14 People Who Took a Huge Leap and Changed Their Careers After 30

Switching careers after 30 might seem daunting, but history knows some successful professionals who found their true calling later in life. For example, Morgan Freeman didn't get his big Hollywood break until he was 52 years old when he starred in Street Smart. Vera Wang designed her first wedding dress at age 40.

So, here are some more brave individuals who defied the odds, proving age is just a number when it comes to chasing your dream, and took that bold leap. Discover how they did it—you might just find the spark you need!

• I was in the financial services industry for 6 years and had built a sizeable investment portfolio with 300+ clients and good income. Was unhappy from the start, and just got tired of trying to convince myself that it was the career for me. I resigned and am now working in the automotive industry with exotic cars (hobby/passion) and can honestly say it's been awesome; it's such a cool thing to wake up excited to go to work.
  If you are going to make a change, I would advise you to do it smartly, make sure your finances won't take too much of a blow, and do it now before it gets too late. @CatMost4839 / Reddit

• Mid-30’s. I had been working in a factory for nine years. Broke my finger while working, and they made me come back to work very next day. They also gave me a 2 percent raise, even though I was very dependable and would run whatever machine they wanted.
  Got fed up with that, learned about the A+. Took me a year really to pass the first exam cause I was slacking off, had my second child, and finished part 2 in 4 weeks while on paternity leave. Now I’m making almost 20k more money and not physically beaten down and tired. IT has changed my life for the better. @One-Recommendation-1 / Reddit

• I left a human services desk job that required a bachelor's degree and enrolled in a 2-year technical college at age 33. I am now nearly 45 and have been a full-time CNC Machinist for 10 years. I've doubled my income, and I like what I do more often than not.
  But 4 semesters of 70 to 80-hour weeks of FT classes plus nearly FT work was one of the hardest things I've ever done. My partner at the time left me because I was almost completely unavailable, and I can't blame her. But, in the long run, I came out ahead.
  Your 30s aren't too late to start something new. @VisualEyez33 / Reddit

• Late 30s. Worked in marketing and advertising. Hated it for years, but had a wife and family, and the job was easy, and the money was good. Read a book and realized it wasn’t worth it to me. In 2020, got laid off.
  My wife told me it was time to make a change and follow my passion for teaching. Enrolled in a master's program, started student teaching, graduated, and now I’m a full-time teacher at a local high school. I teach photography, publishing, and a career choices class, which is fitting given my own journey. The money isn’t as good, the work is exponentially harder, and I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m happier.
  The job is fulfilling and meaningful to me. I feel like I’m contributing to society, which is important to me and something I never felt at my previous jobs. I sleep much better now.
  I also realize that changing careers is a privilege. I would not have been able to do it without the financial and emotional support from my wife. She encouraged me the whole way. So did my friends and family.
  If you are thinking about changing careers, my recommendation is to surround yourself with people who believe in you and want you to be happy. They will help you more than anything. @sinkorschwim / Reddit

• Climbed as high as I cared to go as an e-commerce product manager—was making $150k for the 6 months I was there, and thought I had it all figured out. But it was too stressful—70 hours a week—and I started experiencing neuropathy and loss of sensation and strength that made it impossible to be present 8–12 hours as a star player.
  So I quit in April, and now I’m using those e-com skills to help my wife sell her artwork. We “work” 20–30 hours a week, and the business is bringing in $200k or so at its current run rate. (Like $70k take home, which is plenty for now.) It lets me focus on my health. @Sigmag / Reddit

• I'm 35 now. When I was 29, I was working as a manager in a video game store. The company went out of business, which left me at a bit of a crossroads. Continue my career in retail, or start over and do something else?
  I decided to get a two-year degree and try my hand at something new. It took me a little more than two years, but I got an AAS in Multimedia Design and an internship at a local video production house. They ended up hiring me, and my new career was started. Next month, I start a new job in marketing, and I'll be making more money than I ever have before.
  I was this close to taking another retail management position, but I'm so glad I went in the other direction. I didn't really know how much I disliked retail until I got out of it. @Breakfastmachine / Reddit

• I was wiped out by bad business partners in my early 40s with a wife and two kids. No house. No job. Nothing. I retired very comfortably 25 years later.
  To do this, I moved from my home city, which I realized was holding me back. Instead of owning my own business, I went full-on corporate. No regrets. @Uknown author / Reddit

• I felt stuck in a job that I didn't enjoy anymore; I spent 3 hours commuting every day and never saw my family. When I got pregnant with my second child, I decided to go back to school when my maternity leave had ended (I had 8 months of leave).
  Specifically, I wanted to become a teacher. I already had parts of that degree from 10 years prior but chose a different path halfway through. But when I got pregnant, I knew I needed my life to change, and going back and finishing my teaching degree just felt so perfectly right, and I made that decision one year before I could actually do it.
  And I did it. Worked full-time, went to school in the evening, and invested a lot of money in it. And now, 4 years later, I am living the dream :) I love being a teacher; it is the hardest job I have ever had, and some weeks are really long, but it is so much more rewarding.
  Both my parents did a similar thing when they were even older (my dad got his teaching degree at 48 and has been employed full-time teaching for 14 years now, my mom when she was 38 and has been a teacher for 20 years!) So seeing them do it made me realize that I could do it too. @msscandinavia / Reddit

• I'd like to tell you about my dad. He and my mom split when he was 36. She took everything. He was left with a truck and a box of stuff. He had to move to be near where she moved in order to see the kids.
  Moving cost him his job. Knowing he needed to start over, he started learning a new trade alongside a bunch of 18–22-year-old kids. Literally had to start over from scratch, getting a first apartment, new dishes, everything.
  25 years later he's at the top of his trade, outlasted many of the kids, married to a nice lady, and owns a couple of acres, a new truck, and a sports car. He's fully covered for retirement, even though he couldn't start saving until around 40.
  I guess what I'm saying is I watched this average man with no education but a good work ethic, lose everything, and is now doing better than most people his age I know. You can too. @Unknown author / Reddit

• I worked in the entertainment industry for 17 years, starting when I was 17. I was a high-level video wall designer, stage content creator, and lighting designer. You named a top 40 hip-hop artist in the 2010s, and I either worked with them or had a friend who did. I basically felt as if I did not work and just made art. Stayed up partying all the time and generally having a blast.
  In 2020, I just sat back and took the mental vacation I sorely, sorely needed. I was absolutely beyond burnt out and disgustingly fatigued. I didn’t do anything for an entire year. I didn’t work, I didn’t answer the phone, I didn’t do anything, and it felt great. I was getting up with the sun instead of going to bed when it came up, and I was drawing for myself again.
  Then the tours started back up, and I was getting hassled to go back, so I did, but it wasn’t the same. Everything was frigid and boring, with an air of survival and uncertainty that our industry would never even come back. I hated being there. I hated the workflow; the buttons hurt my hands now. So I continued to work at that for a while with absolutely no heart in it.
  A friend of mine had noticed that I had automated a load of things at my job and was really impressed by how hard I worked but sad I was burned out, so he offered me a job working on car AI instead, and I took it.
  I work in an office 9–5 and have great pay and benefits. I make a little more than I did, it’s quieter, and the stress level is 0, relatively speaking. I don’t deal with crazy artists or managers who feel like mafia bosses anymore. I sit on my couch with my cats and work on abstract problems revolving around computers and databases. It took quite a bit of acclimation, and over a year later I am still not quite fully used to it, but I am happier. @Cyber-Cafe / Reddit

• I went back to university at 28 to study medicine. I'm a doctor now and couldn't be happier. Can't say there was anything very wrong with my life on paper before, but I just wasn't happy and couldn't get settled. Took the leap and decided to give medicine a crack.
  Lots of people thought I was crazy, taking 10 steps back, etc. Was surprised to find out that I was really good at being a med student and that studying was no effort when it was for something I was genuinely interested in. Then I was surprised to find out that I was really good at being an actual doctor.
  Even though work hours are long, etc., my whole life is better now that I am doing a job that interests and challenges me. It's not for everyone, but I guess the take-home message is that going back to study as a fully-formed adult can be very much more rewarding than how you remember studying as a teenager/first-time uni student. @Doc_Happy / Reddit

• Worked in restaurants and sales and, at 28, went back to college. Graduated at 30, spent over a year unemployed. Started an MBA and was able to network my way into an internship. That allowed me to change careers into corporate finance.
  Been doing that for almost 2 years, and I couldn’t be more lucky to change my career when I did. I make almost double what I made before and could finish my career easily, making 3 or 4 times what I was making before I made the change.
  I also have 4 kids, so for me the change was difficult. But those stimulus checks—selling our first home and living off the equity—made it all possible. Now, my wife is working on doing nursing in her early 30s; if she manages to pull that off, then I think we’ll end up okay.
  I’d say find out what job you want first, then figure out how to get there. Might require school, might take time, but time will happen no matter what. Do you want to be 40 with a bachelor's or 40 with a master's? Do you want to be happy with your career in your 40s or 50s, or do you want to live wishing you made the change? @Unknown author / Reddit

• At 36, I had just shut down a failing restaurant with $100,000 of debt and got a real estate license (which typically takes a couple of years to make a real income), and my vehicle had been stolen (not insured for theft since it didn't have a loan on it).
  Then I got popped with a divorce. It was the second time she had ditched us, so I took my kids and some clothes, and we shared a mattress on the floor of a storeroom with my two very young children for several months. No vehicle, no income, and not even a bank account to keep the $100 I had in my name.
  I mowed lawns on foreclosed properties and did medical trials to keep our heads above water long enough to scrape together a down payment for the home we are in now, which was a trashed foreclosure I got for $42,000 and fixed up.
  I worked my tail off, but years later we broke out of poverty. We own a comfortable home, two rental homes, and a house I'm currently flipping. I have a career that pays ~3X the average salary in my small town, but I work for myself and have a ton of location and schedule freedom. @themadventure / Reddit

• At 35, I had 11 years of restaurant management experience and some successful and unsuccessful college experience. I was tired of working holidays and weekends, having entitled customers, and having few professional options. In addition, working weekend nights makes successful dating challenging.
  A major life event shook my foundation, and I knew that my situation was the sum of my life’s decisions. If I wanted things to be different, then I needed to be different.
  A long-time friend was working for a company with a great culture. Based on his experience, I quit the stressful restaurant manager role and took a major pay cut to begin an entry-level call center position with my friend’s company. In three months, I was promoted to the operations side with a comparable salary to the restaurant manager role.
  Several months later, I went back to college at 36 for a BS in accounting, which led to a business analyst promotion two years later. After I wrapped up my accounting degree at 39, I knew I wanted more. I went back for my MBA at 40, which led to my current role as a business manager. In August, I will be 44 and wrap up an MBA in finance and accounting with no student loans.
  I will soon celebrate five years of marriage to a wonderful woman. If I were still a restaurant manager, I don’t know if we would have had the quality time to date and bond. If I had not walked away from the restaurant manager role, I would likely be terribly overweight, constantly wondering what if, bitter, angry, and making much less than what I make today. What helped was surrounding myself with positive, healthy people who would tell me the truth. In addition, I have adopted the philosophy, “How is that working out?”
  Today, if I identify something that is not working, then I try to figure out why I allow it to continue or do something different. I must admit that when I was a restaurant manager, I was “a big fish in a small pond.” Today, I am often struggling to keep up with people who are much smarter. I have learned to embrace trying new things and being okay with having people outshine me. @colodogguy / Reddit

Even the smallest steps can set you on the path to big dreams. Dive into these stories that prove how one simple decision can spark a life-changing journey!