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Author Topic: When did you know what you wanted to do with your life?
JuniperDreams
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I'm 17. Going to be a senior... technically, super senior. And I don't know anything about my future, other than I will probably major in science. As for what kind of science, and what kind of occupation, I dunno... So please tell me I'm not behind... when did you know what to do??
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rivka
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I'll let you know when I figure it out.
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kojabu
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Oh you are so not behind. I'm technically a senior in college and I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Just let the science take you wherever your interests lie.
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Belle
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I'm 34, going back to college to finish my degree, I have less than two years to go to finish. I have worked in the corporate world, I have stayed home with my kids, and I still have no idea what I'm going to do.

I have narrowed it down to three or four things.

In other words, the fact that you're 17 and still don't know for sure is not that unusual. I would think it is pretty common, in fact. I'm twice your age and still don't know.

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Tresopax
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I decided where I wanted to go to college when I was a senior in high school, after I got accepted. I decided it was the right decision only after the first semester was over.

I decided my major in my third year at college. I added a second major in my fourth year. It should be noted that neither of them is one I'd originally even considered a possibility.

I decided upon my first job after I was offered it.

I just turned 24. I have not yet decided what I want to do with my life.

Looking back, however, I'm inclined to think some part of me had it all planned out to begin with. This part of me is sneaky, and won't tell me what it has planned next.

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Enigmatic
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When I was 17 I had a few "dream job" ideas, but instead I went to college for engineering, a reliable well-paying sort of career. I hated it, dropped out, and have worked a variety of "just doing this to get by for now" sort of jobs. I'm 27 and back to chasing that long-shot dream career I wanted when I was 17.

In short, it's no big deal that you don't know what you want to do yet. However, if there is something you'd love to do but you aren't seriously considering it because it's impractical or its a field where not many people really make it... Go for it. There is plenty of time to be practical later in life.

--Enigmatic

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Tante Shvester
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quote:
I'm 17. Going to be a senior
17 going on 65?

I'm a nurse, and it is the best thing I've ever done. The work is always interesting, rewarding, fulfilling. I didn't start to consider a career in nursing until I was in my late 20's, I finished nursing school with a bachelor's degree in nursing when I was 30. Now I'm 40, and I know that this is what I want to keep doing.

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A Rat Named Dog
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When I was offered my current job as a game designer, at age 24, while attending film school part-time and writing screenplays, trying to break into Hollywood.

I had committed myself to the whole moviemaking thing, but I wasn't happy with it, and I wasn't finding any immediate, or even likely success. When I got offered this job, suddenly, everything clicked into place, and I knew it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

So ... basically, the decision I made at your age ended up being virtually irrelevant. Feel free to try something, of course, but always keep your eyes open for new opportunities that take you by surprise.

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Olivet
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I'll let you know... [Wink]
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Avadaru
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My plans for life have changed so much, and are still changing. When I was younger I wanted to be a vet. Then I wanted to be a dog show handler. Now I'm an art major in college, and planning on teaching art history after I graduate. I'm considering picking up another major in herpetology as well, so my plans are definitely not set in stone. I'm only 18, so I don't spend too much time worrying about what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I figure I've got plenty of time.
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advice for robots
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The problem with 17 is that you think you need to know what you're going to do with your life.

Let the years pass, and you'll start thinking of your life more in terms of the alphabet, say. What are you going to do with the alphabet? The possibilities remain endless.

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GaalD
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I'm 15 and I've had like a million dream jobs already. When I was like 10, I wanted to be a professional Basketball player [Big Grin] Then, at like 12 after reading Ender's Game and my favorite character being Peter, I wanted to be a politician. Now, I have a dream job, which I think is pretty reasonable, and I hope it'll work out. Ask me again in 2 months and I'll let you know [Evil] [Wink]
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katharina
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That's a great way to think of it, afr.

Life is long. Most people have two or three separate careers in their life. Work towards becoming who you want to be, and do your best. Everything will click.

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Happy Camper
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I'm 26, and have been working as a civil engineer for the past 2 and a half years, and i still don't know what I want to do with my life, if that makes you feel any better...
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BannaOj
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Hmm, interesting question. I like what I'm doing now, but had I not been pressured specific directions by my parents I wouldn't have chosen it.

Started out wanting to be a veterinarian ( [Smile] @ Avadaru) I got discouraged when every vet that I volunteered to work for to get experience before college, told me that if they had it to do over they would have gone into being a human MD rather than a vet.

So I also started sizing things up, and realized that I wanted to spend time with my own animals, rather than taking care of other people's. Along the way also I knew I needed to buy my own house to house the animals, since my parents were less than accepting of a menagerie.

I wanted to major in straight chemistry. If I had I'm fairly certian I would probably have or be finishing up a PhD right now. Instead my parents were convinced that engineering was the only way to go. ("You don't want to end up in a lab washing test tubes!")

So I let them talk me into engineering with a materials emphasis. I'm a chemical engineer. I'm proud that I got through engineering school since it wasn't exactly easy. But the amount of burnout that I went through as a result wasn't a lot of fun. And, the job I have now, is in a lab washing test tubes [Wink]

AJ

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kwsni
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I"m 22, and I think I Know.

I thought I wanted to be a horseback riding instructor, so I went to the only college in Michigan that offers anything with horses. I got into a couple classes, and found out what I DIDN'T want to do with horses, which was judge them. The next semester I had a basic horse management class, which covered a little reproduction. THAT I loved. So I moved to a farm the school owns, and did repro for a year. I also found out in the meantime that I don't have the patience to train horses.

Now I'm finishing up my degree, and I can't wait to get into a job that will let me do what i love every day.

I think the point I'm trying to make is don't try to findout what you want to do, but what you don't want to.

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katharina
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Ooo...that's good advice, too. I really like science, but I did undergraduate research and discovered I hate the lab. I like biology and medicine, but volunteered in a hospital and discovered I don't like hospitals or sick people. I majored in English lit, and discovered I don't like the current mileu and style of literature professors.

However, I also interned as a web designer and tech writer, and I really liked that. So that's what I do now.

I'm not done - there's more to do and discover. In the meantime, I can eat. That's nice.

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solo
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Not yet
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Teshi
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quote:
while attending film school part-time and writing screenplays, trying to break into Hollywood.
ARND, I'm interested in this field [edit: when I say field, I mean writing for the screen, not "breaking into hollywood"] (although I am currently attending University for English, History and Politics and I intend to finish my degrees). What exactly didn't you like about it?

I too have no idea what I want to do.

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SC Carver
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32 and still looking.

If you’re not even in college you still have a couple years before you have to make any "major" decisions. And even after that most people end up getting jobs in something other than what they majored in college.

It’s good you are thinking about it. I would recommend trying out any job you are interested the best way you can before go through years of school to commit to it. When I say try it out: I mean job shadow, intern or what ever you can do to find out what that job really involves. I know a few people who spent many years studying to become a "whatever" and then got the job to discover they didn't like the day to day requirements of the job. You may love math, science or art, but find out you hate teaching so being a teacher in one of those subjects wouldn’t work for you.

Think about jobs that play to your personality’s strengths, If you’re an outgoing people person then don’t get a job in research, go into sales or something that will use that.

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Dagonee
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JD, I'll let you in on a little secret: The decision of what top do with your life is not irrevocable.

I mention this, because I had to be almost forcibly reminded of it. Had this not happened, I'd probably be withering away at my former company.

So don't worry too much. Planning for the future is good, but it's very possible to do so without locking oneself into a 50-year plan.

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Zeugma
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I'm 23, and I went through a lot of ideas for careers (some that I really felt committed to) until I was nearing the end of my undergrad experience a few years ago... I was in a film production class, and needed to make a final film... I didn't have much money for the project, and some of my classmates were budgeting $1000 for film and lab costs. Someone mentioned that in animation, you use every frame that you shoot, rather than leaving a bunch of money on the cutting room floor, so I decided to make a stop-motion film. I had a blast, and from there I kept getting more and more interested in animation until I KNEW that this is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.

[Smile]

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Farmgirl
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When I look back at most of the "dream jobs" I had in mind when I was 17 -- some of them I would still like to try. (Forest ranger, biologist, etc.) You would NEVER have told me back then that I would be into computers now, because we didn't even have computers in our schools then!

But I have been a lot of different things throughout the years, and although now (at age 44) in working with computers, I don't intend for this to be my last "career" either.

You never really 'just decide' what you want to be -- because you change as a person as you get older, and that changing person has different ideas and priorities.

Just pick a direction to follow, and let it lead you on to the rest of your life.

Farmgirl

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Astaril
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I knew when I was 4. I decided I was going to be either an astronaut or a librarian.

Unfortunately, I've since gone through phases of wanting to be a grocery store cashier, veterinarian, Broadway star, jazz musician, writer, music teacher, linguist, archaeologist, conservator, park warden, and circus freak.

Now, having graduated from school for the archaeologist part, I'm applying for a job doing archival work in, yes, a library. Old goals can come to haunt you. But I wonder when the astronaut part will come up...

As for serious advice, listen to what everyone else has said on here and don't worry about defining specifics right now. Take some varied things at university and see what you're really interested in. And don't forget you can always change your mind in 5 or 10 or 40 years. Heck, I have in fact been looking at circus school admission requirements lately...

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Architraz Warden
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I suppose I'll add a counterpoint to all the others. I was pretty sure I knew at 16, and somehow (despite all odds and precedent) managed to stay the course. Nine years later and I'm still working to make it to that level. From there, I'll decide later.

Since you are going to college my advice would be to find something you enjoy doing and start seeking a profession that fits it. It's a rarity that you'll find something that fits both exactly, but it can provide a great starting point when you start in college.

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raventh1
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At 22, I'm currently persuing something along the lines of Art, however I have too many interests on the side to be just taking art classes. I'm also interested in many languages that I have not given myself enough time to pick up.

I just started college, something tells me I still haven't found exactly what I want to be doing, but I have lots of choices.

I don't think any person is set to one career they have to do. I do know that I will always be learning things well into my life. I equate life to learning.

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Farmgirl
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I guess I should mention that some people really DO know exactly what they want to be and stay the course.

My sister, for instance, always knew she wanted to be in finance/accounting -- when we were real little, we would even play "boss" and "Secretary" and I was actually allowed to be "boss" even though I was younger, because she wanted to be "secretary" so much.

Now, she's a successful CPA and the CFO of a company. She has never waivered.

My daughter, who currently plans to be a veterinarian -- I have never seen her waiver yet on that as well. Although if she changes her mind, I would understand.

So it isn't "right" or "wrong" to have either always known, or to never know. Just different strokes for different folks.

FG

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tt&t
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23, about to finish a law degree, and all I know thus far is... I don't want to be a lawyer. [Razz]

Good luck. [Smile]

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Sopwith
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I was seven. Here it is 29 years later and I'm still happily chasing after it. [Big Grin]

[ August 08, 2005, 05:13 PM: Message edited by: Sopwith ]

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seespot
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When I entered college, I was NEVER going to take another math class again. In fact, by the end of my freshman year I decided I was going to be a PR major. To get into the program, I needed a basic statistics class. I was horrified at this, because my dad had a degree in statistics and I was NEVER going to consider majoring in statistics. So I took the lowest possible stat class. I think we might have done one algebra problem the whole semester. But, I fell in love with the concepts and found myself in Calc the very next term. I declared a stat major and loved it. However, I swore I would NEVER take any actuarial exams. I had a business emphasis and that's what I was going to do. I got my degree, served a mission, got engaged and found myself in Miami, FL. Since I don't speak spanish or have master's degree, it was difficult to find a decent job. I got a lame-o job that I held for a little over a year. I got another lame-o job next. However, the second lame-o job was at a large specialty insurance company. This company had an actuarial department. Guess what I did? I passed my first actuarial exam and now work in the actuarial department.

However, this is far from the end of my story as I am only 28 and expecting my first child. . .

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Tatiana
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When I was 17 I wanted to be a social worker, maybe a mental health counselor. I pictured myself helping people who would get all better and I would feel so useful to humanity.

I worked as a volunteer at the county mental health association and spent some time around patients, and I realized that I wasn't very good at that and didn't enjoy it much. The realities of the job were far different from my imaginings. I'm so very glad I did this, because otherwise I might have majored in the complete wrong thing in college and not been able to change.

I also loved math and science and buildling things, all my life. So I picked Engineering in undergraduate school. I got a co-op job and worked in sales for General Electric every other quarter (my school was on the quarter system then). From this job I found out that sales doesn't suit me and I prefer small to medium sized companies over big ones, because they are streamlined and everyone works together toward the same goal. Very large companies tend to get bogged down in administrative details, and one hand doesn't always know what the other is doing.

I enjoyed the math part of engineering school so much that for a brief time I changed my major to applied math. Then I guess I realized that might limit my job opportunities a lot, so I switched back to engineering.

By that time, I had fallen in love with computers so I went into Computer Engineering for a while, but the program at my school wasn't very good, as it turned out. I got frustrated and dropped out to work as a programmer when I only had 2 quarters left to go before graduation.

After programming for 7 years, I had a good bit of money saved up and decided to go back full time to finish my degree. This time I went into Electrical Engineering, since the program at my school was excellent. I absolutely loved EE and am so glad that's where I ended up.

So I worked as an engineer for another 10 years or so, and then realized what my experience and skills were for. I now plan to work overseeing third world development projects, in water and wastewater treatment, small to medium sized power systems (village sized generators, not city sized), and want to go back to grad school when I get a chance, to study Animal Husbandry.

Basically I want to understand everything there is to know about starting from nothing and building a fully developed technological society. I'll need to learn about phone and internet systems, and roads too, and also agriculture, but I figure I can pick that stuff up on my own. This would also be ideal knowlege for starting space colonies, but it looks like the human species is dragging its feet on that, and I may not get my chance to help with the colonization of space before I'm too old. Even just building observatories on the moon, though (astronomy is one of my loves), would be a dream job for me.

I've only really understood what I'm supposed to do with my life in the last few years, say, starting around age 45. Now I think I understand where I'm going with all this, but until recently I was just earning a living in a reasonably fun and interesting way. (I still love building stuff. I promise that what I do is just a scaled up version of our Lego-blocks-matchbox cars- hotwheel cars-train sets-and Fisher Price little people set cities we used to build on the den floor when we were kids. It's so much fun!)

Anyway, I second the suggestion to volunteer or get a helper job in any field you think you might want to work in. I found out so much from those! If I hadn't done that I would never have gone the direction I am in now, and this field is perfect for me.

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James Tiberius Kirk
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I'm 16, going to be a senior next year as well. I've always wanted to be an engineer, cause I like problem solving. My dream job is in aerospace engineering, but that looks unlikely-- there are jobs in the field, but I've been told that most of them aren't really what I might expect.

There's always medicine, preferably research. Contagious diseases have always seemed fascinating, for some odd reason. Still, like I said, enginnering's my first choice.

But honestly, I don't think I'll actually know what I want to do until a few years into college.

--j_k

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katharina
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(JK: For aerospace engineering, you might consider Utah State. They have an excellent program. I know it isn't MIT, but USU sends more experiments into space than any other university.)
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Tante Shvester
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quote:
Originally posted by Astaril:
I have in fact been looking at circus school admission requirements lately...

From what I've heard, they pay peanuts.
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Lupus
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I'm 25 and just changed careers, and I am doing just fine.
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Speed
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I remember when I was about 12 I spent all summer eating pizza, watching TV and playing video games. It was then that I decided that's what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Unfortunately, work continues to get in the way, but I still have my goal.
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Kasie H
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I just figured it out.

I snagged a job with with a magazine working for an editor who actually lets me be a reporter (My first day's instruction: "Never, ever call yourself an intern. From now on, you are a reporter.") I got my first taste of reporting, and....hello, dream job.

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Farmgirl
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quote:
I now plan to work overseeing third world development projects, in water and wastewater treatment, small to medium sized power systems (village sized generators, not city sized), and want to go back to grad school when I get a chance, to study Animal Husbandry.
Tatiana -- have you read Gaviotas - A Village to Reinvent the World?


JTK -- if Kat can plug Utah State -- I have to jump in here with a plug for Wichita State as the top-of-the-line aerospace engineering schooling in the country. Because Boeing, Learjet, Raytheon and Cessna all have plants here in Wichita, they all help fund, and design, the entire engineering program at WSU

Farmgirl

[ August 09, 2005, 03:58 PM: Message edited by: Farmgirl ]

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Brinestone
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I was in my ninth semester of college, finishing up my English teaching major, getting ready to student teach the next semester. About halfway through the semester, I crashed, realizing this wasn't at all what I wanted to do with my life and that I would probably cry my way through student teaching if I went through with it.

I had had a job as an editor for a year. It became the part of my life I was proud of, the part of my life where I could see that I was really good at something. It dawned on me then that what I wanted to do was write and edit, not teach.

I went for it, took the plunge. Luckily the two majors were really close and I was able to still graduate in April, but prepared to edit, not teach. Now I'm editing and writing full time and knowing I'm in the right career. So for me it was kind of the last minute, college-wise.

But if you count my knowing I wanted to be a mommy since age 6 or earlier, then I guess I've always known that's what I want to do with my life. I actually had I crisis in high school wanting to go to college but knowing that what I really wanted to do was raise my children full time.

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Damien.m
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This is not much compared to the last post but: I have absolutly no idea.
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Mrs.M
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Andrew and I are both career-hoppers. I majored in Religion in college and have done nothing with it career-wise. Despite much pressure from my professors, I knew I didn't want to go to grad school. I put myself through college as a labor law paralegal. After college, I worked for a beverage media publication, I did internet ad traffic for online ethnic communities, and was VP of an online education company. Andrew passed the NY bar and never practiced a day of law in his life. He has a Ph.D. in Philosophy and taught for a few years. Now he's a testing consultant and is thinking of leaving academia permanently.

I'm going to take a real estate class and hope to pass the exam before I have the baby and I'd also like to be a social worker in the distant future.

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blacwolve
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JTK- One of my good friends at school is going into bioengineering. He wants to end up working on cure for various diseases. So contagious diseases and engineering are not at all mutually exclusive.

Oh, yea, and school? That would be Purdue Universityone of the best engineering schools in the nation. [Razz]

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Architraz Warden
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quote:
Originally posted by Kasie H:
I just figured it out.

I snagged a job with with a magazine working for an editor who actually lets me be a reporter (My first day's instruction: "Never, ever call yourself an intern. From now on, you are a reporter.") I got my first taste of reporting, and....hello, dream job.

Wow, that would be nice. If I call myself an Architect without adding "intern" or "-in-training", I go to jail. I blame the government for this.

Summer jobs and internships are indeed wonderful things to help you figure out if you're on the right course, even the year or summer before you start college. If you find you love the actual profession, you'll have something to look forward to an expect if you hate the major.

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Diana Bailey
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Don't decide to specialize in high conflict divorce, either personally or professionally. Although I will say that the four colleagues I spoke with today were just as frustrated as I was and thus very sympathetic listeners.This has been a bad summer in North Carolina for particularly nasty custody battles.The overall divorce rate may be going down, but the kids I see are sad and confused and very hurt.

Seriously, if I had to do it again, I would study spiders and insects. My favorite times as a child all involved catching and observing insects and spiders.I never really saw myself as a scientist, but I still find bugs absolutely fascinating, like the caterpillar recently written about in Science magazine that eats meat. Amazing! I want at least a dozen to watch and study. In short, do what you really love...at least some of the time.

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plaid
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Farmgirl -- you've heard of Gaviotas?

Yow, your coolness factor just keeps going up... [Cool]

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twinky
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The combination of the opening post and Enigmatic's post made me think. The very premise of this thread bothers me: "what you want to do with your life" and "what job you would like to have" are not only not the same thing, they don't even have to be related. To wit:

quote:
Originally posted by Enigmatic:
When I was 17 I had a few "dream job" ideas, but instead I went to college for engineering, a reliable well-paying sort of career.

That's exactly what I did. I wanted to be a rock star, but rock 'n roll feeds my soul, not my stomach. [Razz]

quote:
Originally posted by Enigmatic:
I hated it, dropped out, and have worked a variety of "just doing this to get by for now" sort of jobs. I'm 27 and back to chasing that long-shot dream career I wanted when I was 17.

I got lucky: I liked engineering and like my job. But I draw a huge distinction between my job and my life. Look at it this way: were I a hunter-gatherer, I would likely have to spend 10 or 12 hours a day, every day, hunting and gathering so I could eat. I work eight hours a day, five days a week (and I'm occasionally on call on weekends) so I can eat. The rest of my time is my own to do with what I will. My job eats up a big chunk of my life, and I like it (and therefore don't resent it), but it does not define me as a person. I find that when grownups converse the most important parameters they use to describe and discuss other people are age and profession, as though one's job were the defining factor in one's life.

I'm an engineer (not a professional engineer yet, 2.5 years on the job to go yet), but if someone were to ask me to describe myself in a couple of words, "engineer" would not be one of them. There are a lot of things in my life that are more important to me than my line of work. My job is what I do to enable me to do those other things. My parents always found this unfathomable.

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katharina
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I completely believe that. I have a job that I enjoy that gives me lots of free time to have a life.

Having said that, all the artistic cred that I have comes from on-the-job learning, so I like to include it because I like that part of myself.

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James Tiberius Kirk
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Kat and FG: THanks for the links; I suppose knowing people around the country has its advantages (:

--j_k

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Enigmatic
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Apart from the title of the thread, the OP was talking about what major and what occupation to go into, so naturally most people responded in terms of jobs. Twink, I agree that your job does not necessarily define you as a person (I think there was some discussion on this in the cocktail party questions thread). But that 40 or more hours a week is a pretty big chunk of your waking life, and it's important to get into something that you at least like. Otherwise its easy to let that disgruntlement from work bleed over into your free time. I have friends who found themselves in a job they hated, working 60+ hours a week and spending 1-2 hours a day after work just ticked off and venting frustration so they couldn't really do anything else. For a while there, neither of them could afford to change jobs, because they couldn't get something else that paid as well as the jobs they hated. (One friend is in grad school now, the other in a more fun job.)

The parts of my life I really value I do when I get home from work. But I would much, MUCH rather those hobbies be how I support myself instead.

--Enigmatic

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Carrie
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Second semester of my freshman year of undergrad was when it finally clicked that I can actually have a career in Classics.

I'd always been fascinated by Classics - primarily Greece, even from the age of 8 - but I never realized one could have a career related to it. My mother had discouraged my choice of pure archaeology, saying "You'll just be digging up arrowheads for your entire life," but I always had a secret dream of ancient studies (the two fields, for many years, were conflated ideas in my naive little head). Second semester of college rolled around, however, and my TA introduced me to the wacky wild world of being a Classics student - and eventual professor.

I've got quite a way to go before I'm even close to doing it for my life, but I know it's what I want to do. Even if I don't discover Atlantis, even if I can't prove that Hissarlik is the Troy of the Iliad, I'll always be fascinated by the world and want to make other people love it as much as I do.

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