AppendixYoung Professional Career Profiles

One of the biggest challenges I see young professionals face is a lack of awareness or access to different job opportunities and career paths that exist. Throughout high school and into college, you're told that you need to pick a school, pick a major, and pursue a career path within that major. Deviating from this path is perceived as a setback.

The reality is that for many career paths, your major doesn't matter as much as you think it does. And once you enter the workforce, the experience and skill set you have hold far more weight than your college coursework or GPA.

As part of my goal to highlight various career paths and options that exist, I surveyed my social media audience and asked them questions about their career path, education background, and lessons learned through work.

On the following pages, I've condensed the information from 16 submissions. These are real people (I have withheld their names for privacy), with real jobs and real experience, who are also navigating their careers and seeking roles that provide personal, professional, and financial fulfillment.

They have all taken different paths; some conventional, some not. Some of them pursued a four-year degree; others went to trade school or community college. There are entrepreneurs, nurses, analysts, consultants; they are all on their own path, owning their careers, and leveraging their experience to find their own definition of success.

Profile #1

Age: 25

Get Own Your Career now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.