If I could turn back time

[NickFitz]

hmmm.......I probably would have studied a lot harder at school/college/uni and become a doctor.

Boring as it sounds, lets face it, youll never be out of work, it pays well, you're respected (as long as youre good at your job), you can diagnose/treat yourself/family/friends etc. and you can pretty much guarantee doctors will be in demand anywhere in the world till doomsday.

Not forgetting the TUBEs...

[Cliphead]

Astronomer. Choose Mathematics over Astronomy at uni cos i thought it had better job prospects. Graduated into recession anyway. Still look into space a lot though.

Can't say my degree in astronomy was a waste of time but I never worked as an astronomer. Got sidetracked into the scientific civil service and thence to IT. Always wanted to do geology though but too late to do anything about it now.

[Clippy]

I would definitely do something else. Dunno what though......

What area of work are you in at the moment?

[bassy]

I wanted to be a photojournalist - got a place at uni to do a photojournalism degree but everyone wanted me to do a "proper" degree - I gave in, did Biology and never touched it after leaving Uni and just fell accidently into IT after doing some IT support whilst in my last year at Uni (was supposed to be doing secretarial temping and journalism during hols). Have though for the last 6 months been thinking of jumping back to the photography - not doing photojournalism though but weddings and studio stuff.

[threaded]

Can't say my degree in astronomy was a waste of time but I never worked as an astronomer. Got sidetracked into the scientific civil service and thence to IT. Always wanted to do geology though but too late to do anything about it now.

I've just taken on a guy finishing his PhD in Astronomy. They learn some very useful skills for my line of work.

[Cliphead]

I've just taken on a guy finishing his PhD in Astronomy. They learn some very useful skills for my line of work.

I can still use a slide rule. If you need anyone who knows orbital mechanics...

[expat]

I wanted to be a photojournalist - got a place at uni to do a photojournalism degree but everyone wanted me to do a "proper" degree - I gave in, did Biology and never touched it after leaving Uni and just fell accidently into IT after doing some IT support whilst in my last year at Uni (was supposed to be doing secretarial temping and journalism during hols). Have though for the last 6 months been thinking of jumping back to the photography - not doing photojournalism though but weddings and studio stuff.

I think photojournalism has pretty much evaporated as a career. Everybody has a foolproof camera and they're all pleased to give away their photos for free. No more payments for sending a pic to the paper, far less the BBC, who can pay with a credit of need be. And stock photography is 25p a photo if you're lucky. Of course there are still pros but I suspect the career path is harder.

As for wedding stuff, do you really want to get involved in that? Endless aggro from a bunch of drunken bums who have not bought into your project in the first place but are friends of the paying customer. And other friends of the customer will faff about with their cameras and then spend 3 hours in Photoshop removing extraneous detail from one photo, and the customer will wonder why the Pro couldn't produce a result like that. Useless to tell her that you could, but 3 hours of your time costs a bit.

[expat]

I can still use a slide rule. If you need anyone who knows orbital mechanics...

They had no use for a slide rule when I did astronomy. You only get 3 sig figs from that, we used 6-figure log tables.

[Cliphead]

They had no use for a slide rule when I did astronomy. You only get 3 sig figs from that, we used 6-figure log tables.

I mostly used a telescope

[minestrone]

Work is so unimportant to me it just does not have enough meaning to have any regrets in it, I do feel privileged to earn more than anyone I know outside the industry though (bar the missus) . Considering how little effort I put into the job I am 110% happy with my lot.