I'm a UX/UI Designer. 37 years old and working for a company that I'm not all that enthusiastic about. Definitely not my dream company but the pay is good to decent ($100K including a bonus of $3K). My tasks are very simple and not challenging at all. While some might find this a great scenario, I had a bit of wake up call this past month when I our company made some big cuts.
Our department director was let go after 18 years with the company for not being a "big picture/global thinking guy". I didn't really disagree with the move in some ways. We also removed a few people who were low performers and just had outdated skill sets. I've survived four company cuts.
This got me thinking a lot about where I'm headed in my career and I've become pretty concerned.
I'm not in management, not a director, but definitely not a junior level worker. A management path is not an option because they continue to hire people outside of our company to manage teams, meanwhile never grooming the current employees for these positions. This is frustrating.
But I do feel that due to my age that I might be considered a disposable and that they can hire talent younger than me and pay them less and probably get some similar results. Soon, I'll be the old guy on my team who just isn't up on trends and feeling embarrassed that I never made it into management.
I've thought about a career change where I'm not some grunt worker, but with a two-year old son and wife and a mortgage, I feel like it's a bad decision.
What good careers are out there for guys in their 40's? Pharm sales? Real Estate?