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

Acesteve said:
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?
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When I came out of college and got into the world of finance it was a heavily male dominated field. I am not a #metoo movement person, but I will say the treatment I received vs my male counter parts was vastly different, so at that time I did not enjoy it at all. I quickly got out of the field and never looked back. I do use it now in my role with THP so I am grateful for the knowledge I learned, but if I had to do it all over again I would have stuck with psychology.
 
I would have said yes two months ago. But now I finally have a job doing the aspects of my expertise that I really like and am doing it at a great company.
 
I’m happy with where I’ve landed. If I could go back, I’d follow through with Dental school.
 
I wouldn’t change anything. I loved my career in outside sales and it allowed me the flexibility to be around for my kids activities including coaching their sports teams when they were growing up. It also allowed my wife to have a career where she could travel a bit for work when it was required. Luckily the days of her traveling for work more than 15 days a year are a thing of the past.
 
I've been at the same place since 1985 when I was 8, as evidenced by my soc sec statements. It's a family business that through a sad confluence of events I know own. I almost left a few times and I don't think I would go back to the first time and say I should have left then, primarily because of the experience and knowledge I've gained. The second time though, I should have. Not to say that I regret staying and this particular business would not exist anymore if I had left. What I know now that I didn't know then (probably more importantly who I know now) changes the thought process a bit. I've been offered a few positions that are really tempting, though I don't think I could keep the business I'm running now if I took any of the other opportunities.

I'm rambling a bit but I guess the answer is yes I would have, but not right from the beginning because of the experiences I've had if that makes sense. I'm certainly emotionally attached to what I'm doing, 35ish years will do that to you.
 
Growing up I wanted to be a "Stewardess" (aka Flight Attendant) but I was too short. Now the only thing I would change would be to get into computers earlier.
 
SirShives said:
You probably did and I missed it. Do you work for a fitting company or have your own business?
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Smaller company, but exclusively club fitting. My teaching days are done.
 
It’s amazing. I wanted a different career path even as recent as a few months ago. Now I’m one of the experts working on providing the covid vaccine. I walked into a faculty yesterday as if I was Superman saving the day. The last few months have been a real awaking just how great 20 years of hard work results in such satisfying work.
 
Absolutely, I wouldn't have followed an investigations career path (not that I'm doing that now). I would have gone to school to be an engineer, that's my first love.
 
Looking back just at my career, I would say yes. I like the IT career I have but I think I would have enjoyed staying in the emergency medical field more.

But....if I had done that, I would never have met my lovely wife, so I'm glad I didn't stay in the medical field.
 
My life path changed when I was 4 years old when I was hit in the head with a golf club. I had every intention of going into the Air Force when I got out of high school but I was told by every military branch that I could not enlist because of the metal plate in my head. That devastated me to say the least. I loved jets as a kid &* always wanted to be a pilot. Once I did a number of years in the Air Force, flying jets like F-16's or F-18's or maybe even the Stealth, I would have then try to get on a Presidential detail & fly Air Force One. If that didn't pan out, I would fly for one of the airlines to be able to see the world.
I'm not sure where my life would have gone if that would have happened. I doubt I would be married, only because I wouldn't be home that much. Then again I wouldn't have my two kids now. My twenties were hard for sure, but I wouldn't change it.
 
I'm not doing what I thought I wanted to do, that's for sure. I went to school for a Horticulture Science with an Emphasis in Golf Course Management and a minor is Business Management. When I got done with college I was doing what I thought I wanted to do, I was an Assistant Golf Pro. Down side, I was working at a small muni course that paid next to nothing. The medical/dental was good, but the pay was terrible. I didn't care at the time, I was single...working 40 hours a week and playing/practicing golf just as much. I started down the path of becoming a Class A PGA Pro, took the PAT (Playing Ability Test....yes, you have to be able to back up what you're teaching, to a degree) and was about to start down that road and I got laid off due to cutbacks/budget.

I moved on to a better paying job...hated it.

Moved out to the middle of Kansas and I've been working at my current job ever since. It pays well, but not what I see myself doing the rest of my life.

Once my kids graduate H.S. and I'm not tied down here, I think I'll end up in a larger market (KC maybe) and if it works out, I might get back into the golf course side of things again. We'll see.
 
I really love my career but I can't say I'd want to spend another lifetime doing the same thing. So sure, I'd change.

I kind of like the idea of serving...I'd be a JAG officer after law school. Not sure which branch of the service. But 20 years of service, retire in my early 40's then do something different with the rest of my life.
 
Yeah, I hate what I do. But it pays the bills and my wife doesn't have to work.

Without getting into it, I got my degree late in life. Atound 30 or so, and started this job (Auto loan underwriting).

If I had it to do over, I would go with a trade. Welding or something similar. I'm just not built for this kind of work.
 
I was about halfway done with my pharmacology degree when I decided I loved composites and jumped ship for the aerospace industry. If I could go back and redo, I'd definitely be a pharmacist right now. Work half as hard and make twice as much.
 
This is a hard one for me because I didn’t end up doing what I wanted to for a living. I wanted to be a residential architect, but I couldn’t afford to go to a school with an architecture program. I wasn’t willing to take out student loans and start life in the red.

Simultaneously, I was incredibly interested in computers and I had strong aptitude for tech. I didn’t want a career in IT, but I knew I could make a lot of money doing it. I ended up as a software developer with a great career, that’s afforded me a very nice lifestyle, but my early passion for IT is all but gone. I tried to make a career escape once, but I ended up back in programming. It’s just a job I do now because I can’t do anything else to make this kind of money.

So would I change? I don’t know. I love my lifestyle, but I don’t love my career anymore. I never really wanted to do it in the first place, and I have no idea how I’d want to make a living If I had a do-over.
 
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I'd take a different path, not because my current job/career is any worse than most, but because I discovered late in life that I had a natural talent for something that most in that field do not even with degrees and years of experience. Not that I'm smarter than they are, it's just when something really fits you well across the board it's hard not to be better than someone doing it only because they thought they could make money. All in all I wouldn't say I have any regrets, but in my next life I'll do a whole lot of things differently than I did this go round.
 
Nope, Had a good run at a great job/industry. Yea, A few things could have worked out better, but the road I took was a good road. Most of the pot holes hit were my own fault.
 
I probably would have went into the trade business to mitigate debt if I had to do it all over again. That or I would have completely changed the way I went through college. I went into college halfway committed to a couple different degrees/ paths. When it was all over I had a non specific business degree, and no real direction of what I wanted to do.
 
Left the Marine Corps after 10 years. If I had to do it all over again I would like to see how it would have turned out. I would have retired with 20 years in 2002. Could be getting ready to retire from career #2 here pretty soon. I have a good life and no regrets, but I ponder what might have been sometimes.
 
joshuac3 said:
I’ve already made one change from mental health clinician to electrician. If I could go back to my teenage years, I’d tell my younger self to pick a better major than psychology or to just get in to construction right away.
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I am the opposite. I've been in sales and consulting for my admittedly short career of 7 years, but find that I am just really good empathizing and working through other people's problems. I end up being the therapist in the office and with friends naturally everywhere that I go and really enjoy understanding people's behaviors.

On the plus side, I try to look at consulting as teaching/helping, make a great paycheck, and have been able to learn a few different industries (search engine marketing, advertising, and even plumbing). Still do not have much confidence that I am where I'm suppose to be, though. If not in psychology, I probably should have been a teacher or in public service of some kind. Maybe I will get the courage to take a couple of steps backwards at some point in order to be happier long term...
 
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