On one hand I can't help but wonder if the last few years of chasing that coaching dream were a total waste. It moved us across the country, and left us in a pretty good financial hole, but at the same time it has saved us from another financial hole. Had we not made that move we would likely still be sitting on a condo that we owed more than we could sell it. While the other debt hurts, we dodged a pretty big one in the housing collapse. We also would probably not be in a situation where the need for a change was so obvious.
That brings us to where we are. I'm in a job that isn't paying enough to really make it. I don't have any realistic prospects without getting more education. And, while it feels good to have a job after not being able to find a job, I would really like to do something else.
So what does a 38 year old with a near-useless degree do?
I could get more schooling and teach high school Biology and Health/PE. It wouldn't be that much schooling, but I am wary of a career path that doesn't pay a whole lot, state budget problems are calling for cutting benefits, and new teachers don't have a whole lot of initial stability. The time off in the summer would be nice, but the rest is a whole lot of uncertainty. I could coach, but it wouldn't be the coaching I would want to do. It's a relatively quick solution, but it is almost a lateral move rather than an improvement.
I could go to school for some other degree that might make me more employable as a coach. Psychology is something that interests me, and more particularly sports psychology. The UofA vs Duke tournament game this last week was fascinating from a sports psych perspective. It would be really interesting, but it would ultimately be another hard to use degree that wouldn't necessarily help me get a job. I could always go on to be a shrink, but I think that would drive me crazy.
Another thought I have toyed with is starting a game store. Tucson has a game store, but I think the location stinks, it is way far away, I didn't get a good vibe from stopping by there, and I kind of felt like I was stepping into the comic book store from the Simpsons. I love board games, so this seems like it would be a great idea. Two things really turned me off. One was the economy. This is not a good time to start a business that lives and dies on getting people to part with discretionary income. The other is capitol. I have none. It would be a really tough road to success without any capitol to start with. I would need quite a bit to get the starting inventory levels anywhere near where they would need to be to succeed. I would need to do a ton of business to break even, and I don't even know how much it would cost to lease a property that would give me what I need, so it didn't figure heavily. I would need to do a ton of business without paying rent. That makes it a "No".
That really leaves me with the option of going back to school to learn something completely different. The thing everyone thought I would do going out of high school was programming. It's in my blood, but I never gave it any serious thought. That all changed with the increasingly obvious need for change and a few repeated comments from friends of "why aren't you a developer?" After replying to one of those comments with why I'm not a developer, the response indicated to me that I'm closer than I thought. So I'm now looking at what it would take to flip that switch and go back to school to learn how to write code. I figure I can still apply for coaching positions as they are posted, but this will give me something that is a viable plan B, even though it is more likely plan A.
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