Did you find your career late(r) in life?

I’m still looking….although I suspect I may be going in a good direction at the moment – a combination of going back to college part time (at age 32) and taking on any and all tasks at work that can get me in the right direction….

[edit]:I don’t really have any great words of wisdom, but did recently come across a very interesting article – a Harvard Business Review article: “Managing Oneself” by Peter F. Drucker. Look it up, it might just give you a little boost :)

I am 43 and still working toward my career. I began in banking in 20’s and worked as a financial analyst for about ten years, but I never felt that was my “calling.” After taking ten years off to stay home with the boys I am finally finishing my college degree and I plan to be a teacher. When I originally went back to school it was to finish a degree in business. I was only about a semester away from completion, but after the first class upon my return I remembered why I stopped. After that I decided on physical therapy. I took two classes to that end before I realized that wasn’t it either. That’s when I realized that what I really want to do is teach. It took a while, but I am finally on the right track.

Just live. Do what you love, and find a way to make money doing it.

I’ve known what I wanted to be since, like, the age of five. I’m 20 years old now and am doing very well in my field and going to college to get a degree just so I can make more money. So, no, I’ve never had trouble finding a career. No offense or anything, but I don’t understand how someone can not know what they like doing. I just found what I loved and ran with it.

I’m 47 and still trying to figure out what I want to do qhen I grow up.

@overshard, no offense or anything, but did you read the question? ;-)

I became a teacher at 45 after spending 6 years as a stay at home mom, 7 years in clerical positions and 14 years as an accountant. It’s too late too start a new vocation because I will be retiring in a couple of years but I will be exploring avocations

Oops, why did I change? Conquering one challenge and moving on to the next. When I got my teaching credential, I was sort of thinking nursing might be 10 years in the future but mother nature pulled a few pranks and I physically can’t become a nurse anymore.

When I was eleven, I found out that people got hired to do my hobby for a living. Since then, I’ve gotten better at it and enjoy it more every year. It’s early yet, but I don’t have any plan or desire to switch careers.

I briefly sold out in college and took a year of a different major, but the whole time I was still doing design and switched schools after that.

I’m 41, and I thought I was about to start my new career. After years and years of accounting & admin work and 14 years as a stay-at-home mom, I was more than ready for a new direction. I wanted to do something I love and try to make a little money at it. The state of the economy and the unstable nature of my husband’s employer have thrown me a curve ball, so it looks like it’s back to an admin job for me : (

I’m 24, and started my career at 22. Hopefully I can stay at it for a long time.

At 53, I’m hoping to retire as soon as possible, and switch to permanent music-making and writing. Of course, the events this year made something that could have happened at 60, shoot off into the far distances of time.

I “knew” what I was going to do from about the age of 14, but now at 28 it has morphed in many directions. Directions that I would have judged even just a few years ago. However, there has always been a root to my work, which is protection the environment. Kevbo—do you know what the root of your passion is?

Kev, I went from 20k per yr to 300k, and now back to 20k. We are living in a screwed up time on this planet where opportunities just do not exist like they used to. It is really messed up.

Rags to riches to rags. How did you managed to do that? What were you doing?

I’m 39, and I’m finally taking steps to do what I want in my chosen field. I was producing a shareholder video for my old boss and sat in on a conference call he made to the client. The client praised my boss to the skies for my work. He said nothing about me, but mentioned other people by name and their contributions. It took one of the writers to mention how I was getting the shoot happening under extreme circumstances. I started planning my exit that afternoon.

So I’m broke right now and it’ll take time, blood, toil, tears and sweat to get where I want to be. Whatever. I’m not going to bust my ass like that for someone else’s benefit ever again.

I became a teacher at 40. That was a few years ago. I can now say that I have found my calling, and, even better, I will continue to learn and grow for the rest of my life.

My mom and dad were poor when they first came to this country. They lived in a trailer and could barely afford anything. At the age of 35 my dad started his own Asian grocery store. It was small but he later expanded it and now it is successful and still running 30 years later.