What's your career?

[vivalavelo]

Like most of you, riding and bikepacking has consumed my life. Scheming the next route or ride is always on my mind. What's also been on my mind is what others do for a career. I am exploring the idea of a career change with jobs that are A) very flexible with schedules, B) pay is fair, C) NOT in the medical field (personal qualms in further contribution to the industry).

Currently, I am a medical laboratory scientist with a background in molecular biology. Honestly, I cannot complain. This career has afforded me a fair pay, decent benefits, and job security. The schedule is fairly nice, too. I work 7 days on then get 7 days off, however there is no Personal Time Off (PTO) accrual (I may be able to trade shifts with others if I want more days off). This schedule also means that any events outside of work (eg friends, family, bike trips, etc.) also have to line up with my week off unless the aforementioned shift trades are arranged.

Again, what's your career? Also, how happy are you with your career?

[THE LONG RANGER]

Sorry to poke more into your personal life than you've already shared, but are the weeks where you work 40 hours, or 80 hours? If it's 40 hours (or say, 57, whateva), 7 days, than an entire week off, that is an incredible deal. If it's 80 hours, not so much of a great deal, but it's also pretty rad, in an unconventional way. Much like working any half on, half off, there are those tradeoffs you talk about. People make it work. 160+ days off a year is... wow, you know? People with only one or two days off a week make the most of those days off (say you're working on your residency as a doctor), if you're willing to be creative.

I would only suggest looking at the long term and asking yourself if you love your career. If you don't, there's soul searching to do.

[vivalavelo]

Thanks for the reply, LR, and I'm glad to share more. Seriously, I must sound like a huge, whining wank. I suppose this is more of a soul searching quandary. I absolutely love the schedule; seven consecutive 10-hour shifts from 4pm-2am followed by seven consecutive days off. Believe me, I am not whining about the schedule. As I stated in my topic post: I cannot complain. Also note that this schedule is fairly uncommon in the profession, too. It was unheard of in my last job in Denver. However, I will not have have it after August because my bride-to-be and I want to move to her hometown of Missoula, MT.

This is more of a soul-searching question, though. I can do the hours and work, but there is only a scant amounts of job satisfaction that is returned. For the past few years I've looked at my career as a means to support the bike trips and rides we do, not as something that I get much satisfaction from. Maybe I can't have my cake and eat it, but I am just wondering what other options are out there. Surely, we bikepackers, must be in a variety of careers that affords us a flexible schedule, decent pay, and generous job satisfaction.

[wahday]

If only I had structured my career around my riding desires! Unfortunately, that is not how it rolled out. My profession (non-profit affordable housing development) is pretty demanding time-wise. I frequently work 50-60 hour weeks just to stay on top of things. Then there are weekend and evening meetings. And I also have a wife and two kids. Finding time to ride at all let alone bikepack is very challenging. But my work and family are very gratifying too, so I can’t complain that my life is not full. I still have managed to get out for about 3 trips a year with this schedule. And I do non-biking centered camping with the family as well.

I have bikepacked with my son (who is 13) which was awesome and I was so excited to share an adventure like that with him. He had a great time too. My daughter is a good deal younger but I am looking to try an easy trip with the whole family this spring/summer. Not the far reaching exploration of the wilderness’ depths I long for, but I will take what I can get. Plus, if I pass on some of this kind of passion and appreciation for the great outdoors to my kids, that’s a triumph. I got my love of camping, backpacking and canoeing from my parents.

I am not sure what kind of occupation would provide the kind of time to pursue bikepacking more. I think just living in Missoula would help as far as easy access. But the schedule you have now seems pretty ideal. For me, I use my PTO to arrange for 4 or even 5 day weekends for trips. Large blocks of time are key. Whatever can provide that is your ticket.

[mbeardsl]

vivalavelo - I think it really depends on what you think "fair pay" is.  I think what you describe isn't too hard to do if 20k is fair, but odds are low if fair pay is 500k.  I was in a similar position to you (looking for career change) coming out of the food industry.  Lots of travel away from home but always in driving distance so I'd take the bike and try to ride a couple times a week.  Every once in awhile I'd be able to swing a 3 day weekend and hit some trials I'd never get to otherwise.  Made good money and worked my ass off for 13 years (from 19-32 so I gave them my "best years").  Was rewarded for it, but essentially put everything else on hold in the meantime. 

Got out of that almost 9 months ago and have spent that time taking my time finding the "next thing" and working on "personal development".  Lucky to have a very supportive/understanding wife (no kids or plans for them) and have made a game out of being frugal until income restarts.  I've been riding 6-7 days a week, trying to lose weight (still stuck at home, but now due to a large dog with new amputation and cancer running it's course), and spending my time fielding every idea I come across.  My goal is to find a couple small investments that I can put my savings into as a minority partner that will generate reasonable passive income.  I've found one so far, put in 25k and budgeting to draw 25k/yr from that one ongoing with a predetermined buyout valuation in the operating agreement for when the majority owner wants to take over the whole shebang.  At that point those funds roll into the next idea(s) and/or a retirement fund.  Ideally, rinse and repeat and never work for someone else again and never be tied to a physical location again.  That will allow me to live where I want, travel as I want, when I want, help family out, etc.  We'll see if it actually works.  Idea #2 in the works, always looking for n+1...

Be creative, lots of ways to make money in the world, and lots of ways to leverage cash for ownership if you can find folks you trust and an idea that can cashflow (and can afford to play with savings).  Geography also has some say in it, not sure what opportunities there are in Missoula, but don't let living there preclude you from gaining income from somewhere else.  I'm an open book, not into the taboo of not talking about money.  Feel free to reach out offline if you'd like and best of luck in your search.

On a side not, haven't been to Missoula but tons of time between Bozeman and Ennis in my teens.  Could still see retiring to Bozeman someday, have lots of family there.

[paxton coyote]

DO NOT take a job as a Utilities Superintendant of a small town with 600 pop.! I work 7 days a week with an avg of 45-50 hrs (not bad) but my phone rings 24/7 as I'm the ONLY employee & I don't even own my own personal phone anymore, my life is this job! The pay sucks & the only benefit is lots of fresh air. I knew a lot of this going into it but free time is very limited, I do some S24O's when I can & am planning some bike related trips this summer once my son is home from college & can back me up.

[JRA]

Retired firefighter
Good work if you can get it - especially the "retired" part. 

[offroute]

Freelance, per diem, project-based, staff position temporarily if need be, temp agency work if desperate – that's what I do, in graphic design and art direction. It works well for me, as it's in my DNA for some reason. I actually like what I do for money, but don't want to do it all the time. Just like bikepacking; I need healthy breaks to appreciate it.

I'd get into something that includes those less-committed situations as standard options for work – a field in which consultants are viewed as key temporary resources rather that people who just can't get a job.

Good luck attaining the elusive balance...

[Bedrock]

I sew for a living, yes I'm happy with my career.  

[PandaPrawn]

I'm an audio tech, working as a sub-contractor for a large sound company. It can be super flexible, and I don't work when I'm at home, but I generally tour 8-10 months out of the year, and during that time when I'm on the road, the job is pretty all consuming, long, really long, days of work at times, but flying big PA systems is pretty fun.
I got into it because I like music, but now I like it more for the people that I work with than anything else.

That much travel can mess up your home life/relationships, but because I'm a sub-contractor, it wasn't a big deal for me to ask for a month off this fall for some sort of bike trip.

Bike touring/bikepacking is still pretty new for me, but I am pretty happy with how it's looking like I'll be able to fit it in with my work. I actually managed to bring a bike with me to work last year for a while and managed to pull off an S24O on a few days off in Southern California. The biggest problem is staying in shape on the road. It's not conducive to a good set riding schedule.

[sherpaxc]

I teach history in middle school.  Love my job, love my vacation even more!  Only downfall is it is hard to do something like the AZT 300 as it isn't during a break and is usually during state testing.  I'm somehow going to make it work for next year though. 

I started a mountain biking club at my school.  It's been super fun to see the excitement with these kids on the trail.  I get to see a totally different side to them away from the classroom.  And I'll be honest, it's kind of cool that they can see that, "Mr. Butler can ride!"  

[SlowRide]

I was CTO/Head Systems Architect for a major webhosting/outsourced support company until I burned out three years ago, moved to Steamboat Springs and became a ski/bike bum. I now work at a little ski/river shop to scrape by and picked up an extra job cooking this winter to fund my Tour Divide. I make a lot less money now but I am able to either ski or ride my bike every day and I do a heck of a lot more smiling than I used to.

[vivalavelo]

Thanks for all the replies. Bedrock, I am totally psyched on people like you who don't wait for something to drop in your lap; you make it happen yourself! I can't help but think of tobygadd's quote at the bottom of his posts: "Do it yourself. Dammit" or something of the like. With this type of thinking for the past couple months I have been pondering whether I want to employ my photography prowess in creating my own photo business. Might just be a pipe-dream, but making my own schedule and doing something that I would enjoy makes the idea a bit more appealing. Looking at how much wedding photographers want to charge for this summer motivates me further.... Seriously, 2k+ for 8 hours of their time. Time to get to work...

Slowride, I have really thought of doing the same. Sure, the pay might not be wonderful but you are taking advantage of some of the best years of life in the way you want to with a smile on your mug, and that is more important to me than helping a corporate company grow with data entry and spreadsheets and worrying about dental/vision insurance...

[JRA]

Thanks for all the replies. Bedrock, I am totally psyched on people like you who don't wait for something to drop in your lap; you make it happen yourself! I can't help but think of tobygadd's quote at the bottom of his posts: "Do it yourself. Dammit" or something of the like. With this type of thinking for the past couple months I have been pondering whether I want to employ my photography prowess in creating my own photo business. Might just be a pipe-dream, but making my own schedule and doing something that I would enjoy makes the idea a bit more appealing. Looking at how much wedding photographers want to charge for this summer motivates me further.... Seriously, 2k+ for 8 hours of their time. Time to get to work...

Slowride, I have really thought of doing the same. Sure, the pay might not be wonderful but you are taking advantage of some of the best years of life in the way you want to with a smile on your mug, and that is more important to me than helping a corporate company grow with data entry and spreadsheets and worrying about dental/vision insurance...

I personally know of two photographers who love to use their artistic talents to produce great photos while they shoot weddings to pay the bills.  It's doable.

[WonderMonkey]

Right now I am what is called an Enterprise System Architect.  However a bit over a year ago I started to look for something else that would allow me to be outdoors more.  It first started as a Plan B income and it is still there but before long it will be my Plan A income and I can do what I want, when I want, before I get too old to do it.

[intheways]

In Missoula, you may have to take almost anything you can get.  I went to grad school (biomed sciences) and met my wife (also her hometown) there.  We would have loved to stay, but it was nearly impossible for me to find steady employment.  If you can make it work, it's an awesome place.

You could always work for Adventure Cycling.

Good luck!

[wunnspeed]

I'm a house husband (no kids), bag builder (SpoK Werks) and freelance business English teacher.

[EDMountain]

Filmmaker.

www.ericdanielmetzgar.com

[PhotoJB]

Writer/photographer for destination marketing!


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[Bob Loblaw]

I'm an aerospace/software engineer for a defense contractor. The stability/pay/benefits/hours are all good, and I shouldn't complain as much as I do, but I'm stuck at a desk all day in a windowless building. I'd love to find a job that uses my skills and knowledge, yet allows me to spend more time outside and maybe actually get some personal satisfaction every now and then.