Biggest career regrets

[Anonymous]

Majoring in English!!! My father told me to study computer science as that was the future and I flat out refused!

If I had I would’ve likely been making 200k+ and living a much more financially secure life!
- working in non profits
- working in jobs that paid me 30k - wtf?!

[Anonymous]

Congrats on writing the most DCUM answer imaginable to your own question. I hear you! Money is all that matters. All hail Mammon!

[Anonymous]

Lots of people major in english and then go business school, law school, consulting, rtc. And still make a ton of $$. You could be a tech writer and work for a tech firm. We pay ours about $130k

[Anonymous]

Not going to school when I moved to US
I was 25, small kid, living paycheck to paycheck. Explored possibility of going to grad school, and got scared (too expensive, I'm too old 😭)
Instead went to community college... Career never really happened after that, just comfortable jobs.

[Anonymous]

Maintaining a career in the non profit world.

Love the work, was laid off, overqualified, and (it seems that) everyone hires internally. Few jobs and even fewer management jobs.

I'll eventually get my mojo back but, right now, pretty crushed and wondering how I got into this mess.

[Anonymous]

Majoring in chemistry and math and gonna be down the biotech/biomedical route. Way too much labor saturation and low salaries. Should have just done computer or electrical engineering.

[Anonymous]

Not studying enough in high school, which got me into a mediocre college, then not studying enough in college and nearly flunking out.

[Anonymous]

becoming a teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Majoring in chemistry and math and gonna be down the biotech/biomedical route. Way too much labor saturation and low salaries. Should have just done computer or electrical engineering.

Right there with you in Aerospace. Tons of starry eyed graduates who will work for peanuts because “rockets” or “jets”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Majoring in chemistry and math and gonna be down the biotech/biomedical route. Way too much labor saturation and low salaries. Should have just done computer or electrical engineering.

With math, quant on WS or a genomics startup is in the cards, maybe even now.

[Anonymous]

I have an English degree and work in IT. You don’t need a degree in a field to enter that field. You need to develop the skills and hustle. You can learn python and enter that realm.

[Anonymous]

Biggest regret = Leaving BigLaw.

BTW - like OP, I also majored in English and currently make over $200K. No regret about the English major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Majoring in English!!! My father told me to study computer science as that was the future and I flat out refused!

If I had I would’ve likely been making 200k+ and living a much more financially secure life!
- working in non profits
- working in jobs that paid me 30k - wtf?!

I wanted to major in Journalism and took the parental advice.

I make $160K working for the Government, so maybe not the salary you envisioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congrats on writing the most DCUM answer imaginable to your own question. I hear you! Money is all that matters. All hail Mammon!

Oh shut up. The only people who think money doesn’t matter never had to worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Majoring in English!!! My father told me to study computer science as that was the future and I flat out refused!

If I had I would’ve likely been making 200k+ and living a much more financially secure life!
- working in non profits
- working in jobs that paid me 30k - wtf?!

I majored in English at a totally non-prestigious state school ranked somewhere in the 100-200 range (I’ve never checked) and currently make $220k all-in at 33 (will bump to ~$250k this summer after promotion). Went to a T10 b-school and jumped into management consulting. There are plenty of high paying jobs available to English majors!