I'm 29 and currently making around $54k managing operations at a hotel. Applied for a resort operations manager position and somehow made it through three interviews.

The offer is $95k plus free accommodation, which sounded almost too good.

Then they explained the winter arrangement. The resort closes to guests for 4 months and whoever holds this position stays on the property alone to oversee maintenance, check for storm damage and coordinate contractors when needed.

It's a large property on a lake, about an hour from the nearest proper town. They casually mentioned the previous manager left halfway through winter because he couldn't handle the isolation.

My family thinks I'm insane for even considering it. I see a chance to nearly double my salary and finally get a general manager title on my resume.

Has anyone taken a career opportunity this unusual and actually benefited from it? Or am I getting distracted by the salary and ignoring a massive red flag?

I need someone to explain to me how this corporate logic makes any sense, because my brain is melting.

Last year during my annual review, my director looked me in the eye and laid out the rule. He told me that in our company, you don't get promoted to Senior Analyst and then start doing senior work. You have to "demonstrate capability at the next band" for at least six to nine months first. Basically, do the higher job at your current pay grade to earn the title.

i took the bait.

For eleven months, I took on lead projects. I ran the weekly stakeholder meetings, trained two incoming associates, and handled client escalations that were previously above my pay grade. I worked late. I hit every single milestone.

Yesterday was my year-end performance check-in.

I brought up the promotion and the salary bump we discussed. My manager gave me an eighty-page deck of compliments, told me I was doing fantastic, and then dropped the hammer. He said: "Well, since you have been doing this scope of work for almost a full year now, this is just your established baseline. To justify a promotion to the board, we need to see you stretch beyond this current baseline for another cycle."

Are you joking?

I gave this firm a year of free senior-level labor, and now its just my new normal. I should of never taken on a single extra responsibility without signed paper.

It is completely EXHAUSTING chasing a finish line that moves every time you take a step. Why is this even a thing?

I've been an account coordinator at a marketing agency for almost 4 years. Last week I ran into a client at an industry event who looked genuinely shocked to see me. He said my manager told him I'd left the company months ago.

Thought it was some weird misunderstanding until I contacted another client I used to work with. Same story.

Confronted my manager and he admitted he'd been telling certain clients I was no longer with the company because he wanted communication going directly through him. Apparently it was easier than explaining our internal restructuring.

The crazy part is there was no restructuring. I'm still doing the same job, sitting 20 feet away from him every day.

I'm now wondering how many professional relationships he's damaged without me knowing.

Would you take this straight to HR or start looking elsewhere? I'm worried about what else he's been saying about me.

I'm 29 and currently make around $78k working in corporate communications.

Got approached about a position paying $130k for a CEO at a midsize company. Went through two interviews and found out the actual job is pretty much managing his entire public personality.

LinkedIn posts, replies to comments, congratulating employees, sharing personal stories, even writing opinions on industry news. All under his name. Apparently he doesn't have time for any of it but wants to appear more involved and approachable.

The recruiter called it executive communications, which I know is an actual career. But during the second interview they made it clear he wouldn't even be reviewing most of what I write.

I'm having trouble deciding whether this is a great opportunity or a really weird direction to take my career.

Would you consider this legitimate experience for future communications roles? Because explaining that I spent 3 years pretending to be somebody's CEO on LinkedIn sounds ridiculous.

I spent the last four years being the undisputed workhorse of our operations department. I was the one who fixed the broken vendor pipelines, worked late during client emergencies, and trained every single onboarding class. When our department lead resigned in November, I figured the promotion was a no-brainer.

They passed on me and hired an external guy who spent his first two months asking me how to pull basic internal metrics. During a casual lunch last week, my manager finally let his guard down. He told me: "Honestly, if I promoted you, my entire department would fall apart because you are the only one who actually knows how to run this place."

I sat there staring at him while my salad sat untouched. Being indispensable is the fastest way to get TRAPPED. If you are too good at the gritty, load-bearing work, they will never move you into leadership because replacing you is too inconvenient for management.

I stopped being the office savior on Monday morning. I deleted my weekend Slack notifications, stopped jumping onto unassigned tickets, and started letting broken processes sit until someone officially asks for them in writing. Its crazy how much loyalty gets weaponized against women who keep the lights on. Why should being competent at your job be the exact reason your career stalls? Why is this even a thing?

Yesterday

I was called to head office by HR. I had to sign a written warning, resulting in disqualification for year end bonus.

Tomorrow

I've asked my HOD for a face to face meeting. I will start by saying that we have to have a difficult conversation, I have 2 points and 1 question.

1. David you employed me, there were many applicants, but you chose me. Surepy there is a reason for that.

2. On the few times I've recieved feedback from you. It has always been positive.

I don't want to go into too much detail but since starting at this company I've accomplished..... and ..... Both times you told me how well the projects went.

David are you trying to get rid of me? Why have you gone straight to HR, twice now, to complain about a minor thing a phone call would have resolved.

Edit; First warning - I did not have money for fuel to get to work. I informed and asked my HOD if he could possibly borrow me a couple bucks till pay day (which was a few days later) when I pay him back. Didn't even respond, went straight to HR.

Second warning ‐ I was absent from work Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Each of these days I informed both my HOD and HR that I am unable to get to work this morning, I have exhausted every possible way to get money but I simply cannot afford the fuel costs. And that i would will try my best to get something together to make it to work tomorrow. (Thursday evening was pay day)

Why I want to say the 1st point. Because even if I was a bad hire, I want to learn, eager to improve and will literally fill ANY role they need for a fucking decent salary

Hello,

After a job loss, I've been trying very hard to get back into the workforce for the past 3 years. Yes, a little over 3 years. No luck. I'm 60-plus and looking for contact/call center jobs.

What are the chances of being employed in any job that will help me earn money for 50- and 60-plus workers and professionals like me?

I'm 30, originally from a developing country, and spent several years in Canada. Currently making around $60k USD working remotely, barely 1–3 hours a day, very few meetings, and can pretty much live anywhere. I also have a potential 5% stake in the company if it eventually sells.

I know this sounds like a dream job, and I'm grateful for it, but honestly, I'm miserable because I don't feel like I'm growing professionally.

I've tried travelling (Digital nomad stuff) , hobbies, and enjoying all this freedom, but none of it really replaces the feeling of being challenged or working toward something. I'm tired of just having fun. I actually want to build a proper career.

A bit about my background:

• Business bachelors degree and PMP certification.
• One year of Big Four audit experience, although that was seven years ago.
• Current role is a mix of operations, project management, occasional customer support, and now it is is mostly building internal tools and automations using AI/Codex.
• I enjoy solving business problems and building things, but have very little mentorship or career progression.

Here's where I'm confused. What should I actually invest my free time in?

• AI and automation: I enjoy building tools, but worry AI will eventually make a lot of these skills less valuable.
• AI governance, risk, compliance: Seems interesting and potentially more AI-resilient, but I'd be starting almost from scratch.
• GMAT/MBA/master's: Considering going back to school in 2027, possibly in Europe, but unsure about the return on investment.
• Something completely different? I'm open to suggestions and careers I haven't even considered.

I'm willing to dedicate 3–5 hours every day to learning, studying, building projects, or whatever helps me move forward.

My biggest fear is waking up at 35, losing this comfortable job, and realizing I haven't developed the skills or experience to find another good one.

I don't necessarily want to quit my current job. I just want to use this opportunity wisely and build a stable, fulfilling, long-term career.

If you were in my position, what would you focus on for the next 6–12 months?

Hello! I dont want to make this too long as I just need some quick advice.

My current job is crap, im not happy with their payment system and they are hardly scheduling me. I have bills that I need to pay, and either way I already dont enjoy this job. Ive already been offered another job at Starbucks which pays $2 more than my current one, i want to take it but ive only been working at my current job for 3 weeks. How do I go about this? This is my first time quitting suddenly and so quickly like this, i honestly feel like an asshole. My schedule doesnt look like its going to get any better either, another girl who started at the same time as me was only scheduled for about 3 hours this week. They do not have the hours for the amount of workers that they have, i do not want to be here and I have no idea how to go about this. Everybody at this place has been insanely kind to me which is another reason I would hate to leave, i just need some advice on how to go about this. Also, is this even okay for me to do? Will this look terrible on my record? I apologize if I sound stupid, im a teenager whos in poverty and desperately just trying to survive.

Hey everyone,

I'm in my early 20s and recently graduated with a bachelors degree in technology. Honestly, I don't really know where my life is going anymore.

A few months ago, things looked very different. I landed a six month internship at a FAANG company, something I had never imagined myself achieving. I learned a lot, enjoyed my work, and genuinely felt like I was finally moving in the right direction. I was so invested in what I was doing that I often worked long hours, even on weekends, simply because I enjoyed it.

Almost everyone around me thought I'd get a full-time offer, and I believed it too.

I had a dream of pursuing my master's in computer science in the United States someday. It might sound childish to some people, but it's something I've wanted for a long time. I imagined working for a few years, gaining experience, and eventually moving closer to that dream. For the first time, that future felt achievable.

But things didn't go as planned. I didn't get a full-time offer.

It hurt more than I can explain. I cried, asked for feedback, and struggled to understand what had gone wrong. Eventually, I picked myself up and told myself I'd find another job. I still had my degree, the experience I'd gained, and my entire career ahead of me.

But it's been four months since my internship ended, and I still don't have a job.

I'm applying and preparing, but interview opportunities have been incredibly rare. When I do get an interview, things haven't worked out so far.

The worst part is that I haven't been able to make as much progress as I wanted to over these past few months. I try to study and improve my skills, but my mind is constantly occupied with thoughts about my career and my future. I feel anxious about falling behind, yet that same anxiety makes it difficult to concentrate and actually make progress.

It's become a vicious cycle. I want to move forward, but I can't seem to get myself out of this mental state.

Being at home all the time has also started affecting me. I love my family, but lately, I've become withdrawn and irritable. I barely talk to my parents or brothers, and sometimes I find myself getting angry at them over things that wouldn't normally bother me. They aren't responsible for my situation, and I don't understand why I'm behaving this way.

I just want to find a job, become independent, and have a life of my own. Staying at home every day without a clear direction is getting to me.

Meanwhile, I see my friends moving forward. They're working at good companies, earning money, travelling abroad, and experiencing new things. I'm genuinely happy for them, but comparing my life to theirs makes me feel worse about my own situation.

I know everyone has their own timeline, but it's difficult to believe that when you feel like you're standing still while everyone else is moving forward.

What hurts the most is that this isn't just about not having a job. It's about the future I had started imagining for myself.

I thought I was finally on my way somewhere. Now, I find myself questioning whether I'll ever get there. Will I be able to pursue my master's? Will I ever get the opportunities I've been working towards? Will I be able to move abroad and experience the life I've always wanted?

I know that not getting a full-time offer isn't the end of my career, and four months of unemployment doesn't determine the rest of my life. But knowing these things intellectually and actually believing them when you're going through it are two very different things.

I feel stuck, anxious, and increasingly disconnected from the person I used to be. I miss the person who was excited about work, had goals, and genuinely looked forward to the future.

I don't know what I'm expecting from this post. Maybe I just needed to get these thoughts out somewhere because I've been keeping a lot of them to myself.

If you've been through something similar, especially after graduating or losing an opportunity you thought was almost guaranteed, how did you deal with it? How did you get yourself out of that mental state and start moving forward again?

I don't need someone to tell me that everything will magically work out. I'd just like to hear from people who've genuinely been in a similar position and found a way through it.

Because right now, I feel like I've lost my direction, and I don't know how to find it again.

Emphasis on energy. I have AuDHD and I want to explore career options that let me set aside energy to focus on ceramics, painting, and film. I have a BA in psychology and a certificate in data analytics. However, I have found that my 9-5 office job gives me little energy to focus on my art which is more important to me now. I find focusing on analyzing data and sitting still at work in an office setting for many hours drains me. I would love to explore careers that have worked for neurodivergent people who need to pay their rent, but who can still set aside time and energy for their hobbies.

If it helps, I find that tactile tasks where I can give my mind a break seem to not drain me as much as sitting still at a desk and concentrating intensely. I feel like my AuDHD has gotten worse over the years even with therapy and medication, and I want to find a new path to prevent more burnout so I can have energy for art when my job is done for the day.

I'm 50, with an MS in Computer Science and a long background in technical project and program management. At two different companies (one an expense-software SaaS), I was ranked in the top 2 of 25–30 PMs. My pay peaked around $250K.
I've been job hunting for about 2 years. Mass applying got me almost zero interviews. Two weeks ago I changed my approach and got one TPM interview (didn't advance) .

My target is TPM or program manager roles at $100K+, remote or in any city in US. I'm open to relocating.
For anyone who got back into tech PM in their late 40s or 50s, or after a long gap:
What actually got you interviews: referrals, contract roles, recruiters, certifications?
Is contract or contract-to-hire the fastest way back in?
Any honest advice appreciated.

I started this job four months ago. I liked it in the first few weeks, but honestly the company wishes are NOT compatible with the output that can be delivered in my position. I talked about it with co-workers and my manager, but they don’t seem to understand where the issues are with this (new) position.

Last week I was so fed up that I, after thinking about it for weeks, applied to a new job. It felt so great that I applied to a few more. I don’t see a future for me at this company since in the current state of this job I cannot grow or learn, I am only putting out fires that are out of my control.

But if I were to leave, I would leave with a lot of guilt. My manager and team are really great, and they all have a lot of faith in me and keep pressing on how much they appreciate me. Also I got a more expensive laptop than anyone in the company since I run heavy programs for my job, and got some other expensive gear as well. All and all I’ve cost them about 4K in stuff that I needed for my job. I’d hate to leave after they got me all this stuff, since they had to push really hard with finance to get all this stuff for me.

I know I can’t stay out of guilt, but I keep hoping it’ll get better even though it’s not looking like it will anytime soon.

Any advice?

I genuinely don’t know if I’m looking for career advice, a reality check, or someone to tell me I’m not insane lol.
I’m 27F and currently a Director. I graduated from a top business school and have had what I think is a relatively successful career on paper. I’ve worked my way up pretty quickly, make good money, manage people, and generally think I’m pretty good at what I do.
The problem is that I am absolutely MISERABLE. And the worst part is that this isn’t the first job where I’ve felt this way.
I’ve worked at a few different companies now, mostly in startups or smaller organizations, and I feel like every single job eventually becomes this all-consuming source of anxiety. I wake up anxious, spend the entire day anxious, and then spend my evenings thinking about everything that happened at work or everything that could possibly go wrong tomorrow. I literally dread going to sleep because it means I have to wake up and do it all over again.
For some context, my current job is particularly intense, I feel like I’m constantly under pressure, constantly being told what I could be doing better, and rarely feel like anything I do is actually good enough.
But I’m also starting to wonder how much of this is me.
I’ve had similar feelings at previous jobs. Different bosses, different companies, different responsibilities, but somehow I always end up feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and like I’m failing. I know I have anxiety. I’m not pretending that my own tendencies aren’t contributing to this but I also don’t think it’s normal to feel this miserable about work all the time?
I’m starting to wonder if I’ve spent my entire career climbing a ladder I don’t even want to be on.
I don’t particularly care about becoming a VP or CMO. I don’t need to be the most important person in the room. I like solving problems, building processes, analyzing performance, and making things work better.

What I absolutely hate is the constant urgency, the pressure to drive revenue every single day, the ambiguity, the endless scrutiny of performance, and feeling like I’m personally responsible every time a number moves in the wrong direction.

I’m married, we recently bought a house, and I’d like to start a family in the next few years. I just want to have a job that pays me well, that I’m good at, and that I can actually leave at work when the day is over. I don’t want my entire identity or emotional well-being to revolve around my career anymore.

I guess my questions are:
Has anyone else been successful on paper but consistently miserable at work? Did you eventually find a job you were happy in, or did you realize you needed to change something about yourself?

I think my biggest fear is leaving this job, finding another one, and realizing six months later that I’m just as miserable because the common denominator has always been me.

My major is in Integrated Marketing Communications. This prepares one for roles in fields such as copywriting, marketing, advertising, and public relations. I've realized (too late) that most of these jobs don't necessarily require a degree and the ceiling on earnings often isn't too high.

I'm studying for the LSAT to see if I could get into law school, but from what I hear, a lot if lawyers outside of big law barely make six figures. I'm set to graduate with a 3.0 GPA, so even if I have an excellent LSAT, it'd be hard to get into a law school with a big law pipeline.

If I could do it over, I'd major in something STEM related. I've thought about maybe trying to do a masters in engineering or even going to Physican's Assistant school. The thing is, both of those would require me to take a year's worth of math and science courses at a community college because my degree only required very basic math and science courses.

I know many people will tell me to pick a path that I enjoy. I get that this is important, but part of me feels like work is work, no job is ever going to be "fun" all the time. I really just want to make as much money as I can.

I feel even more uneasy about all this considering I am a few years older than most are when they receive their undergrad degree. I know 25 is still young, but I still feel so behind.

So should I go to law school or make the pivot to healthcare or STEM?

I'm a college student and am looking for a job to have while I finish up school. I am a business major, and am thinking about getting a job that could help me build some basic experience while taking classes. I have retail experience currently and would be open to pretty much any field related to my major to try it out. I just struggle finding any entry level job that isn't just basic minimum wage work like being a cashier. I want something that can at least give me some experience for a more advanced or higher paying job in the future.

A raise is usually the obvious pick, but some benefits are hard to walk away from. Good insurance, remote work, a flexible schedule, solid PTO.

Curious what would actually be worth more than the extra money for people.

Title.

It’s such a stupid amount of money that I’m prepared to move, but I love product marketing. My general company right now isn’t the best in terms of responsibilities and org structure and practices, so I would have to put in a few years before I could become a product marketing manager somewhere else. All the while I doubt I’d even touch 70-75K.

My old boss offered me this job and I’m down to take it and pivot to comms for a few years but I’m scared. Will I ruin my product marketing streak and not be able to come back or become a PMM? I’m sure it’ll be more difficult to come back compared to if I was just a product marketing specialist, but again, the money is CRAZY.

Please help, I’m literally panicking over what is the right choice!

Hi! I m 34m , married, have 2 kids, my wife has been diagnosticated with breast cancer and now i need to care for her and the kids so i need to work from home /remote, I think i could manage almost any job that requires working at home from a pc, at least at an entry level until i prove myself. I am familiar with business consulting, basic programming using AI, marketing, customer service, mostly anything, maybe even trying the Overemployed route and take 2 jobs if there is a chance..cause i don t know what else to do, the bills are overwhelming, and honestly i try to be positive and be a rock for my family but life just slaps you so hard that you almost lose yourself.. Any help , suggestion, advice is very welcome. Thank you!

So me and a few coworkers were staff aug (SA). I ended up in the hospital with life threating complications and while going through surgeries they came to us and said all SA will become full service employees (FSE) or be fired in November. I ended up with a $20K pay cut and my office mate ended up with about a $50K pay cut, but we both accepted because we both really like the job and have the best boss in the world.

Well boss came in this past Monday and turned in his two weeks notice. I start my first day as a FSE on Monday and they want me to interview (take his position). Since I was a senior advisor my pay is the same as that level manager. So taking his position would be in title only, more responsibility, and 4 days a week onsite (currently full remote). My office mate is a lower lvl employee so the manager position would give him about a $30K bump so he would only lose out on $20K from our SA position.

Being that I was staff aug my boss and I never really revealed my sickness to anyone, I just disappeared and did my work from home/hospital. So my question is on monday when I go get my new badge for FSE and I have to meet with the directors, how do I deflect the promotion to my office mate without coming right out and saying I don't have the health to be on site 4 days a week and want to continue working remote and you are not giving me anymore money? Also I am not sure my office mate is next in line for the position and I would really hate to pass up and our group gets disbanded and I get sent somewhere else. Not sure if it's cool to just go in and say give it to my mate, if he doesn't want it then I will take it to hold the group together. I know my mate really wants it so that's not an issue.

Hey, I’m 33F UK, and at a tech agency. I’ve been at the company 4 months and work 2 days in the office and 3 days remote.

However, in the space of a month, my manager asked me to travel to London from Halifax (2.5 hours each way) stay overnight for different reasons, conference, pitch, client meeting then come back. This has been 1 week then a week off sick and then a further two weeks. But then I’m still expected to come into the office an hour away for the mandatory office days and I’m burnt out already.

Do I even bring this up because I’m on probation and if so how can I word it gently?

In August I got a job, but then I did quit just after 2 weeks because of some issues about me being autistic. The manager told me several times, or implied, that I looked slow/stupid and told me that I needed to look more engaged and proactive, or the company could have terminate my conctract. And the coworkers made jokes about me being weird and asocial. These things had already happened in previous jobs, and this really made me depressed and anxious, so I decided I would not endure that kind of stuff anymore. Then I applied for this warehouse job, but nothing changed.

After leaving I applied only to delivery driver jobs, but there aren't many in my area, and I only sent 10 resumes in over 2 months. Then I got 1 interview and was rejected. Are there other jobs with minimal engagement with management and coworkers?

Hi everyone, I'm a 3rd-year (5th sem) CS student in India aiming for an AI/LLM internship.

My problem: I can build small projects, but I get stuck when moving to production-grade ones. I switch between LLM fine-tuning (LoRA/QLoRA) and RAG systems, and end up with nothing finished to show. When I get stuck, I lean on AI tools to solve it, so I'm not sure I'm really learning the hard parts.

Background: Hugging Face, FastAPI, Transformers, basic RAG. No polished project yet.

My questions:

What does "production-grade" mean for an intern-level project? (evaluation, Docker, logging, deployment?)

What skills are companies hiring interns for right now in LLM/AI?

Can you share example repos or projects that would impress you?

Startups, product companies, or research labs: where should I apply first?

How do I stop starting new things and actually finish one?

Happy to share my resume for feedback.

Hey everyone! I’m 28 live in Los Angeles
Area and looking for advice on choosing a career path. I’ve worked in retail for about 10 years, including around 8 years in management, but I’m looking for better pay and long-term growth.
I took college classes after high school, so most of my general education requirements are already completed. Ideally, I’d like to earn an associate degree without spending another 4–6 years in school, but I want to choose a field where I can realistically find a job after graduating.
I’m considering Computer and Networking Technology and getting into IT. I’m interested in the field, but I’ve seen a lot of discouraging information about how difficult it can be to break in. Ideally, I’d like to find an entry-level IT job while attending school so I can gain experience before graduating.
I also considered radiology, but the programs near me are impacted and aren’t currently accepting applications.
My goal is to find a career with good pay and room for growth without needing years of schooling just to get started. School has always been difficult for me, but I really want to go back and pursue a career. I’m open to other options as well.
Would not pursuing a bachelor’s degree hold me back, or would an associate degree be a reasonable place to start? I feel an associate degree would be more manageable for me right now. For those who have changed careers or work in IT or similar fields, would you recommend IT, or is there another associate degree or career path I should consider?
Any advice is appreciated!