How do you find a career path?

[DeepGreenEden]

I'm two years into a dead-end job that I've always known wasn't my "career." It's to the point where I want to quit so I can focus on things that are more important to me. Unfortunately, none of these things will earn me an income. And right now, I need to get my own place. I joke that I might as well not work because I don't make enough to live on, so what's the point -- but I'm actually serious.
 
I was never good at choosing a career path, and I'm paying for it now. I agree with El Exorcisto.
 

My advice will probably go against the grain pretty hard, but never EVER pick something you love to do as a career. If you love doing it, you love it because it is your choice. As soon as it becomes your job, you will inevitably hate it, because it's, well, your job.

I got a degree in creative writing because I'm decent at it. But I had a suspicion after college that if I pursued it, I wouldn't enjoy it. Ten years later, I was thinking about pursuing it again, trying to freelance as a second job. But I've come to the conclusion that I write for myself, not for anyone else. So I can't make it my career, unless someone stumbles upon my fiction and it becomes an overnight smash.

 

I just don't know what I can do right now, though. Taking my meager savings and running away to explore avenues sounds more tempting with each day.

[El Exorcisto]

A friend of mine and giver of sage advice is an exceptionally talented artist, and also a nurse. He went through nursing school because it was a guaranteed stable field with an acceptable paycheck, good benefits, and plenty of mobility. He's great at his job, but has no real love of it. His love is putting needle to skin, and he makes a tidy sum off freelance tattoo work on the side. He picks what jobs he does, who he does them for, and charges a premium price for his work. He has no qualms with telling someone to walk down the street if they have a problem with him or his prices. The most insightful thing I ever heard him say was "I was never a fan of the starving part of being a starving artist."

 

My suggestion to anyone asking about career advice from me is to do something that pays the rent, preferably more, that you won't mind hating after a few months. Anyone that says they love getting up every morning they have to go to work, leaving their home and family for 40+ hours a week, no matter what they do for a living, is either a liar or delusional.

 

I am coming to understand more that all things in life require balance. Happiness requires suffering, cutting requires bulking, getting stronger requires injuries, bringing a new life into the world requires giving up some of your own. Expecting every day to be sunny is a recipe for some very dark days. The balance comes whether you want it to or not.

[Waldo]

I work with a lot of engineers (not one myself).  None of them like the doing part of their job.  All of them like what their job allows them to do (like eat, sleep in a nice house, etc.)

'Eh, I'm an engineer and don't really agree with this statement.

Most of the busywork and day to day drudgery sucks. But every now and then you get to truly engineer; to sink your teeth into an interesting problem that requires a novel solution.

Engineers are problem solving machines. Learning to do the math and memorizing all the science is secondary in engineering school, what you really learn is how to solve problems; large complex problems, problems that do not have an apparent solution path, problems that need to be defined to be solved, systems of problems, how to solve problems as a team.

You'd be hard pressed IMHO to find an engineer that does not enjoy this part of engineering, and it really is the essence of the profession.

I enjoy it so much that one of the things I like to do with my free time is to apply my problem solving skills to other interesting problems unrelated to my professional field. I find modeling the NFL to be fascinating, and I've come up with a few models/stats that have enormous predictive power.

As to this thread. I've known I wanted to be an engineer and work on tall buildings since I was a toddler. Its all I've ever wanted to do. Though I do think it would be cool to be a NASA engineer, then again I'm not terribly far off so I do in many ways have a dream job.

[bigm141414]

Most of the busywork and day to day drudgery sucks. But every now and then you get to truly engineer; to sink your teeth into an interesting problem that requires a novel solution.

 

 

 

Yup. This. It's a beat down sometimes to fill out paperwork or go through the standard processes but man the moment when something needs solving and your brain juices are going there really isn't any high quite like it. 

 

As for career paths, they are overrated in this day and age when people switch jobs every 5 years or so. When it was normal to be in an industry for 20+ years it made sense but things are a lot more fluid these days. 

[sea.bee]

I'm in an accounting/management position and 99% of my job is meh. Every two weeks or so, I get to dig into a genuinely interesting problem that gets me going for a few hours, maybe a day if I'm lucky. But you know what else. I'm 26 and the only debts I'm carrying are a mortgage and a car note, both that I'm paying off pretty handily ahead of schedule. I'm where I am because I prioritized said ability over having a more fun job.

 

So what is your priority? You can try to follow your passions. Some people love their work enough that the compensation doesn't matter as much. My fiance has a something called a chiari malformation. For her, it was a major priority to be able to work somewhere with excellent medical benefits. So she isn't paid directly what she's worth, but she's well enough compensated in medical coverage that it absolutely covers the difference for her. If you want something high risk/reward, sales may be for you.

 

What is important to you in life? That's where you should work.

[DeepGreenEden]

I know I'll never find a job I absolutely love. Right now my priority is paying rent, period. As in moving away and into my own place. No, I don't have any friends I can stay with. What's important to me in life? Not having a minimum-wage job that makes me hate myself. Should I go back to school and acquire the skills to find a better one? Because I wasted the last run being a flake.

 

I know how I'd like to spend my life, but it's not practical. So I have to put that aside and find a way to make a living.

[Juliette]

I wanted to add my whinging to the queue, lol. After not knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up, I went into nursing. I hate it. Have hated it every step of the way. I want to do something different, but have absolutely no idea what. I have faith that I could do anything I set my mind on, however...discouraged by the amount of student loans I had to take for nursing, not looking forward to taking out more, only to find out that I hate that career... *sigh*

Help me Obi Wan Kenobi...I have no hope

[lolavictrola]

I wanted to add my whinging to the queue, lol. After not knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up, I went into nursing. I hate it. Have hated it every step of the way. I want to do something different, but have absolutely no idea what. I have faith that I could do anything I set my mind on, however...discouraged by the amount of student loans I had to take for nursing, not looking forward to taking out more, only to find out that I hate that career... *sigh*

Help me Obi Wan Kenobi...I have no hope

 

I had this problem with teaching. I didn't hate teaching, but I worked at a miserable school. I had just dropped 60k on graduate school, and felt totally hopeless. Then I found a very different career that utilized very similar skills. I'm still new at this job, but it seems like a great fit! 

[Hong WeiLoh]

"How do you find a career path?"

 

Tell you what -- when you figure it out, let me know. I've spent a decade in Fire, 6 yrs of it paid-"career", only to be told I'm now not qualified for a position I've already done, for 2 yrs no less, so now it's back to the drawing board again. So yeah, if you figure it out, kindly pass the word.

o/

[Brunsonja]

The only advice I would add is don't be afraid to change your mind -- like a lot of the posts here sometimes you start out thinking you like one thing and then after awhile it changes or it loses it's appeal.  I graduated with a useless major from college that hasn't really helped me other than showing I have a college level education / if I could go back I would have changed majors, which I considered doing halfway in but didn't because I felt like I had to "stick to my plan". 

 

Don't stick to a plan -- just follow what you want to do, wherever you go.