I did not "choose" my career path. It chose me. My degrees and my early career were my attempt at choosing and forcing myself to do what I thought I wanted to do. Those days were ok, and I made a ton of money, but my life wasn't happy or fulfilled. I found my current role when my industry tanked and I was forced out of it. From that day forward my chosen path was one of accepting opportunities that were presented to me. I love what I do. I love the challenge of it. I love helping people and fixing problems and accomplishing things for people where others said no or told them it wasn't possible. My life is far less stressful now that I control my job 100%.

I believe in taking opportunities when they are offered. If it sucks, fine, create new opportunities and keep chugging along.

It may depend on where you are in life, but I would encourage you to not take the "grind it out" path

If you don't like it now, you'll likely hate it in 5 more years and by that time it may be too late to change.

Take the risk and make the change.

If you don't know what you want to do, try a bunch of different things until you figure it out.

Prior to doing what I've been doing for the past 26 years, I tried a bunch of different things:

• Worked retail in High School at a drugstore - don't want to be in retail and don't want to deal with sick people. Could have gone to school to become a pharmacist but that is a career that starts out high and tops out quick.
• Worked construction in college - liked pouring concrete, didn't care for duct work, definitely could pay the bills.
• Served in the Army - definitely a solid foundation and I loved being in a Tank unit but, you can't do that forever
• Drove a School Bus - liked driving, didn't care so much for disciplining 7th & 8th graders
• Worked as a substitute teacher for about 4 months - Didn't mind teaching, but dealing with disciplining kids and refereeing was a hassle. Plus the pay was never going to be great even if I went full-time.
• Worked as an Environmental Engineer - relevant to my degree and had real promise for a long-term career with decent pay but would need to pay a lot of dues along the way.
• Morphed into IT work - Got stuck putting my Environmental Engineering department's data on this new thing called the World Wide Web. Wasn't what I set out to do but it was something that was useful and for whatever reason, it just clicked with me. I had to learn a lot to do it successfully but, it was something I was good at and others weren't.

Once I moved into IT as a career, I gravitated towards the back end server side of things and found a niche that I was good at and others weren't willing to do. And as it turned out, it paid pretty well.

After I mastered that, I was able to move into a Professional Services job which required flying around the USA and telling other people how they should be doing things based on what I had learned the hard way.

I really enjoyed that. But, nothing lasts forever and eventually, I moved into a Sales Engineer role. Eventually got laid off and went back to the Data Center to repeat the whole cycle again. Learning more and more stuff along the way.

Long story short:

• Find something you're good at and others aren't.
• Something where you can differentiate yourself.
• Always be learning and improving.
• Make connections with people whether they're colleagues or customers.
• Figure out how you can add to the bottom line and help your employer turn a profit.

Also, decide if you want to be tied to a single location, or if you want some career portability.

Example - You can be a teacher or nurse anywhere.
But if you want to be a ski lift operator, you're going to have to live near a ski resort. And they don't have many of those in warm climates.

You also need to decide if you want to focus on your family, or your career, or a mix.

If I had stayed working for The State of Texas and serving in the National Guard, I probably could have coached all of my kids sports every year.

But, when I had a job where I had to travel a lot, I couldn't really coach anything if I had to be on the road during the week.

Back to the figuring out what you're good at.

I've got a HS friend who is a fantastic guitar player. But, he's never been in a band, never willing to toss caution to the wind and move to LA seeking fame and fortune.

So, he's a guitar tech at Guitar Center, or something like that. He gets to work with guitars every day and for him, that's what he wants. But, it has taken him years of practice to get as good as he is on the guitar. So, there's no free lunch.

Good Luck trying to figure it all out.

The hardest part is knowing when to jump from one thing to the next.

Rudyjax said:

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Capitol Ag said:

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Rudyjax said:

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sometimes it's the only thing you're good at.

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I think one can train and teach themselves anything if they are interested enough. It is work, no doubt, but a lot of people spend a lot of time shooting for the mediocre b/c they doubt themselves too much. I have been a guilty of this as well. The whole "who am I to ask for that type of career" type. But really, the ones who do acheieve "that type of career", the one they would actually love to have, weren't afraid top try it, to fail (multiple times if need be) and keep going. It's a lot of work, but worth it. Sure, if you need money, and who doesn't, do what you are good at to get paid. But in the meantime, work towards the bigger goal behind the scenes.

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yeah, there's truth to that, but i'm a huge believer in strength based learning and roles.

A lot of being good at something is because of the interest level.

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Also having the opportunity to fail and learn from it.

As an example, after 10 years of experimentation, I'm pretty good at cooking brisket.

But, I've ruined a lot of meat during that learning phase.

Since this is a self-funded hobby, it took a lot longer.
If you're doing it everyday, you'd get good at it much faster.

But, you might have to put in some outside study if it's going to be your career.

Like with my brisket game, I've listened to podcasts, watched YouTube, even gone to an all day seminar.

You also need to be careful about who you follow and listen to.

In my real job, the guys that are always running around selling the latest buzzwords are usually totally full of crap.

In my brisket cooking hobby, I've heard all kinds of stupid methods and techniques that don't really work.

HollywoodBQ said:

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If you don't know what you want to do, try a bunch of different things until you figure it out.

Prior to doing what I've been doing for the past 26 years, I tried a bunch of different things:

• Worked retail in High School at a drugstore - don't want to be in retail and don't want to deal with sick people. Could have gone to school to become a pharmacist but that is a career that starts out high and tops out quick.
• Worked construction in college - liked pouring concrete, didn't care for duct work, definitely could pay the bills.
• Served in the Army - definitely a solid foundation and I loved being in a Tank unit but, you can't do that forever
• Drove a School Bus - liked driving, didn't care so much for disciplining 7th & 8th graders
• Worked as a substitute teacher for about 4 months - Didn't mind teaching, but dealing with disciplining kids and refereeing was a hassle. Plus the pay was never going to be great even if I went full-time.
• Worked as an Environmental Engineer - relevant to my degree and had real promise for a long-term career with decent pay but would need to pay a lot of dues along the way.
• Morphed into IT work - Got stuck putting my Environmental Engineering department's data on this new thing called the World Wide Web. Wasn't what I set out to do but it was something that was useful and for whatever reason, it just clicked with me. I had to learn a lot to do it successfully but, it was something I was good at and others weren't.

Once I moved into IT as a career, I gravitated towards the back end server side of things and found a niche that I was good at and others weren't willing to do. And as it turned out, it paid pretty well.

After I mastered that, I was able to move into a Professional Services job which required flying around the USA and telling other people how they should be doing things based on what I had learned the hard way.

I really enjoyed that. But, nothing lasts forever and eventually, I moved into a Sales Engineer role. Eventually got laid off and went back to the Data Center to repeat the whole cycle again. Learning more and more stuff along the way.

Long story short:

• Find something you're good at and others aren't.
• Something where you can differentiate yourself.
• Always be learning and improving.
• Make connections with people whether they're colleagues or customers.
• Figure out how you can add to the bottom line and help your employer turn a profit.

Also, decide if you want to be tied to a single location, or if you want some career portability.

Example - You can be a teacher or nurse anywhere.
But if you want to be a ski lift operator, you're going to have to live near a ski resort. And they don't have many of those in warm climates.

You also need to decide if you want to focus on your family, or your career, or a mix.

If I had stayed working for The State of Texas and serving in the National Guard, I probably could have coached all of my kids sports every year.

But, when I had a job where I had to travel a lot, I couldn't really coach anything if I had to be on the road during the week.

Back to the figuring out what you're good at.

I've got a HS friend who is a fantastic guitar player. But, he's never been in a band, never willing to toss caution to the wind and move to LA seeking fame and fortune.

So, he's a guitar tech at Guitar Center, or something like that. He gets to work with guitars every day and for him, that's what he wants. But, it has taken him years of practice to get as good as he is on the guitar. So, there's no free lunch.

Good Luck trying to figure it all out.

The hardest part is knowing when to jump from one thing to the next.

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Lots of good stuff here. I think lots of people chase their dream/passion job and are unhappy when they never find it - or when it doesn't align with their desired work/life balance, or salary expectations, or whatever.

I'm successful in my career and would be happy if I stay in this role I'm at in my 40s for another 15 years then retire. But I've gotten here by setting aside the dream of loving every moment of work, and instead focusing on something I'm exceptional at that brings value. It's not the favorite thing I've ever done. In some ways I've had a sideways career path to get where I'm at. But I enjoy my work and I'm paid well for it.

I decided that was figuring it out for me. A career where I can comfortably send my kids to college, do the kind of travel I like, let my wife volunteer and work as part time as she likes, and have a decent retirement.

And as a bonus, I'm working for an organization I believe in, doing the kind of work I'm really good at. That works for me.

I see a lot of younger and early to mid-career level people who are wildly unhappy because they aren't in their dream job. Or they aren't willing to work in less desirable roles to truly understand the business so they have the context to work and lead strategically later in their career. That wasn't always the most fun. I willingly, intentionally worked for the worst manager I've ever had in a niche area so I could fill in a knowledge gap. Now she's long gone, and I manage that function, along with the rest of my area. I doubt I could have gotten here without that experience.

I think that was figuring it out for me. Learning that I needed to develop myself so that I could have a highly valued set of skills that would compensate me well enough to allow me to live the kind of life I wanted.