I know it sounds like selling out, but having a job that funds your true love isn't necessarily a bad thing. Yes. What she said.
If you know what you want to go to grad school for, and if it is a field where a graduate degree will help, then go for it. There are some fields where that's really what you need to get started. However, if you don't know what you want to do or if you're aiming for a field where you don't need a grad degree, then grad school is (IMHO) a big time & money sink for very little gain.
If you can bear it, I wouldn't leave where you are until you have a plan. Even something like "Move to X city, stay with Y person until I find a place, temp with agencies Q and R and try to figure out which temping gigs are remotely interesting or what else I want to do." There are people who find jobs that are interesting and fulfilling - my awesome miss Megan is a whiz-kid accountant, is actually interested in it (you should hear her talk about tax law) and has an upwardly-mobile job at a community bank that she likes.
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Sorry to hear that the job isn't living up to your hopes and expectations. I have to say ditto on Sylvie's observation regarding the First Real Job. I definitely got lucky getting a full time position--the stars really aligned for me--but besides luck I got the job because I had made a protracted sacrifice to do boring work at low pay and part time hours. Still, I saw a potential fit for myself with my office, and I stuck with the mediocre position long enough to impress people. Here's my time line so far: three months to start having extra work thrown my way, a year to get a raise, and 14 months to get hired full time. I think staying put, while not fun at the time, is what pays off. You get to be useful so that the office would suffer if you weren't there anymore. In the situation you have now, if you don't sense any support or feasibility for your moving up, then it's probably not a good place to invest yourself. But, if you find something that covers your bills and you think there might be a niche for you, then why not?
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If you know what you want to go to grad school for, and if it is a field where a graduate degree will help, then go for it. There are some fields where that's really what you need to get started. However, if you don't know what you want to do or if you're aiming for a field where you don't need a grad degree, then grad school is (IMHO) a big time & money sink for very little gain.
If you can bear it, I wouldn't leave where you are until you have a plan. Even something like "Move to X city, stay with Y person until I find a place, temp with agencies Q and R and try to figure out which temping gigs are remotely interesting or what else I want to do." There are people who find jobs that are interesting and fulfilling - my awesome miss Megan is a whiz-kid accountant, is actually interested in it (you should hear her talk about tax law) and has an upwardly-mobile job at a community bank that she likes. ( ... )
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