What age were you when you realized what you wanted to do for a living?

[Lethe]

I was just curious to know how long it took everyone to find out what they like doing.

Did you have a different career starting out and then switched later on in life?
Were you one of those people that "always" knew what they wanted to do when they grew up?
Does anyone really know what they want to do until their mid-late twenties?
Do you wish you could change your job now?
Do you think that liking your occupation is unimportant?

[mainegreen]

1. Six. When I wrote my first program.

I'm still doing it.

[Maestro]

49. Computer program?

in Basic or what? Six years old? Wow you must be a phenom.

[FILAM23]

2. Guess I was 20

been in health care ever since (35 years now)

[HEyHEY]

3. 18 or so

I think. I wanted to be a chef until grade 12. Then I went for journalism. But when I was a little kid I wanted to be a reporter so who knows.

[ccjlld]

4. You mean I had a choice?

Damn, 26 years down the drain!

No, seriously, I just fell into my job. Didn't even know I would like it until I started. Data Center Technician isn't something a lot of kids know exist let alone want to be. However, I must love it, been here for 26 years!

:crazy:

[Lady Freedom]

5. 14 years old

when my parents gave me a 110 camera for my birthday!

[LiberalHeart]

6. I don't remember the age; it was when I learned to read.

Wanted to be a writer. Became one. Still am all these decades later. Love it. Wouldn't change for anything. Never understood people who didn't "always know" what they should be doing. Too foreign to my experience for me to get.

[seemunkee]

7. first career 20

I built custom furniture for 15 years and then went into computer work. It got to the point I hated my clients so I went for some computer training. I make a hell of a lot more money now and have time to do things I love. I've thought of starting a brewpub or a microbrewery but I'm to comfortable to make the switch.
I think you got to like your job or you'll be miserable all the time.

[StellaBlue]

8. 27

I am 27.

[Reverend_Smitty]

9. 16

I was a sophomore in high school and took a sports medicine class. I knew after the first day of school that it was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I always had an interest in medicine and sports, so it was a natural fit for me. I spent just about every day after school in the training room for the next three years, majored in it in college and here I am today. In love with the profession as much as I was as a 16 year old. I was very lucky to stumble upon a passion in my life at such an early age

[Xipe Totec]

10. I'll let you know when I figure it out n/t

[SKKY]

11. I was 34...

I had the opportunity to teach some lower-income individuals in Spain about network security and hackers and things like that, and it was at that
moment I realized I wanted to be a teacher. Can't really explain it other than to say I had the same feeling when I met my wife. I just knew
she was the one. I have that same feeling about teaching.

[bigwillq]

12. 15 or 16

And I am doing what I wanted to do although lately I hate my job

[trof]

13. 27 or 28.

[cobalt1999]

14. I'm 45 and still haven't figured it out.

In college I changed majors every year. Eventually started taking the same classes as my girlfriend until "I figured it out", eventually graduated with 2 degrees only because I had enough credits, not because that was my "final" choice.

Got a job by accident, stayed with it for 20 years now waiting to find something I want to do for a career.

Now, I'm committed to just doing 10 more years when I'll be able to retire...maybe then I'll figure it out.

[skygazer]

15. I knew what I wanted to do when I was 8 years old

I wanted to be a veterinarian. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I ended up dropping out of school, becoming a mother at 19 and working my tail off at a number of dead end jobs to support my kids and keep one step ahead of disaster.

I'm now 45, have a bit more security and stability, the kids are all grown and I work retail. I don't hate it, I don't love it. I don't think liking your occupation is unimportant - in the best of worlds, you can love what you do. But I don't think it's a requirement either. Sometimes you have to do things you don't really care for in order to simply provide the things you need.

Would I rather be a vet? Yeah, I would. But regret is a waste of time.

[NewWaveChick1981]

16. My career found me.

I was 22 and had graduated from UNC-CH with a BA in psychology. I had NO idea what I wanted to do. I found a job in the financial aid office there, and I started at total entry level (the assistant to the director's assistant). The more I was in that office, the more I realized that I wanted to be there. I climbed up the ladder in the student financial aid field, and in some cases, moving up meant moving out, and I have worked at five different schools. Over a 20-year period from 1985 to 2005, I went through the whole hierarchy and ended up as a director for seven years. During that time, I got my master's degree in higher ed administration. A year ago, I left my director's position to take a job in a related field but away from academe, and I have found out that I really DO belong in a college/university setting. I'm actively looking for a way to return. :)

I have found out some valuable things over that 20-year period. 1) I have to LOVE my work. And in order for me to LOVE it, it has to be meaningful. To be meaningful, it has to contribute to the greater good and it has to make a difference in at least one person's life. 2) I detest "corporate America." I cannot STAND the gibberish officespeak I have heard so much, especially over the last year. Working for a corporation over this last year has been a real eye-opener, and I realize I belong in the academic setting instead. 3) Money isn't everything. While I appreciate money as much as anyone else, I worked for 20 years in a notoriously mediocre-paying field, but the work was extremely satisfying. It's like being a teacher---you don't do it for the money. Happiness and satisfaction mean more to me than high pay. 4) I have to be able to live with myself at the end of the day. If corporate assholes ask me to do something I have an ethical problem with, that puts me in a precarious position. My ethics mean more to me than that. 5) I like being able to cut through the bullshit and give someone an expert, no-frills answer to his or her question and do it in a tactful, empathetic way. I learned how to do that in my 20 years in financial aid, and I had the total respect of my peers and of the many students and parents I served. They knew they could ask me a question and get a straight answer, and if I didn't know the answer, I'd find it for them.

But that's just me... :)

[radwriter0555]

17. What's a career? So far I've sort of managed to make some money

at stuff I'm sort of good at, but more lucky than anything else.

I seem to have a good sense about marketing and shopping apparently.

And trends.

I'm over 40... do I need an actual career?

Is it really that important?

[Blue_In_AK]

18. I still haven't...

I'll be 60 next week.

[Arkham House]

19. I'll let you know when I find out...

:eyes:

[sweetheart]

20. do you mean like what is the dharma?

If there is a right way in life, a right soul in this moment, and in very moment, for
every object on earth, a sacred path coded in to the soul, that a person can't but follow
their own inner voice; and adharma when someone goes against that right.
Does conscience come from within, and if it does, does it manifest as career?
Is how you make money any statement on your soul?
Does it change over a lifetime, shifting the frame to 'passages'.
Does one's occupation have to do with money, or the approach we take, individually
in our best respect?

Then say to not pay for an iraq war crime, a worker went off the grid, and stopped
doing what they expected, just stopped coming in to the job after decades of the
same cubicle, hello good morning bob. Then is the career changed, or the job?

yes, i was about 20 when i realized that survival was not 'a living', but in making
'a living' and discovering corporate work culture, every cult being different with
their own gods and coffee machine, oracle worshipping ellison, fox worshipping murdoch,
and that i certainly wanted no part of their religion, just a paycheque.

[reyd reid reed]

21. I'll let you know...

:D

:hi:

[WCGreen]

22. Ask me tomorrow....

[idgiehkt]

23. same here.

I know what I want to do/but people don't eat doing it.

So I guess it's two questions for me.

[LaurenG]

24. I always wanted to be a doctor , since anout age 4

I still would if I thought I could be of assistance to others. I am in the healthcare field though so I came close.

[eyesroll]

25. 29.

I taught high school for a year out of college (that didn't go well), then spent the next several years as an editor trying to find out what it was I did want to do. A not-so-good review at my editor job got me off my ass and actually doing something about it. I registered for the LSAT and took a tour of the local law school.

I'm now a 1L, and in May 2009, I'll be a lawyer of some sort.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. 8

[RetroLounge]

27. 45

:D

and I am beginning to take the steps to do it...

RL

[benny05]

28. Didn't have an age

Just kept using my background. Going to a professional school helped me figure out a career path, but I get to decide today.

Thus..

Today, I'm keeping myself at the "dead end" of my path because I have expertise no one else does and won't for the next 10 years easily. Not bragging, just glad I can help others with what I do, help others along, and try to build on the expertise.

There are some young bucks getting ahead of me. I'm OK as I am more "close to the customer" oriented and they are not.

[qnr]

29. 5, no, yes, yes, no, no n/t

[MoseyWalker]

30. as of October 1st

I will have spent 21 years in social services. I'm pretty much fried, mentally and physically.

[baldguy]

31. When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut.

I'm 42, and NASA hasn't given me a call yet.

[Book Lover]

32. About 12

No - I've always been in publishing
Mostly - I wanted to be a doctor when I was really young
Sometimes
Sort of - I want to move up but after some soul-searching I realized that I want to stay in publishing, or at least book-making
Depends on the person and how much the job takes out of you.

[bluethruandthru]

33. From the time I was in Middle School

I wanted to be a Social Worker (always been a do-gooder) and I went to college to do just that. But, after working some different types of jobs, I finally ended up in Radio...and here I remain after 20 years. ...and I love it!

[pauliedangerously]

34. Hmmm, very interesting

I don't think 'realize' fits the question for me because I've never really considered a particular job in that way. I work for buckies and I've had roughly three dozen jobs in the last 22 years. I'm finally at one that pays me well enough to not be under any financial stress, and I've been there for six years; my longest ever.

I've enjoyed all of my jobs pretty much. There's a thought process behind every one of them and they all perform a particular function. I've found that the experience you get, regardless of what job you have, is valuable and builds upon itself.

I probably won't have to make any more cross industry career moves. I work with internet stuff and I think it's pretty cool. I think I want to finish my career off being a teacher. I think I would be a very good one. I've been doing a lot of one-on-one training at work this year and people tell me I know my stuff and I explain it very well. I get a lot of gratification out of that.

[mopinko]

35. 52- still waiting

i think this one will stick- artist. but that's only because artists get to pick up new things and put down the ones they are tired of.

[Nikia]

36. I'm 28 and I don't think that I want to do what I am doing now

I think that there is something seriously wrong with the food processing industry that I will never be in a position to fix.
The latest thing that I really want to do is to be a lawyer and specialize in employment law, on the side of the employee. I have also wanted to be a writer (novelist or magazine), librarian, artist, microbiologist, ecologist, chemical engineer, and counselor in the past couple years.
I told my husband a few weeks ago that I wanted to be a stay at home mother (We don't actually have any children yet). He asked if I was serious. I said that I wasn't sure.

[wildhorses]

37. I'll let you know when I figure it out...

just cos I'm working don't mean I'm making a living doing what I want to do. Problem is I want to do it ALL....

yeah, I know...I'm screwed :shrug:

[femmocrat]

38. I went to school before "women's lib"......

so the only options we had were: get married and have kids, nurse, teacher, secretary, or salesclerk.

I wanted to be in the foreign service. I really did... I even majored in international relations for awhile. But I ended up taking the traditional route and became a teacher... because it seemed more secure. I've never done anything else, so I don't really have anything to compare it to.

In retrospect, I wish young women of my generation would have had the myriad opportunities and role models that women have today. I did not know one female lawyer, doctor, veterinarian, business owner, engineer, scientist, or police officer until I was in my 20s.

Never forget those pioneering women who entered those fields in the 1950s, 60s and 70s!!

[elocs]

39. I'm 54 and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

So I think I'll just work at what I feel like doing when I feel like doing it. I owe nothing to no man, or woman, or bank, and life is inexpensive and simple--just as I like it.

[Kali]

40. Probably knew at a very young age, but did not articulate it.

Loved the ranch with all my heart as a kid - couldn't wait for the school year to get over so we could come spend the summer here.

As a teen I began to have various ambitions - vet, lawyer, some type of scientist...not realizing that Grandpa was mortal and eventually would not be the person who ran the ranch. Thas someone would have to take over. (my parent was an only child and left the ranch for city life) We moved here to care for him in his last few years. And that is when I realized this is where I always was supposed to end up.

So I knew intuitively as a child and realized it in my 20's.

[trackfan]

41. I'm 47 and still haven't figured it out.

[Redstone]

42. I guess about 57. I'm 52 now. Maybe in the next 5 years, I'll decide

what I really want to do. I'm a bit too young to take on that kind of responsibility right now

Redstone

[amitten]

43. Ten. n/t

[Fox Mulder]

44. I just realised what I wanted to do this year...

now, getting myself to do it is another issue altogether...

Edit: I'm 24, by the way...

[EFerrari]

45. My grandmother taught me to read and write when I was four.

That's all I ever really cared about, lol.

[Guava Jelly]

46. 9 or 10 years old

I wanted to be an oceanographer.
But instead I moved to Kansas and became a moldmaker

[last_texas_dem]

47. I'm 23 and still don't know

If accepted, I'll hopefully be attending graduate school again next semester (went for a semester earlier but decided to change majors), with a goal in mind of something I'll be doing once I complete the degree. I was studying Political Science (my B.A. is in History and Poli-Sci) but decided, at least at this point in my life, not to continue because, despite a definite interest in political science, I didn't have any clear goal of what I would do with the degree. I have switched to Information Studies (Library science) which is something I have always had an interest in and some background in, but it will still be a learning experience in many ways. Whether it will be exactly what I want out of life is another question altogether. I kind of see myself as the type who will never find any sort of ideal job exactly suited for me, but my goal is to learn to tolerate and maybe even enjoy whatever I end up doing.

[Maestro]

48. 20 I think.

I had just graduated with a BBA and knew that business was not for me. I enrolled in a lit masters program and I have been eduation ever since with only a few regrets.