Making career choices as a young adult are tough, especially if you are undecided on what to do. Will these decisions you make define the rest of your life?
£10 sign up bonus: Earn easy cash by watching videos, playing games, and entering surveys.
Get a £10 sign up bonus when you join today.
Join Swagbucks here >>
After only doing one year of A Levels at school I left. When I picked my A Level options they all clashed because of how the timetables had been set up and I was only told this a few weeks before the start of term.
I’d spent the summer getting prepared to do four A Levels but now was only going to be able to do two of my choices. However, the school said I had to do three as a minimum so, without really thinking about it, I picked my favourite out of the four and one other that didn’t clash.
School wasn’t for me and I only did one year of the A Levels (it was the year AS levels launched so managed to walk away with some qualifications). Instead, having given it a little thought, I went to college to study something completely different.
I picked a course that I liked the sound of. There was no rationale to it other than my previous school had scared me off from A Levels and I didn’t like the idea of any other courses. When it came to thinking about a career for the future I really didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do.
At no point did I want to leave education and get a job but at the same time I didn’t think I had it in me to go to college. I was probably just a bit tired of education and could have done with a gap year or to be brutally honest, I could have done with my mum giving me a big kick up the backside, telling me to pull myself together!
Although you can’t change the past, I often look back and wonder if what happened with my A Level choices was a curve in the path of my life. If I did the exams I wanted, I may have gone to university and had all the debt associated with it.
Instead, I floundered around, getting a few qualifications to my name, finishing education a year later than everyone else my age and ending up working in a shop.
If I could do it all again would I?
Career Choices
The choices I made were purely down to what I fancied doing at the time because I thought I would get the most enjoyment. I didn’t have foresight to think about career choices or how much money I’d make, and no one sat me down to have that discussion.
I look back and wonder if I’d completed my A Levels, studied a different course at college or even tried an apprenticeship, would things have be different?
To be honest, I don’t think I would have made it to university. The idea of spending so much money was very foreign to me. I hadn’t grown up with money in our household and I felt bad ever asking for money as I always thought things were tight. I thought it would be an expense that was too much for me and my family so shrugged it off.
Instead, I would have probably wanted to do a more hands on job.
Engineer
I recently watched video about apprenticeships at British Gas and this potentially was something I may have pursued.
Today as an engineer, I could expect to see a salary of around £40,000. That’s more than I earn now.
Television Producer
Another career path I would have been interested in is working in the media; not in front of the camera but behind it. I would have enjoyed being a production runner (like the person who carries a clip board and walks around with headphones on).
After a while I would have moved to London as it’s closer to the BBC (who would have hopefully given me a job) and looked to be promoted to a producer (high flyer me!) and be earning £45,000 today.
Forensic Scientist
One career that was in my head while in school was becoming a forensic scientist (well before it became trendy or CSI had aired on TV).
Although it’s probably not something I would have been able to do (I wasn’t an A* science student), the idea of hunting for intricate clues on a crime scene really interested in.
If it was a career path I went down, I could expect to be earning £55,000 now.
::
Now I have my own children I wonder what further education and employment choices they will make.
If they ask for advice, will we push them onto a path with good job prospects (does that even exist any more?), or should we let them follow their hearts? It’s difficult.
Do the choices you make as a young adult really affect the rest of your life? My opinion is probably not. Although the decisions we made when we’re younger seem huge at the time, life happens and changes everything.
From what I did at college, to what I do now, I would never have guessed how my life would be if you’d have asked me all those years ago.
Penny for your thoughts: Do you think the choices you make as a young adult define the rest of your life?
- TopCashback Sweet Treats Giveaway this Easter 2025: ALL answers - 7 April 2025
- Tesco clothing sale 2025 – 25% off F&F sale dates - 27 March 2025
- Next sale dates 2025 and how to book an early VIP slot - 17 March 2025
MyMoneyDesign says
I don’t necessarily think that what you decided to study in college defines you for the rest of your life. I’ve been an engineer for 12 years and I’m looking forward to moving on to more financially related types of work once I enter into my early retirement phase. Change can happen if you want it to.
Naomi @ the Skint Dad blog says
That’s the fun of getting older, you get wiser. With the more time that passes everyone has the opportunity to learn and develop their skills more.
I took an evening course a few years back and gained a qualification from it. There was no way I could have done the course straight from school; I needed industry knowledge before starting the course or I would never have passed it.
Everyone is changing all the time!
alice says
Do the choices you make as a young adult really affect the rest of your life? My opinion is probably not. Although the decisions we made when we’re younger seem huge at the time, life happens and changes everything.
Yes and no.. They can do also it depends on what you choose and what you want to do in the long run. We don’t make decisions in a vacuum. I think its easier if you know what you ultimately want to be when you are younger. Plenty young people do. A lot of kids who want to be Drs, make that decision very early. They have too. Our education system – choosing options at 14, deciding if you are going to take one, two or three separate sciences for GCSE, the likelihood of getting good grades in those subjects effects which A levels you may be able to take and then which uni courses will be open to you.
Make a phooey with your GCSE’s and don’t achieve Maths, Eng and Science at Grade C at least and you may find some careers closed to you.
Some people are able to return to study as adults but this is not easy, If you take the wrong degree and drop out you have serious debt to repay…
I am glad I dont have to make these choices again. ( yeah used to work in youth guidance a few years back, can you tell??? Why did I choose to go into that field?? As I had no idea and no one was interested in what I may want to do so may some daft choices and got a degree that put me in to debt and didnt do me much good other than qualifying me for post grad study— more money lol)
Naomi @ the Skint Dad blog says
I suppose it all comes down to if you are absolutely sure you know what you want to do “when you grow up”. I never really knew for sure, and I don’t think I’ve grown up properly yet either!
Maths and English at level 2 are a huge thing in this country and are getting more prominent thanks to the govt. Having this basic knowledge backs up so much of everyday thinking. However, if you have a good head on your shoulders full of general knowledge then you won’t fall down in this world, and if you have passion to go with it, you’ll go even further.
Trying to study during the late teenage years of life is hard work. Being able to come back to study later in life would be great as you can bring so many life experiences to the table. You would have a greater understanding on how things work, plus there’s less of the uncertainly of trying to find yourself and less embarrassment of being a hormonal teen.
Naomi @ the Skint Dad blog says
That’s a lot of new jobs up for grabs. I can see more being done to encourage young girls to go against the norm and pick any job they want, rather than avoiding jobs for the boys.
What worries me is that there is still not an equal footing for women in the work place with equal pay still out of kilter and the glass ceiling that still needs to be broken – but that’s a very long discussion which could keep me talking for too long!
As a mum to two young ladies (who are already very determined in their own right) I want them to excel in what they do, whatever it may be, and want them to get enjoyment and security out of life, not just a career that rules them.
Naomi @ the Skint Dad blog says
Hard work and determination really does pay off! Well done to Sandra!!
It really proves that it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what situation you are put in or what experiences you have; you can still make a go of what ever you want – you just have to want it enough!!
Naomi @ the Skint Dad blog says
I think you’re right.
For some courses you could apply for a 24+ Advanced Learning Loan and Bursery Fund which would help if anyone is serious about stepping back into education when they’re older
https://www.gov.uk/advanced-learning-loans/overview