If you could have your time again, what career would you follow?

[dozer]

international law, they always have the final say.

[DieScum]

I'd stick with IT if I could do it again. I do like IT.

Or maybe acting. I think I'd be a good actor.

[Sysman]

Skipped university until the point when the government didn't expect my parents to pay. I think that meant holding out until I was 23 before starting.

I've no idea if I would have gone back to full time education by then, but I would have at least studied for some professional qualifications or other.

[vetran]

Porn Director

Get all the frills without the performance anxiety.

Seriously I like IT. As BGG I would have never met Mrs V if I'd stayed fixing teles & HiFis.

[Clippy]

I'd stick with IT if I could do it again. I do like IT.

Or maybe acting. I think I'd be a good actor.

I suspect you are acting as if you like IT.

Bravo! Good show!

[NickFitz]

I'd study Philosophy at University, even though everybody told me it was a valueless degree and I was wasting my time, just because it was something I was interested in. Whilst studying, I'd learn a lot more about programming than I already knew, in my spare time.

Then I'd get a job as a junior systems software engineer, working on something geeky but fun.

Then I'd take some time out working for a charity - very little money, but a chance to visit frail and elderly people in the community, and give back to them something of what I'd gained from an education subsidised by their taxes.

Then I'd become a games programmer while I was still young enough to enjoy being part of the industry (despite the fact that the people at the top made all the money, as usual).

Then I'd have a change - maybe pub/bar management for a few years, as I like pubs and it's nice to understand them "from the inside" as it were; but still keep my hand in with the occasional programming project for carefully-selected clients.

Then get back into IT at just the right time to become an expert in something new and exciting, like the World Wide Web and, moving forward, Internet technologies generally, to the point where I can always find something more or less interesting to do and be paid for.

Oh hang on, that's what I did the first time

I call it the fun-down approach to career development. You never plan anything, you're never quite sure where tomorrow might take you, and you'll only get rich by accident. It involves interpreting the word "career" in the sense of "moving rapidly in an uncontrolled manner". It's not for everyone; but if you have the temperament then believe me, it's fun

[Gonzo]

I would change nothing, because it's more than feasibile that changing my career path, and therefore the enviroment and the opportunities available to me, would have meant that I would never have met Mrs BGG.

It's because of the decisions that I made in my life, and the paths I followed, that we bumped in to each other one night, many moons back.

I wouldn't change my life for anything to have missed that event.

Creep! We know she reads these forums.

I'm not sure that there is anything else that I would rather be doing.

Sometimes (such as now) finding the work at all is tough and the prospects for the future don't look too good so I do wonder how sustainable IT work will be in the future.

But Business is Business and will always need people to help it operate the most effectively. Staying on top of which skills are going to be needed is the tough part.

[bobhope]

I call it the fun-down approach to career development. You never plan anything, you're never quite sure where tomorrow might take you, and you'll only get rich by accident. It involves interpreting the word "career" in the sense of "moving rapidly in an uncontrolled manner". It's not for everyone; but if you have the temperament then believe me, it's fun

Kind of the Forest Gump approach of career advice :-)

[Boudica]

medicine, how hard can it be?

[Andy2]

I would be a stock trader and retire at 35