There is only one path for success

[Boozy]

I work in retail by choice, too.

I have a bachelor's degree, but I don't want to do anything with it. I don't like the career options it provides me. When I started university, I was 18 years old and I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life. By the time I graduated, I realized I had chosen the wrong discipline.

I don't regret going to school, by any means. But it is a bit harder to justify to others why I'm still working a "crappy" job when I have the option to do something else.

Hell, I don't even want to be a manager. I've turned down management jobs in the past. You should see people's surprise when they hear that. Society demands that you take any job with the power and the big paycheque if one is offered to you. Telling someone that you're not interested in that kind of thing gets you a look like you've just punched their kitten or something.

[jackfaire]

Wow thanks guys I really appreciate the responses. I love what I do for a living and I love the freedom to leave my work at the office and not have to bring it home.

It's hard sometimes though because money can be tight and I hear people my age buying houses and people who realize I am intelligent telling me I am wasting my potential.

A couple of months ago I read an article where someone who used to make a ton more money than me now works a job similar to mine making more money than I make, what I make is enough to thrive on, calling my job a survival job.

I guess that would probably be a whole other thread

[Arcade Man D]

When I started university, I was 18 years old and I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life. By the time I graduated, I realized I had chosen the wrong discipline.

I can relate to that. I went straight out of High School into college for an IT degree with Network Administration specialization.

After a few semesters, I realized that computers were something fun for me, but of that weird sort of fun that's not fun if you have to do it.

On the other hand, what I enjoyed was helping people. I ended up taking time off due to financial issues and academic issues, and working in CS. Unlike some people here, I did not enjoy CS in general, but again, I enjoyed when I got a chance to teach a customer something new....

So that brings me back to where I am now, doing what I had originally planned to do when I was in 9th grade, and working toward a Master's Degree that will have me earning slightly less than my father makes after 20 years in a factory, because it's what I'll enjoy.