Should You Wait Until Your 30s to Choose a Career?

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• August 23, 2012
• By Alexis Grant
• 11 Comments

Here’s a good argument for waiting to figure out which career you want to pursue or what, exactly, you want to do with your life.

Scientists now say your brain is still developing well into your 30s, according to The Wall Street Journal. That means it might make sense to wait until then to make big life decisions, right?

The Journal reports:

Recent research into how the brain develops suggests that people are better equipped to make major life decisions in their late 20s than earlier in the decade. The brain, once thought to be fully grown after puberty, is still evolving into its adult shape well into a person’s third decade, pruning away unused connections and strengthening those that remain, scientists say.

Yet many of us make life-altering decisions like who to marry or which career path to commit to in our 20s or even our teens. And at that point in our lives, our brains aren’t yet optimal, the neuroscientist who made this discovery, Jay Giedd, told the Journal. One of his quotes is a real doozy: “It’s a good thing that the 20s are becoming a time for self-discovery.” (Click here to read the full WSJ story.)

But if you wait until your late 20s or early 30s to choose a career or commit to a spouse, where does that leave you in your early-to-mid-20s? Is this just an excuse to avoid dedicating yourself to a career or person?

Is it better to make some sort of decision in your 20s, even if you end up changing course later? Or would you advise putting off big life decisions as long as possible?

What do you think?

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