Is marine biology a solid carrer? I love physiology and ecology, i would really like to work to preserve the marine species, but I am afraid of changing majors

Since I was a little kid I always loved animals, in highscool i decided to go to med school because i wanted to be a pyschiatrist. Im finishing my second year of medicine and i have loved/hated ( I love to talk to patients and help them, the subjects and contents are also super beautiful, but the social environment is so toxic) it a lot so far, my best and worst moments in life have been in med school. I get the feeling that i can not be a good doctor and that i will not be a good health professional. There is this uni with an awesome marine biology program, I would have to move to another city alone, I dont have that much money, basically the money that my family spends in paying 6 months of medicine would be like 2 or maybe 4 months of marine biology, I dont want to be a bad son. Sorry, im just kinda exhausted. Thanks a lot for reading and I hope you all have a great day and a super beautiful and happy life.

Jobadvisor

First off, take a deep breath. You are carrying an incredibly heavy emotional load right now, and it is completely normal to feel exhausted. Dealing with a toxic environment, feeling imposter syndrome about your future career, and balancing family financial pressures is a lot for a second-year student.

First, let's validate something: You are not being a bad son just for having these doubts and looking for a path that won't drain your soul.

Let's break this down with some real talk about Marine Biology, how it compares to Medicine, and how you might bridge the two without uprooting your entire life just yet.

The Reality of Marine Biology

You mentioned loving physiology and ecology and wanting to preserve marine species. Marine biology is deeply beautiful, but the career landscape looks very different from medicine.

• The Job Market: Marine biology is highly competitive and often underfunded. Unlike medicine—where a degree guarantees a clear, high-paying career path—marine biology jobs (especially in conservation and preservation) often require a Master’s or Ph.D. to clear a living wage.

• The Financial Picture: You mentioned that marine biology tuition and living expenses in the new city would cost more than medicine (6 months of med school = 2 to 4 months of marine biology). Combined with moving alone and having tight finances, this is a significant risk.

If you switch, you would be paying more for a degree that, statistically, pays less and has fewer job openings. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, but it's a harsh truth you need to weigh.

Is Med School the Real Problem, or is it the Environment?

You noted that you love talking to patients and find the content super beautiful. That tells me you actually have the heart of a great medical professional.

The toxic social environment of med school—the hyper-competitiveness, the egos, the sleeplessness—trips up almost everyone. It makes you feel like you aren't "good enough." But remember: med school is a bubble. Being a doctor in the real world, running your own psychiatric practice or working in a clinic, is completely different from the toxic culture of a university hospital.

Alternative Paths: Can You Have Both?

Before you make a massive financial and geographical leap, consider that medicine and marine conservation aren't completely separate worlds. You can bridge them.

1. Environmental Medicine & Toxicology

Human health is deeply connected to ocean health. Marine toxins (like harmful algal blooms), microplastics in the food chain, and pharmaceuticals polluting marine ecosystems are massive areas of research. As a doctor, you could specialize in environmental health, working to protect both human and marine life.

2. Dive Medicine / Hyperbaric Medicine

Doctors who love the ocean often specialize in treating divers, marine researchers, and naval personnel. This keeps you directly connected to the marine community.

3. The "Finish and Pivot" Strategy

Medical degrees are highly respected globally. Finishing medicine gives you financial stability. Once you are a doctor, you can use your income to fund conservation projects, volunteer as a medical officer on research vessels (like Sea Shepherd or oceanic research expeditions), or transition into a global health role focusing on coastal communities.

Your Next Steps

Before making any sudden moves, protect your mental health and gather concrete facts:

1. Talk to a Counselor: Most medical schools have psychological support for students. Use it. You are exhausted, and making big life decisions while drained is risky.

2. Shadow a Marine Biologist: Before you assume the grass is greener, email a professor or researcher at that other uni. Ask them what their day-to-day looks like, how much they earn, and what the job market is actually like.

3. Run the Exact Math: Sit down and look at the actual numbers of moving, renting, and paying tuition. If it is truly unaffordable right now, look at how you can finish your current degree while finding hobbies (like scuba diving or volunteering at an aquarium) to feed your passion for marine life.

You have a lot of empathy—which is why patients love you, but also why the toxic environment hurts you so much. Hang in there.

I got a 3 day suspension from work. Am I going to be okay?

I have a summer job at the moment (im a college student) and I work at a home depot type store, its a chain brand. I just started close to a month soon and I have never really gotten in trouble a whole lot. Correction papers to steer minor hiccups but nothing serious.

Today I got pulled into a private conversation with a boss and a higher manager and then got told that an error I made a few days ago needs to be discussed.

Turns out I missed half a stack of flooring somehow that a costumer was purchasing, which cost the company around 500 dollars. I thought I had scanned all the flooring (im a cashier) but turns out I didn't.

They told me that while they could fire me, they see me as a good and kind employee and think that I can do better and mistakes happen.

Will I be okay? Should I find a new job? They told me to come back this Thursday. I feel like a failure over this, I've never made such a big mistake at a job before.

Jobadvisor

First of all: You are going to be okay. Take a deep breath.

What you are feeling right now is completely valid. It is a terrible, sinking feeling in your stomach when you realize you made a mistake that cost a company money. But I promise you, this does not make you a failure, and it does not mean your summer job is over.

Here is why you need to stop beating yourself up, and why you should absolutely go back to work on Thursday.

Read Between the Lines: They Want to Keep You

In the corporate retail world, managers are usually bound by strict, rigid rules. A $500 inventory loss is a big deal on paper, which is why a higher manager had to get involved. However, look at what they actually said and did:

• They explicitly told you they aren't firing you. In retail, if they want to get rid of you, they do it instantly. They don't give a 3-day suspension to a brand-new summer hire just to fire them on Thursday.

• They praised your character. Telling you that you are a "good and kind employee" who "can do better" means they value you as a human being. They see this as a training issue, not a character flaw.

• The suspension is likely mandatory protocol. At huge corporate chains, loss prevention policies often mandate a suspension for cash discrepancies or inventory shrinkage over a certain dollar amount while they document the incident. It’s a corporate "time out" to satisfy the computer system and corporate overhead, not a personal vendetta against you.

Mistakes in Retail are a Math Problem, Not a Judgement on Your Worth

You have been there for less than a month. Heavy, stacked items like flooring, lumber, or tile are notoriously easy to miscount—especially when you are trying to be fast and friendly. Customers stack things weirdly, or barcodes don't align. It happens to people who have been working there for ten years.

To Home Depot-type chains, $500 is a drop in the ocean. To you, it feels like a fortune, but to them, it's a minor line item called "shrinkage" that they budget for every single fiscal quarter. They aren't going to go under because of one stack of flooring.

Should You Find a New Job?

No, don't quit. Quitting right now out of shame is an emotional reaction, not a logical one.

If you pack your bags now, you leave the job feeling like a failure. If you go back on Thursday, you show them you have integrity, resilience, and accountability. Facing the music and coming back to work is an incredibly mature move that will actually earn you more respect from your managers.

Besides, finding a new summer job in late June can be tough, and you don’t need the extra stress right now while you're already exhausted from your college schedule.

How to Handle Thursday Like a Pro

When you walk back in on Thursday, here is your game plan:

1. Hold your head up high. Do not walk in looking like a dog with its tail between its legs. Smile, be polite, and clock in.

2. Acknowledge and Pivot. If they pull you in to sign the paperwork, keep it brief and professional. Say something like: "Thank you for the grace. I'm really sorry about the oversight. I've thought about it, and moving forward, I'm going to physically count every single piece of bulk material rather than relying on the look of the stack. I'm ready to get back to work."

3. Slow Down. Retail managers love speed, but they love accuracy more. Take an extra 5 seconds on every big cart to ensure you count correctly.

Everyone—literally everyone—makes a massive blunder at some point in their working life. You are a college student learning how to balance life, work, and high-pressure environments. Give yourself some grace, enjoy your unexpected 3-day weekend, and go back Thursday ready to show them they made the right choice by keeping you.

How Can I Strengthen My Excel, Invoicing & Inventory Skills to Transition into Warehouse/Inventory Roles?

I have a background in bookkeeping and data entry, mostly within service-oriented businesses. I'm now looking to shift toward warehouse and inventory-related roles, and I want to make sure my skills are sharp enough to compete.

Specifically, I want to improve in these areas:

Excel for bookkeeping and data entry (formulas, data validation, pivot tables, etc.)

Invoice processing and tracking

Warehouse inventory monitoring and management

My main challenge is that I don't have hands-on experience in a warehouse or inventory environment. I can handle the numbers side, but I need practical knowledge of how inventory systems actually work day-to-day — stock monitoring, receiving, dispatching, reconciliation, etc.

If anyone has experience in this field and can point me toward useful resources, templates, or workflows, I'd really appreciate it. Even better if someone is willing to guide or mentor. I want real, applicable knowledge so I can confidently apply for roles in this space.

Any advice, YouTube channels, courses, or communities worth checking out?

Jobadvisor

Great question — your bookkeeping and data entry background is actually a strong foundation for this transition. Here's a practical roadmap:

Excel Skills to Focus On

Your priority formulas for inventory work: VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP (matching SKUs to products), SUMIF/COUNTIF (stock totals by category), INDEX/MATCH (flexible lookups), and conditional formatting (flagging low stock). Pivot tables are essential for reconciliation reports. Practice building a mock inventory tracker from scratch — that alone teaches you more than any course.

Free resources: Chandoo.org, ExcelJet.net, and the official Microsoft Excel YouTube channel are all solid. For structured learning, Excel Skills for Business on Coursera (Macquarie University) is free to audit.

Inventory & Warehouse Knowledge

Since you lack hands-on experience, your goal is to simulate it:

• Build your own templates — a receiving log, a dispatch tracker, a stock reconciliation sheet. Employers love seeing these in a portfolio.
• Learn the vocabulary — FIFO/FEFO (stock rotation methods), reorder points, safety stock, cycle counts, and shrinkage. These come up in every interview.
• Watch warehouse walkthroughs on YouTube — channels like Logistics Bureau and Supply Chain Secrets show real-world flows without needing floor access.

Courses Worth Taking

• APICS CPIM (Certified in Production and Inventory Management) — industry gold standard, but paid
• Coursera: Supply Chain Logistics (Rutgers) — free to audit, covers receiving/dispatching concepts
• Udemy: Inventory Management Fundamentals — usually under $20 on sale, very practical
• LinkedIn Learning: Warehouse Management Essentials — good if you have a subscription

Invoicing in a Warehouse Context

This is where your bookkeeping background directly transfers. Focus on understanding purchase orders → goods receipt → invoice matching (the 3-way match process). This is a core workflow in warehouse/accounting crossover roles. Practice with free tools like Wave or Zoho Invoice to simulate AP workflows.

Communities & Mentorship

• r/logistics and r/supplychain on Reddit — active, practical advice
• LinkedIn groups: "Warehouse & Logistics Professionals", "Supply Chain & Procurement Network"
• APICS local chapters sometimes offer free events and networking

Your Quickest Path to Employability

Given your background, roles like Inventory Control Clerk, Warehouse Administrator, or Inventory Analyst are realistic first targets — they sit at the intersection of numbers and operations, which is exactly your profile. Tailor your resume to highlight reconciliation, data accuracy, and reporting experience, and build 2–3 Excel templates to show in interviews.

Would you like me to build you a sample inventory tracking template in Excel format, or help you map out a 30/60/90-day self-study plan?

What should I do?

Hey everyone, I have a few questions on my mind to ask those who are experienced in finished carpentry, specifically cabinet installations.

To give a little insight on who I am, I'm a 27 year old man in the state of PA.

I currently work with one individual who owns his own business, and has given me an opportunity to work when I couldn't land a job for months. I've been with him for nearly 5 years.

I have been trained to install cabinets, mostly working in retirement homes, and some houses. I've done some commercial jobs before.

I hardly have experience in kitchens, but if I'm given all the necessary details/measurements for my cabinets I can somewhat understand how to install.

I don't have a truck so I load up my small car with the tools I've purchased. Usually they'll bring their equipment too and I'll go between my stuff and theirs.

As far as pay, I was started at $9/hr as a helper.

Puttying holes, taking out cardboard boxes, etc.

Then went to $12 I think, then $15, and now currently at $17/hr after 5 years.

I've gotten opinions from many guys, and a majority, if not all believe I'm being ripped off.

And because I started with no knowledge or experience in this career, I have no idea how to judge it.

People think I should be making well over $22/hr.

I get no added benefits, no vehicle, I pay for my gas, and sometimes material if boss ain't at the job.

I've asked for raises multiple times, which got me to $17.

Usually his answer is if he COULD give me the raise, he will happily do so. I'm not sure how much he's making so I can't tell if he's holding back or genuinely not making enough for me to live comfortably.

And I also felt after 3-4 years that I should be confidently able to bang out and kitchen but really I don't have that experience.

What do y'all think of this?

Should I try my hand elsewhere?

Or should I try communicating with him again and hope for a better pay raise?

Jobadvisor

You are in a really tough spot mentally right now because you are trying to balance loyalty with survival. Let's validate the good part first: it is awesome that you are grateful to this guy for giving you a shot when you were struggling to find a job 5 years ago. That shows your character.

But here is the blunt, honest truth from someone looking at the numbers: Your friends are 100% right. You are being severely underpaid.

At 27 years old, with 5 years of dedicated experience in finish carpentry and cabinet installation, making $17/hr in Pennsylvania—while driving your own car and buying your own tools—is not a sustainable career.

Let’s break down the reality of your situation and look at what you should do next.

The Reality Check: By the Numbers

To put your pay in perspective, fast-food chains and target warehouses in PA regularly start completely inexperienced teenagers at $15 to $18 an hour. You are a skilled tradesman performing precision labor.

• The "Tool & Gas" Tax: Because you are driving your own car, paying for your own gas, and using your own tools without a stipend or company truck, your actual take-home pay is likely closer to $13 or $14 an hour after vehicle wear and tear.

• The Contractor Dilemma: If your boss says he "wants to pay you more but can't," he is either running a highly inefficient business with terrible profit margins, or he is taking advantage of your loyalty to keep his own profits high. Either way, his bad business model is costing you your future. You cannot fund his struggling business with your underpaid labor.

Why Don't You Know How to Do a Kitchen Yet?

You mentioned feeling guilty that after 4–5 years you can't confidently bang out a kitchen. Do not blame yourself for this.

You can only learn what you are taught. If your boss has kept you doing repetitive commercial/retirement home work, puttying holes, and acting as a partial helper rather than systematically training you on complex kitchen layouts, filler strips, crowns, and appliance panels, that is his failure as a mentor, not your failure as a student.

If you can read details and measurements and handle retirement home units, you have the foundational skills to do a kitchen. You just need a boss who will actually teach you.

Your Game Plan: What to Do Next

Do not quit tomorrow in a panic, but it is absolutely time to move on. Here is how you do it strategically:

1. Fix Your Resume (Right Now)

Stop calling yourself a "helper." On paper, you have 5 years of Finish Carpentry & Cabinet Installation Experience. List the skills you have:

• Reading blueprints and layout details.

• Installing commercial and residential cabinetry.

• Precision trim work, hardware installation, and job site troubleshooting.

• Owning and maintaining a professional set of finish carpentry power tools.

2. Shop Around in Your Area

Look up local custom cabinet shops, commercial millwork companies, or high-end kitchen and bath remodeling contractors in your part of PA.

• Call them or apply online.

• Be honest: "I have 5 years of solid installation experience on commercial and residential cabinet jobs. I'm looking to join a team where I can master high-end kitchen installations and earn a competitive wage."

• You should be aiming for at least $22 to $26/hr to start, given that you already know how to handle the tools, scribing, and basic leveling.

3. Have the "Final" Conversation

Once you have looked at the job market (or ideally, once you have another offer in hand), you can have one last honest talk with your boss.

"I've loved working with you for 5 years and I'm grateful you gave me a shot. But at 27, I can't afford to live, maintain my tools, and drive my car on $17/hr with no benefits. I need to be at $23/hr to stay. If the business can't support that, I completely understand, but I will need to find a company that can."

If he makes excuses, gaslights you, or gets angry, you have your answer. Your loyalty has been paid in full by 5 years of hard, cheap labor. It is time to invest in yourself.

Why I will NEVER give 100 percent to any employer again.

When I started this job in 2020, I came in with the best of intentions. Always tried to give it my all...would sometimes work 6 days a week when I had to. Then a new company came in and took our contract. When I broke my elbow on black ice, I felt bad because I was out for a month and that was the longest I'd ever been out since getting this job. I even got the doctor to agree to let me go back early provided I did my exercise during downtime (which working office security is quite often).

However, they then decided to try and make me work eight fucking days straight, and even after letting them know in writing/text/phone (three fucking times) they still tried to call me on the day I took off and asked where I was. On top of this, I was written up for not being able to move something I ordinarily wouldn't even have to on a normal day because I was still fucking recovering.

It was at that point where I kinda became what I guess this sub is supposed to be about...against working. This is so fucking stupid. Now, I just clock in...do the absolute bare minimum and sometimes bend the rules. Technically, we're supposed to stay behind if the people on the next shift are late or NC/NS but fuck that. I almost died in a near head-on accident after working 16 hours in a row once. They don't deserve me, and they're lucky I even do the bare minimum at this point.

If I do manage to find something better, unfortunately, there is no way in hell for them that they're going to get the same energy as when I started this job six years ago. (Nevermind I could actually enjoy my fucking life off the income then!)

Jobadvisor

What you went through would break most people's goodwill, and honestly, your reaction makes complete sense.

You came back early from an injury out of loyalty and dedication. In return, they tried to work you eight days straight, ignored your documented requests three times, and then wrote you up while you were still healing from a broken elbow. That's not a management failure — that's institutional bad faith.

The near head-on accident after 16 hours is the part that really stands out. That's not "tough it out" territory. That's your life at risk so they can avoid a staffing problem they created.

A few thoughts worth naming:

What you lost isn't just motivation — it's trust. That's a rational response, not laziness. You learned, through direct experience, that going above and beyond didn't protect you and wasn't reciprocated. The "lesson" the job taught you was to stop investing.

The minimum isn't the problem — exploitation was. Doing your job as defined and going home is completely legitimate. The fact that it feels like a statement says more about how much they expected to extract from you.

Your instinct about future jobs is worth examining though. The employers who burned you don't represent every workplace. Protecting yourself makes sense. Writing off every future employer before you walk in might cost you situations where the investment would actually be mutual — which does exist, even if it's rarer than it should be.

It's also worth noting — six years of your life, real physical injury, documented harassment, a potentially dangerous commute situation. If you haven't looked into whether any of that crosses into legal territory (workplace harassment, unsafe conditions, retaliation for injury), it might be worth a quick look. Some of what you described could be actionable depending on your jurisdiction.

You're not anti-work. You're someone who got used and learned from it.