The Career I Should Have Had

I think it is a shame that people have to make choices so early in life regarding education and careers paths. When I was a kid I wanted to be a cook in my own restaurant or an astronomer. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I was in college. I was good in math and with numbers in general so I started out as a math major. I took calculus in high school so when I got into college my first math class was the third calculus class that only math and engineering majors took. I could do the problems, but didn't really get it. I got a B- which was probably the worst grade I ever received in a math class. After that I knew I wasn't cut out for it and I also didn't know what kind of job I could get with it. Looking back, it probably would have been a good choice of majors. Then I decided I would probably do something in the business world. I had no idea what, but it sounded good at the time. My school had more theoretical majors rather than things like business administration or accounting, so I became a business economics major...which was economics with some accounting thrown in for fun. I still had no idea what I was going to do with it though. When my senior year of college came around and I had to decide what I was going to do with myself, I did the only thing I could think of...keep going to school. So I took the GMAT and applied to business schools to get a MBA. Even after my first year of MBA classes, I still did not know what I was going to do. The summer between the two years I started looking for internships and fell into corporate finance, and here I have been for 12 years. I like the work I do, but it's really the same thing month after month, quarter after quarter, year after year. I often think of what else I could do, but at this point in my life I don't want to take a pay cut to start a new career.

I should have been a meteorologist. I find weather fascinating. I love watching the weather channel and tracking storms. I don't want to be on TV, but would like being the weather expert behind the scenes who runs the models. This time of year is especially exciting (and tragic) since it is hurricane season. Since moving to Virginia I have learned more about weather since not much exciting happens in California. Terms like nor'easters and clippers are regulars around here in the winter. I will never be a meteorologist, but I am the resident weather expert in my house!