How did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life?

Look for careers where the daily work is something that seems interesting. Don't get too distracted focusing on salaries or impressing other people with your job. The more you enjoy the work, the easier it is to be happy and successful.

Your other priority should be to find people you enjoy working with. Finding people you enjoy being around. If you get stuck with toxic people who drain your energy or make you feel bad at the end of every day, you need to move to another job or even new city. Stay away from very negative people and don't get pulled into online cynicism spirals (Reddit, Twitter, even HN are full of this). Gravitate toward people who are happy in their own lives and spend less time with people (or internet comments) from people who are unhappy.

Don't get attached to an idea that there's one perfect career for you. Learn to enjoy doing work with people you like to be around and you will find that you can be happy doing a lot of different things.

For career path, you probably have little to no control over it. Life is full of people who pretend otherwise. Working your way up a ladder is largely a fantasy, especially in I.T. Too many people, not enough roles. Just go with the flow and try to find something that pays well and doesn’t suck 100% of the time.

Personal goals are mostly bullshit too. You’re not in control of life. Maybe it’ll look that way for a while but it can be taken away in a second.

Probably the only life goal you really need is to be happy after you figure out what that means.

I'm 45 and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I have had 2 distinct successful "career paths" up till now, and am at a point in life where I can do pretty much anything but not everything.

Essentially, you pick a path that in this moment a) you feel like doing, b) you have access to, and c) aligns sufficiently with your values, expectations and life needs. You can be very strategic about it, or you can wing it, there are no correct answers.

Then when you get older and are in a different place in life, chances are you become ready for something new, and then you go do that.

Careers and goals don't need to be forever, change is guaranteed and "life" is an awfully long time to decide on when you're young.

I turned a hobby into a career. I wouldn't recommend it. You lose the love for the hobby and the career doesn't match the hobby since you're mostly doing what other people need to do, not what you want.

I haven't.

I follow things that interested me and figured out what makes me happy - it's a process.

"Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, But today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

Nobody does.

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" John Lennon