For years, Lorraine Pater had her eyes on the prize - making partner at KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms. She had interned at the company for two summers in college and joined its ranks of auditors right after graduating. She recalls spending one New Year's Eve doing an inventory audit of diamonds - counting them, measuring them and looking at their color and clarity to ensure they passed inspection.
As an Asian-American kid growing up to an immigrant mom in North Carolina, I was taught to follow the rules (no exceptions). I was a Boy Scout, graduated top of my class and was hired by Goldman Sachs immediately after graduating undergrad. I had followed what I thought was the "right" path. I was living in the greatest city in the world (New York City, of course) and working at one of the best companies in the world ... but none of it felt right.
The linear career path changed somewhere between the rise of the gig economy and the rise of artificial intelligence. Companies are restructuring. Some industries may collapse entirely in the next five years. I've gone from studying law to studying software entrepreneurship to being a self-improvement essayist. My career is still an "experiment in progress." The world of work is changing. And I'm changing with it.
Cameron Oaks Rogers almost didn't devote herself to Instagram and mental health. In her 20s, she was working in sales and trading at J.P. Morgan, running a food-focused Instagram on the side. And then, in one life-altering moment, she got hit by a car while crossing the street. "It was the moment I'm weirdly grateful for because it shifted everything for me," she told me via Zoom. She went on disability, and started meditating and journaling.
I used to love coming home from vacation. The way the plane would swoop over London's skyscrapers and the River Thames before landing at Heathrow. Returning to my favorite places, people, and my job. Until one day, I burst into tears on a flight home from Italy. When I turned 30, I thought I had it all with a great career in London managing communications for TV networks.
The Perfect Moment Probably Won't Ever Come That's because if you wait for it, wait for it, wait for the perfect moment, you could end up waiting for a long time, like forever. Life instead will deliver more messy, fruitcake batter-like moments. Life can be quite nuts-but fruitful if you take advantage of such moments, meaning take action. Therefore, take a baby step-a very small, immediately doable action-toward that career direction of interest.
Firstly, 2025 really took on the 'challenging times economically' baton from 2024 with gusto. I've written numerous times attempting to provide some guidance for people tackling uncertainty and a challenging economic landscape. From leaders struggling with team cuts to international students facing sponsorship challenges to professionals questioning their career paths; 2025 wasn't the return to abundance we all hoped for.
Crossing a mountain pass in my 1984 Toyota Tercel, it was a beautiful, sunny winter day, but coming around a bend I hit an ice patch and immediately started sliding off the road. It was next to a cliff, with no guardrail, and it was a slow-motion freak out. The car came to a stop just before going over. My girlfriend didn't even have room to get out on her side.
Thanksgiving is, without a doubt, my favorite holiday. Taking a day to pause and take time away from the daily grind to share a delicious homemade meal with family and friends has always filled me with gratitude. And this year, as my entire family gathers at my son's house in Durango, Colorado, for my granddaughter Kelly Jo's first Thanksgiving, I am particularly thankful.
I started there in November 2006, when there were only around 10,000 employees, and became an executive - the director of American media relations - in 2022. Google's amazing; I bleed Google colors. I loved the impact I was having, the future of opportunities I saw for myself, and the feedback I was getting as a leader. I'm also the breadwinner for my family.
I met my wife while working at Target, marking the beginning of what became a decadeslong career in retail. Over the years, I moved into leadership roles at several major brands before eventually joining a senior living company in a senior role. Then, in August 2019, I got a call that changed everything: I was being let go. At the time, my wife, Danielle - who'd also built a successful career - was home full-time with our four kids.
Jeremiah Burke (51) said he wanted to join the gardai when he was younger but missed the opportunity. He said he recognises it is going to be a "tough job", but said: "You're never too old. "If you're able, why not? Give it a go. I'd say to anybody out there, if you want to go for it - go for it." He added: "I've done it, anyone can do it."
Before having children, I worked as a journalist for years. I loved my job, and after my daughter was born in 2021, I returned to work full time at a magazine. My monthly salary just covered her childcare fees with little left over. This meant my husband had to cover all other living expenses, with only tiny contributions from me. When we had our second baby, a son in 2023, something had to change.
One professional who followed a decidedly squiggly career pathway before doing a six-month bootcamp in 2020 is Lucy Ironmonger, a tech lead at fintech Zuto, who studied English with creative writing at the University of Birmingham 13 years earlier. While there, she found a bar job and, due to her love of music, seized the opportunity to run the establishment's music night every Tuesday.
I lived in New York City for the first 24 years of my life. It was all I'd ever known, and as a kid, I thought I'd never leave. When the pandemic hit, my college went remote, I got laid off from my contract fashion job at Chanel, and I felt like the US's response to the pandemic was inconsistent. People dream of coming to New York, but I wanted to dream somewhere else.
Life has shifted in a way I couldn't have predicted - Ruff Puff Bakehouse and Ruff Puff Brownies have taken up so much of my time, but in the best possible way. They've reminded me of a talent I'd neglected, and given me a new respect for the craft that first set me on this path all those years ago,
After graduation, I applied for jobs in New York and got hired as an investment banking analyst. When I asked my boss if I could take one acting class a week, she told me I wasn't committed enough. Another time, as Hurricane Sandy approached and courier services were suspended, she insisted I hand-deliver a contract across the city. The group head ultimately suggested we fax it instead, sparing me the trip through the storm.
At Amazon, I was on the Amazon Q Developer team, building their AI coding assistant. You'd think being at the center of Amazon's AI developer tools would be exciting, but it was actually deeply frustrating. It was apparent to anyone outside the Amazon bubble that we were losing the AI game badly. The leadership was constantly playing catch-up because there was very little true product vision. They kept saying they wanted to move like a startup, but then had the risk tolerance of IBM.
