How did you come to be in your career?

I think about this often. I always watch movie credits and wonder about how this Jillian Exelcior person got to be the 3rd lighting director, and why isn’t she the 1st or 2nd lighting director?

There are some odd jobs out there – did these people who have them always want to do what they are doing, or do they usually fall into it? As Eddie Izzard says, what makes a person sit up one day and say “I know, beekeeping! I want to keep bees; this is really what I should do with my life.”?

I think about this in practical terms, too – I am beginning to suspect that the job I plan to have will not be the job I end up having…

Sub-question: my mom told me that her career was decided for her in the womb by my grandmother, and she has never had a moment’s doubt about pursuing it. This seems incredible to me. Has anyone else had a career path remotely like this?

Thanks to baseballfan, his/her post about being in HR on this thread made me think to ask the collective this question. How does one get to be an HR rep?