I find that after turning 30, I’ve been easing off the gas for my career a lot more.
It’s not that I want to completely ignore my career, but I’ve just been trying to enjoy my life a little bit more by building up hobbies and spending less time at the computer.
I’m curious to know what percentage overall would you guess that men over 30 are still on the grind and very career driven?
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Here’s an original copy of /u/Calm-Bar-9644’s post (if available):
I find that after turning 30, I’ve been easing off the gas for my career a lot more.
It’s not that I want to completely ignore my career, but I’ve just been trying to enjoy my life a little bit more by building up hobbies and spending less time at the computer.
I’m curious to know what percentage overall would you guess that men over 30 are still on the grind and very career driven?
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I’m the opposite. It seems 33 was my lucky number where I went from “promising kid with potential” to “heavily relied upon and invaluable employee”, which fuels me.
But this is very much so specific to me, my employer, and my job title. Would be very different anywhere else.
You’ll never find that data…
Personally I’ve never wanted to focus on my career, I’d rather enjoy things outside of my job.
My job is a means to an end and that’s it
I am – I want that money so I can retire early, and because my field is changing and I’m likely to get cut out of my tech career. But I’ll delay the inevitable as much as I can and be someone that my company depends on for as long as I can.
Not at all. I was severely burnt out at 35, made some drastic changes to my career including switching companies. Less money but significantly more PTO and less responsibility. Life is way better now.
no. I’m driven by greed
I realized a long time ago that we don’t live in our parents age and being loyal and working hard usually doesn’t get you shit in life.
I work exactly as hard as I need to to keep my job, and change contracts every couple of years to ensure I get a raise.
“Career driven” for me just means taking whatever job will pay me the most while I do just enough labour to meet the job description.
Yes, in that I’m changing my career to one that fits my wants and needs. I’m not willing to slave away in a career I hate just to make money. I’d rather be poor and happy
Yes, throughout my 20’s I was very career driven. Working extra hours, studying at weekends etc.
Turned 30 and had a bit of a health scare and it dawned on me for first time that my life was passing by and all I was really doing was working.
I can’t take the money or assets with me. Since then I’ve focused a lot more on hobbies outside of work.
Not at all, being career driven and pursuing my path in my industry for a decade didn’t really get me much of anywhere, as I climbed ranks and salary, the world transformed around me and I wasn’t any better off than I was making $20/hr 5 years prior.
I work to pay my bills, secure my comfort, and hopefully afford to do the things in life that I aspire to do that do not involve my work whatsoever.
I work to make money to afford my hobbies and interests. It’s a good paying job with a pension that sometimes I really enjoy and sometimes hate lol.
Never have and never will be. I make enough to support my family and put away a little too. Any raises at work are not welcome if they mean I spend more time away from them.
I feel like 30-50 are my highest earning potential years. So no, not coasting right now!
No. I have a poor job for my age, but it pays the bills and funds a simple life.
I have dreams and ambitions, none of them are about climbing the career ladder.
I was very motivated until I reached 120k salary. In my neck of the woods, that’s comfortable. I’m honestly fine with raises hitting at cost of living increases and retiring at a similar level.
One of things that really helps this mindset is spending ~30k a year on daycare. By the end of 2027, I’ll be spending maybe 6k on summer care only and saving probably around an extra 2,000 a month (after setting aside a few hundred each month to absorb the summer costs). It will be the equivalent of feeling like I got a 35-40k raise.
It wasn’t a particular age that changed my mindset, but it was the birth of my kids (when I was in my mid-30s). Once they entered the picture, i was more motivated at work and in my personal finances because I wanted say I did everything I could to provide for them.
And in my mid-30s I had a former leader at work confide in me that most men hit the peak of their careers (in terms of both title and compensation) before age 50. That age is lower among women. That also helped to fuel the fire to develop my career.
When I was in college I was either working or studying from 6 am to 10+ pm, same for the weekends. The idea was to get a degree so I could get a job and make decent money WITHOUT grinding overtime.
In my twenties I still had plenty of energy and while not as much as during college instill grinded a bit so I could get high enough in the ladder so I did not need to go all out during the 8 hours of work.
Once I got there I saw no need to keep on grinding .
Now that I think about it , it’s kind of how I did weight lifting. When I was 60 kgs I grinded and dieted, lifting 5 days a week and eating a lot. Once I got to 90 kgs, I started lifting only once a week just to keep my (useful) muscles and not doing much more exercise.
For both, a lot of things come more natural after the grind, but it’s because of the habits and resilience that built on my 20s.
I look at my career as a means to go enjoy my hobbies and life.
40 hours a week, no over time, liberal amounts of paid holidays and time off, managers that don’t hound me and prefer that we are out in the field and working.
Im mid 30s and ive never been more career driven/motivated. Ive also have the fortune to found myself a company that rewards honest work
Yes.
I’m driven to make more money, faster, while enjoying myself more.
The most important advice I can give you is that if you ease off the gas, do not assume that this means you can trust your employer / coworkers not to stab you in the back. The game doesn’t get any less hard just because you stop playing hard.
Ease off the gas and enjoy life, but don’t let your guard down or you’ll find yourself in a bad position in your 40s.
10 year anniversary at work coming up. I find myself trying to pull back, but it’s hard because with the economy showing a lot of cracks & maybe AI trimming back the work force the last thing I want to do is make myself easily replaceable.
Oh yeah I’m 40 and I’ve acquiesced to not going anywhere, and just focusing on my family and my kids. This is it for my career lol.
I’m still very driven and in fact last year picked up music again on top of things. I recorded a lot in early 20s then gave the dream up thinking I was wasting time. But something hit me last year where I just said F it, I’m going in again now that I have some money and can invest in myself more.
No partner and no kids, so that could be a big factor too.
I have better shit to do than dive into a rat race. I value my time more than money I won’t have the time for anyway.
Nope lol
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I have a career is to support myself and try and retire as soon as possible.
Well as costs continue to outpace raises, I find it’s necessary to keep on the gas. It’s untenable to stay in my position.
Zero career drive here. I have a unique job that fits my lifestyle and I’m lucky to have it but I’m not driven to climb the ladder. My hobbies are where my passions are, work is a means to support them.
I realized it was a scam sold to me by my boomer parents and instead started my own company. Why waste my time waiting on others.
I fluctuate. I have had a lot of career growth since turning 30 (now 37). I had a son at 32, so big motivator. At this point, being a manufacturing Quality Engineer, I’m just used to the bullshit and my personal life has gotten so much more important with my son and my wife. My wife is doing fine career wise as well. So, no, the last year or so it hasn’t been that important.
I try to continue to move forward, but I don’t do the hustle culture thing if that’s what you mean. I have a small business and work 40 hours a week but I don’t need to be a millionaire.
I’m 42. I make very good money. I don’t give a shit about my title or making more money. I want less responsibility. If I could be a school janitor and make what I make, I’d be quite happy.
lol no. I don’t see the point in dedicating your life to a company that would drop you in an instant. I work as little as humanly possible. As long as I have food, shelter, and medical covered, that’s all I need.
36
I figured it out at 24 that work was going to be a paycheck and nothing more. But I was stubborn and didnt out it into practice until a few years ago.
I act my wage. Its a good balance with my supervisor. They know I can do their job but won’t, so the let me flow in cruise control until a special project comes up and then its the only thing I work on.
But I save my mental energy and efforts my my own time. My work doesnt get the best of me, only what they paid for.
I had a bit of a breakdown at 33 (5 years ago) and quit my job. I was managing a team of people, lost myself in the role, forgot I had a wife and a life outside of work, so it was the right thing to do. About 8 months later (while I was still job hunting and working part-time odd jobs), my employer asked me back in a fun new city (one I’ve vacationed to about 3-4 times previously), as a non-manager, but with a raise. No brainer – I took on the job, moved, and have been here since. I have new personal rules where I stop working at dinner time and don’t even read emails on weekends. That’s manager duties haha. Work life balance is essential if you’re going to do this for 30 more years.
I’m trying to be just good enough at what I do to give myself opportunity to move up, out, and get paid more.
Companies don’t tend to be as loyal, and I wanna spend time studying things I care about for me and for people I like. I don’t want to spend the entirety of my free time in study for someone else.
Balance my need for a living and my need to actually live.
To me, it’s not age specifically but our experience in the workforce that causes jade. Time is a great teacher, that there’s no direct correlation to how good you are at your job to security/promotion. If your manager, VP, or SLT either doesn’t jive with you, have poor vision into your work, or just haven’t had a good chance to inteact with you… you don’t get promoted or saved during a layoff.
The entire system is very demoralizing. I put like 60 hours a week into a mid sized AI startup I worked at years ago. Did roles not in my scope. Helped an entire system migration from a system I knew to one I didn’t. Drank like 5 redbulls a day. Managed to save the company tens of thousands by automating bots and querying systems instead of paying for data payloads. and a few rounds later was laid off. I permanently fucked up my health for a handshake and a smile goodbye.
I don’t know many dudes after 40 who had the same willpower as we did in early 30s to become director or VP. I was begging for those titles a few years ago. Now? I’m good, leave me alone.
I switched to freelance at 39 (after getting laid off) and three years later, I now make over twice as much to do literally half the work.
I spent my 30s chasing money and titles and grinding myself into paste to get noticed. I took on the bs nobody else wanted, overdelivered on every task and did all the stuff the successful people in my industry preached.
It was worthless. Overdelivery became expected and I got more bs work dumped on me while others who were objectively mediocre at their jobs but were in with the right people rose ranks effortlessly. When I finally advocated for myself to get better work opportunities, I was promised the world, then conveniently included in the next round of layoffs (a week before my second daughter was born, which is another can of worms).
Now I get better work opportunities, have more fun doing it and get to have dinner with my kids every night. One of the hardest things was learning to relax and enjoy not being busy instead of feeling like I was being lazy and should be working.
I still work hard when the job demands it, but I have more time to pursue hobbies, be a superdad, get stuff done around the house and still end up with better work and more money at the end of the year. It’s the best.
I would say it’s no longer a priority.
I still service it through continuing education/certifications and networking. I still try to take interest in it and grow, etc.
But I now consider it a tool to draw from, more than something to endlessly build. I’m currently in a decent spot and am around the point where extra dollars are not the most important thing.