I'm in engineering in the oil and gas industry rather than IT like most commenters here, but since it's a very highly volatile industry I'm starting to think the same way.
As far as I can tell, staying in the same industry but at a vastly lower level would still net me about 60% of my current salary, and I'd be reasonably confident of still getting 70% with enough searching/networking even in a downturn.
All alternative careers where I'm starting from scratch, I'd be lucky to start on 50% of my current salary.
The smart thing would probably be to turn to some form of entrepreneurship. My skillset is in working with massive high-risk hazardous facilities so it doesn't lend itself at all well to small scale entrepreneurship but setting up on your own is ideal when you're later in your career as you have the financial buffer in case you fail, and you're not fighting against age discrimination.
As far as I can tell, staying in the same industry but at a vastly lower level would still net me about 60% of my current salary, and I'd be reasonably confident of still getting 70% with enough searching/networking even in a downturn.
All alternative careers where I'm starting from scratch, I'd be lucky to start on 50% of my current salary.
The smart thing would probably be to turn to some form of entrepreneurship. My skillset is in working with massive high-risk hazardous facilities so it doesn't lend itself at all well to small scale entrepreneurship but setting up on your own is ideal when you're later in your career as you have the financial buffer in case you fail, and you're not fighting against age discrimination.