One man's trash is another man's treasure, and all that stuff. I did try the desk job life. I started out of university doing a pretty good paying job from home while getting my master's degree. Got the degree and moved to another job that even paid a bit more, a hybrid role. A great path for building wealth but at what cost? The everyday life is a slog. Sit at a computer and run SQL queries for hours, pull out an iPad to test our mobile app and fill a spreadsheet with user interface bugs, attend a meeting with some annoying ladies from the merchandising department yapping about how "we need new functionalityyy". Lunch break rolls around and I have to choose between hanging out with normies at Buffalo Wild Wings who won't stop talking about football, or hanging out with the Indians in the lunchroom who I can only understand like 40%. I never really fit in or felt satisfied, and it wasn't just my office, it's like this everywhere. Fact was that my happiness level was really low no matter what I did.
One thing about working in a corporate role, especially in IT, is that you have to be interested in what you do if you want to advance. IT guys are generally interested in computers. I thought I was, but I'm not really. When I went home I wanted to study Japanese, not learn database architecture schemas. I am a bit non-NT and have to focus on what "gets me going". What gets me going is learning languages, communicating with people, teaching, and helping people learn softer concepts. To my advantage, another one of my obsessions is dating and women, which is why I enjoy "game" and post so much on this forum.
Yes, no work is "easy" and at the end of the day it's still work. I have no illusions about living an "easy life" or shirking my responsibilities. But there is a difference in feeling between "that was a hard day, but I worked hard and did what I do best" ... versus the pin-pricking frustration of "what am I doing here... every second is meaningless". You can tell a lot by how fast the clock seems to move while you're working.
My ideal goal for the future would be to return to an office environment, but one where my main responsibilities involve speaking multiple languages, working with international clients, consulting on international business or cross-cultural communication, and training. This could be in the form of something like a corporate language trainer, or even something like working at a business like Duolingo that combines IT concepts with language learning. A very lofty goal would be developing an English-learning SaaS on my own because I have some big ideas about the best ways to learn English, and the development skills to make it a reality. Moving to China and doing TEFL is an unorthodox path for achieving this, but man, I'm getting older. I can't just sit around and hope for the future anymore. I need to go do what I love and figure out the rest as I go along.
Yes, I make no mistake in realizing I'm very privileged to be where I am and I always remember where I came from. I'm lucky to even have the choice to throw away my career and do something else. I have no debt, and a little bit of savings. Can't say the same for others who might need to work for the highest bidder even if they hate it.
A rambling and scatterbrained post for sure, but maybe that's because I don't fully understand myself or my situation either.
