Do you know someone with an interesting job, or have you taken a professional detour? E-mail us if you are interested in being featured on Professional Detours.

28 February 2011

Al Yankovic Shifts Gears, Writes Children's Book About Careers

Speaking of career changes, "Weird" Al Yankovic seems to be taking a professional detour of his own. The famous musical satirist and comedic lyricist released a children's book last month called "When I Grow Up." The book offers a whimsical take on career choices from the point of view of an eight-year-old boy.

Although Yankovic knew at the age of eight that he wanted to write comedy, his guidance counselor talked him into studying architecture instead. He never really took to it, but he found his muse while working in his college radio station as a disk jockey. "The message that I'm trying to get across to kids," he said on NPR's Fresh Air, "is that there is in fact a universe of possibilities out there."

23 February 2011

Professional Detours to Officially Launch on 3/4/11

After months of planning, we've got our first few interviews done and are exuberantly working on our inaugural posts. The full site will go live on Friday, March 4, and updates will happen every Friday thereafter. We've got some fascinating stories to share, including:

- A high school teacher who never steps into a classroom
- What to do with a biology degree when you realize you hate lab work
- "It's a Wonderland:" A programmer talks about going from a rat-infested basement office to the #1 company in the nation

And that's just a start! We've also got interviews lined up with a professional video gamer, a wedding photographer, and a former linguistics professor and zookeeper who abandoned both to write books.

Do you know someone who should be featured on Professional Detours? Email us!

Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for updates.