I am tired of being a mid level analyst - I want a new trade. By a trade I mean, go back to school for 2-3 years and be able to step into a new career as an expert in that field right away.
I am thinking about Culinary school, I think I would really enjoy that, however from what I hear on this forum, Chefs work… and that is pretty much it. I am a practicing Ironman-a-holic.
Help me out - pick a new trade for me. (to make it easier, I don’t want to be a mechanic, washing machine repairman, etc)
I once took a comprehensive online survery to determine the perfect career for me. This sucker was about 300 questions. The end result? Mortician\Coroner.
How old are you? Do you need to make a certain amount of money? Can you live on less than you make for a while? Interest in being a cop or firefighter? I have a friend who is a Denver Firefighter and I tell you what, if it were truly just firefighting I would do it in a heartbeat. The amount of time off is great for training. It would probably take you 2 years or so to do all the training and pass all the tests.
I don’t know about “expert” but there are things you can do if you are willing to devote 2-3 years.
Firefighter would be awesome, but I don’t know if any fire departments would hire a 40± firefighter - even though I could pass the agility tests and have more life experience than most.
An MBA might be interesting, but you would still have to have a specific occupation in mind or it would be a waste. The 2 years would give you a little time to think about potential careers, but recruiting starts pretty early. Also, my personal opinion (I have one) is that if you don’t go to a top 25 program, the cost/benefit may not make sense either.
My general advice is find something you’re interested in and have some facility with, and if you’re talented the compensation should follow. And even if you’re a firefighter, you’d have to find something to do with all your downtime. A friend of mine from B-school was married to a fireman, so that was a good combo - she was the corporate type, while he fought fires in SD and surfed.
You should think about law. The degree is a 3-year program and there are a wide-ranging number of job options on graduation. I find the work incredibly challenging and there are ways to structure your hours to fit in quite a bit of training.
A law degree would be awesome. You could chase ambulances with your bike, or be hardcore and run for it. You could also sue and ripoff a bunch of underserving people.
Law School is one of the options on my list. I am a little scared though since I have taked 2 business law classes before and have found them very boring (not intended to slam teh profession, I’m sure you would find many things boring).
So more info on a law degree for an Ironman please.
Well, it’s hard to know whether you’ll enjoy it or not. Like anything, it does have its boring moments. What I can say is that I really enjoyed law school. There is quite a bit of reading and research involved and it generally appeals to the highly analytical. And, as you probably know, litigation is not the only way to practice law. Most business lawyers never enter a courtroom. There are also estate lawyers, tax lawyers, family lawyers, in-house lawyers, non-profit lawyers, criminal defense lawyers, criminal prosecutors, professional judicial law clerks, etc. The list is endless. You might want to visit the admissions office of your nearest law school and check out who is recruiting and for what types of jobs. There are lots of lawyers on this site – STP, CTL, Monk, steveperx, RA, Oregondave and others I can’t recall at this moment. FWIW and to the extent that you are worried that lawyers aren’t a creative bunch, I refer you to Monk’s Slowman/IM pictorial – that one made me proud to be a member of the profession:)