My dad is forcing me into a career that I simply don’t want to go into. What do I do?

 

Leave my career to chase a passion?

I’ve been considering leaving my career to become a parks & wildlife ranger. I’m in my mid twenties & work for a wonderful company. I love the people I work with & the work I do for the most part, but I’m not passionately on fire for it. I would take a massive pay cut, half of what I make now, but think I would love it so much. The adventure, every day looking different, my love for the outdoors & feeling like I have a real purpose each day.

I’m looking for insight on what the job is really like, advice from people who left a great career to chase a passion, or any advice someone is willing to share.

What job did you leave where you could climb the ladder?

Did you make a career change you thought was a crazy financial decision?

What are your regrets? Do you have any?

Jobadvisor

This is a really meaningful question, and the fact that you're thinking this carefully about it says a lot.

Here's some honest perspective across a few angles:

What the job is actually like

Parks & wildlife ranger work is genuinely rewarding, but it's worth knowing the full picture:

• The grind is real. Long days, physical labor, extreme weather, dealing with the public (including very difficult people), and a lot of paperwork and enforcement duties that aren't exactly "adventure." Many rangers describe it as 80% routine, 20% magic.
• The magic is real too. Dawn patrols, wildlife encounters, helping someone fall in love with nature, conservation work that actually matters — people who love it really love it.
• Geographic instability is common early in your career. You may need to go where positions are, often remote areas, and job security at the entry level can be seasonal.
• The physical and emotional toll is underestimated. Search and rescue, seeing environmental damage, and enforcing laws alone in remote areas takes something out of you.

On leaving a "good" career

The most common regret people share isn't that they left — it's that they waited too long. Your mid-twenties is genuinely one of the best times to make a leap like this. No mortgage? No kids? Relatively low burn rate? The financial hit hurts less now than it will at 35.

The other common regret is not testing the idea before burning the bridge. Volunteer with a park service, do seasonal work, shadow a ranger for a week. The people who struggle most are those who idealized the passion and never pressure-tested it against reality.

On the money

Half your income is serious. But consider:

• Lifestyle inflation is the real enemy — people at your income level often expand spending to match earnings, making the cut feel impossible. If you haven't done that yet, you have flexibility.
• Rangers often get housing, vehicles, and equipment provided — the actual cost of living math sometimes looks better than the salary comparison suggests.
• You can always earn more money. You cannot always get your twenties back.

The question worth sitting with

You said you're not "passionately on fire" for your current work. That's worth taking seriously — but also worth interrogating. Is it the work itself, or is it something fixable (a different role, a different company, a different project)? And is your image of ranger life based on real exposure, or a dream of it?

The sweet spot answer here isn't "quit tomorrow" or "stay forever." It's go find out if the reality matches the dream before you commit either way. A summer seasonal position could answer more questions than a year of deliberating.

Am I really doomed to work a 9-5 until I die?

I (24F) graduated in 2024 with a BFA in Integrated Art & Design, concentrating in Graphic Design. AI did not exist when I entered college, but by the time I graduated it essentially stole any possible entry level job I could apply to. Nobody around me was hiring for entry level designers, only 3-5+ years experience or requiring fluency in some programs my school never even mentioned. From the start, I accepted defeat and just sought a full time job that would afford me to move out of my parent's house.

It's now been a year of me working as an administrative assistant at a manufacturing company and although my bank account is chilling, my soul is completely drained. I worked retail for 4 years and I honestly miss the chaos and instability it had. At my current job, I sit at a front desk and answer simple phone calls, open the front door to turn away door to door salesman, order lunches for department meetings, organize company events (it's a small company, 200 employees), refill the coffee station in the break room, and have an endless mountain of invoices to file that I usually just ignore because no one actually supervises me and therefore there are no consequences. To most this sounds like a breeze, but to me, without any supervision or check-ins or anyone giving a shit about what I'm doing has me feeling completely purposeless and like I'm just a piece of driftwood in the ocean.

I want to quit my job and find one that at least gives me more structure but that's where I blank: I don't know what I want. All I know is what I don't want, but a job that meets those wants doesn't seem to exist. I also feel I do not have the requirements to apply to any other jobs. If I stay at this job, I will most likely be shuffled into the accounting/finance department, but that just feels like purgatory. All job postings just seem like a remix of this same job: work M-F and only live for the weekends. I am genuinely so depressed at the thought that I will never see a 1pm on a Tuesday outside the 4 walls of an office for the rest of my life, unless I take PTO. It seems that the only full time jobs with benefits and PTO that aren't a strict M-F or a 9-5 are labor intensive jobs that would kill me both mentally and physically. How do I climb out of this hole? Is there even a place to climb to?

Also, I am aware of the world of freelancing while also holding a 9-5 and eventually going full freelance when you have a solid clientele base. I just cannot figure out how to balance freelancing when I feel I don't even have enough time with just 1 job. I would be killing my sanity while simultaneously attempting to save my soul from being killed by my 9-5. In the end I still die.

TL;DR: I am 1 year into the 9-5 workforce and I cannot possibly do this until I die. I want a job that gives me structure, purpose, and has a work schedule that allows me to occasionally be free to go out in the world at 1PM on a Tuesday without taking PTO. Does such a job exist that I can achieve without almost killing my sanity in the process?

Jobadvisor

This is a really common feeling at 24, and it deserves an honest answer rather than just reassurance.

First: No, you are not doomed. But the path out isn't obvious, so let's break it down.

Your actual problem has a few layers

The 9-5 format is bothering you, but reading closely, what's really draining you is the purposelessness and lack of feedback. A job where nobody notices what you do, with no stakes and no craft, would hollow out almost anyone with a creative brain. The schedule is a symptom — the meaninglessness is the disease.

On the design career feeling "stolen"

AI genuinely did shake entry-level design hiring. That's real, not a cope. But the design field didn't disappear — it shifted. What's actually in demand right now:

• Designers who can direct and edit AI output rather than compete with it
• UX/product design (which is much harder to automate than visual production work)
• Motion design and video, which AI still handles poorly
• Brand strategists who use design thinking but operate at a higher level

Your BFA isn't worthless. It may need a reframe.

Jobs that are NOT strict 9-5 and aren't physically brutal

These exist more than job boards make obvious:

• Event coordinator / production — chaotic, project-based, every day different, often contract or irregular hours (you already do this at a small scale in your current job)
• Social media / content coordinator at a brand or agency — often hybrid, flexible, output-based
• Project coordinator at a creative agency — structured but not monotonous, deadline-driven
• Retail buying or visual merchandising — your retail background + design eye is genuinely valuable here
• Museum, gallery, or nonprofit program work — lower pay but high purpose and often non-traditional hours
• Instructional design — growing field, often remote, uses visual communication skills

On the freelance paralysis

You said you don't have enough time with one job — but you also said nobody supervises you and there are no consequences for ignoring work. That's actually time you already have. The barrier isn't time, it's energy and mental state. Those are real barriers, but they're different problems with different solutions.

The honest advice

You're one year in, at a job that's a bad fit, with a degree in a disrupted field. That's a genuinely hard spot. But you're 24 with low expenses (living situation sounds manageable), a design education, and the self-awareness to know what you don't want — which is more than most people have.

The goal right now isn't to find your dream career. It's to find a better next job — one with more feedback, more craft, more chaos — while the big picture becomes clearer. The accounting/finance shuffle would be a mistake. Moving laterally into event production, creative coordination, or even a more demanding admin role at a creative company would teach you something.

You're not driftwood. You're just in very still water.

As a 22yr old, what skillsets should I master to help me build a career?

I've been feeling left behind by my peers. I avoided extra curriculars at school back then since I thought it is only a waste of time and effort. I'm only realizing now that I lack skills and talents to help me market myself in a competitive corporate world. I believe it is not too late to start now so I need help to know what skills and experience should I prioritize in order for me to keep up.

Jobadvisor

Good news first: 22 is not behind. It genuinely isn't.

The people who feel "ahead" at 22 often just had more structured exposure earlier — clubs, internships, side projects. That's catchable, and in some ways starting with intention now beats stumbling through things without thinking about them.

Here's what actually matters:

The foundation skills (these compound everything else)

• Writing clearly. Not creatively — clearly. The ability to write a concise email, a sharp summary, or a persuasive proposal is rarer than it should be and valued everywhere. Practice by writing daily, even just to yourself.
• Speaking with confidence. Not public speaking specifically — just the ability to articulate your thinking in a room. Toastmasters is cheap and it works. So does just volunteering to present whenever you can.
• Learning how to learn. Sounds obvious, but people who can pick up new tools, domains, and skills quickly will outpace people with a fixed skillset every few years as industries shift.

The practical skills that open doors

• Spreadsheets and data literacy. You don't need to be a data scientist. You need to be comfortable with Excel or Google Sheets, able to build a basic analysis, and able to read a chart critically. This alone separates you from a huge chunk of candidates.
• One technical skill adjacent to your field. If you're going into marketing, learn basic analytics. Finance? Learn some SQL or Python basics. Design? Learn Figma. Having one technical skill outside your core role signals initiative and makes you more useful.
• Project management basics. Understanding how to scope work, set deadlines, track progress, and communicate status is valued in literally every field. Tools like Notion, Asana, or even just disciplined use of a to-do system demonstrate this.

The human skills that get you promoted

• Reliability. Doing what you say you'll do, when you said you'd do it, without being chased. This sounds basic but it is shockingly uncommon and makes you stand out fast.
• Managing up. Learning how to keep your manager informed, anticipate what they need, and make their life easier. This is a learnable skill, not a personality trait.
• Reading rooms and relationships. Emotional intelligence — knowing when to speak, when to listen, how different people want to be communicated with — matters more than almost any technical skill past a certain point.

A few honest priorities given where you are

Get some kind of experience, paid or not, in the next 6 months. Internship, freelance project, volunteering in a professional context — anything that lets you point to real output you produced. The skills above are accelerators, but they need a vehicle.

Pick a direction, even loosely. "I want to build skills" is hard to act on. "I want to get into marketing, or operations, or tech, or finance" gives you a filter for which skills to prioritize first.

And stop measuring yourself against your peers. At 22, the gap between the most and least "experienced" person in any room closes fast once real work starts. What you build in the next two to three years matters far more than what you did or didn't do in school.

Fired for "inappropriate behavior" observed of me at a camp I work at. There was nothing found, but my employer told me that it's best for us to "part ways" and how some of my behavior could be viewed as inappropriate to some. How do I move forward, feel so guilty?

Some background:

I'm a teacher full time and in the summers, I work basketball camp. I was previously working at a basketball camp for 4 years, but recently moved to my teaching job (I had a 1hr commute for the last 2 years) and decided to look for a new camp job. I landed one 15 minutes away from my place and was working there for about a month.

Now onto the main part:
Last Friday, I got a message from my boss asking me to come early into work since they want to discuss some things with me. Shortly after, they sent me another message telling me to stay at home and someone from HR will contact me. HR contacted me but because of the Juneteenth federal holiday, they need more time and would contact me on Monday. Monday happened and they wanted to investigate about "inappropriate behavior" that I was observed to exhibit with campers. Specifically, I went alone to the bathroom with a kid. They also said other inappropriate behaviors was observed from me, such as standing to the side of a kid and helping him tie his swim shorts (he asked me to) instead of tying them facing them. I explained to them for (1) that I went to the bathroom with a kid to help wipe blood of of him after he came to me saying he got hit very hard in the face during gaga ball and there was blood on his face. After cleaning it off him, I went to another counselor to get a bandaid and we filed an incident report because of the severity of the injury. Regarding (2) and tying the kids shorts, I always prefer to stand to the side of a kid and tie their shorts or shoes as if I'm tying my own shorts/shoes. I found that easier for me then facing them. I felt like there was empirical evidence that I wasn't guilty for any inappropriate behavior, especially when there was an incident report for an injury for said kid I walked into the bathroom with. They took these details, called me back on Tuesday and said that there was no evidence of this wrong-doing found, but they feel like it's best we part ways based on they heard was observed of me, and that I should use this experience as a "learning experience" on how some of my behavior can be viewed as as inappropriate.

Nonetheless, all of this makes me feel like some insane creep. I've taught for 2 years (going into my 3rd) and worked at another camp for 4 years. I've got drawings from my students and past campers I worked with, and some of my campers I'd see in public would walk up and hug me. If you look at my post history, I even posted how said a few summers ago after summer camp because how much I'd miss my kids. You don't get to hold all these jobs I've done in the past by being a creep, you get it because you made the world safer for everyone around you. I also highly regret leaving my old job. I'm fully independent and live on a teacher salary, so the extra summer income helps, but losing out on it because of something that was "observed" of me doing and there was no wrong-doing found adds insult to the injury.

I'm looking for advice on if anyone dealt with something similar, and if so how did they navigate it. Or, if someone has any words of encouragement. I appreciate any and all.

ETA: I don't know if this means anything, but I was the only person of color on staff. I don't know if I was targeted by anyway, but I've had some other counselors do out of pocket things and still work, such as one of them telling the kids their previous girlfriend cheated on them.

Jobadvisor

This sounds genuinely painful, and the guilt you're feeling makes sense — but it's worth separating what actually happened from what the guilt is telling you.

What the facts say

You were investigated, you gave a full account, an incident report corroborated your explanation, and they found no evidence of wrongdoing. They let you go anyway — not because you did something wrong, but because someone's perception made them uncomfortable enough to cut ties. Those are very different things, and it matters that you hold onto that distinction.

The behaviors they described — helping a bleeding child, standing beside a kid to tie their shorts — are things a caring, attentive counselor does. The fact that they can be perceived suspiciously in today's environment doesn't make them wrong. It means you were working in an environment that wasn't going to protect you even when you did nothing wrong.

On the guilt

Guilt is supposed to be a signal that you violated your own values. Ask yourself honestly: did you? Based on everything you described, it doesn't sound like it. What you may actually be feeling is shame — the sensation of being seen as something you're not. That's a different, and in some ways harder, feeling. It doesn't mean you did anything shameful.

The drawings, the hugs in public, the sadness at the end of summers — that's a body of evidence about who you are that one uncomfortable employer can't erase.

On the racial dimension

You were right to name it, even tentatively. Being the only person of color on staff and being scrutinized for behaviors that other counselors (doing genuinely inappropriate things) weren't disciplined for is a pattern worth acknowledging. You may never know for certain, but you're allowed to factor it into how you make sense of this.

Practical steps forward

• Protect your teaching job. This camp termination was for a summer gig with no wrongdoing found. It almost certainly doesn't affect your teaching position, but if you have any concern, a quiet conversation with your union rep (if you have one) would be worth having just to understand where you stand.
• Document everything now while it's fresh — dates, what was said, the incident report. Not because you necessarily need it, but because having a clear record protects you if anything ever resurfaces.
• Don't let this make you a worse counselor or teacher. The instinct after something like this is to become cold and distant with kids to protect yourself. That would be a real loss — for you and for the kids you work with.

You don't sound like a creep. You sound like someone who cared about the kids in his charge and got burned for it in an environment that wasn't looking out for him. That's worth grieving, but it's not worth carrying as guilt.

My dad is forcing me into a career that I simply don’t want to go into. What do I do?

So I’m a 16 year old in highschool. I have two older siblings who were forced into medicine, both of whom are in college and have accepted their careers even though they aren’t happy with it. One of my siblings protested my dad and almost got to pursue what he wanted to do, however, to save my parents marriage he went into medicine because my parents kept arguing back and forth on whether or not to just let him pursue his passion. My mom is willing to let me pursue what I want to pursue, but my father is a stickler for medicine. He doesn’t change his mind no matter what and it’s depressing. He’s forcing me to go do extracurriculars that relate to medicine that will hopefully get me into a program that will help me get into med-school. It’s ruined my relationship with my father to the point every time we talk either my grades or my career is brought up. I want to pursue engineering and I’ve tried bringing it up to him, but as expected, he just shoots it down aggressively and brings up the topic that doctors get made hundreds of thousands more and I’ll be set for life. My siblings have told me to stay quiet for now about my passion and then just end up doing engineering without his permission. I really don’t think I can endure much pressure much longer or waste time building my portfolio for something I don’t even want to be. I need advice/help on what to do next and how do I even go about things now? I can’t just casually mention it, he’s really crazy about it and will go to extreme measures to force me into medicine.

Jobadvisor

This is a really tough situation, and it's clear you've already thought carefully about it. A few angles worth considering:

In the short term (next 1-2 years while still at home):

The "stay quiet and then do what you want" advice from your siblings has real merit — you're 16, and ultimately you are the one who applies to universities and chooses a major. No one can physically force you into a program. That said, going completely underground can backfire if your dad discovers it and feels blindsided, which could damage things further.

A middle path: keep doing the medicine extracurriculars (they genuinely don't hurt you — biology, research skills, and discipline transfer everywhere), but also quietly build your engineering portfolio. Don't hide it, but don't make it a fight either. Let the work speak for itself over time.

On the communication front:

Your dad's argument is essentially financial. Engineering can absolutely match that — software engineers, petroleum engineers, and biomedical engineers especially can earn comparable or even higher compensation. If you frame engineering not as "my passion" (which he may dismiss as naive) but as a financially smart, stable career with high demand, you might get further. Come with data. Show him average salaries, job growth projections, and especially biomedical engineering — which literally bridges medicine and engineering, and might be a face-saving middle ground for him.

Your mom being on your side is significant. Ask her to advocate for you more actively rather than staying neutral — not to pick a fight, but to help your dad hear you.

The bigger picture:

At 18, you will legally be an adult who can apply anywhere, take out loans, and choose your own path. Your dad's leverage shrinks significantly then. What matters right now is keeping your grades strong and your options open.

The real risk isn't your dad — it's internalizing his pressure to the point that you lose confidence in yourself. Your siblings accepted their situation, but you're clearly fighting for yourself, which is healthy.

You have more agency than it feels like right now. This is survivable, and you don't have to make any irreversible decisions today.