Is there a career path you regret abandoning?

I ask because tonight, for the first time in years... I miss radio.
Spent many years in AOR/Metal radio then in AAA. I said goodbye to that world after multiple ownership changes and the changes in the industry. The final straw was installing and programming the automation systems that replaced my friends and I.

Today, I listened to a guy on the local college station that had been a volunteer there for 28 years. He still had the fire. He still had the love for the medium.

I wonder what would have happened if I had accepted that killer job in Detroit. Where would I be today? Syndicated? Out of work?

I miss being a professional musician. While I didn't have health insurance for about half a decade I miss the late nights and fun times. However, it turns out that job security is not overrated and health insurance really isn't that bad!!!!

From what I know about radio, chicken, you'd most likely be unemployed. I always regret not being an astronaut. I couldn't stomach the military service needed to become one though.

I regret not staying in a job that was a dead certainty to lead to a higher management position in my mid twenties. I was continually being told I would be a company director in 10 years at that place.........I left, and within two years I was living in my car.

Hold on.....Nah!! I don't regret that!!! I've always been curious though how that path would have panned out.

What I wanted to be when I grew up was retired. But due to money and family issues, I skipped school and went to work. It's not that I hate to work but I would've liked to know what it would be like to be retired.

Dept. of the Interior. That was a sweet gig!

Rock Star!!! :rockin:

But then again, I can retire next year without regrets...

If I were a rock star I'd probably be dead...

I sometimes reminisce about working in government... working 6.75 hours per day, having like 15 paid holidays a year. Then I remember the salary and realize I could never afford the home I got if I was still there. I guess the grass is always greener...

I have the exact opposite thought.

What career do I regret NOT abandoning earlier to go try something else? I've been in IT for about 10 years now, I'm still a lowly support *****, and can't get ahead because I lack a degree.

I wish I could have gotten out while I was still low paid. Now I cant go back to a starting salary of any other occupation.

jezter6 said:

I have the exact opposite thought.

What career do I regret NOT abandoning earlier to go try something else? I've been in IT for about 10 years now, I'm still a lowly support *****, and can't get ahead because I lack a degree.

I wish I could have gotten out while I was still low paid. Now I cant go back to a starting salary of any other occupation.

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+1

Fall into a "good" job and grow moss. Would-a, should-a, could-a.

Now advancement in my area is few and far between. Who really wants to hire a *nix/OS400/IOS guy with no windows experience to speak of?

I never pursued any career path other than the one I'm in. Given the state of my industry, I seriously regret it. That sucks given that I love what I do and I'm fairly good at it.

I regret not pursuing a Physician's Assistant (MS) degree, and instead going for an ecology/conservation biology MS. Took me way longer, starting salary was about $40,000 less, and it's harder to find a good job. The only upside is that I don't owe $80,000 in student loans like my friend that just finished her PA degree.

I don't like to use the word regret. Life is funny in that every minuscule turn in your life can create great changes later in life. Had I not of chosen the path I did, maybe I wouldn't be living where I am, maybe I never meet my wife, maybe I never meet some friends...etc.

That being said, one area that I wonder what would have happened in my life is meteorology. Every since middle school I was fascinated by meteorology and thought that I might do it someday. However, I didn't want to do the schooling. The thought of being in school until I was like 26 sounded terrible to me; so I didn't do it. I went to a technical college instead and got to work in IT. Now, here I am, 26 years old, and I went back to school to get a degree from a university and I just finished a month ago tomorrow. So I ended up being in school until I was 26 anyways.

However, I would imagine meteorologist jobs are few and far between and you would probably have to move at least once (possibly far away) just to land a decent gig. They do make good money though.

Oh well, I am happy enough where I am. I am still support, and I don't make enough money, but I have a better education now, and not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am pretty good at what I do and that is at least slightly rewarding.

i miss being a chef but not the hours. I;m in real estate but thinking of applying to law school.

I was offered a project manager job last year, but didn't take it because I wanted to go for my MBA. I'm working fulltime as an A/V guy... I think it's good that i'm continuing my education but at the same time I know the immediate $$$ would be there plus i'd be a hell of a lot closer to home.

I don't like the fact that I'm detached from the direction I want to be going with my career and also that i'm 180 miles away from home.

I hesitate to say regret as well, but I do wonder where I would be now if I would have actually continued with my degree and got a masters in it. Sure from what I can see it doesn't look like there are many jobs in the geology field but if I had made some contacts in those extra two years of school that would have allowed me to do some sort of cool research that would have been sweet. I suppose I could have moved to somewhere where mining is bigger too and did that but I met my wife and the rest is history. It's funny how a relationship can tie you down, it's not a bad thing but still you wonder what if sometimes.

farmbrewernw said:

It's funny how a relationship can tie you down, it's not a bad thing but still you wonder what if sometimes.

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100% true. My girlfriend stayed a year because I was finishing college, now I'm here partially due to the fact that she got a great job that will build her resume.

Give and take, I suppose.

I started out going to med school to be a physical therapist, and ended up being a network engineer/IT manager. I'm happy with the career that I ended up in, but I'll always wonder if I could have made it as a porn star.

Yep, I got disenchanted with the incredibly low pay that entry level pilot jobs offer and took a job in a factory because dollar signs looked so appealing at the time. However, the possibility exists to always improve on our positions, and flying is an excellent hobby as well.

Currently I'm goinng to school for accounting (on the company dime) and should finnish right about the time SWMBO finishes chemo, then its hopefully off to Delaware.

I don't have any specific regret, but had I known what I know now at age 18 I would have went the Federal civil service route. Same benefits as the military but without the whole deployment thing.

Man-whoring - I definitely regret not following that career path. Pay could be better, but the hours are good.

I miss being a chef. But it was so much work, I don't know how I'd ever have time for my family, which is really the reason I left the profession.

I was a FedEx courier from 99-01.
Everyone loves the FedEx guy. It not like people turn off their lights and act like no one's home. People are GLAD that he's there.
I loved that job and if I didn't have a military commitment, I certainly would have stayed.
I do wonder from time to time what would have happened if I had stayed.

Good topic for a thread. It's interesting to see other people's old dreams.

Work in IT and have no regrets other than previous jobs were all in high tech companies and the current one (11 years on) is not. High tech companies have realistic ideas with the amount of effort it takes and stimulates tech think tanks.

These people are just morons around here and they're dumbing me down .

Honestly though, although my current job is very stable, pays well, has super benefits, and is something that very few people do....I miss those days of being creative. Now it's more or less just the same every day. But I can't complain.

ohiobrewtus said:

I'll always wonder if I could have made it as a porn star.

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Somehow, I always figured I'd see a post with exactly these words from you some day.

I don't regret making the call to skip a move into management 13 years ago. I kind of resent my job as being a little uninspiring (electronic engineering) but it pays well, moved me to California where the beer is better, and I pretty much work a 40 hour week max. This leaves me time to play video games, play my bass, brew, dirt track race, watch movies, dick around with my motorcycle, etc. I guess "resent" sounds a tad ungrateful.

I really appreciate the responses.
It is good to see what others have done, or have dreamed about doing.

I used to teach technology courses (mainly innernet/*nix/webserver stuff) for the local community college district, and LOVED it. Vastly rewarding, and I felt like I was doing A Good Job and Making A Difference every single day.

Bottom fell out with the tech bubble and instead of adapting I went and got a Real Job. Sucks. I feel useless and mired in corporate BS. I try to sneak a bit of teaching into pretty much everything I do at work just to keep myself from spiraling into deep depression.

I am currently in an alternative certification course to get a teaching certificate for Texas. I'll start out teaching Social Studies since that is where my degree are centered, then will pick up certs in technology instruction and natural sciences.

I should have my own classroom again in the next year. Until then I am just banking all I can so I can afford the pay cut to become a teacher. :-/ I have already paid off all debt but mortgage and student loans.

I used to work in the aerospace industry building/integrating/testing satellites for USAF and NASA. I even participated in launch operations. Loved that job but got laid off after 8 years. After that I applied for a job to work shuttle operations (working on the vehicles directly) at Kennedy Space Center FL and was offered that job twice but chickened out both times. Had just me the girl I am currently engaged to and couldn't see me leaving everything behind to go to FL all by myself. I keep the offer letters just to remind myself what I could have been doing. I only regret not having that experience. That was 9 years ago.

I always think about how if I had taken the job I would have most likely worked on Columbia, eerie.

I recently graduated and got my A.R.R.T. Rad Tech license for x-ray. (not the limited license) I cannot find a job in Houston, my home where I have a kid. I had no idea that the market was so flooded here. All i see in my future is a ****ty shift that no one wants.

It sad, because you think job security with the med field, but there are too many schools cranking out licensed techs here.

I partially regret what i have done, and would have gone with computer science if I would have known the outcome.

My only regret is in not finishing college and having a degree. Now I am in my mid 30's, married to a 30 year mortgage, have a two year old an another in the oven due January, and the desire to achieve a degree in Physics (acoustic and noise control discipline).

Fat chance i'll see that before I am 92.

I have followed some dreams and some died on their own. With this economy I may be closing my company and I am finding it really hard to know what to do next. I was lucky in that I was able to do what I wanted to and now I feel the need to move on but I have no idea what to move onto. I gave up on more "artistic" pursuits when I was younger, and I am having a hard time reinventing myself.

I love my field (veterinary medicine), but while I am still working on my DVM, (18 months left! Whoop!) my friends with BS's in engineering are now earning 6 figures and living it up. It does kind of suck that they are earning after 4 years of school what I only hope to be making after a decade...

I had seriously considered chemical engineering for my BS, but decided not to sell my soul after all…

McKBrew said:

I don't have any specific regret, but had I known what I know now at age 18 I would have went the Federal civil service route. Same benefits as the military but without the whole deployment thing.

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I'm a Civil Servent and have deployed several times...

Cleaning out boilers.... no wait I don't miss that. Probably being a professional bicycle mechanic. Mechanical engineering pays better tho...

I wish I would have followed through with the Navy.

Or.... being a teacher for the Developmentally Disabled.

Or Being a Chef.

talleymonster said:

I wish I would have followed through with the Navy.

Or.... being a teacher for the Developmentally Disabled.

Or Being a Chef.

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you could have combined them all and became a Marine Corps Cooking Trainer.


I keed, I keed.

Chicken, having been in Radio for nine years, I think the Cumulus's and the CheapChannel's of the world would have booted you out whether or not you still had the fire. Lowry Mays and his ilk have homogenized radio to a very vanilla product, one that sounds the same whether you're in Benton Harbor or Seattle.

And what is it with programming consultants? They all have such PERFECT hair!