Winging it

When people ask what I do at work sometimes I say that I am not a lawyer but I play one at the office.  (You remember "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV.")  It's easier to say that than to get into the roles and responsibilities of TQ vs. GCO vs. any number of other EY-specific acronyms that many of us lifers can't even remember and others couldn't care less about.

I can think of a lot of other jobs that technically I am not, but I get to play from time to time - baseball coach, accountant, mediator, taxi driver, teacher, cook.  But no, this blog is not about under appreciated parents who juggle a bazillion different responsibilities and someone manage to end the day with the same number of children that they started with when they woke up.

I have had my current job or one basically similar to it for the past 15 years.  I started with a college degree in political science because people told me in sixth grade that I liked to argue too much, I should be a lawyer, and if you want to get into law school you should major in political science.  I didn't question any of that or waver at all until faced with the reality of at least three more years of school, incredible amounts of tuition, and no income.  I made the rational decision to work for a couple of years before committing to law school.  Guess what?  I didn't even have my first paycheck before deciding I wanted to keep working and not become a lawyer after all.

What job could I do that would pay a decent salary, give me flexibility to raise a family, and not require any additional letters after my name?  Well, for me it's a sort of paralegal, risk manager, trainer, number cruncher.  If I had to, I could probably think of a more eloquent way to express that on a resume.  But for now, I'll be happy that I have the opportunity to keep winging it here until I figure out what I really want to be when I grow up.

That's the advice - find a place to work that is big enough that your role can morph over time as you discover what you like and what you're good at, because there are very few people who ever figure that out, let alone at 22.