Y'all, I was in the wrong job for years, and the reason is simple: I'm not a people person. There's nothing wrong with that. I don't like office politics, and I don't want to wear an outfit I wouldn't pick if I were retired and money didn't matter. We're lucky to live in a time when a lot of those stiff rules aren't requirements anymore.

I'm also not the only one feeling it. Gallup's latest report found that only 20% of employees worldwide were engaged at work in 2025, with 16% actively disengaged. In the U.S. it was 31%. Gallup also estimates that managers account for about 70% of the variance in team engagement, so who you work for matters almost as much as what you do. (Fair caveat: Gallup's engagement formula is proprietary, and other surveys land much higher because "engagement" gets defined differently. I have a whole post on why definitions matter.) Global Indicator: Employee Engagement - Gallup +2

And burnout isn't just being tired. The World Health Organization's ICD-11 classifies it as an occupational phenomenon caused by chronic workplace stress that hasn't been successfully managed. It's marked by exhaustion, cynicism toward the job, and reduced effectiveness. If that sounds familiar, it's not a personality flaw.

My path wasn't a straight line. I loved psychology and I loved business, which points straight at industrial-organizational (IO) psychology, the field that applies psychology to the workplace: hiring, assessment, training, motivation, and performance. The typical entry-level credential is a master's degree, with doctorates more common for research, academia, and senior roles. I was a college dropout, traveling and focused on starting a family, so I built my career other ways. HR led me into data analytics, and one day I realized the pieces fit together better than I ever expected. wagedex

So I started Casserole. It's my own path toward becoming my own version of an IO psychologist, without letting a barrier stop me from working and learning my craft. Casserole is layers: courses, certification prep, personality assessments, and job coaching, with IO-style assessments and research down the road. It's built on real experience, and I think everyone has something valuable to offer because of the experiences that shaped them.

My take: the old deal of trading your time for a paycheck has a ceiling when you work for someone else, and more people are building something of their own. That starts with knowing what your brand is.

If you're stuck, burned out, or just not happy in what you do:

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