Is it unusual to not work full time until mid 20s ?

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chris1989
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08 Aug 2024, 2:48 pm

I seem feel that because I didn't start working until I was 26, I seem to feel as though that is ''abnormal'' because people probably start working at 18, even though I had work experience at 15 and I did college for two years.

I remember seeing a video I saw which was discussing on whether the UK government's pension promise is unfair on the young. I remember a woman who phoned saying she had worked since she was 15 and was explaining that the reason why young people are not getting their own houses and so on is because many don't start full time work until their mid 20s so they've lost 10 years or more of experience. I seem to think what she said there reinforces the idea that a person ''should'' be working full time well before their mid 20s and that to start doing it later is ''unusual''.

Since I've been working, it changed my mindset and made me feel better that I was earning my own money and contributing and contracted 10 hours and done a lot of hours of work, I've never actually done full time work. It made me feel sometimes like I should have been doing work from 18 onwards. I did do voluntary work at 21 before I went to uni but because I here of people who work hard full time since 16 or whatever it leaves me feeling as though I wasted 8 or 10 years not doing a full time job in your late teens/early 20s and keep thinking that everyone else at that age did and I wasn't.



Carbonhalo
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08 Aug 2024, 3:48 pm

After work experience and during post secondary education all my working was part time, casual and temporary.
I didn't get my first full time position until I was 39.



bee33
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08 Aug 2024, 4:00 pm

There are no "shoulds." There is no one-size-fits-all. You did what you were able to do. Can you try to be proud of that?