If you are 40 plus is work turning out how you thought?

[topcat2014]

Are we all sold a lie about work? Should we be taught a bit more that work is a necessary evil that requires some tolerating?

I'm a qualified accountant with a degree. Some jobs have been ok. Most recent one I got sacked from, so that may affect my judgement.

But, work has never been as interesting or challenging as I thought it would be. Not badly paid at times. But not the stratospheric salaries I see on MN.

At 53 I'm too young to retire, but just non plussed.

I fully appreciate I'm lucky to have a job. About to send DD off to uni. Must try and ensure some of my current lack of enthusiasm does not run off.

Yes I think so, people are led to believe the professions lead to large salaries etc, there's a pyramid in every profession where only a few make it to the top paying roles and so on, be it medicine, law etc. same with non profession work, not everyone will normally is there room for everyone to become management and progress upward. We are led to believe it's an upward trajectory throughout work life but it's so not true.

I'm 40. I despise working but I'm grateful to have a job because whether I like it or not I need to work. When I'm there I count down the hours until I can leave to do the things I enjoy and it's a trapping feeling. I've dropped down to four days per week as a compromise because unfortunately I was never ambitious enough for a stressful career / super high salary so I will probably never retire fully. On the plus side I'm child and pet free so I have enough money to be comfortable and enjoy nice holidays.

I'm 50, my career has taken a pretty logical route from graduation, through a post-grad into my chosen field of journalism, then a good chunk of time working freelance while DCs were young and we lived overseas, then through public sector comms and now third sector comms.
I still enjoy my work, and feel incredibly fortunate to be working from home with an excellent team and brilliant line manager (hasn't always been the case!)
I earn well, I have autonomy and flexibility, a great work life balance, which with older DCs and older parents who need support, is really valuable. I don't really want to be working after 60, and am working towards making that happen.

48 and starting to think that I would like to be working fewer hours per week, but I can’t afford to. I don’t think I could do compressed hours either, partly because there isn’t really enough work to do. I took a step down from a horribly stressful people management role to move into something I’ve wanted to do for ages, and I’m enjoying the lack of pressure, but at the same time wishing there was a bit more pressure 😂

I thrive on variety but I think I also like to determine my workload, which isn’t currently possible in this role - it’s more people giving me work (I do frequently ask if there’s anything that needs doing or which people need help with). It’s early days though, so perhaps things will change once I’m more involved in the work/up to speed.

I’m at a crossroads (should really start my own thread on this!). Late 40s. Civil service type organisation. Took a bit of a step back when the children were young but wondering whether I should
push myself more now they no longer are.

Dithering about management roles in my organisation but I’m not sure I have the right skills or desire to move up the greasy pole. Just seems more bullshit which i can’t get along with. How can I manage people to do XYZ when I don’t believe in what I’m being told myself?

Or, move back into law and chase the money for a decade. Possibly be miserable but maybe I’d enjoy the buzz.

I just feel that a lot of jobs in modern society are such nonsense. If my organisation closed tomorrow, would it really matter?

I’m similar age and feel the same about thinking a lot of jobs are not very meaningful. Some that are meaningful (eg anything involving helping people) I would not be suited to as I don’t really want to interact with people, and certainly not those in need of help. That sounds awful but being an introvert, I would expend so much emotional energy that it would not be sustainable.

So I stick with my bean counter type job with pointless spreadsheets for company!

My late forties and into late 50s were my best working years. They were the ones in a job I loved, at a senior level and being respected and well paid.

I'm retired now, but glad that I had the ability later on to focus on my career once the pain of juggling child care and teens had finally disappeared. It was great to feel I could actual focus on doing a job I enjoyed without constantly feeling I should be at home/doing something else/giving family more time.

Must be like being a man...

It would almost be better to go into an industry where are plenty of mid range jobs that are relatively well paid with decent benefits. That way, if you don’t manage or don’t want to climb the greasy pole you’ve at least got some options.

Oh to be 18 again!

My job is fine, great boss my team are ok with no major performance issues, only stressful sometimes and can work remotely most of the team. I’m sometimes bored but also get a bit of a sense of achievement and have some autonomy to change things. Pension is also good. However I hate the constant politics and have a challenging (nob) stakeholder to deal with. What I really hate though is that it’s 9 days a fortnight 8-6 constantly sat in from of a laptop, mostly on teams meetings. If I could reduce my hours to 3 days that would make it more bearable but would impact my pension too much. I’m saving to try and leave at 60.

I’m lucky to have one of those meaningful jobs but I am quite disaffected all the same at 56. I don’t know that I would stop completely if the option were there but then again I’m
not sure why I wouldn’t. Maybe I’ll be able to go part time at 60. Tbh I’m not looking at other jobs either, better the devil you know at this age and absolutely no interest in stretching myself.

I hate my job, especially since Covid. I’m in project management, but it’s mostly staring at a screen, endless teams calls, spreadsheets. My team are scattered and wfh so I feel incredibly isolated and disconnected. I’m frantically trying to find a sideways move into something ( anything) more IRL and active that pays the same, or even a little bit less, but anything I think of that is more active pays peanuts. I only need 35 k to get by but it’s seemingly only boring jobs that pay that!
I used to work in a creative industry and was out and about, running around and working with other humans in person and I miss it so much.
Im actually quite depressed that I have another 20 years until retirement and I can’t spend my life like this.

I’m late 40s and I do love my job, it’s interesting and I enjoy it. It’s hard work and probably not as well paid as it should be. But it’s still a good wage. I’m very much not micro managed and have a lot of flexibility in my working patterns and also how I get the job done which I appreciate. I can wfh quite a bit too.

hiwever sometimes I wish for something with a bit less pressure/responsibility. I’d love to do something creative.

I think most people know work is a necessary evil rather than the path to fulfilment. Few people get a true calling in life. It’s about finding something stimulating and comfortable enough to make a decent living.

I switched to accounting in industry and still find it challenging and interesting. It’s depends on the type of work, sector and the management most of all. I’d find it boring if things were stable and repetitive but every company has clunky processes that need improvement. If management won’t allow it then I leave. There’s also lots of scope for learning new things as tech is advancing quickly.

I'm part qual Management accountant. I'm in a straightforward industry working for a tiny organisation (4 of us including owner) with a complex structure that has long term regular turnover (no sales / purchasing dept). I have an important role but very low workload, some days I'm completely up to date. The pay is just OK, I could earn double if I commuted to the nearest city but I love my flexibility of wfh. I have a lovely company car and decent private medical, my male colleagues and boss are great to work with. My boss does a lot for local charities and council.

I like my job, it's the perfect mix of laid back, being on top of my work and tough brain work. My job role is very company dependent, I've worked in places that were high workload/ shitty commute and low pay and it's exhausting.

Thanks @Goldmember almost matches where I am