Career

[LoRd_SnOw]

Im a college student and this has always been a question i've been kicking myself for so many years asking many people. Has anyone ever who attended college ever got to persue their career, well... that's pretty obvious, i guess what im trying to say is, lets say you're an IT student and you're GOOD with computers and someday you HOPE to work with hardware and develop for it, but also SOMEDAY you hope to score a job at a corperation like *cough* MS or even Intel, AMD, VMWare etc... COULD this actually happen for you by earning your BA or MBA in college and maintaining your average to above a 3.0 or higher?

 

In addition to this question, I was hoping if anyone here actually got to accomplish there "Dream Job" sort to speak', Well i was hoping if maybe you could provide some tips and also what you do and what you had to go through to get to where your at today.

 

I know this is a pretty stupid question, but i have to admit, im pretty lost and afraid. I've been attending college for 3 years now and well Im doing "Fine", but besides that all of my friends have been under going job training/placement programs and well they look like their doing too well. Not sure if i should be jelous or i should feel like crap, perhaps i should feel like both.

 

I just really feel lost sometimes when i get into this topic with my siblings, they praise me alot... but sometimes i just feel like im a waste of space, you would think someone who can code, make an emulator, draw (pixel art etc), run and design web pages, would atleast be doing something... like actually persuing his career... which i don't feel like im doing at the very least.

 

Well that's the end of my rant... I look forward to hearing your inputs on this subject.

Edited September 29, 2009 by Snow Patr0l

[Inky]

I dunno, but I do know there are a lot of IT people working at McDonalds. IT may be one of the worst careers to try and get into now. so many tech kids love computers so they follow the same career path. but in any field getting a dream job is tough and more then a little luck is involved. they are called dream jobs for a reason.

[Agozer]

Career? I don't even have any luck finding a temp job. In all honesty, I don't know what I want from life, nor do I have any goals.

[Inky]

I don't know what I want from life, nor do I have any goals.

I found that if you have a goal, that you might not reach it. But if you don't have one, then you are never disappointed. And I gotta tell ya... it feels phenomenal. ~Peter LaFleur

[Agozer]

I don't know what I want from life, nor do I have any goals.

I found that if you have a goal, that you might not reach it. But if you don't have one, then you are never disappointed. And I gotta tell ya... it feels phenomenal. ~Peter LaFleur

Mr. LaFleur seems to be onto something.

[VT-Vincent]

I actually never went to college but I have been employed in IT for the last 4 years. I started as a technician for Circuit City's Firedog and later became the department lead. A few months before the company died I moved on to another company as a contracted desktop support technician. I definitely want to move up in the future, but I think this is probably the field I'm best suited to.

[Hera]

I have plans. Just on hold right now.

[Shibathedog]

I've been jumping around from job to job/class to class for awhile now and I still have absolutely no idea what I want to do. I'll probably be in college and doing odd jobs for money for the rest of my life. Every time I find something interesting it doesn't lead to any actual careers, and every time I find a career it's something that I hate/doesn't make much more money than what I'm doing now.

 

I was thinking of becoming a cop for awhile, I still think that might be pretty cool, but I'll probably never pass the physical test because I'm so ridiculously out of shape right now. All my friends where like WTF!!?!? YOU?!?! A COP!?!?! haha

 

EDIT: PS. I have been Cisco AND Nortel certified for about 8 years now and I haven't gotten a single job out of it. Maybe it's just the area, but don't count on it.

[Shoma]

YOu think your dream out of reach, Im trying to be a writer/director.... in this day and age....

Sigh

But I have the same story, people keep saying, aw "Shoma you're gonna make it! I just know it!" "man you've already done directing when you were 16 so you got it in you! YOu'll do it!" and also "At least you have a dream and you're going after it, I belive you will make it through."

 

Call me crazy but I feel that if someone would have maybe talked against it, it would push me to try harder than i am. but since everyone is saying positive things i feel like im being jynxed and I dont want to get confident. Im just really troubled by it.

I've been having A SERIOUS WRITER'S BLOCK and I need to take every day as a step that i shoulda made in that direction.

 

"My passion defines me, and if I were to discard my passion out of fear that would I fail, then I've only defined my life as undeserving of such riches." -Nick Andrews

[HooplaDeLaHoundDog]

I don't even know what to do with my days, let alone a career. I'm just going one day at a time and taking what I can. I'm not relying on other people to help me out, I'm just doing what I have to to make the days go by easier.

[veristic]

Wow. I'm surprised by the amount of people here who I can relate to on this topic. I haven't finished college but I went for 5 years or so (part-time) trying to figure out what I want to get into and I was mostly taking art classes. Eventually I had to find a job living with my sister sharing an apartment and I ended up landing an intern position at a graphic design studio (ironically, through a friend I met while at school). I was at that job for... 2.5 years before the recession forced the corporate heads who owned us to shut us down but my boss offered me a position at a company she was moving to with several other co-workers so I basically jumped ship with them and have been here since March.

 

Now mind you, I did say I haven't graduated and that hasn't gone uninvolved as the whole time i've been working, i've been doing so on a permanent free-lance basis with no benefits and payed vacation time. But i'm getting experience and if I do go back to school I guess I have a field I can work toward based on that.

 

What I see from a lot of you, and something I can relate with is that those of you who don't really get affected by support from other people saying "you can do it!" and what have you, is because its an inherent self-doubt and a need to prove to yourself, to motivate yourself. The words of others isn't what's going to stir you. It's the same for me, people telling me I can do it or should really doesn't do anything. A lack of motivation won't be filled by someone else's words (usually) and not for duration, if at all, unfortunately.

 

All I can say is having worked, going from a systems archive intern to designing for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment packaging, the experience has helped me realize that when I was younger and always telling myself things like being a doctor or some other professional profession is impossible was really silly. Now, after having worked a job, I know if I sat down and stuck with a goal to be one of these things I could. It's not that hard. When you work in a field and not an odd-job and you know... you don't fail and get fired or whatever, it changes your perspective on your own ability and something like school... it doesn't become an obstacle but a ladder.

 

And that's how I think a lot of young people treat college... as an obstacle. One final hurdle before success and thats a big myth. Yes, it is a goal to overcome but School has nothing to do with money and everything to do with helping yourself push your weight around in the world of working. That little diploma gives you access to doors letting you in (not necessarily succeeding) because you graduated and to make demands like a salary and benefits.

 

What I find the more difficult question is, on top of just trying to figure out what you want to do or if you should try to strive for that dare-to-be-great situation, is: Does what I want to do have to do with my own sense of self-content or, money?

 

Working changes your perception of the whole college system. It changes from becoming less of a social-status denominator and more of a utility available for you to broaden your tools at your disposal for increasing your own chances at succeeding at work. Like a big list of courses and not "College" followed by a sigh of anguish.

 

Don't get too caught up with what you think you should do, like what's "appropriate" for who you are because you're just wasting time... if you really knew what you were "meant" to do, motivation wouldn't be a problem. You don't know what you want to do because you just don't know what you'd enjoy or possibly be good at but you have that idea in your head that it should be something special or unique, a niche role just for you well.. for some people they find something to fill in that gap. But for others, like a lot of you here who i've read posts in this topic, its just one big grey area and the same applies to me.

 

But i've been working, I need to continue working to support myself and other things too will play a factor in how you approach what you will do with your life... like a girlfriend. And not just any girlfriend but one you want to move out with and live life with. And working part-time shifts at an odd-job isn't going to make that easy or fun.

 

To those of you who are still under the age of 21 and not sure of what to do, try and get into a university. Transfer from a CC if you must, you know take the loans out for tuition and try hard once you graduate at landing a salary job of at least 60k a year because paying off those loans, pain as it is, will be worth it in the long run as the success of working in your field will benefit as you get older.

 

To those of you who are older like me, 26, you know... go back to school and you don't have to graduate at a University but goto class for a vocation of some sort. Nursing is always prolific and male nurses are in demand as they are physically stronger (yes, lifting people and shit matters) so they don't suffer as many injuries for downtime or need to take maternity leaves out of the year for months at a time so they get payed more (and it does pay well). But generally, try and get a job that has opportunity for promotion on a professional level. You know, that senior-, executive- title earned from experience and time.

 

This may help in deciding what you may want to do.

 

Edit: As for those of you who have that dare-to-be great aspiration... you really gotta put yourself out there to succeed, on top of being talented at your craft. Being a writer, actor, musician, etc. you're not going to get anywhere by being idle in that career. You really have to sell yourself and ENJOY putting yourself out for the opportunity to lend itself to you, so people recognize you as a person with merit and drive and hopefully, skill/talent.

 

To everyone who has worries about life and where it will lead, and this is probably the best lesson my dad ever taught me: Know that nothing in life is easy. Luck is exactly that, luck but even then most luck happens by finding ourselves in situations we normally aren't in and only having put ourselves there. Success won't come to you casually... it has to be in the line-of-sight and on target and you have to just GRRR WANT! NEED! I WILL HAVE IT!

 

If you want to be happy, have the things you want in life available, find yourself in that place you hoped for whether its a home or the workplace, your lover... just gotta grind at it yo. Grind.

 

Edited September 29, 2009 by veristic