A lot of people are conditioned to believe in a certain career paradigm that I don't believe works anymore. The existing paradigm is simply this:

1) Graduate from college and receive your degree.
2) Find a job at a company.
3) Work hard and hopefully earn promotions.
4) Retire.

The main problem with this path is usually step #3. Sometimes no matter how talented you are, you may still never reach a level in your career that you want to be. The company may not have any space available for promotions, in which case you would probably have to find another job within another company to potentially advance upwards. And many times what you do is not particularly challenging, and you may feel dulled out quickly every day. Not to mention, what you earn is probably not satisfactory for the lifestyle that you want to live.

And so this brings me to other paradigms in one's career. People should try to break out of the pyramid. The pyramid is nearly all companies. At the bottom you have the simple/starter jobs and at the top you have the executives. And it's at the bottom that fresh people from college are inserted into the work force. But you do not know how long it will take to advance up this pyramid, if you do at all.

People who find alternative paradigms may:

1) Start a company of their own and create a new pyramid.
2) Get into specialty jobs that do not fit into a pyramid layout (entertainers are good examples).
3) Create and sell your work on your own (eg: artist, screenwriter).

I will always say that it is a better career route if you can find something outside of traditional paradigms, no matter the risk. But whatever job you do, if you hate it, then it is never worth "grinding" it out for the rest of your life. It would be such a gigantic compromise to your happiness if you did.