What do you want to be when you grow up?

Brewstersmum

I wanted to be a racing driver but as im a girl my mum said no way and encouraged me to become a receptionist.

After years of floating in and out of jobs I hated I retrained as a teacher (it was a childhood dream at some point)

at the age of 34 im now an offender learning teacher and a part time semi pro rally driver and my mum actually half approves, until I talk about why the roll cage is in the car haha

joansgirl

Reading through these posts it's amazing the amount of people who have re-trained or continued education later on in life. When I was at school you had to make the decision on a career at a very early age to ensure you got the correct qualifications. There was no going back. I think it's fantastic that people can do it all later on now, when their brains are more mature and they can make an informed, realistic decision about these things.

Thinking back I do remember I went through a stage of wanting to go into the Army. But I didn't want to do the usual behind the scenes/secretarial stuff that women were used for in those days. I wanted to get stuck in and do the mens training, assault courses etc. My mum was horror struck and told me my choices. I could be a nurse, a secretary or a housewife, and that was about it! Anything else was unacceptable. I wish I'd been born a generation later. So much has changed.

hgotsparkle

A forensic scientist!

Though when I was about 5 or 6, I did used to say I wanted to work in Tescos. I'm thoroughly mocked about that now.....

Kynthia

I really wanted to be a forensic scientist, but then CSI came out and it was what everyone wanted to do and there aren't that many jobs. Plus I hated chemistry A-level.

I did a degree in something scientific but realised a career in it wasn't for me. So I did admin work until my mid-twenties and realised I was quite good at finance/accounts. 10 years later and a lot of evenings/weekends studying and I'm a qualified management accountant in a large public sector firm with a large team of staff. It might not be 'the dream' but I am good at what I do, have respect, enjoy the challenge and like having a good salary.

Dunroamin

I achieved my career aim a couple of years ago when I retired!

Dunroamin

joansgirl wrote: »

Reading through these posts it's amazing the amount of people who have re-trained or continued education later on in life. When I was at school you had to make the decision on a career at a very early age to ensure you got the correct qualifications. There was no going back. I think it's fantastic that people can do it all later on now, when their brains are more mature and they can make an informed, realistic decision about these things.

Thinking back I do remember I went through a stage of wanting to go into the Army. But I didn't want to do the usual behind the scenes/secretarial stuff that women were used for in those days. I wanted to get stuck in and do the mens training, assault courses etc. My mum was horror struck and told me my choices. I could be a nurse, a secretary or a housewife, and that was about it! Anything else was unacceptable. I wish I'd been born a generation later. So much has changed.

I'm in my sixties and it's never been that way in my lifetime. I've had 3 separate careers and nearly everybody I know of my generation has made major career changes. Even my husband changd from being a teacher to being a college lecturer.

Person_one

I wanted to be all sorts of things over the years. A writer, an artist, a marine biologist (I was 8 when 'Free Willy' was in the cinema!), a politician, an inventor, a paramedic, an Olympic swimmer, all sorts, kids change their mind all the time don't they?

I am always amazed and baffled by people who know exactly what they want to do at the age of 16/17, especially when its something really specific. I know people who trained from 18 as speech therapists, chartered surveyors, human resources managers, stuff like that, and I always wonder how they could stand to narrow their options down at such a young age.

Maybe they're the sensible ones though, I'll be a couple of months off 30 when I finally qualify as a nurse. I love it though, and I wouldn't have been ready at 18, I need the long and winding road.

Person_one

Dunroamin wrote: »

I'm in my sixties and it's never been that way in my lifetime. I've had 3 separate careers and nearly everybody I know of my generation has made major career changes. Even my husband changd from being a teacher to being a college lecturer.

Teacher to lecturer isn't exactly a huge change though, there's a lot in common between the two roles. There are careers where its much harder, where you'd have to go right back to the beginning and spend a fortune. There are very few truly 'mature' medical students for example.

Its prohibitively expensive to do a second degree now, thanks to the ELQ(?) rules, unless you're doing a few very specific ones, even OU isn't cheap.

notanewuser

joansgirl wrote: »

Reading through these posts it's amazing the amount of people who have re-trained or continued education later on in life. When I was at school you had to make the decision on a career at a very early age to ensure you got the correct qualifications. There was no going back. I think it's fantastic that people can do it all later on now, when their brains are more mature and they can make an informed, realistic decision about these things.

My dad was a university head of department. By the early 90s almost half of his students were retraining from something else.

Dunroamin

Person_one wrote: »

Teacher to lecturer isn't exactly a huge change though, there's a lot in common between the two roles. There are careers where its much harder, where you'd have to go right back to the beginning and spend a fortune. There are very few truly 'mature' medical students for example.

Its prohibitively expensive to do a second degree now, thanks to the ELQ(?) rules, unless you're doing a few very specific ones, even OU isn't cheap.

I didn't mean it was a complete change, rather the opposite - sorry I wasn't clear. He's actually the only person I know who's stayed in more or less the same career area from the start of his twenties, everybody else has changed direction at least once.

Regarding medicine, I suppose it depends on your definition of "mature".

"There is quite a large number of graduates studying medicine; if you take all first year UK medical students on either a pre-clinical medical degree course or a first year medical degree programme, approximately 25% are graduates (Source: 2010/2011 information from HESA)"

http://www.medicalcareers.nhs.uk/considering_medicine/graduate_entry_programme/gep_further_information.aspx

If you mean mature to mean middle aged, then I'm sure you're right that the numbers are low. I only had one client in her fifties who made the change and she'd had a long career in nursing behind her.

Many career changes can be made (as I did) by doing a post grad qualification rather than going back to scratch and starting another degree.