I graudated college with a plan of working in the legal field for a few years and then applying to law school to study environmental law. After three years of working as a paralegal, I realized I no longer wanted to continue a career in the legal field and began looking for something else. I had a hard time finding something as all of the initial options required returning to school for 2-4 years. While I was not opposed to returning to school, the thought of giving up my income and accepting a lot of debt to try a new career made me nervous.
As I honed my search, I identified several criteria that my future career would have. First, I wanted a career that would allow me to move and travel as I saw fit. I moved almost every three years growing up and loved the experience of moving all over the country and would like to be able to do that once I had a family of my own. Next, I decided that I wanted to build things for a living rather than sell things. I don't remember where I heard it, but there is a phrase that has stuck with me: "In business, everyone is either building or selling." At first, I didn't think this applied while working in the legal field but upon further consideration, I saw that I was selling legal services. Having been a maker all of my life, I wanted a career that aligned with the love I have for building things. Lastly, I wanted a career that did not requrie a long lead tiem to start.
During my search for a new career, I became heavily involved with Manchester Makerspace. At the makerspace, I met several software engineers and had the opportunity to discuss their work-life and how they got to their current position. After looking into it further, I found that a career in software development met all of my above criteria. Also, I had already gotten my feet wet in the subject having done coding for 3D printing and microelectronics projects so I knew that I already liked it. I'm just starting out in my newly chosen field but am so far, incredibly pleased with my decision.