It's been a long road to get here, and I've tried lots of different things. I think that it's a really good thing to try jobs that are way different, and that's how you figure out what it is that you like to do. The thing that really counts is that you have to be happy in what you do. And if you don't, then it's time for a change. Even with this job, and I love it right now, I recognize that someday the job might change, or I might change and get the itch to do something different, like open a stained glass studio or run a greenhouse.
Life is a wonderful adventure.
The person who most fostered my career doesn't even know it. In high school and early college years, I never even thought about engineering. It was something that the women in my peer groups just didn't do. It never occurred to me, which I find amazing. I scored highest on science and engineering sorts of jobs, but it didn't even register, because I was so busy planning a career in social work.