Do you find your job intellectually challenging?

[ColouringPencils]

I am thinking of changing careers and I don't know what area to go into. The jobs I have done all require a high degree of education, but they don't really require much thought. The challenge is about getting work done on time, fitting in competing demands, managing other people and different stakeholders etc, but I wonder what jobs actually require you to think really hard. I love that feeling and rarely get a chance to use my brain.

I could have written your post. Right now I think the only way I will feel mentally challenged is to challenge myself outside work with additional learning, study and activities.

Yes. 10 years post qualification accountant working in a technical role. To get the role I had to do Big 4 slog for a decade though.

Are you willing to completely requalify or can you tell us more about what you have done for more focused solutions?

As a teacher I always feel pretty challenged and find it fulfilling.

Yes! But not all the time which is probably good, but it means I always get imposter syndrome when the thinking part of my work kicks in but it always works out

Yes. I work in an R&D lab so there's a huge amount of problem solving and challenges related to that as well as the challenges listed in the OP. It was a career change for me to go into this field (book keeping originally) and I haven't regretted it for a moment.

Yes, absolutely! Mine is rather niche though, so not something you could change careers to. Closest is upstream technical product management.

DH is also challenged academically, but his is more about taking lots of data from other people and putting it together to work out what applies. He works in high value insurance claims

Yes. I’m a patent attorney. I work in-house for a large multinational protecting their innovations. I’m constantly learning new things, and I never quite know what any day is going to bring. I love it.

There are a significant number of professional qualifications required (I’m qualified as both a European Patent Attorney and a U.K. Patent Attorney), and you do need to have a science degree as a starting point.

Mine is. I admit I get a bit bored being intellectually challenged all day, though.

Not remotely. Mentally fulfilling, yes but it’s never been a challenge.

The situation suits me at the moment with my family to focus on as a priority.
I’m 100% faving being made redundant within the next 10 years, kids will be 24 and 16 by then so I’ll need a new direction and will only be mid 40’s. It’s difficult to know whether to retrain now or hang on for the redundancy/generally easy life-well paid-minimal stress- work life balance while the kids still need me.

Yes, I work in compliance at a large bank so I have to keep on top of regulatory change. There's always something new go learn which is what I enjoy most.

After 10 years it’s not, explaining it, I work advising others, is the challenging bit!

I’m a primary school teacher working with deaf children. Although the content is not hard, working out how to present it so the children can access it can be really challenging (not to mention managing behaviour) and it’s incredibly rewarding. I really enjoy using another language to communicate.

I know it’s not strictly what you wanted but I thought I’d throw that out there as a different way to go. I absolutely love it.

Yes. I work in learning and development - for the actual L&D aspect I have to keep standard training programmes running whilst also horizon scanning to work out what new learning needs our staff are likely to have, design new training courses and programmes, do individual and team coaching and work with teams to create bespoke development plans. I'm constantly stretching my own understanding to find new ways to help others understand things.

Then there's the management aspect that comes along with it - staff management, budgeting, reporting, monitoring KPIs and long term objectives, compliance with training and reporting regulations.

Keeps me entertained

Yes. I'm a university lecturer and I fairly regularly have to learn about something outside my comfort zone (eg when marking a final year project).

Am retraining as a vet nurse and there is a degree of intellectual challenge in the training. I am hoping to specialise when i qualify. There are physical and emotional challenges also.

I previously did a PhD which obviously was highly intellectual.

My current career is more fullfilling.

No, but I find it challenging 'socially', which is the area of myself that I most need to work on. I'm a ward HCA in A&E and a phlebotomist.

I academically challenge myself at home by taking online courses, setting myself tasks based on what I've read in text books and taking evening classes (starting French in January and can't wait). DP and I also make it a habit to talk about new things we've learnt together.

Yes, I'm an NHS Theatre Nurse and it can be mentally and physically exhausting, but I absolutely love my job.

I am constantly learning and love the challenges of my job.

Yes - probation officer.

ICU nurse here, challenging intellectually, physically and emotionally. I enjoy my job, but it can be very overwhelming, where challenges seem unsurmountable. These days a boring day is a rare gem!

I came on to post the same as Oubliette. (Wonder if we work together? )

Is your current education science or arts? It makes quite a bit of difference unless you are thinking of starting a degree from scratch

Sorry for the slow reply, and thanks for all the responses. Really interesting! Many of you seem to work in a technical field. My degrees and experience are in the arts, but there are not many jobs I can think of that my peers do which I would consider intellectually challenging. I guess it is more about the soft skills, which I think I do have, but I am lacking a sense of satisfaction and I think it's because I like a mental challenge. Also, this possibly applies to my specific work place, but lots of things are done almost on a whim because it's a shiny new creative idea, and I find the lack of strategy and planning very frustrating. I am wondering if the arts are still for me, I suppose.

Absolutely. I am an editor for a scientific journal so working with authors who are the experts in their field, publishing new findings.
Every day brings something new, usually very interesting but also things which I just don't understand so have to do some swift learning, or know when to just ask them to explain. I love it.

Intellectually...no not really. Mentally... totally.
I work with children who have severe ASD and learning disabilities and manage extremely challenging behaviour on a daily basis... I have to think on my feet (and sometimes while ducking flying objects!) I negotiate with small angry people!

However I am always learning... whether on courses or in my own time. I love it!

In accounting in industry. Most of the time it is just treading water - I only really have to engage my brain for about a fortnight a year, when I'm finalising the year-end.