OT: if you could do it over again

I'd still be a school teacher. Twenty-two years into the career I love it just as much as always. It's perfect for me. I truly love going to work. I've also been lucky/wise enough to teach at smaller alternative public schools and private schools which have met my needs for community and more meaningful relationships with my co-workers and students. 

The only part I would do over is to have started maxing out both my Roth IRA and 403B as soon as I started teaching. I did do that after a few years, but I'd be way ahead of the game now if I had done it earlier. 

I would relax, I would sit on my ass all day, I would do nothing.

I am happy doing my job as a teacher, but I will say the students are more challenging then they were 20 years ago.  If I had to choose another career, it would choose one making more money; however I do not have a passion for the sciences or business world so I guess that would be tough.

If I could go back, I would have tackled my high school years very differently.  I would not have changed anything I did in college, but I would have made some different decisions as far as who I dated (asked out) and I would NOT have listened to my parents as much as I did, because they were right on some things, but they were also very wrong on many things too.

Sculptor.     You never have to get up early, you make your own hours, you don’t have to deal with people, you don’t have to dress up.    You don’t have to spend a bunch of time on the phone,    You don’t have to travel much, you don’t have to make appointments.  

I wish I would have explored a lot of different fields in school, instead of zoning in on business immediately.  Wish I'd explored psych and CS at all, as they're both fields I think I would have excelled in.  Also wish I'd worked on my golf game more growing up to see if I could have been something, but I think I'm happier with it as a hobby than as a career regardless.  In general, wish I'd explored a few more areas academically, since I'm not overly happy as a lawyer now despite feeling like I've been heading down that path since almost day 1 of college.  

I would have gone in to anything that combined finance and real estate immediately after college.  It took me a while to wander in to and it is clearly the place I belong.

Fortunately, I don't live a life full of regrets, but here's my biggest.

I had many opportunities to play lower level college basketball.   At the time, I just couldn't get too excited about it, and that's why I didn't pursue, but 25 years later, it's my biggest regret in life.   I was a late bloomer, so D2/D3 was the best chance I was going to get.   That or sit down at a Juco for a couple years, bulk up, and just try to get on a D1 roster.  I spent 4 years playing a lot of pickup with the WMU squad and could hang just fine.   Would never have been a starter but probably have been able to contribute at a MAC level or something similar.   Several of my closest friends that I grew up with ended playing in Europe.

1. Professor of paleontology at a major research university

2. Owner of a custom ironworks and ceramic tile shop in a small Colorado mountain town

3. Writer specializing in natural science-oriented non-fiction

I had a very enjoyable career in IT and wireless telecom.  I worked with people that had a start-up mentality, so we invented our jobs as we went along.  I got to do some pretty crazy things because someone had to do them.  I loved working with customers, so technical sales and sales were a great place for me to be.

What I would like to change is the CEO for two of the businesses I was part of:  AT&T Computer Systems and Lucent Technologies.  This certain CEO (err...Rich McGinn) brought both businesses down to a hard crash with his inability to see beyond the end of his nose.  His main skill was corporate politics and undercutting those he perceived to be shining brighter than him.  His main qualification was that he married James Olsen's (former CEO of AT&T) daughter.

Yeah...I'm still bitter.

Pro surfer/snowboarder 

I always tell people I’m an architect, even though I’m not.

vagabond

Three weeks into my first job out of college, I realized that staying in one career my whole life wasn't going to work for me. I just instinctively knew it. I've had three different careers: advertising (15 or so years), pastry chef (4 years), and my current business, vintage upholstered furniture renovator (8 years). I feel like I missed out on two things: 1) Journalist/feature writer and 2) Architect. As for journalism, that was my path out of college but I got sidetracked by advertising. I wish I had followed my original path. And architecture is a new love, but I don't have the math/engineering nor the desire to get them through more schooling. I checked out the architecture program at University of Illinois-Chicago and you have to submit a portfolio for acceptance. I looked at several from accepted applicants and my mind was blown. But if I was young and single, I would tackle that challenge. 

Santa Claus.

Everybody loves you, and you only work for one day of the year.

Film critic.

They never seem to be hiring any, though

I would have gotten into football scouting or coaching. 

First things first, I would have taken my football training in high school far more seriously and focused less on if girls liked me. I was a mental basketcase in high school and the beginning of college and it really hurt my trajectory. Despite all that, I ended up being a pretty good football player so I always regretted not making it my world when I was younger. I believe I could have done so much more. On that note, I would have gotten into the field I mentioned above with hopes of being a head coach at the college level. 

I would have been skinnier, that's for sure

Professional gambler, betting on sports.  Because I would know all the results, and that App State money line would soften the blow.  

Seriously though, I'd try to get into the film business with the dream of being a director.  I was really into movies when I was a late teenager, but didn't think it was practical, so I never even voiced the desire to anyone.

I got lucky.  I did horrible at Michigan, barely graduated.  When I did get out, the economy sucked and nobody was hiring.  Was forced to think outside the box a little and decided to follow one of my passions.  15 years later, I'm still a personal trainer and still doing what I'm passionate about.

Now somebody on here is going to figure out who I am.

Win Powerball and live life on the beach!

What I’ve realized after being a chemical engineer and a software engineer is that I dont particularly enjoy working.

If I could do it again. I’d be a software engineer, graduate in 1990, get into Microsoft and retire at 35.

I also would have accepted the opportunity to play lower division college baseball. My one primary regret that I had control over.

I also wouldn’t have had a brain tumor that cost me a decade of my life.

I'd learn to relax and start making mistakes sooner, take more risks and not worry about worst case scenarios. Was definitely wound too tight for my own good growing up, wasn't happy no matter how good I did. I eventually figured out that happy was a choice and not a circumstance, but I wish I'd figured that out a decade sooner. 

Easy choice - spy hunter.

Something in sports. Coaching, admin, positions have triples in the last 25 years at every AD in the country

I wouldn't change the trade that I chose, but I'd instead have begun doing it right out of high school rather than bullshitting around with college and boring office work (to me, anyway) for years beforehand. I've never been able to sit still my whole life and I love being out there and putting stuff together.

Then there's that one dude (The Saurus, I think?) who makes a living off poker and battle rap. That'd be pretty wicked.

Definitely still teacher. Because of the kids. It's been an awesome trip.

 

I enjoy my profession and I am proud to have graduated from Michigan Engineering.

That said, I would've invested $10,000 in Apple Computer in 1997 and held to present day.  I did buy 5 years later but sold too quickly.  Then bought and sold a few times more.  The money I made doesn't come close to equaling that hypothetical $10,000 investment.

I'd still be a man cause being a woman still sucks

2 chicks at the same time

If I could do it all again, I would've closed the tab and stopped drinking with Delany before he extended an invite to Rutgers.

Should've added Syracuse. If not, then Pitt. If not, then UConn. If not, then Kansas. If not, then Iowa State. If not, then University of Chicago. If not, then Cass Tech. If not, then allow the MAC Champion in each sport to move to the B1G for a year before going back and getting replaced by the MAC champion the following year.

Pathologist Assistant instead of pursuing a Ph.D. In Immunology. The pay is just as good/better and I would have been finished years ago. 

I wouldn't have quit the band.

Ok, Ok ... when the band quit me, I would go find a different band.

I would’ve just been born rich instead of good looking intelligent and modest 

I wouldn't.  I lucked into my career and honestly I have one of those jobs where I don't feel like I work a day of my life.  I went to school to be a lawyer, found that to suck, but my roommates were big gamers.  They taught me how to build a PC and play games.  I got a job on the help desk at Quicken Loans, dropped out of college and never looked back

I'm now in college (Georgia State) to finish my degree so I can advance in the executive levels, but really outside of that, I wouldn't change a thing in the way my work life went.  Personal life, that's a different story, but if I changed that, I may have never met my wife and I definitely married up and have a 1 of a kind wife.