Sunday doom - has anyone actually given up the corporate job and salary?

[Rach247]

I hate my job. Hours and pressure and stress are very high but I’m paid well.

Constantly day-dreaming about packing it in to do something less demanding and genuinely 9-5, work your hours and leave your job at the office, admin type thing. Or something completely different, like being a postie or working in a coffee shop. I know these can be demanding, but in a different way. But the pay would be low by comparison and I have a mortgage and young kids.

Has anyone actually packed in the corporate job for such a lifestyle change, and how did it go?

I gave up a fairly well paid job in local government middle management where cuts and restructuring made it so we were doing more and more with less and less staff. The profession had also changed so that my qualifications had become outdated. I stepped off the ladder to go to uni as a mature student. So I lived on a student grant in a shitty council estate and backed up with call center work. This can be pretty stressful but you learn to operate from behind a facade and not to take anything a customer says personally. You walk out at the end of your shift and shed the responsibilities.

After being fortunate enough to get a 1st I discovered my talent for academic work and stayed on at the same uni to do a masters and a Ph.D. I did tutoring while I continued my postgrad courses and then was offered work in accademia. I found that my previous role had given me many transferable skills which ensured my success. Even after I reached retirement age I continued to work as a contractor and then opened up my own business doing something I had always liked = dealing in antiques.

At about the time I finished my first degree I heard from an old friend in my home city that many of my erstwhile colleagues had lost their full time jobs as the profession shrank. They were now in temporary contracts or job shares. I had jumpred ship at entirely the right time.

@JustStopItNorasaurus have you thought of doing legal auditing? The salary is okay and very little stress.

Inspiring @Friendlygingercat , just fabulous to read.

Echoing that low paid jobs often have just as much bullshit plus bosses that talk down to you. At least mid or high end jobs you get talked to with respect and get paid much better for all the shit

I'm not sure it is always like that @Squishydishy . I am SLT and I would not talk down to any member of staff, I recognise their pay grade and skillset and manage appropriately. I don't expect the same level of commitment or willingness to undertake extra paid hours from someone on £25k compared to someone on £50k. And yes, I have one member of my team who had a really senior post elsewhere and left to remove stress and responsibility.

Not all people who manage are dicks.