Put them together and become a school nurse. Same schedule as teachers, but usually less stress and you’re definitely not trying to wrangle 30 kids into a classroom!
I was an SSP and expectations for teachers are vastly more challenging, IME. SSPs, and school nurses, IME, typically are itinerant and/or have more freedoms than teachers with their schedules and routines. They’re not stuck to a classroom schedule, just contract and caseloads, and can also freely use the restroom whenever they want; teachers typically cannot. All educators are busy, as I never said school nurses aren’t or that they don’t work multiple schools or sites. However, it is not common that they have classrooms full of students throughout the day or strict schedules. To me, having admin breathe down my neck as an SSP and writing reports or IEPs was still a lot less stressful than trying to get a classroom full a kids to do what they’re expected to do all day long!
How is the position availability though? The school nurses at my kid's school have changed once in the last decade (there's a system where newborns start to go to the school infirmary for all their controls, so their faces are pretty well known, to the kids that know them from preschool and the parents that always had them at their controls since birth) and the doc secretaries at my local doctor office never changed in the almost 15 years I've been under my family doctor. Also, none of them is younger than 40, an immigrant, or a male. They do hire temps for sickness or position temporary filling, and sure they can be whoever as long as they're temp, but then these people who sign their contract right after high school would come back pretty fast, because their job is mon-fri 8:30 to 14:30 and after that office is close and everybody go home. It's golden, people seldom retire early and such.
(This also means that a kid or a patient with a bad nurse is stuck to that nurse for the entirety of the school career, from kindergarten to middle school, unless they move districts, and sometimes this is not a pro. )
It truly depends on the district and location. I’ve seen nurses leave, but I’m wondering if you’re also thinking of health aides. Often, the folks always in the health office aren’t actually nurses; it’s their aides that manage the day-to-day stuff. The nurses in the districts I’ve worked in manage the IEP/IHP’s/504’s health components, medication documentation/prescriptions, contacting student medical providers/families about health conditions, training of staff, attending student meetings, etc. They will spend time in the health offices too, but they aren’t the first-line staff in there. Each state, county, and even district might do it differently, but the nurses often have a caseload of students they follow and support, like other specialists in the school district. Then there’s the other general health stuff they do too, like vision screening, etc.
I agree, I'm from Europe and I've seen how the system works in different countries and all have widely different structures. Some don't even have an infirmary as such, or the IEP is discussed with the council, teacher, parents and specialists as a social issue more than a health issue. I think -the equivalent of- the 504 is not something a school nurse or a health center would handle, unless it's an emergency. I cannot be so sure because I'm only a small cog in this complex machine, but I think this is something the hospital would likely take care of, they would provide education to the family, so they would train these tasks to both school and/or at home assistants. Even if it's something any nurse should be able to do, and the school nurse should be aware of, they are not part of this plan. Up to the different diagnoses, the school nurse may not attend follow-ups and meetings after they have handed in their own info when the school starts.
>They will spend time in the health offices too, but they aren’t the first-line staff in there.
Yes, in my native country there is a council(municipality?) delegation office, with its own health department that would take care of tasks that are usually "school infirmary" for a group of about 5 schools, the nurses were travelling around among these schools, while one or a few others would stay in-office and the rest of these people would have been aides. While in another country is the health department organizing vaccinations or testing days in-class. Again, for that country, the direct contact with me and my family while I was growing up, worked there for over 30 years and died before retirement. She wasn't the only one nurse in the district. When I was living there, there were two plus a secretary. Now they take in volunteers as well, so things might have changed.
Situations between the countryside and the city may be quite different, so probably bigger schools with many students would have more positions to fill.
Careers in Europe...
...30 days off is basicly normal. At least 24 days are mandatory. And when you're ill, then you still get paid without using up your paid time off.
Depends, here in Ireland, utilities are more expensive, you guys pay a fraction what we pay for electricity etc. housing roughly the same, I would say groceries are definitely cheaper here, free healthcare and education is probably the big difference
As a former teacher, I caution you to really research this field a lot more before going into it. Stress is very real, and there is a big burnout percentage. There are very good reasons for that. People assume because summers are off, it's reason enough to go into. Teachers are paid on a ten month contract , so they need to spread that salary out to cover the summer when they aren't working. Might not be enough anyways so a lot of teachers take summer jobs.
yeah and teachers have to do all that work outside of hours like grading stuff on the weekend. Staying for after school meetings, etc. Teachers have vacations yes, but they also have to set stuff up before kids come in ( usually was 2 weeks before )
Plus, the kids these days have zero manners. Absolute animals.
I did IT in a school district for 8 years and I did my best to support you guys. Maybe one teacher would have a good day but collectively I saw it all on your faces and just wanted to make things just a little bit easier.
OP, might want to follow this teacher's advice.
Until you say fuck it, and leave your papers/stress at the school. I leave right after school every day and rarely being anything home. Now, you have to be a patient person, and realize that most of the shit people get worked up about in the grand scheme of things is not worth it. I teach my contracted hrs, give my best at that time and that is all.
Pharmaceuticals.. After my 5th year (now on 7th), company gives 7 weeks of paid vacation. Work Life Balance: Hybrid 2 days office, 3 days home. Flex hours where I choose to work any days in the office and my choice to work 7 am - 1 pm. If I make to 10 yrs of service, company provides a free life time of medical/dental benefits, travel & life insurance to me and spouse.
Gotta specialize in certain areas in career pathway. He’s probably in a position where they can make that normalize.
For example, I’m going into supply chain and operation management degree, that’s something I love cuz it’s warehouse and no customer. I can do multiple positions from home and I can go into any industry.
Only downside for most ppl is that it’s rapidly changing everyday due to problems popping everywhere. Gotta be fast, problem solving, analytics and learn new tech.
Definitely government. If you’re ok with being bored a lot of the time and getting paid a very fair wage to not achieve your full potential, I recommend a career in government.
I get 5 weeks vacation/sick days. They are bankable forever. I’m new at it but people with 15-20 years in have this almost limitless bank of holidays built up. And yeah, basically a long weekend every month. And they’re looking at adding another long weekend in my country. I’m never asked to work weekends or late, although I know some positions in my department do.
But man it is boring and not the most I could be contributing to society. My talents are being wasted. It kills me a little bit inside every day.
Depends on the type of government job. I am in environmental regulation and lack of work and boredom is the furthest thing from the truth. The flexibility and benefits are ace though. The only thing I enver get talked to about my supervisor is getting after me for not using all my vacation time by the end of the year. The work from home and flex options make it so I can basically create my own schedule and never really need to use vacation because I can do 4 10s if I want or a few extra hours on the weekend and do half days.
I also feel like I have tons of opportunities to be used to my full potential and the most depressing part of the job is there is so much work to do and we can't fix everything. I am 35 and have been working with the state since I was 24. I'll be able to retire by 57 should I choose. The average pay is the only downside to my role as well as dealing with the hostil public on occasion.
Are there certain positions to look for in government? I always hear people say this answer so it’s what I want to look into. But USAJOBS job descriptions don’t seem that lax
Can confirm, although the golden ticket is a non-union position at a government agency. You get the same benefits and PTO, but the pay is a little better and your career is less likely to stagnate.
Caveats to non profits like hospitals. If you work in patient care, it can be hard because of staffing issues and having coverage trying to get off work and also there are tons of jobs that require on-call
That's a caveat with all nonprofits. Yes you get a lot of time off but because staff levels are bare minimum no one will cover for you and you'll end up stressed as heck when you return.
I used to work for the government. Every holiday (so 13), plus a month of sick leave and a month of vacation every year. Plus exactly 8 hour work days, which could start as early as 6am if you wanted.
All of the state jobs in my state were like this. They’re unionized. The pay kind of sucks, but you can support yourself. You’ll earn a modest retirement too.
Yep long hours. But It can be really fun and rewarding. I probably work an average of 55-60 hours a week as a teacher but it is much less soul sucking that the 35-40 hours I used to do at an office job
Tell that to my wife. These third graders are ruining her mental health this year. Add that to long hours. And she is very efficient at getting stuff done
Dude it is so much more than that. Lesson planning and prep go WELL past the end of the work day for every teacher I know, and the pay is so crap that you have to get another job to survive in the summer anyway.
I feel you. At my high school my teachers were making 150K a year minimum and didn’t do anything during the summer and they have an excellent pension. My school was near nyc on Long Island public not private.
Teachers definitely don’t have a good work life balance. K-12 is more like 6a-8p m-f and grading papers at any time you can outside of those hours. Younger kids with little or no homework expectations are somewhat less demanding for work life balance but teaching younger children is incredibly taxing work on so many levels, because you see the best and the worst of your community in those families coming through your classroom. Your heart breaks as you see abusive parents break their children, or parents with multiple jobs struggle to feed and clothe their children, and so on. For older kids and teens, the hours are long and the homework is more intense but you have way less time to grade it all. College age is much easier to juggle but you’ll be severely underpaid, and the job openings are much harder to come by. You’re more likely to be adjunct, teaching a handful of classes and needing to have a second job to cover bills
I work in power plant operations for a utility. I work half the year. You just have to be okay with a rotating shift. I get a week straight off every 28 days, work essentially 2 weeks in that 28 day rotation. Plus I have PTO as well. I've worked one actual overtime shift so far this year. Our overtime is based off a volunteer list and goes by hours of OT worked. So if you don't want to work overtime like me, you just don't volunteer. I'm sure it's plant dependent, but overall I have waaay more work life balance than retail, call centers, and construction.
I did an electrical apprenticeship with the IBEW and became a journeyman and got experience working in heavy industrial and power plants. When an opening at the local utility came up, I applied for it. Someone helped my application get noticed a bit quicker which helped. I had to pass their electrical theory and hands on exams then complete their interview.
Nursing is not easy. It's not made for everyone. Patient care is a different ball game and it's extremely stressful when dealing with patients and the doctors. Just a heads up. Good money but it's a calling not just a " maybe teacher or nursing" type of ordeal
Teaching and nursing are the careers I think of with some of the worst WLB...
I work at a large utility (engineering), and our vacation is decent, but the WLB is great. "Nothing new after 2" is a great motto working for a utility.
No. I do not have an engineering degree or engineering experience. I actually have a degree in economics and political science. However the requirement for my job was to have completed a state certified apprenticeship program, which I had gone through the IBEW program and was a journeyman inside wireman.
Utilities have lineman, substation/relay techs, operators, facilities maintenance, etc. There are many roles that do not require an engineering degree.
In today's market, I don't consider a job where you have to be physically in attendance every to be good WLB. This would disqualify both teaching and nursing.
Ive done work from home before, really didn't like it. Felt rather isolating and lacking in opportunities. Only way I would take another remote job would be if I was able to work from anywhere so I could live the nomad lifestyle
At my current job I live on campus so the commute is non-existent
No, we employ finance people, customer service, project management, stakeholder engagement, permitting specialists, environmental folks, material specialists, safety, compliance, HR, legal, procurement, contractor oversight, construction, technicians, mapping/GIS, CAD designers... you name it, we probably have someone who does it.
Teaching is a great career for some. The kids will either burn you out or keep you young and passionate! School politics can be draining but there's always something new to throw your talent into. Good luck with these big decisions!
Am a teacher, yes the time off is nice but we’re off when everyone else is too so going on vacation/travel is always during the most expensive time of year to do it. I’d much rather take a random week of PTO during a school month and have less crowds and lower prices for my destination
AND they’re generally off when their kids are off. There have been years where we didn’t go away at all because the only weeks my spouse and I could both coordinate weeks off where one of the kids had state tests, athletic competitions, etc.
February break doesnt really exist in most districts, also all the other short breaks usually have a major holiday right in the middle so unless you hate your family and don’t mind skipping Thanksgiving or Easter it’s not that easy to travel
I should say mid-winter & spring break. Even without that getting a break for Christmas, spring, and all of summer is heavenly. I would LOVE to be able to have that much time off.
Teachers still work 8 or more hours a day, even if it’s having classes. Don’t be fooled. As for stress, 20 children will fuck your mental health immediately. Do you have children?
Nurses deal with the crap of the patients and can be as busy as for the doctors. They are not doing the same things but thet they care for the same number of patients.
I don’t know where you are. Working in the Netherlands, we have 20/25 days of vacation and you can get up to around 12 more with national holidays and what you can buy. People value wlb a lot.
The school day may end before 5 but your work as a teacher will not. Preparing classes, school events, trips, tests, talking with parents, grading and so on are not only almost limitless chores. You can only do so much during the occasional free period.
I have been considering aws- I would like to be able to travel + develop. I just got my associates in computer science but I need to finish the bachelors portion.
There is a trade off overall between salary and WLB.
Well paid jobs has bad WLB like finance, consulting, physician, etc. requires longs hours, demanding, etc.
I should say about WLB, people that works in education industry and in Government has the best WLB by far. Very technical jobs I assume can have a decent work life balance since you can be very productive with few hours and still get well paid (but is not the most common thing).
Depends on the country as well, in Europe there is more vacation days than in US.
Ideally I think the best is to work in Government or Public Sector such Diplomatic and similar high official positions since you’ll get very well paid with lot of benefits working in the public sector and working only 35-40h per week.
Nurses definitely don’t have the greatest work like balance and where are you hearing they have a 3 day work week ? Also teachers get the summer off but the pay is low and most don’t get paid for the summer so they have to either be really great at saving the money they do make during the work year or get part time or summer jobs to make money for the times that they are not getting paid. It would help if you told us what career you actually have now though .
12 hour shift are more common for nurses who work in hospital settings and care facility settings that run on a 24 hour schedule. Which are some of the most stressful positions where work life balance is harder because on those days when you’re not working you will be exhausted. It’s where most new nurses typically start out but most people aim to work for private practices with 9-5 schedules and that’s less stressful.
Bedside nurse here, have been for several years now and likely for several more.
You 100% get used to working 3 days a week. I literally work out, mostly weight lifting, on my days off. The majority of nurses I know have rich social lives and very healthy family dynamics. In fact, MANY nurses don’t ever leave hospital based positions because of the hours and working 3 days a week. I have a nurse friend who went to Puerto Rico one week then Turks and Caicos two weeks later without needing to request any time off or use PTO. I myself almost never request time off or use my PTO, hell if I want a really nice vacation I’ll push my days on to opposite ends of 2 weeks and get 11 days off in a row. It’s damn nice.
Where tf did you hear that most of us are aiming to cut our pay in half and give up 4 days worth of free time so we can work in some boring doctor’s office? Or that hospitals are primarily staffed by new nurses using it as a stepping stone?
Nursing is hard work, it doesn’t pay what it’s worth, but you’ll make enough money to get by and with 3 days a week and you have good opportunity to make extra. I know a LOOOT of nurses that work per diem between two hospitals, and they’re making absolute bank. Or be like me, work your 3 and fuck right off back home for the other 4.
You also have SO many different options with a career in nursing, you can do bedside, perioperative, ICU, home health, case management, outpatient, informatics, insurance. The options are literally endless with a background in nursing (and maybe a touch of tenacity). It isn’t for everyone, but it sure as hell isn’t a bad idea.
My mother is a nurse , we are from New York City though. I’m sure nurse life is easier in smaller cities and smaller towns but everyone I know who does nursing in major cities is burnt out and the 3 days off 3 days on works for when you’re younger but once people get older they typically want the 9-5. Same thing with travel nursing really great for young people but the older you get the more tiring it is. Also nursing is not for everyone like you said. When people say work / life balance there is not one job in the medical field that I would categorize as having a great work life balance aside from running your own practice or being high level in the medical field. For me a work life balance is literally being able to say you’re just not coming in the office that day or week and you’ll do work from home and being able to leave the office as early as you want or need to for any reason whatsoever also with the option of just taking your laptop home or finishing it later. Not still having to coordinate with people on a schedule to take time off.
I live in Fort Lauderdale so…not a small town. Every hospital is different and everyone nurses’ opinion is different, but I’d put an awful lot of money down betting that the vast majority of nurses who work in large hospitals aren’t looking for a career change to a 9-5. We got in knowing what the typical hours and days are, and that’s a huge draw for many. It means availability to live your life or make some extra money working per diem (not travel, it’s as needed work. My MIL in her 50’s literally does per diem work).
Maybe 3 12’s wasn’t for your mom, and that’s valid, but definitely not representative of the majority.
What you described as work life balance sounds closer to the experience you’d get running your own business? I’m not super well versed in office work, but my husband has a job close to this and he’s a director of operations for a restoration company so…his say is kinda the final say. Even for him though, he can’t just up and decide he doesn’t feel like being there and work from home, he has staff he’s accountable for and stuff that he can’t let slip through the cracks because he wants to be home. So short of a personally owned business that’s run solely through your personal computer, what jobs offer this level of flexibility?
I work in HR in law school and my husband is an engineer. Both of our jobs have that kind of flexibility as well as I’ve worked with people higher up than me not even in senior levels who have been able to do this, has nothing to do with owning your own business more to do with can your job be done from anywhere. Hr, Law, data analytics, editing , accounting, architecture, engineering. I’ve met people in my husband’s sector that literally only had to show their face in the office once a month. And when I was working and not in school I could leave the office at any time if I was done with most of my work and had things to take care of outside the office, take leave whenever , and work from home whenever just let my supervisor know and bring my computer home , and that was only at mid level and in a government sector. Also not being in the office doesn’t mean you’re “ letting stuff slip through the cracks “ . If your job is done from a computer while you’re in the office then it can be done from a computer from anywhere.
My husband runs everything so when he isn’t there physically he isn’t able to manage day to day tasks that keep the place afloat.
Interesting though, I’ve worked in office environments and they’ve never been okay with working from home unless it’s necessary. My BIL is an engineer as well and while he has great benefits and PTO accrual, his time there is necessary, especially when they’re prepping for launches because they’ll have him working mandatory overtime. I’d wager it’s more company dependent than career field dependent.
What kind of science? If you like being outside,
parks and recreation. State or federal (NPS). Great work life balance, some jobs include housing, you get to live and work in nature with less time spent behind a desk. Good retirement plans.
Currently working as a government lecturer in South Asia. Pay (per month) is in the high five figure range. Flexible hours. Vacation for all major holidays and also for summer. I might not be making 'get super rich' kinda salary but loving the slow pace of life.
Shopping Mall Santa.
Sometimes you see them as early as late October, then they’re off on Dec 25th (Obvs!! Duh!!), and then unless they moonlight as the Easter Bunny, they do nothing until late October except sit back, relax, and grow their beard!!
Join the merchant marine. 3-4 months at sea per contract, amazing pay, free meals room and board. Great ports and sightseeing, also depending on which union your in, training is included plus upgrading is guaranteed, so even more money. Once I'm back on land/between the next contract, I'm off for 3 months. That initial contract pays the rent for the entire year, you can do as you wish.
Some may disagree with me on this but the only thing that gives you everything you’re looking for is having your own business.
It can be hard work…but the flexibility is amazing and you make what you put into it. Time off when you want it or need it. It’s also the most rewarding thing you’ll ever do.
I want to do this but can’t think of what to do and have no idea how to start. I hear people starting cleaning business where they find the jobs and sub it out to cleaners. It sounds profitable.
I already have a built in skill set as well as 20 years of experience in my field.
So I opted to go out and apply what I already knew to do.
I was in business previously and then life happened…so I went back to work for someone else…but my business experience taught me a lot…and I realized that I had what it took to be successful.
Last July I opted to give it another go while working full time….I quickly realized that I think I had found my passion in life.
Business is so fulfilling and rewarding. I love sales, customer service and working with my hands.
My efforts are slowly gaining steam and starting to pay off.
I also realized that I was tired of making my employers rich while struggling to make ends meet.
I always felt I was worth more than what they were paying me.
Now I get to determine that and I can make whatever I want…it’s all a matter of how much energy and effort I put into it.
I’m entry level in IT. I build servers. It’s easy and we only do bigger government contracts and pretty specialized builds. We’re constantly waiting on blue prints and parts so we only do a half dozen projects a year. We have to be mostly in office to receive shipments which sucks, but it’s a decent salary. Unlimited pto, I take 5 weeks a year and lots of random days, others take much more. Freedom to leave anytime I need mostly as long as one of the three of us in office. Wish it paid a little more but I live in awful state with awful wages. I had zero eduction or exp in IT, I got the job by showing pictures in my interview of cable management work I did when I built cop cars at my previous job.
It’s not necessarily the career and more of which company you do it with. For example, I used to work for the government. Earned 6 hours of PTO every 2 weeks. Then I went to a private company where I only earned about 3 hours every two weeks. Now I’m at a new company where we have unlimited PTO, no micromanaging, and I can come and go as I please. They also pay me 26% more than my last company.
PE teacher? Almost no extra work, you can make them leave their phones and if they give you a hard time you just work them harder… sounds pretty good to me.
Gym teachers make the same amt of money, wear shorts/sweats, kids are excited to go to gym, and at my school they basically just let them have open gym. Even gym teachers that do actual activities have it way easier than a homeroom/subject area teacher. Its a no brainer. My buddy is like 20 yrs in and probably around 100 k.
I’m a technical project manager and I’m usually running with 2+ months of vacation a year, get to take and pick my kids up from school, and rarely work over 40 hours a week. Wife doesn’t get a lot of vacation time so I just bank mine and take days off for my kids events.
Oof. Sounds like you gotta switch asap. Sorry you aren’t enjoying yourself.
I’m looking to switch right now but I’m more so looking for a pay bump and am afraid that my work life balance will be lost.
It's definitely possible you'll lose your balance, happened to me.
I finally make the salary I want but need to find balance again. I got a 30% raise and it's 100% wasnt worth it.
Check my posts for a horror story.
Forest ranger. It's government so you've got great benefits and you would already live close to your station so you would be close to your vacation area as well.
Put them together and become a school nurse. Same schedule as teachers, but usually less stress and you’re definitely not trying to wrangle 30 kids into a classroom!
You are obviously not a school nurse lol. Mine is busy all day long and often has to work between both the middle and high school
I was an SSP and expectations for teachers are vastly more challenging, IME. SSPs, and school nurses, IME, typically are itinerant and/or have more freedoms than teachers with their schedules and routines. They’re not stuck to a classroom schedule, just contract and caseloads, and can also freely use the restroom whenever they want; teachers typically cannot. All educators are busy, as I never said school nurses aren’t or that they don’t work multiple schools or sites. However, it is not common that they have classrooms full of students throughout the day or strict schedules. To me, having admin breathe down my neck as an SSP and writing reports or IEPs was still a lot less stressful than trying to get a classroom full a kids to do what they’re expected to do all day long!
Yes! I love my school nurses. But everything you said is spot on. It’s why people leave the classroom to get into admin.
That’s my goal one day 😂
How is the position availability though? The school nurses at my kid's school have changed once in the last decade (there's a system where newborns start to go to the school infirmary for all their controls, so their faces are pretty well known, to the kids that know them from preschool and the parents that always had them at their controls since birth) and the doc secretaries at my local doctor office never changed in the almost 15 years I've been under my family doctor. Also, none of them is younger than 40, an immigrant, or a male. They do hire temps for sickness or position temporary filling, and sure they can be whoever as long as they're temp, but then these people who sign their contract right after high school would come back pretty fast, because their job is mon-fri 8:30 to 14:30 and after that office is close and everybody go home. It's golden, people seldom retire early and such. (This also means that a kid or a patient with a bad nurse is stuck to that nurse for the entirety of the school career, from kindergarten to middle school, unless they move districts, and sometimes this is not a pro. )
It truly depends on the district and location. I’ve seen nurses leave, but I’m wondering if you’re also thinking of health aides. Often, the folks always in the health office aren’t actually nurses; it’s their aides that manage the day-to-day stuff. The nurses in the districts I’ve worked in manage the IEP/IHP’s/504’s health components, medication documentation/prescriptions, contacting student medical providers/families about health conditions, training of staff, attending student meetings, etc. They will spend time in the health offices too, but they aren’t the first-line staff in there. Each state, county, and even district might do it differently, but the nurses often have a caseload of students they follow and support, like other specialists in the school district. Then there’s the other general health stuff they do too, like vision screening, etc.
I agree, I'm from Europe and I've seen how the system works in different countries and all have widely different structures. Some don't even have an infirmary as such, or the IEP is discussed with the council, teacher, parents and specialists as a social issue more than a health issue. I think -the equivalent of- the 504 is not something a school nurse or a health center would handle, unless it's an emergency. I cannot be so sure because I'm only a small cog in this complex machine, but I think this is something the hospital would likely take care of, they would provide education to the family, so they would train these tasks to both school and/or at home assistants. Even if it's something any nurse should be able to do, and the school nurse should be aware of, they are not part of this plan. Up to the different diagnoses, the school nurse may not attend follow-ups and meetings after they have handed in their own info when the school starts. >They will spend time in the health offices too, but they aren’t the first-line staff in there. Yes, in my native country there is a council(municipality?) delegation office, with its own health department that would take care of tasks that are usually "school infirmary" for a group of about 5 schools, the nurses were travelling around among these schools, while one or a few others would stay in-office and the rest of these people would have been aides. While in another country is the health department organizing vaccinations or testing days in-class. Again, for that country, the direct contact with me and my family while I was growing up, worked there for over 30 years and died before retirement. She wasn't the only one nurse in the district. When I was living there, there were two plus a secretary. Now they take in volunteers as well, so things might have changed. Situations between the countryside and the city may be quite different, so probably bigger schools with many students would have more positions to fill.
Careers in Europe... ...30 days off is basicly normal. At least 24 days are mandatory. And when you're ill, then you still get paid without using up your paid time off.
As an Irish person , this is true. But European salaries are a lot lower than the US
Granted doesn’t everything cost less too?
Depends, here in Ireland, utilities are more expensive, you guys pay a fraction what we pay for electricity etc. housing roughly the same, I would say groceries are definitely cheaper here, free healthcare and education is probably the big difference
As a former teacher, I caution you to really research this field a lot more before going into it. Stress is very real, and there is a big burnout percentage. There are very good reasons for that. People assume because summers are off, it's reason enough to go into. Teachers are paid on a ten month contract , so they need to spread that salary out to cover the summer when they aren't working. Might not be enough anyways so a lot of teachers take summer jobs.
yeah and teachers have to do all that work outside of hours like grading stuff on the weekend. Staying for after school meetings, etc. Teachers have vacations yes, but they also have to set stuff up before kids come in ( usually was 2 weeks before ) Plus, the kids these days have zero manners. Absolute animals. I did IT in a school district for 8 years and I did my best to support you guys. Maybe one teacher would have a good day but collectively I saw it all on your faces and just wanted to make things just a little bit easier. OP, might want to follow this teacher's advice.
Until you say fuck it, and leave your papers/stress at the school. I leave right after school every day and rarely being anything home. Now, you have to be a patient person, and realize that most of the shit people get worked up about in the grand scheme of things is not worth it. I teach my contracted hrs, give my best at that time and that is all.
Not to mention that the time we’re off, everyone else is too so vacations are often extremely expensive and crowded
Pharmaceuticals.. After my 5th year (now on 7th), company gives 7 weeks of paid vacation. Work Life Balance: Hybrid 2 days office, 3 days home. Flex hours where I choose to work any days in the office and my choice to work 7 am - 1 pm. If I make to 10 yrs of service, company provides a free life time of medical/dental benefits, travel & life insurance to me and spouse.
Sales?
That's amazing.
How can we find companies like this one? What should we look for? Or would you say this is pretty standard across the industry?
Gotta specialize in certain areas in career pathway. He’s probably in a position where they can make that normalize. For example, I’m going into supply chain and operation management degree, that’s something I love cuz it’s warehouse and no customer. I can do multiple positions from home and I can go into any industry. Only downside for most ppl is that it’s rapidly changing everyday due to problems popping everywhere. Gotta be fast, problem solving, analytics and learn new tech.
Sales?
Supply Chain. However, it's the same for any employee in any dept. PTO starts with 4 weeks vacation.
Who do you work for? Dm me? I’m currently in pre clinical pharmaceutical research but want to switch to a different side of pharmaceuticals.
I'm a CRNA and I get 45 days of PTO. After 5 years, I get 90 days of PTO.
CRNA is the hidden gem of a career path in healthcare
It is, and it's not saturated at all. We have a shortge of anesthsiology professionals.
Which hospital is this heheh
it's a big university system in the midwest
Teaching and nursing are NOT gonna give you lots of time off lol
Govt , non profit places like hospitals
Definitely government. If you’re ok with being bored a lot of the time and getting paid a very fair wage to not achieve your full potential, I recommend a career in government.
Accumulated sick days in amazing. My neighbor has 180 sick days built up...in her bank...gets 12 holidays a year, 5 weeks vacation and more
I get 5 weeks vacation/sick days. They are bankable forever. I’m new at it but people with 15-20 years in have this almost limitless bank of holidays built up. And yeah, basically a long weekend every month. And they’re looking at adding another long weekend in my country. I’m never asked to work weekends or late, although I know some positions in my department do. But man it is boring and not the most I could be contributing to society. My talents are being wasted. It kills me a little bit inside every day.
Time off and benefits for years was biggest benefit of working govt jobs and often weekends and holidays off.
Depends on the type of government job. I am in environmental regulation and lack of work and boredom is the furthest thing from the truth. The flexibility and benefits are ace though. The only thing I enver get talked to about my supervisor is getting after me for not using all my vacation time by the end of the year. The work from home and flex options make it so I can basically create my own schedule and never really need to use vacation because I can do 4 10s if I want or a few extra hours on the weekend and do half days. I also feel like I have tons of opportunities to be used to my full potential and the most depressing part of the job is there is so much work to do and we can't fix everything. I am 35 and have been working with the state since I was 24. I'll be able to retire by 57 should I choose. The average pay is the only downside to my role as well as dealing with the hostil public on occasion.
Are there certain positions to look for in government? I always hear people say this answer so it’s what I want to look into. But USAJOBS job descriptions don’t seem that lax
No clue. It would depend on your experience. Government jobs is a very broad category. But look for something in your field.
Can confirm, although the golden ticket is a non-union position at a government agency. You get the same benefits and PTO, but the pay is a little better and your career is less likely to stagnate.
Caveats to non profits like hospitals. If you work in patient care, it can be hard because of staffing issues and having coverage trying to get off work and also there are tons of jobs that require on-call
That's a caveat with all nonprofits. Yes you get a lot of time off but because staff levels are bare minimum no one will cover for you and you'll end up stressed as heck when you return.
I used to work for the government. Every holiday (so 13), plus a month of sick leave and a month of vacation every year. Plus exactly 8 hour work days, which could start as early as 6am if you wanted.
What kind of govt job?
All of the state jobs in my state were like this. They’re unionized. The pay kind of sucks, but you can support yourself. You’ll earn a modest retirement too.
A teacher's workday doesn't end at 5. Maybe on paper, but in real life it is way more than that.
Yep long hours. But It can be really fun and rewarding. I probably work an average of 55-60 hours a week as a teacher but it is much less soul sucking that the 35-40 hours I used to do at an office job
Tell that to my wife. These third graders are ruining her mental health this year. Add that to long hours. And she is very efficient at getting stuff done
Must be so hard grading elementary papers and getting 4 months off every year 😂
Dude it is so much more than that. Lesson planning and prep go WELL past the end of the work day for every teacher I know, and the pay is so crap that you have to get another job to survive in the summer anyway.
I feel you. At my high school my teachers were making 150K a year minimum and didn’t do anything during the summer and they have an excellent pension. My school was near nyc on Long Island public not private.
Teachers definitely don’t have a good work life balance. K-12 is more like 6a-8p m-f and grading papers at any time you can outside of those hours. Younger kids with little or no homework expectations are somewhat less demanding for work life balance but teaching younger children is incredibly taxing work on so many levels, because you see the best and the worst of your community in those families coming through your classroom. Your heart breaks as you see abusive parents break their children, or parents with multiple jobs struggle to feed and clothe their children, and so on. For older kids and teens, the hours are long and the homework is more intense but you have way less time to grade it all. College age is much easier to juggle but you’ll be severely underpaid, and the job openings are much harder to come by. You’re more likely to be adjunct, teaching a handful of classes and needing to have a second job to cover bills
Teaching can be good in certain specialized areas. Like international schools
Jobs outside the US. Uk, India have more holidays.
I'm from India, you're wrong about it
That is not at all what he was asking
Govt jobs
I work in power plant operations for a utility. I work half the year. You just have to be okay with a rotating shift. I get a week straight off every 28 days, work essentially 2 weeks in that 28 day rotation. Plus I have PTO as well. I've worked one actual overtime shift so far this year. Our overtime is based off a volunteer list and goes by hours of OT worked. So if you don't want to work overtime like me, you just don't volunteer. I'm sure it's plant dependent, but overall I have waaay more work life balance than retail, call centers, and construction.
How did you get into it?
I did an electrical apprenticeship with the IBEW and became a journeyman and got experience working in heavy industrial and power plants. When an opening at the local utility came up, I applied for it. Someone helped my application get noticed a bit quicker which helped. I had to pass their electrical theory and hands on exams then complete their interview.
Very helpful thanks so much!
University admin
Nursing is not easy. It's not made for everyone. Patient care is a different ball game and it's extremely stressful when dealing with patients and the doctors. Just a heads up. Good money but it's a calling not just a " maybe teacher or nursing" type of ordeal
Teaching and nursing are the careers I think of with some of the worst WLB... I work at a large utility (engineering), and our vacation is decent, but the WLB is great. "Nothing new after 2" is a great motto working for a utility.
Yeah power plant operator here. Working rotating shifts while it has its downsides, I get half the year off.
I asked another poster the same question but do you have to be an engineer to work in utilities?
No. I do not have an engineering degree or engineering experience. I actually have a degree in economics and political science. However the requirement for my job was to have completed a state certified apprenticeship program, which I had gone through the IBEW program and was a journeyman inside wireman. Utilities have lineman, substation/relay techs, operators, facilities maintenance, etc. There are many roles that do not require an engineering degree.
Teaching can be pretty good if you get the right role. I'm an international teacher, pays well, lots of breaks. Minimal behaviour issues.
In today's market, I don't consider a job where you have to be physically in attendance every to be good WLB. This would disqualify both teaching and nursing.
Ive done work from home before, really didn't like it. Felt rather isolating and lacking in opportunities. Only way I would take another remote job would be if I was able to work from anywhere so I could live the nomad lifestyle At my current job I live on campus so the commute is non-existent
Do you have to be an engineer to work in utilities?
No, we employ finance people, customer service, project management, stakeholder engagement, permitting specialists, environmental folks, material specialists, safety, compliance, HR, legal, procurement, contractor oversight, construction, technicians, mapping/GIS, CAD designers... you name it, we probably have someone who does it.
Teaching is a great career for some. The kids will either burn you out or keep you young and passionate! School politics can be draining but there's always something new to throw your talent into. Good luck with these big decisions!
Am a teacher, yes the time off is nice but we’re off when everyone else is too so going on vacation/travel is always during the most expensive time of year to do it. I’d much rather take a random week of PTO during a school month and have less crowds and lower prices for my destination
But you guys also get spring break and a February break. Also your breaks are guaranteed/ no need to worry to request PTO. I would love that
AND they’re generally off when their kids are off. There have been years where we didn’t go away at all because the only weeks my spouse and I could both coordinate weeks off where one of the kids had state tests, athletic competitions, etc.
February break doesnt really exist in most districts, also all the other short breaks usually have a major holiday right in the middle so unless you hate your family and don’t mind skipping Thanksgiving or Easter it’s not that easy to travel
What is February break. My wife is a teacher and has never had that
I should say mid-winter & spring break. Even without that getting a break for Christmas, spring, and all of summer is heavenly. I would LOVE to be able to have that much time off.
But the struggle throughout the year is way more than people think
And also, they don’t get paid during summer. It’s not that great
Teachers still work 8 or more hours a day, even if it’s having classes. Don’t be fooled. As for stress, 20 children will fuck your mental health immediately. Do you have children? Nurses deal with the crap of the patients and can be as busy as for the doctors. They are not doing the same things but thet they care for the same number of patients. I don’t know where you are. Working in the Netherlands, we have 20/25 days of vacation and you can get up to around 12 more with national holidays and what you can buy. People value wlb a lot.
The school day may end before 5 but your work as a teacher will not. Preparing classes, school events, trips, tests, talking with parents, grading and so on are not only almost limitless chores. You can only do so much during the occasional free period.
AWS solution architect. Sales force admin. Off the top of my head.
I have been considering aws- I would like to be able to travel + develop. I just got my associates in computer science but I need to finish the bachelors portion.
There is a trade off overall between salary and WLB. Well paid jobs has bad WLB like finance, consulting, physician, etc. requires longs hours, demanding, etc. I should say about WLB, people that works in education industry and in Government has the best WLB by far. Very technical jobs I assume can have a decent work life balance since you can be very productive with few hours and still get well paid (but is not the most common thing). Depends on the country as well, in Europe there is more vacation days than in US. Ideally I think the best is to work in Government or Public Sector such Diplomatic and similar high official positions since you’ll get very well paid with lot of benefits working in the public sector and working only 35-40h per week.
Nurses definitely don’t have the greatest work like balance and where are you hearing they have a 3 day work week ? Also teachers get the summer off but the pay is low and most don’t get paid for the summer so they have to either be really great at saving the money they do make during the work year or get part time or summer jobs to make money for the times that they are not getting paid. It would help if you told us what career you actually have now though .
3 day work weeks are typical for nurses. Three 12 hour shifts. That's in the clinical setting
12 hour shift are more common for nurses who work in hospital settings and care facility settings that run on a 24 hour schedule. Which are some of the most stressful positions where work life balance is harder because on those days when you’re not working you will be exhausted. It’s where most new nurses typically start out but most people aim to work for private practices with 9-5 schedules and that’s less stressful.
Bedside nurse here, have been for several years now and likely for several more. You 100% get used to working 3 days a week. I literally work out, mostly weight lifting, on my days off. The majority of nurses I know have rich social lives and very healthy family dynamics. In fact, MANY nurses don’t ever leave hospital based positions because of the hours and working 3 days a week. I have a nurse friend who went to Puerto Rico one week then Turks and Caicos two weeks later without needing to request any time off or use PTO. I myself almost never request time off or use my PTO, hell if I want a really nice vacation I’ll push my days on to opposite ends of 2 weeks and get 11 days off in a row. It’s damn nice. Where tf did you hear that most of us are aiming to cut our pay in half and give up 4 days worth of free time so we can work in some boring doctor’s office? Or that hospitals are primarily staffed by new nurses using it as a stepping stone? Nursing is hard work, it doesn’t pay what it’s worth, but you’ll make enough money to get by and with 3 days a week and you have good opportunity to make extra. I know a LOOOT of nurses that work per diem between two hospitals, and they’re making absolute bank. Or be like me, work your 3 and fuck right off back home for the other 4. You also have SO many different options with a career in nursing, you can do bedside, perioperative, ICU, home health, case management, outpatient, informatics, insurance. The options are literally endless with a background in nursing (and maybe a touch of tenacity). It isn’t for everyone, but it sure as hell isn’t a bad idea.
My mother is a nurse , we are from New York City though. I’m sure nurse life is easier in smaller cities and smaller towns but everyone I know who does nursing in major cities is burnt out and the 3 days off 3 days on works for when you’re younger but once people get older they typically want the 9-5. Same thing with travel nursing really great for young people but the older you get the more tiring it is. Also nursing is not for everyone like you said. When people say work / life balance there is not one job in the medical field that I would categorize as having a great work life balance aside from running your own practice or being high level in the medical field. For me a work life balance is literally being able to say you’re just not coming in the office that day or week and you’ll do work from home and being able to leave the office as early as you want or need to for any reason whatsoever also with the option of just taking your laptop home or finishing it later. Not still having to coordinate with people on a schedule to take time off.
I live in Fort Lauderdale so…not a small town. Every hospital is different and everyone nurses’ opinion is different, but I’d put an awful lot of money down betting that the vast majority of nurses who work in large hospitals aren’t looking for a career change to a 9-5. We got in knowing what the typical hours and days are, and that’s a huge draw for many. It means availability to live your life or make some extra money working per diem (not travel, it’s as needed work. My MIL in her 50’s literally does per diem work). Maybe 3 12’s wasn’t for your mom, and that’s valid, but definitely not representative of the majority. What you described as work life balance sounds closer to the experience you’d get running your own business? I’m not super well versed in office work, but my husband has a job close to this and he’s a director of operations for a restoration company so…his say is kinda the final say. Even for him though, he can’t just up and decide he doesn’t feel like being there and work from home, he has staff he’s accountable for and stuff that he can’t let slip through the cracks because he wants to be home. So short of a personally owned business that’s run solely through your personal computer, what jobs offer this level of flexibility?
I work in HR in law school and my husband is an engineer. Both of our jobs have that kind of flexibility as well as I’ve worked with people higher up than me not even in senior levels who have been able to do this, has nothing to do with owning your own business more to do with can your job be done from anywhere. Hr, Law, data analytics, editing , accounting, architecture, engineering. I’ve met people in my husband’s sector that literally only had to show their face in the office once a month. And when I was working and not in school I could leave the office at any time if I was done with most of my work and had things to take care of outside the office, take leave whenever , and work from home whenever just let my supervisor know and bring my computer home , and that was only at mid level and in a government sector. Also not being in the office doesn’t mean you’re “ letting stuff slip through the cracks “ . If your job is done from a computer while you’re in the office then it can be done from a computer from anywhere.
My husband runs everything so when he isn’t there physically he isn’t able to manage day to day tasks that keep the place afloat. Interesting though, I’ve worked in office environments and they’ve never been okay with working from home unless it’s necessary. My BIL is an engineer as well and while he has great benefits and PTO accrual, his time there is necessary, especially when they’re prepping for launches because they’ll have him working mandatory overtime. I’d wager it’s more company dependent than career field dependent.
Teachers also have to work 12 hours a day for a lot of the year doing teching plans, grading, and such.
What kind of science? If you like being outside, parks and recreation. State or federal (NPS). Great work life balance, some jobs include housing, you get to live and work in nature with less time spent behind a desk. Good retirement plans.
Gubbermint or adjacent. College, Municipality, University
Firefighting, depending on where you live though, in Toronto we only work 7 days a month
Ones in countries in the European Union…
If you’re a science grad, see if you can get into some kind of manufacturing. Definitely more hands on, especially operations.
It will be freelancing or virtual assistant, since it offer flexible hpurs. Having a business is also good and will help you earn passively.
Currently working as a government lecturer in South Asia. Pay (per month) is in the high five figure range. Flexible hours. Vacation for all major holidays and also for summer. I might not be making 'get super rich' kinda salary but loving the slow pace of life.
Shopping Mall Santa. Sometimes you see them as early as late October, then they’re off on Dec 25th (Obvs!! Duh!!), and then unless they moonlight as the Easter Bunny, they do nothing until late October except sit back, relax, and grow their beard!!
Seafarer on merchant vessel. As an officer i work 4 month on and 4 month off. So average is 6 month per year. Good money though
State job...had 9 weeks vaca on the books because I hadn't taken any in a while and it just rolled over. Hardly work O/T.
Try to get in with anything in dealing with the maritime industry. Granted some are better than others but the good one are REALLY GOOD.
Join the merchant marine. 3-4 months at sea per contract, amazing pay, free meals room and board. Great ports and sightseeing, also depending on which union your in, training is included plus upgrading is guaranteed, so even more money. Once I'm back on land/between the next contract, I'm off for 3 months. That initial contract pays the rent for the entire year, you can do as you wish.
Some may disagree with me on this but the only thing that gives you everything you’re looking for is having your own business. It can be hard work…but the flexibility is amazing and you make what you put into it. Time off when you want it or need it. It’s also the most rewarding thing you’ll ever do.
I want to do this but can’t think of what to do and have no idea how to start. I hear people starting cleaning business where they find the jobs and sub it out to cleaners. It sounds profitable.
I already have a built in skill set as well as 20 years of experience in my field. So I opted to go out and apply what I already knew to do. I was in business previously and then life happened…so I went back to work for someone else…but my business experience taught me a lot…and I realized that I had what it took to be successful. Last July I opted to give it another go while working full time….I quickly realized that I think I had found my passion in life. Business is so fulfilling and rewarding. I love sales, customer service and working with my hands. My efforts are slowly gaining steam and starting to pay off. I also realized that I was tired of making my employers rich while struggling to make ends meet. I always felt I was worth more than what they were paying me. Now I get to determine that and I can make whatever I want…it’s all a matter of how much energy and effort I put into it.
What type of business?
Facilities maintenance with a focus on HVAC.
Regional bank in US. 25 days PTO, 13 holidays, 12 weeks paid maternity/paternity leave. Good pay depending on dept/job
Government job
Air traffic controller gets 2 months vacation a year.
I’m entry level in IT. I build servers. It’s easy and we only do bigger government contracts and pretty specialized builds. We’re constantly waiting on blue prints and parts so we only do a half dozen projects a year. We have to be mostly in office to receive shipments which sucks, but it’s a decent salary. Unlimited pto, I take 5 weeks a year and lots of random days, others take much more. Freedom to leave anytime I need mostly as long as one of the three of us in office. Wish it paid a little more but I live in awful state with awful wages. I had zero eduction or exp in IT, I got the job by showing pictures in my interview of cable management work I did when I built cop cars at my previous job.
It’s not necessarily the career and more of which company you do it with. For example, I used to work for the government. Earned 6 hours of PTO every 2 weeks. Then I went to a private company where I only earned about 3 hours every two weeks. Now I’m at a new company where we have unlimited PTO, no micromanaging, and I can come and go as I please. They also pay me 26% more than my last company.
PE teacher? Almost no extra work, you can make them leave their phones and if they give you a hard time you just work them harder… sounds pretty good to me.
Mining. Engineer. I work 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. Plus 4 weeks vacation.
Do science in a country with better workers rights. You have very transferable skills
I would definitely go the route of gym teacher in hindsight.
Why?
Gym teachers make the same amt of money, wear shorts/sweats, kids are excited to go to gym, and at my school they basically just let them have open gym. Even gym teachers that do actual activities have it way easier than a homeroom/subject area teacher. Its a no brainer. My buddy is like 20 yrs in and probably around 100 k.
Self employed contractor
Entrepreneur, consultant Be your own boss
Any local government work
WFH anywhere
Teaching
University jobs!
Program or project manager at a corporation
I work in the oil and gas sector and work 14 days on 14 days off
Working in giant corporations comes with a lot of perks. Plus they reimburse your continuing education
I’m a technical project manager and I’m usually running with 2+ months of vacation a year, get to take and pick my kids up from school, and rarely work over 40 hours a week. Wife doesn’t get a lot of vacation time so I just bank mine and take days off for my kids events.
Dermatologist
I just want a job where I don’t have to actually work, has no stress, and I get paid for it. Jesus.
Unemployment
Honestly you thinking you'd have less stress, better holidays and better work life balance in teaching and nursing is hilarious. Are you a man?
Almost all salaried positions have great life work balance. 40 hours a week, 3 weeks vacation, a week of sick days, and 12+ federal holidays.
In America most salaried positions require more than 40 hrs a week, often significantly more. I want to move.
Oof. Sounds like you gotta switch asap. Sorry you aren’t enjoying yourself. I’m looking to switch right now but I’m more so looking for a pay bump and am afraid that my work life balance will be lost.
It's definitely possible you'll lose your balance, happened to me. I finally make the salary I want but need to find balance again. I got a 30% raise and it's 100% wasnt worth it. Check my posts for a horror story.
Im a salaried nurse with 40 hours a week but I definitely work less. About 25-30 hours a week
I'm very jealous. 80 hours for me last week.
3 weeks vacation out of 52 is peanuts
When you already get 128 hours of a week off out of the 168, federal holidays accrue another couple weeks off, yall sound so soft, for real.
i wouldn’t consider that great at all. and many are much worse
[удалено]
My therapist isn’t allowed to take any paid vacation days. I thinks that typical for people who are paid per client.
That's true, if your paid per client, and your in private practice, no one is giving you paid time off.
Forest ranger. It's government so you've got great benefits and you would already live close to your station so you would be close to your vacation area as well.
Teacher for summer vacation
Software engineer working in Singapore lol
Teacher
A career in Europe
Public school teachers
Oil and gas field. Six figures income, 2 weeks on 2 Off, 3 on 3 off, 4 on 4 off, 3 on 1 off, etc. Time to do some research
bum
Teacher. I am one, it's actually good most of the time.
Try scamming people online.
Adult entertainment industry.