Comments on: Quarter life crisis… http://coreygo.com/index.php/2007/11/13/quarter-life-crisis/ thoughts of the convoluted Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:07:37 -0800 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark http://coreygo.com/index.php/2007/11/13/quarter-life-crisis/comment-page-1/#comment-32 Mark Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:19:02 +0000 http://blogs.coreygouker.com/2007/11/13/QuarterLifeCrisis.aspx#comment-32 I started my dream job on October 1st, the leverage being that if I didn't do it now it would always be in the back of my mind and steal my happiness for ever. This decision (or more correctly - not making a decision until the last minute) has taken me away from my family. I do exciting things every day working in multicultural teams who I otherwise would never have met. I overcome challenges that most would say are impossible. I seldom work with the same people or stay in the same country for long and since the locations can (will) be exotic; it's comparable to taking time out traveling. The downside is that the only people I can share it with are a bunch of Randoms, not the people I love like my girlfriend. I think that I can empathize with you on a few levels. The first one being that my hobby has become my career which can be a tremendous advantage and a curse at the same time. The knowledge and skills that I built in my free time put me ahead of my peers in engineering at an early age and, ultimately, I have taken an unconventional path to a career as an engineer. There have been stumbling blocks of which the biggest has been getting 1 year's experience twice over as opposed to two years experience and progressing in seniority. It took me a while to have confidence in my abilities, leaving me at the same level as my peers in a specialized field. Compared to my colleagues, I have a broader knowledge than most and have accomplished more but I am paid the same and doing the same job. I feel undervalued and want to go further but I can't find the 'road least traveled' and I have to compete using the same rules as everyone else which makes me look pretty average. I hate it. You sound bored with what you are doing right now. Handling long term debit is not easy but it could be worse. All of mine is in GBP and I get paid in USD. Crap month. Need to look into Futures. Work/travel are the same thing for me and I guess that the lesson I've learned and want to share is that it makes a difference if you experience the highs and lows with someone you love. No matter how excited I get when I tell my family of the things I’ve done and no matter how many photographs or videos I have, the true experience has to be shared to be believed. I started my dream job on October 1st, the leverage being that if I didn’t do it now it would always be in the back of my mind and steal my happiness for ever. This decision (or more correctly – not making a decision until the last minute) has taken me away from my family. I do exciting things every day working in multicultural teams who I otherwise would never have met. I overcome challenges that most would say are impossible. I seldom work with the same people or stay in the same country for long and since the locations can (will) be exotic; it’s comparable to taking time out traveling. The downside is that the only people I can share it with are a bunch of Randoms, not the people I love like my girlfriend.

I think that I can empathize with you on a few levels. The first one being that my hobby has become my career which can be a tremendous advantage and a curse at the same time. The knowledge and skills that I built in my free time put me ahead of my peers in engineering at an early age and, ultimately, I have taken an unconventional path to a career as an engineer. There have been stumbling blocks of which the biggest has been getting 1 year’s experience twice over as opposed to two years experience and progressing in seniority. It took me a while to have confidence in my abilities, leaving me at the same level as my peers in a specialized field. Compared to my colleagues, I have a broader knowledge than most and have accomplished more but I am paid the same and doing the same job. I feel undervalued and want to go further but I can’t find the ‘road least traveled’ and I have to compete using the same rules as everyone else which makes me look pretty average. I hate it.

You sound bored with what you are doing right now. Handling long term debit is not easy but it could be worse. All of mine is in GBP and I get paid in USD. Crap month. Need to look into Futures. Work/travel are the same thing for me and I guess that the lesson I’ve learned and want to share is that it makes a difference if you experience the highs and lows with someone you love. No matter how excited I get when I tell my family of the things I’ve done and no matter how many photographs or videos I have, the true experience has to be shared to be believed.

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