OT: Any mid-life career changers here?

Congratulations, John, on taking the bull by the horns and making the best of a difficult situation.  You set a good example I need to follow.

Still haven't decided if I want to be a lawyer, though.

Ooooh. Interesting!!! I find people who have multiple careers in their lives fascinating!

I changed careers almost 4 years ago, but I left teaching and went into the legal field. I work as a paralegal and I'm soooooo fortunate to have found a great group of attorneys to assist. I really enjoy what I do and feel appreciated by my employer.

My old upstairs neighbor started law school at the age of 42 and she is soaking it up. My mother finished her second master's degree at the age of 57, so I truly don't think one is ever "too old" to learn a new skill.

As far as employment prospects when you're done, the trend, around northern NJ anyway, is to try looking for employment with mid-size law firms.  From what I've heard from the guys I work for is the big firms tend to like to hire the 25 year-olds whom they can mold into the kinds of lawyers they wish them to be, whereas smaller and mid-sized firms tend to appreciate attorneys who have additional life experience beyond college and law school. So,  it IS possible to find good employment. The question is, whether or not it's your true calling.

I've considered going to law school myself, at the encouragement of one of my senior partner bosses. I'm not totally sold on making the switch to attorney though. I certainly would welcome the intellectual challenge, working for the betterment of the world, and the raise certainly would be great. But as much as I admire the people I work for, I'm not certain that I want the seemingly endless hours, electronic leash of a Blackberry and high stress levels.  I'm currently toying around with the idea of learning to be a massage therapist on the side because I'm feeling the need to learn something new in addition to what I currently do.

When I expressed my uncertainty surrounding law school, I was told "Don't do it. If you are absolutely positive that you want to be an attorney, then go for it. But, if you have any doubts whatsoever, do not invest the time and emotion (not to mention the ridiculous amount of money) for something that you're not whole heartedly into because you won't be happy."  I know he wasn't saying because he didn't want to lose me as an assistant either because other people in my office have left to attend law school, and they've returned to the firm as attorneys. Those were harsh words to hear, but I really have a lot of respect for my boss' honesty in telling it like it is.

I think that's true of any endeavor really; find out what you really want to do and then do it whole heartedly.  Good luck to you!

"Don't do it. If you are absolutely positive that you want to be an attorney, then go for it."

That is one great piece of advice.

I need to do some soul-searching before I assume I would like law.  The 80 hour weeks for new associates don't sound very appealing, but the possibility of doing work that helps people (e.g. public defender, advocate for the underprivileged) is appealing. 

Have you considered going into business for yourself?.
If you work with computers, you may be able to get some contracts with larger companies... Just a thought.

I'm looking into contract work or even part-time Web development/programming.  It would be a good fit with my skills.

I'm 39 and last Fall I finally started nursing school.  I've always wanted to be an RN but now, in this economy it's one of the best professions out there for job stability.

Hi shrinkingguy:

It has taken me a very long time to settle in an IT career.  After college, I started in nonprofit while having babies, then founded a nonprofit which is still going (Village Enterprise Fund), and took graduate courses toward an MDiv to become a pastor.  I interrupted the MDiv to get an MBA in Economic Development (related to the nonprofit), and then finally finished the MDiv after a total of 10 years from start to finish.  I ended up leaving the nonprofit because I was tired of poor health insurance and not being able to pay to fix my car. 

I took my first corporate job 12 years after graduating from college around age 35.  Not knowing what to do, I started in a BioTech firm as a staff assistant, then design and construction, sales compensation, global finance consolidations and planning, business analyst for tech support and service and call centers, manager of N. America Sales Systems and staff, Sr. Program Manager building our company's website anew and managing staff, then IT Director of the project management office plus strategy and planning reporting to the CIO, and now IT Director supporting two Division presidents after surviving a merger. 

So I worked my way from the bottom as an assistant to IT Director, and with no computer science background.  The secret?  Learning well, working hard, and solving problems that needed to be solved by taking initiative.  And the MBA paid off along the way as a credential.

Now if only my personal goals were flowing as well.  I am at least now doing something about my health!

Hi.  At age 41 our office was closed by corporate and we all lost our jobs.  I was working as the transcription manager for an independent medical evaluation company.  I went back to school (the state paid as a displaced worker, or something like that) and got a degree in Respiratory Therapy.  A year ago September I returned to school and this past June graduated with a degree in Polysomnographic Technology (sleep studies).  Having two possible careers in the medical field should assure that I will always have work.  I believe it's never too late to learn a new job, the only problem is job prospects - both from an economic standpoint and an age standpoint (despite there supposedly being no age discrimination).  I encourage you to find what you would really like to do and pursue it, but do your research first regarding employment opportunities, costs, etc....which I'm sure you already know .  Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide to do.
Cindy

Shrinking Guy

many universities hire specialists as adjunct faculty-they get the benefit of skilled people without offering them a tenure track (whcih requires a masters)

it costs the university less (and the pay is less and if you qualify for benefits-a little pricey) , but you can have a pretty flexible schedule and not be involved in a lot of administrative BS (academia is full of it)

that being said-I am an annualized (entire school year contract) adjunct in fashion design-teaching very specialized stuff , BUT at age 40 (16 years ago ) , I returned to school and got a degree and license in Medical Massage- one of the most interesting and challenging things I have ever done

I also alter wedding gowns (I limit my freelance sewing to that from trial ane error) 
the juggling act of 3 things balances out-lots of dresses to fix? not so many massages, and so on

with your computer skills (and maturity ) you might be a great fit in a University setting

I love the university setting and have done training professionally, so an adjunct job (or several) would be very appealing.  Have you done this?  If so, any tips on how to find classes to teach and approach universities?