Why did you choose your career?

[WipeMeDown23]

What were the factors that influenced you to pursue your career?
I need some insight from my NT fam.

 

[Belgium]

Initial career: Nursing (unable to finish education)
Current career: Software test engineer

Nursing history recap:
I don't really have emotional empathy but I do want to provide a useful service so nursing is what I chose after highschool. The route I took in highschool focused primarily on behavioral, social and cultural sciences. The empathy thing ended up being a bit of an issue and my teachers made a big deal of a written report during an internship where the intern mentor wrote that I displayed no emotion when being told the patient I had been caring for died. Additionately I immediately asked to "wash the corpse" as a learning experience. It was written in my file as "zero empathy", which is a fair characterization of that private convo but I strongly disagreed about its relevance.
So yeah, there was that issue. My actual performance was good and I had no negative comments or reviews regarding interactions with patients but I was going to get kicked out of nursing school if I scored under 5/10 on empathy again. For reference, my score empathy score was 0/10 in that first module and I was only allowed to pass to the second module because I was granted an exemption.
Either way I didn't get the chance to get to a second module. I had to change careers due to the sudden onset of a bunch of medical issues.
For the sake of time, a summary would be that a physically demanding job like nursing was out of the question.

Current career recap:
Throughout all this time I had been hustling online by obtaining and selling social media usernames, so whitehat hacking was kind of a secondary interest. Getting a job in IT was never something I initially wanted to do but due to those unforeseen medical circumstances, I'm now working as a Software Test Engineer. Basically my job is to test our software and attempt to break/exploit it so the developers can fix whatever is necessary.

 

[blakep267]

I didn’t. It chose me

But to be serious. I went to college for business administration and entrepreneurship(dumb in hindsight).

Out of college I started working at a large financial firm about an hour from my house because they were the ones that said yes. I had family working there and they seemed to like it. 11 years later and I despise it but it pays the bills and the market is bad and I have no idea what I really want to do

 

[ogbobbyjohnson773]

11 years later and I despise it but it pays the bills and the market is bad and I have no idea what I really want to do

 

[Comparison Ford]

Nursing

Went into it for job security, the pay, and I wanted to make a difference in a way that isn't soul-crushing.

Turns out that last one was just me being naive. I still like what I do, but now I roll my eyes when people refer to the profession as "a calling."

After working in the ICU during COVID and the after-period I got burnt out from bedside nursing and hospital politics. Ended up leaving the bedside to take an administrative role at my old job as my focus shifted more towards achieving higher pay and keeping my sanity.

I don't regret my decisions, but I'm definitely jaded.

 

[danikerhino]

Went from Graphic Design to Sanitizing MTA Buses/trains(lightrail). I’m an artist at heart, but I got laid off and had to find a job quick. Salary is a bit lower, but we have an excellent pension, retirement, deferred compensation plan with Voya, better insurance, and a whole lot less work in general. And plus I don’t have to worry about my career getting taken over by AI like the art industry. With that being said, I do miss the work environment of my last job, but that lay off has me uncertain about the industry as a whole.

The only bad part about my current job is there’s a lot of people who lazy af, I mean below bare minimum lazy and it’s easy to get away with it because our Union is powerful as hell. So it’s hard to get fired, so that’s mostly a great thing aside from workers taking advantage of that.

So all in all, I’m grateful to have a decent and safe career. Whether I go to school or not, I’m definitely staying with a city/government job.

 

[calypso chanta]

Graphic Designer and Illustrator to User Experience Design

I always doodled in class when I was supposed to be paying attention. I'd be most entertained when reading books,/comic books and watching tv/movies/anime/cartoons. Even though I was in honors classes all in high school, when it came time to decide what to pursue in college i chose to go for art. My thinking then was, "what do i do when i'm bored?". I thought that since I'll likely spend the rest of my adult life weekdays doing a job, it might as well be something i liked doing. Also, I bet on the theory that if i became good enough at something, then someone will pay me for the ability. It was Plan A or nothing.

After a lot of all nighters and a ton of sacrifice, I can confidently say it's paid off. Definitely wasn't easy. Over time ss my career grew, I got into design for software and now I'm a Director for User Experience Design at a company. Financially i couldn't be happier and I still enjoy it very much, even though it's a bit far from doodling on paper during class. At night i still draw and try to create logos and etc to full-fill that itch.

Hope that helps.

 

[pmatic]

I went college with no idea what I wanted to do. Decided on being a teacher, but knew a couple years in I wasn't fit for it, but finished to get the degree. Then my uncle got me into IT via a help desk job. I did that for a few years before job hopping and making friends with someone in the office that got me hired as an analyst. I work from home, it's low stress and I'm well paid.

 

[Fozz]

Initial career: History Teacher
Current: Fed

Needed to get out a crap full-time job when I graduated college and found an federal contract position as an admin. Just kept working towards a promotion to provide for my wife and family. Still doing it.

I'd share more, but I can't.

 

[youngwolf]

I didn’t. It chose me

This.

Entered undergrad with the intention of of going to law school. By the time I graduated (political science), the job market for lawyers didn’t justify the cost of law school (we had a good number of recent grads returning to teach) and, if I’m being honest, at the time, I needed a break from school. Took an entry level job with a consulting firm as an analyst and haven’t looked back. At the beginning of COVID, we took on one of the biggest healthcare systems in the country as a client. Months after the contract ended, one of their internal recruiters reached out directly to offer a position (no interview (I’m almost certain I made a thread asking for advice at the time)), I ended up accepting and I’ve been there since.

 

[danikerhino]

Graphic Designer and Illustrator to User Experience Design

I always doodled in class when I was supposed to be paying attention. I'd be most entertained when reading books, comic books, watching tv/movies/anime/cartoons. Even though I was in honors classes all in high school, when it came time to decide what to pursue in college i chose to go for art. My thinking then was, "what do i do when i'm bored?". I thought that since I'll likely spend the rest of my adult life weekdays doing a job, it might as well be something i liked doing. Also, I bet on the theory that if i became good enough at something, then someone will pay me for the ability. It was Plan A or nothing.

After a lot of all nighters and a ton of sacrifice, I can confidently say it's paid off. Definitely wasn't easy. Over time ss my career grew, I got into design for software and now I'm a Director for User Experience Design at a company. Financially i couldn't be happier and I still enjoy it very much, even though it's a bit far from doodling on paper during class. At night i still draw and try to create logos and etc to full-fill that itch.

Hope that helps.

That’s what I’m ******* talking about, great accomplishment man!

I still draw too and still get that itch to illustrate photos that I take. It’s therapeutic for me. But I do miss the gratification I got from clients being enamored by logos that would design for them. It was the ultimate compliment.

 

[adobecs4]

Been an artist since I learned how to write. Wanted to be a sneaker designer as a kid, leading me into graphic design. Stuck with it ever since

 

[adobecs4]

Graphic Designer and Illustrator to User Experience Design

I always doodled in class when I was supposed to be paying attention. I'd be most entertained when reading books,/comic books and watching tv/movies/anime/cartoons. Even though I was in honors classes all in high school, when it came time to decide what to pursue in college i chose to go for art. My thinking then was, "what do i do when i'm bored?". I thought that since I'll likely spend the rest of my adult life weekdays doing a job, it might as well be something i liked doing. Also, I bet on the theory that if i became good enough at something, then someone will pay me for the ability. It was Plan A or nothing.

After a lot of all nighters and a ton of sacrifice, I can confidently say it's paid off. Definitely wasn't easy. Over time ss my career grew, I got into design for software and now I'm a Director for User Experience Design at a company. Financially i couldn't be happier and I still enjoy it very much, even though it's a bit far from doodling on paper during class. At night i still draw and try to create logos and etc to full-fill that itch.

Hope that helps.

I'm thinking about switching from graphic design to user experience as well. How did you do it?