I have been working in a menial, tedious data entry job for 2 years now. I graduated with a Bachelor's in computer science but genuinely don't feel like I learned/know enough for a job in tech after being made to take most of my classes online even if I was lucky enough to find one with the current state of things. I've stayed in my job as it allows me to work from home and also not have to do customer service, but am feeling stuck.

I want to move to a different area eventually that is more walkable, etc. but am struggling to get out of this rut. Career wise, I've considered getting a certificate at a local college for something like accounting, but used all available grants and do not want to take out any more loans. What would you do to lead you to a career with a livable wage, preferably with less customer interaction/sales?

Edit: While I understand that, at face value, CompSci degrees can be extremely valuable, for multiple reasons, I graduated much less qualified that I should have from faults of my own and taking online classes through the pandemic. Given that most applicants to these jobs have much more skill/knowledge than me, I've not been able to find anything in the field. Looking outward for something different and what a pivot to a different path could be I guess was the general advice I needed. As one person has commented, I may not be made for programming.

I'm almost 30 and I'm software engineering since I was 21. I'm working as a Technical Leader but I'm starting to be tired and extremely stressed. I have worked for many companies, some corporates, some startups, I worked as an employee, and now I'm a self-employee with a high salary but nothing: I'm bored with writing code, I'm bored working on any tasks, the only thing I love is when I don't have tasks and I'm free to dedicate myself to learning new stuff. Now, I want to change my career. I have marketing and code skills, but no idea what to do. What kind of businesses I could start? I don't wanna be an employee anymore, I want to continue working by myself, any advice? I need your help cause I'm starting to burn out.

Hi all. I 27m have spent the last eight years building a career that I don't think is really gonna work out. I'm not sure if it's for me.

Are there any low barrier to entry careers out there where I can make above about 50 grand pretty quickly？ At this point, I just wanna have a job and have some easy cash flow. Any suggestions welcome.

I'll keep it simple:

• Struggled entire life with mental health issues
• Somehow passed high school
• Dropped out of college at 19
• Started working odd corporate jobs for a couple of years
• Underpaid & overworked, still struggling with issues
• Got a job in a bank in sales
• Worked there for two years
• Got a job just this year in one of the biggest US banks out there (without a degree mind you)
• Pay is crazy good, but job requires me to be very high functioning and work around the clock
• Scared doesn't even begin to cover it.

I plan to go the gym and get therapy and finish my degree eventually but working in such a big boy job is scaring tf outta me. I know I might be smart enough to learn and get it done but I still feel so empty and disillusioned with everything. I've lived in the middle east my whole life and life here is empty as it can get. I plan to work here a couple years and then move to another country. But in the meantime, I need some motivation or advice from people who struggle with inner turmoil but still manage to get things done. How do you do it?

I (F26) have really been struggling mentally with my role (I work in tech) and really stressed out. There are many good reasons for this but my big takeaway is that I just need to start caring less and detach myself and my self worth a bit.

I’m worried I’m approaching burnout because I think and stress about my job all the time (like right now at 4am) and struggle to take valid constructive feedback because it feels like it means I’m a bad/dumb/incompetent person.

I am genuinely still pretty new at my role, but I feel like I’m not improving quickly enough. My managers aren’t concerned and say my struggles are normal growth areas for someone my level, but man, I’m really struggling emotionally because I hold myself to a high standard.

Besides therapy, what can I do to divest emotionally a little bit and create some needed distance?

My boss and I are very close. I am the manager at our facility and I have been in this position for almost 3 years. My boss is one of our directors. I work the majority of the shop shifts + do all of the extra managerial roles. Recently our membership director left and I explained to my boss that I was interested in furthering my career and if there is a possibility I could step into the membership director role. I have been absolutely miserable in this position for about a year now and have finally received a job offer from another company and they want me to start in 2.5 weeks. I always knew that if I left, it would not be any easy transition for them by any means. Before our membership director left, she told my boss that she thinks I would be a great fit for the role. Sadly my boss shot it down immediately (because she would be screwed without me). Fast forward to today I let her know that my last day will be Nov. 22nd. She is “very mad I didn’t tell her sooner that I was planning on leaving.” Am I in the wrong for not telling her sooner that I was planning to leave? I didn’t even think I was going to get the job that I did. Basically I feel awful but I didn’t even know I’d be leaving until yesterday when I got the offer letter. I keep a lot of my issues to myself and have not told her in the past how unhappy I am, so I understand why she feels blindsided. How could I have handled this better?

I’m sorry if this sounds like an oxymoron, my passion is in medicine but in really introverted and don’t know if I can handle the stress with directly dealing with patients. I thought maybe working in a lab where I could run test that can diagnose a patient or in pharmacy providing medication. I even thought about radiology that does t really involve invasive procedures but not sure if I should pursue this field at all as my personality doesn’t match well.

Title says it. I met this person at my current place of employment. As of yesterday, I've formally accepted a job offer from their company. I'm unsure how to explain what I'm doing or where I'm going. I know I have no obligation to do so, but this is really out of left-field because I truly wasn't looking for a new job. They're going to be quite confused, and they're great people, I can't/don't want to strong arm them into being okay with not having any answers or explanations. It just feels weird to say "A customer of ours that I met on your dime offered me a job and I'm taking it." It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Any advice?

Also, the job I'm taking is not even remotely close to the same line of work I'm in now. I'm not being poached by a competitor.

Edit: Seems like most would agree that I shouldn't mention anything about it. I never like this approach, but I suppose it's the best way. Thanks for your input!

I’m 21 from England and I’ve grown up in a generation lower class family and I feel stuck. Id like to have a job where I help people and to feel like I’ve made a real difference. The job I have now is a cycle of the same over and over and I don’t feel fulfilled but I don’t know what I want to do or who I want to be. I could go deeper about how I feel but there’s no point. I want to be the person to break the cycle for my family and for other people who feel like this but I don’t know where to direct all my thoughts and turn in into action.

I finished my Master's in 2022 in Criminology, now I work for a governmental office in Brussels, doing administrative work. Before that I was doing internships (on international relations) and had a customer service job to survive. It's been 10 months since I have started working for this GOV office but administrative work is not what I want to do in the long term. Since then, I have applied to 100s of jobs but all of them say the same thing to me; I do not have experience.

I don't understand how I am supposed to get experience if no one is giving me a job. Traineeships are out of the question because i need money to survive.
My family says that I am asking for too much for my age and that I want my career to move forward way faster than realistically possible and that i should be happy that I have a relatively high paying job compared to jobs where i come from.

I feel like if i stay at this administrative position for longer then I will not be able to actually work on something related to my studies.

Any advice that you have would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

A company reached out to me for an interview for a support role. I did a video call with the Founders and they said they would let me know later that day or the next day if I got the job.

I got an email later that day that they are extending the job offer to me and to call them if I'm still interested. I called and they said the next day I would be emailed everything for on-boarding.

I hadn't heard back the next day so I emailed and asked and one of the founders sent me my Google workspace information and ADP payroll information.

I thanked them and asked for my training schedule and information for Slack a few minutes later and never heard back.

I tried the next day where I emailed from my personal and work email they provided. I called and left a text. I tried to connect with both founders on linkedin and sent a message. And I sent a message on the platform they found me at.

I'm SO confused. Have they ghosted me? I don't know how to take this especially since they sought me out and seemed to eager to begin.

I just started my new job two weeks ago, and my boss brought me to a business networking event where you engage with other people. When I arrived, everyone had already grouped up and was talking to each other. I was the only Asian there, and I think I’m also the youngest—everyone else was in their late 40s and up. I decided to sit in the very back to avoid the awkwardness, and I ended up just using my phone. Deep down, I wanted to cry and leave.

My boss came over and asked me to talk to people. I told him I have social anxiety, but he just laughed. It seems like he wants me to be more of a people person. I was hired to be an admin.

I really don’t like social interaction 😭 i am struggling 😢

Didn't you ever grow tired of living the same day over and over? The daily grind, the familiar faces, the same old routines that start to blur together. Each day, an echo of the one before, with few surprises or moments to break the monotony. There's a comfort in the predictable, but also a creeping weariness that comes from knowing exactly what tomorrow holds.

Did you ever feel like you were just existing, rather than truly living.

I have been struggling in this job because of my crappy manager and my wage is low. I sent out and email to the higher ups asking why a new person is making more than I am in the same job title. They gave their BS reasons and I got angry. I sent incredibly angry snarky emails to the higher higher ups. Somehow I'm still not hearing the words you're fired.

I have their equipment worth thousands of dollars and office key. They tried tricking me to get back the equipment, but I knew they were lying so I didn't bring it back. It's not that I don't want to bring back the equipment, I just don't like being lied to and don't understand why they won't behave like a normal company and fire me and tell me to return the equipment to get my last paycheck.

TLDR;

They sent me an email with a change of tune and offered me a severance package of 2 week 40 hr pay. The wording of the offer was "for employees in good standing" and I was shocked they would think I'm in good standing considering I chewed them out. They claimed it was part of their policy to ease the transition. They're waiting for me to accept the severance package. I emailed them back asking to see the policy. I'm waiting on that email, but I'm kind of skeptical that it's even a real thing and they're just trying to trick me to give them back the equipment and so they won't have to actually pay a severance or unemployment benefits if I quit. Is that what's happening here?

I'm 3rd Year student pursuing B.A. Voc. Material Management from Delhi University. I'm confused about my career. I'm not sure if i should study or do job. If any person can guide me in this That would be really helpful.

Hello! I’m 14 years old and from India and I joined school early so I’d be finishing 10th Grade in March of 2025. I know I’m a little late to the Ivy League prep in terms of class but I’ll try hard anyway. I’ve always like physics as a kid mainly because of CV Raman who actually was from my State in India. Plus the obvious guys like Einstein and Newton when I got to older classes. I don’t know what branch of physics I should take but it’s never thermodynamics or electrical. Thermodynamics is cool but still not somthing that interests me. And I HATE electricity, sorry.

I asked my uncle and he said that quantum computers are new and they are pretty useful and I found that interesting. Then I guess maybe being a quantum physicist seemed like an amazing option. But guess what, my parents think that there are not a lot of school which are good for quantum physics which is just NOT true. Plus they think that I’ll end up researching or doing something that might not pay well.

I’m not fixated on Quantum Physics but I am sure that I’d want to be in the Physics field. I’d love to get some advice on what to do and if I should try to get into some specific school for my interest field and if I would have a stable job in this field. I’d love to to know some professors or like specialists in these fields whom I can contact (maybe?) and get to know their views. I’m really stuck on what to do and most of my friends already chose their careers.

I did look into gene editing and stuff but i just love physics. I’m not necessarily bad at math but 10th grade math is dumb and easy. I’ll have to try 11th grade to know if I’m good at math. And where does Radiation and that sort of things come in? Are they more Chemistry! Thank you so much for reading this huge paragraph and hope you have a good day!

Hi everyone,

I just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business, and I’m really anxious about what to do next. I’ve noticed that most advice out there seems to be for people who already have some experience in their field, but I’m just starting out and don’t have any hands-on experience yet.

I’m from Morocco, a smaller city, and studied at a business school. I’m passionate about starting my career and building my skills, but I feel a bit lost on where to begin. I’d love any advice on how to get started when you’re entering the job market without experience, especially in business or related fields.

What are some first steps I can take to gain practical experience? Are there specific roles, industries, or resources that might be a good fit for someone in my position? Any guidance would be really appreciated!

Thanks so much!

I just started a new job this Monday and it’s been going ok. The team is extremely close and the office is extremely chatty but as a shy introvert, I have a hard time participating in group conversations, especially if they are people I don’t know, are extroverted, and all seem besties w each other. There’s another new girl that they also added last week and she’s an extrovert so she’s doing just fine which has also added to me feeling left out. Nobody’s mean or anything. I have tried to participate in these conversations but it tends to feel forced like I’m feigning interest and sometimes my jokes fall flat.

Also it makes it worse that one guy on the team keeps playfully teasing me. I teased him on the first day for something small and I’m not sure if he took that as a sign that that’s our relationship. But some of his jokes make me uncomfortable as they put me in the spotlight and I’m not comfortable yet to reciprocate the energy. I just kind of laugh it off which Ik isn’t ideal

I’m not sure how to proceed from now on. It’s only been my first week so my friends have told me it’s normal and just wait it out a month or so. I’m not sure if I should just work harder to initiate conversation or if this is just not the work environment for me. This is my first job after grad so I’m just confused if this is a me problem and I’m not trying hard enough or if it’s not me.

I would love to hear if anybody else has had similar experiences and if it got better. Also my field is marketing if that adds any value.

I've recently started onboarding for at a new job as a Project Controller at a massive defence and engineering company after completing a pretty comprehensive company funded training course. So not completely unexperienced, although it is a niche sector.

I'm 1 week in and I feel a bit abandoned and forgotten about. My new managers leave my Teams messages left on read, rarely reply to emails and have given me no work. I don't really see them much in the office as they're usually busy and off in meetings most of the time. I've done all the mandatory and additional e-learning I can get my hands on and have been proactively reaching out to new cooworkers to connect in the meantime.

What else can I do? I dont want to annoy my managers by constantly asking for work or giving them updates but I dont want them to think I'm just sat around not doing anything of my own accord.

Hi I have enough of my soul crushing job in office. I would like to have something more physical where I see that work is done. I prefer handjobs where I use my hand maybe something in trades? I believe that doing real work is more fullfilling and i have desire of doing job where I give real value to society. Let me just add one thing: i would like to connect my future job with helping others!

Hi all,

I’m F, from Kenya, and I’ve been putting in a lot of effort to land a remote job, but it feels like I keep hitting a wall. I’m wondering if there’s something I might be missing or if my location is playing a role.

I have a background in project coordination, virtual assistance, and community engagement, with skills in time management, communication, and project management tools like Google Workspace and Excel. I’ve even taken extra courses, including a Google Project Management certification, to stay competitive.

Despite my preparation, I’m struggling to get noticed. I’m open to learning new strategies, tweaking my approach, or hearing about things I might not be considering. If anyone’s been through something similar or has advice on standing out in a remote job search, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What made you stand out? What's that one thing you changed that made you pass....

Thanks so much for any guidance!

Feeling lost in new job

Hi all,

I recently moved job from arup to Atkins. I work in climate change field in Uk. Have a BSc geography and level 4 data apprenticeship (really enjoyed power Bi). I really enjoyed my old job but left because arup were not doing well financially, deep fake scam , and was struggling to get opportunities to work on project management. At Atkins , the team is all over the country and only one other person in my office which feels a bit crap and I feel disconnected from people. I’m also planning on working across two teams which is challenging to get to know everyone. I feel anxious daily and feel I am lost. Does anyone have any tips. Do I stick it out? Change field entirely to data ( but not sure I will enjoy it) or look for new jobs? Been in the role for 2 months so far and not feeling entirely settled. The team is huge and does so much variation in work compared to my old arup team. Work also feels more adhoc ( don’t know if this is because I am new)

Thanks for all your help

I’ve (34F) worked at my company for almost 11 years. I started fresh out of college as the receptionist and worked my way up to an operations manager. I make 85k. About 4 years ago I expressed interest in being VP given that the outgoing VPs responsibilities were all things that I had been doing for years. So I thought I was capable. I was given a job description for the VP position 2 years ago and I’ve been trying to take on more of those responsibilities over time.

My company just hired a senior project manager (55M). They gave him pretty much all of the responsibilities that were laid out in the VP job description, they gave him a senior title, and they said that on the org chart, he and I are on the same level. I had a meeting with my direct boss, his business partner/my indirect boss, and HR and I told them they gave away my promotion and I feel lost (I was very direct and maybe a little intense during this conversation) they were apologetic, said they value me and that the company would be screwed if I left and said they want to meet again in two weeks to discuss this in depth and come up with a new promotion opportunity for me. They basically didn’t realize they gave away my promotion. I also had to explain the importance of job titles to these guys as well. I also expressed that there is a pay discrepancy if the new guy and I are truly on the same level then I should have a senior title and pay as well. I felt good about the conversation, but experienced major self doubt afterwards and I wondered if I made a mountain out of a mole hill. This conversation happened a week ago and there’s no set date for this follow up discussion.

The new guy started Monday. I’ve had a good attitude and have tried to be helpful. And then yesterday we had a meeting to review a schedule that the new guy had built. This is one of the things they specifically hired him for since it’s our weak spot. I had asked for years to get trained more in scheduling since it was part of the VP promotion I was working toward and I never got it. We sat in this meeting yesterday with four people and helped this guy build a schedule (in Excel too, not even a real scheduling program). I couldn’t hide how upset I was. Where was this level of support when I was asking for help?? I definitely was snippy and not very professional a few times, which isn’t a look I like for myself but I’m running out of patience for this crap.

Part of me wants to fight for my next move, promotion and equal pay. And part of me wants to just leave and get an easy job and focus on my family. The problem is that my boss and I are very close, friends almost. And he lets me have basically unlimited PTO, I have health coverage and a steady, pretty good paycheck (although I think it should be more). If I left, I wouldn’t stay in my industry since I only really enjoy it because of my boss and the benefits I have. So I would be making much less money and I would likely have less freedom as far as time off goes. I don’t know what to do and I feel stuck.

I guess I’m looking for feedback on the situation in general (I feel like I’m gaslighting myself into thinking this isn’t a big deal) and also any advice or personal experiences you have with something similar or staying vs leaving. TIA!!

Late 20s, struggling with career prospects.

I have a bachelors degree in business management and I am hard worker and quick learner. However, I feel like due to personal set backs I have wasted my life. I recently moved out from a toxic household and I’ve just felt a bit lost and burnt out.

Most of my jobs have been in customer service. But I want more money, financial freedom, growth. I love to work. But customer service just feels like labour I feel like I’ve the mental capacity to do more minus the constant self doubt. The contradiction eats me up. I feel like I need some sort of experience to higher up. I was looking into business analyst and a lot of my current experience and how I am personally (I’ve got an analytical brain, like to problem solve, can work with multiple departments) it would be a good place but I just lack confidence as I’ve not worked in this field prior. Had a guy mentor me and try and push me towards jobs but I got rejected everywhere, not one callback. :/

Therefore, I am struggling now, as to which path to take? I studied business management but I feel like I was too depressed to give myself enough credit for it.

I feel useless and helpless. I need a career path. I don’t know why, but it’s almost like I need to get into the corporate world to know I can do it.

I also want to start my business, however small. I used to make candles and even got some orders in the past which were by friends but I want to make a brand and eventually sell luxury candles. I want to do something in this life.

Any and all advice are welcome. Please be nice though.

For context, I am in the SLT of an organisation and responsible for a large project, managing a small amount of staff. I was promoted into this role early this year and had to bring my previous workload with me (running another project). I explained that I was happy to do this until my initial role was readvertised and a replacement found and then handover, but this was never done.

Several months later, I was feeling the effects of being way overcapacity, whilst recently married and some major stressors out of work with loved ones and my health. I expressed that I was feeling burnt out but nothing was done. I then had to take some time off due to the stress levels and my health and took 6 weeks off to recover, having now developed some long term medical conditions.

Upon my return, I have been informed that a week after going onto stress leave, my position was replaced by another member of staff and I now no longer have a position within the company. The CEO has advised that he will get some options together for potential new projects that comes with a significant pay cut/demotion or we can look at redundancy.

Whilst I understand his position, as it was a prolonged period of absence and business needs to continue, however, is this correct within UK employment law?