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What are some viable career paths in a small american city (~100,000)?
I have experience in tech (ops, presales) but I don't like the fact that I have to work a remote job. I'd like to be more integrated into the local community. I've thought of teaching (which I like) or doing some sort of IT work (big pay cut, probably pretty boring). I'm open to nearly any kind of white-collar work where I can transfer my skills. In my mid-30s I'm too old for an easy complete career reset.
We're around the same age and I've been considering the same question. Like others have said, it's basically a question of taking whatever skills you have to whatever the largest employer is. If I were going to try and move to Muncie, Indiana, then I'd try and see what kind of jobs I could get at Ball State University, or at the Magna plant. If you're IT (like I am), you see what MSPs serve the area and see if they need an engineer, or you try and get on as a sysadmin at whatever businesses there are.
Career paths - as you note, you're kind of locked in with what you've got unless you want to learn a new skill. My barber says he'd train the right person from scratch if he liked him. Every town has lawyers, every town has accountants, every town has police, every town has clergy; but it's hard to transition into one of those things without being ready to change your life tremendously. Nevertheless I have been thinking about it anyway.
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Between work and family, I have minimal free time. It would be nice to have my work and local community closer together. I am aware that some people want strict separation between work and private life, but I've never really had issues hanging out with colleagues outside of work.
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Most non-rustbelt cities have some kind of successful local business or industry, surely. I think this is the big advantage of medicine, sales, and to some extent IT/sysadmin work. In other industries you actually have to be in NYC, LA, SF, Texas, whatever. If you have a job title that is both necessary but that any medium sized or above business needs a couple of, you can move back to your hometown with a 90th percentile (locally) job and live a great, striving-free life.
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I'm in a somewhat similar position as you. Currently employed as a postdoc at the local university, but not interested in becoming a professor, so I'm pretty much on borrowed time. I just want to avoid a career change while the kids are still small, and my prof is very relaxed so I earn well in comparison to the actual work I'm doing while having lots of free time to spend with family.
Teaching is definitely a good option if you enjoy it. I'm also looking into insurances since it's well-paid, quite safe and I studied math anyway so it's comparatively easy for me, but dunno how much of an option that is for you. Just general large local employers are usually always looking for many different positions as well.
Insurance companies are definitely always hiring tech, but I worry a little about their tech culture being very backwards (e.g. everything tech is "IT", tech is considered a cost center, etc). But I suppose that's part of the price I might have to pay. I think I do like teaching, but I haven't done it in years so I'd need to dip my toe back in to see if it's something I would enjoy doing when my livelihood depends on it.
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You mean you get to work a remote job. I worked in an office and remotely, and I didn't feel any more "integrated into the local community" sitting for hours in a fabric-covered cubicle than I do working from home. Of course, to each its own, but ops and pre-sales are definitely very remote-friendly jobs. Though I guess there are some ops jobs that require physical presence (like being on-site technician in a data center?) but I don't see much "community" potential there. Why not work remotely and find social connections by volunteering, joining local clubs, church, etc.? Beyond that, many small cities have some kind of big employer - corporate HQ, hospital, factory, college, big retail, etc. Those usually have IT departments and may even have their own software development/ops teams. If you insist on in-office job that would be where I'd look.
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