Settle down or no? 23 years old.
I'm from Europe and I graduated this summer. I'm extremely confident that I can get some good jobs (not high-finance), but the idea of settling down is somewhat depressing, so I'm planning to go to the US with a J-1 visa and then do go for 1 or 2 years in Australia. After that, I may come again to Europe and decide what to do.
The dilemma is mostly choosing between starting now my career and building my expertise (Real Estate), or either, to go abroad and do some blue-collar jobs to get to see new places, meet new people, explore other cultures, - and somewhat cliche - get to understand what I really want out from life.
On a 40 years career span, how important are those first 2 or 3 years which I may lose to go and do some random things?
This is somewhat of life vs. career question, so would appreciate it if senior folks could come up with some wisdom. And obviously, I'm asking it in WSO because I'm also career-wise and would want to be successful down the road (because the Reddit carpe diem advice doesn't precisely resonate with me).
Hi Prospect in IB-M&A, whoops, looks like nobody chimed in here.... maybe one of these discussions below is relevant:
More suggestions...
Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.
A few key considerations are culture and WLB. If you have great culture and great WLB (~40h per week) you likely face a trade-off in compensation but can use that time to maximise your interests and hobbies and still travel occasionally. Alternatively if you have great culture and poor WLB (~80h+ per week) you'll need to be more selective in your pursuits outside of work but can try other hobbies that you might not otherwise afford working less (all else being equal).
The key thread between both is having a good culture - whatever that means for you, because it will make the hours you spend working infinitely more tolerable than working with people you don't get along with. My point, while not answering your entire question, is that not every decision or perspective is black and white. Starting a job =/= settling down, you could for instance work a few years to get that perspective and still travel.
If you want a more complete answer, a few questions: what do you consider a good job, what is your idea of settling down, and what within Real Estate are you intending to do, and what do you consider a blue-collar job.
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