Welcome to Star Trek Simulation Forum

Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to contribute to this site by submitting your own content or replying to existing content. You'll be able to customize your profile, receive reputation points as a reward for submitting content, while also communicating with other members via your own private inbox, plus much more! This message will be removed once you have signed in.

Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0
Anika818

Time to grow up...

26 posts in this topic

Hi everyone :D A while ago I asked you all about your careers.  Well I was wondering now, if some of you could give me some advice or insight.

 

It's getting to be that time of my life where I have to start coming up with a "plan."  Well here is my dilema :D .  I know I love science and math, high stress levels, fast paces, always different, and solving puzzles.  I know I am not a person who could devote my life to research and I am not a teacher.

 

For a while, I thought this would fit very well for a trauma surgeon, but now I am not so sure.  So where I once started planning on what to do, I know hvae a one of back up plans (not that thats a bad thing), but there are all very different from each other.  Among my backup plans are: toxicology, forensics, and vet school.  

 

I know many of you have had numerous careers are are situated in one.  Could you please give me some thoughts.  New ideas are welcomed as well.  :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There are a number of resources dedicated to helping choose career plans.  If it were me, I'd start hunting them down.  In the old days you used to have to rely on dumb tests in the guidence councelor's office (which is more than I ever did, and in retrospect, I SHOULD HAVE), but today I would bet there's a ton-o-stuff on the web.  Start hunting and get valid advice from people and sources qualified to give it.  (Not that asking friends isn't interesting, but your life is more important than casual advice).  

 

I'd also talk to any faculty in those fields and ask them what they think.  Also, if you have any colleges nearby, they always have a career center with tons of resources that you could browse.  

 

And kudos to you for starting to think early.  I didn't and wasted a lot of time as a result.  :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks Huff.  I have tried (and haven't stopped) look through resources, but most of it has left not helped me narrow down my ideas.  I am trying to look at colleges and seeing if I can job shadow.  Unfortunatley, it was my advisor as well as faculty members that got me thinking.  They seem to think that I would get too bored being a trauma surgeon.

 

And your absolutely right..asking freinds is interesting as well as fun, which is one reason for why I poseted this topic :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

While having a plan is all well and good.. who says you have too decide your whole life at 18? (or sooner)

 

If you think you would enjoy being a trauma surgeon.. go for it. Do it. If you get bored after doing it for awhile, change careers. There is nothing that says just cause you started as this that doesn't mean you can't go do that.

I would reccommend getting an undergraduate degree that will carry you in more than one field. You don't have to have a pre-med degree to go to med school. (Although I reccommend having a good science and math base anyway.)

 

My brother is an excellent example. Through high school he through he wanted to be a lawyer. My mom planned hoped and dreamed. My brother was an excellent debater, winning and doing well. And then in his junior year the acting bug hit. My brother was suddenly burning up the stage.. and well. Went to college on an acting scholarship, went to NYC, and later London, where he graduated from a reknowned acting school. After fifteen years of struggling, he quit, came home to Texas and went back to college. He continued to act and direct locally.

 

When he went back to college he couldn't decide between geography and biology as a major. Took classes in both fields before moving into advanced biology and eventually getting his degree in entomology. He is now working on his doctorate in genetics. (And chasing little bugs to do it.) No law school in sight!!

 

He did something he loved, and then found something else that challenged and excited him. There is no reason that you, or anyone can't do the same thing.

 

My reccommendation.... find something you love. Do a job shadow at a local hospital, or even on an ambulance. (You want trauma.. there ya go!) See if that is something that would really perk your interest. If not, keep looking til you find something that really grabs you.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Get a general plan but don't set it in stone or dedicate all your resources to it. There's a reason colleges make students fill their schedules with "generic" classes the first couple of years, one of which being that most students change their major several times during their college career.

 

Keep thinking of what you want to do. But the real "crunch" time won't come until your junior year of college. So don't sweat it too much if you don't have a plan yet.

 

Plus, keep your mind open. You'll undoubtedly change a lot as you get a little older and when you're in all those classes in college, you might find something you love that would make you throw away your "plan".

 

I had a plan. Since 6th grade I wanted to be a film director. I made movies, wrote scripts, got involved in it, jobs with small time film makers, went to film school for 1 year...and decided making movies wasn't for me.

 

So...don't sweat it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Keep thinking of what you want to do. But the real "crunch" time won't come until your junior year of college. So don't sweat it too much if you don't have a plan yet.

Lol...I know what you mean about crunch time.  This is my junior year of college.  If I wanted to, I could graduate this year with a chemistry major and math minor.  But instead I am going for a double major (chem/bio major, math minor).  If I take the MCATs, I would like to do it this summer.

 

I guess there is just to much I like ::D:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, my guidance counselor said he saw me as a funeral director.  Now I'm an accountant.

 

Come to think of it, he was pretty close to the mark.    :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Everyone here pretty much summed up what I was gonna say.  I too, am pretty much in the same boat too. I already changed programmes once in college, and I'm sorta considering changing again. (I was in Computer Systems Technology, now I am in Computer Programming), but uhh, I'd reccomend you look over the courses your school has to offer. Research intersting courses, and consult your school department's counselor.  That was pretty much what I did.  Good luck in choosing a good career path, and I hope it finds you good money, and more importantly, satisfaction.   :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

FALL IN LOVE !!
  :D   Huh?  My best advice is to fall in love with a line of work.  True, it helps if it perfectly matches your abilities.  But we work best at what we love.  There is more than logic involved in choosing how you spend 50 to who-knows how many hours a week.  If it's a labor of love, the time matters little.  ...

 

All the above mentioned methods are good to helping find what you love...  The method I particularly recommend is shadowing (since volunteering is usually out of the question for busy college students).  You've got to see it, in a few places, to have any idea if you like it.  For example, having the talent to be a vet doesn't mean one could stand all the fur all over the place.  Or the smells ( a lifetime of smelling poop??).  Going to a few places for the same career will give you a general idea.  Also, some college programs have internships...that helps a lot in showing if the student and the career are a "love match."  It really has to be something you feel  passion for.  And, as mentioned above.  Even passion changes...  So don't worry if that happens either.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
FALL IN LOVE !!
 

You've got to see it, in a few places, to have any idea if you like it.  For example, having the talent to be a vet doesn't mean one could stand all the fur all over the place.  Or the smells ( a lifetime of smelling poop??).  

I can stand fur, the smell of poop, even the inviteable scratches, bites, kicks, whacks, and associated trauma from animals.

 

I just couldn't hack chemistry!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree. Fall in love with a guy who's already successful. Then you can drop out of college and take care of the kids and not have to worry about all that career stuff.

 

Wait is that not what he meant?   ::D:  

 

I thought you meant you were still in HS Anika. I hope you're planning on going on to graduate school...a Bachelors wont get you very far these days.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A 21 year old still in high school now thats a thought oh wait I know one of them :D he's in my grade 11 english class :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, since you're asking for free advise, and since I can never resist telling someone how to ruin ... er, run their life, here are today's tips from the Moose:

 

a) Forget graduate school until you have a specific goal in mind.  "Gee, I think I'd like to try ..." will only cost you money and time.  And it will also postpone the inevitable decision that you're having trouble with now.  Unless grad school is a necessary step towards your target, it won't help.

 

:D Make your sacrifices now, while you're still flexable and poor.  In your heart of hearts you probably know what you want to do, but there's a voice in your head saying "I'll never make it at that."  Well, Ziggy is right that you don't have to decide your whole life now, but as time goes on, your agenda will change.  Having a career you love will be replaced with "but the money is good" or "my family depends on my paycheck" or "I've waited a long time for that trip to Europe ... Mercedes convertable ... two carat diamond ..." etc, etc, etc.  Your personal goals change to support the goals of your spouse and children and you'll be willing to spend money on comfortable things because you'll be comfortable less and less as you grow older.  Sleeping in your car to save on hotels will no longer seem viable.

 

Choose your riskiest path now, because you'll be risking less than you will 15 years from now.

 

c) Lighten up on yourself.  There's no deadline, and it's ok to make the wrong choice.  And you can change your mind again any day for the rest of your life. : )

 

That's all from the mount.  Cash and credit cards accepted.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
c) Lighten up on yourself.  There's no deadline, and it's ok to make the wrong choice.  And you can change your mind again any day for the rest of your life. : )

 

To follow up on Moose's advice, I'll just offer my own twisted career path (and it's really not THAT twisted, compared to many).  I entered college thinking that, since I liked Biology so much in H.S., I'd go for a Bio major.  Well, that turned out to be the Pre-Med weeder coursework and I got weeded right out.  Since I had made films on my own during H.S. (heya Vex!), I thought of that path, but my school, GWU, didn't have a film degree.  I went for Radio/TV and started working the GWU radio station.  I graduated with that and got a job as a camera operator for NJ Public TV.  Then the arts funding for the state was cut and I was laid off (at least that's what they told me...) and I heard about a paralegal school that would place me in a job in Washington, DC, where I had gone to school.  Since I was insanely organized - not that you'd think so, eh? - I figured paralegal was a good fit.  At the same time, I spent a few years as a party DJ, utilizing my love of music and CONTROL (ahem).  Then I got into the computers at the law firms and now I'm the Technology Services Manager (a.k.a. Information Systems, Information Technology, your pick) for a large law firm in DC.

 

How did I get here from Bio - or Film - or Radio???  The career path in your life is always bending and branching.  There's no saying that I'll stay with this job forever, either.  Sure, I'm as old as dirt, but I just need another place to put my teeth in a glass and watch me go!

 

Good luck, have fun, enjoy doing something that will make you enough money that you won't starve (that kinda goes along with the "enjoy" part, right?)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I can beat A9 on the twisted career path... just ask if you really wanna know....

 

Lets just say I started pre vet and now I am a fire/medical dispatcher.....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Having a career you love will be replaced

 

A career you love? What kind of twisted agenda is that, Moose?

 

but the money is good" or "my family depends on my paycheck" or "I've waited a long time for that trip to Europe ... Mercedes convertable ... two carat diamond ..."

 

See now those are goals I can relate to :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The career that I would love would give me the most income for the least amount of work. Too bad I'm not an American citizen I can't become the prez:D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
This is my junior year of college.  

Oh Lordy!  I assumed you were in high school, lol!  

 

Okay, take back all the crap I said earlier!  

 

Talk to faculty, talk to faculty, talk to faculty!  I'll tell you a story...

 

One day, I went to an upper division class that only had four people in it, including myself.  And for some reason, the class was intended for a particular major emphasis that wasn't mine, but it didn't say so in the catalog, and I had signed up because it just looked interesting...  Well, it was interesting, and I was doing well in spite of my handicap..I mean lack of background that the other students had.  

 

ANYway... on this particular day I showed up to class, plopped down in a seat and waited for my three other classmates to show up...  And waited and waited...  At about ten after the hour, the professor said, "Well.  Let's go to my office.  We'll chat."  I just about died.

 

So I did, I followed him to his office.  He offered me a seat, waited a minute, sat back, put his hands behind his head and said, "So.  What do you want to do with your life?"

 

AHHHHH!  I HAD NO IDEA!  

 

But for some reason, perhaps it was the sheer terror of the situation, an answer babbled forth.  I said that in a perfect world, what I'd like to do is blah blah blah.  And then he gave me some very practical advice for how to go about that.  

 

Now, about ten years later, I find that I am doing exactly what I stammered out that day in his office, thanks to my sloth classmates blowing off class that day.  Oh, and I got the only A in the class.  :D

 

I did wait about five years after finishing my undergrad degree to go back to grad school, and the time off was invaluable - I had very clear goals for grad school and was able to get SO much value from my work then.  And during that time, I sucked up as much career advice from faculty as I could.  

 

One other blindly intelligent thing I did that some have mentioned here, was to keep my first degree as general as I could.  My profession now has nothing to do with that first degree, but I had taken a significant amount of classes during that time that applied to the later degrees.  

 

And as others have said, there's nothing wrong with changing professions every ten years or so anyway.  :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I can beat A9 on the twisted career path... just ask if you really wanna know....

 

Lets just say I started pre vet and now I am a fire/medical dispatcher.....

I can beat you both.  I give "twisted" a whole new dimension.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

::points to his signature and figures that is the best advice he can give::

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I can beat you both.  I give "twisted" a whole new dimension.

Hey there,

 

Amen to that!

 

But it's "twisted," in a nice sort of way. :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Fred, you're not allowed to post on this thread - you haven't grown up yet!  

 

Oh wait... neither have I.  Never mind!

 

Anika, the advice I see the most on this topic is something I agree with and is probably the most important - do what you like.  (Oh my God, I'm quoting Garnoopy!)  

 

If you talk to all the faculty in the world and they say, "Oh you won't like that," all that means is that they wouldn't like that.  If they did, they'd be doing it, not teaching.  Hopefully you *will* get some practical advice from faculty and professionals, but if not (and let's face it, there's no guarentee of maturity or wisdom just because someone is teaching in a college or working in a field), just pick out the things you need from what they say.  

 

I met some strong resistance to some choices I made as I fought my way to my current career, from professionals and faculty in the field.  They felt they knew the best route to my path, and I disagreed with some of their means.  HowEVER, those same people also had some very valuable things to offer, and I just picked the things of value out of the things I didn't need.  

 

In retrospect, I've found that the vision of my path was basically clear at that time, and I was right to trust my instincts.  

 

And I'm doing what I like.  I don't make a lot of money for the amount of work I put in, but I really don't care.  Well, okay, sometimes I care, but I could never go back to doing something I didn't love.  I tried that for a couple of years and just about went insane.  I made good money, but it wasn't worth it.  It wasn't me.  

 

And if you don't know what you like yet... do what someone else said (I won't even admit to who I'd be quoting on that one) - take some time to fish and feel your way around before making that decision.  With any bachelors you can go out and get a temporary job to buy yourself some time to think.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

They all gave you the wrong advice do what you care about not what you like because what you like is subject to great change and when you change a career mid way through it only adds to the stress. The other advice I can give you if you have several things you want to do pick the one that gives you the most money :rolleyes:. Also if you want to travel do it NOW!!! while you are still young you don't need lots of money to see the world only lots of money to spoil yourself with needlessly expensive hotels just do want you want if you don't like looking at blood you can still be a doctor you just need to work on that aspect. :D and please no you're only 16 what do you know. I observe others so I know :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Keep in mind that your career does not make you who you are.  Your indentity is not found in being an engineer, lawyer, doctor, etc.  Your identity is found in what kind of person you are.  The career that you choose should always be a secondary.  Your faith, your family and others around you should always be held before your own interests.  I have foundthat when it all comes down helping others is far more satisfactory and fulfilling in life than helping yourself.  It is our reason to life.  While money is nice to have once in awhile, realize that all it is is paper...and in a moment it could all become worthless.  Invest in thigs that matter, things that last.  That's my story...and I'm sticking to it. :rolleyes:  

 

"...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." -Philippians 4:8

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!


Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.


Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0