What Should I Do? A Comparative look at a variety of profession, hopefully

In My Humble Opinion
1

Before I begin my post, I would like to preface this with a disclaimer. Disclaimer: I am not exactly sure where this belongs, so if the mods feel it is inappropriate for this board just switch it, thanks.

I am at the verge of entering full-fledged adulthood and the "Real World", but it still seems very scary and out of control. As my final High School year comes to a close, I realize that I have no idea or inkling of what profession or career I should pursue.

I was hoping that, all the wonderful, intelligent, caring, people SDMB could lead me towards what I should be. If you want you may say what you do, and what the merits are of your profession. Since everyone, hopefully, will be sharing a little about themselves, I feel I should do likewise. I am currently graduating from a small High School on Long Island and will be attending Yale University in the fall of next year. I have also be a very math-science oriented kid and have taken a variety of these courses throughout my schooling.

You might be wondering, why I thought to place this post here. I did this, hoping that you would DEBATE over what I should become and what the merits are of each profession. I would just like to thank everyone in advance for being so helpful, thank you.

2

You may be tempted to consider which of many professions would bring you the most comfortable income, give you the highest social status, etc. Do not do this. Experience and observation have taught me that that’s the surest path to a midlife crisis. It is far better to endure hardship in order to follow a path that suits you than it is to follow an easy path devoid of meaning.

3

John Stuart Mill is a pretty tough act to follow. I got a newsletter from my high school today (I graduated in 1977). The valedictorian of the current class is going to Yale. Congratulations.

I was a poor student as a teenager. But I shared your problem - I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. In retrospect, I think “what do I want to do?” was the wrong question. The question should have been “what interests me?”
For example, I have always had an interest in submarines and sub warfare, yet it never occured to me that joining the Navy would have been a perfectly good choice out of high school. I was interested in high-end audio, but it never occured to me that I might become an electrical engineer, electronic technician, recording engineer, or work in acoustics.

So while you may have no inkling of what profession you may pursue, surely you have an inkling of what intersts you?

4

I, too, was a math-science oriented kid coming out of high school. As you know, there are many career options along this axis.

In my case, the big decision was between engineering and natural sciences/math. As a freshman in college, there is enough overlap that you can take classes which usually fulfill requirements for both of these. The important thing about school, in my experience, is that you should do what interests you and that you should do it well. Throw yourself at your learning, but don’t feel pressured to rush yourself by taking 10 classes per semester. Yale is expensive, but with a good college degree, all of the debt will be repaid promptly.

I do basic science and medicine at the moment (in an MD/PhD program). As posted above, relative merits of each profession are relatively unimportant. From an outsider looking in, most other professions seem boring. I have accountant friends who absolutely adore the job, although it seems stiffening to me. Many of my physician friends cannot understand the joys of basic science research. Most basic scientists cannot comprehend the rote memorization required for medicine. Do not rely on others’ advice – most people sort themselves into paths that suit themselves. If you can find interests in the basic “weed out” freshman classes, then you can get on to all the enjoyable upper level stuff. Find something that you enjoy and you stick with it and become good at it. As we say in physiology, this is a positive feedback loop – the better you get at something, the easier and more enjoyable it becomes, which drives you to get better still at it.

5

I’ll join in the chorus of “pursue what interests you” and I will also add that uncertainty is OK. I graduated from High School in 1992 and was the king of uncertainty. Not only did I not know what I wanted to do, but I didn’t even know where to do it or how to cope.

The interesting thing is that once you are doing what you find interesting, you will develop a passion for it and enter into Edwino’s positive feedback loop. From there, things will evolve (unless you’re a creationist, in which case a full-fledged occupation with salary already on the way will be created for you out of nothingness).

I eventually went to a foreign country to go to University, and enrolled in a program considered as a vocational dead end (literature). Talk about uncertainty. So I proceeded to study everything that actually interested me, including sciences. After 4 years of that, I felt I had learned a lot but that the only options open to me were entrepreneurial, and I worried myself sick over things like income and the future. All I can say is relax, it’s a big world and you’ll find that you adapt.

If you’re just concerned about money, study medicine, economics, biotech, or Information Technology!

6

Don’t worry at all about it. Just take classes that interest you. I went to school dead set on a physics major. I have since been and english major, math major, latin major, history major, and music major. I am currently taking time off to figure out which of these (or something completely different) I’d like to pursue before I spend any more money. But, it’s all right, I still will graduate in a total of 4 years (1 and a half to go), and I’ve got to explore a variety of different subjects. An ex-girlfriend of mine at Harvard went there with plans to be a chem major and is now studying psychology. So, I say again, don’t let it stress you out too much at this point in the game. There is still quite a bit of time before you get locked in. Explore and have fun!

7

[Moderator Hat ON]

The OP is asking for opinions, IMHO, so I am moving it to IMHO.

[Moderator Hat OFF]

8

Your dilemma is pretty typical.
Hell I’m 56 years old and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.
The world changes quickly and so do your options.Go with what interests you and hope that you can change with the times.
This ain’t my fathers world anymore.Dad worked the same type of job for 42 years. That was typical of his time.Although there are some that are my age that have held the same job for decades it is becoming less and less possible. I haven’t had the same employer for more than 6 years. Why??? Bad luck I guess.There aren’t more than 2 of them that are still in buisness.
IMHO the medical profession would be a good choice. We are a long way from the star wars type of doing things.
The very best of luck to you

9

Well, I am going to give a slightly more cynical viewpoint here so bear with me.
I started my own business right out of HS doing what I loved, making furniture and design work. I did this for a number of years until various situations forced the sale of the business. Then I continued ( and still do) design work. I love the work but am actively seeking a new career
The reason? the career I am in will never allow me to make enough money to suport my family and be able to live comfortably in the area where I am. I could defintely do it if I ran a sucessful business of my own, but it would mean literal 18 hour days 6 days a week for the next 20 years. No vacations, expensive self insurance (you thought COBRA was bad? HA!), and unrelenting pressure.

I find myself 31, with twelve years of experience that is essentially worthless to prospective employers. Being self employed does not make for a thrilling resume. I got a degree in something I loved (History) and that too is a hindrance rather than a benefit.

If I could go back in time, I would definitely have pursued another path.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but loving what you do does not pay the mortgage in all but a very lucky few cases.

10

Study a lot of different things when you’re in University. I tell everyone to master a foreign language. At the same time, it’s good to have a fall back of some sort. You know, something like a Roman History major combined with engineering and an Italian minor.

I personally was an Economics and Chinese double major, way back when Chinese was still an “Oriental” language and there few students. I really wish that I had taken accounting or finance instead of Economics. Something practical instead of something theorectical. As for the Chinese, becoming fluent in Chinese enriched my life in so many ways that it’s impossible to describe.

I’m not sure what I want to do when I grow up but Chinese has enabled me to:
a) write a guidebook on China
b) backpack in Tibet for 6 months
c) become a respected stock market analyst
d) had my own import/export business
e) proprietary trader of Chinese shares (have to be able to read trading screens in Chinese)
f) and a gazillion other things that would not have been open to me if I was your average American-only speaking American.

But I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.

11

I would say, don’t worry right now about an exact profession. Almost no one knows exactly what job they want to aim for when they graduate from high school, and a lot of the people who DO know, change their minds after a year or two in college.

Instead, focus on a field (or major and minor fields) that are interesting to you, and while you are studying, you will learn more about what skills in that field you excel in. You will also learn about jobs you might love that you don’t even know exist now. When I was studying English, a friend was diligently working toward a career as a dramaturge, a job I didn’t even know existed until I was almost finished with my education.

When it comes time to actually choose, you’ll have to find your own balance between job satisfaction measured in cold hard cash and job satisfaction based on how much you enjoy your job. I would suggest that you choose a job you can actually enjoy doing some of the time. But no job is completely fun and fulfilling all the time. That’s why they have to pay you to do it…

12

I think it’s unwise to focus on a specific career at all, unless you have your heart set on being a lawter or a doctor (and from the OP’s tone, you don’t.)

Selecting something to do in college does NOT limit your opportunities; it expands them. It’s knowledge and a degree you didn’t have before. I have an economics degree and I don’t work as an economist and probably never will, but going to school and getting a degree unquestionably helped me anyway. Once you’re in the workforce and establish yourself as a competent person, opportunities will present themselves from all sides you wouldn’t have even thought existed. You can’t plan for them, so just work on your own competence and take the opportunities when they arrive.

If this sounds like “don’t worry about it,” it’s not. You need to worry about your own skills and qualifications. Get educated and get stuff on your resume. Get a wide range of things and when you do get jobs, always seek jobs and positions with responsibility over people, over money, and over functions; responsibility gives you the best experience, the most practice, the best opportunities to learn, and the best resume. Just keep learning new stuff and fattening your portfolio and the career will take care of itself.

One thing I would caution against is the “I’ll start my own business!” thought. Starting your own business can be very rewarding but it’s incredibly hard. Get practice first by screwing up someone else’s business. :slight_smile:

13

Hey everybody, I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice and everything. You all have really showed me that life is totally unpredictable and really can’t prepare like I normally do for everything else.

Is anyone here a geneticist or a immunologist or a virologist. The preceding three fields have had my attention for a very long time, but they never really seemed to be a viable career option. As fisherqueen stated I have to find a balance between what I love and what I can survive doing. I come from a pretty affluent neighborhood, and when I told my parents that I might want to be one of the three they warned me that I would most likely never be able to live the way I do now. I am not sure about this either, but they also said that I would have to be a faceless employer in a conglomerate corporation and that if I ever made some amazing discovery the company would take the credit and not I.

It has always been my dream to be able to help mankind, even though I know these are total pipe dreams I want to try. Thanks agin.

14

One thing that sticks out in my mind from being at that point in life was a frenzy amongst my acquaintance (that I felt as well) to set a course. And I did; I decided to make myself a career as a rock’n’roll drummer. Stuck it out for several years while many day jobs came and went (delivery truck driver, burger chef, etc.) until I finally upgraded my day job to reactor operator at a chemical plant. That was the first day job that required me to think analytically, and paid enough to think about sticking with it.

Fortunately, it gradually absorbed my life with weird-ass schedules and all that it became almost impossible for me to stay in touch with fellow bandmembers and I started to disengage from a musical career that I realized was stuck in 2nd gear, at best. There was something I enjoyed about that job as contrasted with previous employment, but it was also a little bit like being the the guy with the “good” job in Siberia.

Finally, an accident put me in the hospital for a bit, and I had a chance to think. During recovery, I visited some friends in Austin and decided to go to school at UT. I spent almost another year at the chem plant saving money, and at 22 went off to go to college.

I enrolled as a psych major, but, since I was paying my own way, had no parental constraints on what studies I pursued. While I took manny non-required courses in music, history, whatever, I became interested in the brain as an organ and that application to psychology.

That path led me to some pre-med curriculums that wound up piling up my schedule with more math, physics, chemistry (we used to spell it chemystery) and biology than is normally encountered in a psych degree path. Finally, with 5½ years of full-time studentry behind me and no clue as to what I wanted to do, but realizing the Austin student hippie phase of my life had to come to an end, I just took my degree and went job-hunting.

I graduated with honors with an ambiguous transcript in December of 1980 at 27 years of age. The hot thing then was oil and gas and I signed on as a geophysicist-trainee with an oil company. During the next five years I continued to take evening courses in geology, math, and physics.

If I can avoid getting lost here, I’ll say that out of that, to me at times apparent maelstrom of confusing ideas and goals, has come a rewarding career that has definitely seen the good and the bad times, but is now quite well.

My point is that if you can carry with you a few basic tenets, like taking care of stuff that has to be done, your life can take several twists and turns that you can’t even begin to envisage at age 18, and turn out quite well indeed.

I’d guess that ~50% of my friends are in careers unrelated, or unanticipated, by their college pursuits.

15

I guess I’m going to have to be another dissenting voice. While it’s all well and good to follow your heart, at the same time you have to be practical. If you go into college unfocused, you can easily wind up spending 6-8 years there for an undergrad degree. I’ve known LOTS of people like this. They were ‘in love with learning’, and just kept taking new majors, etc.

Well, in Plato’s Republic this might be an admirable goal. It might also be reasonable if you come from a wealthy family and will not have to worry about finances later on. But other than that, a really good way to screw up your life is to rack up student loans for six or eight years, only to come out of college with a BFA in left-handed glassblowing.

Nothing quite like being unemployable and having $100,000 in debt as you start out in life. I’ve known a lot of people who ‘pursued their heart’ and wound up with an arts degree, a degree in history, or some other field that can be impossible to find work in. They eventually wind up going back to junior college to learn to be programmers or technicians, or they go back to University and take the academic route and become teachers or profs.

Anyway, don’t confuse college with education. If your education consists of nothing but what you learned in college, you’ll be uneducated. And if you are motivated to learn, you can do it without college.

I think better advice would be to take what interests you, and find a way to make a career out of it regardless of what you take in college. If you love art, rather than studying four years for a BFA in art that will leave you unemployable, you might consider a degree in Business Administration with a minor in art, and open up your own gallery later on. Or study engineering and use your artistic talent to become a modelling engineer or something like that. You get the idea.

If you have an aptitude in math and logical thinking, you might consider computing science, with a minor in what interests you. Or take a major in the subject that interests you, with a minor in computing. Computers are in every field, and there is always a shortage of people who can program computers AND who understand that particular field.

School IS an investment. That means in the end you expect a return, both in improving yourself as a human AND finding an employable niche in society. You need to cover both bases.

16

Three cheers, Sam! You just gave one of the best posts I’ve ever read in SDMB. I wish it could be given to every graduating high school kid in this country. I agree with 100%.

I know several people who graduated with degrees in theater from prestigous colleges, and today they are barely able to make ends meet and their financial situations are really weighing heavily on them. I’ve always wondered why they didn’t major in something more practical, minor in their passion, and continue developing both after graduation. It shouldn’t be an either/or situation.