I kind of rolled into every job I had (didn't want to work after bachelors, did a master (old Dutch system), was asked to do PhD, finished it, was unemployed fo

I kind of rolled into every job I had (didn't want to work after bachelors, did a master (old Dutch system), was asked to do PhD, finished it, was unemployed for 10 months got a nice job (but would have taken anything). But I wanted out of the lab (I am/was a molecular biologist), my heart is with computers. So I was not really content, but I got paid ok and had fun mostly. But then I had a career coach (company provided) who told me: Be very, very precise about what you like about your current job. And be very active in maximizing the amount of time you spend on the fun parts, the parts that give you energy. And so I got more and more into data analysis, slowly, I took 7 years! Now after about 9 years I'm about ready to call myself a bioinformatician and I love it. Sure Oncology is nice but I really only like the genomics/bioinformatics part and to be honest I could probably do this type of work in another field (what I love is Linux clusters, open source software, not worrying about details but using other people's algorithms and glue them together to do cool things, that other people (colleagues) appreciate). I would not pick something to work towards, I would try to find out what problems you like to solve and the methods you like to use, and try to do it/them as much as possible. Then, organically you will end up in the right place. How exactly? By pulling fun stuff towards you (project manager is ill? You lead the meeting, give yourself some fun work!) I am 36 now, I feel I just got into a field I truly love, it combines my (irrational) love for Linux and computers with my training in Biology and it is that being in a unique position (with a unique background) that I can do thing my colleagues appreciate. I think that is also a big part of what fuels me (colleagues that say: wow that is really nice and you did that so fast!). It took a lot of time and it also takes some conscious attention but you'll get there. My advice: Don't work on what you feel you should work on, think hard on the kind of stuff that makes you forget time, that gives you energy. Don't have any? Try other stuff until you find something.