Career Help and Advice

by arguing with everyone that I didn't need to quit work because of my disability, I just needed to have at least 2 days remote work towards the end of the week to recover from the first of the week. I have fibro and lupus and a back so screwed up the docs won't even do anymore surgery on it. I've had one hip replaced, and the other is needing it soon.

I wasn't ready to quit, either. I loved my job. I took administered our Sharepoint site, our network drive, and made Word into Web speak for Blackboard. Also created tests, etc... just about anything you could do with Blackboard, I did it and taught it to other departments. I managed 8 courses within DoD Army colleges (multiple colleges). The template I created allowed us to get ALL courses, including both distance learning, distance learning facilitated, and local courses back online with a morning's worth of work; the template is still used today.

I wrote an SOP for my position, concentrating only on the distance learning and facilitate distance learning. Most weekends saw me working at home (many times on my own dime). And, whether I worked at home or at the office, I was always and only on WiFi. IOW, there was no reason my "butt" had to be in a seat (as one dept manager told me). In fact, the work faster and more efficiently when I was working on my own high speed internet system.

But when my direct supervisor retired, the guy who moved up to take his place didn't like "confrontation" and would stand up for his people (at least, not un females). The department manager was so old school, he believed anyone working remote was screwing off, no matter how they recorded their time, had their camera on the whole time, etc. The real kicker -- less that a year and a half after I retired, everyonewas working remote because of Covid!

At least I had enough time in grade I could retire from the DoD with a (very) small annuity, and because I was 62, I could start Social Security early. Didn't come anywhere near what I was making, of course. But we figured as long as we could pay the bills and keep ourselves and the cats in food, we were good.

I passed on a bigger SS check now, figuring I'd probably at last that amount of money, anyway. With their actuaries, I figure it'd all even out in the end. It was a gamble, but one that I really didn't have a choice with.

I've looked for a job, and like you, I get a lot of initial attention but then nothing. One of the ones where I DID get more attention turned out to be a scam, so watch out for those. It so disheartened me, I basically stopped looking at the online job selections, mainly because the one I knew WAS a scam was never taken down, even after I informed the company hosting it. It just seemed to be the whole thing was a scam at that point.

My hubby's growing older (in all ways) faster than me, so a good portion of my time is either taking care of him or getting us out of messes he's unwittingly put us in. This last one was an "FBI" gift card scam and cleaned out our checking and savings. So, I've got my hands full enough here at home right now! ;0

I'd still like to work, tho... especially in the world of online learning... before the technology gets too far ahead of where it was when I quit. Blackboard is even going AI, which is going to be interesting in checking for cheating in essays, etc., IMO. I do try to keep up, just in case. Once I get our finances straightened out again, my next "project" is redoing my website. I love the design I created for it, but it's not easily translatable to smaller devices like a phone. So, it needs to be upgraded. But it's a huge site because it's a resource site. So that should keep me busy for quite a while, in and of itself! I do think I'll keep this current version in a separate directory on the webhost, just to show it off when I want. Meanwhile, life goes on... and I always have the task of piles of cat hair to clean up around the floors! (LOL)

Good luck to you! I love the ideas of making your own business. I'm a candelar, and have been thinking of doing the craft shows around town. Beginning to teach myself how to make soaps and lotions, as well. I used to do the starving artists shows back in the day and absolutely loved them! In fact, I financed a good portion of divorce with my craftwork back then! You just never know what ideas you'll come up with!

My biggest advice, based on troubles I have in my own life, is to set a schedule for yourself and try to adhere to something akin to a routine. My disability sometimes doesn't let me, but I do try as often as I can. When I do it, my whole self feels much better! Good luck!