ritag369

I could have written the same query. I am a state employee in the NYS Court System with 11 years on the job. I work in a small court with 2 judges and only one other clerk, my supervisor. We are very overloaded with cases and it is always stressful. I am very lucky because we are not subject to layoffs, ever. 90 percent of my friends and family have lost their jobs this past year (including my husband). I make an excellent pay for my area (it is the second poorest in the state) and the benefits with a state job are excellent not to mention the health insurance is the best. And yes, people think I am crazy to even consider leaving. I wake up in the morning and I don't look forward to going to work and I do not get any sense of satisfaction from it either. But I am good at it and so I stay. I did come up with a life plan. I will finish my prereqs in the next three years part time and keep working. I also plan on putting away 1 year's worth of take home pay (35K) over the next three years in case I do not get a job right away. Even with that cushion, I still feel like leaving my job is similar to freefalling to Earth w/o a parachute, but staying till age 56 to retire seems so daunting and depressing. I think if Arkmann has a good life plan and puts aside some savings, you have atleast a decent chance at success. Good luck and keep us posting. Everyone loves a success story.:)

I agree that starting a career (or second) at 35 or older is a good idea. By that age you know what you want to do in life and what you don't. I starting taking prereq classes when I was 31 and temp lost my job. I was rehired but kept going to school at night. Then at 32 heard my clock ticking and started a family. I will enroll this year to take Comp I and Bio while my mom watches my 2 1/2 year old at night. Once I made the decision to do this it really felt right, something I have never felt in my entire career (15 years). I too have doubts at times but when I think about staying where I am I get really depressed and feel trapped. I do worry about the 12 hour shifts and caring for my young son, but people do it all the time. Good Luck and kudos to everyone who is entering the field.

I am not a nurse,( I am working on my RN degree), but I wanted to ask a question. In last few weeks that I decided to change careers I have heard and read a lot of horrible things that nurses have to endure, like mandatory overtime, burnout, predatory senior nurses and I ask myself "Am I making the right decision here?". Any advice for me? I have a thick skin as I have been a court clerk for 11 years and really want to go into the healthcare field. Am I making a mistake?