This past year marked my tenth full-time year in teaching. I've been reflecting often on my career thus far. When I started out, I wasn't sure that I would continue teaching primary school. I promised myself that I would do it for five years and keep savings high to allow myself to return to studying if I wanted to change fields. Most of my fellow graduates work now in government or education. Ten years in, I have a competitive salary that allows me a good standard of living. I didn't return to school. Although, I did upgrade courses to allow me to change roles. And, I'm now on the edge of starting a family. The career that I was fortunate and lucky enough to start is actually a perfect fit for having children.
The thing is I do feel stuck. There aren't many other career paths that would give me the same salary and job-security. I'm decent at the job. But, I'm not enjoying it. It's ridiculously stressful. Doesn't feel as fulfilling as it did. And, there is a culture of working on your off-hours to do the tasks that we aren't actually remunerated to do. Being a government employee, you often feel that your working environment is changing at the whims of politicians.
Because I'm passionate about technology. That's why I read hn. But, my only experience in tech was seeing entry-level help-desk workers and area tech support consultants. It seemed like miserable work. I was told my many respected adults, that technology could continue to be my passion and major hobby. It's true, my standard of living does allow me every tech toy I could have ever wanted and new computers I could only dream about. I'm weighing the positives and negatives.