Quitting my Boring Day Job to Work in a Barn

[poltroon]

@TheJenners

@poltroon Uh no, you misunderstood… I meant her “everyone is mean and money hungry and I’m not making a difference” mentality. Not personal integrity, which was not a blip on the radar for me but obviously is for her because she pulled up on my “make a different/impact” statement and made it about the environment. I meant that she feels like a small cog in a big wheel, so while I may have mistook her intent, she mistook mine as well. Shrugs all around IMO.

All good. I’m not a millennial (she says stroking her greybeard) but I was raised with the idea of making a difference too. Of course, one works hard to make a difference, that’s all good.

I just didn’t think you needed to go out of your way to apply a stereotype and I think, sorry, that it was offensive to do so, and belittling, in a way that’s unnecessary. Do with that what you will.

As a fellow (I assume female) engineer I know what kind of armor I had to wear to be taken seriously in my 20s, not just because of my experience (which was similar to those around me) but because of my appearance and gender. It’s a real thing and with the wrong coworkers, soul-crushing even for the most stoic around you. Fall in with the wrong crowd for you first few jobs, say people who care only about the money, and it’s even worse. There are jobs where the job is that collateral damage is irrelevant in pursuit of dollars and I sure don’t want to do them. I was lucky to work with a bunch of idealists on great projects when I started, and I’ve mostly been able to stay with projects I enjoyed ever since.

[Scribbler]

@ladyj79

Please don’t try to be a university professor. 78% of our jobs are now adjunct/contingent faculty. It is no longer a stable and comfortable career option.

Yes, I was fortunate to get a tenure track job in my home town after doing grad work in other cities. There are still tenure track jobs out there but they are competitive.

The adjunct stream is not a good long term choice, though can be a useful stepping stone for a recent grad, basically an internship. What happens is people stay in adjunct jobs applying every year for tenure track jobs everywhere, and after a certain point it’s clear they won’t get one.

And then what do they do? When do you pull the plug on being a professor and reboot the career in another direction? It’s a very individual decision.

[TheJenners]

OP how would working at a barn help the environment and make you feel like you are making a difference? A friend with kinder outlooks than I agrees with wanting a new something based on your post but wonders how working at a barn changes any of the complaints you have… She also said working for stakeholders as a “resource” describes any job.

[ladyj79]

@TheJenners

OP how would working at a barn help the environment and make you feel like you are making a difference? A friend with kinder outlooks than I agrees with wanting a new something based on your post but wonders how working at a barn changes any of the complaints you have… She also said working for stakeholders as a “resource” describes any job.

A Canadian cother, can’t remember who, started something pontificating about an environmental issue and how awful we all are. I suggested that the best way for a horse person to reduce their impact on the environment was to sell their horse immediately.

I’m so popular :lol::lol::lol:

[Scribbler]

@ladyj79

A Canadian cother, can’t remember who, started something pontificating about an environmental issue and how awful we all are. I suggested that the best way for a horse person to reduce their impact on the environment was to sell their horse immediately.

I’m so popular :lol::lol::lol:

Let’s not even go there

It costs me $60 in gas to drive the trailer one hour to go on a 3 hour trail ride in the horse park

Manure pile leachate.

Overgrazed pastures and degraded stream edges.

All that plastic twine from hay bales!

And so on.

[MareBegger]

I’m an older millennial who’s been working in higher education philanthropy for ten years. Sounds like the perfect job to make a difference and have an impact, no? I hate it

That said, when it became clear that I wasn’t going anywhere at my current organization, I did some looking and soul searching and feel very lucky to now be pursuing a Library Science master’s. I always knew I wanted something more, but it took me most of those ten years to decide A) what I wanted and B) where to get it. I have no idea if I’ll have any “impact” in my new career, but the idea of meaningful work changed for me as I got older.

I also spent my high school and college summers being a barn rat, worked for a low-level trainer after graduating, and ran a boarding stable for eight years while I worked full time. Forget vacations, forget savings, forget sick days, everything that everyone has mentioned here. I loved all of it, but I knew it was not sustainable long-term for what I wanted. I now have a house and my own bratty pony who wants for nothing, whom I can spoil precisely because of my job and salary.

It’s very scary to look outside of your comfort zone. It’s necessary if you want to get anywhere else, though. Minimum wage barn work is probably not your answer. Think about it, explore, call your alumni association, hell, stalk some recruiters on LinkedIn. With your education, there are much better options.

[ace]

OP, did you go from high school straight to University, and then straight on to working on your professional career? I think you sound a bit burnt out. I am a huge advocate for "gap years’ in between high school and university, as long as you are doing something for personal growth, like travel, volunteering, or horse jobs. Because I did it, and so did my sister, and I think we are better rounded people, personally and professionally, and have greater satisfaction with our lives now in our mid/late 30s than a lot of our contemporaries that followed the “tradtional” education and career development path. If you are still young enough that you don’t have anything tying you down like a marriage or mortgage or your own horse, take time away now before it is too late!

I am Canadian too, and will say that work and company cultures can be very different between Canada and the US, so the caution from American professionals here that say it will hard to get back into engineering if you leave now, is not necessarily true in Canada, as long as you do this “gap year” or two the right way. I think you have a lot of options to help you figure out what you want to do. Only you know the best choice. Or maybe you can do them all!

Option 1 - If you are going to try the horse thing, highly recommend a working student role with a good show barn or breeder (depending on your interests), rather than just getting a stall mucker job at the local barn. If you can get a working student postion, it is easy to spin that as a personal growth experience, similar to if you took a year off from work to travel around the world. Jill Henselwood is hiring in Ontario, suggest applying for the assistant to the grand prix groom job. My friend worked for her and said JIll is tough tough, but you would learn a lot. https://www.yardandgroom.com/Jobs?employerid=100989

Option 2 - Volunteer abroad in an engineering or sustainability role. I wish I had done this. Check out opportunities through CUSO International, AIESEC, DAAD Rise program, or simply a working holiday through SWAP if you are still young enough (e.g. travel Great Britain and Ireland and work part time in pubs along the way - a friend did this). Good work experience and/or personal growth that looks good on a resume too.
https://cusointernational.org/home/types-of-volunteers/international-volunteering/
http://www.cewilcanada.ca/Finding_International_Work_Terms.html

Option 3 - A lot of environmental engineers have civil backgrounds. Maybe look at a post-grad certificate programs at Technical schools. I’ve heard lots of good things about the Environmental Engineering Technology program at BCIT, and I’m sure there are similar programs in Ontario.
https://www.bcit.ca/study/programs/8060btech

Good luck with whatever you do!!

[BreathEasy]

Op, you definitely need to reconsider if doing slave labor on weekends and holidays so that people that made wiser financial decisions than you can come play with their expensive toys by seeing who can jump over colored sticks the best will make you feel fulfilled.

Just some background, I desperately wanted to be a horse trainer growing up, had working student jobs, family was not supportive (although they aren’t supportive of anything, but that is another story, lol!). Anyways I got a degree and job in the medical field. I had to work weekends and holidays, but was paid well and working in a hospital the work does matter in a life and death way. Through an overconfidence of belief (on my part) in a family member wanting to start a business with me, I moved back to my home town. Turns out once I was there he was a lot less serious about this business and suddenly I needed a way to make money NOW. Walked into a barn position on a teenage wage with adult bills. It is a special kind of psychological torture to watch everyone around you doing what you desperately want to do and not be able to afford to and to know you will never afford this dream, let alone anything else. Also, after working in life and death situations in ER and ICU, I had the shocking realization working in a barn again that this is a silly hobby that does -Not- Matter. We can all love it and or horses, but it is for fun.

Although I am a millennial I don’t have a “save the world” complex at all, but, if I am going to be working my fingers to the bone I want good compensation and good working conditions. if I’m working overtime or holidays , I want time and a half. Also, I like getting to use my brain at work. You will be bottom of the totum pole at the barn. You will have minimal if any chance to move higher, no matter your work ethic. Nobody will care about your feelings or thoughts on anything, and you will be too tired to have many thoughts anyways. You will not get to ride what you want and even when you do you will probably just be hacking. Jump lessons are for those that are paying, and you aren’t going to be able to afford that! The barn owners aren’t in the wrong about any of this either! It is their business! If you want to matter, start your own horse business, but you aren’t going to be able to save the money for that being the barn slave.

I am back in medical, I moved to a more affordable part of the country. I now make enough to invest further. I was desperately broke two years ago working in a barn. Desperately. I was an injury or expensive car breakdown from who knows what. It was an exciting event for me getting to buy 1 on sale tshirt that year at kmart. I was so excited that it was depressing in itself. I always looked like a bum with my clothes and was embarrassed, but I couldn’t afford to look otherwise. Now I work 3 days a week, have benefits, save money, own 2 properties, one that we are building horse facilities on, and I will be able to ride and show very soon. My advice is to really think.

sorry for typos I am on my phone and I cannot seem to scroll up to edit!

[Mac123]

Sometimes the best difference we can make is in the small little world around us. At the end of life, a small percentile will be able to say “I made a positive difference in the global world.”

Regardless of whether or not any of us end up in that fortuitous position, it all begins in the simple, small things. Make a difference by making your small world better. Be the best family member, spouse, friend, employee and so on that you can be. Make YOUR world a brighter place. Make YOUR environment greener. Because at the end of the day, your small world is the only thing you can really decidedly impact. And at the end of the day, if ALL of us actually lived like that, the world would change collectively.

Whether you believe in fate or luck or the universe or God, it’s just a fact that some people go on to greatness and make huge, global impact while others live quiet, largely unseen lives. The latter is no less important than the former.

The desire to make a global impact can often be self-serving because it fulfills an inner desire of being important and valued. If instead you make a practice of allowing it to be enough to be an excellent employee in a seemingly unimportant job, you’ll not only have a positive impact on your fellow employees and company, but also set the tone for the rest of your life. Which, as luck or fate may have it, could lead to doing something truly impactful.

Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa or Ghandi didn’t set out to change the world or have a memorable impact. It was their consistent and honest practice of how they lived their lives that ended up being so incredibly powerful. The same principle applies to all of us.

[NoSuchPerson]

@emmo

'bout time a generation stood up for the environment

Spoken like a person who knows nothing about the history of environmental quality. If you want to talk about a generation that really stood up for the environment, lets talk about the generation responsible for the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, Toxic Substances Control Act…the list goes on.

The quality of the environment has improved significantly since the implementation of state and federal laws in the US and comparable regulations in other places. Most of these laws were adopted before you were even born. You have no idea of how much the environment has improved because by the time you were old enough to be aware of it, these huge improvements in environmental quality had already occurred.

I’ve been working in the environmental field for a long time. I was kind of on your side until that crack, but you’ve pissed me off, now. :lol:

[ladyj79]

@Mac123

Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa or Ghandi didn’t set out to change the world or have a memorable impact. It was their consistent and honest practice of how they lived their lives that ended up being so incredibly powerful. The same principle applies to all of us.

and not one of them avoided pretty intense controversy, and really not one of them had to necessarily earn a living

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

@BreathEasy

Op, you definitely need to reconsider if doing slave labor on weekends and holidays so that people that made wiser financial decisions than you can come play with their expensive toys by seeing who can jump over colored sticks the best will make you feel fulfilled.

Great post @BreathEasy but especially this paragraph - LOL!

OP, save your money, build up a reserve fund for the unexpected, and work on a re-entry plan for your career - then take your gap year that maybe you didn’t take between hs and college and have that horse/barn experience. If you are young, healthy, and relatively unencumbered, now is the time.

[tbchick84]

OP, I feel your pain. I’ve considered the exact same thing. I make good money in a technical field, but it’s boring as hell, doesn’t give me any sense of accomplishment and I have at least 10 years more being stuck here before I can retire. I’d love to piss it all away and work at a farm, but it’s just not a financially sound choice for me. I recently read there there is a “home stretch syndrome” for people who can see the work day finish line and suddenly the grass is greener for everyone else except where they work. That does certainly seem to be the case for me.

Considering how in demand your skills are, would it be possible to take jobs more on a contracting basis so you’re not tied into one job long term? Or just take 6 months or a year off here and there so you don’t experience burnout?

[NoSuchPerson]

@tbchick84

I recently read there there is a “home stretch syndrome” for people who can see the work day finish line and suddenly the grass is greener for everyone else except where they work. That does certainly seem to be the case for me.

Wait until you’re just a couple of years away from it like I am. Coming to work every day at the same old job is becoming almost painful.

[BreathEasy]

@NoSuchPerson

Spoken like a person who knows nothing about the history of environmental quality. If you want to talk about a generation that really stood up for the environment, lets talk about the generation responsible for the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, Toxic Substances Control Act…the list goes on

As a millennial I do wonder about the attitude of my peers that suddenly they are THE ONLY generation who cares about CHANGE and SAVING THE WORLD, EVER! All previous genrations are the WORST and blah blah blah. I read a lot of history books though, so I like to keep the current state of the world in a better bit of perspective. We have it pretty good.

[tbchick84]

@NoSuchPerson

Wait until you’re just a couple of years away from it like I am. Coming to work every day at the same old job is becoming almost painful.

I’m already there! Thank goodness I get a ton of vacation time to look forward to, or I would have already snapped and gone to work at McDonalds.

[NoSuchPerson]

@tbchick84

I’m already there! Thank goodness I get a ton of vacation time to look forward to, or I would have already snapped and gone to work at McDonalds.

So true. I go to 5 weeks/year this year. I have a friend who jokes that the only thing keeping her here is the 6 weeks of vacation she gets.

My back-up plan if I can’t take it anymore is bagging groceries at Publix. :lol:

[Gamma]

@BreathEasy

As a millennial I do wonder about the attitude of my peers that suddenly they are THE ONLY generation who cares about CHANGE and SAVING THE WORLD, EVER! All previous genrations are the WORST and blah blah blah. I read a lot of history books though, so I like to keep the current state of the world in a better bit of perspective. We have it pretty good.

Natural reaction to being told that your generation is the only one which is lazy and entitled, that every single person before you buckled down and worked hard…and everyone before you was able to afford a house in their 20s while also saving for retirement, and since the only possible difference is that this generation is lazy vs the hard workers before, that must be it.

[RAyers]

Ah, civil engineers. As an aerospace engineer, a popular joke among us is that we build weapons and civil build targets.

[vxf111]

@RAyers

Ah, civil engineers. As an aerospace engineer, a popular joke among us is that we build weapons and civil build targets.

Awful, but funny