Have you dumped a well-paying job for more fun one?

[crofty1984]

Just wondering. Have you been in what most people would call a good job with decent career prospects and reasonable pay, but hated it and gone for something a bit less stressful but lower pay?
I love engineering, but didn't do too well at my degree, so I've always been on the periphery. Working in engineering companies, but on the commercial side. Estimating, customer support, sales...
Thing is, I think the only way I can progress is to go more towards the international travelling salesman type role. But that means being away from home for a couple of weeks at a time, regularly. I don't mind the odd week here and there - my job doing customer support entails that, and it's interesting. But at the moment I seem to be doing more and more of the salesman bit, which is:

a - soul-destroying
b - a pay grade above mine, I'm basically covering for my boss.

I can't afford to get a grad job any more (mortgages and such), but maybe I could do something else.

[Miguel Alvarez]

No but to be honest this past year I've been thinking of doing just that. I find I'm dragging myself into work lately and that I'd love any excuse to have a day off. I empathise with you.

[tuffer]

Yes, I worked for a start-up that got acquired by a much larger organisation. I hate red tape and political BS so left for another start-up, 9th person in the company, built my own team and help decide on strategy and direction of the company rather than being part of the herd.

[crofty1984]

I guess "fun" might not be the right word (though who wouldn't love a job that was actively fun?) but maybe less stressful. Or more interesting.

[Jasandjules]

crofty1984 said:

I guess "fun" might not be the right word (though who wouldn't love a job that was actively fun?) but maybe less stressful. Or more interesting.

I quit my banking job to go to Uni to train as a lawyer. Now I do what I find "fun"...

[CAPP0]

I left a hateful role in a hateful company 4 months ago and I'm about to start a new job which will pay me around 25% less basic and has none of the other (not insubstantial) financial perks of the former role - and I'm really looking forward to it! Not least because of the sense I have got of the new company, the culture, the personalities, and the ways of working - all of which were dire in my last place. New role will be to set up a function which doesn't currently exist, so to a greater extent it's mine to shape as I see fit, which will be a breath of fresh air.

[Raynkar]

I moved from a job I really enjoyed but had long hours. Now my kids have left home I no longer need much money so moved to a totally new job that is challenging but I also enjoy. It means I'm now employed rather than self employed so have very little to bother me once I've left work.
The pay drop was around £50.000, but as per above I don't need to be supporting anyone but my partner and we are both happy with my move.
It gives us more time together and set hours which is a real bonus

[Grumfutock]

Seriously considering taking a considerable drop in pay to be happier at the moment. Like others have said, I am dragging myself in daily and finding my ability to not scream "knobhead" at some people almost exhausted.

Edited by Grumfutock on Thursday 18th June 20:42

[Raynkar]

I moved from a job I really enjoyed but had long hours. Now my kids have left home I no longer need much money so moved to a totally new job that is challenging but I also enjoy. It means I'm now employed rather than self employed so have very little to bother me once I've left work.
The pay drop was around £50.000, but as per above I don't need to be supporting anyone but my partner and we are both happy with my move.
It gives us more time together and set hours which is a real bonus

[crofty1984]

Raynkar said:

I moved from a job I really enjoyed but had long hours. Now my kids have left home I no longer need much money so moved to a totally new job that is challenging but I also enjoy. It means I'm now employed rather than self employed so have very little to bother me once I've left work.
The pay drop was around £50.000, but as per above I don't need to be supporting anyone but my partner and we are both happy with my move.
It gives us more time together and set hours which is a real bonus

Wow - a £50,000 drop? If I took that I'd be PAYING to work!

[Grumfutock]

Same. I am looking at a 10-15k drop and wondering what price to put on happiness.

[Caruso]

Back in 2000 I left a well paid job in the Oil Industry to start again in IT. My salary dropped by 2/3rds but I was single at the time so the money wasn't a problem. What I did find it difficult to adjust to was going from a respected role to a junior one where nobody was interested in my opinion. But I would do it again in a heartbeat as my overall quality of life was so improved.

[mike9009]

Hi

I was Engineering and Quality Manager for a division of a global engineering firm. I had been with the firm 15 years but was bored to tears with the role. (been there done that.....) It paid well and I had a very good benefits package. (There were a few other reasons to leave which I won't go into.....)

Four months ago I moved to a small local engineering firm in a completely different sector/ industry. The commute is longer, pay is approx. £20k less, currently no pension, but I am so much happier. The role is probably as demanding, but I am learning again, I have new colleagues and I feel invigorated.

We have changed our lifestyle to match the new job. I am married with two kids so did not take the decision lightly. We can still afford most things, just won't pay off the mortgage as quickly and build savings to fritter away on new motors......


Mike

[Sir Humphrey]

At least half of my team have applied for the same job at another site (same company) 2 or 3 times further away from where we live for the same money. On a not entirely unrelated note nobody above seems concerned about this.

[TheAngryDog]

I am considering taking a £5/6k a year pay cut to get into a company that gives a st about its employees.

It'll mean that I'll have to get something other than the M5 I was going to buy, as I'll be doing 40 miles a day, and at the moment I work from home, so taking a cut of around £300 a month in my pocket plus travel costs is going to add up a bit, especially I have zero travel costs at the moment. But I'll also be back to working monday to friday rather than 4 on 4 off, no more 12 hour shifts and hopefully less stress when I get dropped in it.

We will see!

[Sharted]

I have, sort of.

12 months ago I was in a job that I had hated for the last 6 years, hated the people, hated the company, hated the culture and hated the impossible projects. Liked the industry thankfully.

A few months later there was talk of redundancy, I was excited at the prospect and made no effort to make myself be seen as worth keeping. My job was to go, yay! There were other new jobs created but I was off.

Having taken some time off I am now in the final stages of setting up my own business in the same industry, I have the funding from the redundancy and my Missus has a good job and is fully behind me.

Whether the future is to be less stressful or more fun I can't tell yet but I know that it will be me making the decisions, the potential earning power is far higher and I can stick two fingers up at the corporate bks of my past.

[truck71]

Went one stage further, left a very good and reasonably lucrative career in February and haven't worked or even thought about working since. Sun's out, lots of cycling to do etc. Not sure I'll have the motivation to work anymore which will be a problem at some point as I owe a lot of money to Santander for my flat. Much more to life than striving.

[AyBee]

Raynkar said:

I moved from a job I really enjoyed but had long hours. Now my kids have left home I no longer need much money so moved to a totally new job that is challenging but I also enjoy. It means I'm now employed rather than self employed so have very little to bother me once I've left work.
The pay drop was around £50.000, but as per above I don't need to be supporting anyone but my partner and we are both happy with my move.
It gives us more time together and set hours which is a real bonus

Not yet, but suspect I'd take a similar hit as above if I did and I really don't want to

[crofty1984]

I'm the main breadwinner in our house, and we don't have an enormous amount of money, but I've worked out what I need to survive. Though there's a chance my job will get considerably better in the near future, so hopefully this will all be a moot point.

[bint]

Yup, I took a £7k pay cut from a Scientific Field Sales Role to go and work as a Marketing Assistant/Web Support bod on "Adult entertainment" website.

Lasted 18 months when I realised I really wasn't going anywhere and I was only doing about 2hrs work a day.

Getting to the point now in my current job (yes the one after I ditched porn) where managing a dozen people isn't fun and I could quite happily ask "do you want fries with that?"

ETA actually I've done it before too - when I was 16 and had a Saturday job working at Iceland. I hated it and took a 50p per hr pay cut to work in a 2nd hand bookshop - I loved it and got first dibs on the books that came in.

Edited by bint on Saturday 20th June 23:06