Wait hold on, don't drag me into this. I didn't say nothing! I got my own (quarter) life crisis to deal with lmao

Here are my two cents, you have nine years in signage and graphics and want to get into sales for a possible more lucrative career. Leverage your experience and look into positions in wide-format and graphic sales. IF that doesn't work out in sales, you can return to the graphics industry as a technician.

Companies like, Xerox, HP, Epson, ND Graphics are all hiring account managers. An individual with industry experience, with the ability to communicate well, will do well. This is a low risk move and within a year will be a profitable position.

All the reps i deal with from Xerox/Hp etc are all kids fresh out of school and don't last more than 1 year.

My bad... it was Producer... had in my head that it was you

Whatever you do, do NOT move to Toronto.

Whatever you do, do move to Toronto.

i had 1 or 2 of these types of career shifts in my career. i find the older i get the harder the drastic change.

most recently was 5 years ago, i made a switch but built off of the skillset i already had. current job was equally busy, but the grinding pressure wasn't there, which allowed me to relax and flourish, allowed me to learn more and grow, which kept me engaged

my wife told me that i had a personality change, i seemed happier. that's not to say i didn't enjoy or wasn't happy at my last place, i could have worked until retirement there. but i think the pressure of that job, i took that home with me and it showed. maybe not to me, but to those around me.

if you want to make a switch, i think you should look at what you want to do career wise for the long term and make a choice based on that. switching from graphics to car sales, do you have a plan/goals for the auto industry for the next 5 years, 10 years?

what are your interests? what do your strengths?

i'd love to get a red seal, but with my office hands i'd lose many fingers :lol
so I know my strength is best on a computer or table with a set of drawings and found my place there.

Removed.

Your boss is a fucking dickbag, I know that much.

What kind of manager says “stop being yourself” to their employees… and no rapport just because they’re suppliers? Holy fuck reading that was hard. I guess you’re used to it but I’d punch the motherfucker out if he talked to me like that every day.

Especially the girlfriend comment / insinuation talk about unnecessary.

your boss is most likely not on RS but not sure if it's a good idea to post that stuff on public sites

same reason I didn't post about my life in the dealerships the last 27 years.

Try to get into a translink, skytrain, city, govt. Good hours, benefits, pension, you get to take breaks. Way better work/life balance. The downsides I see with these slack jobs, you may be bored out of your mind and the pay won't be as good as a top dealer hustler.

I'm a turnip

:derp:

I did a trade with a mortgage and what not. First year is literally being paid min wage to work out. You can always take out student loans (no interest right now) and there are grants available too.

Since you said you have a decent amount saved up, why not try it out? Send call around and see if any companies are needing apprentices

So...

1: You should probably delete that photo, at most places that's grounds for termination.
2: Your boss is a dick.
3: You're not unhappy with signage or the actual work that you do, you're unhappy with your workPLACE. Maybe you're not passionate about signage, but to me the only reason you're asking this question in the first place isn't because you're looking for a career change, you're looking for reinforcement to leaving what is pretty clearly a shitty place to work, under the guise of a career change.

I would drop the car sales thing entirely, because to me it honestly sounds like it's the first job that came to your mind, not because you're actually interested in it. If you start at a dealership and the GM there is also a bag of dicks, then what - will you want to be a fireman next?

As a complete stranger, I 100% agree you should leave your workplace now (on good terms, which is why you should delete that photo). But leverage your experience and hard/soft skills to advance your current path while minimizing risk to your family. Look for actual jobs in your field.

tl;dr - do some soul searching, IMO you don't need a new career. You just need a new job, but are afraid.

Few things I wanted to go over:

Have you ever considered moving towards a cheaper cost of living area (either outside vancouver) or downsizing to a 2 bedroom apartment to reduce mortgaged amount. If you do not see that as an option, have you considered renting out a section of the home or single rooms?

I dont know what it's like being a mom nor wife, but I feel a lot of things can be taught to your kids, especially if the biggest kid is around 10/11. Whether it be laundry, washing dishes or house keeping. I know groceries can now be bought and carted online and picked up in store to reduce physical labour.

Also, since during morning the kids are at school that means after work/school hours, both yourself and your wife are at home. If you are able to, do you think you are able to help out with her workload after work hours? This could enable her to work during morning hours like yourself, where hours after work are shared parenting responsibilities when kids are home.

I also know there are a lot of work from home jobs nowadays, but whether they have it for entry roles I am unsure, but that could be an option for your wife. It could also be an option for yourself as well. It would allow you to allocate some of your wife's workload towards yourself during work hours. Hence enabling more ability for your wife to work.

I do get that your boss is a dick, but it also goes a long way when acting professional at a workplace ie. Using less slangs and proper grammer when replying in a professional work setting. The way people respond in a professional manner reflects themselves in a better light (not saying you are a bad worker, but it builds a picture)

Get to drive a million dollar company vehicle, and your own corner office with an ever changing view.

:lawl:

-agree on deleting screen
-decepticon icon but talks about being professional :lol
-seems to have an older generation mentality of sales, or primitive; sales - much like anything else in life, is all about relationships, you won't get far from used and abused; -
-i agree an important question is are you thinking of leaving your job b/c of him? if he didn't exist, would you be OK? i remember reading something on linkedin that ppl don't leave jobs, they leave toxic environments/bosses
-re: gov jobs, i would say many positions (at least higher tier) are not necessarily 'slack'. you may have more time to breath & think (or not), but you will also have more red tape and government policies to go through. a 5min process in private may take 5 days in gov... also you'll need to see what skills are transferable for the good positions. something to consider. i agree private you will make more, but gov can be a rewarding career path as well, especially if you've spent time in private and know how the private sector works.

hope whatever you decide works out for you, any options of lateral or inter-dept change so that you don't answer to him? if so would that make your life a bit easier?

Seems toxic.

I find most smaller businesses are very vested in this old school way squeezing profits from their vendors / suppliers. That being said, with that decepticon avatar, may i deduce that this guy probably inherited this business from his parents? likely 30-40 years of age as thats a generational thing.

I find these type of guys most annoying. Reminds me of this guy from that movie Horrible Bosses 2

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...2NQ@@._V1_.jpg

For the safety and security of your family, plz delete that post (mods maybe help him out on this so its done asap?)

p.s. wtf kinda operating system are you on!? how old is that computer !?!?!??! looks like windows NT or XP here

I'll chime in with my two cents. Be prepared for a long ramble so my apologies in advance.

Some background for context: I am in a managerial position with nine direct reports spread geographically throughout Ontario and Quebec but responsible for a customer base primarily in Canada but also globally. I have worn many hats including working in a front line role/support, technical, financial, and now managerial.

I don't know the circumstances behind your online chat with your manager, but based on only what I am reading, my take it that these are the type of discussions to be had over a video conference or phone call, or in person. He's providing you some feedback but it doesn't look very constructive or helpful, which is probably one of the reasons why you are starting to become unhappy, or at least it gives the impression he's being a jerk, which may or may not be intentional.

I won't dig into the line-by-line discussion you had with your manager but yes, "yo, what's up" with your supplier is not something I would find professional with my team. I had a younger team member exhibiting this behaviour with a vendor and I had to stamp it out because that's when the vendor started to begin to take advantage of him which in turn impacted his work. When we turned that around, the dynamic changed where it became a balance of power between us and the vendor and that's when things came back to become a two-way street.

In any case, I can only surmise that your aren't necessarily unhappy with your work, but perhaps leadership is lacking at your work place and it may be holding you back. I'll go out of my way to say that you've become comfortable in your role (nothing wrong with that because this is natural) but perhaps your instincts are telling you it's time for a challenge.

I think it's evident that you love and care about your family so you want to do what's best for them, but also you need to look out for yourself. You've built up enough skills in the industry, both hard and soft skills to make a lateral move or a move into a related industry. A lot of people in this thread have provided some really good insight and suggestions (i.e. Wormiez) and it's up to you to polish yourself up and start applying.

I went through this phase myself a year or two ago where I felt like it was time for me to move out of my industry and chase the next big title and/or more money. I landed a number of interviews and some lucrative offers, but only to realize I was going to be working with managers similar to the example you provided. Was the grass going to be greener on the other side? No. Not always. Had I left, I'd have to build up all that political, social, industry capital all over again. Ultimately, I stayed after thinking about my situation in that I am well challenged, well compensated, and I have great bosses and an amazing team. My employer has taken good care of me and I learned what my worth was by going through this process.

A few immediate suggestions/action items for you:
1. As others suggested, delete the image as soon as possible. You should not risk your professional reputation and job. Vancouver is a very small place.
2. Take the opportunity to speak to your manager on some development opportunities and coaching sessions on what he expects of you. It's on you to take the initiative to understand where he's coming from and this may be his managerial style which we, as professionals, have to adapt to
3. Consider taking a continuing education course or program in the evening at any college or university (college being cheaper and likely just as good) I find that going to school every few years is a good for professional development. Something as simple as business writing or business communications is a good start to curb your professional behaviour with your vendors :)

Hope this helps!

Suggestion is to update resume and apply for other opportunities. If you get interviews that is great, if not you still can fall back on this stable paying job you currently have. No harming in applying for other opportunities, just need to make that initial step of faith. Obviously don't just take whatever for the sake of leaving, as you still have to pay bills and provide for family. Eg. If there is a better opportunity or even a parallel move, I'd jump on it.

I was in similar boat as OP couple years ago, comfortable stable job. Could stayed there my entire career. I had most things, like show up late, take very long lunch breaks (2-3 hours), good benefits etc. Eventually left because management wasn't fair in compensating me when I was the top performing employee on the team. Would save the company easy $100k a year, they would give me $0 of that. So I just said, fuck this and found a better job.

sigh, this is close to my heart because i've had the same feelings. i make about 55k a year, really good pension and benefits though, can't really move up but i'm in my early 40's, not sure if i want an extreme job change. and my 1br condo is paid off, can't afford to upgrade to a house though, have a daily car and a sports car both paid off too but can't afford to track it. just try to be happy with what you have. it's sort of a factor why me and my wife not really have kids, i know she wants a kid though. (she does have a job too) would having a kid make us happy? i know lots of ppl say it's worth it, but the $ and stress at this point in my life, i just can't bother. can't really afford to travel to europe etc either. err, i actually can probably afford to travel but saving $ for the case if we need to upgrade to a house or have kids. plus with cost of living these days yikes. i've thought of doing a side job of driving for uber or food delivery like skip, anyone have experience? is it ok $? anyways, i'm all over the place with my rambling

Just an FYI, GS8's quoted message also has the image within.

If your house and cars are paid off where’s your money going to? That sounds concerning if you don’t have any extra despite those massive expenses already discounted from your life.

You’re jsut waiting to die from this description, need to figure where your money is going and make changes to experience/enjoy things.

Budgets.