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How did you know what you wanted as a career?

After College? What now.

I'm about to graduate college soon and am wondering how people decide what they want to do with their careers. Some of my friends are moving to Houston and making $90-100k per year. Others like me are staying around the NYC area and making $60-70k per year. There seems to be this itch in my mind that causes me to doubt my choice, what if i did x instead. Though now that I think about it, if I explored every possible career I wanted to, I wouldn't be done by the time I die. Any thoughts on this? Especially from the older folk on the forum? All I know is, wherever I am, I'll be growing hot peppers. :)q
 
I guess I qualify as one of the older folks around here. I'll be 48 in a few days. I'm retired too.

It isn't all about the money. The main thing I'm telling my kids, two in the working world, one in college and one is a freshman in high school, is that money isn't everything. Sure you want to make enough to live comfortably, own a home, decent car, bills paid, money to save for the future and money for recreational activities. I've seen so many folks working at a job they absolutely hate just for the money. They spend the entire week miserable waiting for the weekend. Then come Monday they bitch about how short the weekend was and it's Monday again.

Find something in life that you enjoy doing and find a way to make it pay the bills. Can you imagine how great life would be if every morning you got up to go to work you couldn't wait to get there? You had a blast at work, didn't care about quitting time and weekends? How much is that worth to you?

Find something you're passionate about and find a way to make it pay.

Good luck to you SnakeDoc.
 
Mate. I can't agree with patrick more on this one....but on the other hand, I hated most of the places I worked for a number of years but knew it was necessary to get me where I wanted to be.

I didn't know what I wanted to be up until 3/4 of the way through my last year of school......

I was going to be in agriculture and was accepted into one of the best agricultural schools in Australia. Then one day about a month before I was meant to start there I came across the fees for the place, and it was like $8000 a term so $32000 a year plus the cost of travel. My parents were planning on selling stuff and not telling me so they could pay for the fees, and getting a part time job wasn't an option at the time for me so I stopped that idea and I went for a trade.

I became an electrician......

After my 4 year apprenticeship I had a goal to get myself in a position of some power within 10 years. I was 18 at the time. I went and worked at places no one else would work out in the middle of no where making crappy money, BUT the work experience gained in doing so was absolutely priceless......I hated working at this places but I stuck with it cause I knew it was helping me towards bigger things.

I ended up moving bad home in 2004 and and went from a general electrician to a foreman in 2 years through the skills I had gained working afar.

I am now A manager at a metal producing plant that has 600 workers and a good number of them report to me on a daily basis, all because I did the hard yards in the early days and did the crap no one else wanted to do....

and I'm only 30 mate.

I know guys that are 55 doing shift work making over $130000 a year in the coal mines, but they never see there family and hate the job they are in. but because they have never gone and done anything else in there lives they are stuck there.

I also know guys the same age that are on more like $50000 a year and love there job are get to spend all the time in the world with there family.

Good luck with what ever you decide, and at the end of the day, it's only you that can make the choice. Under no circumstances second guess yourself......You have made a certain decision so stick it out......
 
I still have no clue. you know how it is... you try one job, you try another... until you land in one you like best. a job that feels right and comfortable.
 
But yield who will to there separation,
My objective is to unite
My advocation an vocation,
As my two eyes are one in sight......



















Be a porn star.....
 
I think the other mature and worldly gentlemen gave you some DAM good advice...Pat yourselves on the back guys...I am 42, and I am retired, I have one more thing to add to the wisdom that they have shared with you....

1. Find a job that makes you money (they said this)
2. Find a job that makes you happy (they said this too...)
3. Find a job that *YOU EXCEL AT* While doing the above 2 things...

I am not going to bullshit you and just tell you to follow your dreams ...etc.. that is cool and all but, if you are an "Awesome" computer programmer and you enjoy it, and you really like being a carpenter even though you can't pound a f'in nail in straight...then do what you were given the gifts to do... otherwise you will spend your whole life "paddling upstream" ie. everything is more difficult... Hey man, listen either way....you are young and you have a great future ahead of you....it will be what *YOU* make it...as in Moyboys story...etc...

Best of luck, you sound like you are a smart guy,
 
Well, I wanted to be a actor and decided that would be my career (decided this in 3rd grade), got me an edumication while prosuing other interests (art, journalism). Moved to Hollywood to prosue acting and was TV and movies for 5 years. Goal accoplished.

But I was also doing journalism writting for various places (still do). Now that I am back in Cleveland I'm working on becoming a brew master for beer and that's my new career choice.

So basically what I'm saying is don't lock yourself in one career. DO WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL HAPPY! If you aren't happy with your career then you shouldn't be doing it. Take a chance, life's an adventure, buy the ticket and take the ride.....weeeeeeeeee!
 
I wouldn't get upset about making a quick decision...I didn't grow up until I hit 35 and decided to go back to engineering school...and I retire at age 60 in 4 months...

I will say one thing about Houston...I don't think you could pay me enough to live there...
 
AlabamaJack said:
I wouldn't get upset about making a quick decision...I didn't grow up until I hit 35 and decided to go back to engineering school...and I retire at age 60 in 4 months...

I will say one thing about Houston...I don't think you could pay me enough to live there...

AJ's right on about Houston. It's like the armpit of Texas. Hot, 100% humidity & it stinks (oil refineries). And its' the only place on earth you have to hit 85 mph to merge with stand still traffic on the highway....


Not a big fan
 
Txclosetgrower said:
And its' the only place on earth you have to hit 85 mph to merge with stand still traffic on the highway....


Not a big fan

Thats not entirely true.....you've never driven around north Jersey have you?
 
Sickmont said:
Thats not entirely true.....you've never driven around north Jersey have you?

No, but from what I've heard Jersey is about the only other place that could suck like Houston. Including the smell. :lol:
 
Txclosetgrower said:
No, but from what I've heard Jersey is about the only other place that could suck like Houston. Including the smell. :lol:

Actually, with a few notable exceptions, Jersey isn't that bad at all. I find it tends to surprise people greatly. But yeah, when you live around Newark you do get used to the smell:lol:
 
NJ is great even though its gov't sucks. Polotics aside NJ is amazing. I live 1 hour from Atlantic City which is my carreer 6 months of the year (labor thorugh Memorial day) at the poker tables.

Then you have NYC 30 minutes North. Philly 45 minutes southwest. Tons of rural farm towns, tons of big cities, tons of sports teams, tons of beaches and everything. We get 4 full seasons so everyone gets a fair piece of the year. The only problem is it costs a fortune to live anywhere nice here, but at the same time there's plenty of good work.
 
Hmm, I guess everybody has a certain talent for something and the challenge is to find out what's yours. :)
 
FiveSix said:
I live 1 hour from Atlantic City which is my carreer 6 months of the year (labor thorugh Memorial day) at the poker tables.

I've probably lost a few grand to you then....you bastard.
 
I wrote this a few years ago at a baseball board I post at, but with it updated to now. It has my story and a lot of advice for the younger folks (in high school to starting college) from someone who has been there recently.

By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. So far, I'm on the path to get there. I knew I wanted to be a play by play announcer in some sport as I had no athletic ability to speak of. And I knew I wanted to go to school in Boston.

So on that note, I attended Boston's prestigious... err, decent... maybe above-average, no no no, how about "a trained ape could have gotten accepted when I applied?" How's that? Okay, that works. Emerson College. Since I attended, they started taking acceptance policies a little more seriously as they realized they let people in way too easily. The average SAT score when I applied was 1210. Now, five years later, it was 1350. As an aside, I scored 1300, 610 verbal, 690 math, possibly the only Emerson student to score higher on math than verbal. I also had about a 3.2 GPA from one of the 100 best prep schools in the country and a lot of extra-curriculars, so that helped me out a bit as well. What can I say, I was one of those "slacker genius" types who was so disillusioned by the entire schooling experience that after a while I just lost interest and let the tide carry me wherever it may. In other words, don't be like me.

Anyways, I majored in broadcast journalism, working alongside people who would change my life, 90% for the worse, 5% for the better, and 5% yet to be determined. I knew I wanted to go into announcing as a play by play guy in sports, preferably the NHL, though I'd settle for any pro league. Except basketball. I'm 23 years old, 5'8" with a negative vertical leap, no crossover dribble to speak of, and my shot from three-point range comes up shorter than an impotent midget immune to Viagra. So I don't know a thing about basketball except that I used to be a decent defender when I played in middle school. I averaged more than one blocked shot per game in my 8th grade year. I can analyze a 2-3 or 1-3-1 zone, but offense? Forget it.

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, college. It sucked. Make sure you scope a place out BIG time before attending, and steer clear of the assholes and psychos who you think are your friends but turn out to stab you in the back repeatedly in the future. Get rid of those who are your friend only when they need something. Find things you like doing, and stick with those. Don't be afraid to try new things, but also don't be afraid to just stick to the things you enjoy. When you finally are allowed to make your own schedule, try to avoid classes on Fridays and Mondays because if you're like me, you will skip them often. Know who the talkative people are and ask them before class what they thought of the reading we were supposed to do but you didn't do because you were busy making out with that chick from down the hall. They'll probably talk for a while about a few sections and you can pick up enough to get by in class discussions. Learn the art of bullshit. It comes in handy when you have a six page paper due in 4 hours and you haven't researched a single thing. In high school, take AP classes and try to do well on the tests. I took four AP's, got a 3 on each test. Most colleges only take a 4 or better, but like I said, I went to Emerson. A 3 was good enough for them, so I knocked out 16 credits right then and there. Also since I took four years of math in high school and three years of a foreign language, I didn't have to take one. Almost a degree mill, thy name is Emerson. So I got to graduate early, December rather than May. So because of this, I had enough time to pick up a minor. I would encourage you to do so as well. Maybe go for two. I found two things I enjoyed learning about and took 4 classes (16 credits) in each-- bam, that's two minors for me. For me, they were history and music. We had a kickass history professor at Emerson, Rev. Dr. John Coffee. Greatest teacher ever. I think of the history classes I took with him, and it made me want to be a history teacher. Then I remember that teachers don't get paid a whole lot. But journalists don't either. I studied the wrong thing, didn't I?

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, college. I survived it with a GPA somewhere between 3 and 4. Doesn't matter now, I have my diploma, that's all that matters. A B.S. in Journalism (B.S. is certainly applicable, if you think about it), minors in history and music. So from there I got a job at a radio station as a producer, sports talk radio co-host, and a DJ, and got paid peanuts. Almost literally. I also started working with the Wichita Falls Wildcats in the North American Hockey League as a play by play announcer on a volunteer basis. This past October, I was hired on full-time.

So there you have it. I wanted to be a sports play by play announcer. And I am. Sort of.
 
In my case, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do when it came time to pick what I was going to major in. I picked something I enjoyed doing (graphic design) but wound up realizing I liked doing it here and there on my own and that was about it. Never really went anywhere with that one. Finally I decided to bite the inevitable bullet and join the military. I come from a big military family, and living on bases around the country has introduced me to all kinds of friends that wound up serving as well. I was tired of staying in the same place the whole time, had no health insurance to speak of for years, etc. Now I have all those things I wished I had at that time. Of course, every job comes with things you won't like..that is just how life is.

You just have to strike a balance of giving and taking. It's all a big compromise.
 
I was actually going to commission in the Army, but the recruiter told me I won't get passed MEPS because of my dairy/soy allergy.
 
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