Did you ever change your career path...and do you regret it now?

[Mr. Ected]

I worked for an optometrist in Kansas City for 3 years while I was in high school. He was a 60-ish fellow with patient list that never ended. He told me that if I wanted to pursue optometry, that he would sell his thriving practice to me upon graduation. Unfortunately, calculus and I didn't get along, and I had to abandon optometry as a profession.

I sometimes wish I had hired a tutor to get me through calculus. My life would have been so different. I would have been a DOCTOR, gotten to wear a white lab coat (no bloodstains), and spent my day saying: "Does this look better...or that? One...or two? Two...or three?". I could have advised people on the most fashionable frames, or helped fit them in the newest wettest contact lens. I could have referred all the gory stuff to an opthalmologist, and left my practice at 5:30 every night in my big new Mercedes.

How about you? Career change? Regrets? One...or two?

[femmocrat]

1. I wanted to be a veterinarian until I ran into chemistry.

I had a couple of other ambitions, but ended up becoming a teacher like many women did in my generation. It was either teaching, nursing, or secretary for college grads then.

I don't regret my decision, but wonder what I could have become if I had gone to college post-women's lib.

[uncommon]

2. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have pursued something more practical. Instead I was an English Literature major in college and learned for the sake of learning, and though I am lucky to have a good job now, it is one that did not require that particular adventure and I could certainly be making more money doing something else.

[eyepaddle]

3. Yes I have and the results have been interesting.

I started as a cook, which made me realize I should go to college, where I got a geology degree--which lead me down to the Gulf of Mexico to drill oil wells, which sucked horribly and lead me to environmental geology (that job was pretty much like "Office Space" with less job security). That lead me to switch to Hazardous Waste Management. I actually liked that the most and stayed with that job for more than a decade. I eventually got tired of all the hand stacking of 55 gallon drums in the backs of semi trailers, so I fine tuned my credentials and got an MPH in Industrial Hygiene. The Master's plus my haz waste skills have lead me to be the safety offcer at a community college.

So yeah, I've changed a bunch, soem have been forced, others I have jumped, and I'd say they were all worth trying, but many were worth leaving. For the most part I am content where I am, but I wuold like a bit more responsibility and a bit more money than my current gig offers in light of all the dues I have paid...And so it goes.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. My dear Mr. Ected...

I have changed career (or maybe life) paths several times; I'm in the beginning of yet another one.

NO regrets, ever. When I was a child, I wanted to be a nurse, but when I got to college and saw the math and physics needed for a BSN, I changed my mind and studied foreign languages. I wasn't good enough to go to graduate school, so.....

I then married and had my family, and my old dream of being a nurse came back. This time I pursued it and succeeded.

I worked at that for over 20 years, and then took an early retirement.

Now, I'm going back to school to get a MFA in poetry, which I took up several years ago...

Through it all, I've had some great times, and some not so great. I think you're never too old to learn new stuff.

This is an interesting question, and I thank you for asking it.

:hi:

[Mr. Ected]

6. Well Thank You So Much, Kind Soul

I'm always touched to hear of others' encounters with life's curve balls. I happen to feel that change, in many cases, is good; it allows us to explore and grow, rather than languishing in the mundane and dispiriting.

My path led me from optometry to the practice of law, which I endured for 11 years. At that point, I'd had enough and moved my family to Europe, and began work in bookkeeping and accounting. Eight years later, I had deluded myself into thinking that I missed the practice of law, and moved the family back to the States. Now, five years later, I am itching to make another career move...but the world economy is looming as a huge impediment.

I enjoy your poems very much and know that your pursuit of a degree in poetry is driven by your heart and enabled by your skills.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. I am touched by your kind words...thank you.

[Lance_Boyle]

5. Yes, and hell no.

[mike_c]

8. I was in the graphics and printing industry until my early thirties...

...before going to college and grad school. Now I'm an academic scientist-- a biologist-- and educator.

No regrets whatsoever. My life has been SO much more interesting and fulfilling doing challenging work with greater purpose than making someone else a buck. I would do it all over again without any hesitation.

on edit-- now I'm doing it again, beginning to transition to a late life art career. Maybe "hobby" is a better term, but come retirement from the university, it's what I'm gonna do full time.

[kentauros]

9. Several times and no regrets.

My last year in high school I took a drafting class as an elective and aced it.

And yet I went to college to learn geology. Only inorganic chemistry killed me.

So I switched to computer-graphics software. And the programming/calculus killed me.

So, I went back to my old love and easy-grade, drafting. Got a degree in that right as the oil bust hit locally (1984).

Extended my college days to university and got a graphics arts degree. Only I hated working for both needy clients and especially the cheap ones. Working as an in-house graphic artist at a gaming company was great, but they laid quite literally everyone but the owners off in January (the slow months of the year) and never called back. Again, cheap.

After a stint in retail (graphic arts supply) and upgrades to my drafting skills in CAD, I switched to the "glamorous field of pastry!!1!" I aced the pastry and baking classes, but again, the real world is cheap. And full of sadistic slave-drivers. Unless you go to a high-end cooking school and come out the equivalent of valedictorian at the end, it's going to be at least ten years of almost slave-labor conditions, including the pay. The pastry chef teacher we had in the first year left partway into the second semester to take a "high-end" job at a prestigious hotel in town, at $50,000 per year. Seems like a lot to many folks, but he had 17 years of experience. And he's only getting $25 per hour?! After five years of AutoCAD drafting experience, I was making the same wage, and for less stress.

I'm very happy in the drafting field. Other than layoffs due to the economy, commodity speculators in oil, and cheap bastards, it's still the best field I ever chose :D

[BillStein]

10. my mid-life crisis...

...at 40, it was either buy a red convertable or go back to school. So after 15+ yrs in engineering I went back and got my BA in American History, then got my JD at 45. After several years- OK, many years- as a state employee, I probably could've made more money in engineering, but I'm damn proud of that "Esq." after my name.

[Mr. Ected]

11. Welcome to DU!

I feel privileged that your first post was in response to my thread!

I hope you enjoy DU...and The Lounge...as much as I do!

[BillStein]

13. thank you

...for the warm welcome. I've been lurking for years... and a veteran of the old Salon threads.

[burrfoot]

12. Working on it as we speak!

I've been a social worker, doing direct care (originally) and case management (currently) for kids in the dependency system/foster care, for just about 10 years. Although it's been rewarding in many ways, my current niche is fairly mechanical (i.e. anyone could do it, a personal connection with the client is not particularly necessary). Even though I'm making the most I ever have right now, it's still only about $35k. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to have a stable job, but this one just isn't cutting it.
Since I want to continue doing something that helps people I'm looking into going back to school for nursing, and ideally eventually being a Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant.

I know a lot of people don't think of nursing as being high paying, but just about every other entry level job other than social work pays more than I'm making 10 years into social work; so I can't really do worse in that sense.

Will I regret it? Will I be able to find work? Will I make it all the way to the degree I want, or will I get hung up with paying back loans, getting married and having kids, buying a house....? I don't know. But I do know that I'm 31 and that I don't want to stay in my current field, so there's no real point in putting it off. Even if I just end up as an RN, I'll be better off than I am now.

So my advice is this- if you're considering it, and it will make you either happier or more secure financially (obviously both would be ideal :) ); go for it. The sooner the better.

Of course, YMMV. :toast:

[InvisibleTouch]

14. Yes ... and No. :) n/t

[dembotoz]

15. times change, paths change, careers change

i think sometimes think the ability to change in midstream is perhaps my greatest asset.
Lord knows it is not my ablity to spell.

It HAS meant that I am always learning
It has meant that i have to stay on my toes.

I remember the line from Monty Python
"and now for something completely different"


Do i have regrets????
sure
you betcha

But more for opportunities that are now obvious that i completely ignored....

omission rather than commission.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. In the early 1990s, it became clear to me that academia was going to be a dead end

When I was denied tenure (my school wasn't sure that it wanted to teach Japanese forever), I went to the hiring convention and found that only young Japanese women were getting interviews. (The assumption was that they would stay in the U.S. for a couple of years, go home to get married, and be replaced by another young--and low-cost--young woman from Japan.)

I worked as a free-lance textbook editor while transitioning into translation.

This career, which I have now pursued for 17 years, has its advantages and disadvantages. First the disadvantages--

1. Lack of a regular income and benefits. My monthly income has ranged from $50 to $8000. Almost all months come in somewhere in between, but last year was brutal, and I am only beginning to recover.

2. The work can be boring at times, especially when I translate discovery papers for a lawsuit.

3. No more research fellowships

The advantages are--

1. Using my Japanese language ability at a level that I'm capable of instead of just going through first- and second-year Japanese over and over.

2. No faculty politics, committee work, or paper grading.

3. No bratty students (although I miss the good ones)

4. I love languages and writing, and in this job, I get to do both.

5. Although I have no local colleagues, I have wonderful colleagues all over the world and get to interact with them online and meet them in person at conferences.

6. Being self-employed, I have a lot more tax deductions than I ever did as an employee.

7. A certain amount of freedom to set my own schedule. If I have a job due Tuesday morning, no one cares if I take Monday afternoon off and make it up on Monday evening.

8. No commute except down the hall!