In 2020 I’m answering a list of 52 journal questions. Read about it here.
A fact about you, you don’t often share.
My working career happened all because of a whim.
When I was in high school I wanted to be a vet, but when I did work experience with our local vet I discovered I was highly allergic to one of their common chemicals.
I can’t remember what the chemical was now, or what it was used for, but apparently about a year or so after that, the industry changed the chemical they used. I would have been fine as it turned out.
After having a plan right through high school, when it got to the pointy end when it mattered and I had to choose my uni course, I suddenly had no idea what I was going to do. I pulled out the pile of pamphlets on courses I’d gathered and began to flip through them.
The previous summer I had gone on a trip to check out one of the universities. I’d been going to one, but at the last minute, friends convinced me to get on the other bus with them.
Yup, you know where this is going…one of the pamphlets was for a course I grabbed on that field trip. A Bachelor of Science in Australian Environmental Studies. And that is the degree I studied. It’s now called a Bachelor of Environmental Science, but all those years ago, environment wasn’t given the focus it is today.
And that’s the story behind my qualifications (my first one anyway *grin*).
What led you down the path to your first career?
September 4, 2020 at 9:37 pm
Awesome!
When I started university I wanted to be a lawyer, first a defence lawyer then a human rights lawyer. So when I got my undergrad, I completed a Honors bachelor of Arts with a double major in Political Science and Religion & Cultures. I specialized it at the end, and then when I graduated I wanted to work for an NGO and not be a lawyer anymore, and then ended up in South Korea teaching for a year and fell in love with teaching so I went back for my Bachelor of Education for primary/junior. Three degrees in this house!
September 5, 2020 at 8:07 am
It’s funny how things don’t always go as planned (and I have a bundle of quals too, I seem to collect them, lol)
September 5, 2020 at 12:20 am
If I believed in something Supreme (which I do), I might call that God’s hand.
September 5, 2020 at 8:08 am
Yup, cause if I hadn’t go ton that other bus who knows what my life might look like now? (Another Sliding Doors moment for sure).
September 5, 2020 at 6:08 am
First career? I don’t even have a career now.
September 5, 2020 at 8:10 am
I never really made a career out of any of them properly. The Hub is ex-military so we moved a bit which made it hard.
September 5, 2020 at 6:21 am
I was getting married and had to find a job so we wouldn’t starve to death, and my major (Production and Operations Management) wasn’t yielding anything. I had several Computer Science classes under my belt, including one in COBOL (which at the time was still used quite heavily), so I got a job as a computer programmer. I did have a couple of jobs as a production supervisor, for which I was overeducated, so I climbed back into computers…
September 5, 2020 at 8:10 am
Not starving to death is great incentive! Funny how many of us have slid sideways into our working life and not followed the plan we originally had.
September 5, 2020 at 9:39 am
Haha I have a few extra quals for teaching as well! We get pay raises for each one if we work for a school board. Not at my little private school though haha but they are good to keep yourself up to date
September 6, 2020 at 2:44 am
I changed my major to be something entirely different after 2 years of college. My daughter just did the same thing.
A co-worker’s daughter was complaining that she’s in high school and still doesn’t know what she wants to do for a career. I told her not to sweat it so much. Some people know exactly what they want and others don’t. And even those who do, sometimes life intervenes and they discover new opportunities years later.
I worked for county government in contracts and purchasing. I decided to go to law school so I could get paid more and work on the more complicated contracts. While in law school, a friend of mine worked at the Public Defender office. I figured I’d never be in court, so I clerked in her office for six months so I could get peripheral court experience. I LOVED IT! I changed my plans and now I’m a trial attorney. Mostly real estate – probate, contracts, title disputes, landlord/tenant, a smattering of criminal. Before the pandemic I was in court at least 3 days a week and wrote briefs the other days. Now we’re doing a lot of video hearings so it’s somewhat different but I’m still a litigator and love it.
September 6, 2020 at 10:10 am
These things happen for a reason, don’t they. It’s awesome you love your job, Dena. But you are so right, there’s no rule that says you have to stay in the one career. I’ve changed a number of times. I hope your daughter is happy with her new direction too.