travelling overseas like i did 12 years ago!

This is a big deciding factor in whether I will persue a career option or not. I've been offered higher paying high stress jobs, and maybe those jobs might take me somewhere I want to go in the long run, but getting there is supposed to be half the fun and I don't find stress fun!

I want to enjoy my whole life, not just the end of it!

Wow, really? Helps to hear that others think the same.

I kinda feel at the moment, the stress and duress of how much work I have is eating away at my soul. I tried explaining this to the manager and he blew my head off! "Priorities this Priorities that". fucking easy when everything is a priority to him. One guy died end of last year as he was so stressed out he drank himself to death. He said his goodbyes and went on a drinking binge.

The only thing stopping me from quitting is the money & having the wedding & honeymoon end of the year. Ive worked hard to get where I am and I dont think I could go back to starting my career from all over again.

I have sent an email to HR about it.... to find out what my options are.  Doesnt hurt I think.

Starting to regret sending that email now.

 

You'll be first on the next round of redundancies.

i thought i had a job all stitched up, then at the last last minute BHP decided they didnt want to spend money on expanding Aus operations, but rather capitalising on new acquisitions prospects overseas.

balls i tell ya! pure balls.

on the flipside, im actually happy enough with the current 4-day week imposed on our office - means i get a day a week off work and hanging out with my (rapidly growing up) daughter.

5 days a week work feels like a chumps life.

its so is, i never feel like i get a break its always work work work
and when im not at work im not at home
i wish i only worked 3 or 4 days a week
that would be the good life

Probably

I dont mind taking a package though! BRING IT ON

Too bad you can't delete your emails like your posts on here eh?

After a certain incident because of my old job, I just upped and quit.

I was on the dole and living off scraps for about 8 months, had to get a payout from my super to prevent going to jail for not paying bills and loans off, and I've got to be honest and say I was really struggling. Luckily I had great friends who supported me.

BUT it all worked out as it led to writing for dB magazine, which led to working for Ratbag and the games industry.

And I never looked back.

Same for moving to Melbourne - I saw the opportunity and took it, although that was with a steady income promised.

You worked for Ratbag? Did you work with Tori White???

 Hmmm I kind of know Tori White. She used to come into my bank.

Sperm bank?

 No

"Adelaide massive everyday" 

I just upped and moved to Thailand in December 07, lived off savings and loans for awhile and then found a satisfying job in a field I had never even considered before. It's all working out pretty well. 

Probably the best life decision I've ever made. Sure there's always drawbacks (friends, family, visa hassles) but I have an amazing time here everyday just being immersed in a different culture and discovering new things.

I'm really enjoying the focus of my new job too. Much more rewarding than previous jobs and the hours are very friendly. It's nice working somewhere where you actually feel like a valued member of a team and not just a number.


Edit: Just had to change that. I know what would be happening if I was still back in Adelaide. I'd be still stuck doing the same thing and nothing would've changed.

It's liberating to have new motivation in life, that's for sure.

haha I do admit I considered recalling it.

Recall only works sometimes though.

Anyway, the HR Manager meailed me back and said no, cant transfer... keep looking for jobs.

Might have to just bite the bullet start applying for some other work then. The thing is applying in jobs in government FUCKING sucks!

They still see the email. It basically just sends a request but upon seeing the request they can read the email before accepting the recall hahahahaha.

Yeh I know.

i know her  

Nope, probably before my time...

'One usually meets their destiny on the road they took to avoid it'

yeah i'm with you khem cant stand my job anymore but i get paid to well to start shitkicking again

i need a job at noddys work by the sound of it 

  me too... I'm so jealous!

I'd also be happy to accept part time work, just on Fridays

Volunteer work even... helping those less fortunate yet more munted than myself 

fixed 

 

I wish I could take credit for that. I picked it up from the talking turtle in 'Kung Fu Panda'

Doesn't make it any less of a sage statement though, I suppose.

 

It definitely has its perks.

Mind you, it is 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day though which kinda bites.

3 weeks after R&T and I hooked up and he had returned to the UK, I made a decision to move over here to be with him. Yeh, it took me a few months of planning and stuff, but back home I had actually pretty much got into a good stage of life and was cruising along quite nicely thank you with my job and social shit, and I pretty much left all of that behind for one person (well, actually 3 if you count Elliot and Sebastian too!). It is easily the best thing I have ever done. Yeh, I get really fucking homesick, and it can be a seriously bumpy road sometimes helping raise someone else's kids, but when I look at it, I've never been happier and the idea of regret never even comes into my mind.

Because I took this risk and it made me happier than I ever thought possible, I am totally more open to taking other risks now, which I would never ever have done before. The idea of wondering 'what if?' is so much worse to me than wondering 'what if I HAD done that and it hadn't worked out?'

too many people dont get that work hard = play hard

Exactly.

Solar-power installation / system design / system testing ? Solar industry in general ? Most skilled citizens who have already done the yards through an apprenticeship etc, like yourself no doubt, would have little trouble moving "across",  to a "parallel" industry. Maybe with half a year's worth of additional training (DC related mostly), which can also be done on the job I've heard. Rebates for solar taking ages to approve ( cause of lack of skilled staff to cope with the demand) could be worth a look in. The Electrical Engineering Department at Regency would be a nice place to start, you're more than 80% qualified already.

"The first step towards happiness is always the hardest"

On the other hand you don't want to work so hard that you're too fucked to play hard, or play at all.

Hosting and being an administrator for AM.


Nope, complete and utter failure.

When James died


Everything changed

too true
sometimes i look at the crazy moolah being made by my doctor or lawyer friends and imagine how much less financial stress you'd have in life.

then i think of the stupidly long hours these Dr/lawyer friends all work and think "not on your fucking life son". seriously.
you only get one shot at life and no one on their death bed ever says "i wish i spent more time in the office"

so true.

i'm hoping when ali and i sign our building contract that will be one of the biggest life changing moments in my life.

Life changing moments hey,

Probably two massive ones for me, the sudden death of my father when I was 19 and the death of James.

There has been stacks of little things that have made me think twice about life in general, but those two would have had the biggest impact on me as a person.

actually
becoming a father has changed my life more than anything else without doubt.
changed the lifestyle and freedom i once enjoyed, but of course changes the whole way i look at the world. watching the way a complete new person that wouldnt be here if it wasnt for you views the world, grows up, changes etc - pretty full on/highly entertaining/intriguing.

besides, means i can do shit like leap into a ball-crawl all over again, lol

Moving to the UK would have to be fairly high on my list.  Tho in reality not much has changed for it, just doin things in a differnt country really and get to see the rest of the world much more easily.

More easily? I'm confused. Are you saying Adelaide isn't the centre of the world?

and now that i think of it, yeah getting the fuck out of adelaide for 4 years certainly changed my perception on the world, myself as a global citizen and what i felt i could do in adelaide once i got back...

Yep moving away to Melbourne 18 months ago has been massive for me. I learned very quickly how much I relied upon home comforts.
But I am proud that I did it, and I don't regret it. Some things didn't happen how I thought they would, but that is life!

Yeah, going o.s for a year was a turning point. Once you are away from 'home comforts' and all the daily distractions you're familiar with for a prolonged period of time clarifies who you are and what you are capable of achieving for sure.

yeah i'm 90% sure they have courses on solar for 'old school' sparklords

that time we couldnt score any acid or meth when we were kids, and decided to take ecstacy before heading out to dnb. they just happened to be massive OMO caps. fuck me was that a life changing moment.

Finishing all my study was big for me. Having the goal to finish kept me focussed on something and once I finished I realised that it wasn't necessarily what I wanted to do. I suddenly had to point my life in my own direction.

Bigup Christopher for some very inspired words at that time

haha. someone had to be the grown up mate. xx

moving to germany and learning the language was a life changing moment for me...just made me think how big and yet how small the world is.

uni was also a life changer as well...took me back to germany and to a few places in australia.


I have always found that when you under immense stress and pressure for an extended period of time, like with carbon, a diamond is formed.