While some people are sure from their youth what career path they want to take, for the rest of us, there’s a lot of confusion and overall indecision in general about deciding such a big decision. After all, how can 18-year-old versions of us have any understanding of what it feels like to be 10, 20, 30 years in the future?! We’re sure there are a lot of people that consider career changes in their thirties, fourties, and fifties, but there’s a lot of perceived difficulties that come along the way with such a major change. While there can definitely be obstacles, we’ve found some great stories of people who made the leap and found that it was truly for the better!
1. From Teaching to Dentistry in Her Forties
Forty-year-old Jane Whang told Forbes about her big career change. She originally taught eighth-grade science at a junior high charter school. She then decided to take a class, when she was in her early thirties, that she needed to qualify to teach for high schools, and it was there that she realized she wanted to get qualifications of another kind- something in the medical field.
While she originally thought about becoming a medical doctor, she decided to pursue dentistry as it provided a better work-life balance.
Here is her story in her own words!
“I used to teach eighth-grade science at an inner-city charter school, and during one summer break, I decided to take post-baccalaureate science classes to get credentialed to teach at the high school level.
I found it so enjoyable that it inspired me to go back to school to do something in the medical field. My initial thought was med school, but with dentistry, I knew I would spend less time in residency and have better work-life balance.
As a teacher I never had that—when I wasn’t teaching, I was grading homework, preparing lessons or completing report cards.
So I decided to go to dental school, which meant four years of being a full-time student again. With no savings from my teacher’s salary, I had to rely on student loans and a part-time receptionist job. I also gave up eating out, shopping and traveling so I could make ends meet and stay clear of credit card debt.
I graduated at 33, and currently work in a dental office in the Baltimore area—and am very happy with my career change.
I pursued teaching because I wanted to make a difference, but I couldn’t really see the impact I was making. It was emotionally taxing, and sometimes I felt more like a disciplinarian than a teacher. With dentistry, I see immediate results.”
2. Reddit User Goes From Chef to Web Developer
This one saw a woman go from full-time chef, a career she fell into when she decided to take the offer for a full ride scholarship to a culinary school. From there, her life seemed pretty set in stone since she had no idea what she wanted to do. After years in the culinary world, she decided to make the leap into studying and becoming a web developer by taking on small jobs and cheap portfolio boosts through Craigslist. While she still had to work a 60-hour job as a chef, the end result saw her becoming the web developer she knew she could be, proving that anyone truly can accomplish anything they want career wise.
Read it in full here.
3. From Retired to Brand Ambassadors
Silvana and Allan Clark needed a change in their lives after their daughter went off to college, so they decided to see Nashville-based charity Soles4Souls could be interested in working with them on a creative idea. The Clark’s convinced the charity to purchase them a van, they would travel the country and provide shoes for free to both the homeless and young children in need. They effectively convinced the charity to let them become their brand ambassadors.
Of course, this is a relatively unlikely scenario overall, and brand ambassadors at their age can seem uncommon, the reality is that they never let any of their odds get in the way! They now get to travel across the country while doing what they love!
Read more about their story here.
4. From Banking and Marketing to Youth Work to Radio Presenting.
For one woman, multiple career changes lead to her becoming a radio presenter, her new passion. Since her youth, she had always been expected to be a working professional like her father, who was a doctor. From there, she decided she was unhappy and began to work in youth work, where she even obtained a contract position before the recession derailed her plans. From there, she jumped at the opportunity to work as a radio presenter, and she’s now returning back to her interest in the youth by dedicating her programming towards stories for children. She proves that life can have a lot of unplanned things in store for us, but the truth is, you can make your situation work for you no matter what!
Read more here via Telegraph.
5. Ken Jeong- From Doctor to Actor
While Ken Jeong has made a huge name for himself as a comedic actor on movies and tv shows like The Hangover and Community, he was actually a doctor before he got noticed by Hollywood. While he insists he was happy as a doctor, he had secret ambitions to become a full time working actor, and with the push of his wife, he went for it, and the rest is history.
He explained further, “My wife still works part time at the HMO. All my best friends are doctors. The last six years of my life have been an amazing bonus.”
Dr. Jeong proves that maybe laughter truly is the best medicine. The incredibly talented man truly proves that you can have it all!
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