For most of my life I’ve always thought of each job as a stepping stone to my next one. I’ve made side-steps and a couple of steps backwards but I always felt that I’m moving forwards in the long run. Now I have a really decent job that pays fairly well and I can see myself being content, at least for a long while, doing what I’m doing now. Maybe even up to [choke] retirement.
I hope that my next major step will to be something self-sufficient, either my own business or making a living on something that I create. As I get older, I’m starting to realize that those dreams may not come true but I’m glad knowing that I have a job that I can fall back on and make enough money to do what I want to do, namely traveling and being creative.
Have you found a job that you’re thinking about doing for the rest of your life?
Nope. I was settled into a career, but then I opted out.
After university, I went straight into a job with a very clear career path. I enjoyed it for all of 15 months, but then packed it all in to move from Australia to the UK. Then I spent nine months working contract jobs and travelling on my own time. I quit contracting at Christmas 2004 to go travelling full-time for the last three months.
Now I’m settled in the UK and heading back into the workforce, but I have no real career plan. This uncertainty doesn’t particularly bother me – I can always pick up finance or banking work to pay my bills. I’m 25, so no great rush to chain myself to a desk.
I’ve been with the gov’t for almost 31 years. I can retire in January 2010. I don’t know if you could call that “settled in a career” but I doubt that I’ll pursue another path in the meantime. I have thought of getting my teaching credentials, then teaching after I retire - we shall see how that goes.
I’m in the last year of a computer science degree. People keep asking me if I have any jobs lined up for when I graduate, and it scares the hell out of me. Frankly, I might have to do another degree just to postpone the whole thing.
So, to answer your question, I hope not.
Also, Eleusis, that’s awesome; more career decisions should be made on that basis.
Long Answer: About 9 years ago I thought I’d found a career in public relations. I’d been temping and doing a lot of secretarial/administrative stuff since graduating from college (12 years ago), not sure what to be when I grew up, and I kind of sidled into a PR position with a state agency. I loved it! Finally, a career! But, then I made a stupid decision and wound up leaving the field less than a year later … and by the time I’d realized my mistake, there were no entry-level PR jobs to be found. So I floundered around for a while longer – more temping, more secretarial stuff, still hoping to someday get back to PR – until 1998, when I learned of people called “technical writers.” I had a knack for learning new software and then explaining/writing up directions on how to use it, and a contractor who happened to be working in the office where I was temping told me that I could make a living doing that! Amazing!
I’ve been a tech writer ever since: when I changed companies 3+ years ago, it was the first time that I didn’t change my job/career, too. When I started I wasn’t sure if I’d want to do this as a career, but almost 7 years later I guess a career is what I have. My master’s degree will be in this field, and the only thing I could imagine leaving it for would be work in another writing-related discipline – maybe focusing on editing. Well, unless my music career were to suddenly take off.
Yes, after a major career change a couple of years ago.
I thought I was settled into one - I was an internal auditor, had worked for a couple of different companies. There were aspects I really liked about it - and a lot I didn’t. I slowly realized how miserable I was - when I thought about the future and I saw myself going to that same job every weekday for the rest of my life…it was horrid. (The entire story is somewhere on the boards, so I’m not going to repeat it here.)
Once the realization that I was miserable really hit me, I made a big change. I went to grad school, finishing last May, and in September, I started a job in my new field - I’m a librarian. I love it. I look forward to going to work (most of the time, anyway) and I can see myself doing this (or aspects of this) until I retire.
But, then I made a stupid decision and wound up leaving the field less than a year later … and by the time I’d realized my mistake, there were no entry-level PR jobs to be found. 
So I floundered around for a while longer – more temping, more secretarial stuff, still hoping to someday get back to PR – until 1998, when I learned of people called “technical writers.” I had a knack for learning new software and then explaining/writing up directions on how to use it, and a contractor who happened to be working in the office where I was temping told me that I could make a living doing that! Amazing! 
