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16936 Posts
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Regarding the question of how I picked a career:
I went down the list of things I really enjoy doing, and tried to figure out which one's were actually profitable. Probably only one of them for me: programming. I used to sit and program the school TI-calculators to play video games during lecture for fun.
So I guess my advice is, just figure out how you can make money doing something you enjoy. You might feel like nothing you enjoy is productive at all, but I'm sure with enough thought you can relate your pleasurable activities with some type of work.
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There are no output without input, and you won't know what career to pursue without knowing what makes you tick.
If you don't have a clue what you like, then you need to break yourself away from the mindless, wandering pattern you been in now. You won't know what you like, until you try, so you just gotta use spare time to try new things, and eventually you will find one activity that you do enjoy. It may not lead to a career, but having some direction is always better than being lost.
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I didn't know what I wanted to do until I took my first telephony and cabling course in college. Now I have plans to be a telecommunications technician with my good buddy in April *crossing fingers*
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16936 Posts
On October 27 2011 14:03 Chill wrote:
I just recently got my P.Eng. I'm a project engineer for an oil company. Really like it now but I'm not sure how long I'll stay here.
Your thread is too general to give you any meaningful advice. Try to research as much as possible and make an informed decision, rather than "trying out some classes and figuring it out later." Not much is going to change in 4 years, so you should have some sort of gameplan when entering university.
While this is true, do know that your initial plans can drastically change, and that's perfectly ok. Of course you should go into college with an idea of what you might be interested in, but don't view college as a stepping stone into a career, but rather as a way for you to learn things that you otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to learn. If you start out, say, premed, and you end up at medical school, great. If you start out premed and end up working for NPR, that's totally ok too.
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On October 27 2011 15:13 ene13 wrote:
I work for my parents in the house. I cook, clean, do the laundry, and make the beds.
My pay is: Free rent, food, games, PC upgrades and some money sometimes.
I feel great about it and I don't plan on leaving the house in the foreseeable future.
Finished college btw (civil eng), however, I dont wanna move out of this great city called Toronto.
So my day consists of waking up, cleaning a bit, playing sc2, cleaning some more, playing some sc2, going shopping, playing some sc2, eating, playing some bf3, showering, and yah, watching animuz and learning Japanese.
I sure hope these days never end!
So thats another avenue that exists for people, although Im not sure how feasible it is for most.
This is the best job ever.
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What's up man. I got my "career" job by joining the national guard one day just to have something done. I am now a full-time X-ray technologist, but doing a deployment to Kuwait. Best advice I could hand to you buddy, is that if you don't like college too much, find a tech school and get a tech job (medical, dental, paralegal, etc..,). I'm a big music enthusiast man, and that's my main goal career-wise to just make music and enjoy it. But my plan C is being an x-ray tech. I guess I am sort of working backwards. But in any event, you'll be just fine. I think EVERYONE goes through that process in high school, but things always seem to work out fine. Take care buddy and good luck!!
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Currently searching for job. Finished my Diploma in Nursing last June.
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Don't try to have a too specific plan. Do something that you think you'll like and be reasonably good at and see how it is. I had a difficult time choosing too. I like art and being creative but also loved math and physics. I thought if I do something more math-like that I'd still be able to do arty stuff in my free time. The other way around didn't seem very realistic to me: doing something arty and doing math/physics in my free time.
So when I went to uni I chose the more math like direction in software engineering. However I missed the creativity and switched to Industrial Design Engineering (which was also offered by my uni). It sorta combined my two areas of interest. For some reason though it still didn't feel right, but it was pretty close and I couldn't think of anything better so I stuck with it.
Then at the end of my bachelor studies I had a medical design project. This felt perfectly right for me and I loved the project. Then in my master studies I specialized in medical product design and haven't regretted it since. Now I've almost graduated and couldn't be happier with my direction.
At the end of high school I would have never guessed that I would become a medical product designer. I couldn't have even come up with it. So keep your eyes open, go in a direction you like and follow the things you enjoy. You won't be able to perfectly pick what you will do right now and that's fine, just pick something and analyse what you like and don't like. You'll get there eventually!
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I had fun assembling easy electronic devices when i was little, and thought to myself: "Can i do this for a living in the future? That would be awesome!"
I found the answer to be: "Not exactly, but almost!" which lead me in to an engineering path.
Now i have a master in aerospace engineering and are assembling electronic devices for aeroplanes, life is good.
However, if i were 18 again i would have chosen a shorter education path to try on different things without devoting my life to it, as there are an ocean of opportunities and interesting stuff out there. My advice is; choose a subject you're interested in and try get some small education in it to see how it is, or choose a work you may find interesting and see how it fits you.
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Katowice25012 Posts
I work in ESPORTS. That's probably not very helpful for you but I enjoy it a lot.
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I wouldn't worry too much about it, just do what interests you, try to excel in it, and be ready to give it up and move on if you decide it isn't your thing. My undergrad started off as a Theater major, changed to Computer Science and ultimately ended up adding Japanese language because I got passinate about it, then I moved to Germany and got a masters in Japan Studies, realized my love of teaching wasn't enough to balance out the inanity of academia and got a job as a software engineer. Now I'm a lead developer for a little web app company and I love it.
As long as you stay flexible and give yourself the opportunity to try lots of things, you'll most likely end up somewhere you like in the end. You can make a good enough living at nearly anything if you are passionate about it and do it well.
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I quited my studie Civil Engineering (temporary I taught, was planning to restart the next schoolseason), During the free time I got due to that I started working by a installation/pipefitting company, I started out @ a big project (a Hospital they built) firstly I did more hand work but later on I was ask to help the Workplanner/preparer that went pretty good, arround the time the next schoolseason started they asked me wether I wanted to stay and they gave me a contract, and I started studies next to my work, Currently five years later I am grown pretty much and I have Built 3 hospitals already as a Workplanner/preparer and I like this work still each day =)
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I'm a Facilities Manager working for MITIE.
I never went to University, stopped at college and went straight in to full time work.
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Yeah I have to admit my request was a bit broad xD. I'm looking into the field of science, for sure. Something like a Dentist or a GP in New Zealand, but I heard here the pay is slightly above mediocre, but the time it takes to get through Med School is not worth it.
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On October 27 2011 16:51 MikeTheBike wrote:
Yeah I have to admit my request was a bit broad xD. I'm looking into the field of science, for sure. Something like a Dentist or a GP in New Zealand, but I heard here the pay is slightly above mediocre, but the time it takes to get through Med School is not worth it.
I'm half way through med school at Auckland Uni, and strongly considering GP. Med school takes some work, but not hard, just lots to keep on top of. GP isn't that badly paid, especially if you want to work rural areas, you can do hugely well. Especially if you start up or take a share in a practice. But you don't really go into medicine for the money....
I also manage to sneak in some time for starcraft :D (but going further into clinical years my time for it will probably drop significantly...)
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Beyonder
Netherlands15103 Posts
On October 27 2011 16:19 heyoka wrote:
I work in ESPORTS. That's probably not very helpful for you but I enjoy it a lot.
Do you get paid in ESPORTS currency?
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My biggest fear is that I'll have no free time if I choose to become a GP, I can be a very dedicated person when it comes to studies if I put my mind to it, but a GP/Doctor sounds like so much of a hassle.
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I always liked math and science classes better than english and stuff like that. I suppose the system is different in sweden but for our "high school" I choose a technological path and there I had alot of classes involving graphic design and stuff.
I didn't really care for that and now I'm studying civil engineering at Chalmers university in Gothenburg. And so far I couldn't be happier. Don't be afraid to try stuff out, sure you might "lose" a few months but the experience can still be really nice even if you don't like everything and decides not to continue!
Gl in the future
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EPT
