I’m near Wilshire/Vermont and my partner and I are looking to take the train, eat good and get drunk today. Rail only please.
Anyone got good recommendations?
Curious to hear other people's stories, because I'm currently living one.
I am a transportation engineer with 6 YOE. I moved across the country for what looked like a great opportunity — an Assistant PM role at a large county transportation agency, with a pay bump, better hours, and less chaos than my previous job. On paper, it checked every box.
Seven months in and I'm going out of my mind with boredom. The work is slow, siloed, and I have genuinely not learned a single transferable skill since I started. My reviews are great and a promotion is likely next fiscal year, but I don't want it. I came from a private consultancy doing complete streets and multimodal work where things actually moved, and this is the complete opposite of that environment. Thankfully, I love my new city.
I've already received offers to go back to that kind of work, and my reasoning is straightforward — I want to keep growing, and the private sector is where that's actually happening for me. My only hesitation is how less than a year at a public agency looks from the outside, even when the explanation is that simple.
Has anyone else made an early exit from a role for similar reasons? How did it land?