Lots of great discussion. I would only add that what I started out doing 40 years ago is. not what I do today. I don’t even use my undergraduate degree directly and my masters is marginal, But you need degrees, right. I have changed fields a number of times and may be changing one final time right now. Also consider how technology will impact the future. We have lots of chats with IF Jr. who is 23 and finishing a general business degree this summer on this topic. My advice is to get a job that you like and learn from it, but know that the world will change and some careers will die and others will flourish. I wouldn’t get too caught up in trying pick the exact right career because things change.
No, it’s really not. I mean, I hate saying I’m in my 30s and living with my parents! But our family is ridiculously close, and both of my sisters lived with us too, so it’s not bad. It’s not like I have a life anyway, aside from the horses and work haha! And yes, saving money is great! I really would have no way to afford two horses up here otherwise.
I keep thinking that I would love to have a job similar to this, in a more rural setting, because I do really like dispatching. But I also feel like the massive amount of free time I have at work now is not typical (no, I definitely know that). Heck, I’m at work right now! As long as we do our job when we need to, they don’t really care what we do. I’m a terrible procrastinator though, so I did end up just watching netflix all day at work, then panicking when I got home and just doing my homework there.
Cybersecurity has SO many different jobs. Like, I’m really interested in penetration testing, which is basically hacking (but with permission). My friend is managing the entire police department’s IT department. He manages the infrastructure, both physical and virtual, as well as security, user access, etc. It’s a big job. Some of the other ones I have looked at focus more on policy writing and implementing, and/or monitoring the network and auditing, looking for security issues and violations. There is also digital forensics, which is really cool. Really, there is a ton you can do with it.
I didn’t read the whole thread but figured I’d give you the path that I took.
Finished a BSc in Human Kinetics (Kinesiology), had originally planned to go into physio but I volunteered at a clinic and was bored out of my mind. Took a year off and managed an A barn in Ontario and Ocala.
Loved it, but knew it wouldn’t get me the lifestyle I wanted.
Went and did a post-grad cardiac ultrasound program, was hired before I graduated.
Now I make $85,000/yr before taxes, 3 weeks vacation, 18 sick days/yr, benefits, and an employer matched pension. I’m not even 30.
SO is a journeyman electrician and makes a similar wage, his pay is much more regional then mine though.
This does not apply directly to OP, since she already has a degree. But for any young people who might be reading, please, unless you want to go to the trade route, GET A DEGREE.
Last year when I was laid off from a very good company with a very lucrative pay, I had no issue finding another decent job. The issue for me was finding a good enough job with a good enough company. To give a perspective, my pay as a senior system analyst (IT) was equal to the executive pays of some major manufacturing companies in this region. I ended up changing jobs four times within six months. One of my coworkers who was laid off at the same time, on the other hand, couldn’t get any company to give him a call back for an interview. The reason? He had no degree. He had more than thirty years of good track record, but that lack of degree put him in great disadvantage. They would not even consider him. This may not be how it should be, but it is how it is. It becomes more apparent as you take on more responsibilities (hence more pay and more flexibility), and you have to interact with higher level business stakeholders more.
@rideforthelaurels16 I’d actually be interested to hear more about your start into the equine writing industry. Writing is one of my stronger skills, and I would be in heaven writing about horses. It sounds like your job is still lucrative, even if it isn’t necessarily the monetary type of lucrative.
I can only speak for the UK publishing industry, but my experience has been that it’s soul-destroyingly hard to get your foot in the door and then, once the first opportunity has cropped up and you’ve had a chance to prove your ability, they come thick and fast. I actually spent years thinking I’d make a career out of riding and training, and because I didn’t come from a horsey or wealthy background, the best way to give myself a decent chance was to work with the top names that I could. So I was a working student for Phyllis Dawson in Virginia when I was 17, and then when I moved back to the UK for university I worked for William Fox-Pitt’s mother, breaking and training youngsters through to Novice (prelim) level, and although I only did the work at home (William and the head girl competed), I got a seriously good grounding in top-level eventing and spent time riding at William’s yard, too. This meant that I could walk into pretty much any horsey job, and after that I managed a dressage stud farm, a foxhunting yard, went freelance, worked and rode for Grand Prix dressage riders, 4* eventers, high goal polo players, and so on. This gave me a really broad-spectrum knowledge of horse management, the various disciplines and their major players, and the inner workings of the industry at large. I worked relentlessly, especially as a freelancer, often clocking 75 hour weeks because if the work dried up, I knew no one else would step in and pay my bills. At the same time, I started pitching and writing freelance articles, for free at first, for smaller equestrian news websites. I also read voraciously and continued to study writing in quite an academic way in my free time.
Then, I worked at Hickstead through the Derby and the RIHS, doing marketing and promo for their music festival, because I wanted to get the press and marketing internship in the show office for the next summer and so I needed to make sure I impressed ahead of time. I did this from 9-6 everyday, doing a client’s yard before and after work and then working a pub shift in the evenings. I never did get that internship, but I went to Badminton in the spring, marched up to the Horse&Rider magazine stand, and pleaded my case to whoever would listen. That person happened to be the editor, who offered to edit my CV for me. A few days later, that offer turned into a one month internship, which meant that I had to do some hasty reorganising for all my clients, finding them all cover so that I could jump on the opportunity. When the internship finished, I was taken on as maternity cover at an equestrian PR firm, handling the editorial and design aspects of the job. I pressed for bylines on all of my pieces and collated them all onto a professional website so that I could easily send writing samples to prospective editors. I also got business cards printed up, which continue to come with me everywhere I go. Then, I went travelling for a month, was asked back to do some temp work at the magazine, and now I’m a full-time, permanent staff writer and freelancing alongside.
The moral of my story? Be prepared to work your arse off, be tenacious, put yourself in a position where you can learn constantly, and develop a fairly thick skin. I dealt with a lot of rejection before I got my ‘break.’ There are certainly other equestrian journalists who’ve gotten into their career in a more straightforward way, and perhaps straight out of college, but I genuinely think that the best writers can balance degree-level writing skills with real-world experience. If an editor asks you for an urgent piece on, say, stringhalt, you’ll have an easier time writing a clear, comprehensive article to a short deadline if you can draw from your own well of knowledge and experience and then back it up with research than if you have to go straight to Google to remind yourself what stringhalt is. It’s the same with the riding stuff - I do mostly training features with BNRs, and you have to have a pretty intrinsic knowledge of why they’re doing what they’re doing because a lot of the time, they’re not great at verbalising it, and that’s the role of the writer.
Hope that helps, and doesn’t seem too off-putting - I don’t mean it to be; this is an incredible job to have and it really is the best kind of challenge every day!
Thanks again for all of the advice and thoughts! While I haven’t chosen to do anything yet, I feel like I am more “on track” than I was before. I’m finishing up a visit to one of my best friends, and I think I’m finding some clarity through my anxiety and my complete loss at what I should do.
I’m going to be sending out applications and resumes to different jobs I find that are full-time and live-able. I guess I just have to leap off the cliff sometime, right? I keep reminding myself that sending in an application and resume doesn’t mean that you are signing up for a job. One step at a time.
I also think I’ve figured out some of my living situation and crossed one idea off my list, so I’m narrowing it down to just living at home and finding a job that hopefully will have enough advancement to eventually get me out the door or taking the big step of moving up to the area where my training barn and trainer are located.
If you all have any other input, it’s always appreciated.
I am in Information Technology as a Database Administrator and Cyber Security analyst. I do both jobs because they are intertwined with this current position. I make a very good income but I also squeeze a penny until it squeaks because I am working on buying my own farm in the next year or so. My main office is based out of Charleston, SC but I work in Central FL actually moving to Dunnellon in a month. Horse will finally be in my back yard and I might actually get to see him in daylight hours.
The draw backs is that sometimes I work very long hours.
1 Like
I have a diploma in Business Management and run my own business as a website designer. I don’t make huge amounts of money, but I make enough to be comfortable. My partner has a very steady job as a soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces. Between the two of us, we make a very comfortable living which allows us to afford our house, lifestyle and the horses I love so much. The main benefit to my job, though, is the ability to work anywhere. As a soldier, my boyfriend could be posted anywhere in Canada. Since I’m self employed, I can just pack my computer and go wherever the Army sends him and my business wouldn’t suffer.
I’m a mid-twenties working in hospital/healthcare administration. I have a Bachelors in Business (specifically in HR) and a Masters in Healthcare Admin. I did an administrative fellowship immediately post-masters graduation and am now moving into my next role. I make decent money compared to many, but it’s not enough for a horse. I’m limited living-situation wise based on where I live, so I pay more for comfort/safety/commute and that cuts into the budget significantly. I’ve come to realize that I’m just going to have to take some years off riding to focus on my career and it’s not the end of the world. Horses will be there. I get my fix volunteering at shows, helping out friends and riding my retiree at my parent’s house when I go home. Ideal? No, but right now saving my pennies for retirement, savings, a house, a new car (not by choice, GROAN) are more important for my long-term success.
Looking back, I would have gone to PA school. I love the clinical side, it’s a masters degree, flexibility, good money, employable across the country.
There are a lot of healthcare positions that only require a Bachelors to get started - patient access reps, front office type roles, and a lot of times these can grow into practice manager type positions which can have great potential.
Additionally, what about looking to other large grocery chains? It sounds like you have some great experience and it’s just not the right place. We have some family friends who worked for Wegmans, I know people from college who now work for Publix, they have great cultures and it could be a great path. Grocery stores aren’t going anywhere (even with Amazon Prime, I’m never going to one-day my milk) and could offer some great stability. Or other similar type businesses in the industry? You’re a buyer, so what about any of your vendors? We watch healthcare people jump between vendors and providers often.
