How did you find out what you wanted to do career wise in your life.
1 Like
I have always loved making things and just found I liked making jewellery more than all the other things
Plus it was a good escape after a bad day when I was doing my practical training at college. (nursing)
1 Like
Possibly not the best person to answer this as I spent 4 years at uni getting a masters in chemistry followed by 12 years doing drug development in pharma but for the last 2 years Iāve been making and selling my jewellery. When I was younger I wanted to be initially a demolition expert, then a pathologist, then a forensic scientist which is how I ended up doing chemistry and it was whilst at uni that I discovered drug development as a career. If you had asked me at the beginning when I had graduated if I would ever change career I would have said no, I loved doing chemistry, but both I have changed and the industry changed so it was time for me to get out. I now very much enjoy being a jeweller. I think you need to be true to yourself and just because you are good at something doesnāt mean you have to make it your career - you need to enjoy it as well and when that stops its time for a change.
Sorry not much of an answer.
Sasha
3 Likes
I moved to London when I was 16 and knowing no one ,signed up for evening classes to fill the time after school , one of those was a jewellery making class. I took to it straight away. Later I was filling out my university application to do archaeology ,when I spotted I could do design and jewellery making as a four year course- I couldnāt believe something so enjoyable was available and jumped at it. I canāt imagine what I would be doing now if it hadnāt been for the evening class, I doubt I could enjoy anything more .
1 Like
I never did really! I did teacher training after my degree and taught primary for a few years until I gave up when I had the kids. I have never wanted to go back to it, itās such a full on career, and I stayed at home while my three kids were growing up. I have made jewellery and cards for a hobby for a long time and now work part time in a school doing jobs for teachers. It means I still get to do all the creative stuff and run my little business but I get out and about as well. Iām not very career minded really and love variety, and doing the creative stuff is the best 
1 Like
I still donāt know what I want to do when Iām older. (Iām 27) 
haha
Iām currently deputy head of house & HLTA at a local senior school. Iāve been working in schools since I was 19 but it was never on purpose. It just sort of happened. Iāve always worked with children with special educational needs, and I think a lot of that was because my younger brother has Aspergers so I just sort of grew up understanding how to work with autistic children. I have a lot of patience so I think thatās why I find it quite enjoyable working with children/teenagers with other needs. Mind you- itās always been in a mainstream setting so itās educational needs rather than physical ones.
But- art is something Iāve done for as long as I can remember. Itās my escape. I guess in a dream world it would be my main job, but I donāt see that happening any time soon.
At the moment Iām planning on retraining. Well - building upon what I currently do really. Iām looking into doing an MSc in psychology to hopefully go on to educational psychology. So fingers crossed!! 
2 Likes
I Always wanted to be an art teacher but got told to get a sensible job and anyway in those days (60ās) you needed maths O level to get into Art school and there was NO chance of that.!
So I worked in an office but all through my life, I have made and sold things.
I remember my mum sayingā¦donāt complain about having no money,ā¦make something and sell it.
I sold my first knitted fairisle mittens when I was 7 and got hooked on selling, so although I had a āsensibleā job when I left school, all my spare time was spent knitting, crocheting, painting or making anything I could.
At 10 I was making and selling plastercast models of dogsā¦
When the kids were born I designed knitwear and made suits for Harrods and other classy boutiques in London and then started doing craft fairs. 5 years ago my hands got crippled with arthritis which strangely doesnāt hurt at all but I cannot grip yarn to give it tension, so I started to paint and now I just paint and make origami 3d models. I have made and sold since 1972, with the odd session of teaching arts and crafts at adult education centresā¦I cannot sit doing nothingā¦always have something on the goā¦
2 Likes
I hope the retraining goes well.
Iām thinking of sort of retaining. I would to return to nursing but due to my health I wouldnāt be able to return to ward duties so Iām thinking of becoming a vampire., I canāt spell phlebotomist. Iām hoping that is right.
I always loved nursing so would love to start again in one way or another.
1 Like
Thank you!
And yep- retraining as a vampire sounds good! 
Thankyou. Just need my surgery to hurry up and I can apply for training.
I started my working life as a medical research physicist - didnāt really plan it but had a physics degree and just applied for any job that was advertised and that was one I was offered! I did really enjoy it but left to get married and have the children and by the time I was ready to return to work science had moved on and I had fallen behind 
so I retrained as a chiropodist which seemed like a good idea as I could be self employed and set my own hours around the children. It has worked really well and while maybe not my first choice of career I do enjoy it (most days!). I didnāt even know I had an arty/crafty bone in my body until about 4 years ago when I found I had more and more free time with the girls not needing me as much. Not sure why I started making things but it just happened and then I discovered felting and am addicted! Would love to make felting my primary career but its never going to happen so I just have to carry on with the feet and enjoy it as a sideline.
Good luck with the re training Susannah @curiousseagull and Dawn @hobbitgirlie1880. I think re training is much easier and more enjoyable than studying the first time round as you are usually doing it because you want to.
1 Like
It sounds like you have a good mix of things though! I think itās important to have a good balance. Even if it wasnāt what you initially planned it sounds like itās working for you!!
I know Iāll definitely get more out of retraining now. I started my degree when I was 17 and completed it while I was working full time which practically killed me! Haha I ended up just ploughing through near the end because I just wanted to get it over with. Then I said I would never go to university again! So yeah, just need a bit of life perspective to get things in order I reckon.
What I knew for sure was that Iām not mathematician/economist etc and I donāt want sit near the desk and move papers from one pile to anotherā¦ So I didnāt back to office work after maternity I had already some small money from my card making and from time to time from jewellery pieces, so after deep thinking I decided: Why not try to change this for business? So Iām trying my best since last year
Iāve always been interested in making Art, but it was on my final year of the Foundation Degree that I decided to make a go of it. I saw so many people taking Art with no ambition to do anything with it, they took the courses because they thought it would be easy, it motivated me not to be that kind of person. What was the point in spending 4 years studying Art in college and not giving it a go.
Art is one of those courses that people of as a waste of time, it wonāt get you a āreal jobā, but where would be be without Art? Without music, film and illustration. Realistically, when I want to settle down or move in with my boyfriend, Iāll have to change plans a little, but in the meantime, Iām giving my dream a go.
1 Like
My career path started when I was really little when I learnt how to sew using cross stitch sewing kits. I then progressed to making clothes for my dolls and then clothes for me. I did a textiles Oālevel, then a Fashion & Design Aālevel. From there I did an Art BTEC Foundation and then went on to study Fashion Design at Uni. I was lucky enough to get a job straight out of Uni as a childrenswear designer, which I did for 16 years. Over those 16 years I worked for 2 clothing suppliers, where I designed girlswear for 2 of the biggest names on the high street. I then went to work in head office as an in house childrenswear designer for a very big named retailer, after 10 years in that company, I left and set up my own business. I think I knew what I wanted to do as a career from the age of about 5 :0)
By changing it more than once. I get bored easily. So have many strings to my bow. Whatever I do I prefer to work for myself.
I was a bit of an over achiever once I left school studying a full time course at one college and a part time evening course at another.
Even when I was studing for my degree full time I also took on a evening course in yet another completely different area of study.
1 Like
My daughter loves making jewellery she does all of ours.Its time consuming and fun I know. Best Gabrielle.
Crafting started as a hobby then became a way of making a bit of money. My ācareerā was childcare from leaving college until about 6 years ago (still is technically as I have a 13yo still at home) I donāt know what made me want to work in this area (it certainly wasnāt the money!) but I knew at about 13 or 14 thatās what I wanted to do. I was lucky enough to work as a nanny for a couple of families and at a playgroup for a while my last job before my daughter was born was in a private nursery for 5 years where I saw some of the children grow from babies to school age. Even when my kids were little I worked as a childminder from home for 9 years until my daughter started her exams (revising in a house full of noisy kids wasnāt going to be easy and Hubby got a good promotion around that time so we could afford for me to finish) Even now you could say Iām working with children as Iām a lollypop lady at our village school as this fits in nicely around my crafting and our family life (and provides a reliable wage every month something I canāt guarantee with cardmaking!)
1 Like
The older you get the more you realise that you just keep moving on from one thing to another. Where you end up might be a million miles away from your original passion. As a youngster I wanted to be a Radiographer but worked in a bank, and estate agency and in the IT department of a busy hospital. I have done some form of craft from the age of about 3, my mother was a dressmaker and my aunts encouraged me to do things like knitting, crotchet, embroidery, tatting etc. After my kids left home and I needed a hobby I started making greetings cards then moved on to paper quilling. I saw some fabulous mosaics in the entrance at Blackpool Tower and decided to give that a try. Now I make things in fused glass and pottery, this is where I feel most at ease. Try everything available until you discover your own hidden talent.
1 Like
I never knew and never had a career. I went to Grammar School but wasnāt allowed to stay on to the sixth form - My Mum said she couldnāt afford for me to stay on especially as I didnāt know what I wanted to do. Who does at 16? 2 weeks after I left school I still didnāt have a job much to my Mumās disgust so she phoned and arranged an interview for me as a wages clerk. It was low paid and pretty much a dead end job and even the interviewer thought I was over qualified for it, but I took it just to get my Mum off my back. There I languished until I left to have my first baby. I couldnāt afford evening classes even if Iād had the confidence to go. Since then Iāve done bits of this and that but must admit to the odd twinge of resentment wondering what I could have done. I think lack of confidence held me back for much of my life, I have so much more now but I think at 62 itās a bit late for re-training. 
Sewing is something that Iāve always done and 20 years ago I had a lot of success with my curtain making business, It was hard work for the money but I had lots of customers all through word of mouth recommendations. Iāve not been anywhere near as successful this time around - thereās so much more competition out there now but Iām giving it my all and I do enjoy it.
Things rarely go to plan, and your life and career often end up going in a completely different direction. Itās probably best to be adaptable and make the most of whatever opportunities come your way. Had I gone to university I may never have met my husband and gone on to have 2 lovely children and 4 grandchildren.
Apologies for this long rambling postā¦
1 Like