<warning> This is kind of a novel:
I majored in English and Environmental Studies. I wanted to stay in my college city, so I temped for a while until I started working for the local city government doing GIS. I knew by about year two that it wasn't what I wanted to do forever. I liked the GIS part, but I hated the type of job. As a job for government, it didn't matter how good you were at your job, only how long you had been there. I also suspected that I and half my department were wasting the taxpayers' money. I stuck it out until I was vested for the pension.
Meanwhile, I had met the guy who would become DH. He was also hanging around our college city post-graduation because no one wants to leave. He went to law school, talked to friends who had already become lawyers and realized that he liked law school but probably didn't want to practice law and certainly didn't want to spend the first few years working 100 hours per week.
So, we were both ready to do something else. DH had already trucked for a few years when he took some time away from college. He wanted to try it again, but this time he wanted to be the boss and do it his way.
So we decided to truck together.
The first year I drove was for a big company. It was about a 25% pay cut for me. 1 year with a big company is a good way to get a grounding in time management, the legal stuff and driving in all kinds of situations. After that, we bought our own truck. Since then we have netted more money per mile every year. Some years we haven't driven as many miles, but then we had fun doing other stuff with our time off.
I am very glad that I changed jobs. If I had stayed, I might have developed the mindset that I saw in my city government coworkers. I would be dead inside, counting the years until I could retire.
<correction> I realize that not ALL government work experiences are like mine. I am sure there are government departments full of passionate hardworking people who excel at their jobs. My department OTOH was full of people who counted it a win if they could sit at their desk or in their truck all day without doing anything more taxing than planning their next vacation.