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I'm 48, but I remember my quarter-life crisis pretty well. Long story short, I sort of realized I was getting tired of the 8 - 10 hr a day coding job and felt the need to do other things, specifically go to film school. But I did not have a definitive sense of that - it was a bit of a tug of war feeling. After dithering a bit, I decided to stick around at my job as a new project had started - I ended up being architect for a satellite link control system for the DoD. It was a hellacious project, a bit stressful, but it actually got into the field (unlike a lot of DoD projects) and was of some use to the troops [the bureaucrats did not want it because it put them out of a job, aka less paperwork]. So in terms of life achievements, I actually did something... After that, I went to grad school (again, asked myself: film school?), got my MSc, then after really getting tired of the BS in IT after another couple of years (right before the 1st Internet bubble popped), I finally ran off to film school. It only ended up being a bit of a vacation, however; if I'd gone when I was 26, I'd probably be in the film industry. Or maybe not... Anyways, the therapist I was seeing when I was 30 (before I went to film school, trying to figure out the depression, dissatisfaction with life etc) told me something quite useful - part of the unconscious reasons for choosing a particular career path are tied to your emotional needs at that particular point in your life. I wish I'd stuck it out with the trying to do film related stuff after going to school, but for a lot of reasons, life got in the way (got too used to the easy money...) The BS in the film industry is much like and worse than the BS in IT... What you say in your writeup struck me - the need to communicate with others. So I suspect you are in the same general place as me when I was 26. That I took as a sign something emotional and unconscious is going on. You are young enough to try something different, if only for a few years, and it won't affect your life path as much compared to being over 30 and still having the same fundamental difficulties (which you do not want, believe me) If the reality of being a ski instructor turns out to not be exactly what you need, you will still have gotten useful information about what you actually might need, even if it turns out you just needed a break from IT for a bit. So my advice is to go for it, assuming you don't have any other pressing responsibilities that insist you ought to stay in IT. |