I’m Taking A 55% Pay Cut to Accept My Next Role: Here’s Why I’m Happy About It

From an $80k annual salary to making less than $20/hr has never felt so rewarding.

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

Let’s Talk About Limiting Beliefs

When I first got my role that eventually developed into my $80k salaried position, I was beyond ecstatic.

I graduated law school in 2019, but after school I had exclusively worked in restaurants. I knew when I graduated that I didn’t want to be involved in the legal field in any way, shape, or form, and food was what I knew and loved.

So in January of 2020 I moved across the country to start my journey as a Culinary Voyager at Marriott International. And that was a life changing experience that I would have gladly stuck to had I not been furloughed due to COVID-19.

I spent the next year scrambling to make ends meet in various serving, bartending, and line cook positions, at one point working 90 hours a week between three jobs.

Having to work so hard for such little pay, as I had done my whole life and as my blue-collar parents did for their whole lives, really imprinted a mental block that I would never make more than the $18/hr I was making as a cook at a local college.

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Then, in March of 2021, a recruiter reached out to me about an overnight entry role in tech. I quickly went through the interview and onboarding process and found myself making $22/hr, the most money I had ever made aside from the two months I held the Culinary Voyager position.

By July I had earned a promotion to a team lead, and October 1st I was hired on to the company in a full-time salaried role.

Why Leave?

I don’t like spreading negative energy, so here’s just a couple of quick reasons:

1. The office politics were a little too much for my neurodivergent brain to handle, and I was starting to view the workplace as toxic which was burning me out big time;
2. I didn’t feel like my role was fulfilling or having a positive impact on the world (which is really important to me at this point in my life); and
3. I was moving to another state in three months, and I had saved enough money to live on between when I resigned and my move.

The money was great, but it wasn’t worth my mental well being.

Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash

So, What’s the New Job?

After spending these last three months contemplating and lightly job searching (I would spend a few minutes a day on LinkedIn or other job boards checking out roles), I intuitively felt like a traditional office role wasn’t going to be my next step in life.

I knew I wanted to do something that had a physical and lifelong impact on peoples’ lives.

Thursday, I signed my offer letter to start my journey as a Behavioral Technician (BT) at a center that helps autistic children ages 8 and younger.

I know ABA therapy gets a lot of flack, but trust me when I say that this center is *amazing* when it comes to making sure these kiddos are supported in all the right ways. They see stims as functional and refuse to redirect any non-harmful stims (i.e. physically hurting themselves or others).

I was absolutely blown away when I toured the center during my interview, not only because of how the kids were treated but because of how the BTs helped each other and created such a warm and welcoming team environment.

The center feels like a 180 of the job I was just at:

• Fulfilling work
• Team oriented
• A very transparent career path including when to expect promotions and pay raises
• Pretty darn good benefits
• Celebrates neurodivergency

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

But What About the Money?

It’s true that this job after taxes, even at full-time, is not going to be enough money to pay my monthly bills.

I live in a high-cost of living city (my half of rent is about $1200), have almost $200k in total debt (most of it is student, even with half-ride scholarships to both my undergrad and my law school), and am still paying off my car.

But to me, the impact that I make during my 40 hour work week is way more important than what my hourly wage is.

Aside from that, during these last three months I’ve put several foundations in place for various side hustles. I’ve started an Etsy shop, which, as of this moment, is $4 in revenue shy of being a four-figure shop within its first three months of being open. I plan on continuing to work on the shop even after I’ve started my full-time job so that it can eventually be a source of passive income for me.

Additionally, I’ve applied to several content mills and have built up a writing portfolio to *hopefully soon* start freelance writing. Even if I’m only making 1c per word, I’ll happily write into the night to be able to afford the last few hundred dollars I’ll need to ensure everything is settled with me financially.

Last, but not least, ya girl has Uber Eats. My tried and true side-hustle go-to whenever I need some extra cash. I’ve been driving for Uber whenever I need to for *years* and, especially where I live, I can always find work and money when I need it.

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I’d also really appreciate it if you could give me a follow! I’m about halfway to 100 followers, and I will be grateful to add the Medium Partner Program to my list of side-hustles / income streams, especially in these first few months in my new role while I’ll be making $17.50/hr. I know the Partner Program doesn’t pay much to start, but it *does* stack over time!

Thanks for reading!