When you’re in your twenties, fresh out of uni, your doors are limitless. You’re young, you likely have few responsibilities for anyone other than yourself, and there’s time to make plenty of mistakes and change your career path if necessary.

Once you get a little older, many of those doors seem to shut. You get a family, a house, and all the financial responsibilities which come with those things.

You learn what it truly is to be an adult because people depend on you; your job is no longer something you do for the sake of your own progression. You work because you need money to pay the bills and look after the people you love.

It’s likely, then, that the question of whether you could start working in a brand new industry later in life is something you rarely consider if ever at all. You have to think of other people before yourself even if you hate your current job.

You’re not thinking about career progression or taking risks anymore; you want your safe, comfy job role that keeps income flowing steadily. That’s the prevailing mindset among most people once they get beyond their twenties or thirties, but that doesn’t mean it’s rational.

Changing industry doesn’t have to be dangerous. Here are some ways in which you could keep your life intact but start to dip your toes slowly into a brand new career path.

Learn again.

You might be put off the idea of training yourself in a brand new industry because it’s time-consuming. However, you have spare time because everybody has at least some spare time. As with all things in life, you need to weigh up the pros and cons.

You need to think about how badly you want to move on from your current job to something more fulfilling. Do you want to spend the weekend catching up on Netflix shows, or do you want to learn about web development because it’s always intrigued you?

Think about how you want to spend your time because you might find that you’re not too busy to take a course at college or a night class to learn about something; you don’t have to quit your current job to do it.

Job hunt.

Now it’s time for the fun part: searching for jobs. You might have to start on the bottom rung, but if you’re motivated then you’ll climb the ladder quickly. It’s better to be progressing to better positions within an industry because it excites you rather than standing still in the same role for years because it bores you.

You could look into sites such as Alexander Daniels Recruitment Agency because some resources are better than others for finding job opportunities; search engines show you vacancies, but recruitment sites can offer advice on improving your interviewing technique along with your resume. It’s about the whole package.

Perhaps you’ve venturing into a brand new industry, but you picked up skills from your old one, whether you realize it or not. Utilize your talents in your resume; twist your experience to make it work.

Be sure that it’s the right decision.

Before you commit to the career change, think about what it is that you don’t like about your current role. You don’t want to end up in the same position in a new career. If you think you just need to try harder to reach for a promotion and a job with less repetitive work then do it. The change is only worth the hassle if it’ll make you happier.

This post has been contributed by Ryan Gatt, it may contain affiliate links.