What do you do for a living? Just curious… I am 18 and as a senior in high school I’m looking for paths to take when I go to college next year, but have no idea what I want to do. Just want to see whats out there.
I work as an Environmental Analyst for an international aggregates and concrete company, but I only handle stuff in Western Canada.
I work at a desk but sometimes participate in field audits. My daily routine consists of tracking our key performance indicators, working with the regional Environmental Managers to help them do their jobs, and doing whatever my boss, the Director, asks me too. I work on communications plans for our department, write award applications and nominations, write and post ‘good news stories’, track our internal audits, and I’ve also been doing a lot of work with our new EMS.
I don’t like my job and am trying to get out. Working in a functional group (Environment, HR, Accounting, etc., as opposed to operations) sucks. I either want to work for a consultant group, or move in to something totally different.
What do you like? Language, science, math, history? Give us something to work with!
You can get an idea of some of the careers with the highest projected growth here at the Bureau of Labor and Statistics website. (For the US but I’m sure it’s similar elsewhere)
And this is where I plug my career as a medical laboratory technologist. It’s important work, and there are a growing number of job openings as the older workforce is retiring. I love what I do, even though it can be stressful sometimes. Few people even know this career exists, so even if you’re not interested, tell some friends! 
I am a senior business executive who followed a standard path for wannabee overachievers: Analytical Undergrad (Computer Science), a few years at a major tech company, MBA at a ranked school, Strategy/mgmt consulting for a few years and then transition to management/leadership in a specific industry - in my case, healthcare.
I love my job - best I’ve ever had and a lot of fun, and yeah, stress. Putting yourself on this type of path requires a LOT of commitment and hard work - and at key points along the way you have to ask VERY hard questions about your work/life balance. But if you find the right combo of good choices and luck, you can end up in a very fulfilling leadership position.
My day job is an embedded software engineer, where I do all the low-level blood and guts programming that people don’t normally see. My favorite example would be the control software for a microwave oven although my area of expertise tends towards aviation electronics and industrial controls.
When I’m not doing that, I am also a volunteer fireman and EMT. Had I gone that route when I was your age, I would not have had any regrets now, save for the money. SW engineering pays a lot, and you’ll never get rich as a fireman.
I’m a software developer in the banking services industry. Specifically, I write and maintain mainframe programs that allow consumers to authorize payments from their bank accounts to pretty much anyone; in other words, online bill payment. I also write and maintain the code that processes those payments. To me, this job, or at least the part of it that involves actually coding and debugging, feels like I’m getting paid to solve crossword puzzles. It suits my brain and personality well.
It pays pretty well and has some degree of security. I have been continuously employed for 22 years at an ever (if slowly lately) increasing salary.
Administrator at a private school. I manage the student services office and staff, I’m the only one here who understands the database, and I go to a lot of meetings.
I love working in an educational environment, I love the students and most of their parents, but recent senior staff changes have ruined what used to be a very tight knit family of coworkers. I’m looking to move on to a larger (maybe public) school.
What’s out there? Really? Thousands and thousands of jobs, what do you like to do?
In a similar vein (in that it’s “science-y” and that I work in hospitals,) I’m a biomedical technician. It’s a job most people don’t know exists, but there is a lot of variety in it, and it is literally needed everywhere, so that’s a plus.
I test, repair, and do maintenance on medical equipment. I mostly do smaller things, like patient monitors, ventilators, defibrillators, etc…, but there are career paths that focus on larger things like x-ray machines, MRI’s, linear accelerators for cancer treatment, etc…
If you are a very “hands-on” person, or ever liked to take apart your parents’ radio as a kid, it could be up your alley. Typical education is either a 2-4 year technical/engineering degree, or military training (IIRC both air force and army have biomed techs as enlisted career paths.)
“Information Analyst” at a fairly large bank. I manage technical issues/development projects for a chunk of software we use to track sales for incentive payouts.
However, I have absolutely no training in banking and pretty much everything I know about this particualar piece of software was learned on the job. My skills with general office software (as in MS Office) got me here … but I essentially fell bass-ackwards into the job.
I had two different majors in college (Business Admin, English); I never had any inkling that I would wind up where I am today back then.
I also play guitar in a band, but that’s mostly hobby… these days we tend to just have regular jam sessions and occasionally we play at some charity gig or another.
All in all, I’d rather have become a proper rock star, but that’s life.
I’m a stay-at-home mama right now but before I had my daughter I worked in construction. Mostly fire damage restoration.
If I’d finished college I think I’d have been a speech or occupational therapist.
I’m a magistrate of a large city’s municipal court. Before that I was an assistant county prosecutor. The law can be a great career.
I’m a technical writer…well, maybe editor would be more precise. A co-worker jokes that we translate documentation from Engineer into English.
I worked as a biomedical tech during two co-op terms, back in the dark ages (OK, early 80s). It was a blast.
I’m an electronics technologist, but am employed as a quality assurance rep. at a nuclear facility in Canada. It’s a living.
Content manager for a website. Started in academia, got into magazine editing when I left that. Current job uses both the writing/editing and project management skills from working in print, plus various webby skills (HTML) I’ve picked up just by hanging out online.
What is your role? I’ve heard of it but realize I am not sure what it is.
The role of magistrates varies enormously by state. Here, magistrates are appointed by the judges of the court they serve, while the judges are elected by the public. I serve indefinitely, rather than in six-year terms as the judges do. I do everything the judges do, though, subject to their review and approval (which is cursorily granted 99.93% of the time). Most of my work is on general civil cases, small claims, criminal and traffic arraignments, garnishments, bank attachments, debtors exams, city income tax, handling the judges’ dockets as needed, and advising them on some of the more arcane issues that arise.
It’s a good gig. I’ve been at it for more than nine years now.
I am currently (and hopefully finally) a community college professor. Before teaching, I did psychological research in the local medical school’s psychiatry department. Before research, I was a counselor/clinician in a variety of settings, mostly working with adults with severe mental illness (like schizophrenia).
I have enjoyed all of the aspects of my career. I continue to be absolutely fascinated by the ongoing research and developments in the field of psychology. And now, I get to pontificate about my field, and people are forced to listen, and I get paid! I’d do that in a bar on Friday night for free 
Fair warning - unless you go into private practice (and maybe not even then), it’s difficult to make more than a low-middle income in clinical work, or as a research assistant/associate. And I make less than $50K per year now as a base salary.
Sounds quite interesting. Ever thought of doing an “Ask the magistrate” thread?
I’m the HIPAA & GCP compliance director for a medical education organization. In a nutshell, I train clinicians on how to comply, as well as the importance of complying, with medical/legal aspects of recruitment and retention for human clinical trials. I’m also involved in the development of CME programs.