Torn....

When people ask me what I do, I say I work in the accounting department of a mechanical engineering firm. Then I go on to explain that I’m not an accountant and I have a marketing degree that I don’t use.

I have been working in the accounting field for 5 years. Throughout this time I have been struggling to figure out what it is I really want to do. I keep asking myself if I really like accounting. I’ve decided the answer is yes, I like accounting. I’ve realized that what I don’t enjoy is feeling like I don’t get the respect I deserve because I don’t have an accounting degree. Having that degree would definitely make me more marketable when looking for jobs in the accounting field and it would also allow me to sit for the CPA exam if I ever decided I wanted to. It would give me options.

However, do I really want a career in accounting or do I want a career in event planning? I love planning and I would love to be a wedding planner. It would allow me to be both creative and analytical. I could create beautiful weddings and track budgets at the same time. However, we are thinking about starting a family. Do I really want to work on the weekends and in the evenings? I’ve talked to people who work in the event planning business and all of them say you love it for about the first year and after 3 years you’re ready to get out. You have no weekends to yourself, especially around the holidays. I’m finding it hard to schedule the holidays with our family because of my part-time job at BBB...I can’t imagine how it would be if I was an event planner. If I could have an event planning/wedding planning career with the typical 8-5 hours…now that would be my dream job! I feel like I should have a career that I like and hobbies that I love. I don’t want my career to be my life. I want most of my time spent with family and friends. If I did event planning full time I would probably end up hating it.

So that brings me back to accounting. I’ve been researching schools here in Columbus and one offers a Certificate of Accounting Concentration. In other words, if I completed this program, it would be like I had my bachelor’s degree in marketing and in accounting (double major I should have done). This certification would definitely make me more marketable and give me more options. And I could always start my own wedding planning business on the side (like I’ve been talking about doing). I could decide to accept jobs that worked with my schedule. Best of both worlds?

So what do I do? I’ll let you know when I decide.