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Lost my fingers and lost my identity. What job should I switch to that can give me the same gratification without the medical consequences?
So long story short I used to work at a job I LOVED. We built sets for broadway. I 25F am a very versatile worker. I was hired as a carpenter, and then got switched into the electrics department when they were swamped with work. I picked that up so well that they practically begged to keep me. While I was working in the electrics department I had an accident on the table saw and lost the majority of my left pointer and middle finger. I was also pregnant at the time. My baby boy is completely fine, but this is relevant because I was already going through so many huge life changes and losing two fingers was such a huge change too that it was just hard to adapt to it all. I was out of work healing until about two weeks before I was due. I came in and did my best but started finding some pretty dooming limitations. I wasn’t able to strip wires as easily since we used tiny gauge wires which just slipped out of my nubby hand, I couldn’t hold tiny screws in place etc etc. I eventually got a lot better at navigating my “disability” and learned some maneuvers to help me out but ended up switching to the automation department due to some managerial issues.
The new department change was great and I picked it all up very quickly, but over the next two years I had to go through two revision surgeries, including removing incredibly painful neuromas that developed at the “tips” of my nubs, and physical therapy to help with palm pain due to my thumb reaching across to my ring finger more for precision tasks. After the second surgery I just couldn’t go back. The tips of my fingers are so sensitive and while I loved that job, I’m very bad at setting boundaries and they have a hard time remembering my limitations when they get busy. I would find myself saying “yeah I guess I can do that once” and then end up doing the same repetitive tasks for a week straight which was a big no no from my surgeon to try to prevent me from developing more neuromas.
I’ve been a stay at home mom for the last year. My nubs are still very sensitive and feel pretty bad after regular daily tasks. My issue is that I’m suffering really bad mentally from not working. I’ve always worked with my hands my whole life, and I’ve always worked my whole life. I’m talking easily 60 hour weeks regularly and hitting 80 hours on busy weeks. And I get a lot of fulfillment from hands on work. But I’m having trouble figuring out careers that I CAN do without overworking my hands.
I do have prosthetics but since there’s no feeling in them I can’t really pinch small things like I would need to for my old job.
I’ve been contemplating just going back to my old job and just trying to set stricter boundaries, and saying no when they ask more of me but it’s so hard. I love challenges, it’s hard to say no to something that I know I CAN do. But only for a little bit. My husband has been suggesting maybe asking to work part time there instead but I’m just worried I’ll get sucked into it again.
Im looking for creative careers that are hands on MAKING something, without overuse of my left hand. I am right handed for reference, but when I was soldering at my old job I had to hold all the wires with my left hand.
Jobadvisor
This is really helpful. The crew energy piece is actually a big clue — a lot of people in your situation focus on finding the skill equivalent of their old job, but for you it sounds like the environment matters just as much as the making. Fast-paced, collaborative, physical, everyone pulling toward a deadline together.
Here are the directions I'd seriously explore:
🎭 Stay adjacent to theatre/live events — different role
You already have the vocabulary, the contacts, and the culture. You don't have to leave that world, just shift your lane.
- Production Manager / Stage Manager — You've worked across carpentry, electrics, and automation. That cross-department fluency is genuinely rare and exactly what PMs need. It's mostly coordination, problem-solving under pressure, and being the person who knows enough about every department to call BS when needed. Crew energy, deadlines, chaos — all still there. Hands barely involved.
- Rigging/Automation Supervisor (desk/coordination side) — You already picked up automation fast. Supervisory roles in that space involve a lot of oversight, cue-calling, troubleshooting — less hands-on repetitive work, still deeply technical.
- Lighting/Electrics Programmer — Board ops and programmers sit at a console, but they're in the thick of tech rehearsals with the whole crew. Your electrics background is a direct on-ramp. This is learnable and your hands are mostly just on a keyboard/trackball.
🏗️ Construction inspection or project coordination
Your carpenter + electrician + automation background is genuinely unusual. Construction inspection (especially electrical inspection) is a career where you walk sites, catch problems, talk to crews all day. It's physical in the sense of being on your feet and on-site, but not repetitive fine motor work. Licensing paths vary by country/state but your experience base is a huge head start.
🎓 Trades instruction / apprenticeship training
Teaching carpentry or electrical work at a vocational school or union apprenticeship program puts you back in the energy of people learning fast, working hard, and figuring things out together. You'd be demonstrating, supervising, troubleshooting student work. Your story — including the injury and how you adapted — is genuinely valuable context for people entering those trades.
🧩 The part-time-at-old-job question
Your husband's instinct isn't bad, but I'd reframe it slightly. The problem wasn't the job, it was the absence of a structural limit. Part time with a specific, written role description (e.g. "automation programming and cue supervision only, no hands-on install work") might actually work — but only if it's a formal agreement, not a handshake. You know yourself: if the boundary lives only in your head, the next busy week will eat it.
Given that income isn't the main driver right now, I'd honestly suggest starting with one day a week back in the theatre world in a coordination or programming capacity — not to ease back into your old job, but to remind yourself what the energy feels like and whether a role-shifted version of it scratches the itch. You might find the PM path is more satisfying than you'd expect, or you might confirm you want the hands-on piece back and can structure it safely.
What pulls at you most from that list?
I’ve been thinking of becoming an ultrasound tech but am scared of failure. Any ultrasound techs out there willing to explain the process or what to expect before considering this career?
Everything is basically explained in the title, but for some background information, I'm about to be 22 and I've been stuck working somewhere I know won’t help me much in the long run. My body is tired most days, and I'm just letting time slip away. This career path has been on my mind for way too long and I'm looking to finally take the plunge and start my life. What makes me nervous are the classes I'd have to take. I've never been the best at math and if I'm correct I think I'd have to take physics. I've heard how much people stress or how difficult it is, so I'm very hesitant about it all. Any advice would be helpful!
Jobadvisor
What a great career to consider! Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS) is genuinely rewarding, and your concerns are very normal. Here's an honest breakdown:
The Program Itself
Most accredited programs are 2 years for an Associate's degree, or you can pursue a Bachelor's if you want more advancement options. You'll need prerequisites first — typically A&P I & II, basic math, and yes, usually an introductory physics course. The physics is specifically focused on sound wave behavior (how ultrasound works), not calculus-level physics, so it's more conceptual than computational. Many students who were "bad at math" do just fine.
What the Coursework Actually Looks Like
The hard parts are real but manageable: anatomy (a lot of it), pathophysiology, physics of sound, and hands-on scanning. The scanning is where most people fall in love with it — it's a genuine skill that develops over time with practice, not raw intelligence.
Addressing Your Fear of Failure
- Community colleges often offer the prereqs cheaply, so you can test the waters before committing to a full program
- Most DMS students are not science prodigies — they're people who work hard and stay consistent
- Struggling with a class isn't failure; it's part of the process
What to Expect Day-to-Day as a Tech
- You'll work closely with patients, often during very stressful moments in their lives (pregnancy scans, cancer screenings, etc.)
- It's mentally engaging — you're interpreting what you see in real time
- Physical demand is real — repetitive arm/shoulder strain is a known occupational hazard, so ergonomics matter
The Practical Upside
- Median salary is around $75–80k, with experienced techs earning well over $90k
- Job outlook is strong (faster than average growth projected through the 2030s)
- Lots of specialization options: OB/GYN, cardiac (echo), vascular, abdominal, MSK
Your Best First Step
Look up CAAHEP-accredited programs near you — that accreditation is important for sitting for the ARDMS registry exam, which is your licensure. Shadow a sonographer first if you can; many hospitals allow brief job shadows and it'll either confirm or redirect your interest quickly.
At 22 with energy and motivation, you have every advantage. The fear you're feeling is just the gap between where you are and where you want to be — that gap closes one class at a time.
My old boss tried sabatoging my job, what do I do?
Hi! So I just left my job, it was kind of hard to leave too.
I put my 2 week notice in back in January, and i was told to wait until late June and we'll think of my last day then. Well on May 5th I put in my 2 week notice again saying I was done with this shit and wanted my last day to be May 19th. She asked me to wait until May 31st and I agreed.
I have a job lined up, and i thought i was on friendly terms with my boss, I was one of her managers. Well my last week she severely cut my hours down to just 20hours, and my last day was May 30th instead (i was ok with that as I start my job June 1st). One day she texted me asking me where I got hired at so I told her. One of my new managers used to work for her years ago so she went out of her way to text her.
I am not sure what was said. During my orientation my boss got brought up, I said she was sweet and I was told by a different manager than she texted that she was not and he explained to me that she texted another manager talking shit about me trying to persuade them not to hire me.
I still have the new job, my last day at my old job was yesterday. Im not sure whether I should escalate this issue or just quietly move on. What do I do?
Jobadvisor
That's a really frustrating situation, especially after trying to leave on good terms. Here's how I'd think through it:
The good news first: You still have the job. Whatever she said didn't work, which tells you your new workplace already has a healthy skepticism of her. That's a good sign about where you're landing.
On whether to escalate:
The honest answer is — probably not, at least not right now. Here's why:
- You'd be starting a new job by immediately drawing attention to drama from your old one, which rarely looks good regardless of who's at fault.
- Proving what she said and its intent is difficult, and any formal complaint (to HR at your old job, or legally) takes time, money, and energy you'd be spending while trying to make a great first impression somewhere new.
- If your new employer already knows she's not a great reference, the damage is minimal.
What you should do:
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Document everything now — screenshot that text she sent you asking where you were hired, write down what the manager told you (date, what was said, who said it), and save any other relevant messages. If this ever becomes a legal matter, you'll want a paper trail.
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Have a quiet conversation with your new manager — not to complain, but to get ahead of it. Something like: "I heard there may have been some communication from my previous employer. I just want to be transparent — I left on professional terms and I'm excited to be here." Keep it brief and confident.
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Know your legal options exist — what she did could potentially constitute tortious interference or defamation depending on what was actually said. That doesn't mean you need to act on it now, but it's worth knowing if things escalate.
The best revenge here is genuinely thriving at the new job. You're already there — don't let her pull your focus backward.
Marketing career choices?
Hello everyone, I'd appreciate some advice.
I'm a dual U.S. citizen moving to the U.S. this August and am currently career-switching into marketing. I've secured a remote marketing internship and plan to work casual jobs while building experience and applying for entry-level marketing roles.
My main priority is long-term career growth.
The cities I'm considering are:
San Francisco
Seattle
Phoenix
San Diego
Austin
Orlando
Huntsville
For those working in marketing:
- Which of these cities offers the best opportunities for someone trying to break into marketing?
- How important is being in a top hub versus a smaller market?
- Are there any cities on my list that you think are underrated or overrated for marketing careers?
Any insights on job availability, networking, career progression, and the local marketing scene would be greatly appreciated
Jobadvisor
Moving to a new country and switching careers simultaneously is a massive undertaking—congrats on securing that remote internship, as having that on your U.S. resume from day one is a huge advantage.
The U.S. marketing job market is highly localized by industry. Because your main priority is long-term career growth, your choice of city shouldn't just be about where the most jobs are, but where the right ecosystems exist for the type of marketing you want to build a career in.
Direct Comparison of Your Target Cities
To help you evaluate your choices, here is how your target cities stack up across job density, primary industries, and their viability for an entry-level career-switcher.
| City | Marketing Job Density | Primary Industry Focus | Entry-Level Viability | Long-Term Career Growth |
| San Francisco | Very High | B2B Tech, SaaS, AI, Growth Marketing | Challenging (Highly competitive) | Massive (Highest salary ceiling) |
| Austin | High | Tech, Consumer Brands, CPG, Agencies | Moderate | Strong (Fast-growing hub) |
| Seattle | High | Enterprise Tech, E-commerce, Retail | Challenging | Strong (Dominated by Amazon/Microsoft) |
| San Diego | Medium | Biotech, Life Sciences, Tourism, Agencies | Moderate | Moderate (Smaller corporate base) |
| Phoenix | Medium | Healthcare, Real Estate, Regional Corporate | Good (Less cutthroat) | Moderate |
| Orlando | Medium-Low | Hospitality, Tourism, Entertainment | Good (Niche) | Limited outside of hospitality |
| Huntsville | Low | Aerospace, Defense, Government Contracting | Difficult for generalists | Very Limited for marketing |
1. Top Hub vs. Smaller Market: How Much Does It Matter?
For an entry-level career switcher, being in a major or secondary hub matters significantly, but not for the reason most people think. It’s less about the quantity of job postings and more about ecosystem density and talent mobility.
The Hub Advantage: In tier-1 hubs (like San Francisco or Seattle) and booming tier-2 hubs (like Austin), companies are dense. If you land a job and it turns out to be a toxic environment or offers zero upward mobility, you can jump to another company down the street.
The Network Effect: In marketing, your network is your net worth. In a hub, local marketing mixers, American Marketing Association (AMA) chapters, and industry-specific meetups happen weekly.
The Smaller Market Trap: In a city like Huntsville or Orlando, if the top 2 or 3 local corporate headquarters aren't hiring, your local options dry up instantly, leaving you entirely dependent on the hyper-competitive remote job market.
2. The Underrated and Overrated Cities on Your List
🏆 The Most Underrated: Austin & Phoenix
Austin: Austin balances the high-paying tech opportunities of Silicon Valley with a massive consumer packaged goods (CPG) and creative agency scene. It is large enough to have a massive marketing footprint, but tight-knit enough that networking actually yields results for an outsider.
Phoenix: Phoenix is quietly a phenomenal place to break in. The cost of living is more manageable than the West Coast, competition for junior roles is significantly less fierce, and there is a massive corporate presence in healthcare, finance, and regional services that always need digital marketing specialists.
⚠️ The Most Overrated: San Francisco & Seattle (For Beginners)
San Francisco & Seattle: While these cities offer the highest long-term salary potential, they are brutal for entry-level career switchers. You will be competing for "entry-level" coordinator roles against laid-off tech workers and recent graduates from top-tier universities who have 3 previous tech internships.
The Nuance: If you want to do Tech/SaaS Product Marketing, these are the holy grails. But the barrier to entry right now is exceptionally high.
🛑 The "Proceed with Caution": Huntsville & Orlando
Huntsville: This is a brilliant engineering and defense hub, but a terrible marketing hub. Defense contractors market to the government via government relations and business development—not digital acquisition, brand, or content marketing.
Orlando: Unless you want to specialize strictly in hospitality, tourism, or timeshare marketing, the local corporate landscape is relatively thin, and wages tend to skew lower relative to the cost of living.
Strategic Advice for Moving Forward
Since you already have a remote internship locked down, you have a brief window of flexibility.
Define your flavor of marketing: If you love data, analytics, and tech, target Austin or Seattle. If you prefer brand strategy, content, or general digital marketing for mid-sized businesses, target Phoenix or San Diego.
Leverage your dual citizenship: Make sure your resume clearly lists a U.S. phone number and states that you are authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship.
Use casual jobs tactically: Try to find casual work that builds adjacent skills. Working at a local boutique, a co-working space, or doing freelance social media management for a local business will look much better on a marketing resume than completely unrelated gig work.
I’m a 28 year old licensed journeyman service plumbing and hate my job. Is there anyway to start over without hating work just as much?
I’ve begun to dread coming into work every day. I pretty much have a hard time with everything about this industry. Some of my least favorite things are as follows:
The Schedule: I have no idea when my workday is going to end because I don’t know when my last call will be, and I’m not done until I’ve finished whatever work I may have sold. Some days I’m done around 4 p.m. (very rarely), but other days I’m working past 8 p.m., and anything in between. I usually work around 50–55 hours a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but that’s about average.
I know plenty of people work more than that, but this job is very mentally taxing and pretty physical as well. Every job I sell, I’m responsible for completing, so I often find myself doing whole-house repipes, outdoor water and sewer lines, and other large jobs with one helper at most.
Selling: I hate having to sell people work. It’s a constant source of stress because my pay is fully commission-based. I struggle with two opposing forces.
Customers are constantly telling me my prices are outrageous. They say they think I’m ripping people off or that they can’t believe it could cost that much. I’m a very empathetic person, and those comments weigh heavily on my conscience.
On the other side, I’m constantly being pressured by management to make more money and increase my ticket averages. They’re always training us on how to “find more work,” “raise ticket averages,” and “not only focus on what you were called there for.” So after every job I sell, I feel like I’ve either done a disservice to the customer by charging too much, or I’m not making enough money for the company and somehow screwing them over too. I often feel both of these emotions at the same time.
The Work Itself: I have no love for plumbing, either. I don’t really enjoy any part of it, from installing water and sewer systems to changing out water heaters and other household fixtures.
I have high standards for myself, so I make sure all of my work is done as properly as possible. This results in me being much slower than some of my coworkers, who seem more willing to toe the line when it comes to the “excellence” our company claims to provide. This is another constant stress in the back of my mind while I’m working.
Taking longer means I’m going to get home even later, but if I rush, I’m much more likely to make a mistake and make the job take even longer. I don’t really feel any satisfaction from doing well at my job, even though I believe the quality of my work is above average.
These are some of the things I really dislike about my job that I feel would be issues no matter what service plumbing company I worked for. While my company has plenty of other specific things I dislike, it also offers some benefits that I know many other companies don’t.
I feel like I would probably be just as miserable at any other service plumbing company, so I don’t really want to apply elsewhere only to end up disliking my job even more. New construction doesn’t appeal to me either, as it still involves inconsistent hours, is faster-paced than I feel I could handle while maintaining quality work, and would likely mean a pay cut.
My wife and I have started looking into other jobs I could do, but we haven’t come up with any viable options. It feels like the skills I’ve learned in plumbing are so niche that any new career would require starting from the entry level.
I didn’t go to college and worked in the service industry before spending the last four years in plumbing. I feel hopeless when it comes to finding a job that could provide the structure and consistency I crave while still paying a livable wage. I don’t have any desire to be rich—just comfortable enough to save for retirement and enjoy the few hobbies I have.
Does anyone have advice for someone thinking about starting over at 28 from basically ground zero? Everything we’ve come across either has similar hours and inconsistent schedules or requires a degree.
Anyways thanks for reading and writing this out felt nice.
Jobadvisor
Your situation is more hopeful than it feels right now. A few honest thoughts:
Your skills aren't as niche as you think. Four years as a licensed journeyman plumber tells an employer you're reliable, safety-conscious, detail-oriented, physically capable, and able to work with customers. Those translate broadly.
Some directions worth exploring:
Within trades, but different context:
- Facilities/maintenance technician at a hospital, university, hotel, or large apartment complex — salaried, consistent hours, no selling, no commission pressure. Your plumbing license is a significant asset here and you'd likely come in above entry level.
- Building inspector / code inspector — your license and experience could qualify you. More structured, office + field mix, government hours.
- Plumbing supply/wholesale — technical sales or counter work where you're helping contractors, not homeowners. No pressure selling, stable hours.
Pivots that leverage how you think:
- Estimating or project coordination at a construction firm — detail-oriented people who hate rushing are exactly what these roles need. No license required, trainable.
- Technical writing or training — companies that make plumbing products need people who actually know how the stuff works.
The bigger picture:
- 28 is genuinely not starting over. It's a course correction with real experience behind you.
- The things you hate most — commission pressure, unpredictable hours, solo accountability for large jobs — are specific to residential service plumbing. They're not inherent to having a trades background.
- The things you value — quality, consistency, doing things right — are genuinely rare and employable.
One practical next step: Search "facilities maintenance" or "maintenance technician" on Indeed filtered to your area. Look at what certifications they list. Your plumbing license will often meet or exceed what they're asking for, and the pay can be comparable with vastly better structure.
You're not at ground zero. You're just pointed in the wrong direction.