I’ll try to be short here. I’m 25. And have only very recently figured out what I want to do with my life. I spent the last 7 years or so just happy I was gettin laid and gettin paid. Never cared about highschool, Went to tech school (finished it) and hated it. Landed in a mill humbly making great money for my area but I’m so beyond done with that life. ( swing shift, 12s, you know the whole thing.)
With the rise of Ai and massive lay offs for every good thing I read there’s 5 saying run for your life – in every industry. But on top of that, I don’t live near the hustle and bustle. I’m in Appalachia. There’s no networking here, I don’t know anyone. There’s no seminars, there’s no meetup.com. I feel as if I can’t even make a step forward without uprooting my entire life (I’m not opposed to that at all but I’m just saying)
I say all that though to ask you men if you’ve ever been in a similar situation? I mean I can honestly say I never imagined I’d be interested in doing the things I want to do with my life now and I just feel like I’m late to the party. (I want to work for the government / one of the 3 letter agencies mainly or some kind of contracted intelligence work) It just feels like a person like me isn’t meant to be in that world. But I’m not going to accept it.
Comments
Please do not delete your post after receiving your answer. Consider leaving it up for posterity so that other Redditors can benefit from the wisdom in this thread.
Once your thread has run its course, instead of deleting it, you can simply type “!lock” (without the quotes) as a comment anywhere in your thread to have our Automod lock the thread. That way you won’t be bothered by anymore replies on it, but people can still read it.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
You’re 25. That’s young. But also – you’re not getting any younger. Step it up a notch. Start saving and enrolling a college or university. Those three letter agencies prefer educated employees. Uprooting is the best way forward.
If you’re thinking intelligence and agency work, you’ll want to get started on a degree or the military. Or both.
You’ll have to move. Doesn’t mean you have to lose your connections, but you may need to prioritize for a time.
now is the time to make the big changes in your life. if that means moving to where you can get the shit done, you move to where you can get the shit done.
if you wait, you’re going to get older and nothing is going to change except you’ll be order and regretful. do it now.
is better to make the mistake and learn from it then do not make the mistake and learn that you are regretful and older. and can’t do it anymore.
You won’t get a government/agency job without qualifications. Make that your first priority. Save money, then study.
I wasn’t in the same position as you regarding qualifications, but I know the feeling of wanting more and needing change. Between 20-28 I lived in 9 different cities for work. At 29 I relocated to a different country. That has helped me settle a bit and im 34 now living in the same area.
I had to uproot myself to a place 6 hours down the highway. Hard for me to imagine going back now, but if I one day wanted to (and if my wife let me :P) I could wait till my growing experience gets me a good job back home that isn’t so unstable.
Like you, I was just kinda drifting for a while. Then I got off my ass and applied to vet schools. Got in overseas. So now not only am I a vet but I’m living in an entirely different country.
Because life is short, and a guy just walked in front of a train here the other day. Do not let yourself become that guy, man. Take calculated risks; they will be worth it.
Basically risks have to be taken and sacrifices need to be made if you want to realise your dreams.
I for instance had to give up my comfort and commute a long way in order to work at the place I wanted. It was tough but worth it.
Every successful person that I know purchased a one-way plane ticket somewhere exciting and ambitious at a certain, pivotal moment of their life.
I’m sure successful people exist that didn’t do this.
But I’ve never met one.
If there’s nothing going on where you live then go live somewhere else. I moved to a different country when I was 22 and it absolutely made my life 100% better. If you want to work in intelligence you’ll need a degree if you want to do anything more interesting than janitor. Join the military (to get out of Appalachia as much as anything), apply for engineering or technical roles, then have them sponsor your further education.
late at 25? Dude, you have 50+ years left to live.
Nah, man. You know exactly what you want. It’ll just take some making it happen to make it happen.
You’ve got the makings of a great dude and career. Something about you tells me you’ll figure it out. Even if you have to relocate.
As others have said, take a goof hard look at the military as an option. Look for a job that gets you certifications that Uncle Sam pays for, and ones that get you security clearance to help make you more attractive to those three-letter agencies afterwards.
Worst case: You make some amazing friends along the way, hate the lifestyle, & leave with your certs AND a free college education waiting.
Best case: You make some amazing friends, realize you live the military & make a career out of it, retire & use your experience/connections to get a cushy federal gig afterwards
Get on the dark web learn to hack & do something insane that will have 3 letter agents looking for you. That’s how you stand out from every other college grad.
Went through the exact same thing. Industry I worked was “adequate” but I usually only worked six months per year, was always in debt, no serious relationship, had a half assed idea of what I wanted to do so I went back to school. Slowly. One or two classes per semester. Found a better job that offered travel and much better pay using my current adequate skills and while still attending school. Travel and better pay paid off debts, moved toward a permanent position but I had to uproot and leave the area I grew up in. This is the thing….my life got infinitely better the minute I left. It’s scary but you won’t grow by doing what is comfortable. Consider it.
I was in the same spot at 24. Appalachia as well. Uprooting was the solution. After 10 years in the military, I came back. It was just as bad. I left again after 5 years of trying to make it work. Happily employed now. There are plenty of good jobs if you’re willing to move.
Do not quit your job to learn ai ai is the most overhyped bubble in history, closely followed by the quantum Computing bubble and the nuclear fusion startup bubble
I know Appalachia Um In the sense that I know a lot of people from Appalachia Um I don’t really see why you would want to move to a city ever…. but obviously appalachia’s not exactly a small town either it’s like extremely extremely rural for the most part
I would go somewhere that’s um on the coast In between Georgia and DC because of costs and opportunity
The next Stepping Stone place people go is Ohio so like Cleveland or Cincinnati. Nebraska is also a good stepping stone place where like the income is kind of like increasing a bit because then you could transition from one of those States To Somewhere that’s super expensive like California or New York or I don’t know how expensive Florida is now but yeah
The first thing you’ve got to do is to strip yourself of all the bs ideas you have been told and – due to your lack of knowledge -have believed.
There’s no “rise of AI” (it’s been used as an excuse for layoff, but it is just that, an excuse) and the world works how it has always done: you make a good living by doing stuff that’s in demand, is reasonably difficult so not many want to do it, and you do it. You make a reasonably happy living if you enjoy doing it. You make a seriously good living if, in addition, you build and maintain deep relationships with friends, family and partners.
For example your first job is a crap job which few want to do so it made you a good living. But not a happy one.
That’s the start and end of it.
Keep in mind you often may not know that you like something until you actually know it. With dislikes, it’s easier as they are more intuitive.
Dude you’re only 25. You’ve got SO much time ahead of you. Your best bet for a government job in your desired field is to research an appropriate educational path to that job. Start taking online courses from an accredited school and work your way there. You got this!
I highly recommend moving abroad for at least one year while you’re young. Find a country that isn’t too expensive, you’ll be surprised how far the dollar can go.
You’ll expand your world in ways that you can’t even begin to know. People, points of view, experiences, food, culture. It’ll help you find yourself. Speaking from experience.
MOVE NOW!
GET THE FUCK OUT.
Adapt, be agile.
Like others have said, you’re young and still have options if you have a bit of a savings you could attempt moving to somewhere closer to your life goals and interests, or you could take online courses and seek out remote job opportunities.
I’m sure some of the government agencies you’re interested in have remote roles for data analysts or cyber security.
Just at a quick search I see 30+ government based remote jobs with salaries ranging from $50K to $100K (higher pay ones seem to be medical leaning though). And that’s just with searching for a few minutes for United States government remote jobs, and as a Canadian I’m probably not thinking of some keywords to search that may expand or narrow the results.
If you dive into remote jobs, especially since you mentioned going to some tech school (not sure your degree/major/certification), you could open your search globally. Could even find a part-time remote job to dip your toes in the water a bit to see how it feels.
I honestly feel the networking and hustle bullshit is vastly overrated. It will at best get you an interview, but if you’re not competent (or a nepo baby with a dad too rich to offend), you’re not going to get or keep a decent gig.
I’m in a good position, and got there via picking a niche skillset and making myself a technical expert, then learning how to lead people. Being able to manage a team while also being enough of a subject matter expert to translate corporate objectives to daily tasks intelligently is a valuable skillset in any industry.
That said, you picked the worst decade to try to work for the government since the Civil War. They’re both massively shedding jobs, and making themselves openly the enemy of the populace. Only way to get yourself a worse reputation is to be a cop.
Your age isn’t a factor unless you make it one. I started one career around 24-25, a second around 33, and now at 42 I’m going to be studying this fall part-time for a third that’ll probably come to fruition around 49-50.
For you the big issue is going to be overcoming the self-inertia to do the thing or things you want to do and accepting that you’ll have to make certain trade-offs to there. Then, of course, are the material concerns of how to actually do it, but that just takes a bit of planning and work. It’s the reality of trade-offs that you have to come to terms with – no matter what you decide it’s an act of giving something else up, so what are you prepared to give up?
I also grew up in a small town several hours from the nearest big city. And guess what? I had to move!
Are you me? 😂.
I think most of us start to “get it” around our mid twenties. Join a sports league or curling league specifically for networking. Toastmasters. Plenty of things to do. Start doing freelance simple projects with your skills, and do it for causes you like.
You’ll start a snowball that will eventually become something you never thought you’d be doing, but it’ll be great.
You’re 25. You can become whoever you want when you’re that young
Fellow Appalachian. I got out when I was 23, shortly after getting married to someone who wasn’t from the area. I dreamed of the world beyond the mountains, and she showed it to me. Absolutely no regrets. You can’t climb out of the holler without taking some big steps, and the world sure as shit ain’t gonna come to you.
When you have something you’re genuinely interested in, you go for it… especially at your young age.
Re: AI, people keep saying it’s going to eliminate millions of jobs. OTOH Americans supposedly aren’t having enough babies and the shrinking labor force is going to doom our country. Make up your minds! Will there be too few jobs or too few workers?
25 is a baby. While figuring out your direction is not “life or death” right now it’s nice you are seeing your future is important. Take your time, find your direction and start in that direction. Hangout with people that do what you want to do. You soon will be doing that.