Someone Asked Women “Do You Have Any Career Regrets?” And Here Are The 30 Best Answers

I regret that we need “careers”. I have two degrees in Art History but ended up a project manager because it pays better than anything in that field does, at least when starting out. Honestly if one could actually live in the US on minimum wage and didn’t have to worry about health insurance I would go back to working in a bookstore and spend the rest of my days stocking shelves and talking to people about books.

I'm a pediatrician. I love kids, I love building relationships with families and I love learning. The science of medicine never gets boring - it's always changing, it's interesting, there's tons of variety.

But knowing what I know now, I wouldn't do it. Simply, it's really f*****g hard being a doctor. And sure, that seems obvious on its head. But there are so many lies about becoming a doctor that are sold to med students. In my experience, one of them was that the painful, isolating, and exhausting sacrifice of training will yield a better life.

I don't think that's true. Yes, medical school and residency were peak miserable times of my life, but after training, my work life hasn't exactly been that much easier than training. Even my dream job on paper was incredibly hard - I worked 10-12 hrs a day, was on call all the time, had hours of charting to do every night, and was underpaid in lieu of how much cash flow I brought into my practice. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting a soft work life, or at the very least, a work life where the stakes aren't so high all the time and the work does in fact end.

I hated my career so much that I switched careers. Don’t be a teacher in the US. It’s a bad choice.

Honestly? I regret becoming a teacher. Its all I know how to do, and changing now seems too much trouble (getting another degree, starting again in the workforce, doing networking, etc). The biggest problem isnt even the kids or classes; its the parents. Millenials and Gen X are trying to not be the strict parents we had growing up and are now swinging in the opposite. The parents are insufferable and we have zero to negative support from them. Its a lot of stress daily, and ive started taking anxiety meds because of this. I dream of getting a factory job lmao

I regret staying home to raise kids. I need work to occupy my brain. I feel like I have gotten dumber because I stayed home.

I hate my career but it is perfect for my kids (hours, autonomy, flexibility)

I wish I had crosstrained into something I could change to now and be my own boss or WFH more.

I’m tired of what I’m doing. Soul deep tired.

All I want to do is work with animals. Those jobs don't pay well, though, and I don't have a safety net if I fail financially. So, I work in operations. Do I wish things could be different? 100% absolutely. But, that's life.

Yes. I’m currently working a low pay job for amazing benefits because my husband agreed to take more on money wise. He left me Monday. So now I’m wondering if I can stay in the low pay job and get medical benefits or go get a good job. I regret putting myself in this position. Should have stayed at the higher paying jobs.

I’m was recently (late) diagnosed with Autism and ADHD. Had I know this all along I would have made completely different career decisions. I cannot stop wondering (yet also can’t really fathom) how different (better? easier? more fulfilling?) my life could have been.

I went into business for myself and became a boss, and I hated every minute of it. Never again will I be a boss or own a business especially in this economy.

Letting a sense of duty or loyalty determine whether I stay at a job instead of my own well-being. There are jobs that I knew right away were negatively impacting my mental health and I stayed years hoping it would get better or being worried about leaving my coworkers in the lurch. Companies can and have (and will) survive without me. It’s not my fault if they routinely understaff. And my intuition is usually right. If there are red flags I see in the first few weeks, those are unlikely to significantly change. In the future, I will set a timeline and the types of changes I need to see by then if I’m going to choose to stay. If I don’t see them, I’ll have a plan for next steps to (hopefully) move on to another job/company.

I wish I had the self-awareness to choose a career that was less overstimulating than teaching. I like a lot of things about the career, but I’m exhausted constantly and it really influences my perspective on life.

Yes- i am absolutely not a people person- I work nightshift in a retirement home.
Wish I had taken up data entry or some such job that limited my interactions with humans.
2997 days until I retire.

I was an engineering major, switched to a career in medicine.

Some days/weeks/months I think I should have just stayed out of medicine. I’m burned to a crisp.

I went to law school. I 100 percent wish that I did not go to law school. It was a waste of three years and a lot of money.

I should’ve stayed away from my business degree and done something that I wanted in the hair or makeup industry. I have a bachelors and masters degree. Sometimes I wish I could start all over again but I don’t have money to pay for school

My career is mostly regrets, lol. I regret going to law school. I regret doing corporate law. I regret even doing more public interest oriented law. The only thing I don't regret is eventually striking out on my own.

I think if I had the chance to go back in time, I'd have done something in org psych instead - probably some kind of strategic consulting. Basically everywhere I know who went into that line of work confirmed that it is not easy, and can get stressful, but is ultimately dynamic and *fun*. I would have much preferred that type of career (back when I was younger and had the energy) than something as staid and uptight as the ~practice of law~.

Yes. I'm a teacher, and I'm not happy. I wish I didn't rush graduating when I realized that I wanted to major in computer science. I was already in my third year of college, and I didn't want to spend 3-4 other years at college. I just wanted to graduate on time. Now I look back and regret.

I plan on switching my career. I'm still researching some IT roles.

I wish I didn’t get my first job out of grad school which was abusive af, psychopath management, etc. the job ruined my health in ways that I’ll deal with for the rest of my life. I was caught up in competing with peers from school and felt like I needed to stick with this job because it was the only thing I got after graduation. I should’ve had higher standards for myself for how I want to be treated but also be gentler with how feeling like I need to meet certain benchmarks to be “successful”!

I loved my career, but I do regret it. I’m a chef- but it took so much physically, emotionally, and I missed so much. The pay and benefits were never great.