Should we have established careers by late 20s/early 30s?

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I seem to think I see a lot of people in that age group who become business men and women by setting up their own businesses or work their way up through a business they work for and it does sometimes make me think that that is what lots of people seem to want to do and I did business studies in sixth form but at the time I found it uninteresting and didn't want to pursue a career in that field. I have no idea what I'd do as a businessman, I've been perhaps trying to become a writer or author but I haven't actually written any chapters or published anything yet and there were times during my projects when I changed my ideas and started all over again with another idea and when I see guys who look my age or younger in nice suits in places, it always leaves me thinking they have got their career and life ''sorted'' and knew from the very beginning what they wanted to do. Obviously I don't know but I still make these ridiculous and perhaps unfounded assumptions in my head that that is what is going on.

No. I'm 60 and I haven't got a career even now.

I was lucky enough to end up in software development - non-people-facing tech. It took me years to realise that it's not a career - it's a trade, like plumbers or electricians. The better you get, the more you can charge.

no, many people never have "careers", many people today move from job to job several times as they grow in skills or their interests change. It is more usual to change jobs every 3 or 4 years these days. Even if you have niche skills or a trade, you are likely to move on to a different job that offers better working conditions, better pay or benefits, etc.

My guy is 62 and he just went back to work in a slightly-different career direction after retirement.
It involved going back to Uni and recertifying and sitting licensing exams.

There aren't as many "shoulds" in the world as you think, OP.

I have been consumed by that kind of thinking for years, but it is a cancer. Part of me envies these people with their normal lives, getting married, buying a house, retiring at 65. None of those things are requirements for happiness though.