After about 5 years of working as an employee, I got sick of the mistreatment, the too many hours on salary, all the corporate BS, so I struck out on my own, incorporated, and my pay jumped up over night. I'm an IT consultant and have been doing this since the mid '80s. I really love the variety, and billing through my corp means I get a lot of tax benefits. However during this "great recession" I've had to be very open geographically to stay busy, so my market is the entire USA. I'm currently in Arizona, and will start a new project in Texas in about 4 weeks. I suspect things will normallize in 6-12 months, so that I can stay in just one geographic area. Still, I love the travel, the $168/day per diem tax free, meeting new people....it's almost like being on vacation...almost lol.

Thanks for the input, ARMS!

What do you do for a living? What is your career?
I am a Creative Director at a computer games company.

How did you get there (ie, what sort of schooling)?
B.A. in Theater. Started in games as an associate producer in 2000, learned the ropes that way.

And do you think a BA in Accounting is a good degree to have if I want a job that will make decent money?
People will always need accountants, I think. However, I wouldn't choose a career simply based on money. It needs to be something that you find at least a bit interesting or the boredom will wear you down. I've worked at jobs that offered no stimulation (summers during college) and it was excruciating. Be sure you find a field that can keep you interested, or just provide a lot of satisfaction to you. For example, I love to organize things, so certain office jobs, while not that intellectually stimulating, might keep me quite happy for eight hours because I'd be organizing files, creating sorting systems, or so on.

Or should I choose something else? Will my age hinder me from finding work? (I'm somewhere around middle-aged).
See above for my thoughts on that. I personally love my job, but am considering doing some classes in my spare time to explore new skills. Accounting is one of them. Bartending is another. I'd like to feel like I have more hard skills to fall back on in case I have to leave (or want to leave) my current field.

What do you do for a living? What is your career?
I'm an engineer in academic research. I've also worked as an engineer in a commercial environment and in business development for a high tech business.

How did you get there (ie, what sort of schooling)?
BS in engineering, MS in technical management, Phd in engineering, MS in physics recently, MBA pending

And do you think a BA in Accounting is a good degree to have if I want a job that will make decent money?
Thats a good degree. You should consider an MBA however. An MBA is a great degree and only takes another year. But I'd suggest working a year or two first or doing an online MBA while working (or executive mba)

Or should I choose something else? Will my age hinder me from finding work? (I'm somewhere around middle-aged).
Middle-aged should be no hindrance![/quote]

ummm wow! where do you get the time to get all of those degrees?! i want to be just like you when i grow up!

It has taken 25+ years. I just did it slowly while working. Took a class whenever and however I could most of the time.

It's not just parents with this destructive mindset of "DO WHAT YOU LOVE!!!!!!"
I've caught almost every money-blogger, including J.D here at GRS, repeating the same mantra. "DO WHAT YOU LOVE! Don't get a career or job just for the money!"
Of course, all those people are making good money at what they chose to do, forgetting that for every success, there are thousands of people who fail at it.
In reality, you're right, ARMS. Going into Art or Anthropology or Zoo-keeping, or any of the other highly-saturated, low-paying careers just because "you love it" or "are really good at it" or "have a passion for it", is stupidity. Especially if you're a single person paying your bills on your own and have no spouse or SO helping you along the way.

As for researching though, I did research the salaries for Graphic Design back in high school. At the time I went in to college for it, computers had not yet entered the workplace. Graphic Designers were still cutting Rubylith and doing everything by hand, and making an average of $40,000/yr, back in the late 80's. Then Apple came on the scene strong, along with the myriad of design programs, and graphic design got easier and easier for anyone to do it, as well as faster, and wages plummeted. By then, I was already years into my career. Really, at the first sign of wages dropping, I should have bailed. I was way too positive and thought my experience would allow me to always have employment and a decent salary. HA! Never be too positive, it can be a real killer.

@DoingHomework: How did you manage the work-school life balance? Were you able to take more than one class in the evenings while working full-time? I'm working on my MA right now, courtesy of my employer, and am considering stepping up my game and taking two courses in the evening. Thoughts?

What do you do for a living? What is your career?
I am a recent college grad working as a research assistant in an economic research institute.

How did you get there (ie, what sort of schooling)?
My BS is in Economics, and I am currently working on my master's degree.

And do you think a BA in Accounting is a good degree to have if I want a job that will make decent money?
Absolutely($$)---I would try some starter courses at a community college first and/or try to find a part-time internship at an accounting firm. Getting a taste of the work and the culture amongst accountants will end up being a big determinant of whether you would want to embark on a new career. I agree with some of the other posters---an MBA can be more valuable and allow you more flexibility to hone your creative skills and bring in the cash.

Or should I choose something else? Will my age hinder me from finding work? (I'm somewhere around middle-aged).
There are tons of people who switch careers at all ends of the spectrum. As long as you have a strong work ethic and love your work, you'll be successful. I have met a lot of PhD economists who switched when they were in their 30s/40s (economics is a profession that favors young PhDs) and they are ridiculously successful because they love their work and have the professional skills to back it up.

There's supposed to be a balance? Just kidding. I have taken 2 classes at times but it gets difficult. I've even done 3 a couple of times while working full time but that required giving up pretty much everything else. In my case though my wife was also going to school during some of that time so she "gets" it and we work things out.

All joking aside about balance, if you want to go to school while working full time you need to sacrifice something. You probably will not get to go out as much with your friends, take weekend trips, spend a lazy day at the park, etc. If those things are more important to you than your continuing education then taking additional classes might not be the best idea for you. (I know you didn't say that, I just mean for a person in general.)

Impressive, thanks for the advice DoingHomework! My partner is in school right now too, so better now than never!

What do you do for a living? What is your career?
I'm a software developer for a company that sells HR/Accounting software.

How did you get there (ie, what sort of schooling)?
BS in Computer Information Systems, aborted MS attempt. Currently looking into restarting my MS, probably in economics this time.

And do you think a BA in Accounting is a good degree to have if I want a job that will make decent money?
This is a tough one. Do I think it would be a good career move? Yes. However, accounting is very tedious and boring to me. So make sure you can stand it(dont have to love it, just dont hate it) first.

Or should I choose something else? Will my age hinder me from finding work? (I'm somewhere around middle-aged).
No. Just remember to be persistance. It took me 3-4 years after graduating before I found a job with the salary I was expecting.

What do you do for a living? What is your career?
I'm an Auditor

How did you get there (ie, what sort of schooling)?
BBA in Accounting, CPA exam and other certifications exams (accounting has a lot of these)

And do you think a BA in Accounting is a good degree to have if I want a job that will make decent money?
Yes! I went Big 4 out of college where 1st years start around $50K. I work in a corp now who generally pay much better than the firms. I would say six figures is easily attainable.

With an accounting degree you have a lot of options, other than just working as an accountant. Some options are compliance (e.g., SOX,Basel), financial analysis - forecasting & trends, internal & external auditing, typical accounting functions (assets, A/P, etc.), tax, management consulting and of course there is always private practice.

Or should I choose something else? Will my age hinder me from finding work? (I'm somewhere around middle-aged).
Of course you should choose something that interests you. Will your age hinder you? I don't think so.
Good Luck!