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Anyone ever swap careers from Corporate to Non-Profit or some other Cause: If so, how?

I worked in the food industry for a while before returning back to school to get a degree in tech thinking it would be my path to a better life. While at first I thought where my career was taking me provided exactly that, I'm absolutely miserable working a corporate job in tech. I've seen several layoffs, AI is taking over, and the perpetual culture of playing several roles is killing me. I'm tired of being overworked, stressed, and given more and more responsibility for such trivial matters as selling more of X thing. This is not what I want to do for the rest of my life and I would way rather put in this type of effort for something worthwhile even if it means making less money.

The problem is I am so overwhelmed that it is hard to think of a way to change this. I keep saying I want to bring my experience to a non-profit or charitable cause, but I am unsure on how I can bring my tech/project management background to such a cause or how to sell myself in that way. I'm also debating going to get my masters to be more aligned with this change in career, but it's a similar case of not knowing the best route. For anyone out there who has made this type of career change regardless if it was in tech, I would appreciate any wisdom shared.

3 comments
  • I did in my late 20s after working in IT. I didn't know what I wanted and wasn't planning on non-profit or anything as such, but jumped ship, did a range of random things before spending some time volunteering (at something that was not in any way IT related)- which was the critical thing. That put me in a spot to A) show some commitment and B) get some training as it was offered. A paid post followed in due course after that.

    That is a very simplified version, but volunteering was definitely the critical element for me.

    Since then, I met plenty of other people who made the jump. Some simply moved with their existing skills to an equivalent role in a charity - and there are plenty that need project management skills - whilst others have taken the same route as me and spent some time volunteering.

    Volunteering means you don't get paid for some time, of course, so you have to either live off savings and/or find a live-in role and/or work part-time or something and you probably need to downsize one way or another, but people find a way and make it work.

    Of course once you are in a role with your chosen cause, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will be away from being overworked, stressed and given more and more responsibility. It is a trope that working for a charity means that you don't do it for the money and you work waaay longer than the official hours say.

    Certainly my role at the moment, with a large charity, is the most demanding I have ever had and there is basically nothing left at the end of the month for savings: I am just keeping afloat. For all that though, there is no way at all that I would go back to a for-profit role, and I have never looked back for a moment. The culture is totally different and leagues better.

  • find a better IT job, find a better company. they are not all like you mentioned. Move out of your state. also get out of debt and have a nest egg of money so you do not have to rely on a shitty job, and be picky. See Dave Ramsy

  • I've been in the nonprofit/ngo world for decades now, tech, tech-oriented or tech-adjacent. I started my career in corporate and let me tell you I did truly hate it beyond my ability to express. I could have found a better job in for-profit but the fundamentals would be the same and I believe for me, at best I would have tolerated it. Would I go to work each day saying to myself this is all worth because I am helping others have better lives?

    My transition to nonprofit was one of an accidental, happy discovery but that came at a cost of some personal dramatic, and traumatic events which I will not bore you with. I never knew you could work for a nonprofit, or even what a nonprofit was. So few things:

    1. There are all kind of nonprofit, micro to huge. KaIser permanente ($100B/yr) is a nonprofit. The all volunteer org down the street that distributes sanitation packs to homeless may be a nonprofit. Some churches are nonprofits.
    2. Some nonprofits are incredibly well run and others are horrendously disorganized. Generally, larger orgs are better run but more corporate in style and smaller ones less so, but that is not always true.
    3. A career in the nonprofit world is entirely possible. It is usually true that pay is less than corporate but that is not always true even. If you value money over all other factors, then you are probably barking up the wrong tree. If being a happy person is higher up on your list, nonprofit is worth considering.
    4. "The great thing about nonprofits is that you don't have to worry about money!" hahahahaaaa hhaa cries. Most nonprofits deal with an unending battle for funding in one way or the other. It doesn't mean they are necessarily unstable as orgs but funding comes and funding goes and most manage funding from multiple sources. For those involved with that aspect, it is a constant consideration.

    As far as how to make the jump by far the best thing you can do is you have the capacity, is to volunteer at one that has a mission that appeals to you. It doesn't matter what you do as a volunteer. Go and see how it feels to you. What are the people like? What do you think of the work of the org? Caring about the org and its mission is the thing to assess first. Then see what opportunities there are. Many nonprofit are network oriented, so as you get to know them and they get to know you, doors may open that others are not even aware of.

    idealist.org and workforgood.org and I am sure there are many other places to explore.