If you could go back in time and choose a new career...

... would you?

Would you go back and choose something different to study after school, or change any of the decisions you've made that led you to your current job?

There are certain career moves I wish I hadn't made. I have some regrets with regard to what I studied after school too. I wish I'd researched my options more, but when you're 18 planning your career isn't exactly top of your priorities. At least it wasn't for me anyway. :rolleyes:

PlaneSpeeking

Deleted User wrote: »

... would you?

Would you go back and choose something different to study after school, or change any of the decisions you've made that led you to your current job?

There are certain career moves I wish I hadn't made. I have some regrets with regard to what I studied after school too. I wish I'd researched my options more, but when you're 18 planning your career isn't exactly top of your priorities. At least it wasn't for me anyway. :rolleyes:

Yeah, I had a three year temp contract out of school and I basically pissed around.

30 years on in a public sector job, I'd be near retirement!!!! Damnit!!

James Bond Junior

I did teaching. I like it but it is a very limiting degree in so much that you are trained in an exceptionally narrow way and it is hard to use the degree in any other way but teaching. I wish I had done business or something like that. I am toying with the idea of doing a MA in something business related.

Subcomandante Marcos

Coding. Get dat Google money.

Choose the Information Management option instead of Multimedia back in 1997 for second year in WIT. Fool me.

prunudo

I'd be an electrician, they've a bright future.

Into the civil service out of college, security for life.

NIMAN

Professional footballer.

endacl

Dragonslayer.

Deebles McBeebles

I'd be a professional waster.

I'd would have loved to have been an English teacher.

Cockadoodledoo

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'd would have loved to have been an English teacher.

I’m not sure if “I’d would” is intentional or not

MonkeyTennis

endacl wrote: »

Dragonslayer.

Too much paperwork these days

Foweva Awone

I started off studying Radiation Therapy but didn't like it, so switched to Commerce and then Financial Services .... went on to spend a few years working in Finance/Audit and did a few professional exams in accountancy and insurance, however I'm now 33 and getting ready to start a whole new career. Planning on going back to college in September to study probably something in Social Studies or Psychology. Might as well while I'm still young ... I'm good with numbers, but I want to do something I'm passionate about, and it's hard to find that in accountancy. Right now I'm doing a CE scheme in an addiction centre, I absolutely love it!

JohnCleary

I love what I do and it's by chance my college degree directly relates to career choice

gwalk

yep, ideally a professional footballer or professional boxer

in early, make money, retire early

valoren

I like what I do. IT. I followed the herd mentality at the end of the century gravitating towards computers.
It can be challenging and stressful but it's grand and it pays the bills. I have no discernible talent for it.
If I could go back? I still don't know what I want to actually do so the question is actually moot.
I would have loved to have had a passion for something like the Law and to become a solicitor. I just never had the appetite for the work involved though. I never had that calling for anything really.

circadian

Worked in video games for years, mainly triple A titles including the latest generation. it was my dream job as a kid but it's not a good industry to be in. Working late and weekends, deadlines come hard and fast, great money but it takes its toll.

Working in IT now, much better work life balance but the money isn't quite as good, yet. Much happier though.

Trigger Happy

If I could go back and choose a new career I would be a lotto number predition expert.

iamwhoiam

I was a paeds nurse . Its a tough challenging exhausting job , but also so uplifting and satisfying . I wouldn't change one single minute of the 40 odd years .

valoren

valoren wrote: »

I like what I do. IT. I followed the herd mentality at the end of the century gravitating towards computers.
It can be challenging and stressful but it's grand and it pays the bills. I have no discernible talent for it.
If I could go back? I still don't know what I want to actually do so the question is actually moot.
I would have loved to have had a passion for something like the Law and to become a solicitor. I just never had the appetite for the work involved though. I never had that calling for anything really.

The vast majority of solicitors I know do not like their job and wish they could find something else to do, but are trapped in the profession due to the decent(ish) wages and their own ego (they are the type to hate walking away from stuff and are generally risk averse).

I would have studied english and history and headed abroad to teach english, the fun you would have etc.

Sleepy

Most definitely. I did Commerce with a focus on IS and followed it up with a H Dip in Systems Analysis. It's given me a decent, but unfulfilling career.

Wish I'd done Engineering.

I get to do maths and be a computer nerd and i find the work interesting, always more to learn, so no

Toots

I think I'd like to have done criminology or something like that. Still time, I suppose. Maybe I'll go back to college when the kids are in secondary school.

ginandtonicsky

I've had a very lively and exciting career but I'd probably go a very different route if I could go back to LC age and fill out the CEO form again. I'd do something that supported more of a "having a life outside of work" buzz :pac:

I now work in Tech after about a decade working as a roving reporter for some big global news channels. I've seen a lot of crazy sh1t and I could certainly write a book or 5 on it but being 33, single and living abroad with few career options at home does tend to make me re-evaluate. I'd love to have established myself in Dublin and invested more in my social / personal life there to have more stability now.

I'd probably go back and get into something a bit more traditional, law or medicine maybe. I was smart enough for it, I was just a total daydreamer at 18 and thought I'd be sitting in my castle writing my fourth bestseller by now. God bless the innocence eh

CPTM

I like what I do, but sometimes I wonder how a career in psychology would have went. I enjoy helping people gain different perspectives and dealing with issues. I enjoyed the tv show Frasier, but I realise that's a romantic view of how counselling and psychology work. I wish I did transition year to get an insight into this.

What's the name of that exam they make students do which shows what area they have an aptitude for? Apparently all my results pointed towards hotel management. Overwhelmingly so. So I often wonder about that field as well.

ginandtonicsky

ginandtonicsky wrote: »

I've had a very lively and exciting career but I'd probably go a very different route if I could go back to LC age and fill out the CEO form again. I'd do something that supported more of a "having a life outside of work" buzz :pac:

I now work in Tech after about a decade working as a roving reporter for some big global news channels. I've seen a lot of crazy sh1t and I could certainly write a book or 5 on it but being 33, single and living abroad with few career options at home does tend to make me re-evaluate. I'd love to have established myself in Dublin and invested more in my social / personal life there to have more stability now.

I'd probably go back and get into something a bit more traditional, law or medicine maybe. I was smart enough for it, I was just a total daydreamer at 18 and thought I'd be sitting in my castle writing my fourth bestseller by now. God bless the innocence eh

Write those books now?

I don't regret my career per se, but I wish I worked abroad for longer and had a few fun years in some random European city. Most office work converges into the same type of work anyhow, reports, spreadsheets, meetings etc.

Hotblack Desiato

PlaneSpeeking wrote: »

30 years on in a public sector job, I'd be near retirement!!!! Damnit!!

No you wouldn't.

Noveight

Secondary teacher here.

I wouldn't change from it to be honest. If money wasn't in the equation, I'd love to be a truck driver or full time agricultural contractor.

Unfortunately, money is very much in the equation.

Hotblack Desiato

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Into the civil service out of college, security for life.

If you value security much higher than money it's a good choice.

w/s/p/c/

I would have sat around and done nothing and get everything handed to me by the government.

Only fools and horses work

nah nah nah nah naaaaaah

Gimme A Pound

I'd still do the same but go about it in a less convoluted way. I got into a taxi at 18 and asked to be taken to my destination via the long, awkward way with lots of detours and stops.

Aongus Von Bismarck

I work in investment banking in Frankfurt, and absolutely love my role. Each day brings a fresh challenge, which is one of the things I appreciate most about it. I also enjoy working with some of the most intelligent, diligent, and hard-working people in Germany, and getting very well paid for it.

I genuinely feel sorry for those stuck in a role they hate, or find mind numbingly tedious. Those working in the lower rungs of IT for example – the type that reset my password, clear a jam from a printer, or come up with dashboards and reports from datasets I provide them. We also have floors of ashen-faced accountancy drones who I feel tremendous sympathy for.

If I wasn’t able to do what I do, then I would have liked to become a writer/journalist. Journalism in the early part of my career. I can imagine myself as a bright, brash, and intrepid reporter uncovering financial scandals. My later career would be spent on speaking engagements, and writing both fiction and non-fiction works. Obviously there are challenges with the financial viability of traditional media outlets that employ journalists these days, but I’d be certain my talent and intellectual curious nature would see me employed by some well-known and respected publication.

incentsitive

I'd go back and be a taxi driver, sure who wouldn't want to listen to my raving about what is wrong with the country all day!

gwalk

w/s/p/c/ wrote: »

I would have sat around and done nothing and get everything handed to me by the government.

Only fools and horses work

nah nah nah nah naaaaaah

Hi Margaret Cash

sullivlo

I did go back and choose a new career and it was the best move I ever made. It meant a loan, poverty and a new qualification, but I have honestly never been happier.

BrokenArrows

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Coding. Get dat Google money.

Im a software developer, its easy to make better than average money as a developer, but quite hard to make really good money. Those high rolling google engineers on a few hunderd k a year also work 24 hours a day 365 days a year and are likely to make a mid life crisis at 25.

incentsitive

To be honest, I hate sitting at a computer all day. If I was back, I'd probably do something like physio or something like that.

CrankyHaus

I'm pretty happy with what I do. I wish I'd realised what kind of role and place works best for me earlier.

Part of my work involves me visiting schools and I do increasingly find secondary teaching looks like a fulfilling and satisfying job, whereas I never would have thought so when I was younger, quite the opposite in fact.

I think a lot of young Irish people can overlook the opportunities on continental Europe, both for fourth level and employment. We were totally unaware of them leaving school but some savvy friends of mine made good use of them while avoiding the often nepotistic alternatives here in Ireland.

Babooshka

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I work in investment banking in Frankfurt, and absolutely love my role. Each day brings a fresh challenge, which is one of the things I appreciate most about it. I also enjoy working with some of the most intelligent, diligent, and hard-working people in Germany, and getting very well paid for it.

I genuinely feel sorry for those stuck in a role they hate, or find mind numbingly tedious. Those working in the lower rungs of IT for example – the type that reset my password, clear a jam from a printer, or come up with dashboards and reports from datasets I provide them. We also have floors of ashen-faced accountancy drones who I feel tremendous sympathy for.

If I wasn’t able to do what I do, then I would have liked to become a writer/journalist. Journalism in the early part of my career. I can imagine myself as a bright, brash, and intrepid reporter uncovering financial scandals. My later career would be spent on speaking engagements, and writing both fiction and non-fiction works. Obviously there are challenges with the financial viability of traditional media outlets that employ journalists these days, but I’d be certain my talent and intellectual curious nature would see me employed by some well-known and respected publication.

Hahahaha you don't have kids, do you.

mariaalice

I would do the same but with a few tweaks.

whiskeyman

Mirror installer.

















I could really see myself doing it.

Boom_Bap

I'd become a social influencer and have a patreon account.

Shop40

If I had my time again I’d study journalism. A teacher in school said I’d be too shy for it, so I chose a different path. Should have just gone for it in hindsight!

animaal

College Lecturer. I like what I do, but the greatest buzz is seeing the lights come on in somebody's eyes when you show them how to do something they thought couldn't be done.

hairyslug

I'd do what I'm doing now, only difference is that I would have started it sooner.

Feisar

AH Answer - Bra Fitter

Steve F

Sex symbol....oh...wait

Boom_Bap

Feisar wrote: »

AH Answer - Bra Fitter

You need plenty of support for that

Carry

I do what I always wanted to do and I'm quite happy with it, though I got there by taking the very scenic route, and still do. I'm always open for new challenges in my line of work.

I read that some people wanted to go into journalism. It's not at all like in the movies, let me tell you that. I used to be a journalist and it can be quite a drudgery. It's not all high-flying investigative and pulitzer price-y. Though I loved it while doing it, the buzz, the discussions, the satisfaction when you hit the spot and so on.

Sometimes I think I'd like to be a jewellery designer - I design and do my own jewellery as a hobby. Or an archaeologist and historian, or a potter, or a vet, or a forensic pathologist.

Basically I'd like to be a polymath, but earning money gets in the way

JohnCleary

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

Frankfurt

Off topic, what's Frankfurt like for a boozing weekend? Myself and GF thinking of heading over for 3 nights for the randomness of it all.

Sacsenhausen looks like good craic.