Jobs you thought would be fabulous but actually weren't?

[GardenDreams]

I was a full time fine artist for 30 years (traditional painting, mixed media and pattern design) worked with book publishing, freelance, galleries, online print sales, various large companies and a few partnerships with celebs. Not as exciting as it sounds though, lol.

Throughout this period, many people looked at me with awe after asking what I did, mostly in surprise that I could earn enough to live on (it came close, at times). I do get the impression that many people think that this is a very thrilling and freeing way to live, but the reality was quite stressful and scary, at least financially, at times. It was a good long slog, with some tricky customers and another full time job dealing with social media. And the work never, ever stopped - there was no clocking off or guilt free holidays. Aside from the online glamour of how it looks, it eventually becomes less about self expression and more like a production line. At times I was completely, visually exhausted.

There are tons of newly proclaimed artists of a certain age on insta, and now more than ever before are offering art courses (after only 6 months in to being self taught), so it's very much a competitive kind of 'grind' culture which has multiplied in the past 6 years.. It is 'sold' as an alternative, lucrative side hustle, but is actually far from the oh so relaxing vibe these insta accounts make out in their posts.

I am still creating but have moved over into a new field that I love, and only now can I see how utterly draining and hard it was when I look back on it. But I am sure so many people still think the idea is quite romantic and liberating.

Anyone else with a similar story? I am cure there are tons of careers that sound wonderful to me, that might be really soul destroying or at least stressful in reality. My fantasy job would have been an archivist, but I took such a different path at ui that I dare say that boat sailed a long time ago!

My friend is a counsellor for trainee doctors. She is currently off sick with stress. She said that she used to get one or two junior doctors per year who were genuinely suicidal. Now she has 3 or 4 a week.

Agree about film & TV work. Been involved with my fashion work, long hours, terrible pay… I’m in events now & it’s hard work, but satisfying when it all comes together (usually last minute!)

'@favouriteyellowsocks · Today 02:00
A small environmental charity. Opened my eyes to how many charities operate and completely disillusioned me to them all sadly'

Agreed! I have worked for charities for 20 years.

I went into it because I wanted to make a difference and I thought that this would be a more supportive environment to work in as I have a disability/am neurodivergent.

I am completely disillusioned about it now. I have seen too many dodgy fundraising practices, crappy trustees/CEO and donations wasted on vanity projects.

Also many charities are dreadful employers who pay the frontline staff peanuts and treat them appallingly.

I have seen many instances of bullying of staff with mental health issues/disabilities, including myself ,from organisations who get government funding and donations from the public to support vulnerable clients!

I even worked for a well known animal charity which had always been a dream for me and saw complete disorganisation and money being wasted on consultants. All people did was have meetings all day. I left after a month.

Can't wait to leave my current role and do something completely different in a different sector.

I was a florist years ago and so many people used to say "oh, how lovely! I would love to do that!" Reality is you're up at silly o'clock to get to the market, your hands and back get totally screwed and don't get me started on doing it in winter - no heating allowed, so the layers clothing you have to wear just to not freeze made me look like the Michelin Man.

I'm now in events, mainly for private UHNWI. Don't get me wrong, there are some real "pinch me" moments and I've been to some amazing places, but as PP have said, it's super-stressful, very long hours and even after 15 years I still get to clear up other people's vomit at 4am - I do still love it though, although there are times that I couldn't tell you why.

Graphic designer of nearly 30 years here! At school and Uni I remember being so naturally creative, designing and drawing for myself completing projects to my own timescales and being able to produce pieces of work that I genuinely loved and was proud of. These days everything I do is to a deadline, I have to be creative to order, it's all about style guidelines and template files. Everyone thinks they're a designer because software is so cheap and available to everyone. Companies that design by committee, that when you give them a series of ideas want a bit from one, this bit from two and the back of number three. I have clients who I've worked with for years and in my head I know exactly what they like (and don't like) so I literally design to their likes so things get signed off quickly and meet their deadlines - where's the creativity in that?! These days I try to focus on the happy returning clients that I have instead of the designs that I churn out for my job satisfaction. I used to do so many crafty things in my spare time but I find these days I don't have the headspace for it and the joy has vanished.

This is fascinating. I fell into management accountancy when I graduated in the early 1980’s as it was one area where there were jobs and on the whole I loved it. I’ve always crafted and have often been told I should do it as a job but realised I would probably not make minimum wage.

Now I’m retired I wonder about it usually after visiting a Craft/Artisan market but realise it would take the pleasure out of it.

Started off young and starry-eyed in education but was shocked at the system even during teaching practices...
Had some re-training followed by a minor role in counselling and mental health support, but the system doesn't serve patients nor does it support the staff.
Moved into university roles, supporting students there instead. Money was better but the workload was unbelievable and the students were seldom grateful either.
Independent education (in a non-teaching role) has paid the best money but if you're in student support staff it's 24/7 and often overnight calls too; if you can survive the academic year you at least get the holidays. I have seen inside several famous schools and believe me, they are not as they appear.

Writing novels. Most writers are utterly miserable as publishing is so shit now.

@MsRosley why?

If I’ve learnt anything from life it’s that most jobs are 60% admin. Even jobs that sound incredibly free and outdoorsy like PARK RANGER or WHITE WATER RAFTING INSTRUCTOR mainly involve being hunched over a computer sorting out invoices.

A friend got a job as a librarian in a school library. She had a delightful vision of being surrounded by little ones, helping young minds flower etc. Nope. It’s mainly admin with no kids in sight.

Museum educator/ tour guides. The tour guiding, educating visitor part is on the whole great. However it is a role heavily dominated by volunteers so finding a paid position is incredibly difficult. If you are in a paid position you are constantly having to justify your position as paid as most senior managers really want it to be entirely volunteer led. Every end of year you are told to find ways to cut costs, waiting to find out if there will be any cuts to your hours or staff. The very few paid positions are often zero hours and at some parts of the year you would be lucky to get 3 shifts a month.

Bus trips can be great or a nightmare. School trips are usually great fun but there are many staff who don't like them as they can't cope with the chaos and noise that comes with herding sometimes 60+ pupils. One of the sites I worked at linked heavily to the secondary school curriculum and many schools brought whole year groups on the trip (sometimes upwards of 150 pupils per day). Bus trips (especially the pensioner ones where there is an itinerary) can come with their own challenges. Especially if the bus is late due to traffic or they are short on time due to needing to be at the next place. Managing expectations of 60 pensioners with mobility aids who have come to an outdoor uneven ground site with lots of steps is always interesting, (especially if said coach trip has not mentioned this and sold the site as one of the key experiences).

Lots of meetings, planning events, creating events. Event days can be long and depending on the topic can be well attended or very poorly attended. Input into events and what will be done can be limited depending on your senior management team. ive found that the boots on the ground management teams are always fantastic. But the senior management who are often not at the site and pay 2 or 3 fleeting visits a year but make all the decisions are awful.

The huge reliance on volunteers makes museum work challenging. Depending on your screening process, volunteer handbook and expectations and volunteer training programs, most volunteers are great, but they are unreliable (as is their prerogative as a volunteer). If there are poor screening processes for volunteers and volunteers are given poor training or have no expectations on them it is very difficult. Some are very hard work to manage. It can be very difficult to rectify poor volunteer management.

Our museum group linked up with a few different local charities providing work experience placements for different clients (SEN, people who had been out of work for very long periods of time, people recovering from mental health issues, young adults who were long term NEETs). None of the staff really had sufficient training for this and each client set of the charities came with their own challenges. It was very stressful to manage some of these placements and due to only having a handful of paid staff having appropriate support for these placements could be very tricky.

Just out of interest, how did you get into your current teaching role? I quit Secondary Teaching and now doing an admin job but thinking in a couple of years I would like to return to teaching, just not as part of state/children teaching

Cabin crew. Not at all glamorous, 16 hour shifts usually working through the night then minimum legal rest before the next shift. Rude/drunk/drugged up customers (and some lovely ones!) Cleaning up sick and other people's filth.
Different crew on every flight and it was a very bitchy environment. I only lasted 2 seasons.

Architect. Ask me how I know 😂

If you have a sensitive but clever daughter, maybe steer her away from medicine and towards IT/tech. Where I work is rewarding, interesting work, lots of freedom, good salary and nice environment. It is male dominated but the guys I work with tend to be gentle, kind souls who simply like playing with computers, have no agenda and want everyone to get along (they appreciate my willingness to go and talk to people). The women are supportive and friendly and we have each other's backs (in many ways we hold a lot of the power...because we talk to each other!) I'm sure not everywhere is like this and it's very rose tinted (I think some start ups can be ruthless) but where I work is a good place.

Thank you for this. I've been dying to get back into this after a 20 year (almost) hiatus and struggling to find anything. I have tales similar from friends too. Still want to give it a go though!

I did similar..... ran a livery yard. Rude owners who expected to turn up to a groomed, tacked up horse and then just hand it back when they were done, and never paid their bills on time. 365 days a year, ice, snow, heat, wind, rain, dust, mud. Early starts, late nights if a horse was poorly. Waving everyone off to have fun while you stay behind to muck out, poo pick etc . Adored the horses and some clients but never enough time to do what i wanted to do with my own horses. Plus side, fit as a fiddle and a great tan in the summer !

Just in case anyone actually thought it would be fabulous… social worker.

I’m sure I don't need to elaborate.

Oh and most importantly it's family friendly and I've been able to work flexibly since having the kids - if I was a Dr I'd have quit by now

Research scientist for a large pharma. The easiest way to describe my job to a lay person was "I design possible drug molecules with a view to curing cancer, by studying/doing calculations on protein active sites". Everyone thought it sounded so fascinating, but god, it was so dull. And this was the 90s, and I was the only woman. The men in my immediate team especially, were misogynistic twats who clearly didn't want me there. I assumed scientific research was the thing for me because I loved my degree, but it's so slow and painstaking, a lot of the models we used were bollocks, so most of what I did was pointless. On the upside, the pharma company treated their staff very well, including pay. In hindsight I wished I'd stayed but moved sideways.

Instead, I stupidly went into teaching,which is as fucking awful as people describe on here. The only thing I enjoyed was exam marking (which everyone thinks must be really boring, and no one believes me when I say I enjoy it, and they insist I must be doing it for the money)

Then, I kind of drifted into being a data analyst, didn't put any thought into it as a career move (whereas my other careers, I spent years checking it would be a good fit). I absolutely bloody love it. Pay is low at first, but rises rapidly within a couple of years, I find the stories behind data fascinating - we can work out what huge swathes of people are thinking based on how they move around our website. There's so much psychology behind it. People I work with are lovely, and I love the fast-pacedness of the business environment. I WFH, by choice, but also the option to work in the office. It's idyllic. But when I describe my job to anyone ("I stare at a computer all day, coding, in order to analyse large datasets"), they think it must be really boring, and absolutely don't believe me when I say I love it.

Shopping editor in consumer magazines, the pay was obscene, I worked until midnight frequently. I was expected to regularly travel internationally with short notice, which on the face of it seemed terribly glamorous, but was actually bone hard work schlepping around cities you'd never been to before, trying to navigate on foot with crappy iphone reception. Many expenses of the trips (which ran over weekends, and for which we got no time off in lieu) were queried/refused for reimbursement by the editor or PR who arranged the trip. As as we were so pitifully waged in the first instance, waiting for the publishing house (or PR) to maybe expense your claim became untenable, especially once I had a mortgage. Luckily I dovetailed into interiors styling... Which is well paid but can be very seasonal and frequency is difficult to predict also. Reading though these other posts, every other job I've ever fancied is an absolute shitshow too.

Not sure if it's already been said, but Estate Agent.

A lot of people think it's flitting around expensive houses and taking a few pictures.

The reality is it's very stressful, doesn't pay a lot and Mr Joe Public is often very demanding and not very nice

Your constantly trying to manage grown people's feelings and some of the solicitors & conveyancers can be quite nasty (some are obviously lovely and very hard working too)

I was always left with the feeling that no matter how hard I tried it was never good enough

I've often wished to write children's books, but had heard the pay wasn't great

And to add to @somepeopleareunbelievable , my children are older now, but tech jobs are very family friendly. DH and I could easily have covered the school runs between us, whereas in teaching, we had to pay childminders because we were out of the house from 7.30-6pm. Also, school holidays - we could have covered them easily with a combination of our own holidays, GPs, and out of school sports clubs. One of my biggest regrets in life is not getting into this line of work earlier.

Most books that are published get minimal marketing support, then the poor sales figures are held against the author. The pay is absolutely shit. The lack of job security is even worse.