Thursday, April 26, 2007

Pondering a career change

Recently I've been feeling a little... lost, perhaps? I'm not really looking forward to going back to work next year, especially since I will be going back full time. I am happy in my job, but it doesn't really feel like a career. I could stay doing what I'm doing for the next I-don't-know-how-many years but I don't know that I could see much changing. Then there's talk about all sorts of changes in the wings, so who knows if I'll have this job in five years anyway.

Dan and I had a chat about this tonight and he suggested I stop and think about what I really want to do with my "career"... I put that word in inverted commas because I really just don't feel like I have one at the moment. To me, a career is when one is going places and I just don't feel like I am. I'm just plodding along doing the same thing all the time.

I've thought about being a stay-at-home mother, but that's not really an option, both financially and psychologically (is that a word?). I would certainly go crazy, I think. And when I told Dan that I'd be a "kept woman" he responded with "So who's going to keep you?"... heheh.

I'd really like a job that will allow me to spend more time with the kids though, especially once the younger ones start school. Aftercare is great, but it irks me that they spend almost 3 hours there just playing. We had so much trouble fitting in time for homework and piano practice last term. Something's got to change. The days are jus t too long for Dante. I wish I could work part-time again.

So what to do? Maybe go back to Uni and study some more? I really hated studying - I'm just no good at assignments... and studying. Could I really do it all again? Dan looked up some courses. I always wanted to be a librarian when I was a kid! He said I could do a Masters in Information and Knowledge Management. He thinks my IT skills would go very well with this sort of thing.

Hmmm... certainly something to think about. What do you think?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jen

You have a very interesting read. Love your writing and the adventures you have with your very nice family. You look young, so the thought of you changing a career sounds like an early mid life crisis.

I think eveybody goes through this at one stage or another, and many do change their career's for better or worse. I think if you feel the need, than the universe is telling you to change, so look for a sign of what to do and hopefully that will be the right decision.

As mentioned in your Blog, A librarian sounds good. However, since your blog mentioned ages ago your in IT, isnt a library similiar to a computer,just in a more romantic form? Just organising the information manually intead of electronically. Now a job where your paid to read may be better if you enjoy reading. I here thats there's reading jobs where your paid to read. I think it comes under editing or as a reviewer. Wow, sitting down to read a hopefully good book and being paid for the privlege.

Such a hard decision these mid life crisis! I think Im going through the same myself! I wish you all the best that life has to offer.

Cheers jac

Jen said...

Thanks, Jac! That's an interesting, and good, idea. Definitely something to think about.

Unknown said...

Hey Jen,

I've been meaning to comment on this post for a while, because it really struck a chord with me when I read it.

Things have been changing a lot at work here, so I've started looking around for other possibilities. One of the things I'm having a think about is doing school counselling within the public system, and when I was having a look today I found their blurb on School Librarians, which might be a useful starting point for you to look into qualifications, more about what's involved with the job, etc.

One thing we have been talking a bit about here in our workgroup is the changing role of the library (especially within education) in these techno-times. Apparently the Head Librarian (John Shipp atm) is very keen on the library branching into "learning spaces". Too big to write about now, but we should talk about it sometime. Personally I think being a librarian could be a pretty cool option!

Anonymous said...

A career change may be a very daunting process, however the transition can be easier with distance eduaction. Distance education institutions such as Thomson Education http://thomson.edu.au/ provide courses which are faster, less expensive, more accessible, and more flexible than campus-based university programs. Furthermore, courses can be completed part-time while working in your existing job allowing you to gradually switch to your fantastic new career!