J is for…jobs

How many people end up in a job in the field you studied in College?

According to a study in November 2013 on CareerBuilder, 1/3rd of college grads will never work in the field they studied in school. I personally graduated with a degree in pharmacy, took the boards, got a job at a  retail pharmacy in Michigan, but found that it was not for me.

I’ll leave the details of why pharmacists deserve more respect for another blog post.

After my year in pharmacy, we moved to Austin, TX and I began taking classes in Engineering Design Graphics.  The classes taught me how to use AutoCAD to draw up architect and engineer plans. Then it was a matter of the right place, right time. I was offered a job at the college to manage the continuing education classes and later asked to teach a semester long class for the community college. I truly loved my job and the people I worked with. But soon it was time to start a family and so we moved back to the midwest to be closer to family. And unfortunately, the midwest is less liberal with offering jobs to quality people without a pedigree of job experience. But that was alright because I soon found myself pregnant and well on my way to mommyhood.

Three kids and 14 years later, they are all now  in school for 9 months out of the year, giving me time to write books. The first book I wrote was to pay homage to a family that came to our aid during a difficult time. It was a very short story that I self-published. I did not intend on making millions off the book, rather, I wrote it to honor the folks who were so helpful to my family during that time. But I loved it…the writing and creating, and will continue writing as long as life allows it.

What will yo be when you grow up?