Please don’t roast me too hard, I already feel physically sick even typing this out.

I got hired six months ago as an internal operations specialist. Three weeks in, the manager who hired me abruptly quit, teh rest of the team got shuffled into different departments, and I somehow completely slipped through the cracks. For months, nobody assigned me anything. I reached out twice early on asking where I should jump in, got vague "we’re restructuring, just sit tight" replies, and then... silence.

I won't lie, at first it felt like a weird blessing, but after a while the guilt just ate me alive. I basically spent the last four months logging in, moving my mouse, and fixing maybe two broken spreadsheets a week while collecting a solid paycheck.

Well, reality finally caught up. We got a new regional director on Monday, and out of nowhere she put a 45-minute "Q2 workflow and portfolio review" on my calendar for tomorrow afternoon. She explicitly asked me to walk through my "core deliverables and current bottlenecks."

i dont even have a folder to show. Do I just come clean and explain that management completely dropped the ball on onboarding me, or do I frantically invent six months of busywork tonight?

When I go into my local office once a week, I’ll have to be on Teams calls all day long given that every person from my team lives in a different state than I do.

It just so happens that everyone else from my team also happens to get to stay 100% fully remote since they all don’t live anywhere near an office.

Therefore, I’ll be the only one from my entire team who has to go into an office (while everyone else stays 100% fully remote on my team).

Anyone else have something similar happen and what did you do?

Hi,

I graduated with a bachelor degree in business. Graduated years ago. I have been unemployed all my life. I literally never worked a single job my entire life. I’m upset with that and I feel like I lost it. Some of my peers even called me a “loser.” I’m terrified of turning 30 and remaining unemployed especially with AI displacing entry level jobs even professional ones. I am on the spectrum and got some low motivation issues. What should I do?

I told my mom I was going to try and volunteer somewhere to boost my resume, but she said it means nothing after you graduate High School. Is she right? Or is it still worth it?

I know I’ll probably get flamed for this because people are struggling to find work right now, but I honestly feel like I’m suffocating.

My manager put in her two weeks out of nowhere last Tuesday. Yesterday afternoon, our VP pulled me into a private room and essentially said the team is mine now. No interview, no real discussion, just "we know you can handle this." Sounds great on paper right? Except the bump is literally 4% more money for what is easily double the workload, plus managing three people who used to be my peers.

the thing is, I actually liked my boring mid-level role. I closed my laptop at 5 PM sharp, went for a run, cooked dinner, and slept like a baby. Watching my manager over teh last year was terrifying—she was on Slack at 11 PM every single night and looked perpetually on the verge of tears. I dont want that life, even if turning it down paints a massive target on my back.

My partner thinks I’d be insane to say no and that it’ll kill any upward momentum here. But is it really career suicide to just want to remain a regular worker bee? My brain is fried and I have to give them an answer by tomorrow morning.

I spent the last three years being the golden child of our operations team. First one in, last one out, cleaned up messy client accounts that other managers gave up on. I documented processes nobody else wanted to touch.

so when our team lead announced she was leaving last month, I assumed the promotion was a done deal. I had the numbers, I trained half the staff, and my annual reviews were flawless.

I sat down with our VP on Tuesday. He smiled, praised my work ethic for ten minutes, and then told me they offered the role to an external hire. When I asked what I lacked, he looked me in the eye and said: "Honestly, you are just too valuable in your current seat. If we move you up, our operational numbers will tank because nobody else can handle your volume."

Let that sink in. I worked myself into being completely TRAPPED. The slacker across from me who does the bare minimum gets to coast, while I got penalized for being efficient. They gave me a tiny three-percent merit bump and expected me to train my new outside boss on the internal software.

Its a sick realization that being irreplaceable just means you are unpromotable. I should of quiet-quit two years ago like everyone else.

Why does modern management constantly punish the exact people keeping their departments alive?

I work in IT and occasionally I get grilled on other people's stuff by the manager.

For example an hour ago I got chewed out because my colleague marked that he received a device from an offboarding. He didn't actually and the offboarded employee still has it and is trying to return it. This isn't something that can be easily confused because there is a note on the task that can not be edited that says on this time and date my peer received this device with this serial number from this person written by my peer. For whatever reason my manager has reached out to me and only me to ask why my colleague marked he received the computer when he hadn't. I said I'll ask him but that may be a question better directed to the individual in question in the future rather than his peer. My one on one was then pulled forward and I was lectured about not taking ownership over the work. Thing is we're peers with the same responsibility and in this case it was literally his responsibility as he claimed he received the device on a day when I was not there.

I have no clue what I'm supposed to do anymore. I'm not a manager and I have brought this up to my skip level and to HR in the past and they just say "well it's not your responsibility to manage your peers". To top this off I was given a verbal warning about this last year when my manager had me coach another peer in a unofficial one on one. But they also do nothing about it and my manager continues to pull this stuff.

What is the appropriate response to a situation like this?

I'm 29 and have spent the last 6 years working in casino surveillance. A lot of my job involves investigating suspicious activity, reviewing footage, writing incident reports and documenting stuff for compliance.

I'm trying to move into fraud investigation or corporate compliance, but I'm getting nowhere with applications.

My official title is surveillance operator, which I think makes recruiters assume I'm just watching security cameras all day.

Has anyone successfully moved from casino surveillance into a corporate role? I'm starting to wonder if my experience is actually transferable or if I'm gonna have to start from scratch.

I dropped out of a top university over a decade ago and I've only worked in restaurants. I haven't worked the past 3 years. My resume is pitiful. I want to find an office job but I feel unemployable. I have no direction.

I want to go back to school and get a degree but I think the years of rotting alone at home have deteriorated my neuroplasticity and now I have a difficult time grasping concepts. I feel like I might genuinely be too stupid to understand things like IT, even though that's the only thing that I could conceivably see myself doing, since I have an interest in computers and technology. I'm bad at math, I can't even do algebra.

Am I relegated to working as a waiter my entire life?

I recently graduated from college in May and have been having trouble finding a job with my degree in Poli Sci. I want to step away from government and policy work because of competitive job cycles and government layoffs. What types of roles or careers pay at least $65K+ that don't involve government or politics that I can get with a political science degree?

I work in account management at a small logistics company. One of our biggest clients reached out to me privately asking if I'd be interested in an operations role at their company.

The position pays better and is something I'd actually want to do. Problem is, I'm the main person handling their account and my boss put me in charge of their contract renewal next month.

I haven't responded yet because I'm worried it'll somehow get back to my boss. We're a pretty small company and word travels fast.

Would you explore the opportunity quietly or is this one of those situations where you should be upfront from the beginning?

I’m turning 25 soon and looking for career advice.

I completed my bachelor’s and master’s back-to-back in the social sciences/humanities, both funded through scholarships and assistantships, allowing me to do everything debt-free (I'm fine financially).

I’ve had some great academic and professional opportunities, but most of my experience has been short-term. My concern is that, especially in today’s job market, employers value years of consistent work experience, demonstrated skills, and a track record of doing the same job well more than anything else.

I worry that there’s a window early in your career to get your foot in the door, build a few years of experience, and then use that foundation to advance, earn more, or pivot into other fields. The longer you delay that process, the harder it might become to break into entry-level positions.

My situation is that I have a competitive, prestigious 10-week internship lined up for the spring. It could open doors, but it doesn’t directly lead to a job, and there are no guarantees afterward. Taking it means delaying my search for something stable even further.

So far, my resume has consisted of various opportunities lasting several months to a year or two, with some common threads throughout. I’ve had a lot of success, and my resume might look impressive to the right person, but I worry that eventually, the lack of consistent, relevant work experience becomes a liability. I could be 25, with impressive academic and extracurricular accomplishments, still trying to break into a conventional entry-level job.

Am I overthinking this, or does delaying the start of a "career" genuinely make it harder to establish yourself later? At what point does exploring opportunities become a liability rather than an advantage?

I'm writing this post because I have been unemployed for the last 2 years, and it's continuing. Honestly, it's been one of the most difficult phases of my life.

Initially, I thought it would take a few months to find a job, but as time passed, the self-doubt, overthinking and frustration kept increasing. I constantly question myself, my skills, my decisions and my future. Some days I feel motivated to try again, while on other days, I struggle to find the energy to do anything.

The financial pressure makes everything even harder, especially when your savings are running out and you still haven't found a way to get back on your feet.

I also wonder how other people in the same situation are dealing with everything. What is your family situation like? Are your parents supportive or do you face pressure and criticism from them? What do your relatives, friends, and society say when they find out you are unemployed for so long?

Sometimes, it's not just about finding a job anymore. It's also about dealing with mental pressure, comparing yourself to others, losing confidence and wondering whether things will ever get better.

I'm not posting this to complain or seek sympathy. I just want to connect with people who understand what this feels like, share our experiences and motivate each other.

My unemployment has been going on for 2 years and I'm still struggling with self-doubt and overthinking.

It would genuinely help to hear your stories, especially from people who have been through something similar and managed to turn things around.

Let's talk openly without judging each other. Sometimes, knowing that we're not alone in this situation can make a difference.

How long have you been unemployed, and how are you holding up?

For context, I'm a highschool student. My motivation for everything has been imagining others, especially people from my country, happy and healthy. Recently, I've been feeling that having this as a motivation is quite naïve. Of course, no one can heal the entire world and everyone in it. I just want to help as much as I can. I'm worried that basing my career off of this might cause me to become jaded or cynical in some way. Perhaps my fears are unfounded, but it scares me to think that one day, I might stop believing in the goodness of the world and in helping others.

My desired career is based in STEM, which I've always had trouble with, though to be frank I've really enjoyed it. Yet, if it becomes "too much" and certain ideals of mine change, will I just be stuck in a job I resent? Being miserable would probably make everything worse, which would really affect my ability to even help others.

I don't want to get too personal, but it took a long time for me to realize why I even got up in the morning. Having a reason to do what I do would prove the greatest benefit to myself.

Im currently a 17f in trade school for welding. I enjoy welding but I know out in the field it wont be as easy as it is now. Ive always enjoyed being creative which is what brought me to welding because I hated school and I found welding to be the most creative trade. Im currently looking into switching to digital marketing but I dont know too much about it.

My goal in life is to eventually own a business or have a career where im not limited to how much money I can make. I always hated the thought of being paid a certain amount hourly or working my way up someone elses business. I want to work hard for something and have my pay depend on how hard I work but im not sure what other careers would meet my goals.

I started a new food service job at the beginning of October, and ever since i started one of my coworkers has acted very passive aggressive and rude towards me from our very first shift working together. She is relatively young, a senior in high school so likely no older than 18. She has a history of being rude to customers and has previously been moved from her old place of work to where we work now (i work in a truck stop with multiple food service locations). Onto the main issue, she has been not only very rude to customers and has cause trouble for my other coworkers, but she has also constantly belittled me during my training period for asking questions about the job or not catching onto things immediately. i am now out of my initial training but still learning and i don't know what approach to take with this kind of behavior. I want to question her directly about the behavior but both the manager for my location and one of the shift leads are family of hers and i don't want to risk losing my job over this. Any suggestions on what i could do?

Background (quick): Finance degree, graduated early. BDR at a big tech company for a year, then ran my own service business for 2.5 years (peaked at $16K/mo, averaged ~$10K). Shut it down to move closer to family, took a remote marketing job that imploded after 7 months, then spent 4–5 months job hunting with a few final rounds but no offers.

A buddy owns a cash-offer/distressed-seller real estate company. I was embedded in the communication channel and the other agents before were crushing. They ended up leaving and he offered to pay for my license, and I'd co-own (50%) a separate realty LLC that handles all his listing deals, splitting commission 50/50. His pitch was 10 appointments a month and ~$7.5M in listing volume a year, roughly $135K to me pre-tax. I told him upfront I couldn't survive on commission only and asked for a base or draw. Got licensed end of August, moved down following week.

September: rates went up, zero appointments, company is burning cash and company cards are maxed out.

The "2 weeks" staying at his place is now 2 months

I've self-funded the realty LLC startup (~$2K)
He can't pay for my training anymore, so I'm paying a top local broker monthly myself. That broker is feeding me showings and leads since he knows my situation

I had 2 listings. He pulled one to turn into a rental, so I'm down to 1, with no traction yet
2 other deals in the works: one pays me $600. The other was supposed to pay $2,500, but he took an offer that cut my share to $1,000

~$480 in annual MLS dues hit in November
Have yet to secure another listing yet. October has been busy with appointments but no listing conversions yet.

Where i am at:
~$2K left in checking/savings by end of month after current bills
~$70K net worth, mostly invested (haven't touched it, wont touch it)

Best case, ~$1,600 coming in from current deals, with $480 of that going straight to MLS dues, plus the monthly training cost

Working full days, so no time for a side job
Can't afford to move out. One car repair and I'm wiped out

I don't think anyone acted in bad faith. It just went sideways fast and I'm stuck in the middle. But decisions keep getting made that cut into my income, and I have no say in them.

The question:
If I stay, the pipeline could pay off, it's my only real path to income right now, I'm building a network, and the city isnt my favorite but its better than hometown. But there's a long lag between work and pay, the company can't afford a base, I can't move out, my cash keeps draining, and there's no room for a side job. If I go home, I can focus on landing a local job, live stress-free with food and housing covered, and hustle for side money. But I'd be back to square one, could lose momentum on my listings, risk getting complacent, and my income potential drops to zero. There's also a third option: the broker training me offered to bring me onto his team, but that would mean cutting ties with my buddy's company and potentially my only housing option in the city.

How would you think about the opportunity cost here?

I'm 25, I've bounced around a lot, and I'm worried I'll still be bouncing at 30. I don't want to give up on building something, but I'm tired of being broke on active income.

And here is a final point: if you were to ask, what job would you do if you could? Answer: no clue

Second point: even if i knew the answer above, lets say i go home, what job will i get there? I didn’t have much success in the first place, what would change?

I was thinking about getting into construction since i have enjoyed certain aspects of real estate but i don’t come from that background. No problem with that but as we know, job market is tight.

My biggest fear is getting desperate, taking anything, taking a big backward step with my career, pigeon holding/getting stuck, finding myself in not such a good position

TL;DR: 25M, two months into a commission-only realty partnership with a friend. Projected $135K, made $0 so far. One listing got pulled for a rental, another deal's payout was cut from $2,500 to $1,000, and ~$1,600 total is in the pipeline against monthly training costs and $480 in MLS dues. Down to ~$2K cash by month-end (~$70K invested). Stay or cut losses?

Live in Los Angeles.

The job title was literally: store leader

Idk what the heck to do now. Empty brain broken body.

Only family member is a grandma I live with. Im surviving off my savings past few years of cafe work.

I have car crash trauma that therapy hasnt helped me with due to brain injury so Id prefer to not do uber. I would just be screaming half the time while driving people around.

I'm 29 yrs old and currently working as a foreman for a civil excavation company making $45 an hour with a truck. I have been offered a job as a superintendent at a different company making around $52 an hour with same perks plus benefits.

I am struggling with the decision if I wanted to move up and leave my current company.. My current employer is a great man and gave me everything that I have asked for (Raises, truck, etc)

He (Current employer) has offered me a position as a superintendent but we are a brand new company and with 3 other possible "Superintendents" the best possible outcome would be a "Site Superintendent". I have found a large passion in controlling multiple jobsites and being the man behind the schedule.

The question is, would you leave a employer you enjoy that pays you well, for a chance at higher wages, promotion, and possibly better career growth?

I’m currently 19 and in college to become a teacher, however I am looking to switch my major to something more high paying. I don’t mind going to school for it, I just don’t know what is even out there. Neither of my parents went to college and I’m just struggling to figure out what to do. I just don’t want to have a midlife crisis later and wish I did something different.

I enjoy working with children and would love to do something with that. I also wouldn’t mind having a desk or corporate type job, I just don’t know how to get into those?

Sorry this post is messy, but I’d love some advice!

I’m a recent CSE graduate from a tier-3 college, currently working in a non-tech role earning ₹18k/month.

My goal was to get into IT. I know the basics of SQL, Python, React and other technologies, and I have projects and internship experience, but I’ve faced repeated rejections in technical interviews.

Now I’m confused between three options:

Continue working and spend 6–12 months improving my skills and applying for IT jobs.

Prepare for government exams like SSC CGL, IBPS PO or government IT jobs.

Prepare for GATE and pursue M.Tech.

My parents prefer government jobs for stability, but I’m worried about spending 1–2 years preparing and failing. If that happens, will returning to IT become difficult because of the career gap?

My current job also has limited expected salary growth, and I don't want to remain stuck in a low-paying role.

I need honest advice:

Which path would you choose in my situation?

If government exams, which one should I focus on?

Should I prepare while working or leave my job?

What is the realistic worst-case scenario if I fail?

Please be brutally honest. I’m looking for practical advice, not motivational statements.

I am a high school student currently exploring potential career paths. Growing up in a middle-income family where both of my parents run their own businesses, I’ve seen firsthand what work-life flexibility looks like. Some weeks they work extreme hours, but they ultimately have control over their own schedules.
As I look ahead, I find myself torn between pursuing a "dream job" based entirely on passion versus choosing a traditional, high-paying career path. I am particularly interested in hearing from professionals in demanding, high-earning fields like finance or law.
For those of you who optimized for compensation over your personal passions:
Is the financial reward worth the high hours and demanding workload?
Does the financial security compensate for a lack of intrinsic passion for the day-to-day work and does heavily affect your mental health ?
If you could go back to school , would you make the same choice?
I would greatly appreciate your honest insights, reflections, or any advice you have for someone trying to make this decision. Thank you!

Hey everyone, I got an MBA degree last year, and recently I learned video editing, and I find it very useful, but my boyfriend said to take it as a side job and find another job because I got an MBA and there is more value than an editor.

But tbh, I am very confused about what to do and how to find my choice and preference even though I want to enter tech because I am learning video editing

I want to protect myself. My role is to communicate IT Changes to the business effectively. I also play an enablement and change role, and have been essential in deploying AI across our global company. But - I feel it. The insecurity. Upper management only gives af about margins. With AI coming for communications as we know it, I need to start prepping for a career shift. Any advice? I’m interested in adoption and enablement, product management, UI or UX to give a couple of examples as to where I think I could head. I have a BA in anth and soci.

I recently got laid off and am serving 90 days of notice (with 3 months pay and flexibility to immediately join another company). However, since job market is difficult nowadays, I can’t seem to find a suitable job and it’s been almost a month now.

I’m an MBA Finance graduate with CFA level 1 cleared and have over 4 years of experience in credit research and fixed income domain. I’m looking for a remote or hybrid job based in Gujarat, India (if hybrid) or globally (if remote).

I’m also ready for freelancing work or any other work related to my domain. Apart from that, I’m also a content creator and write stories. I believe I can create something meaningful by combining all my skills.

What should be my next move now?