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

I would have stayed in the same field but made very different choices of I knew what I know now
 
Yes, I would have taken the Scholarship and went to Medical school even if it meant going to Europe to do it. (affirmative action in 1977, prevented me from going in R.I. being a white male) then I would either be retired and a member of a posh club or dead from the stress of being a Brain Surgeon.
 
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I like what I do, but don’t love what I do. If given the chance I would have joined the navy and attempted to become a SEAL. If that didn’t work out I would have loved to own a mechanic/body shop and restore vintage cars.
 
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Looking back I ight have wished I'd stayed in the Army. I was a distinguished graduate from OCS which gave me the option to apply for a Regular Army Commission instead of my commission in the Reserves. However, being married with one child and an opportunity to come home from Viet Nam a month or so early and with A RIF facing me I opted out.

Things turned out OK anyway as I ended up with a pretty successful career in sales and sales management in the electronics industry and never would have made the money I did if I had stayed in the Army.
 
mmaynard11 said:
I would have started with my current career first. I could have retired by now.
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This is me. I got a degree in economics and couldn't find anything. I ended up in flooring sales which I was ok at (very product knowledgeable but a little too honest when it came to the cons LOL!). When the Great Recession happened the bottom fell out of that business and I ended up having to go back to serving on nights and weekends. I then did claims adjusting for Allstate for 4 years. After spending 4 years talking to people about their fake injuries in car accidents I was getting a very negative view of humanity. My wife got a promotion at her job and I quit mine to go to school and study math. I got into the actuary field and passed several exams but I found I really loved the coding and data analysis part and I was really good at it. That's where I am now.

Just to encourage anyone who may be thinking of doing something like this. It took me 15 months of not working to make this change. When I quit at Allstate I made $41,000 a year. We had to live very skimpily for those 15 months, but it has now been 6 years since I started working again and I make quite a bit more than double that $41,000 and I have more free time and enjoy my life much more. Don't wait to make your life better, it isn't long enough to wait for too long.
 
If I did anything differently than I did in the past, then I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wouldn't have the life I've lived. I wouldn't have my family.

I like who I am. <-- I must because I'm not making any effort to change.:ROFLMAO: I love my family. I wouldn't change anything.
 
DataDude said:
This is me. I got a degree in economics and couldn't find anything. I ended up in flooring sales which I was ok at (very product knowledgeable but a little too honest when it came to the cons LOL!). When the Great Recession happened the bottom fell out of that business and I ended up having to go back to serving on nights and weekends. I then did claims adjusting for Allstate for 4 years. After spending 4 years talking to people about their fake injuries in car accidents I was getting a very negative view of humanity. My wife got a promotion at her job and I quit mine to go to school and study math. I got into the actuary field and passed several exams but I found I really loved the coding and data analysis part and I was really good at it. That's where I am now.

Just to encourage anyone who may be thinking of doing something like this. It took me 15 months of not working to make this change. When I quit at Allstate I made $41,000 a year. We had to live very skimpily for those 15 months, but it has now been 6 years since I started working again and I make quite a bit more than double that $41,000 and I have more free time and enjoy my life much more. Don't wait to make your life better, it isn't long enough to wait for too long.
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Awesome for sticking in there & persevering to find something that you enjoyed.
 
I guess I made an OK choice. Nice diverse career that compensated me pretty well. The harder part is helping my childern think about what they want to do. When I went into University in 1985 we did not overthink degree or career. Sources of information were limited.

sometimes just picking a good path and sticking with it is the best course vs second guessing the decision. I often find this on the golf course as well.
 
I enjoy my career path, I have been in the golf industry for 20 years, in many different roles, PGA professional, equipment rep, big box retail (that was the worst), and what do now.
 
I would certainly gone another direction. Being a probation officer has taken a toll on my personality and my outlook even though I have tried hard not to let it happen. I was very close to entering the Air Force, but when a couple of obstacles got in the way I put it on the back burner and never pursued it. I have regretted that decision for sometime now.
 
Absolutely I would do something different but I’m not sure what it would be honestly
 
Probably not.
 
I kinda wish I had gone against my father's wishes and joined the Navy, I could be retired by now. I also wonder where I would be if I had taken my full ride scholarship to UVM and gone into the veterinary field. But, then I look back on it and think, I wouldn't have been with my wife for 28 years and had such a wonderful child so...nope, glad it turned out the way it did. :)
 
Nope.
I have had 3 "careers" and enjoyed all three immensely during that time.
 
I was on the same job for 36 years. I have never seen a different career that I thought I could be good at, that I wanted more. The job I had was stable, provided me with good benefits, enough money, security and I was able to retire from comfortably. There was a lot about it I didn’t like, but that’s the same on almost any job.
 
I 100% would have done something different.

Went to school for Business Administration, and then again for Computer Support Technician. Business Admin was a massive waste, and was just what I keyed on in High School to get my parents off my back about going to college. The computer stuff was on my own accord, but I grew bored with it.

If I could tell my younger self anything, it would have either been to work a job for a year (laborer or something like that), and then take up a trade.
Working for people annoys me, and I crave the freedom of being your own boss.

I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, and I think that sail has set. At this point I just want to find something that leaves me feeling fulfilled at the end of the day.
 
I would have been a forensic psychologist. I was a psych major for my first 2 years of college and absolutely loved it. But then I found out I needed to take a public speaking course as a requirement for that major, which I still don't understand why that was a requirement, but as soon as I found that out I switched my major to finance.
 
GolferGal said:
I would have been a forensic psychologist. I was a psych major for my first 2 years of college and absolutely loved it. But then I found out I needed to take a public speaking course as a requirement for that major, which I still don't understand why that was a requirement, but as soon as I found that out I switched my major to finance.
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I'm trying to get my girls to consider a major in Finance. lots of flexibility in size of company you work for, lots of respect for the function in my company at least, and good pay. Have you a different experience?
 
Im not sure I would change it. I have been able to see parts of the world I normally wouldn't have. Well, not on my dime anyway.

I still wonder what would have happened if that letter from Annapolis Naval Academy didn't get delayed in the mail.

Would have probably went there for college vaulting instead of where I went.
 
I don't know. Part of me wants to teach history. The beauty of my current career is that I am afforded opportunities to teach (though not history.) I really enjoy giving seminars, and guest speaking at events and universities. I don't do it often, but there is something enjoyable about speaking to a room who is there to see you.

I often think I would have made a good dentist, but I am so perpetually bored, that I don't know how long I'd be able to stick with that life.
 
This is a really tough question. I mean, I've never been a guy who looks at the future and sets goals - I'm more of a "take it as it comes" type personality.

If I had to choose something that I wish I would have at least tried, it would probably be an auto mechanic.
 
Growing up I never wanted to be a police officer. I kind of fell into it by accident and I loved it! In college I started as an International Business/ Japanese language major and loved that but couldnt grasp the language part (college drinking had a little to do with it:rolleyes:). I'm glad my life ended up the way it did because I would not have met my wife it didnt.
 
For sure would be some changes.. Not 100% sure but I feel like I wasted some talents due to poor decisions.
 
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