As of now I’m in college farting around. I slacked off last year and my gpa dropped to ~3.5. I hate college with a passion but I realize that it is a necessary step for most jobs.
My problem is I don’t know what I want to do. I’ve taken career/personality tests, researched online and still nothing has jumped out at me that makes me interested in the least bit.
So I’m assuming that there is some awesome job out there that I just haven’t stumbled upon. I don’t need to be rich, I just want to be comfortable.
Well, are you a science/engineering major? Perhaps you’d be happier in a lab than in the office - though, fair warning, a great deal of engineering and science still involves copious writing and office work.
Are you in some sort of premed major?
If you’ve got military experience, there are plenty of police departments that would be interested in you, and you’d not be shot at nearly as often as you would in the military.
You could look into law school. I’m one of the very few people I know who still believes that, for some people, law school is the right choice. If you want to to public interest work, and can be happy doing nothing else, the law is a fine profession. Note, though, that this is not a field for you to go into just because you don’t know what you want to do with your life. What I’d recommend is doing an internship with a public-interest legal shop while in college, and if that appeals to you, consider law school. Understand law school means six-figure debt and a hell of a job market on graduation.
What do you like to do, in a broader sense? Do you like to interact with people? Do you like to solve puzzles? Do you like working outside, or would you prefer to work in an office? Do you like math?
Also, a lot of people don’t have “careers”, they have “jobs”, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Plenty of “jobs” require a degree but not one in a specific field.
I thought about being a dentist for a while, but I’m just not passionate about it. I know medicine is not something you go into just because you can’t think of anything else. I also don’t want to go through that much school.
I don’t think I’d mind being a cop if I could get a job at it, I know it’s pretty tough getting in now. A guy I know tested to be a cop in Santa Barbara and he said there were about 100 people trying to 2 openings.
I’m in my third year of city college (I should be at a 4 year right now but the way California does it’s UC system is stupid so I’m wasting a year) as a history major. I hate history but I’m good at it, so I’m just going to get my degree in that to at least say I have a B.A.
One thing I really like in a job is pressure. I like knowing I need to perform and I need to do it right and it needs to be done right now. I’ve looked into Air Traffic control but I think you need calculus in order to get into the program at Arizona State University. I emailed the school to make sure, but if you do then there’d be another year of me just trying to get calculus. I thought about the Air Force reserve training me as ATC but from all the job postings on the FAA it looks like you need to have a degree first.
Things I don’t want to be:
Doctor
Teacher
Office monkey
eta: I really don’t mind the military but unfortunately I’m looking for stability. I don’t mind the danger or discipline but I don’t like that I won’t be able to stay in one area for long and set down roots.
Be a pilot. My good friend, who is a flight attendant, assures me it’s one of the greatest jobs he can imagine. Being a flight attendant isn’t a bad gig either, he makes good money, gets steady raises, and while the job isn’t scintillating all the time, he spends a large proportion of his year flying free all over the world on vacation.
Sounds like you might have the right background - military man currently studying history. What are your ass-kicking / renaissance poetry skills like?
No job interviews either, you just get out there and do it.
Failing that, what about a freight train driver? Well paid, lots of responsibility, travel can be in-state or wider afield as you like. Get to look out the window at pleasant scenery all day without anyone hassling you.
The basics are easy to learn but the physical security industry is constantly changing as technology continually advances so there’s always something new to learn. You’ll start with home/office/auto, but you can get into safe work or electronics. You’ll never have to sit at a desk, there’s minimal paperwork involved, you get to drive around to various sites all day and install things or help people break into their own homes/offices, you’ll meet tons of interesting people, and every single day is different from the last. The work is constant and actually improves when the economy declines.
I started at about $35k, but with raises and bonuses the senior guys were pulling well over $50k, some of them up to $65k. The senior guys had been doing it for about 10 years but the average age in the shop was only about 30.
Obviously this will vary widely by shop and city, but it was definitely a decent living.
Based on your location I’d recommend Viticulture and enology. It’s good work out in the field that still allows you to do lots of thinking and planning. There is good money in the field as you advance.
If you like pressure I would suggest something in the construction field. Architecture has a lot of pressure but I beliieve that the field will be changing quite radically over the next 5-10 years – but the construction related fields would still give you lots of pressure I am sure! My field (Architecture) I get lots of time both inside and outside but if you really just want outside stay on the Construction side. Both sides make decent money too.
So anything from being an Architect to an Engineer, or anything from being a Job Super to a Project Manager on a construction site. Many schools have decent Architecture and Construction Management programs.