How did you choose your career (semi-long)

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I actually have a similar background as you. Except I went to college for Music Technology and ended up just working in technology. I did IT in the finance industry up until September. Then I started my own business.

I also grew up with a family in the restaurant business so food was in my blood I guess. With the money I saved working in IT, I bought into a franchise. I've been open since November and so far so good.

Bottom line is that you need to start somewhere at least for investment capital. IT is a great place because you can jump into a decent paying job pretty quickly.

Do that, save some money, and then invest in yourself and your future in something you think you can do for the rest of your life.

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Awesome, this gives me some hope. I have family that owns a chain of 30-40 Italian places around the midwest, but, honestly other than what Ive learned since I was a kid working in them, I dont know much about the industry (Im learning a lot now though, because Im settung up POS/Accounting/IT stuff in a ton of bars/restaurants). I think I am at the point, becuase I live on my own, pay less than 200$/mo in rent (my uncles building), and have little bills, that between poker/IT stuff etc, I hope to do what you did. GL with your place

[jb9]

After giving up on grad school, I was going to get evicted if I didn't get a job. I temped for 6 months, which sucked but kept me from being homeless, until I finally got a fairly generic (i.e., no special skills required) office job.

After a couple of years I switched to another company doing the same work but for more money.

I was a bit more responsible and a bit better with computers than most people doing my job, so after several years and 3 promotions, I'm supervising people doing generic office work (i.e., I'm a middle manager).

I'm now looking to switch to a new company supervising people doing generic office work. I don't even care if it's more money this time. I'm just tired of looking at the same faces every day and having the same discussions with the same people.

Not very inspiring...

New Year's resolution: new less crappy job.

[antidan444]

I had two main interests growing up -- music (singing) and sports -- and also enjoyed reading and writing. So I basically looked for careers that fit, and sportswriting seemed to make the most sense. So I joined the high school paper my junior year, then took a stringing job at the local newspaper two months after graduating and got a full-time position three years later.

I don't make much money, but I love what I do, and for me that's a whole lot more important.

[plaster8]

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I had two main interests growing up -- music (singing) and sports -- and also enjoyed reading and writing. So I basically looked for careers that fit, and sportswriting seemed to make the most sense. So I joined the high school paper my junior year, then took a stringing job at the local newspaper two months after graduating and got a full-time position three years later.

I don't make much money, but I love what I do, and for me that's a whole lot more important.

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Nice. I'm a newspaper editor, and I love it. The only real drawback is the hours for me. I don't make a ton of money, but I do well enough. And besides, I'd rather enjoy what I do and make 10k or even 20k less than I would at a job I dislike.

Working on holidays isn't fun, and working until midnight some nights can be crappy, too. But I'm happy with my choice so far. (I'm almost 10 years in.)

So what paper do you work for? Are you doing mostly preps, or do you have some college/pro stuff going on?

[poker-penguin]

I kinda wandered into it.

Finished university, went to ski bum for a year, a ski bum friend asked to to write content for affiliate websites, from there another friend offered me a job working for a poker network, now they've given me a big promotion so I'm probably sticking to the industry for a couple years at least.

[IHateKeithSmart]

Hey guids:

I have been working in computer security for about 9 years and will be happy to try and help out if you are looking to branch out/explore new opportunities in the field. It sounds like you might not be certain about the industry, but I can kick around thoughts/ideas if you want.

Jason

[HopeydaFish]

I graduated with a B.A. in Law but didn't have the marks to go to law school, and didn't want to go back for another year to bring my marks up. I had been working in retail sales while I was in University and started working there full-time once I graduated.

It only took me a year of that to realize that I absolutely hated dealing with the public. I'd always had a strong interest in computers and decided that I wanted to go back to school to become a programmer. I took a one-year compressed course at the local College, worked a few crappy jobs to gain enough experience, and finally landed a decent job after a few years.

My job isn't terribly exciting, but it pays fairly well and I have full benefits. We play sports at lunch every day, and there are plenty of office sports teams for me to join after work. I don't always enjoy the work, but I do enjoy my job.

One thing that I keep seeing from younger posters on here is a belief that your job defines you as a person. This is only true if you are planning on working crazy hours and devoting your life to your career. I have always gone by the idiom that "nobody ever lies on their deathbed wishing they'd spent more time at work". My work pays my bills and helps me live a comfortable lifestyle, but it doesn't consume me. I don't think about my work when I am away from the office, and I spend as much time every week doing non-work related hobbies/sports as I do at work. I believe that it's important to have a good work ethic, but it's also important to try to become a well-rounded person.

[Toro]

My father was a building contractor and started taking me on jobs from when I was about 8 years old. One day I saw the building plans on the job and was fascinated with that. So much so that I started drawing design plans of different things like buildings and bridges at home. So from that early age I had already decided that I wanted to be an Engineer and the only other thing that ever challenged it was sports.

But when I realized that I just wasn't good enough to play any sport professionally, I stuck with the Engineering.

[Hornacek]

I always liked numbers and probability -> Trading.
BS and Masters in Computer Science -> Automated Trading Strategies.

[Shajen]

I went into the Marine Corps, was guaranteed Avionics. Working on planes and [censored], to you laymen. Anyway, about a month before I was to go to bootcamp, I hit a deer on my motorcycle. The Corps will discharge you all banged up, but you have to be in good health for them to accept you. My date got pushed out and I lost my contract. So, I essentially went in open contract, meaning they could make me a 5-ton driver, or a cook, or a basic grunt. Luckily I scored pretty high on the ASVAB and did well on the intel tests....they put me in IT. The rest is history.

Luckbox.