Career Choices

[Daniel Blackworth]

So, I haven't posted much around here aside from my lurking in the Onyx Arcade recently, but I have an important query of sorts.

 

So, as you all may probably know, I'm at an age nearing the time where I have 

to take a decision on a career path I need to choose. I am intending to go to university, but I'm unsure on exactly what to major on though I'm deciding between writing, accounting, or engineering.

 

I'm not necessarily going to ask you what I should take up; instead, I'd like to ask, how did you come into terms with choosing your major in university or your career if you're already a professional now? Was the decision hard or was it relatively easy?

[Alistair]

That's indeed a good and really important question to ask. I wish I had discussed this more with other people when I decided for myself -.-'

 

Tbh, I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do back in high school, wasn't sure during college, and still am not sure now, at the end of my 5th year. I decided to study management in university because, well, gotta make a choice, and since I had good grades back then many choices were available. Maybe too many, which made me deliberately narrow down my interests too much and possibly miss on opportunities.

 

Anyhow, the decision wasn't really hard nor really easy, it just sort of happened. I studied management and economics, hated most of it and had mediocre grades (math and accounting destroyed me). I still somehow passed and got my degree, then went on to study the social and environmental responsibilities of companies. Easier and more interesting to me, but that's still not what I want to make a career of. Right now I'm completing a 6-month internship, and I'm at a crossroads, not really knowing what to do next.

 

Alright, I spoke about myself a bit too much ^.^'

My point is, it's hard to know whether or not what you're going to study is going to be right for you, but what you do in university doesn't define your future career. Especially the first year. You can still change the path you're on after that.

As far as the fields you've mentioned go, the only one I'm a bit familiar with is accounting, and I wish I weren't xD

Of course I'm not trying to tell you studying accounting is bad. It allows you to work in pretty much any type of organization, and the world needs a lot of accountants. Definitely a solid choice. But document yourself well beforehand, otherwise you risk wasting your energy and your time on something that's not going to interest you or lead you on the right career. 

I wish I had studied writing instead =p

 

Tl;dr do a lot of research on the fields of study that you're considering, talk to people who are working/studying those fields, but don't worry too much about it. You have time to try and see what you like  

[Enigma Shot U]

Ah, a question I'm all too familiar with. Some people are more fortunate than others because from an early age they already know what it is they want to be when they grow up. Some people are even more fortunate enough to have the support from their friends and family to do what it is they enjoy, some even have mentors. But then you have normal people who haven't quite figured it out yet.

 

My advice first and foremost is to learn a Trade. A trade can be anything from cutting meat, learning to give a killer massage, etc. This operates as a bit of a safety net for yourself in the event that your career choice doesn't work out, you have something to fall back on in terms of supporting yourself.

 

As for finding a career, there are a few ways to go about that.

 

-Find something you enjoy doing.

Maybe you enjoy the company of animals or enjoy listening to people vent their problems. You can look into things that incorporate your interests.

 

-Find something you're good at.

Something you don't particularly enjoy but something you more so know how to do, and are confident that you can do well.

 

If neither of those are an option, then I'll then recommend putting yourself out there. Expand your horizons, speak to more established individuals, learn about different jobs, careers, etc and perhaps you may find something you enjoy doing.

 

There's no feeling worse than working a job that doesn't motivate you in any way shape or form. Simply for a check.

 

 

 

 

[Anti_Hero]

I studied biomedical laboratorial science. I choose this bachelor because it seemed interesting and above all else, not monotonous. I was wrong in a lot of ways. I still think the course is interesting but the job isn't, I wished I had researched more and asked people what they did, if they liked it and so on.

 

If I were you now I would ask myself what I want, narrow it down as much as I could  and talk with people of that area and look for people that really love and hate that job. Hearing both sides and see if you want that for yourself.

 

But don't forget one thing. Even if you don't like what you end up doing its never too late. I will invest in my studies to be able to do what I want. Another possibility will arrive 

[HongaarseBeer]

I kind of had the same issue when I had to make a choice as you do now. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and to be honest, I wasn't interested in anything. There wasn't a study that both interested me and that I could do (as in, I had the right subjects for it in secondary school), so I was quite lost. I made my mind up less than two months before the application deadline, which is considered late...

 

I chose the broadest economic study I could find because I still wasn't sure what I had to do. I knew it was going to be something economic, but only God knew what exactly. The fact that I had another entire year to make my definitive decision was very welcome because even at the end of my first year at uni I still wasn't entirely sure what to do. It was going to be either accounting or business administration. Eventually, I chose to follow the accounting track, because it seemed to me that I would have a better-defined skill set that would benefit me later on in my career.

 

So my story is basically postponing the decision as much as possible while still keeping my options open

[-IR-]

I have graduated from collage majoring in accounting, worst 4 years in my life so far  

My suggestion : Take your time choose wisely or spam "A" button for the rest of your college life

Edited August 22, 2017 by -IR-

[Alaris]

I'm a biologist. In my case, it was what I wanted to do since I was like... four years old. Buuut it appears that it wasn't the best choice to do, anyway ^^U. I mean, I was sure that I wanted to study biology, but after so many years in college I discovered that what I really like is geology. Of course, I finished the B.Sc. in biology and I graduated, but then I took one extra year in geology and I absolutely loved it. This year I took a M.Sc. in palaeontology, which is, so to speak, between the two.

 

What I'm really saying here is that one can make mistakes even when there's apparently no doubt on what to do. So if you don't know, don't worry. As someone told you before in this topic, just talk to people and see what you'd like to do. Or simply try to study something you like or are good at. I think that it's a pity when people study and work on something they don't really like because it was the easier path.

 

I see that your three main options are very different of one another. That is good, it means that your interests are quite rich. I've got friends studying engineering, I would recommend doing it only if you're very good at maths, and can cope with great pressure (some of my friends sleep 3-4 h a day during the whole academic course, although obviously it may depend on the university you're going to). I can't give you any advice on accounting or writing ú_ù

Edited August 22, 2017 by Alaris

[Daniel Blackworth]

Thanks for the responses everyone ^^ I really appreciate it. I'll be giving my response to everything later and I might ask some questions.

[PESH1]

I'm not necessarily going to ask you what I should take up; instead, I'd like to ask, how did you come into terms with choosing your major in university or your career if you're already a professional now? Was the decision hard or was it relatively easy?

 

During high school, I was good at science and mathematics which led me to choosing engineering as a career and I ended up taking mechanical engineering. My decisions were made based on my strengths and my interest. However, I would like to point out that any field on a broad surface level looks nice, pleasant and interesting; but when you actually go into the details, that's when you see the true picture. If you like these details, you do well; otherwise, you will always look to switch. During my undergraduate, I explored all the options in my field and ended up making a list of topics I don't like rather than the topics I like. This approach was rather in a sense thorough as I had explored quite a bit. Currently I am doing my masters and I am really enjoying the research work as it aligns with my interests and I would pursue PhD in future.

 

To sum up, go through your options, look into the details; even if you don't find what your interested in / good at ; you'll definitely find out things which you would not  like to take up which in turn narrows your options and helps you make a decision. 

 

All the best.

[Titania]

I always loved the more technical fields.  In high school I had less intense focus on any particular sub-discipline of these fields, but I knew I liked math (especially combinatorics), physics (especially quantum mechanics), and computer science (especially AI).  When I attended Caltech after, their policy was that I had to declare a major at the end of my freshmen (freshwoman?) year.  And I knew well going in that was never going to happen.  I hit that deadline and silently let it pass.  A week later I received a couple emails about it, which I promptly ignored.  A couple more weeks after that and I was called into the dean's office, where I told them I was consciously refusing to name one, no amount of coercion would force me to.  Apparently I was the first student they'd had who refused to just take a guess, play along, and transfer departments later if I felt it necessary.  They sat around stewing trying to come up with rules for my situation, while I gleefully ignored their plight until they gave up trying to settle on a policy and just let me do my thing

 

Am I recommending this approach?  No, not really.  But I'm not dis-recommending it either.  The drawbacks are obvious, but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.  I just studied whatever I felt like.  It was fantastic!  To this day, I feel like my colleagues all had their love for learning beaten out of them forcibly with stupid schooling rules.  But since I always made my own, I always had my heart in it every time I came to the classroom.  I learned quickly that I didn't enjoy physics at any of its research frontiers; I was just really good at invoking the rules of classical mechanics, E&M, and quantum theory by wrote and seeing all their interplay.  I didn't even really enjoy statistical mechanics that much.  So after just a few courses in that field I dropped physics completely.  In math I chugged on pretty far!  I had a blast with number theory, have always been great at most forms of discrete math, loved abstract algebra...  It was all great.  And I had great love all the typical "engineer's math" (like all that calculus stuff up through differential equations).  I didn't stop finding passion in it until analysis, so after that course I called it quits before topology.  And computer science I never stopped loving!  So long as I was learning real CS (IE the theoretical discipline, not just coding), I was happy.  AI has still remained my #1 love, but I like decidability and tractability proofs, problem class reductions, information theory, problems of parallelizing computations, etc.  On the side I took philosophy, gym credits that seemed appealing, a couple electrical engineering classes, and some economics and game theory (but only the really advanced econ classes that abstracted problems down to the level of proofs about convex set theory).  Then I was done.  I'd taken everything that could spark my passions and set my mind ablaze, and I wasn't going to jump through their stupid hoops just to play along.  So that was the end; I left Caltech after 3 years without meeting any of my general distribution requirements or getting a degree.  But I knew everything I wanted to.

 

The curious interplay is what I did for work during all this (gotta pay for college somehow).  I made tuition on playing games competitively (mostly bridge, some poker, a few other random more board-gamey things) and modeling.  The former bears some relation to game theory and AI, though in practice not much past basic levels.  The latter really bears no relation at all.  Then after college I dropped the game stuff and began contracting for the US government.  I did all sorts of work for intelligence agencies or DARPA on their military technology research programs.  Then I had one of those Hollywood moments where the research scientist finds out what horrors the government types are taking and using her research for...  'twas not as described to me in project specs   So then I quit immediately and tried to "repent" by doing good for the world as a teacher.  Which is what I do now.  I teach high school math, and purely by chance it happens I'm extremely good at it and enjoy myself.

 

So the point here is this: I picked for myself an option you possibly haven't considered.  I refused to make the choice.  I studied everything that sounded cool to me and nothing that didn't, even ignoring course "required prerequisites" to sign up for whatever captured my imagination.  And then in my professional life I wound up using none of it...  then all of it together at once, needing so many different pieces I never could have gotten if I'd just picked a major...  then back to none of it again.  And yes there are a few other "career paths" in that sequence that I'm not admitting to publicly, but all of those fell under the category of using none of what I'd learned.  What I think my life underscores is just how little the choice matters, if you want it to.  I DID study all the things and they still mostly weren't useful to me.  I DIDN'T get a degree and that has never held me back.  If I'd followed a more traditional path and just did the normal thing, I probably would have wound up a person with a lot more money.  But instead I let all my whimsical flights of fantasy pull me around, and I wound up a person with enough money to get by, a truckload of happiness, and no regrets.  And I'm still living that way!  My heart has no college major, my heart has not priced me into one career, and I'll probably find many more wild adventures as my life goes forward

[Alaris]

 

4 hours ago, Titania said:

So the point here is this: I picked for myself an option you possibly haven't considered.  I refused to make the choice.  I studied everything that sounded cool to me and nothing that didn't, even ignoring course "required prerequisites" to sign up for whatever captured my imagination.

 

I think you made a really good choice. But in many countries, you cannot do that. There are no "individual" courses. In my country, you study a certain degree (e.g. biology) which would be somewhat equivalent to your major. But in those degrees (4-6 years) you have a certain set of subjects that you are compelled to do. You can't really take subjects from other degrees unless you start the other degree from scratch. And if you don't finish the whole degree with all the subjects you're expected to do, what you have done counts for nothing...

 

You were quite lucky to have lived in a coutry with such a flexible universitary system, but my feel is that in other countries it is virtually impossible to do what you did, at least that easily.

[Dragoknight]

Howdy! Well as someone here who is currently in college, going through classes wondering what the hell am I doing with my life, I do have to say, explore your options! I'm currently three years in, and when I first came out here, I had no clue was I wanted to accomplish with my life. I still kinda don't! But at that time, I felt like I really could get into Biological Sciences. And so there I started. First with a major in generic undecided Biology (basically just a way my college does things cuz Biology majors have similar pre-reqs). Next I decided, "You know what, ocean life is pretty cool. Lets try that!" Turns out I couldn't give a rats ass about dedicating my life to studying an animal. So then I tried Molecular Biology cuz chemistry is awesome! Guess what? Although I do like Genetics, I'd sooner drop dead than find myself taking a job doing lab work. Right now, it's hard to say. Maybe I should go into Genetics, maybe it's time to drop Biology and try Physics. Something cool like that.

Point is, your not just gonna pick a field and have it be the one (well you might, that certainly wasn't how it was for me). Just explore your options, go for what you think is cool, and if it winds up you don't like it, then it's time to try something else. If you don't know what to do talk to someone. I hear many Universities have some sort of career counseling if that helps. So do your thing and have fun!

[Orasha]

I'm not sure where you're from, but a lot of universities require general education courses that are usually around a years work of credits overall. If you're not sure what you want, and your university has general education stuff, you could try and get those out of the way first, and maybe take an intro writing, accounting, and engineering course as part of those courses. Since those fields are all so different, taking intro classes might be useful in figuring out which one appeals the most to you.

 

If they all appeal equally, you could try and double major in two or minor in one of them. It would be a lot of work, to be sure, but if you really can't decide then that might be a good plan.