My Career Change From the Factory to the Classroom

by Kevin
(Raleigh, NC)

After I received my bachelor's degree, I found myself working in my hometown at a local boat factory for some time. It was a small town, and I didn't have much money, but before I knew it I had been working in the factory for several years.

It wasn't what I wanted to do with my life, but I didn't have many accessible alternatives. Rather than look to achieve my dreams, though, I let myself settle into a rut while I tried to justify to myself that my actions were worthwhile ... even though I knew they weren't.

When my younger brothers made it to college, I decided to take action and try to go back myself, to achieve a goal I had set for myself much earlier in life - to be a teacher.

At the factory, I couldn't really achieve a leadership position, nor could I make use of the faculties I felt I possessed. Instead, when I returned to school, I decided to push myself towards a career as a professor at the university level, where I could help influence future generations of successful go-getters and maybe help students avoid the poor choices I'd made right after college.

For the last five years I've been successful in my quest, even currently pursuing a PhD and teaching at the same time. This is the life I wanted to lead, and this is the career I had always hoped for but was afraid initially to pursue. It's within my grasp now, and I'll never regret a moment of the process.