So many entering college students think they are choosing a path for life, but I think many of us parents look back and see that changes do happen. Majors can change when you find new interests in college and even when you are out in the world, whole careers can change.
When I went to school (Ga. Tech) I was absolutely, totally into aircraft design. Being around airplanes was everything I wanted (no desire to become a pilot, however). So Aerospace Engineering was my major... for the first year and a half. I had a coop job with a major defense contractor, found out what engineers did, and discovered it was not for me. I changed my major to physics (and my coop job was changed to a state air pollution lab - lots of physics-related work there with mass spectrometers, etc). I found I liked the environmental parts to the job.
My first "career" was teaching. I loved it, but took a summer class and discovered a love for computers (beside, as much as I liked teaching, I felt like I was living in poverty). So I went back to Tech and got a graduate degree in computer science, but my fellowship was connected with air pollution, so afterwards I took a job back in the state agency doing computer modeling/meteorology of pollutant dispersion. (second career)
On the side, I read more and more about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, through sheer, incredible, unbelievable luck, got an job in the AI Lab at Carnegie-Mellon's Computer Science Department. It was incredible... I was working with people who wrote some of my grad school books. This was my third career, which lasted the longest, with stints at the Federal Judicial Center and Bell laboratories.
The final career change (sort of eased into it with the AI/telecommunications work at Bell labs) was one of convenience. We wanted to lie in Colorado and I found a job there in telecommunications. ("third-and-a-half" career)
So, I want to hear other stories. I've worked with a lot of engineers, especially, who have had the same major/career all their lives, but is it so rare to change directions once in a while?
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