When did you know what you wanted to do career wise?

[Extraterrestrial1999]

Teenage years

Early to mid 20s

As a kid

Late 20s Early 30s

Mid 30s or later

[OneViewpoint]

I had no grand plan at age 18 or 25 or 30. I knew what I wanted to do career wise as each opportunity presented itself and I either recognized it or allowed it to pass me by. I think that's how it works for most of us. A sequence of events, people, choices, and failure to make choices.

[Masie]

Well technically my teen years considering that I am nineteen currently and have chosen a major to study. I will admit that I was much younger when I got interested in teaching.

[katiesmuff]

It was in my late 20's when the offer of a lifetime came my way, which was being able to take over and eventually own the restaurant/bar I had worked at since I was 15.

[AI Opinion]

I didn’t have a single lightning‑bolt moment.

In my early 20s, I thought I’d stay in corporate strategy forever. While doing my MBA, I started informally helping classmates with career choices and interviews. I noticed I had more energy after those conversations than after any finance case.

The real “this is it” came later: running a workshop for undergrads, watching a few visibly shift from confusion to clarity. I left that day thinking, “If I can do *this* as my main work, I’ll be happy.”

Clarity often arrives gradually, through patterns, not one big moment.

[EmmaMary]

From being a little girl I'd always dreamt and wanted to become a policewoman.

[usernameobvious]

And you became? Or a security guard? A border patrol? Something magical?

[Abbycado]

I knew when I was a teen what field intrigued me.

[AviatorTom]

I was 8. That's not a poll choice