There’s a lot of evidence that the idea of finding a career, sticking with your goals, and working your way up a career ladder is no longer a good idea. Indeed, the old meaning of the word ‘career’ is more suited towards non-linearity than the industrial-age idea of a permanent calling. Merriam-Webster explains the original use of the word, which had little to do with stability or permanence:
Chances are you’re familiar with the verb career as used in the sense of “to go forward in a headlong or uncontrolled manner.” Similarly, you likely know the noun career meaning “a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling.” What you may not know is that the noun career (from Middle French carriere) originally referred to a course or passage (as in “the sun’s career across the sky”) and to the speed used to traverse such a course. In the context of medieval tournaments, career referred to the charge of mounted knights as well as to the courses they rode. Verb use eventually developed with a general “to go fast” meaning, and later the more specific sense of moving in a reckless or headlong manner.
Perhaps careering—a verb as opposed to a noun—would be a more apt, less misleading way of putting it in our contemporary society. The definition of career as a noun, however, remains such an institution that few people know how many choices they really have during the careering process.