I was 25 when I decided I wanted to work in international development. Now I have a couple years of field experience and a degree (as of a couple months ago). Anyone feel like hiring me?
…yeah, that’s what I thought.
I wanted to be a vet. But as I got older, I knew I could never put an animal down, so that ruled it out as a possibility. My true calling (I think) was to be an English teacher to middle school students. I figured that one out at about age 30. Not what I ended up doing though…
12 years old. Guidance counselor asked the question. And I said “engineer”. I loved creating things, but didn’t have the artistic mind – I was a technical guy. Senior year of high school I discovered computer programming and fell in love with it. So, I have managed to combine that with my desire to be an engineer and I get in some quality coding time as well when developing systems which need custom software to integrate the hardware. It was a bit of a roundabout route to get here, but I have now been doing it for almost 20 years.
I think at 15 I decided I wanted to become an interior decorator. I didn’t have any adult advice/guidance but ended up at a state university in a Bachelor of Interior Architecture program (5 year professional degree). During my first year I was persuaded by a professor to change my major to Architecture. Looking back, I wish I had stayed with my initial choice as I think it was a better fit. Still, I’ve made it work.
My job hardly existed when I was a kid. Of course, I am older than most of y’all.
Regards,
Shodan