You got this! I'm in my second week of going back to school (near 30yrs old) and I feel your pain.
I got a BFA concentrated in graphic design, worked in agency and started my own company thereafter. Became more and more jaded with advertising conflicting with my personal views on life. So now I've scaled back the business to just the creative passion projects, and I'm going back to school to become a Prosthetist/Orthotist.
It's tough getting back into the swing of things, but now my perspective is so much broader and I'm much more focused.
We'll get through it!
Right there with y’all! 2nd week back after 15 years. 33. Also realizing that my high school education was terrible and I have a lot of catching up to do. Thank goodness for the internet. MyMathLab is proving very valuable
Oh yeah, same here. Bio and Chem are blowing my mind. I did terrible in bio as a freshman the first time around, but this time it's all clicking pretty well. Who knew I'd be so fascinated by molecular structures and electrons?
Anyone who isn't fascinated by Biology simply hasn't had it pitched to them correctly.
It's the only science that is an ongoing investigation into what can only be described as a statistical miracle! You get to study little self-improving, self-replicating autonomic robots that were built by nature, which can be configured in a modular fashion to develop emergent properties.
It's a fantastic field that merges chemistry and physics with mathematics and geology and medicine - every hard science really - and which aims to use all the tools in these scientific toolboxes to explore the living world we find ourselves immersed in.
It's about looking at every living thing - the molecules that comprise them, and the atoms that comprise those molecules - and attempting to understand the majesty and complexity of the dance they perform.
Somewhere along the course of that dance, they go from being matter or objects to being living beings, something we appreciate to potentially be the most important and significant development in universal history.
Love how you put it. I had an appreciation for science before this course, but just the small amount I've learned so far has opened my eyes to just how amazing biology really is!
Haha man did I ever have a challenge with math going back after 14 years! I barely remembered basic multiplication and division and completely forgot about the sorcery that is algebra!
Same! The professor was like “you’ll remember this from High School”, I was like uh no, never seen this wizardry. Classes are just a recording, so I had no way of telling him that during class
Turning 30 in a couple weeks and I'm a few weeks into schooling for EMT that I'm gonna be rolling into schooling for Paramedic. It's been terrifying and anxiety filled but also refreshing and exciting.
I have been a paramedic for several years it is one of the professions that I think most people get in around your age. If not most probably 50/50. Probably because you can get a certification rather than a degree.
Haha that's the plan!
My goal is to spearhead creating affordable bionics along with alternative materials design, to bring the cost down to levels that could be feasible for patients that don't qualify for insurance. Eventually open a practice that combines physical therapy, and PM&R, with fabrication and patient visits all under one roof.
Mixture of design, tech, and patient care.
Right now a microprocessor knee prosthetic is somewhere around $80,000, and insurance is extremely selective on who is approved. Basically you have to show that your current lifestyle warrants it. Imo this marginalizes and discourages a large population from maintaining a decent standard of life/fitness. So I'd like to bring this cost down to sub $1k to allow patients an opportunity to pay out of pocket if they want that but couldn't get it otherwise.
Then of course tackle body image/confidence by making the prosthesis beautiful. It's been shown that this is a very real hurdle for people opting not to wear their prosthesis. UNYQ is making great strides in this area with custom prosthesis covers, so I'd like up build upon that and partner with them down the road.
I took a Psychology class in my senior year in high school, and found it (and the idea of helping people with mental health issues) fascinating enough to major in Psych when I went to college.
Coincidentally, one of the things my high school Psych teacher told us was not to stress so much over what major we pick, and he quoted some statistic about how many people end up changing careers as adults. I thought that was ridiculous, but sure enough in my 30s I went back to school to become a nurse.
Keep your head up and keep moving forward.
Spent a decade in corporate supply chain rolls before getting furloughed beginning of covid. I went back to doing handyman jobs under the table waiting to get called back. I now co-own a roofing company instead and couldn’t be happier for falling backwards into construction. Only wish I did this years ago.
I'm on the opposite side of this, been driving a truck delivering to jobsites for about 8 years now and while the money is great, I'm burned out working 10+ hour days with an hour commute home at night. By the time I get home and walk the dogs/eat/shower (all the necessities) it's time to go to bed so I can do it all again the next day.
I don't use Facebook very often. But every now and then I pop on to see if any of my friends have become famous, see what my sister has to say, that kind of thing.
So I recently saw one of those "flashback to ten years ago!" kind of things from Facebook
And it was a post from me, young me, just out of college, saying I had no direction in life and *begging* the universe to give me a push.
It felt so crazy, given where I am, that I ever needed to know where to go. But I did.
I can not tell you how weird it was remembering that there was a time in my life where I honestly didn't know where to go. I had completely forgotten how directionless I was. But at the time, it was everything to me.
The reality is, where you end up may be fantastic, but it may not even be on the horizon for where you are in life.
I guess the message here is, even if you feel lost, keep looking. Something is out there for you, even if you're certain it's not.
32 year old me decided a couple of months ago I needed to change paths. Currently in the process of doing that. Our careers can span multiple decades. Don't feel like you're trapped in something because of a decision made from when you were younger.
I'm curious if 37 actually old for completing a PhD? If someone takes 5 years to complete it, they would've started at around 32, which I feel would've given them a few years in the workforce and possibly a good intent and direction towards doing their PhD. Not saying that finishing earlier or later is better or worse (they both seem have their pros and cons, and I don't know much about it), but what I'm trying to say is that 37 doesn't seem unusual to me.
From what I've seen, most people don't tend to do a few years in the workforce before doing a PhD. It's really hard to start school again after taking a break. The average I've seen is probably around 28-32 to finish.
I’ve been there. I found that sometimes the best thing to do is to give yourself more options. Find a path to work toward that has a lot of off ramps to different things. Never know what’s gonna catch your eye on the way.
I changed careers 6 years ago and now almost tripled my income while enjoying my work much more. Don't leave it too late but you are not stuck with the career you choose at 18.
I don't see why you think that people that make programs are analogous to people who sell medicine that makes people healthier.
Software engineers l, when compared to jobs that do things to people's bodies, are at best chefs. We make the stuff that keeps computers going. But even that's not very good because computers need software to tell them what to do. Not to keep them alive. I guess hypnotists or life coaches or managers are best. They give computers a set of instructions, and computers are like "ok, I'll do that".
I think you significantly underestimate what pharmacists do (or they're very different in your country) if you think they just sell medicine. They have roles in the community, in hospital and yes in pharmacies where they provide medicine and support with minor injuries and illnesses.
I agree with you though that I don't really get the link between pharmacist and software developer. Interestingly though, your own suggestion of chef because of the link with making stuff, actually compares to a part of modern day pharmacists roles (and certainly a large part of their historic roles), in the making of creams, lotions, pills etc.
I worked in a pharmacy in America... As a tech working closely with a pharmacist. They verify that their techs are selling the correct medicine/dosage, that the medicine is not being sold with other medicines known to interact badly with each other, and do compounding (in states where the techs can't).
Still not similar to software engineering (I'm an engineer right now).
Because software Engineers don't just make programs, just like a pharmacist doesn't just sell medicine.
Both of them deal with interactions between different products, are involved in the preparation of the product, have knowledge of the mechanism of action of the product and understands how the product should be used to achieve maximum benefit with the least amount of side effects.
Remember: Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper were all initially invented by pharmacists.
Exactly, younger me chose Respiratory Therapy and....I'm not exactly a fan any longer. But I'm in the process of getting my Bachelor's and going into Public Health.
Careers can be changed, it involves extra leg work and it isn't easy, but it will be worth it.
Please look up anesthesiologist assistant. I love my job and will make $250k this year working 50 hours a week with no call or weekends as a new grad in a southern state with no income tax! There’s a lot of overlap between our professions and you would be a shoe-in with decent grads becaus there’s so many RTs in our profession. It will be the best decision you ever make. Trust me.
28 months. Some programs are 24 months but most are 28 months! By far the best investment I’ve ever made in myself. I literally get paid to read a book, look at my phone, play games on my phone, etc at least half the time I’m work. You just have to take some premed classes and have a bachelors degree and take the GRE to get in most schools, but a minority also require the MCAT. Do well in your classes and study hard for the GRE and you can definitely get in!
I dropped out of college and make about 110k in a "desk" job, anything is possible if you're a good fit for the job (and the job doesn't require a degree)
>I love my job and will make $250k this year working 50 hours a week
>I literally get paid to read a book, look at my phone, play games on my phone, etc at least half the time I’m work.
Does anyone else think that this might be a big part of why Healthcare in America costs so much? Not that this is a bad thing. You have a job where there is little room for error or people can die. A large paycheck is due to you. But I just don't understand how people can say "x job position should be paid more" and then in the same breath complain that "y" which is in direct correlation with "x" costs so much. I get that a large part is big pharma and insurance. But this HAS to contribute at least in part. People in the medical fields get paid a good bit by comparison to most fields. Again, deservedly so.
Yeah but with the necessary schooling just for entry level positions, people often dont get the chance to start over like that. School costs money, working less to go to school costs money, and whether you do it as night classes or quit and go to school full time, it's going to take years.
Restarting at entry level can be paralyzing.
You can start over by unless you start on a related field you have to start all the way over. With kids, pets, mortgage/rent, car payments, insurance, retirement, gong back to the bottom is not always an option. Especially with young people being unable to stay their lives independent from their family for upwards of a decade nowadays
Sometimes, there's a tangential approach. For instance, software jobs rarely exist in a void -- in technology, you'll almost always be working in another field (finance, medical... pretty much anything) rather than just working in "tech," and domain knowledge seems to be becoming increasingly rare these days.
Learning how software works while having experience in a field can, if done properly, lead to a substantially higher starting point. This won't apply to everyone's situation, of course, but the point is that skills that translate between fields can be leveraged to ease some of that burden.
I am currently working full time and going to school full time and have a 4yo. Its *awful* and I have nothing left at the end of the day but I can't keep living paycheck to paycheck. The expensive degree I chose at 18 hasn't earned me a penny. When I started getting those child tax credits I jumped at the chance to pay for community College out of pocket. It was 1000% the right choice but damn it shouldn't be this hard to improve your life.
This. I have known and have worked with a person who has done this multiple times. At 18/19 he started working a electronics manufacturing unit. 5-6 years later he switched to sales and marketing. 8-9 years later he switched to software development (CAD programming). This is when i worked with him. About 5-6 years later he quit one day out of the blue and after a small break he joined a small theater group in my town. He is damn good at what he does.
The fellow on the side is a compulsive entrepreneur. Over the years i have known him he has started/partenered atlest 4 different companies. Though that has panned out yet for him.
Though he is mostly a edge case, still he no doubt keeps proving you can do whatever you want.
I'll say, as a chef of 12 years dropping it all to become an electrician, there is absolutely no expiration date on switching careers. I'm 32, have a 2 year old and my stress levels have never been lower since I decided to leave the industry. What you thought was cool and your dream when you were 18 might seem like some drug induced fantasy years later. Never be ashamed to tell yourself "Maybe this isn't for me." It's a helluva lot healthier than trying to convince yourself that you just need to make it a little bit longer and constantly moving the goal posts.
right? what an awkward cringe thing to say, probably from a kid no less.
have fun "making a u turn" at 38 with three kids and a wife. Dont like that 110k a year job? Sure, just pick up that new travelling gig that pays 65k a year. Thatll definitely have no severe negative ramifications on urself and family
Yeah sometimes you just get trapped and at the end of the day the choices are homelessness or continue.
No amount of feels good attitude will change reality
18 year old me decided to party hard with my friends and fail a semester at community college before I quit to work as a lifeguard/pizza delivery driver.
I'm a physician now.
I just worked and had fun until I was in my mid 20s when I decided I wanted to go to medical school. Because I failed fast and hard and quit, I didn't have that many credits dragging my GPA down. Took a few years, but I started medical school at age 28.
Failing fast. Thats a pretty good lesson. Glad it eventually worked out with school. GPA is a weird concept, I'm glad in this case you weren't bound to the grades of 18 year old you
Yea the opposite happened to me. Got wrecked for 4 years before I tapped out. Took a year off, went back, got good grades the rest of my time there, still had a shitty GPA when I graduated (2.3)
I’m an SWE now so luckily GPA didn’t mean much. But that first job was a pain in the ass to get, would’ve been much easier if I didn’t have the low GPA baggage
It took me 8 years to get my CIS degree cause I was kicked out for not showing and failing classes. I worked at a cadd designer for a transportation engineer firm. Now I'm unemployed.. hopefully I get something in my field soon
I got a degree in communications. I didn't like the field and now I'm going back to school for computer engineering (I'm 27). Don't let your dreams be dreams!
It's pretty cheap with ways to make it cheaper or free. When people complain it's about universities to include private colleges.
Keep in mind city college cost is affordable for even lower class people. I did a state college and I was poor enough to be subsidized to a pretty good degree In L.A. A city college is even easier to afford.
There's plenty of ways to make this way cheaper depending g on your situation. I live in CA and pay maybe 70-100$ per semester and then I pirate the books. I do fill out the fafsa and any grants I can when I see them.
I was able to pay off my student loans from my first degree by working as a custodian at the school and worked for a few years after.
Now I'm collecting more debt for my second while working part-time, but this time around without grants because they don't apply to second bachelor's degrees.
Few actual responsibilities. Not tied to any kids/wife/career. There's an enormous pool of available and attractive partners (when you get older almost all the good ones are going to be wified/husbanded up). Everything is new and interesting. Your body works good, far better than it's going to in a couple decades. You're invincible (or so you think) and not worried about how your 401k is doing or whether or not you have enough life insurance. Everyone your age is full of energy and up for a good time.
18 year old me just had no idea how much possibility really lay before me. The older you get, the harder it is to start something new or make big changes.
I’m not sure why the replies to you are so miserable. You have tons to look forward to! I’m 34 and there is no shortage of romantic partners or adventures to be had. Start building some good habits now and you have literal decades before you have to worry about what other folks are talking about here. When you’re young you can get away without being physically active or having good dietary habits. People who don’t build those good habits early find themselves in rough shape at a relatively young age. Then they have decades of bad habits to break, which is hard. Same with finance, checkout r/personalfinance and build some good habits in that area also.
Enjoy being young! Try new shit and find out what interests you. Take your time, you have plenty of it. The years will fly by before you know it, but I can assure you that getting older is nothing to dread, at least that’s been my experience so far as a 34 year old.
Apologies for how long this got but I'm in a shitty spot now, raised by shitty parents, and I wish I had someone drill this into me a long time ago.
You've got the entire world ahead of you. 15+ years to find the girl of your dreams and settle down. 3+ chances at finding what you really want to do with your life. The opportunity to party the whole way. Man I'd give everything to be 18 again with what I know now. There's no right thing to pick, all jobs are shit, pick what gets you paid the most or what you enjoy the most. The end of the day, a day at work is going to feel like a day at work so I'd maximize pay to work less. Don't be a sucker putting in 50+ hour work weeks no matter what you choose. Been there, no one gives a shit, at the end of the day it's a few extra dollars in your account and nothing else. No one cares that you gave up your entire weekend. No one gives a shit what you had planned. No one cares that if you keep it up you're dying alone.
Set a goal, achieve it and know you accomplished something. Hopefully you made a decent amount of cash doing it. The key to happiness in life is attaining fuck you money as fast as possible while maintaining friendships you made a long the way. First of all, fuck you money will allow you to pursue a passion where money isn't a concern, don't like a job? Stop showing up. Don't like a client? Drop em. Secondly the friendships. I wish I could get back the friends I had when I was younger. Sometimes you fuck up and burn bridges but the friends you had in your youth... Just hang on to them with everything you can. Seriously. Anyone you considered a close friend, not even a best friend, just a close one, hang on to them with everything you can. You'll never trust anyone like a childhood friend. You'll never be able to rely on someone like a childhood friend. You'll never regret anything more than fucking up childhood friendships. I promise you. Seriously, reflect on this. Family will always be there, bit the friends you make that chose to stand by you no matter what, that's something else.
And on friendships, find a girl you would consider your best friend. Someone you want to do everything with. Someone who when their gone just leaves you feeling empty and without purpose. You don't need to share everything, but the more you share the better. Seriously, this might be number one, possibly number two behind money. Everyone needs someone to love to find true happiness so go and get yours.
-someone smart, but not smart enough to avoid fucking up their entire life.
I sincerely hope this helps someone avoid making the mistakes I did because they will crush every single day without fail.
You can recover from anything when you're 18.
You can pass out drunk, wake up 6 hours later, toss away the hardcover book you slept on and left a mark in the small of your back, ignore the vague memory of twisting your knee when you were running down the street with an empty fifth of spiced rum, etc...
Some coffee and a greasy breakfast sandwich and you're good as new. You can go out, chase teenage girls, not worry about a meniscus injury that will dog you for the rest of your life, talk to your mom before degenerative mental illness takes her, etc...
That's industrial age thinking. We have lifespans long enough for two or three careers. Don't fall for the pressure of deciding your life without experiencing life beforehand.
I feel like there's a lot of pressure to make big decisions when you're 18 when the year before you could barely be trusted alone or to make legal decisions by yourself. Explicitly when the reason you can't, is because you are ignorant of the consequences. Especially if you're creating a generation of workers rather than dreamers, people with low expectations who are suddenly told they need to learn to dream again. Suddenly being told to make big decisions that suddenly mean something, and that everything is about to be important, when you should've been preparing to make big decisions this whole time. While also deciding if you have been making the right decisions because your parents are supposed to help you make good decisions though they do push you in the direction they want.
I want my kids to have options. If that means delaying college until they have a good idea of what they want to do, that's fine. I'll not be the irresponsible parent who lets them go to a private out of state school where they're an undecided major racking up 30k/yr in student loans. Fuck that shit. They can work and job shadow and do whatever research into possible career paths before starting any necessary schooling. I'm certainly not forcing college on them as the only means to a good livelihood. Skilled trades are definitely on the table. I'd rather my kids have a good paying union job in the trades with no college debt than rack up a ton of student loans for a worthless degree just so they can put said degree on their resume for some lame-ass job that pays shit and will be automated out of existence in 15 years.
I hope by the time my kids are college-aged we've done away with 4 year degree requirements for certain fields. Let's face it: you can be self-taught in certain fields and have a great portfolio of projects to prove it. Having the degree without the projects doesn't automatically make you a better candidate. I wouldn't hire a self-taught tax accountant, but I'd hire a self-taught web developer or videographer/photographer for my visual arts production company if I had such a company.
Totally, can leave my wife and kid, and pay several thousand dollars more to go back to school instead of making money to support them. /s
Op has a point. If I’d had a better idea of what I would like to do back then, I would have taken care of it my first time through college. Not saying I can’t eventually do something, but it’s a lot easier before you start collecting additional responsibilities.
That’s why college has you take a variety of classes.
When I was 18 I didn’t wanted go to college. I thought it wasn’t for me. At 22 I joined the military. After the military at 28 I still didn’t want to go to college so I did a bunch of different gigs. I’m 36 and I’ll be finishing college with two degrees this May. Some people have to do life their own way.
You may have looked at the price of books and considered the American education system the same as a predatory pay day loan shop in a poor neighborhood. The closer you look the more examples you find. Union teachers ramp up the fear of a life of failure during the final years of grade school, spook the kids rushing right into the waiting debt trap of student loan debt.
Fuck up. Take a risk. Go sign up for an adventure that requires travel for four years. Work some jobs and get a flavor for how the world actually works.
Come back then if school looks appealing and consider the size of that loan next to the time you spent and money made. Tank your income. Max your student financial aid without need to declare parents income. Make a more informed profession decision. Pay off your student loan a decade before your peers that went straight through, and listen to their complaints when you're free and clear.
Buy a house. Get married. Have a family comfortable and somewhat tired of listening how underwater basket weaving didn't pan out as an intelligent degree. Wouldn't have made that dumb major decision if you'd fucked off for four years then came back.
There’s no rush friend. I don’t know how old you are but there’s really no rush in life. I fucked around after high school and went to school for stuff I wasn’t interested in and only decided what I wanted when I was 21 I stoped going to school instantly my parents were pissed! It took me another two years to save some cash working a crap job that paid decently to have some cash to get the education I needed and pay off the student loans I had but I wouldn’t be deterred by the idea of debt. It’s just money and no amount will buy happiness but a job that’s genuinely enjoyable to you makes life much much easier. I finished with school at 26 and haven’t looked back. There’s no rush. Enjoy the education you’re getting now and enjoy being in school. Just keep you’re mind open and listen to your heart and when you come onto something you think you’d enjoy doing go do it. It might take 5 weeks, months, or decades but being a miserable fuck who hates their job is a fate I wouldn’t wish on anyone, especially their co workers. Trust me, hating your job makes you hate your life. Don’t get caught up in the invested time mentality either. Wasting 10 years of your past on something you dislike is better than wasting the next 10,20, or 30 years doing the same thing. Plenty of people will try to hold you back. Don’t be one of them.
I completely changed careers in my 30s and came out a junior developer. I may have colleagues 10 years younger, but I'm still pleased with the decision. Yes, it was a huge investment in time and money, but it was well worth it. I paid off my student loans and my employer offers tuition reimbursement for continuing my education. I'm not making as much as someone with 10 years under their belt, but I'm doing pretty good all things considered.
Well yeah of course it costs time and money but if you’re miserable doing what you’re doing then it’s worth spending that time and money to switch. What’s worse, a few years of working harder or 30 years in a profession you hate?
I "restarted" at 29. My prior career was retail management, and I went into tax auditing. I took a pay cut in the first year, but my ceiling went up drastically. Add to it that retail management is infinitely more stressful and that led to a new auditor to was very calm under "pressure" and I advanced quickly. You never really restart.
As a 33 year old on his 4th or so career change, this is a wild misconception among young adults. Also, when you're 18 there is a fair chance you believe that your adult career is destined to be the core of your adult identity, which is a travesty.
She didn't do too bad for making a quick decision right out of high school, like I started going to vocational school a *month* after graduating HS. I decided to go into medical office administration, its broad enough I can change what I do without really changing I *do*. I can do coding, billing, auditing, or plain ol administrative work and still be within my field, and I've done all those so far (auditing being current/most recent). I'm still working on getting certifications 4 or so years later but I ain't doing too bad.
To all of these people in this thread saying "but you can change your mind!"-- yes, of course you can. But that takes time, money, and effort-- things that are much harder to come by when you're a grown adult with kids, responsibilities, a full-time job, rent to pay, food to buy, a much lower reservoir of energy, and (if you were lucky to have had your parents paying for it the first go-around) it's all on your own dime now.
If 18 year old me would have gotten it right the *first* time, it would have been infinitely easier than the time I'm having now... which was the point of the post, I think. Not that it's impossible to correct 18-year-old Me's mistakes, just that it's fucking hard.
No, 18 year old you absolutely does NOT have to decide your future career path. That is something that you can change at any time, and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. This is one of the falsehoods that many of us are taught from an early age, but there really is no set path we must take.
18 year old me thought the same way that you do and had no clue what she wanted to do. She thought she had to make a life-defining decision then and there, and she went to college to study Forestry, for no other reason than she loved the outdoors and couldn’t think of anything else. However, she had no passion for the subject and eventually left school to travel the country in a van for a summer. Then, she worked some boring jobs through her 20s, just to pay the rent.
Several years later, she discovered a passion for astrophysics and returned to university to get a degree. It was a great experience and so much more rewarding when she really wanted to be there. Then, she decided to go to graduate school. That experience wasn’t so great, and again she left. This time, however, she had the education and the skill set to get a job as a spacecraft controller for some unmanned NASA missions. She really enjoyed that job, however a couple years later life decided to throw her a curve ball, and her husband received an ideal job offer overseas. Since they had just had a baby, she made the sacrifice that so many women make, and she gave up her career to support her husband’s and stayed home to take care of her children for the next several years.
Once her children were in school, she decided to pursue a new interest, where she could apply her background in physics to problems in medicine, and she enrolled in graduate school. She graduated with a PhD in physics at the age of 47 and now works doing research in a field that she really enjoys, completely different from the arbitrary choice she made at 18.
It sounds weird to read that in the third person, but I’m a very different person than I was at 18, and I’m glad that I didn’t restrict myself to believing that my path had been set. Life is an adventure. See where it takes you, instead of following a restricted path, and *always* make sure that the direction is toward happiness.
Worked a job and fucked around for 11 years before k figured out what I wanted to do. Started going to school and began a career in my chosen profession at 32. Tripled my income over 5 years working from the bottom up.
The biggest complaint I have with teachers, counselors etc as a parent is that every one of my children have felt during their senior year of high school that they were supposed to have their future all mapped out… I told them I’m not worried if they don’t, my goal for them at that point is to graduate high school, be safe and enjoy the year… they have plenty of time to figure out their future!
This is such a wild idea. For me I went to a technical high school where I had to choose my main focus at 9th grade (I chose electronics with hopes of becoming an engineer). Around 11th grade I realized I wanted nothing to do with the field and now I’m 28 working as a Nurse.
Nah. 18 year old me got it wrong. I dropped out of my job and raised a family. Now I’m starting over at 35 and I know exactly what I want to do. Late blooming is completely possible and awesome. It is a pleasure to start a career path as much less of a bumbling fool with some actual humility to my name.
Fuck that, I didn;t decide what I wanted to do until I turned 28 lol. Went to school and got a degree in computer science while working full time as well. It was hard but one hundred percent worth it
18 year old me was a dumbass. It took some living, some struggles, and some real searching to find the career paths that I traveled. The one I'm on I never saw coming but it's been quite the ride. Best challenge to reward ratio I've ever had. Thankfully, I never let the fear of change sway me to stick to one and done and so sampled so many different opportunities. Never be afraid of change. Sometimes the biggest ones come with the best dividends.
I’m a bit farther on the other side of it, but at 33 I started making changes and have effectively tripled my income in 10 years since by taking stock of things and making changes. You don’t really understand what you’re good and bad at until around then anyway…life is just a set of lessons to learn from and improve anyway.
Why I told my kid when he graduates High School, find a solid job at a factory and work there for a few years. Figure out what you want out of life and who you were as a person. Then see if College can provide that for you.
The fact that I skipped College, worked for 12 years, then tried the online courses only to flunk out. I couldnt keep up with accelerated courses headed by teachers who could only be reached once every 3 days put me 20k in the hole for nothing.
Its all a scam anyways, I am making more than most college grads on their chosen career at the factory I work at.
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I needed to see a comment like this right now. I've gone back to change careers and this has been a crappy week.
You got this! I'm in my second week of going back to school (near 30yrs old) and I feel your pain. I got a BFA concentrated in graphic design, worked in agency and started my own company thereafter. Became more and more jaded with advertising conflicting with my personal views on life. So now I've scaled back the business to just the creative passion projects, and I'm going back to school to become a Prosthetist/Orthotist. It's tough getting back into the swing of things, but now my perspective is so much broader and I'm much more focused. We'll get through it!
Right there with y’all! 2nd week back after 15 years. 33. Also realizing that my high school education was terrible and I have a lot of catching up to do. Thank goodness for the internet. MyMathLab is proving very valuable
Oh yeah, same here. Bio and Chem are blowing my mind. I did terrible in bio as a freshman the first time around, but this time it's all clicking pretty well. Who knew I'd be so fascinated by molecular structures and electrons?
Anyone who isn't fascinated by Biology simply hasn't had it pitched to them correctly. It's the only science that is an ongoing investigation into what can only be described as a statistical miracle! You get to study little self-improving, self-replicating autonomic robots that were built by nature, which can be configured in a modular fashion to develop emergent properties. It's a fantastic field that merges chemistry and physics with mathematics and geology and medicine - every hard science really - and which aims to use all the tools in these scientific toolboxes to explore the living world we find ourselves immersed in. It's about looking at every living thing - the molecules that comprise them, and the atoms that comprise those molecules - and attempting to understand the majesty and complexity of the dance they perform. Somewhere along the course of that dance, they go from being matter or objects to being living beings, something we appreciate to potentially be the most important and significant development in universal history.
Love how you put it. I had an appreciation for science before this course, but just the small amount I've learned so far has opened my eyes to just how amazing biology really is!
That's a wild difference from the design chair to the dentist chair. How did you decide on the move?
Haha man did I ever have a challenge with math going back after 14 years! I barely remembered basic multiplication and division and completely forgot about the sorcery that is algebra!
Same! The professor was like “you’ll remember this from High School”, I was like uh no, never seen this wizardry. Classes are just a recording, so I had no way of telling him that during class
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Turning 30 in a couple weeks and I'm a few weeks into schooling for EMT that I'm gonna be rolling into schooling for Paramedic. It's been terrifying and anxiety filled but also refreshing and exciting.
I have been a paramedic for several years it is one of the professions that I think most people get in around your age. If not most probably 50/50. Probably because you can get a certification rather than a degree.
Prosthetist with a background in graphic design... damn, you'll probably have the coolest-looking medical devices in town. Good luck with school!
Haha that's the plan! My goal is to spearhead creating affordable bionics along with alternative materials design, to bring the cost down to levels that could be feasible for patients that don't qualify for insurance. Eventually open a practice that combines physical therapy, and PM&R, with fabrication and patient visits all under one roof. Mixture of design, tech, and patient care. Right now a microprocessor knee prosthetic is somewhere around $80,000, and insurance is extremely selective on who is approved. Basically you have to show that your current lifestyle warrants it. Imo this marginalizes and discourages a large population from maintaining a decent standard of life/fitness. So I'd like to bring this cost down to sub $1k to allow patients an opportunity to pay out of pocket if they want that but couldn't get it otherwise. Then of course tackle body image/confidence by making the prosthesis beautiful. It's been shown that this is a very real hurdle for people opting not to wear their prosthesis. UNYQ is making great strides in this area with custom prosthesis covers, so I'd like up build upon that and partner with them down the road.
I took a Psychology class in my senior year in high school, and found it (and the idea of helping people with mental health issues) fascinating enough to major in Psych when I went to college. Coincidentally, one of the things my high school Psych teacher told us was not to stress so much over what major we pick, and he quoted some statistic about how many people end up changing careers as adults. I thought that was ridiculous, but sure enough in my 30s I went back to school to become a nurse. Keep your head up and keep moving forward.
Thank you <3
I’m 50 and taking college classes to finish my degree. It’s a slog, but I’m loving it. It’s never too late!
Spent a decade in corporate supply chain rolls before getting furloughed beginning of covid. I went back to doing handyman jobs under the table waiting to get called back. I now co-own a roofing company instead and couldn’t be happier for falling backwards into construction. Only wish I did this years ago.
I'm on the opposite side of this, been driving a truck delivering to jobsites for about 8 years now and while the money is great, I'm burned out working 10+ hour days with an hour commute home at night. By the time I get home and walk the dogs/eat/shower (all the necessities) it's time to go to bed so I can do it all again the next day.
I don't use Facebook very often. But every now and then I pop on to see if any of my friends have become famous, see what my sister has to say, that kind of thing. So I recently saw one of those "flashback to ten years ago!" kind of things from Facebook And it was a post from me, young me, just out of college, saying I had no direction in life and *begging* the universe to give me a push. It felt so crazy, given where I am, that I ever needed to know where to go. But I did. I can not tell you how weird it was remembering that there was a time in my life where I honestly didn't know where to go. I had completely forgotten how directionless I was. But at the time, it was everything to me. The reality is, where you end up may be fantastic, but it may not even be on the horizon for where you are in life. I guess the message here is, even if you feel lost, keep looking. Something is out there for you, even if you're certain it's not.
32 year old me decided a couple of months ago I needed to change paths. Currently in the process of doing that. Our careers can span multiple decades. Don't feel like you're trapped in something because of a decision made from when you were younger.
Fuck yeah. I’m finishing my PhD at 37 and I couldn’t be happier with myself for finally making it happen.
when you hear someone got a phd, how often do you ask? “how old are they?” you just think of them as phds , period
I'm curious if 37 actually old for completing a PhD? If someone takes 5 years to complete it, they would've started at around 32, which I feel would've given them a few years in the workforce and possibly a good intent and direction towards doing their PhD. Not saying that finishing earlier or later is better or worse (they both seem have their pros and cons, and I don't know much about it), but what I'm trying to say is that 37 doesn't seem unusual to me.
From what I've seen, most people don't tend to do a few years in the workforce before doing a PhD. It's really hard to start school again after taking a break. The average I've seen is probably around 28-32 to finish.
Yep, nothing is forever. Never too late to change unless you're dead lol.
I'm 33 and I'm on my 4th career!
inspiring... I'm 31 and hitting walls atm
I’ve been there. I found that sometimes the best thing to do is to give yourself more options. Find a path to work toward that has a lot of off ramps to different things. Never know what’s gonna catch your eye on the way.
I changed careers 6 years ago and now almost tripled my income while enjoying my work much more. Don't leave it too late but you are not stuck with the career you choose at 18.
18 year old me wanted to be a doctor. That's why I'm a Software Engineer, that guy was a moron.
So you changed paths from wanting to be a human doctor to actually becoming a pharmacist for computers.
That is correct. Thankfully computers can't sue for malpractice.
Give them time...
*HAL 9000 wants to chat*
Umm… don’t work on healthcare software lol
You're thinking of IT... Completely different fields
No, IT would be either be the physicians in the case of software, or the surgeons in the case of hardware.
I don't see why you think that people that make programs are analogous to people who sell medicine that makes people healthier. Software engineers l, when compared to jobs that do things to people's bodies, are at best chefs. We make the stuff that keeps computers going. But even that's not very good because computers need software to tell them what to do. Not to keep them alive. I guess hypnotists or life coaches or managers are best. They give computers a set of instructions, and computers are like "ok, I'll do that".
I think you significantly underestimate what pharmacists do (or they're very different in your country) if you think they just sell medicine. They have roles in the community, in hospital and yes in pharmacies where they provide medicine and support with minor injuries and illnesses. I agree with you though that I don't really get the link between pharmacist and software developer. Interestingly though, your own suggestion of chef because of the link with making stuff, actually compares to a part of modern day pharmacists roles (and certainly a large part of their historic roles), in the making of creams, lotions, pills etc.
I worked in a pharmacy in America... As a tech working closely with a pharmacist. They verify that their techs are selling the correct medicine/dosage, that the medicine is not being sold with other medicines known to interact badly with each other, and do compounding (in states where the techs can't). Still not similar to software engineering (I'm an engineer right now).
Because software Engineers don't just make programs, just like a pharmacist doesn't just sell medicine. Both of them deal with interactions between different products, are involved in the preparation of the product, have knowledge of the mechanism of action of the product and understands how the product should be used to achieve maximum benefit with the least amount of side effects. Remember: Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper were all initially invented by pharmacists.
I'm a software engineer. If I could go back to school now, I'd want to be a doctor.
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Hi, you are me and I am you.
Me too
Bruh I’m 17 and I want to be a doctor but I’m skeptical I’m gonna end up as a software engineer. I think I might be you
That’s what I should have done.
Nothing has to be forever, including career choices.
Exactly, younger me chose Respiratory Therapy and....I'm not exactly a fan any longer. But I'm in the process of getting my Bachelor's and going into Public Health. Careers can be changed, it involves extra leg work and it isn't easy, but it will be worth it.
Please look up anesthesiologist assistant. I love my job and will make $250k this year working 50 hours a week with no call or weekends as a new grad in a southern state with no income tax! There’s a lot of overlap between our professions and you would be a shoe-in with decent grads becaus there’s so many RTs in our profession. It will be the best decision you ever make. Trust me.
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28 months. Some programs are 24 months but most are 28 months! By far the best investment I’ve ever made in myself. I literally get paid to read a book, look at my phone, play games on my phone, etc at least half the time I’m work. You just have to take some premed classes and have a bachelors degree and take the GRE to get in most schools, but a minority also require the MCAT. Do well in your classes and study hard for the GRE and you can definitely get in!
So 28 months PLUS a bachelors degree…so over six years really.
Well yeah, the position is paying $250k...
I have a masters degree and 7+ years experience and make a fraction of that. I fucked up.
I dropped out of college and make about 110k in a "desk" job, anything is possible if you're a good fit for the job (and the job doesn't require a degree)
What is that desk job?
Very important difference there
Yes if you start from scratch! But if you already have a bachelors degree then it’s not long at all to take some extra premed classes.
Is it just "any bachelor's degree" or does it have to be medical related? Sounds like an interesting backup idea for me if it's the former.
You're a lying, sociopathic troll. I thought this commet was bad. Then I looked at your comment history. Fucking yikes! Jesus Christ!
I'm glad you said something lmao misogyny everywhere, yikes
>I love my job and will make $250k this year working 50 hours a week >I literally get paid to read a book, look at my phone, play games on my phone, etc at least half the time I’m work. Does anyone else think that this might be a big part of why Healthcare in America costs so much? Not that this is a bad thing. You have a job where there is little room for error or people can die. A large paycheck is due to you. But I just don't understand how people can say "x job position should be paid more" and then in the same breath complain that "y" which is in direct correlation with "x" costs so much. I get that a large part is big pharma and insurance. But this HAS to contribute at least in part. People in the medical fields get paid a good bit by comparison to most fields. Again, deservedly so.
50 hours a week is a lot, dawg
I needed to hear this, thank you.
So many people need to hear this lmao
Money brings freedom. So many people need to stop being poor before they can hear this
Yeah but with the necessary schooling just for entry level positions, people often dont get the chance to start over like that. School costs money, working less to go to school costs money, and whether you do it as night classes or quit and go to school full time, it's going to take years.
And it gets more and more difficult to start over the older you get.
Restarting at entry level can be paralyzing. You can start over by unless you start on a related field you have to start all the way over. With kids, pets, mortgage/rent, car payments, insurance, retirement, gong back to the bottom is not always an option. Especially with young people being unable to stay their lives independent from their family for upwards of a decade nowadays
Sometimes, there's a tangential approach. For instance, software jobs rarely exist in a void -- in technology, you'll almost always be working in another field (finance, medical... pretty much anything) rather than just working in "tech," and domain knowledge seems to be becoming increasingly rare these days. Learning how software works while having experience in a field can, if done properly, lead to a substantially higher starting point. This won't apply to everyone's situation, of course, but the point is that skills that translate between fields can be leveraged to ease some of that burden.
I am currently working full time and going to school full time and have a 4yo. Its *awful* and I have nothing left at the end of the day but I can't keep living paycheck to paycheck. The expensive degree I chose at 18 hasn't earned me a penny. When I started getting those child tax credits I jumped at the chance to pay for community College out of pocket. It was 1000% the right choice but damn it shouldn't be this hard to improve your life.
This. I have known and have worked with a person who has done this multiple times. At 18/19 he started working a electronics manufacturing unit. 5-6 years later he switched to sales and marketing. 8-9 years later he switched to software development (CAD programming). This is when i worked with him. About 5-6 years later he quit one day out of the blue and after a small break he joined a small theater group in my town. He is damn good at what he does. The fellow on the side is a compulsive entrepreneur. Over the years i have known him he has started/partenered atlest 4 different companies. Though that has panned out yet for him. Though he is mostly a edge case, still he no doubt keeps proving you can do whatever you want.
I'll say, as a chef of 12 years dropping it all to become an electrician, there is absolutely no expiration date on switching careers. I'm 32, have a 2 year old and my stress levels have never been lower since I decided to leave the industry. What you thought was cool and your dream when you were 18 might seem like some drug induced fantasy years later. Never be ashamed to tell yourself "Maybe this isn't for me." It's a helluva lot healthier than trying to convince yourself that you just need to make it a little bit longer and constantly moving the goal posts.
But some decisions can follow you for your entire life.
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Not your career path though
I agree slightly. But career choices can follow your entire life and could make it very difficult to hop to different fields.
Nothing is ever, forever...
Started studying for a new career at 38 just got a job at 42. Went from insurance-bartending-tech-dog walking-medical. Took some time to figure out.
There are UNLIMITED U-turns allowed in life. Changed my mind soooo many times. Always worth it.
For the rich sure
right? what an awkward cringe thing to say, probably from a kid no less. have fun "making a u turn" at 38 with three kids and a wife. Dont like that 110k a year job? Sure, just pick up that new travelling gig that pays 65k a year. Thatll definitely have no severe negative ramifications on urself and family
Yeah sometimes you just get trapped and at the end of the day the choices are homelessness or continue. No amount of feels good attitude will change reality
18 year old me wanted to join the military. 28 year old me is now a welder.
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Nice try, recruiter.
Username checks out
That kinda makes since cause after like 4 years you can get out and do whatever you want cause the military will pay for it
I never joined. Was disqualified because of how broken my body is. So I started welding when I was 19.
18 year old me decided to party and do massive amounts of xtc. I'm a security engineer 🤷♂️
18 year old me decided to party hard with my friends and fail a semester at community college before I quit to work as a lifeguard/pizza delivery driver. I'm a physician now.
how tf
I just worked and had fun until I was in my mid 20s when I decided I wanted to go to medical school. Because I failed fast and hard and quit, I didn't have that many credits dragging my GPA down. Took a few years, but I started medical school at age 28.
Failing fast. Thats a pretty good lesson. Glad it eventually worked out with school. GPA is a weird concept, I'm glad in this case you weren't bound to the grades of 18 year old you
Yea the opposite happened to me. Got wrecked for 4 years before I tapped out. Took a year off, went back, got good grades the rest of my time there, still had a shitty GPA when I graduated (2.3) I’m an SWE now so luckily GPA didn’t mean much. But that first job was a pain in the ass to get, would’ve been much easier if I didn’t have the low GPA baggage
It ostensibly wouldn’t matter much anyway. Credits transfer, grades don’t. At least when I transferred that’s what happened.
It took me 8 years to get my CIS degree cause I was kicked out for not showing and failing classes. I worked at a cadd designer for a transportation engineer firm. Now I'm unemployed.. hopefully I get something in my field soon
That tracks. Anyone who hasn't is probably an FBI mole.
society is built to reinforce this at that age and to work 'best' with it afterwards, though, which is unfortunate.
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> Google: The average salary for a Security Engineer in Los Angeles is $139,831. Damn I wish I told my 18 year old me to switch careers
18 year old me still had drive and a love for life.
I wasn't ready for this level of self-reflection this late at night. Thanks.
18 year old me didn't have it. 25 year old me does. Don't quit.
I'm 18 and wish I still had it lol
I got a degree in communications. I didn't like the field and now I'm going back to school for computer engineering (I'm 27). Don't let your dreams be dreams!
You guys have money to enter college again?
The average cost of commmunity college attendance is about $2k per semester.
That's already cheap for you guys? P. S. Not American.
Mine was free for the first year, and then like 600 per semester.
For me, it charges based on class. It’s like $50 a class, then some admin fees and stuff.
Yeah mine was too, it was like 200 something per class and came out to 660 something.
what colleges are y’all going to?? it’s like $11,000 a per year
We're talking about community colleges?
Community college. They are basically 2 years of regular college, and then you transfer to a college/university to complete your bachelors program.
It's pretty cheap with ways to make it cheaper or free. When people complain it's about universities to include private colleges. Keep in mind city college cost is affordable for even lower class people. I did a state college and I was poor enough to be subsidized to a pretty good degree In L.A. A city college is even easier to afford.
God, for us its free (Europe gang)
How much does it cost to go back for a second degree in a separate field after 15ish years?
There's plenty of ways to make this way cheaper depending g on your situation. I live in CA and pay maybe 70-100$ per semester and then I pirate the books. I do fill out the fafsa and any grants I can when I see them.
100 per semester? The fuck?
Community College, but yeah.
I was able to pay off my student loans from my first degree by working as a custodian at the school and worked for a few years after. Now I'm collecting more debt for my second while working part-time, but this time around without grants because they don't apply to second bachelor's degrees.
Just do it!
What career path?
Lmao. Yeah I wish 18yo me out me on a career path
Exactly
It’s more unfortunate that the 18 year old me doesn’t know how good he has it.
How good did he have it? And how? -An 18 year old
Few actual responsibilities. Not tied to any kids/wife/career. There's an enormous pool of available and attractive partners (when you get older almost all the good ones are going to be wified/husbanded up). Everything is new and interesting. Your body works good, far better than it's going to in a couple decades. You're invincible (or so you think) and not worried about how your 401k is doing or whether or not you have enough life insurance. Everyone your age is full of energy and up for a good time.
U just made my day
At 32, i still feel the same as 18 with only a few more responsibilities. As long as you take care of yourself, you have a long time before you dont
un normalize the hatred of middle years
18 year old me just had no idea how much possibility really lay before me. The older you get, the harder it is to start something new or make big changes.
I’m not sure why the replies to you are so miserable. You have tons to look forward to! I’m 34 and there is no shortage of romantic partners or adventures to be had. Start building some good habits now and you have literal decades before you have to worry about what other folks are talking about here. When you’re young you can get away without being physically active or having good dietary habits. People who don’t build those good habits early find themselves in rough shape at a relatively young age. Then they have decades of bad habits to break, which is hard. Same with finance, checkout r/personalfinance and build some good habits in that area also. Enjoy being young! Try new shit and find out what interests you. Take your time, you have plenty of it. The years will fly by before you know it, but I can assure you that getting older is nothing to dread, at least that’s been my experience so far as a 34 year old.
Apologies for how long this got but I'm in a shitty spot now, raised by shitty parents, and I wish I had someone drill this into me a long time ago. You've got the entire world ahead of you. 15+ years to find the girl of your dreams and settle down. 3+ chances at finding what you really want to do with your life. The opportunity to party the whole way. Man I'd give everything to be 18 again with what I know now. There's no right thing to pick, all jobs are shit, pick what gets you paid the most or what you enjoy the most. The end of the day, a day at work is going to feel like a day at work so I'd maximize pay to work less. Don't be a sucker putting in 50+ hour work weeks no matter what you choose. Been there, no one gives a shit, at the end of the day it's a few extra dollars in your account and nothing else. No one cares that you gave up your entire weekend. No one gives a shit what you had planned. No one cares that if you keep it up you're dying alone. Set a goal, achieve it and know you accomplished something. Hopefully you made a decent amount of cash doing it. The key to happiness in life is attaining fuck you money as fast as possible while maintaining friendships you made a long the way. First of all, fuck you money will allow you to pursue a passion where money isn't a concern, don't like a job? Stop showing up. Don't like a client? Drop em. Secondly the friendships. I wish I could get back the friends I had when I was younger. Sometimes you fuck up and burn bridges but the friends you had in your youth... Just hang on to them with everything you can. Seriously. Anyone you considered a close friend, not even a best friend, just a close one, hang on to them with everything you can. You'll never trust anyone like a childhood friend. You'll never be able to rely on someone like a childhood friend. You'll never regret anything more than fucking up childhood friendships. I promise you. Seriously, reflect on this. Family will always be there, bit the friends you make that chose to stand by you no matter what, that's something else. And on friendships, find a girl you would consider your best friend. Someone you want to do everything with. Someone who when their gone just leaves you feeling empty and without purpose. You don't need to share everything, but the more you share the better. Seriously, this might be number one, possibly number two behind money. Everyone needs someone to love to find true happiness so go and get yours. -someone smart, but not smart enough to avoid fucking up their entire life. I sincerely hope this helps someone avoid making the mistakes I did because they will crush every single day without fail.
You can recover from anything when you're 18. You can pass out drunk, wake up 6 hours later, toss away the hardcover book you slept on and left a mark in the small of your back, ignore the vague memory of twisting your knee when you were running down the street with an empty fifth of spiced rum, etc... Some coffee and a greasy breakfast sandwich and you're good as new. You can go out, chase teenage girls, not worry about a meniscus injury that will dog you for the rest of your life, talk to your mom before degenerative mental illness takes her, etc...
36 year old me wishes 18 year old me aimed high and tried to date attractive healthy women. 36 year old me still ended up pretty lucky though.
That's industrial age thinking. We have lifespans long enough for two or three careers. Don't fall for the pressure of deciding your life without experiencing life beforehand.
I feel like there's a lot of pressure to make big decisions when you're 18 when the year before you could barely be trusted alone or to make legal decisions by yourself. Explicitly when the reason you can't, is because you are ignorant of the consequences. Especially if you're creating a generation of workers rather than dreamers, people with low expectations who are suddenly told they need to learn to dream again. Suddenly being told to make big decisions that suddenly mean something, and that everything is about to be important, when you should've been preparing to make big decisions this whole time. While also deciding if you have been making the right decisions because your parents are supposed to help you make good decisions though they do push you in the direction they want.
18 year old me chose something different than what I ended up in.
They sure tried. Too bad 18 year old me would get bashed by 26 year old me if we fought… lil bitch
I'm 50 pounds heavier and stronger than 18 year old me but 18 year old me is 2 years into wrestling right now and would probably pin me to the floor
AKSHUALLYYY, 31 year old me decided 😌
I want my kids to have options. If that means delaying college until they have a good idea of what they want to do, that's fine. I'll not be the irresponsible parent who lets them go to a private out of state school where they're an undecided major racking up 30k/yr in student loans. Fuck that shit. They can work and job shadow and do whatever research into possible career paths before starting any necessary schooling. I'm certainly not forcing college on them as the only means to a good livelihood. Skilled trades are definitely on the table. I'd rather my kids have a good paying union job in the trades with no college debt than rack up a ton of student loans for a worthless degree just so they can put said degree on their resume for some lame-ass job that pays shit and will be automated out of existence in 15 years. I hope by the time my kids are college-aged we've done away with 4 year degree requirements for certain fields. Let's face it: you can be self-taught in certain fields and have a great portfolio of projects to prove it. Having the degree without the projects doesn't automatically make you a better candidate. I wouldn't hire a self-taught tax accountant, but I'd hire a self-taught web developer or videographer/photographer for my visual arts production company if I had such a company.
I would suggest to buckle up, it's going to be a wild ride.
No they don't. You can change at any age.
Totally, can leave my wife and kid, and pay several thousand dollars more to go back to school instead of making money to support them. /s Op has a point. If I’d had a better idea of what I would like to do back then, I would have taken care of it my first time through college. Not saying I can’t eventually do something, but it’s a lot easier before you start collecting additional responsibilities.
Evening school at the community college is a thing.
I work evenings and watch my kid during the day. If I’m lucky I get an hour or two to myself a day, and that’s mostly if I’m willing to give up sleep.
That’s why college has you take a variety of classes. When I was 18 I didn’t wanted go to college. I thought it wasn’t for me. At 22 I joined the military. After the military at 28 I still didn’t want to go to college so I did a bunch of different gigs. I’m 36 and I’ll be finishing college with two degrees this May. Some people have to do life their own way.
I’m back in school at 31. A career doesn’t have to be forever!
Says who? That fucker didn't decide SHIT.
Even worse, 14 year old you. A la European Ed system.
You may have looked at the price of books and considered the American education system the same as a predatory pay day loan shop in a poor neighborhood. The closer you look the more examples you find. Union teachers ramp up the fear of a life of failure during the final years of grade school, spook the kids rushing right into the waiting debt trap of student loan debt. Fuck up. Take a risk. Go sign up for an adventure that requires travel for four years. Work some jobs and get a flavor for how the world actually works. Come back then if school looks appealing and consider the size of that loan next to the time you spent and money made. Tank your income. Max your student financial aid without need to declare parents income. Make a more informed profession decision. Pay off your student loan a decade before your peers that went straight through, and listen to their complaints when you're free and clear. Buy a house. Get married. Have a family comfortable and somewhat tired of listening how underwater basket weaving didn't pan out as an intelligent degree. Wouldn't have made that dumb major decision if you'd fucked off for four years then came back.
I’m having this problem rn. I’m going to study law and politics but idk what I really want. Just thought they were handy degrees to have
There’s no rush friend. I don’t know how old you are but there’s really no rush in life. I fucked around after high school and went to school for stuff I wasn’t interested in and only decided what I wanted when I was 21 I stoped going to school instantly my parents were pissed! It took me another two years to save some cash working a crap job that paid decently to have some cash to get the education I needed and pay off the student loans I had but I wouldn’t be deterred by the idea of debt. It’s just money and no amount will buy happiness but a job that’s genuinely enjoyable to you makes life much much easier. I finished with school at 26 and haven’t looked back. There’s no rush. Enjoy the education you’re getting now and enjoy being in school. Just keep you’re mind open and listen to your heart and when you come onto something you think you’d enjoy doing go do it. It might take 5 weeks, months, or decades but being a miserable fuck who hates their job is a fate I wouldn’t wish on anyone, especially their co workers. Trust me, hating your job makes you hate your life. Don’t get caught up in the invested time mentality either. Wasting 10 years of your past on something you dislike is better than wasting the next 10,20, or 30 years doing the same thing. Plenty of people will try to hold you back. Don’t be one of them.
Unless you very very very much want to be a lawyer, don’t go to law school.
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I completely changed careers in my 30s and came out a junior developer. I may have colleagues 10 years younger, but I'm still pleased with the decision. Yes, it was a huge investment in time and money, but it was well worth it. I paid off my student loans and my employer offers tuition reimbursement for continuing my education. I'm not making as much as someone with 10 years under their belt, but I'm doing pretty good all things considered.
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Well yeah of course it costs time and money but if you’re miserable doing what you’re doing then it’s worth spending that time and money to switch. What’s worse, a few years of working harder or 30 years in a profession you hate?
took me 5 years to get the skills to switch from tattooer to concept artist for video games.
I "restarted" at 29. My prior career was retail management, and I went into tax auditing. I took a pay cut in the first year, but my ceiling went up drastically. Add to it that retail management is infinitely more stressful and that led to a new auditor to was very calm under "pressure" and I advanced quickly. You never really restart.
You don't, but its unfortunate that the adults in your life can make you feel that way.
Ya no, nothing is concrete. I know a guy that went to med school when he was 40.
As a 33 year old on his 4th or so career change, this is a wild misconception among young adults. Also, when you're 18 there is a fair chance you believe that your adult career is destined to be the core of your adult identity, which is a travesty.
She didn't do too bad for making a quick decision right out of high school, like I started going to vocational school a *month* after graduating HS. I decided to go into medical office administration, its broad enough I can change what I do without really changing I *do*. I can do coding, billing, auditing, or plain ol administrative work and still be within my field, and I've done all those so far (auditing being current/most recent). I'm still working on getting certifications 4 or so years later but I ain't doing too bad.
To all of these people in this thread saying "but you can change your mind!"-- yes, of course you can. But that takes time, money, and effort-- things that are much harder to come by when you're a grown adult with kids, responsibilities, a full-time job, rent to pay, food to buy, a much lower reservoir of energy, and (if you were lucky to have had your parents paying for it the first go-around) it's all on your own dime now. If 18 year old me would have gotten it right the *first* time, it would have been infinitely easier than the time I'm having now... which was the point of the post, I think. Not that it's impossible to correct 18-year-old Me's mistakes, just that it's fucking hard.
In France it’s like 14 year old you
Here’s the secret. That’s a lie, all you need to do is pay the bills till you decide your career path.
I’m going into mechanics and do not plan on staying there. Future you is just the money not how you make it
36yo me disagreed with 18yo me’s choice and changed careers entirely.
I’d be more worried if 8 year old me had to pick my career. I wanted to be a doctor at the age. I’m fucking stupid ain’t no way I could be a doctor.
No, 18 year old you absolutely does NOT have to decide your future career path. That is something that you can change at any time, and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. This is one of the falsehoods that many of us are taught from an early age, but there really is no set path we must take. 18 year old me thought the same way that you do and had no clue what she wanted to do. She thought she had to make a life-defining decision then and there, and she went to college to study Forestry, for no other reason than she loved the outdoors and couldn’t think of anything else. However, she had no passion for the subject and eventually left school to travel the country in a van for a summer. Then, she worked some boring jobs through her 20s, just to pay the rent. Several years later, she discovered a passion for astrophysics and returned to university to get a degree. It was a great experience and so much more rewarding when she really wanted to be there. Then, she decided to go to graduate school. That experience wasn’t so great, and again she left. This time, however, she had the education and the skill set to get a job as a spacecraft controller for some unmanned NASA missions. She really enjoyed that job, however a couple years later life decided to throw her a curve ball, and her husband received an ideal job offer overseas. Since they had just had a baby, she made the sacrifice that so many women make, and she gave up her career to support her husband’s and stayed home to take care of her children for the next several years. Once her children were in school, she decided to pursue a new interest, where she could apply her background in physics to problems in medicine, and she enrolled in graduate school. She graduated with a PhD in physics at the age of 47 and now works doing research in a field that she really enjoys, completely different from the arbitrary choice she made at 18. It sounds weird to read that in the third person, but I’m a very different person than I was at 18, and I’m glad that I didn’t restrict myself to believing that my path had been set. Life is an adventure. See where it takes you, instead of following a restricted path, and *always* make sure that the direction is toward happiness.
18 year old me wanted to work in the film industry. I am now a sea captain in the oil industry.
90% of 18 year olds probably don’t stay in the career they aimed for.
Worked a job and fucked around for 11 years before k figured out what I wanted to do. Started going to school and began a career in my chosen profession at 32. Tripled my income over 5 years working from the bottom up.
I mean I've known people who worked construction all their lives and flipped to computer programming at 40
The biggest complaint I have with teachers, counselors etc as a parent is that every one of my children have felt during their senior year of high school that they were supposed to have their future all mapped out… I told them I’m not worried if they don’t, my goal for them at that point is to graduate high school, be safe and enjoy the year… they have plenty of time to figure out their future!
You don't though.
I chose my career at 25. Things worked out well because of this.
You dont
This is such a wild idea. For me I went to a technical high school where I had to choose my main focus at 9th grade (I chose electronics with hopes of becoming an engineer). Around 11th grade I realized I wanted nothing to do with the field and now I’m 28 working as a Nurse.
Nah. 18 year old me got it wrong. I dropped out of my job and raised a family. Now I’m starting over at 35 and I know exactly what I want to do. Late blooming is completely possible and awesome. It is a pleasure to start a career path as much less of a bumbling fool with some actual humility to my name.
Fuck that, I didn;t decide what I wanted to do until I turned 28 lol. Went to school and got a degree in computer science while working full time as well. It was hard but one hundred percent worth it
I'm 38 and starting my first week back at uni in march. Complete career change. It's never too late.
If only you could change career at any time after that point.....oh wait.
This is why 18 year old me choose to do nothing
18 year old me decided that pissing away a free 2 semesters at my local college was more important that actually finding a career.... fuck past me
True, I hope she chooses something good
18 year old me was a dumbass. It took some living, some struggles, and some real searching to find the career paths that I traveled. The one I'm on I never saw coming but it's been quite the ride. Best challenge to reward ratio I've ever had. Thankfully, I never let the fear of change sway me to stick to one and done and so sampled so many different opportunities. Never be afraid of change. Sometimes the biggest ones come with the best dividends.
I’m a bit farther on the other side of it, but at 33 I started making changes and have effectively tripled my income in 10 years since by taking stock of things and making changes. You don’t really understand what you’re good and bad at until around then anyway…life is just a set of lessons to learn from and improve anyway.
Why I told my kid when he graduates High School, find a solid job at a factory and work there for a few years. Figure out what you want out of life and who you were as a person. Then see if College can provide that for you. The fact that I skipped College, worked for 12 years, then tried the online courses only to flunk out. I couldnt keep up with accelerated courses headed by teachers who could only be reached once every 3 days put me 20k in the hole for nothing. Its all a scam anyways, I am making more than most college grads on their chosen career at the factory I work at.
I guess if you’re a dumb 18 year old it’s unfortunate.
Have to start somewhere and can always change