It’s a working Monday. I have no news to share and no announcements to make. I have a cup of tea and a file opened in front of me. Some people find the blank page intimidating, but to me it is always exciting. It’s full of possibilities. You can go anywhere. Do anything. And then the first word goes onto the page, and suddenly you have a course and a direction.
Many years ago KOEI made a game called New Horizons. You started out as a character with a single tiny ship and a map shrouded in fog, and you set out into the unknown to discover the world and grow your mercantile empire or a massive military fleet one load of cargo at a time. Writing books feels a little like that.
There is that old saying, practice makes better. The more we do something, the more efficient and practiced we become. I’m not sure that holds true for books. Someone once came up with a different adage for writers: the more you work on a book, the more you learn how to write that particular book better. Just when you feel you’ve gotten the hang of it, a new book comes along, with a different world and different characters, and everything you’ve learned goes out the window.
Since in this business you are only as good as your last book, every new novel is a career change. Every new book is a business decision, which in turn results in a myriad of smaller business decisions. When we started out as writers, somehow the idea that writing is a business never entered into my plans for the future.
In my head back then, the business model was very simple: write books -> collect money -> write more books. That still holds true, technically. There are just a few steps missing: spend a long time figuring out which project is the best one to work on – write book -> do a whole lot of admin things -> try not to lose the whole bag of marbles -> collect money.
I’ve read about Vera Wang’s career path this weekend. She started out as a figure skater, and then, when she failed to make the Olympic team, pivoted to a degree in art history. After she graduated, she was hired as an editor for Vogue and she stayed in that position for 17 years. Then she was passed over for promotion. She left, worked for Ralph Lauren for a couple of years and then, at 40 started her own fashion brand.
Of all the industries, fashion prizes youth the most. I’ve been watching the new season of Project Runway and the highest compliment every designer chases is “It’s feels fresh and young.” Can you imagine the guts it took to start over in fashion at 40? I wonder how many people told her she was too old.
Given that I’m crap at everything else, I’m not planning on designing wedding dresses any time soon. All of my career pivoting will be done on the written page. It’s waiting for me right now.
Meanwhile, I’m curious if you had to pivot in your professional life. How did it go?
I turned 57 today and have to haul my keister out of bed to get to class. Nearly all of my classmates are younger than my kids. Working on a degree in a completely different field than I’ve been in for 35 years. Also, considering a theatre arts (tech focused) degree might be what I really want.
I worked as a respected graphic designer from my mid-twenties, supporting my husband (university student) and myself.
When I was 29, we moved for my newly-graduated husband’s career to a province where my second language is the main language, and no one would hire a “foreign-educated” graphic designer.
Back to school (in 2nd language) to become a GIS (essentially Mapping) technician, distinguishing myself as a go-getter, for the next 15 years.
Four kids and a (wonderful) 2nd husband later, I had the cosmic good fortune to be promoted to the position of GIS Analyst, at 50.
Now, I get to put puzzle pieces of data together in a way that’s useful and relevant, integrating the result in a visual interface that is useful and relatable to the clients who requested the analysis.
I was working as a manager in a legal firm when I met him.
We were in a First Aid course for recertification. It was interesting, but my biggest challenge was going to be preventing myself from bandaging paper cuts and leaving it to the big babies to apply their own plasters (UK Health and Safety).
He told me he was a photographer so I asked him what his biggest challenge would be. He said avoiding being eaten by bears. 🐻 🤯
Turns out he was a wildlife photographer getting his paperwork in order so he could travel to Kodiak Island. I realised that I had found my dream job 5 decades too late.
I’m looking at photography courses now but the bears will have to manage by themselves.
Depends what pivot means.
I got told my job wasn’t important. The husband’s was. Then he had/has time for his per diems, which they said there wasn’t time for him to miss working the farm, I had to quit.
So I pivoted and for 20+yrs I taught children who weren’t supposed to learn to be much more than their dxs. Then came covid and the passing for normal one is in a supervised apartment and I blocked her indefinitely a month ago on my phone. The moderate/severe one is way too smart for his disability and the most awesome 23 yr old around.
No, I didn’t have a choice….. lack of parental support, money and autism makes choices and you live with them.
Now I wouldn’t know what to pivot too even if I had the opportunity.
As a single mother with full custody and no child support or alimony, I have had to pivot many times. I went from stay at home mom to retail cashier and college, to law enforcement, to security, and banking, to my own businesses which is where my strength lay. Then my grown son had a daughter and needed extensive help. I sacrificed tons, lived with them, and went back to college. I could never afford to rent or buy, only hotels or living in my car. Now I found a rent to own place. Make no mistake, it needed everything down to flooring, toilet, appliances, water lines, overgrowth removed, but I could afford it while in college. My business is pet sitting and dog walking, and ny other is a 501c3 charity helping veterans and animals in need. My passion. Worth every sacrifice.
I went to school and got a degree in graphic design. Then I contracted Ménière’s disease and couldn’t work for several years. While I was on disability, I learned to throw on the wheel. I was almost immediately offered a studio space in a historic reinactment town. I’ve been doing that ever since.
I hope you’re feeling better, and I’m so glad you found a terrific alternative!
I was a reporter, though I’d always wanted to be a novelist. Unfortunately, the newspaper business was already dying in 2000. Even worse, though I’d wanted to be a novelist since I was 9, I’d never finished a book. I just started them — I have no idea how many — only to give up on each one without finishing. Finally, at age 40, I decided if I didn’t finish a damn book, I’d always be a failure. So I wrote my first novel and finished it. And it was published. Left reporting and became a full-time writer for Berkley Sensation. Hit the NYTimes — never as high or as often as you guys. Still writing at 64. You’ll know I quit when you read my obituary. And brava/bravo House Andrews. I’m cheering for your continued success, and I can’t wait to read THIS KINGDOM WILL NOT KILL ME.
Absolutely. I worked in, and eventually ran, professional nonprofit theaters for 20 years. And then the theater I was running was forced to close as a result of the recession and that career was over for me. I was 48. It took two or three years of low-paying jobs and four years of waiting tables on the side, but now, 13 years after my first career ended, I work for a financial service company as their bookkeeper, and I’m doing better than I was before. It was really a tough transition, but I’ve come out the other side.So grateful.
I pivoted from teacher (<1 year) to IT (2 years) to chef (20 year business anniversary last month!) I was 35 when I started 55 now and still <3ing it 🙂
I quit my high-tech job at 35 to become a writer. Yeah, that was one hella pivot. I was nothing but nerves and fear because as we all know, writers often don’t make much money and I love to eat and I’m fond of having a roof. I’d been saving for a long time to give myself a shot. I bet Vera Wang did too. Not just money but saving all those ideas that someone else poo-pooed. I’m a lot older now, and I still believe that if you can, you should follow your dreams even if it’s in a small manner, even if you fail, whether you start at 8 or 80. Because believe me, those of us who do follow our dreams, do fail. We just don’t give up. And we keep the successes close to our hearts. Because a dream isn’t just one book, one wedding dress, or a single day, week or year.
I’m 37 with two kids and started an online master’s program in data science last month. I’ve been a research scientist in some capacity since I was 20, so this is my first attempt at true career pivot. Hopefully it works out.
I got sick at the tail end of 2019 and, while the scary stuff is mostly over, I still can’t manage a normal 9-to-5. After exploring calligraphy and font design, I finally did what I’ve been trying to do since I was a kid. I wrote a book! It’s too soon to see how this pivot will go, but I’m so proud I might break my face beaming!
This post asks the right question just as I am starting a major pivot—I’ve worked in the film and TV business for over 20 years and that business has all but collapsed in the past two years. I’m 51 and a single mother. Now I have to pivot into something else. But what? Something to do with AI? Executive Assistant? Cashier at Trader Joe’s? I published a rom-com last year called, Love, Camera, Action but I’m too new in that world to make any real money. I’m hopeful I’ll find something, but won’t deny I’m worried. Any advice from the BDH is welcome.
Advice? Ok, I’ll give it a shot! 😁
This is just my own personal experience, but you don’t have to do just one thing at a time. Maybe there are multiple roles you should play right now?
I have not tried being a writer while at the same time doing something else to pay the bills, but I have worked jobs to pay the bills while fulfilling my creative side taking classes, volunteering to do artwork for non-profit projects, etc. Maybe you could find a way to do something similar?
I think the most important thing is to recognize your fears (you’ve already done that) but don’t give them more importance than they’re worth or let them stop you from pursuing something you really want.
Again, just my opinion, but I think that the most important questions about any pursuit are can you do it (don’t sell yourself short), do you want to do it (don’t let your fears answer for you), and will it help make you happy or meet some need or needs you have? (Be sure to tell yourself the truth!)
I have finally figured this out at 66, but wish someone had told me earlier. I’m telling my 24 year old daughter now.
In any case, no matter what you decide, best of luck! 😁
Thanks Kat in NJ! That is good advice.
I didn’t “have to” pivot, but after I retired from the USAF, I read a lot of books. I was reading a “military romance” but it was clear the writer had never even spoken to a military member. I thought, “I can do better than this!”
Spoiler Alert: No, I couldn’t. I wrote 8 books before I got the idea for my first space opera, the first book I published. I’ve published 19 novels now in space opera, military romantic suspense, and now, urban fantasy.
It’s never too late to try something new!
worked in banking, moved across country, worked in insurance, moved back across country. Got a Computer science degree, worked in telecommunications. At 50 quit, got an MLS and became a library selector for my county. Best job ever. everything I learned before applied.
I was a secretary for most of my working life. I had no goals, and it paid the rent. Got married, had kids, worked part time or full time. At my last office job, I HATED it. The field was very male oriented, the geographical region was about 20 years behind the larger metro region we had moved from, and I was not a good fit there. Too snarky and disrespectful. Got fired. Sulked for about a week, then told my husband that he had changed careers when we first got married and now it was MY turn. Went to junior college, got a Vet Tech degree and license. Worked in that field for 16 years, then retired. Became a widow along the way. Became poor, too.
Now I’m retired, a little bit bored, a lot poor (Social Security), but… I (and the bank) own my home, I am able to live alone and not need a roommate. I live a days drive from my children, which I don’t love, but it is what it is. I’m OK. It could be a damned sight worse, and I am grateful it isn’t…
I was in traditional publishing (sales rep), now I’m a National Park Ranger. I got paid to talk about books for 40 years between bookstores and publishing. Now I talk about the outdoors. Life is good (and unexpected)
Had to pivot. Stalled for a decade or so. Had to reassess and started applying in a different field, just looking for anything. Was applying at a place at the recommendation of a friend for one job, saw another listing that would actually touch on the degree I’d given up on, applied, got the job, still at the same company decade and change later.
Financially, could have pivoted better earlier but I’m working on it.
Re: fashion and older women, how about Betsey Johnson? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsey_Johnson She started out in fashion, but is still going strong, with a very unique take on it IMO.
I’ve actually had two. When I was twelve years old, I watched free willy for the first time. From then on, I decided I wanted to be a killer whale trainer. Now, I have the best parents ever, and they supported my dream 100%. The did ask that I get a university degree, which I did in Marine Biology. I did it. I worked as a Marine Mammal trainer for almost 10 years. When I was in my 30’s I decided I needed a change. I became a Rescue Specialist with the Canadian Coast Guard. I’ve hit the 10 year mark, and 4 years ago, I published my first novel. Now I do both, and it works great. But, life on deck is hard and I figure in another 5 years I will be established enough to get off the boats and write full time. I will be in my mid 40’s. It’s never too late to make a change.
I started out my career by earning a BS degree and obtaining an RN license. I worked in multiple areas of several hospitals in several states and always saw the same pattern. I’d learn a challenging but exciting specialty (adult ICU, locked psych unit, etc), and then management would force us to take on higher patient loads until I knew it was inevitable that I would make a mistake which could harm a patient and possibly impact my license, so I would move to a different area. During this unending cycle, I took training and became a neurofeedback clinician to solve some issues with my own kids. The results were so amazing that I started my own business (not typical for someone with an RN license) and now, twenty years later, I own a thriving neurofeedback clinic and call my own shots to ensure my clients get top-quality care with plenty of personalized time.
I did have to pivot in my professional life. My background is biochemistry, cancer biology, and data science. Then I had a major health collapse that left me in the hospital and bed ridden. I couldn’t work anymore and my immune system became reactive to electric magnetic fields, too much heat, and strong smells. Plus, fatigue at mostly random times made it impossible to hold a job.
I pivoted to learning everything I could about what was happening inside of me and work full time as a regenerative health coach now. It is a completely different track in life and I love it. It combines my natural empathy, curiosity, problem solving, and understanding of the human body. Eventually, I plan to bring in the data science aspect of it and make statistically rigorous questionnaires for health coaches to use. It is the wild Wild West in alternative health and it doesn’t need to be! Patients should be able to see your track records of success. And the opposite. Do people come to you for gut imbalances, feel better for 6 months, and then relapse? Or do you provide enough knowledge sharing that they understand the why of their own symptoms and how to have an ongoing relationship and not have relapses? There are so many stories out there of ppl with incurable things that then get better. That is amazing. But if that data isn’t collected, how can it ever be presented to drs and then help to enrich the time of knowledge that is the medical field?
So I feel very rewarded with career pivot even though I was very happy before getting so ill and wasn’t looking for a shift 🙂
But if that data isn’t collected, how can it ever be presented to drs
OMG yes!!! If you need data, they started generating it on me in 2002… but nobody wants to look at the long term stuff.
My father and husband did oncology research, so I have spent my entire life surrounded by collection and analysis.
so re pivoting on careers: I started out as a medical technologist, with a bachelor’s degree followed by a master’s degree in that field. worked in the field for 9 years, but was unsatisfied for various reasons. Applied for and was accepted into a PhD program in microbiology, but had to withdraw before starting when my husband’s orders were changed. We’d been married for 5 months – didn’t want to be in separate states for years – seemed to defeat the point of being married. After looking into a number of thins, took a computer class, liked it, took another and still liked it. Applied for a Master’s in computer science, which Icompleted. Worked in the computer industry for 42 years, retiring in 2024. Loved the work – had to learn about so many different fields in order to write the necessary programs: oil well drilling, speak recognition, telecom stuff, DoD stuff…Was promoted to management and acquired an MBA as part of that – never a dull moment!
please forgive all the typos – I am bad at typing on my phone!
My career path went like:
Get Fine Art degree.
Have 2 babies.
Paint on weekends and nap times.
Do Arts & Craft Fairs for 9 years.
Quit Art and go to work full time in an office.
Have another baby.
Start painting again.
Join a Gallery.
Teach Private lessons.
Decide to share lessons on YouTube (age 42).
Go viral.
Quit everything but YouTube.
Enjoy the Ride! 🙂
Like so many others here I’ve had many pivots. The largest one is going back to school at 58 to get my Master’s in Social Work. It’s never too late people! The desire to do this had been cooking for years and occasionally I do wish I had started my degree 10 years ago or so but since I can’t change that I keep plodding along, glitchy memory and all.
Many considered pivots, none taken. Mostly for the sake of keeping an income coming in, as I live in an expensive city. Maybe someday I’ll take that leap.
I did a bit of a pivot. When I was in the Air Force I was an electrician. When I left I went to college to become a Nurse. Looks like a big pivot but it’s not. Most functions of the body, especially the heart, work as an electromechanical machine. I was very fortunate because I loved both careers.
I’ve tried to pivot from engineering to UI/UX design and Data Science. I’m currently in Finance lol. And I crochet
Although I’m still in the IT space, I made a pivot about 13 years ago.
For about 20 years, I was a developer that took on the entire project, get specs, design (including DB), code, document, deliver and support. Mostly small-ish projects (internal stuff for large corporations – I worked directly not contract) as well as some large ones (part of a team, I did the really complex things the rest of the devs couldn’t do because I understood lower level systems – DB\OS and what you can\can’t do in particular languages at the time so it wasn’t uncommon for me to write subsystems doing things more directly than the presentation layer language could do – anyway LOL).
13 years ago I switched to delivering Services for a Software Company (that company is\was small to medium but developed software for large enterprise orgs) which was very consultative (but required nearly non-stop travel) and I’ve since moved to their Sales Org as an Architect – a lot more meetings\more customers on a week to week basis but almost no travel. I now very rarely code, but I do on occasion, I’m mostly in the hot seat during the sales cycle being interrogated (as one account manager puts it) about everything our software does\doesn’t do.
It is quite a switch but let’s me do more\different things so I enjoy it – and I’m problem solving less which apparently I really needed to do because I realized I couldn’t switch my brain OFF. Part of my exhaustion all of those years was I couldn’t sleep with a problem unsolved. Much less of an issue now.
Anyway – one thing I DO miss is starting from literal scratch and a blank page full of possibilities. I’ll hate the rest when I’m lacking sleep, but that’s the best part 🙂
Absolutely linear career. My father told me I should be a mathematician when I was 4 or 5, so I got a degree in math. When I was 15 or 16, he said computers would be good to know about, so I doubled majored math/computer science. I spent 10 years programming, the another 15 years on engineering process (organizing other programmers). I retired almost 20 years ago to doing occasional contracting jobs. It worked out for me…
My pivot was very hard. I floundered and it took a huge toll.
I would ask how Gordon leaving the military took a toll on you and the family? That’s a big pivot too.
Yes… I have had to do a sudden change in career. From teaching high school English and Spanish 6 classes a day, to suddenly be an invalid who could do very little. It is not easy. You can wallow. BUT you don’t HAVE to. Pull up your little girl panties and adapt. Find something you CAN still do and smile. Now my life is so very rewarding (I sew for the local Maternity outlets and sew simple gifts for totally unsuspecting people I hardly know). I am so happy ! Yes, I do miss 11th grade American literature, but that’s OK. So – you asked can it be done? Yes. But don’t whine as you change – just do it !!
Well, I’m on my fourth and last career. First I was an ecologist and land use planner. Then, for a whole lot of complicated reasons, I went back to school to become a graphic designer and worked in-house for our local library system. Eventually that evolved into having my own design company for many years. After that I was a hazardous waste technician for a while. And now I am the administrative assistant in the Capital Asset Management department of a regional government agency.
All of these different jobs satisfied different aspects of my personality, my commitment to the environment, my artistic and organizational side, my love of science, and now back to my organizational skills and joy in preventing or solving problems.
The BDH is incredible, amazing, and inspiring!
I was a biology and history double major. Spent some years in medicine. Short stint as a healthcare consultant at one of The Big accounting/consulting firms. Several years freelancing as a proofreader or editor at commercial and pharmaceutical advertising companies; legal, financial, and brokerage firms; e-book romance companies; and medical journal publishers. Landed 20 years ago in my current incarnation as an online medical editor.
I had a major pivot at 36. I started my working life in the bank until I got married and we had a family. I was getting ready to enter the workforce again and applied at a bank. It did not go well. I gave myself a severe talking to and asked the question what do you really want to do? So I took my CV and marched around to the health shop and said I want a job that gives me training in the health industry.That decision has coloured my life ever since (64)
In my mid-thieties, when I was looking down the barrel of layoffs from a second dying private sector industry, I said to myself, “Where would you go even if they didn’t pay you?” And the answer was my city’s majestic main library. I also wanted a job where women were valued, that offered good benefits, a union, and a pension, and where I would become more valuable as I aged, not less. I applied to library school, got my degree, and now I get paid to go to that majestic main library every day and talk to people about books. I really like the job. I enjoy helping my community. Sometimes, working with the public is awful or maddening, or heartbreaking, but overall, the good days far outnumber the bad. After marrying my husband, I’d say librarianing is the best decision I made.
When I went to college the first thme jt was for Astronomy and Astrophysics. But I hit my head… hard and had a lot of problems with my short term memory. So I took awhile and am now a photographer, sewist, and graphic designer.
I worked in pharmaceutical research for 7 years after college. I submitted and managed grants. I administered trials and audited records. After several years, well, let’s just say the paycheck wasn’t there. So I went to graduate school and got a degree in history that helped in unexpected ways. Not that a history degree itself helps any but the top of the field.
I ended up in marketing in Silicon Valley. First as a content creator, meaning that I wrote. A lot. Then I moved over to partner marketing and stayed there the rest of my career. The history degree helped in that a “graduate degree” ticked a box and I got a big increase in salary.
Side note: when I was in high school, I interned as a zoo keeper at the LA Zoo. I loved everything about it. Yes, even cleaning enclosures. Looking back now, I wish that I had followed that route. A job I loved even when shoveling elephant waste, for free, sounds precious.
I didn’t so much pivot as just meander through life. I never finished high school, went to TAFE (for those outside Australia TAFE is a tertiary education institution that does everything from trade apprenticeships to management courses or accounting or arts) I studied horticultural, ceramics and glass, tourism and a few other subjects while working part time in different retail jobs to have money to live on. I tried Uni twice but never finished the first year in the two different degrees I attended, fine arts jewellery and history, focusing of medieval history.
I really wanted to travel around Europe but couldn’t afford it so decided to backpack around Australia instead. My first job was a roadhouse with a total of 5 people, located 400km from the closest town. I did everything from short order cooking, housekeeping, yard work including cleaning the pool and fixing pumps, washing the pet camel and donkey, and of course working the bar. For 20 years I moved around, working in remote areas of Australia. I have seen absolutely amazing places, met absolutely amazing people and have worked almost every job you can think of that doesn’t need a qualification under Aussie law. I decided I wanted to stop travelling and finally bought a house and now have a boring day job as an Aviation Compliance Specialist. Still have idea what I want to do when I grow up.
I’ve had a couple of pivots in my career, from collections to compliance to data analysis. The biggest pivot was a job change, I had been with (a now defunct) brokerage firm for more than 16 years when I decided they were never going to pay me what I was worth (they thought my 16 years of experience were worth the same a newly graduated and hired college student i.e. entry level pay). I took the plunge, got a new job as a software engineer in healthcare/insurance and got a 40% pay raise for my trouble. I was also 40 when I made the change. Something about that birthday made me more willing to take a chance, and I haven’t regretted it. Even having to learn an entirely new industry, business, co-workers, etc. it was one of the BEST decisions I have ever made. Scary as all h3ll to start over with a new company after all that time at the same place, but worth it.
This is an absolutely lovely post and what I needed to read. Thank you.
+1!
I went from pharmacist to editor, over many years, of course. But I’m the happiest in my current career. I now tell young people that it’s perfectly fine to start in one field and pivot to another. You learn more about who you are as you grow and acquire new skills along the way. Each life stage is just another chapter in the story of your life.
Stay at home mom, then art school, now teach GIS & drones to high schoolers. I love what I do abs can pinpoint how all the different threads got me to where I am now.
Maybe not a strong pivot per se with radically changing fields as the fields are linked, but certainly a very big difference in expectations: the plan was initially academic and attempt professorship or go into R&D in industry – got to post doc by 26 (analytical chemistry). But looking over then-opportunities and lifestyle, decided to transition into self-employed, and focus on education and constuling: ended up helping startups/SMEs with biz/scientific consulting and tutoring – the classic chem/phys/math, and the much less expected history and english lit anylsis :D, which is great fun, and also very fun explainig why all these subjects require similar skills.
So very many pivots. Cleaned hotel and motel rooms at 15. Then waited tables and tended bar and worked in fast food while I put myself through school. Then became a Librarian. Then worked in Aerospace. Then owned a small business with my husband. And now we’re retired. All that while surviving multiple cancers and the treatments. Losing both kidneys and doing dialysis, acquiring a kidney transplant and living the fairly rigid lifestyle and medication regimen to keep it whew!😅
I love this! I like the idea of a blank page being full of possibilities. That just fills me with such excitement.
I’m actually pivoting now, or trying to at least. I’m moving out of the public sector into freelance grant writing. It’s extremely slow going yet, but I believe it’ll all work out eventually (God, please!).
I wanted to write software, but the college offer I got was for electrical engineering. Good thing in retrospect because I would’ve been one of those programmers who reacted … poorly … to any interruption.
I specialized in electromagnetics for my degree, but ended up doing quality engineering and then hardware engineering at a couple different computer companies. A change from applying fundamental forces to learning how to tame the machines driving information technology seemed reasonable.
To get a new job after #YetAnotherLayoff, I had to pivot to technical sales and field engineering. That lasted for more than a decade at a large technology corporation, and while it taught me to be a nicer person (grumpy doesn’t last in sales) it slowly drove me round the twist.
Now I do hardware engineering and technical sales at a small company full of people I like working with, and I am content.
I seem to recall a book I rather enjoy had a scene where a mother reminds her daughter that one must “adapt or die”. I think I found fun things along the way too.
At 50 I decided to leave my career of major administrative positions in human services agencies and city government. I returned to school to get my PhD. It was what I had wanted to do years earlier, but I had a baby instead. He’s now 41 and my PhD is 20. One of the best decisions I ever made just for me.
After my Mom passed at at age 64, I got my CNA ( certified nursing assistant) certification and totally changed directions. That lead to my program director telling me “You need to become a nurse.” So at 49, I enrolled in a 10 month intensive program, turned 50 in nursing school and graduated with a 4.0 GPA.
I currently run the craft department of a local store. My lightly used electrical engineering degree gathers dust. Becoming disabled at 28 forced a lot of changes. I’ve also raised and bred reptiles and arachnids. At one point in my life I had to pivot and change univiersities. Some how those childhood years of I’m going into biology never manifisted on a professional level.
Sometimes as people we look down on those who work retail. But if you asked me or some of my coworkers random questions about the departments we work in, you’d get detailed help. I could not tell you what the best makeup and special effects combinations you’d need to pull of “X” horror costume, but several of my coworkers can. I can go over some of the basics if you wanted to start working with resin, but some of my coworkers acutally work with it. And if it’s a knitting or random yarn question, I handle those.
Thank you for the insights. It’s funny, I was actually talking about career and changes just yesterday with my daughter, because she is 15 and stressed out over having to choose what she wants to do in life. I was telling her not to worry too much because life is change. And about all the times I have had to pivot – to tell her, that no matter what you start out as, and what dreams you have when you are young, it is never too late to choose something else. Sometimes circumstances chooses for you, sometimes you get bored and want to do something else. But now, after changing direction so many times in my life – started out as an engineer in physics, then worked as web designer, then software developer, teacher, childcare, bookstore, tech support, bank frontline support, and now business developer in a bank. In my free time I work towards my own retirement plan: somehow making a bit of money on my art, which was my dream when I was 15.
Never to old to pivot. Amazing if you can find your path early and stick to it, but it is perhaps few people who can do that.
I actually had to at 35 years old, when I moved from Brazil to the Netherlands.
I used to work as a translator in Brazil, translating films and books from English to Portuguese, bur I didn’t know Dutch enough to follow the same carreer, so I had to find a job doing something else. I found it at an indy bookstore especialized in English language books, and am still working there, 25 years later.
In between I tried my hand at becoming a school teacher, but becoming a mother was more important, and a bit longer than a decade ago I learned how to sew and now I make my own clothes and also sell book sleeves on the side. And I’m a lot happier doing that than when I was working 16 hours a day.
So yes, a change in direction is sometimes necessary and even welcome.
I got laid off from my computer programming job when I was pregnant with my second child. Since the only jobs open to me at the time, as an assembly language programmer, were jobs that required traveling extensively, I was a stay at home Mom for 10 years. Made the halloween costumes, was boy scout den mother, started teaching Sunday School, etc.
Fast forward to 20 years later, the 3 boys are off at college or starting their own carreers. I’m not going to be able to go back to assembly language programing. It;s a really niche field and not used so much. So I went to work at a preschool.
I had a blast with the kids and I think I was fairly successful. I did have a fair amount of learning to do. Texas requires 48 hours of childhood education classes to start teaching preschool and 24 hours every year you teach. I enjoyed the classes I had to take as much as working with the kids.
Its never too late to start over.
I retired from the Air Force after a 20-year career as an aircraft electrician and later a UH-1N Huey helicopter flight engineer. Then I was the lead baker in a bakeshop before starting to work in publishing.
I went from an administrative assistant to a safety professional. Besides the stress and constant overtime I think it went well; we had no sustained government citations, no work related deaths, and most injuries were minor. I’m involuntarily retired (thanks cough plague!), so am looking for another job. yay
I’ve worked in medicine for 16 years, but I’ve moved across mountains, transitioned from level 1 trauma centers to small family clinics and back again, even dabbled in research. There is good and bad in each transition, but as long as I continue learning and growing, I’m happy. When I stop learning, it’s time to move again.
I pivoted my whole life. Got divorced. Quit my job. Moved to Guatemala, taught English for 6 months. Came back to the states, went back to school, and finally have a career and life I can be proud of.
Divorce at 26, finished college at 31
I had a college degree planned, only to find out that the much touted college account only had $2500 in it. So regardless of sats I chose to get married to get “away” and go to community college as I could afford it. 2 vicious divorces later I chose to open a used book store with $700, 7 bookcases and a pile of boards and blocks. The Human Resources degree is all but 15 credits but I have been doing this for 34 years and would never go back, even though I make less than minimum wage.
I was an executive secretary to some high-flying people before marriage and kids. Divorced at about 40 and went to work in a clothing company as a shipping clerk (no wardrobe for former profession) and became their traffic manager as they grew. Sixteen years later, they “down-sized” me out and a dear friend and I began a dog-food company that helped lead the way back to real food for out dogs and cats. Now I’m retired, taking health classes: yoga, tai chi chih, qi gong, weight training 6 days a week.
Yes, I’m in the middle of it: switching from a 25 yr career in project management to a brand new blank page career in Safety. Exciting, and nerve wracking stuff and a bit of sadness in there as when any good chapter is done.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I became an RN at 45, 10 years ago, after working as a massage therapist for almost a decade. I received a surprising amount of pushback when I started taking prerequisite classes for nursing school, the most hurtful coming from my own father, who suggested that I should just “stay in my lane” and stop “tilting at windmills”, since it hadn’t been that many years since I worked my butt off in massage school. I was a single mom, working full-time, with part-time gigs on the side. I felt briefly crushed, but then used those negative reactions to fuel me, sort of an “I’ll show them!” situation, lol. I love being an oncology nurse, and never regret making the decision to go back to school. Somewhat ironically, my Dad is the one who brags about me the most now. *rolls eyes*
Pivots happened to me but it was so worth letting them continue. I got a cleaning job that evolved into gaining positions across the business where I got to drive hagglunds, organize events, and be a penguin keeper (I live in New Zealand). I just needed a job for some $ to help my other half do his teaching qualification, but I got the chance to learn so much, do my MSc on the little penguin and be able to drive very large machines for the US Antarctic Program for two summer seasons because of my previous training with tracked vehicles. I am now pursuing a qualification in emergency management because that somehow feels like the right way to learn even more, especially after experiencing the earthquakes, and aftermath, in Christchurch in 2010-11. I may also be attempting to write my first fictional story. Let the pivots flow, you can end up with the most wonderful experiences.
Have made a couple of changes. The most noticeable one was after 14 years of selling fine jewelry I could not stand another day of retail garbage. I had previous jobs in offices and knew I didn’t like that. But at age 61 took some computer courses and went to work for a foreign airline. I had been on a plane once in my life and was about to work almost exclusively with Asians. It was a little odd, but once I got used to accents I truly enjoyed all the contacts across the world.
OMG! I love that you asked about a career pivot. I am so desperately in need of a career pivot, but alas, stuck in a very lucrative, yet toxic career because I’m a single mommy and made promises to my kiddo’s. How, I love your Ada in The Inheritance! Bad ass Mommy doing everything for her kiddo’s. That’s me. But hot damn, I’d love to do something completely different, but how do you manage that at almost 50?? When you write a book about that, I’ll be all over it.
Again, please for all that is holy, write an Arabella book! PLEASE! Love you forever!
Im back here after a long time and the reason is I’m learning new stuff so I can change my career. Im 47. Just got your new book, I didnt even know it came out. The book funnel is so easy to use. Im off to start reading. I bet all of you are jealous he he( I’m always jealous when someone just discovers Ilonas books)
I graduated during a recession so my goal has always been “have job”, and the longest I’ve ever been able to stay at one without the universe interfering is three years. I’ve been fortunate enough to mostly stay in the interior design industry, but sometimes that means houses, sometimes hotels, sometimes 1 million square foot government buildings, and sometimes designing templates and software workflows for different firms. I’m doing affordable housing now and right now the goal is “stay here, do the thing”
I didn’t know what I was going to do, and it ate at me. I’d been answering phones for a cab company, but craved more. Then on a lovely Saturday, I came upon a woman I sort of knew, Terry, and she was sitting in front of her dad’s tavern selling jewelry , ankle bracelets, she designed, on the spot, for $5. We talked, and she told me of a Wholesale bead,and jewelry supply store. You could get a catalog for free, and they had instructions for beginners. I got in touch, and they sent me a catalog. I found it changed my life. I’m still making jewelry. Happier times.
tbh. the Inheritance is too close to the bone for my life and so I’ve supported you all in purchasing and word of mouth advertising but have yet to read it. I love the BDH. the comments this time really got me to look closely at myself which I’m not good at. hence why looking back at my life’s happenings, it was me resisting and struggling with all the unexpected twists and turns. I’ve yet to be as positive and grateful as everyone has been with their responses. thank you everyone for your stories. it’s really helped me connect with parts of myself I have regrets of and to be gentle and less in a hurry in the present and look to the future more positively.
long time reader, first time commenter. I LOVE this thread. I am going to keep coming back to it for inspiration and sustenance. what an awesome community!!
Hello Mod R and Ilona Andrews! I loved reading Inheritance – but it mentioned lees. So I had to go read all the Innkeeper books again, but first I had to read all of the Edge books because the Innkeeper books have George, et all! Now I’m done with the Innkeeper books again (love them all!!) and I got back to what is still dangling from the Innkeeper books (parents, ad hal, etc). I haven’t seen any mention in the past year and a half about this series getting a scheduled finish. And then I got to thinking about all the other great stories that are still unfinished! What about Julie? What about Hugh and Elara? What about a Wilmington Years finish? What about Arabella? Once they come out (which I hope they will) I will continue to devour. Thanks so much for every single book, novella, snippet, etc that you share with us!!
yes I did pivot.
I have an Engineering degree and I did that for about 10yrs and then starting working as an actor and really developed my creative side. I wrote and produced my first short early this year and I’m now a production coordinator for a local studio now. Still acting and being creative (writing screen plays), just adding to the skill sets.
It helps that I love to learn.
I like your description of writing. each project is different even if you know the process to get to the end, the journey is not the same.
I left education, got an MBA and now do financial planning and analytics. It is SO MUCH more fun for me. I love it. It’s basically working with adults, asking questions, making spreadsheets and pictures and PowerPoints. Being nosey and having thick skin but emotional intelligence is key. Best career ever for me.
Oh, and I changed careers at 40! Don’t be afraid people!
Thanks for this post. I am going to save it. From the image to your writing. I started my doctorate this fall. I’m just about 4 weeks in, and boy is it a pivot.
All of your stories are ones I return to in stress, joy, and relaxing. Nevada, Kate, Alessandro, Julie, and beyond keep me company when I am stressing. So, while I don’t have your work memorized…it just might happen in my spare time while I do this doctorate thing. . . Thanks for talking about your story, it helps to hear about. And it’s wonderful.
So here’s to more books- – > more money for you! And here’s to finishing a degree for me!
My sister sent me this article of yours, and it resonated with me far more than I expected. And oh my goodness—the comments section was incredible too!
So here’s me, pouring it out:
I started off shaky. My dad died by suicide when I was just 4, and my mother has been my rock—my North Star—ever since. She’s the one who helped me turn things around when I failed English in 3rd grade. From 4th through 9th, I went on to win “Best in English” every single year—even though English is my second language.
Math, though, was a different story. I failed it in grades 10, 11, and 12. Somehow scraped through the 12th boards, enough to get selected for an Actuarial Science course, but it needed advanced math I just didn’t have. I joined IGNOU (open university), studying mostly alone since in-person classes weren’t accessible. YouTube became my lifeline—PatrickJMT (Texas), DonyLee (Singapore), MIT open courses, even Russian and German teachers. I finally earned my BA in Math (Hons) in 2013. By then, a job offer from a Toastmasters friend (in 2010) had already slipped away.
Toastmasters itself had become my anchor. I joined in December 2006, gave my first 10 speeches by 2009 (forgetting half of them, fumbling through). From 2009 onward I kept competing without wins—until 2023, when I finally placed 3rd in the District-level Table Topics (impromptu speaking) contest.
Meanwhile, NLP came into my life. I got certified in 2016, trained further, and in 2018 helped wake a coma patient. I’ve resolved hundreds of migraines, helped failing students triple their scores, and worked with thousands in groups and one-on-one. At one point, I even received a government appreciation letter for my work. Between 2020–2022, I trained under John Grinder, the co-creator of NLP himself.
And as if life wasn’t already full of pivots, in 2024 I went deep into Vedic astrology, numerology, and vastu (the Indian science of balancing home energy). I’ve consulted across India, Poland, NYC, and Australia, with clients seeing results that had eluded them for decades.
Still, despite working with over 200,000 people in groups and 1,500+ one-on-one, despite these recognitions, I feel invisible. The business side—websites, selling, negotiations—has never been my strength. But give me chaos, give me people stuck for decades, and I thrive. That much I know.
And yet I carry on, still having to prove my worth. Maybe that’s just life.
Maybe time to explore Psychology as well
It took me a little while but I found an art career I loved and went to school to get a degree in art therapy and worked in hospitals and thought I was going to do it forever. Sadly, burnout is high in mental health careers and our country is not family-friendly in the sense that when women have babies, companies do not go out of their way to make it easy for them to return to work or even get assistance/coverage for child care, much less offer enough maternity or paternity leave for parents. I think many women who decide to start a family have to pivot in their careers. A few lucky and/or determined ones manage to continue in their careers.
I got pregnant thinking I would return to work at the job I loved and went back to school for, despite all the women who left after having kids. Let me tell you, it’s so hard to leave an infant at 12 weeks- no way I could do it. I had an hour commute and I could never pump properly to leave the baby with enough milk for so long. Some moms I know continued to work- I was lucky enough my husband’s job allowed me to be a Stay At Home Mom. I did some phone supervision but I never returned to work. I was a SAHM until my kids entered school and I picked up little jobs doing private art therapy, teaching homeschool art classes, and teaching preschool art classes for a few years.
Like I said, our patriarchal society doesn’t make it easy for women to have children and return to work. Day care is astronomical and would have cost more than my paycheck- it was more economical for me to stay home and care for my children than pay for childcare and work. By the time my kids entered school, my art therapy degree also required a license and many states didn’t have licensure yet for art therapy so many of my friends went back to school for counseling degrees. I was done with school (couldn’t afford another loan) and didn’t even want to do private practice (licensure means you can accept and collect from insurance companies) so going back for a licensed degree was not an option for me.
I fell into running art classes for a nonprofit serving people with disabilities, using my art therapy background but without the treatment planning and formal therapy elements- just teaching at a community arts organization. The director (who also had an art therapy degree) had to move when her husband got a job transfer and she asked me to apply to be the director of the visual arts program while my kids were in school. I’ve been doing it part time and growing the program for 8 years and having a great time. I also started taking pottery classes for fun.
The last few years, I also started teaching pottery classes and workshops for the local clay studios. I’ve been teaching pottery in the evenings as my kids have gotten older and am starting to exhibit and sell. I feel another change is in the wind as my focus changes and my kids reach new stages. The community art organization changed board members and they want to change everything including the arts program I’ve run and it’s become a stressor instead of a joy. I am reassessing and my oldest kid started college and my youngest is going to start high school next year. There’s never enough time to work in the studio, so I think I need to do some rearranging and maybe pivot again towards my own business and an LLC as my priorities shift. We shall see!
I went from going to school to be an actor to working in retail, as a gas station clerk, a portrait photographer, several years as a bartender-owned a bar for a couple of years, worked as waitress for a couple of places, then back to school at 30 to become a wildlife biologist. All while raising two kids and navigating the disability process for my husband. It’s been a wild ride.