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Would you choose a different career path if you had to do life again?

Tough question. I have been in my career since 1987.
 
I absolutely would. I'm not exactly sure what it would be, maybe become an electrician or something.

At my last job one of our offices was joined to with an Upholstery shop. The owner worked but himself and had his dog with him at work every day. I always thought something like that would be a pretty cool setup and seeing your finished work would be fulfilling.
 
Carolina Dundee said:
I would have stayed with my original plan and I could be an unhappy lawyer by now.
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BigDill said:
100%. I should have been an engineer, or perhaps something else. I am in a career that I am good at, but it’s not enjoyable. It’s quite a paradox, TBH.
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I’m pretty good at what I do but I’m not happy practicing law. I like studying the law but generally dislike the day to day crap. Would I change? No, because things wouldn’t have happened in the right order to put me at the same social gathering sitting across the table from the lady who became my wife. I can deal with being an unhappy lawyer for a few more years as long as I have her by my side.
 
To answer the OP question, probably not. I have worked for the same credit union since my senior year in college and it has been a very stable career and has allowed me to move to different parts of NC when it became necessary to do so. I would, however, have worked a little harder to obtain many of the certifications I now have, sooner than I did. I held myself back by not taking a few of the opportunities presented to me through the years. This year will be my 19th year working for the same organization.
 
This thread is super interesting. As someone who graduated college less than 5 years ago, I’m still trying to figure out my “niche”. Applied to medical school but still waiting to hear back on it all.. I know I have a lot of life ahead of me but I hate wasting time doing things that are not moving me anywhere (current job as I wait for med school)
 
I am an accountant. I had a minor in History.

I chose accounting because I thought it would be more lucrative. If I was to do it again I would have majored in History and continued my education to get my doctorate most likely. I would also definitely have pursued coaching football as well.

That being said I do genuinely enjoy what I do for the most part. Especially as I have gotten older and further into my career. I think there is joy to be found any anything you try and master.
 
Joshnoble01 said:
I am an accountant. I had a minor in History.

I chose accounting because I thought it would be more lucrative. If I was to do it again I would have majored in History and continued my education to get my doctorate most likely. I would also definitely have pursued coaching football as well.

That being said I do genuinely enjoy what I do for the most part. Especially as I have gotten older and further into my career. I think there is joy to be found any anything you try and master.
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I majored in History. I elected to go to law school over a spot in grad school for history at UNC.
 
Parrot said:
I’m pretty good at what I doubt I’m not happy practicing law. I like studying the law but generally dislike the day to day crap. Would I change? No, because things wouldn’t have happened in the right order to put me at the same social gathering sitting across the table from the lady who became my wife. I can deal with being an unhappy lawyer for a few more years as long as I have her by my side.
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I have been doing it since 1987. I have really enjoyed the opportunities that I have had to teach at the college level and in CLE seminars. I have spent the majority of my career working as a government attorney which is very good as far as retirement. I don’t think I could have survived this long had I been in private practice.
 
Parrot said:
I majored in History. I elected to go to law school over a spot in grad school for history at UNC.
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I was a history major too. History was and remains my passion.
 
lukemartin93 said:
This thread is super interesting. As someone who graduated college less than 5 years ago, I’m still trying to figure out my “niche”. Applied to medical school but still waiting to hear back on it all.. I know I have a lot of life ahead of me but I hate wasting time doing things that are not moving me anywhere (current job as I wait for med school)
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I treaded water many years before starting med school. Hit me up if any questions/concerns.
 
Bernoulli said:
I have been doing it since 1987. I have really enjoyed the opportunities that I have had to teach at the college level and in CLE seminars. I have spent the majority of my career working as a government attorney which is very good as far as retirement. I don’t think I could have survived this long had I been in private practice.
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Except for 5 years between 97 and 02, I have been at it since 1991. I actually walked away from the practice for those 5 years but returned to it to be closer to my mom who was starting to have health issues. Litigation is a hard on the soul and body. The stress is awful. I don’t do much courtroom work anymore. I handle the motion practice and appellate work in the firm. It’s better but still pretty damned stressful.

What government department or agency?
 
I want to say yes, but I was able to parlay a career in retail, with a little help from inheritance, into retirement just shy of 53 years old. Still, if I would have known in my mid 20's that choosing to go into retail would lock me into that industry and would require me to work 60+ hours per week for the vast majority of my years in it, I likely would have chosen a different path out of college.
 
Parrot said:
Except for 5 years between 97 and 02, I have been at it since 1991. I actually walked away from the practice for those 5 years but returned to it to be closer to my mom who was starting to have health issues. Litigation is a hard on the soul and body. The stress is awful. I don’t do much courtroom work anymore. I handle the motion practice and appellate work in the firm. It’s better but still pretty damned stressful.

What government department or agency?
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Currently, I’m a municipal attorney focusing on labor and employment matters. Most of my litigation is in arbitration or before hearing officers.
 
I always wanted to do something in this field, I just didn't know exactly what that was. I took some EMT courses beforehand just to make sure, but I'm happy overall where I'm at and my path to where I am now. I'm entering year 14 with the Department of Justice.
 
5 years ago I would have said yes. I was
working as a chemist for a large Fortune 500 biotech company and it was miserable. I was a cog in the machine with no growth opportunities and was thinking about pivoting to life science sales or completely changing careers.

I took a gamble 3 years ago coming to a small nanotechnology start up and now I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love my company and we are working on a ton of really interesting projects that make a big difference in the world.
 
Yes I definitely would have. Got sidetracked and lost sight of my goals . Now it’s too late but next lifetime I will go for it right away
 
Idk. Never really thought about it. I had a couple different ways to go in college. I went the engineering route.

As a kid, my 2nd hobby, behind sports, was building things. So, building buildings came pretty natural for me.

I took a summer job to learn how to some day build my own home. One thing led to another, and I
became a construction supt. It was a good choice, since I was never out of work for 30 years.

The only other job I gave any thought to, was probably something to do with wildlife conservation.
 
Yes, or at the very least taken advantge of the opportunities to move up. Just don't like working all that much so always stuck to just the job since it gave me freedom but not a ton of dough or security.
 
No. I wanted to work in aviation from a young age, more specifically management of airfields. That’s what I’m doing, and really would struggle to see myself doing anything else that I enjoyed.
 
Honestly no. And not just career path, my whole family and life. I am so incredibly happy with how everything has turned out to this point that I wouldn’t want to change a single thing that would make life different.
 
I don't think I would have changed my career, but there are certain jobs that I may not have accepted if I had known then what I know now about them

However, if I had changed my career, I wouldn't have met my wife and other people that I am now good friends with
 
I wish I had applied myself more in hs to get an appointment to the Air Force Academy.
 
BigDill said:
100%. I should have been an engineer, or perhaps something else. I am in a career that I am good at, but it’s not enjoyable. It’s quite a paradox, TBH.
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This man speaks truth
 
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