Help. Career Choice

[crystaleyes]

Hello. I would love some help from the people in this forum regarding my carrer choice.
I'm having a bit of a crisis at the moment because I don't know what to do with my life. I finished high school about two months ago, and as I had no idea what carreer to pursue I enrolled in a Philosophy major, to buy some time until I decided what I really wanted to do with my life. (The way the educational system in my country works is that you have to choose a carreer to study in University, and all the classes are pertaining to that carreer. What I'm basically trying to say is I can' t just choose a "college" and not decide what I'm majoring in for a while.) I chose philosophy mainly because it is a broad enough subject to keep me interested and I figured that that kind of knowledge is never lost. It is an area of study that I find fascinating because it allows me to ponder the answers to the questions I ask myself all the time and to see what other peoples anwers are. However, I do not see myself actually working in any job related to philosophy and that is why I know it is not my choice for the future. I definitely do not want to be a professor, I hate teaching and I only like learning things for my own benefit, not to explain it to others. I know that whatever choice I make, I want to make money, enough to have financial stability and let me travel (which I've always wanted to do) and I want to have some time to myself to do research about whatever topic I'd be interested in at that moment.

The problem I have is that even though I'm reasonably good at most things, and I have been interested in almost all topics at one point or another, I'm not really passionate about anything in particular. The way it normally goes for me is that I get obsessed about a subject for a while, until I more or less understand it (never enough to actually make myself profficient at it) and then I get bored and move on to something else.

Some other things about me that might be useful to know: I definitely, 100% prefer to work alone rather than in groups, because I find exhausting trying to convince everyone to adjust to my point of view (which I obviosly think is the right one) and find most people incompetent and basically an impediment to my getting the job done. That is not to say I can't work in groups, just that I find it very unpleasant to.

I find most people draining and thats why if I have my way, I could stay in my room forever without any human contact, researching something. I think, however, that that isolation is terrible for me… I forget to eat, my room turns into a disgusting mess, I cant keep track of time, and I can't do anything useful . That's why I think I should have a job that lets me interact with others, which I'm not bad at (I mean, I'm not a social butterfly but if I put my mind to it, which I normally don't and is outside my confort zone, I can be quite sociable)

I am a huge procrastinator, and unless I have some sort of deadline or obligation I can't dismiss I usually don't get anything done. I have been known to hand in papers to months later that they were due…Which Im not proud of…but there was always something that interested me more at the moment.

I love science (astrophysics, to name an example), but I wouldn't be good at it because I suck at math, unlike many of you. I sincerely wish I didn't. Changing schools so often made me miss some very important math lessons which made it difficult for me to follow the lessons)



One option I thought about is studying international commerce. A member of my family used to be a trader (A person who is paid a comission to sell other people's goods internationally. If someone wanted to sell their product internationally they would ask this person to find a buyer and if the sale happens he or she gets a comission…the same way if someone wanted to buy) and it's a job I found interesting and that comes with many travel opportunities. But it is definitely not a passion. I have thought about practically every carreer possible, all of which I find interesting, but none that I can actually see myself commiting to.

Anyway, I know this is a long question you probably don't have a magic answer to, but I thought I might get some advice that would turn out to be helpful, coming from people who understand my personality more than most people do.


By the way, I'm incredibly sorry if there are any grammar mistakes or anything similar to that, as English is not my mother language.

If this bores you then I'm sorry I wasted your time and don't answer if you don't want.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

http://www.roguecc.edu/Counseling/HollandCodes/test.asp

Hello. I would love some help from the people in this forum regarding my carrer choice.
I'm having a bit of a crisis at the moment because I don't know what to do with my life. I finished high school about two months ago, and as I had no idea what carreer to pursue I enrolled in a Philosophy major, to buy some time until I decided what I really wanted to do with my life. (The way the educational system in my country works is that you have to choose a carreer to study in University, and all the classes are pertaining to that carreer. What I'm basically trying to say is I can' t just choose a "college" and not decide what I'm majoring in for a while.) I chose philosophy mainly because it is a broad enough subject to keep me interested and I figured that that kind of knowledge is never lost. It is an area of study that I find fascinating because it allows me to ponder the answers to the questions I ask myself all the time and to see what other peoples anwers are. However, I do not see myself actually working in any job related to philosophy and that is why I know it is not my choice for the future. I definitely do not want to be a professor, I hate teaching and I only like learning things for my own benefit, not to explain it to others. I know that whatever choice I make, I want to make money, enough to have financial stability and let me travel (which I've always wanted to do) and I want to have some time to myself to do research about whatever topic I'd be interested in at that moment.

Philosophy is a very interesting subject though it is not very applicable in an everyday sense. Not everyone who graduates with a degree is successful or even enters their initial area of interest. I'd say learn what you love.

The problem I have is that even though I'm reasonably good at most things, and I have been interested in almost all topics at one point or another, I'm not really passionate about anything in particular. The way it normally goes for me is that I get obsessed about a subject for a while, until I more or less understand it (never enough to actually make myself profficient at it) and then I get bored and move on to something else.

Don't let your intuition fool you, theory is not the same as practice.

Like you have already pointed out, you become bored quickly. This is because you are driven to understand, thus, a good profession for you would be one where everyday is a new start.

Some other things about me that might be useful to know: I definitely, 100% prefer to work alone rather than in groups, because I find exhausting trying to convince everyone to adjust to my point of view (which I obviosly think is the right one) and find most people incompetent and basically an impediment to my getting the job done. That is not to say I can't work in groups, just that I find it very unpleasant to.

I find most people draining and thats why if I have my way, I could stay in my room forever without any human contact, researching something. I think, however, that that isolation is terrible for me… I forget to eat, my room turns into a disgusting mess, I cant keep track of time, and I can't do anything useful . That's why I think I should have a job that lets me interact with others, which I'm not bad at (I mean, I'm not a social butterfly but if I put my mind to it, which I normally don't and is outside my confort zone, I can be quite sociable)

Understood, but this drastically limits the availability and integrity of your choices, just to let you know.

I am a huge procrastinator, and unless I have some sort of deadline or obligation I can't dismiss I usually don't get anything done. I have been known to hand in papers to months later that they were due…Which Im not proud of…but there was always something that interested me more at the moment.

Be aware of how this will factor into your work habits, procrastination is universally unaccepted.

I love science (astrophysics, to name an example), but I wouldn't be good at it because I suck at math, unlike many of you. I sincerely wish I didn't. Changing schools so often made me miss some very important math lessons which made it difficult for me to follow the lessons)

I suck at math too. I think the general consensus here is that math is respectable but not the most interesting subject.

Anyway, I know this is a long question you probably don't have a magic answer to, but I thought I might get some advice that would turn out to be helpful, coming from people who understand my personality more than most people do.


By the way, I'm incredibly sorry if there are any grammar mistakes or anything similar to that, as English is not my mother language.

If this bores you then I'm sorry I wasted your time and don't answer if you don't want.

If people read down to this part they couldn't have been that bored could they? It would be a waste to not answer.

Most of us (all?), have been or are going through the same situations as you. So yeah, you're not alone.

 

[crystaleyes]

The link you posted was really helpful, thanks!

a good profession for you would be one where everyday is a new start.

I hadn't thought about it that way.I thought the only way would be to be lucky enough to find a job I would never get bored of, which I don't see happening...but to find a job where things change often enough to not make it boring...Well that would be awesome haha.

 

[ApostateAbe]

I am not the type who tells you to do what you love. I would tell you to go where you have the best opportunity for success.

You seem a lot like me, so maybe you can go into surveying. There is an extreme deficit of young people in the industry, and there is a lot of opportunity for young people. Jobs are short right now for land surveyors only because of the housing bust, but there is even more opportunity for hydrographic surveyors, which is where I am at right now.

You will need math to succeed, but being bad at math right now does not mean you will remain bad at math. It will be required for any subject where you have a shot.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

I just noticed this is in the wrong subforum.

 

[Taniwha]

1. Choose a career based on what you love doing or do on a regular basis. Something that people reckon you are good at. If you enjoy analyzing things and trying to figure out how they work then science is a good choice. If you enjoy creating works of art then focus on that. If you like questioning life around you then philosophy is another good choice. If you choose doing something that you enjoy then it takes a huge pyschological pressure off you're shoulders. Another way to look at it is to look back on your childhood and remember what you enjoyed doing.

2. Study towards a career that will offer a solid wage. I love and adore art, but there is no demand for it here in New Zealand, which has forced me to go down the path of science (my second favorite subject is nutritional science) which is what I am currently studying. So even if you love doing something but you need to move to another country to do it then you need to create a finical spring board. Consider it a detour and extra knowledge (which never killed anyone... not that I know of ). Also take a look at the demand of the industry that you are interested in working in. The last thing you want to do is waste money studying something that is not going to offer future finical support. I have seen this happen too many times with artists here in New Zealand, spending 5 grand a year on a 5 year course only to end up on a government benefit. If you already have strong finical foundation then by all means go for it, but in today's world money is scarce.

3. There is no magic trick to get around procrastination, it was my Achilles heel back when I studied art. You just have to push really hard and do the best you can, that means no farting around and studying as much as you can, when you can. For an instance, if you have an exam coming up and you've been given a rough outline of what the exam is going to cover, then you need to give yourself mock exams, writing down the answers until they become muscle memory. For something such as art or music, its about offering an idea rather than a finished master piece. Its hard, as you need to push past the perfectionist within. The perfectionist comes later once you have your qualifications.

The goal is to be ahead of the game, and that means doing homework every night (or/and morning) and reviewing everything making sure that you are confident with everything.

Don't worry if you suck at maths, god knows I am. There are plenty of basic entry level courses available at university's and polytechnics all around the world. I've recently gone back to polytech to brush up on the information and skills that I am lacking before heading off to university. I never went to school during my teens, and here I am at 20 going back over the basics. Its never to late to learn and don't feel embarrassed doing so. You need to learn it sooner or later.

 

[milesck]

I am in a similar situation. I have run endless possibilities for careers through my mind and the only one that seems to strike my fancy is Journalism because I too get bored often and move onto to other subjects, but with Journalism I feel like that will have less of an impact because you can just write about different topics. What do you think?

 

[Zensunni]

I am in a similar situation. I have run endless possibilities for careers through my mind and the only one that seems to strike my fancy is Journalism because I too get bored often and move onto to other subjects, but with Journalism I feel like that will have less of an impact because you can just write about different topics. What do you think?

I do not think your assessment is correct. Journalist, just like any other career, specialize in areas of knowledge. If you get on the subject of, say nuclear regulation, you will have to learn more and more over the years and then will be the expert and your boss will not look kindly on having trained and mentored your for so many years so you could just get it in your head that you want to go off and now investigate trade relations.

A great career I came across once was in the research office of the NY state legislature. Elected officials do not know much about any given topic and sometimes they are forced to learn. When they want to know something about any given topic, they send a request off to the research department and there are people who work there who actually do keep abreast of all the latest information about anything and everything. Various people become the resident experts on a set of topics and spend their days writing synopses for legislators who wish to know something about a subject and then researching the latest news and keeping it filed properly.

It is an information gatherers dream.

 

[Frett]

I'm a little late at getting around to this thread but having just graduated from college with my bachelors of science in nursing i thought i could through my two cents in. Deciding what to do was the hardest life decision I've had to make. it took years to deduct that this would be the best course for me. First of all I'd say that we usually have more time than we think and going to college when you don't know what your going to do has its benefits and drawbacks. Second, for me, was that i wasn't able to decide until i had done enough things to know what i didn't want to do and had the maturity to put it all into the context of having to focus on one area of work for potentially decades. After a few years of scouting professions, working in them somehow if i could, i had enough of an impression of what id did and didn't want to do. Hope this helps