How do you know what you like?

[Iono]

I graduated in EE from a fake college (lol ITT) when I was 21. Got a job doing RF amplifiers. Got laid off... Which sucked cause I kinda liked it and was fairly decent at it. (Ironically the company outsourced to my home country! )

Got another job, same field different applications (installing GPS locators in cell phone towers). Couldn't stand that job... the thought of killing some people there had crossed my mind, serious thoughts...


To me, EE didn't seem like a steady field. When I started my first job as a temp there were older ppl in there 60's doing the same thing (and they had real degrees!) for the same or similar money.

Luckily an uncle type person had been trying to get me to work for a company his company bought, Civil Engineering... At first I thought I couldn't do it, after the second job got on my nerves I didn't care.The plan was to go learn Civil again. Unfortunately since my degree was unacredible (sp?) I have to go and learn from the ground up. Sounded easy at first, but now that I'm actually doing it I realize I hate school. And by working this job for 3 yrs it doesn't seem like something that I'd want to do permanently


I kinda think if I'm gonna go through the whole college thing again it might as well be something I'm interested in. However, I have no interests. So iono where I am either...

But as someone said before it's a nice feeling when you go to some area and say "Hey, I worked on these homes" (well for me is homes, anyways)

Something tells me I'm just gonna suck it up and do the civil, cuz hey there's decent money here...

[Creeps]

Changed my mind three times so far, and have nothing but 2 Associate's degrees to show for it, one in history, one in political science and finishing a 3rd one this spring in accounting. Funny thing about is, I'm taking the CCNA, N+ and a bunch of others because I work in IT right now and decided that I have some level of talent in it, so I'm pursuing that at a 4 year school after I finish my 3rd AA in something that has nothing to do with technology.

Ridiculous.

[Intense]

Changed my mind three times so far, and have nothing but 2 Associate's degrees to show for it, one in history, one in political science and finishing a 3rd one this spring in accounting. Funny thing about is, I'm taking the CCNA, N+ and a bunch of others because I work in IT right now and decided that I have some level of talent in it, so I'm pursuing that at a 4 year school after I finish my 3rd AA in something that has nothing to do with technology.

Ridiculous.

Typical you. :wink:

[pohibaba]

What I always suggest to people is to get a degree in something that has no specific career path. Things like Psychology, English, Business, History (what I have mine in). This way there are literally hundreds of different things you can do with it. Want to go teach for five years? Go do that. Bored with teaching and want to be a travel writer for a few years? Go do that. Need more stability and want to run a business? Go do that.

Seriously, I couldn't imagine going in every day and doing the exact same thing for the rest of my life. I know that there's hundreds of things I could do with a PHd in history once I get it, and that's why I chose it.

So in closing, my advice to you is to go get a graduate degree in something that you have an interest in (not necessarily a love for) and then try out all the possibilities that are offered to you.

[Vigilia]

Also often what you actually do is the least important factor about wheter you enjoy the work or not. People you work with and the environment you're in is usually much more important. Best job I ever had was as a business mail courier and second best was doing deliveries for a bakery. In both cases I was based at a small depot, working quiet hours with extremely nice people. Ok the jobs were both pretty mundane but the friendly environment made a huge difference and they're the only jobs I'd ever go back to if I could. Also both jobs left me with a feeling of something depending on me (be it little cafes getting their pastries in the mornings or banks getting their daily mail) which gave both jobs a sense of worth. In business mail the pay was seriously sick as well which didn't hurt.

When I was a kid I really wanted to be either a fireman or a police officer but because I don't have 20/20 vision (glasses, ungh) both were out of the question. I've always enjoyed helping others out and wanted to do something that would somehow better the world or something... so I considered becoming a nurse or a doctor for a while but then my grandma went on an obsessive mission to try force me into a medical career and in a true teenager fashion I just couldn't do it anymore.

So I went for another passion of mine and I did animation in college. I worked a few years after college on game projects and hated every single one of them because they turned something I enjoyed into work, kept me stuck in a cubicle and half the time I was working with management who were spitting images of David Brent (Ricky Gervais in 'the Office'). Also, they were just a pale shadow of what I really wanted to do, I found working with computers incredibly boring compared to pencil and paper. I personally think if you can't get lucky and team up with others equally passionate as yourself then doing something that's merely enjoyable and comfortable is better than trying to forcibly turn what you really like into a job. I'm much happier now just working ordinary jobs and leaving what I love to do in my pasttime just that.

In the end though if anything, all the little random choices have eventually led me here and that's what I think is important. Job and career choices aren't just about what you want to do or what you happen to have an education for, the people you meet on the way and the places you go to have a much bigger impact on you. It was because of a job that lead me to England and to my boyfriend and to the happy little house we share now and how wonderful life is. Eventually you just kind of fall into a place where you finally can sit back and feel like you have it all but until you do you need to keep moving. Grab every single opportunity you can and just try it out. It's better to try too many careers than be stuck with one that's not right for you. And you need to try it out yourself because just hearing from other people never sounds like what it will be like for you.

[oxx2]

if you know hot slutty chix and have access to web space with high bandwidth and know a coke dealer that gives you good deals you could always become a porn director/actor

[Iono]

btw you may not know what you like, but you can try Mapp To find out something that may fit your personality and might be good at.

[Septimus]

btw you may not know what you like, but you can try Mapp To find out something that may fit your personality and might be good at.

Looks like a good way to get on a bunch of junk e-mail lists.