December 13, 2016

  • What Has Been Your Career Path?

    ADDENDUM (added in April 2023): I just stole this from myself and reposted a slightly updated version on Medium.com

    I have had a weird career path.

    As a child, I wanted to be a scientist.

    As a young teen, I wanted to be a science fiction writer.

    As an older teen, I wanted to be a photographer and videographer.

    In my early twenties I became a professional photographer and videographer, and hated it so much I sold my cameras and darkroom equipment.

    In my mid twenties I bought my first computer specifically to use it as a word processor. The computer was such a piece of junk I learned the basics of computer tech just to keep it working.

    In my late twenties I sold my first science fiction story, but I was making my living driving a vacuum truck.

    I left the vacuum truck job and became a computer technician. I was a computer technician for nearly 20 years, while I continued to sell short stories and finally a novel.

    Then, as a hobby, I began to play around with building these newfangled things called "websites."

    Website building became a full time job, and I was then deemed, "Webmaster."

    The publishing industry imploded and I started publishing my own books, instead of begging at the door of the publishing gatekeepers. I've been far more successful with the self-published books than the one that the big New York publisher published.

    Being a webmaster led me to becoming a digital marketing manager.

    Digital marketing has made me go back into photography and videography. That is now what I primarily do, I make videos for websites.

    It's weird, I've come full circle. Everything I was interested in, except for driving a vacuum truck, has built a solid foundation for the career I'm in now.

    Next, I suppose, I'll become a scientist.

    YOUR TURN. What has been your strange and convoluted path through life?