Public accounting is not the end all be all!

One thing I'll never understand about accountants is why they pretend like you need to go into public and do the big four grind for a few years, no matter what. Like, that is how you become successful. Surprise! That is not true at all. And I think what this connects to is the fact that this profession has this really weird culture of people pretending like you need to grind and flexing the amount they work. Like people at UI all the time would have these pissing contests of how late they were in the office, if they slept in the office for busy season and yada yada. And I'm like, that sucks. You do not have to do your time. I did it for a year and I was like, yeah, this is not for me. I'm just a girl, I'm not built to work like that. And I exited into FP&A and I'm going to make so much more money in the length of my career than people who stay in audit or tax. If you know what you want to do, for me that was FP&A, it is more beneficial to get out as soon as possible, then continue staying in the big four and expanding your skill set of something unrelated to your desired career. Do whatever your heart desires in this life.