I think you’re right, it’s best to treat a corporate role as training for what you want to do later in your career when you are ‘Outside the Walls’. Once you are in your forties, you should always have a ‘non-corporate’ escape route, a fallback if you get made redundant or burnout (the combined chance of which is much higher than staying there until you get your pension).
I’ve been ‘Outside the Walls’ for 20 years and it’s been a real struggle, partly because I was mentally unprepared for it (and partly because I was so damaged by my experience inside the walls).
I think you’re right, it’s best to treat a corporate role as training for what you want to do later in your career when you are ‘Outside the Walls’. Once you are in your forties, you should always have a ‘non-corporate’ escape route, a fallback if you get made redundant or burnout (the combined chance of which is much higher than staying there until you get your pension).
I’ve been ‘Outside the Walls’ for 20 years and it’s been a real struggle, partly because I was mentally unprepared for it (and partly because I was so damaged by my experience inside the walls).