Originally Posted by Craig

IMHO, they need to change jobs. Life's to short to spend 2000 hours per year doing something you don't enjoy. Too many people just stay put due to a combination of comfort and fear of the unknown. Most really successful people I know are willing to take a complete flyer whenever the risk/reward ratio looks good. Half the challenge is being able to see those opportunities, the other half is being willing to take the risk.

Originally Posted by pj67coll

We've had this discussion before. I agree that ideally you should just be able to hop, skip and jump around to do whatever you realy dig. However there just isnt that much stuff out there that everyone can find their dream career. Maybe someone could go out and start up their own business. However I believe that the vast majority of start ups simply fail.

- Peter.

Originally Posted by Craig

Well, if they never try they are guaranteed to fail.

I once read an article that suggested that you figure out what you would do "if you won the lottery"; then you just have to figure out how to make it happen anyway.

I've just known too many people who spend their whole life complaining about their circumstances and why they can't do what they really want; then they die.

Originally Posted by Craig

The problem is, that no longer works. If you take that job, you may still be doing it in 15 years. The days of "working your way up" are long gone in many fields.

You need a degree, you need to have worked as a summer intern in the field, you need to have done all the geeky extracurricular engineering stuff and made a bunch of contacts, you will probably need a graduate degree at some point; then you may have to change jobs and move across the country a few times to work your way up to a management position. Alternatively, join the navy after college and spend 6 years as a nuclear engineering officer before entering the field. After 30 years, a few jobs, and several states I'm in a pretty good position. If I had stayed in my original job, I would still be sitting in a cubicle.

The point is, the time you spend in that "crap job" might feed the family, but it won't help your resume.

Originally Posted by buffa98

Well I have to disagree. I work at a solid fuel plant. The operations supervisor and down(myself included) all started at the bottom.

While not the nuc industry (as far as the education required) it is a strting point. I like you would most likely not take a job at wal mart. I was pursued by a head hunter for an overseas job but did not want to spend the time away from home.

Originally Posted by Craig

I agree that it depends on the industry and the specific job. My point was that people used to be able to work their way up from sweeping the floors to a management position. Now that would be very difficult, if not impossible (at least in my industry); most mid/high level managers hop around between jobs like baseball managers to get their next promotion.

There are also little "groups" of managers that will move together; when a senior manager moves it is likely he will bring along a group of more junior managers that he trusts within a year. My brother is a software engineer, he has had about 5 different jobs at small companies (all with the same boss who keeps bringing him along). Now he's hiding out with a big defense contractor until the job market gets better.

Originally Posted by buffa98

Same here. The Ops manager brought a couple with him. And when he leave a few may be going with him. About a 5 year cycle.