[charliepark]

I'd be curious to know your thoughts on the Foreign Service as a post-child career. My wife and I were young when we had kids, and will be empty nesting at 46. I took the sample FSO exam online this summer and actually loved it, enough that I'm wondering about diplomacy as a second career. Did you encounter anyone in that scenario when you were younger? Did they seem happy?

[brynx97]

A significant portion of the FS are second or third career people. I put people into a few different buckets which covers almost all of the FS. (1) Joined straight out of graduate school (2) join after a military career (3) join in their mid/late 40's for a second career.

I do not have kids, but on our mid-career tour now. Generally speaking, everyone enjoys the lifestyle provided by the FS, but it is not for everyone. There are always a few people who do nothing but complain and try to make everyone else miserable. These folks often have kids, and they try too hard to replicate the US suburban lifestyle in foreign countries. They set themselves up for failure and cannot adjust.

Taking the FS exam is step 1 of many, although if you are trying to join as an IT professional, it's much easier because of how desperate they are to fill IT positions. The generalist positions, especially political and economic, probably have less than 1-2% success rate after passing the FS exam.

[TMWNN]

>A significant portion of the FS are second or third career people.

Such as the head of the American Institute in Taiwan (the de facto embassy), Brent Christensen (https://www.ait.org.tw/offices/taipei/director-christensen/), who has a dental degree.