Did your parents’ occupations have any impact on your own?

[CharliesAngles]

As in, if they were in the medical profession, did that give you the impetus to study and have a career in the same or similar field?

I know families who come from a long line of teachers, and another who seem to specialise in finance related jobs.

It wasn’t the case in my own family, who all seem to have a retail background but I work in tech.

My brother has taken over the family business so for him yes. But I'm one of four siblings and the rest of us were not influenced by our parents and have very different careers.

I think some jobs seem to run in families more than others. I know families of doctors, of teachers, and farmers. Acting is famously full of nepotism.

My parents both worked for the NHS and it put me off ever doing the same thing.

My dad was a social worker and for my sins so am I.

DM was a nurse. She made it sound really interesting. But also hideous and hard work and rife with bullying.

I listened to the first bit, ignored the second and am now a doctor.

Should have listened more to the second bit.

Yes, this

My mum is long-retired now but worked for a large charity (one for people with a specific incurable terminal illness) for most of her career. I've worked in the corporate private sector for the last 17 years but am now looking to follow in her footsteps and move into the charity sector.

Nearly everybody in my family is a doctor except me. I am the black sheep.

My brother and I both went into totally different jobs compared to our parents and compared to each other.
My friend's dad worked long hours as a London lawyer and retired early because he hated it. She's now doing the same job which I always thought was an interesting choice considering how much he hated his work. She seems to enjoy it though thank God.

Mum was a manager in the NHS got made redundant and became a prison officer.

My Dad was a welder

I'm a loss adjuster so their jobs had no bearing on what I have chosen

I'm an accountant in the public sector. My dad was a public servant and loved it until the day he retired and my mam worked with numbers so I guess I'm a combination of both. My brother is an accountant and my sister public servant.

My parents were both teachers and I knew I absolutely didn't want to go into teaching.

Did a STEM degree, work in biotech, so quite different, except that a lot of my role requires communication and dissemination of information in an accessible way, so maybe not that different (apart from the age groups)?

Me too. Pushed into science but am now a writer. Love philosophy, psychology and news stories.

Nope

A lot of my family were teachers so I knew from an early age it wasn't the job for me. That saved a lot of time I think, since it's a profession that, at the time, people from my academic background tended to fall into (and then fall back out of).

My field is completely unrelated to either of my parents' and I stumbled into it much by chance.

Yes and no. My parents were both teachers and they told me repeatedly never to become a teacher. The only reason to do it was for the short hours and long holidays, and even that stopped being worth it. They were counting down to retirement!
But the fact they were home when I was home and on holiday when I was on holiday was the best thing ever. And they gave me great advice as I approached picking subjects and then university. When I wobbled and wanted to do something that seemed ‘fun’, they reminded me that it’s better to have a good career that can then pay for you to have fun in your downtime.
I am an engineer in a male dominated field. So they were very influential. But not in getting to follow in their footsteps, more how to carve my own path.

Not exactly but my dad is an undertaker and I am a midwife. So we are there at the very start and end of life.

Ahh me too. And my sisters are nurses.

My DM was a teacher - it influenced me to not go into teaching!!!

Only in as much as they wanted me to do " better" than they did. Dad was a debt collector, mum worked in shops, both left school at 14 without any qualifications. They were desperate for me to do better, luckily I was quite bright, won a scholarship to what was then a direct grant grammar school, went to university and am now a head teacher. All of which I put down to the absolute belief they had in me and the benefits of hard work!

Nope - I had no wish to go into journalism which is what both parents did - even though they would have liked me to.

DD2 keeps talking about considering SALT as a job to follow me, but that depends if her real chosen career path as a Pokemon trainer is not a viable option.

Mum was a SAHM to 5 kids (in the 60s - 80s) and traditional housewife, submissive to dad who ruled the roost and made all financial decisions. It strongly influenced a younger me to not do "nothing" and be fiercely financial independent as I never wanted to be in that position. It was only when I raised my own dc that I realised what an amazing mum she actually was.

Dad was initially a time served sheet metal worker and became the factory's manager.

My brother became a very successful engineer which kind of followed in his footsteps, my sisters and I went into IT in the 80s. So we all went into STEM in one way or another.

@Underworld2 I'm sorry you had such an awful time.

Parents were police & adamant none of us would join the police. 1 of my brothers did though

@bellocchild mine also both Fleet Street journalists!

I followed them for 15 years now I do something else

Well my parents were teachers and told me never to become a teacher. So I didn’t.

Though I did do some “teaching” (TEFL) for a few years.