Biggest career regrets

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

Biggest regret was staying too long at a couple of companies where I believed in the mission (clean energy) but didn't make much money. I guess my work conscience is clear but it would be nice to be able to retire some day (or pay for my kids' college or take an "airplane" vacation).

[Anonymous]

Become a technical writer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Nah ... My time has passed. I'm too old to learn genomic/bioinformatics techniques and all of the programming required, or to complety change careers to get into WS. There are a lotta bioinformatics people these days, so I still think oversaturation is a problem. There are just a lot of people in the biomedical space, which suppresses salaries.

Also, WSain't gonna hire someone with no experience on the street who is middle aged. I mean sure, I've got years of expertise in pharma and biotech, but I doubt WS would hire an old dog to be a biotech analyst or something. I also haven't done an integral in almost 20 years too, so no way I could be a quant now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!

That’s encouraging. Have always admired and valued my colleagues with English degrees. +10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Biggest regret = Leaving BigLaw.

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

This is interesting. Why? What did you do instead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Exactly this. Full stop.

I’m the OP of this post:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/993410.page

And I’ve already told my kids that they must go into tech, finance, or medicine — otherwise I refuse to pay their college tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Biggest regret = Leaving BigLaw.

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


This is interesting. Why? What did you do instead?

Went in-house and, unlike others on DCUM, as GC I work just as many hours in-house as at a firm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Biggest regret = Leaving BigLaw.

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


This is interesting. Why? What did you do instead?

Went in-house and, unlike others on DCUM, as GC I work just as many hours in-house as at a firm.

Have you considered going back to BigLaw?

[Anonymous]

Huh. I majored in English and went on to law school. I don't think I would have done well at computer science or been happy at those jobs. I mostly write all day which is what I majored in which is what I enjoy. If I enjoyed programming that would have been a potential career for me, but I'm good with the choices I made.

My parents stopped my sibling from majoring in music. I always wondered whether that was a bad decision. Would they have been happier pursuing what they were truly interested in? It would have been a whole different life.

[Anonymous]

After many years as a consultant/contractor (somehow not as well-paid as the consultants on this board), I took a job at a client (Pharma) and from day one I was like, THIS is it, this is where I should have been my whole career. It had some great parts and some not so great parts and I got into "grass is greener" mode and quit after 3 years. I really regret leaving that job... I have never found my passion and that was as close as I got. It's 6 years later now and I'm a govt contractor again and I feel like my "career" has gone backwards since leaving that job.

I have a great undergrad degree and a solid MBA (top 20 in USNWR). But I have never known what I wanted to do with my life and I don't like to work hard so I'm stuck with a mediocre title and a mediocre salary and just counting the days til I can retire.

[Anonymous]

I should have networked more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Serious question - do you think it's harder in the NP world v for-profit, and why?

[Anonymous]

My biggest regret is not networking more and staying too long at my current employer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

+1 I did and now make $230K and I don’t even have to practice law.