I did that myself, though partly it was just because I hadn’t really settled on a career to begin with. Early 30s and before was just alot of low-level BS fast food, call center, and some light manufacturing jobs, all second shift. I finished up college relatively late in the game (in my 30s) and fresh out of college got into graphic design and I guess since I’ve been doing it a decade now, it’s a “career”.

I was relatively directionless before and shirked responsibility. My only priorities were getting enough money for rent, beer, and food, with no real idea of what I wanted in life. Then suddenly I fell into a role where I was given tons of responsibility and relatively little oversight, it made me have to get somewhat self-disciplined. Add in a kid and student loans and I really needed to get serious about things.

I’m definitely happy I got into, it was a change that has paid off in spades. It’s like an actual job job with colleagues and an industry I’m part of, not just random people coming in off the street every few weeks until they fail a drug test or quit in a rage, or low-level work where I’m treated like a tool. People actually appreciate my work and sometimes I’ll see my work in public, so that’s cool.