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Forums - General - What do do for a living, goal in life or currently going to college for?

HappySqurriel on 19 October 2012
the2real4mafol said:

Thanks for your advice, but i would rather do something i enjoy like history even if i don't get rich than have 3+ years of hell and a career of hell, in something i find boring like law. No offense but i couldn't do that sort of job. Learning about law and the supreme court for 6 weeks in my politics lessons at school was boring enough, yet alone a life of it. The only other thing I enjoy doing apart from history or politics is cooking, but I don't think I could work in a restaurant because it seems like such a stressful job. 


It isn't about getting rich, it is about being able to afford a modest standard of living ...

History http://www.forbes.com/pictures/lmj45ldff/no-9-history/

Unemployment rate for recent grads: 10.2%
Median earnings for recent grads: $32,000

Unemployment rate for experienced grads: 5.8%
Median earnings for experienced grads: $54,000

 

 

On the topic of "Career hell" ... You are far more likely to enjoy your career if you actually choose it and work to achieve it than to fall into whatever job will hire you. There are many fields out there to choose from, but if you seek out the "most enjoyable college experience" you will likely spend the next 40 years doing a job that pays poorly and isn't enjoyable.



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Immortal on 19 October 2012

I'm currently a high school student.
In the long term, my current intentions are to try something with philosophy or pure mathematics and consequently live in a garbage can, probably surviving off of unemployment benefits and the fact that I'm in a rich country.



 

“These are my principles; if you don’t like them, I have others.” – Groucho Marx

HappySqurriel on 19 October 2012
klystron said:
HappySqurriel said:
the2real4mafol said:
i'm a student who does a paper round once a week

My life goal is to travel around the world and see everything i can

I don't really know about a career goal though, anything so i can achieve my life goal I guess. but i'm going to university either next year or the year after to do a History and politics degree probably, so i'll see


If you want to travel around the world I would suggest another university major ...

A History and/or Political Science degree will open no more doors in your career than a high school diploma will, and you will have difficulty getting a job that will provide you with the income necessary to travel.


What? Lots of poli-sci degree jobs in the DC area. It opens the door to diplomatic or military liason between various political offices type jobs. It's not going to get you a just just anywhere, but it isn't a bad degree to have. I think if you want to live anywhere health care is the only option.

 

 

Depending on your local market, there are (probably) 2 to 4 times as many jobs for people with "Engineering and Engineering Technologies" degrees than there are for "Social Sciences and History" degrees and yet colleges are graduating twice as many students in these degrees. The problem isn't that there are not political science jobs, the problem is that there is 4 to 8 times as many graduates in these fields as there are jobs which means the jobs are difficult to get and very low wage.



HappySqurriel on 19 October 2012
Immortal said:
I'm currently a high school student.
In the long term, my current intentions are to try something with philosophy or pure mathematics and consequently live in a garbage can, probably surviving off of unemployment benefits and the fact that I'm in a rich country.


If you can handle pure mathematics you will have no problem doing pure-mathematics and computer science at the same time; and will (potentially) end up with a job with decent pay that you probably will enjoy.



Immortal on 19 October 2012
HappySqurriel said:
Immortal said:
I'm currently a high school student.
In the long term, my current intentions are to try something with philosophy or pure mathematics and consequently live in a garbage can, probably surviving off of unemployment benefits and the fact that I'm in a rich country.


If you can handle pure mathematics you will have no problem doing pure-mathematics and computer science at the same time; and will (potentially) end up with a job with decent pay that you probably will enjoy.


Key word: "try". I love math and think I'm pretty good at it, but at 15 years old, what the hell do I know? I may actually suck, which rather kills that hypothesis.

Besides, even if I were that good, I think I'm too idealistic to do something like computer science, which I don't care for, just for the sake of getting a decent job that I can live with. Doing something I consider worthwhile is immensely more important to me than living under a roof. Of course, I say this rather as a spoilt brat with no experience living in anything close to poverty, but reality is not likely to come crashing in my face until after I've graduated from college and made all the wrong decisions.

I guess I could still end up in a decent situation while sticking to what I like since not all of my interests are as impractical as math or philosophy, but that seems unlikely, so I'm keeping the garbage can option open.



 

“These are my principles; if you don’t like them, I have others.” – Groucho Marx

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jonager on 19 October 2012

i'm a civil engineering student, my longterm goal is to work making bridges. i'd like to travel a lot in the future too.



wfz on 19 October 2012
theprof00 said:
Manager of a retail store: part time
Server
Afterschool counselor
Webmaster
Newsletter chump

A typical day involves waking up and getting coffee immediately.
Then working on some web coding, learning new ways to implement features and updating some code that I think could be worded better.
Then I get on the bus, listening to Japanese language tutorials, to go to the school where I yell at kids for 3 hours. Then I get another coffee. Get back on the bus, more Japanese, and go serve at a restaurant until 2:30 am.
The days where this doesn't happen, I either work on just coding or work at the retail place.


All while posting on VGC. You are a dedicated man by all means.



klystron on 19 October 2012
HappySqurriel said:

Depending on your local market, there are (probably) 2 to 4 times as many jobs for people with "Engineering and Engineering Technologies" degrees than there are for "Social Sciences and History" degrees and yet colleges are graduating twice as many students in these degrees. The problem isn't that there are not political science jobs, the problem is that there is 4 to 8 times as many graduates in these fields as there are jobs which means the jobs are difficult to get and very low wage.


Makes sense. I can buy this argument.



Cthulhu on 19 October 2012

I am software production engineer in the R&D of Nokia Siemens Networks the last 7 years

In my sleep I see buttons, cables and millions of blinking lights



HappySqurriel on 19 October 2012
Immortal said:
HappySqurriel said:
Immortal said:
I'm currently a high school student.
In the long term, my current intentions are to try something with philosophy or pure mathematics and consequently live in a garbage can, probably surviving off of unemployment benefits and the fact that I'm in a rich country.


If you can handle pure mathematics you will have no problem doing pure-mathematics and computer science at the same time; and will (potentially) end up with a job with decent pay that you probably will enjoy.


Key word: "try". I love math and think I'm pretty good at it, but at 15 years old, what the hell do I know? I may actually suck, which rather kills that hypothesis.

Besides, even if I were that good, I think I'm too idealistic to do something like computer science, which I don't care for, just for the sake of getting a decent job that I can live with. Doing something I consider worthwhile is immensely more important to me than living under a roof. Of course, I say this rather as a spoilt brat with no experience living in anything close to poverty, but reality is not likely to come crashing in my face until after I've graduated from college and made all the wrong decisions.

I guess I could still end up in a decent situation while sticking to what I like since not all of my interests are as impractical as math or philosophy, but that seems unlikely, so I'm keeping the garbage can option open.

Enjoying mathematics actually makes choosing a career much easier ...

If you enjoy puzzles and abstract problem solving software developer is a good path, if you enjoy more number-crunching types of problems you may prefer to be an actuary or accountant, and if you enjoy real-world problem solving being an engineer is a good choice.

Most things people enjoy doing have careers which require those skills, and I would just suggest that most people think about ways to merge what they enjoy doing with what is actually a career when they go to college.