Have You Ever Ended Up In the Wrong Career?

About two months ago I wrote a post about culinary careers. I reported on the significant increase in the number of cooking schools across the United States since 1996 in response to an increased interest in the field. In my post I surmised that this interest was probably, at least in part, tied to the number of cooking shows on television and pointed out the importance of going beyond what you see on tv in choosing a career in culinary arts or in any other field. A woman named Sarah posted a comment to this post in which she expressed her agreement: "I agree with your advice completely. I enrolled in culinary school in 1995, and never realized what that diploma actually brings in terms of employment. It is definitely NOT glamorous. It involves long hours of physical labor, working at times when others (friends & family) are not, and slow increases in payrates. Your advice to INVESTIGATE this future is Great!"

The advice to investigate potential careers applies to all occupations, of course. It's very easy to choose a career for all the wrong reasons. Sarah's experience made me wonder how many of you have made career choices that didn't end up being what you thought they would be. If that has happened to you, what did you do? Did you change careers eventually? If so, did you do a little more investigating the second (or third) time around? Share your stories by clicking on "Comments" below. Please take my poll too.