There are a million examples of people in careers they never planned on or went to school for. It might even be the more common situation. This is especially evident in the creative fields. How many designers do you know with a psychology degree? Probably a few. I wonder why this is so often the case. Is it because school is a false representation of life in industry? Does it do far too little to prepare you for a career, causing you to reevaluate your path upon entry into the real world. Is it unrealistic to expect people to make a definite decision about their career at the age of 19? Or do we just get sick of things after a few years and need to change it up?

I happen to think it is all of the above. Higher education is a strange animal. (Note that I am speaking as someone who went to school for "new media," so an engineer might have a very different perspective.) To me, it was very dogmatic and procedural. You need to take these classes, for these credits, because a committee of people (who haven't been in the industry in years by the way) decided that this is the system that will work for the greatest amount of people and upset the least. And while you might do well in this system, you might also do terrible outside of it. Educational systems tend to reward the status quo and make it hard for self-motivators who understand how to best prepare themselves for their career path to take the classes that best prepare themselves for their career path.

The only thing that interferes with my learning, is my education.
Albert Einstein

And this is one of the reasons why smart people, and people who create their own success, end up doing things that may be the polar opposite to what they went to school for. They find ways to apply their skill-set to the task at hand. They don't need systematic training to fall back on, they just make it happen.

And there is also the major factor of human nature. We get bored easily, we constantly need fresh perspectives, and did I mention we get bored easily. Gone are the days of working one job until you collect your retirement check (and don't even think about relying on Social Security). People are forced to move around, and they should move around. They should always be looking to improve their career/job situation.

Which brings me to the last point, far too many people settle. How many people do you know that hate their jobs? How many people do you know that don't do what they love? Are you one of them?

It's an interesting question to ask yourself. Are you doing the exact thing you'd do even if you weren't getting paid. If not, why not? What would you being doing if not on your current career path? Are you doing what you went to school for? Did school prepare you for this or did you learn more in your first week on the job than in the previous four years in the classroom? Do you think you'll be doing the same thing in five years? Are you wondering why I can't stop writing these rhetorical questions?

For now, I think I'm right where I want to be. But these are interesting questions to add to your internal monologue.