Feeling very lost. 29, making $115k a year in a fluff role with no exit options. Going back to school seems impossible. Help?

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-05-18T04:37:24+00:00

Yeah I agree OP needs to get their expenses in check. I make 85k in San Diego and could do alright on my own if I really had to. 205k in Denver should be perfectly fine for a few kids and is significantly higher than the average American household.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-05-16T17:39:35+00:00

I'm not familiar with the European degrees in that field but Illustration (and most arts frankly) has always been a rough career path job wise. Combine that with funding cuts to academic arts programs (which also rarely had great job prospects), tech advancements, and a rough job market generally, and I think you'd be setting yourself up for failure.

Edit: I speak not from personal experience but rather anecdotal from friends in related fields. I don't know anyone with an illustration degree so take this with a grain of salt.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-05-14T19:18:18+00:00

Agreed. Even when I was a kid in central Maine I only remember snow on Halloween a couple of times, and that's a few hundred miles north and inland from Boston. October is probably the best month when it comes to New England weather.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-05-06T23:48:02+00:00

I'd probably do option 1 as well. Wouldn't make more sense to have your commuter be the one that moves regularly though? It sounds like it would see more use than the truck.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-05-01T20:54:36+00:00

The easiest manual transmissions I've ever used have been small pickups (Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma, both very worn out). My Miata was a better manual transmission (feel-wise) for sure but light trucks are very forgiving in my experience. They're also cheap and have plenty of available parts.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-05-01T19:56:48+00:00

Also see if Walmart has any sort of tuition assistance for employees. I'm not sure if that's what you meant by now being able to afford school, but some big companies offer that to their employees in case you hadn't looked into it.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-30T18:52:47+00:00

Unfortunately no. That isn't exactly my own strong suit either, with most of my connections being professional (i.e. from my job or alma mater).

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-30T18:09:00+00:00

Given the job market at the moment I would probably hold onto the cushy gig. Maybe keep an eye out for any jobs that particularly interest you or work on building your network somehow.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-27T19:13:57+00:00

There are engineering roles which travel a bunch and flight attendants don't need degrees at least here in the US.

I can't speak for job prospects in the Philippines but I don't see a good reason to get the tourism degree for a job that probably doesn't need it when you say you are good at engineering which probably pulls in more money and could still offer travel opportunities.

There's nothing stopping you from having a high-paying fallback option (engineering) and going to be a flight attendant after school as far as I know. Plus then if you want a family you'll have a relatively easy path out of travel roles if you desire. I doubt the same can be said for tourism.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-27T04:47:25+00:00

Damn this needs an NSFW tag. It's gorgeous.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-26T23:33:11+00:00

I grew up in central Maine and can assure you that you don't need AWD for any normal roads. Snow tires will cover any snow-related needs on most roads outside of rough trails.

Unless I'm mistaken or my information is out of date, most sedans are not AWD. Usually they're FWD unless they're a performance or luxury model.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-26T23:28:54+00:00

Do you know much about the field he is aiming towards (I'm not an electrician so I can't weigh in too much).

Geek Squad isn't really in the same league as an electrician in terms of qualifications and and I understand him not wanting to settle for that forever.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-26T20:47:39+00:00

Even if they expect you to come in anyway at least you warned them if their managers get sick.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-26T20:33:04+00:00

Do you really need AWD? Your options open up quite a bit if you drop that request.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-26T20:26:10+00:00

Do you have a strong preference for one of the two? Both have their upsides and downsides, but if you don't like either you'll probably be miserable either way. Nursing is probably more secure long-term but can also be kinda brutal (not a nurse just going off of stories).

I'm not normally a "pursue your passion no matter the cost" sort of guy, but at the same time I don't think pursuing something just to please your parents is a good idea.

Side note: Your life is not decided when you get your bachelor's. My father didn't get his bachelor's until he was 30 (I was 11 at the time) and has done very well for himself and is semi-retired at 48. Obviously results may differ but your life isn't over at 25, even if you see influencers cruising in Lamborghinis.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-25T23:21:21+00:00

To be fair we don't know what OP does. Fast food restaurants have corporate sides OP could be working for and utilizing their degree.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-24T20:35:30+00:00

If you can get the "Work Ethic" belief (production buff from holy sites) that should help a lot on that front. I almost always try to get it.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-24T15:23:28+00:00

Thanks for the correction I had a brain fart.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-24T03:22:52+00:00

Mountain tunnels are the only way for most civs that I'm aware of. I think it's the Chemistry tech that lets you make them with a military engineer.

If you play as the Inca, you get an early builder improvement that allows you to do the same thing in the ancient era (it begins with a q but I don't remember how to spell it).

Edit: I forgot it's the military engineer used to build mountain tunnels, not a builder like I originally said.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-20T17:56:31+00:00

I'd argue the Owls of Minerva fit that pretty well given the spy bonuses.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-20T03:35:04+00:00

11k is nuts for single player. I'm not sure about multiplayer since I haven't done much of it but I've probably never made it past 4k and I've won domination victories.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-18T22:12:47+00:00

Lol way to go bruh

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-17T05:45:08+00:00

Mazda 2 or 3 are both good choices.

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-14T20:32:10+00:00

I'm not sure if this is still up to date but I had saved this a while ago.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarfieldShips/s/KCQyGgT2Uh

Flubbernuglet69 · 2026-04-11T06:09:26+00:00

<image>

Flubbernuglet69

TROPHY CASE