I gave up on a study course after five years of hell and now I’m back at my parents’ house and must make a big decision on what career to pursue and find a job asap. But I just can’t decide, I can’t picture myself in 5/10 years from now and can’t even imagine what type of job I’d love, bc everything seems out fo reach and impossible, just like it felt when I was 20.
I’m from Italy, and I made my previous choice based on job perspectives here, now I’d like some perspective from abroad…
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business and economics This is a course in English, I also speak French and in an ideal world I would have studied foreign languages (but in reality, I would have found no job, here at least, or nothing promising). Studying economics in English would sort of fulfill that, I’d study other languages and strive to become an export manager with time. Other than that I could combine it, in THe future, with studies in cultural heritage, which would be my first choice if only I could live off of that. And find related jobs as I go.
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computer science. Never interested me that much, I had a basic programming course which wasn’t that bad, I think I’d be able to do that… But I don’t know if I’d really want that. I’ve thought about it bc I’m interested in data journalism, and I could combine it with data visualization, design, writing… But that’s more like an interest, I don’t think I’d like the actual careers I’d have access too… I don’t even have that much knowledge on what possible jobs would be like.
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management engineering Again export or project manager. I’d prefer economics, but bc of my age this might give me slightly better chances of finding a job asap?
Of course the careers I mentioned require years of work and I’m willing to do that, the problem is I feel very confused, I’m afraid of wasting time bc of my age, maybe studying and not finding a job and also how can one know if a career is the right one for you? You first have to get there…
Any type of advice would be of great help, thank you in advance
I was kind of lost in my late 20s and went to a career counselor. We did a bunch of exercises and I did a bunch of reading. After a few weeks with her help I narrowed it down to about 4-5 careers I was interested in. We then looked at job markets and education requirements and I picked a direction to go.
It’s been about 10 years and it was a great decision.
I think a problem is that many jobs exist in the world, and we don’t even know that most of them exist or what they are. If there are any really large companies near you, see if you can get in doing something, anything. Once you are in, you can learn about the different types of jobs in the company and maybe start trying to work towards something that you like better, either within that company or in another company. Also just having co-workers or a boss to discuss these things with can be a big help and open you up to some new possibilities that you didn’t know about. But yeah, don’t worry about finding your perfect job right away. Having any job will open doors and connections, making it easier to land that perfect job in the future.
So far, I found that many people underestimate the soft skills they bring. For many (not all) jobs the actual knowledge of the field you need to fulfill the job can be learned quite fast. But they need people that are good organizers or good communicators or good critics, or people that dive in and check every detail or people good in seeing the bigger picture. I sometimes think its more important to find a job fitting to your softskills than to your degree. In an ideal Job it would be both of course.
For example. My father switched fields from social worker to systems administrator. Most would say what a big shift, but he just loves to help people - no matter if its their daily life or their computers he can help with. But IT had better job opportunities. He is very happy.
Tell us more about your skills and maybe we have more specific ideas for you.
You’re right.
Well I’ve always been great with languages, intuitive with technology (but I’d prefer to avoid working with it, or living with it in general), I’m detail oriented and good at getting organized (when I know what I want haha). I like helping people, I’m understanding and I love interacting with others, I’m curious and I like variety even though I’m a bit introverted and reserved. But being of service is a good way for me to bridge that gap, if it makes sense.
I like researching and collecting stuff, mostly when it comes to things I like, be it music or films or books.
I wonder if something like project management might be a good fit for you. Or perhaps some sort of social services.
In any case, I think most people work any number of different jobs before settling on a career path, and sometimes trying things out is the way we find what we’d like to do. And when thinking about a long-term direction it’s less important to “love” the work than to choose sometimes that will be sustainably intellectually engaging for you and that you feel is worth doing, and worth doing well.
Random suggestion: International genealogy and emigration support. I have Italian ancestry and my siblings and I are working on dual citizenship to have an option to get out of the US. It cost a fortune for the researcher/lawyer. I bet they need bilingual help.
I’d prefer to avoid working with it, or living with it in general
Then you won’t like programming. Definitely scratch that off, especially given the carnage going on in /r/cscareerquestions—it’s not looking good.
especially given the carnage going on in /r/cscareerquestions—it’s not looking good.
What do you mean? if you have the time, of course
The industry is severely oversaturated and may present a hard time for you career-wise to find work.
can’t even imagine what type of job I’d love
Fun fact! Most of us don’t love our jobs. We just do them to have a roof over our heads and food on our tables.
Well of course, but the context is I’m choosing what to major in… And if you read you’ll see I’m choosing between things I don’t hate that much for more job opportunities, but still in hope I’ll get a chance at something I like.
Love is a big word but that’s what came to me in the moment, and being that ppl ho read me usually can contextualize, I used it without fear of being misinterpreted this much
I have one friend went to school for veterinary medicine and zoology. He’s now an endpoint engineer. I have another that went for his MBA and is now a butcher. I worked retail, never finished school, and now I’m a Desktop Support director.
Pick what you’re interested in, pursue knowledge and growth over anything else. People mostly want hard workers who show they are able and willing to learn imo. A degree in anything shows that that.
Obviously this doesn’t apply if you’re persuing something high level in a specific field. But if you’re lost as I am in this crazy world I think it’s a solid choice lol.
Don’t bother with “do a job you love and you’ll never work a day” that’s garbage. Not only does it lead to existential dread, it often doesn’t put food on the table, and often times doing what you love for a living ruins that love for you to boot.
Get something you don’t hate that’s easy to find employment for - maybe accounting, for example. Think of things everybody needs, don’t get a niche specialization.
If you get the bug to go after something your heart calls you for later, you have a stable and well paying job to keep you afloat while you take night classes or whatever you gotta do to switch careers. There is no rule that says you gotta stick with whatever you pick first
Museum guide?
The first thing to consider is: can you afford the luxury of picking something you like?
In an ideal world we get the job we want, we have fun doing it, nice colleagues, etc… This may not be true for you. You can pick a job you don’t particularly like, if the job market seems good, use that to just afford living and go from there. That makes it somewhat easy, because you’re no longer picking something that’s “nice” you’re optimizing working conditions: working times, union coverage, how long the education takes, vs. how much it pays. Maybe you find that working in a sewage plant or being a plumber isn’t nice, but way better than doing a public facing customer service job. Or working your ass off in academia, 60 hours a week, with the reward of a wet handshake, a mention in a paper that’s cited 5 times that your supervisor uses to boost their standing but not yours and a two year timer on job stability.
I can’t picture myself in 5/10 years from now and can’t even imagine what type of job I’d love, bc everything seems out fo reach and impossible, just like it felt when I was 20.
I’m afraid of wasting time bc of my age
Besides the job, what do you even want? And that question is hard and some people don’t find the answer for decades, so don’t stress over it. Sometimes it takes a decade of life experience to come to an “obvious” conclusion. The trick is that the ten years aren’t “wasted”, they are *necessary" to give you the context to understand what you want.
We are generally limited in the time we have, but it’s only really urgent in three aspects: if you are terminally ill, you are becoming old or disabled and physically can’t do certain things and family planning. If you know you want kids, make a plan for 10 years into the future. That’s important because the requirements around kids are completely different than without. I don’t think traveling with toddlers is smart, kids are expensive, they will eat your time and attention. If you want to get something bigger done, consider doing it before having kids, or your kids making you choose them instead of your “dream”. Which can be bad, because you never ever want to think that you could have done X if only you didn’t have kids. That’s a regret that poisons a lot of things.
Anyway, YOU still have plenty of time. At least 10 years, probably 20, until you even have to start worrying about anything.
Do you care for art, people, technology, animals? Sitting on a couch? Sports? Cooking? Baking? Culture? Anything?
If nothing particular jumps at you, it’s totally fine to browse e.g. movies, technology, memes, comics, music, literature, or to travel until you find something that strikes you. Like, do you even know what’s out there? How are you supposed to pick something you like if you haven’t seen anything?
Society throws a lot of things at you that you are supposed to care about and supposed to do, but you have to actually explore and decide if those things are actually for you, or if you just believe or do them because everyone you know does them or talks about them.
I recommend writing a diary or taking notes on this. Revisiting your old thoughts can be difficult and it’s easier to organize your thoughts on paper.
Personally, I finished a technical education, worked in a few projects and even finished a few things I didn’t like to test out what I didn’t like and want to avoid. E.g. I worked in a city I didn’t live in, commuted 3 hours one way every other weekend, lived in conditions I didn’t like… It wasn’t nice in the moment, but now I know what to avoid.
Final note: statistics say you are not alone. The opposite in fact, lots of young people go through the same issues. So maybe that’s comforting, idk.
Thank you.
Unfortunately I don’t know what I want in any aspect of my life. Right now the only thing I need is to make some sort of decision, but I really don’t know how to do that
“Discover What You Are Best At” by Linda Gail.
I was about the same age as you are now when I found this book. It led me to a career I’d never even sonsidered before.
What career was that?
The book summarizes your skills and points to jobs that use them.
A Product Demonstrator and a Paramedic both need dexterity, good people skills and imagination.
The skills are the same, the jobs are completely different.
I’m talking about your specific career that you took as a result of that book, though: what was that?
Also, paramedics need exponentially way more skills than product demonstrators! But yes, they both need at least those skills.
I signed an NDA.
A million things go into choosing a career. What’s good about this book is that it gives you a range of options based on the particular skills you already have.
A good paramedic would probably get bored doing the same routine every day, but they’d still be good at the producrt demonstrator job.
Wow, that must be an incredibly tight NDA if you can’t even say one word describing your role. Welp, never mind, then. Thanks for the book recommendation; I’ll check it out!
When I met people in real life who are secretive about what they do/did, I automatically assume one of two things - Secret agent, or the person who rubs the nipples of actresses before shooting a scene so that they poke through their t-shirts.
Thank you!
I’m 48. You have ages. Do it now or you’ll be me remembering when I was you.
Jobs are just a means to live life. If you can make money doing something you love, great. But if you can’t, use the money from work to pursue your hobbies and interests.
When I was 23 I was in the same position as OP is now. I decided to have a child with my wife and do some practical work and also learn some basic working skills and ethics while doing that. I started out in a factory, but hated it so much that I decided to go trucking, where it would just be me and my truck ( and my audiobooks).
I enjoyed that for a long while, but eventually I wanted to feel useful. I wanted to make something, to accomplish something, to be proud of myself. So I went back to school. Now I’m 35, finishing my bachelor in IT and also teaching a basic programming course at that same school.
Life is not just life, you can make mistakes and change your mind a few times. It’s not a big deal unless you make it a big deal. There’s a theory where it takes eleven years to master a skill, so between you 18th birthday and your 81st, you can master 7 skills. That means basically you could have 7 careers. There’s a xkcd about it (saw it around here somewhere), but I can’t find it
Yeah, 11 years makes sense. I’ve also heard 10,000 hours. Congrats on your change in life. You have a great attitude.
Unless you have real and actual interest in software development and computers, I wouldn’t go into it. I hire developers, and the good ones I don’t gleven care what or where they studied, they’re the ones that love tinkering with a raspberry pie, they’re the ones who love to work on open-source projects, they’re the ones that are self taught because they couldn’t wait for school or university to teach them.
From what you’re telling me, it sounds like a “well yeah I guess I could do that” which to me sounds like you don’t love it. I love my job, I go programming on a Saturday morning because to me it’s like building a puzzle. I love puzzles.
I might be mistaken here but I don’t think you’d love your job very much if you’d be in IT
I hire developers, and the developers I hire would never work for a man who says shit like this.
In my 20s I worked a lot of different jobs in a lot of different industries and learned something from each one. There is nothing wrong with making a living until you can make a career.
I second this, if you are unsure of what direction to take, get a job that is easy. Something simple like grocery store, deli, etc. If you have the intelligence for higher education you will excell at simple jobs, get in a groove doing your daily taks and you will probably get promoted through the ranks while you figure out what direction you want to take in life.
If i lost my job tomorrow (professional technical career) i would seriously consider becoming barista and living stress free for a while and not rush to figure out my ‘next move’.
If you can afford it, just get a MBA and try to get a business job. It may not be the most exciting career path, but it’s at least pretty guaranteed to get you a job that pays decently (of course salaries vary widely but this is one of the paths to least resistance) and opens up a ton of opportunities.
Again, this is advice for if you don’t have an alternative career parh that excites and motivates you. It’s just a decent way to get a decent paying (or even well paying) job. Better than nothing.
You won’t love your job. Get a job you’d be good at and that pays well. Spend your free time doing what you love.
First: stay strong, you got this.
If you’re “not really” into CS, I would think long and hard before committing to it. While it’s very useful to pick up a few basic skills, studying theoretical computer science is a whole different level. I’d suggest you look at the basics, start programming on some of the websites people have suggested in the comments and do a few small projects for yourself. Then at least you’ll know, if you have fun programming and problem solving.
I studied computer science without knowing much about it when I started, and it was a good decision for me - however it wouldn’t have been for everyone.
That’s exactly what stops me: I had a course, it was C and Python programming and I did quite well but it was really basic. And if it hadn’t been for what I was studying before, I would have never tried programming.
But new things are actually a good thing… For example what makes me consider computer science is the idea that later I might get into data science and maybe do something as a data journalist. But even if I think it’s really cool, I don’t know if I’ll actually like doing it.
I was thinking I could combine it with something about design (single courses, self taught or whatever opportunity arises), and I even found out about this guy, Leonardo Nicoletti Just imagine being able to do that! What scares me is the actual doing, I’d like to get more into it but don’t know how to try it out in the few months I have left. I think I could access further studies in Data Science even through Economics or Engineering but CS seemed like the “whole package”… Idk
If you’re not fascinated by computers and you’re not sure if you want to really dedicate your career to it, I’d really think twice about going into CS. If you want to get into programming/development, you can either do that by learning specific languages and building stuff, or study something technical that interests you.
Nowadays, programming is very much required in any STEM related fields if you want to keep up with the times. I myself have an Aerospace Master’s degree but have been mostly doing software related things in my career and am now a data engineer at an aircraft manufacturer. None of my data science colleagues studied CS, neither did the data engineers that I work with.
Just one perspective. Don’t give up, you’ve got this!
yo all 3 of those jobs sound fucking boring to me. but you do you. i hate business and finances. the only cool part is the culfural side, but who needs to manage a business for that?
not even sure why I’m commenting if we’re that different lol have a nice day though, good luck
um, i will say i do truly love my job, and i think most lemmings dont, so maybe dont listen to them either
So… what is your job? You go to such great lengths to bash her career ideas and praise your own yet you don’t even say what it is to offer an alternative.
she didn’t ask. and why would my job be relevant to her interests? why would my disapproval of her job choices be any more relevant than my approval?
the question of “what do I do with my life” is a ridiculous thing to offload onto someone else. it’s your life, not mine. the only thing I can say is how I came about my own decisions, and for me that starts with recognizing when something lucrative looks fucking boring
It’s not about you swaying people to follow your line of work but just helping people consider things they didn’t consider before. What’s so wrong about that?
If you’re at a University of some kind, you can ask a counselor there about job shadowing opportunities in the fields you are considering.
I second this, and would generally recommend finding some people to talk to who are in jobs similar to those you are considering, even if you aren’t able to shadow them. And you don’t have to be in university to do this–ask people you know if they know anyone in jobs or careers related to those you are considering, and ask to pick those people’s brains. Ask them about what they like and dislike about their current job, what previous jobs/positions they’ve had and what they learned from those roles, what decisions they made that shaped their career path, what advice they would give to someone curious about or just starting in their field, etc.
I’ve found that people who are passionate about their jobs/careers often love to talk about how they got to where they are and what they wish they had known earlier along their career journey. Heck, most people enjoy talking about themselves in general, so don’t be shy! I did this with a couple of friends’ parents when I was trying to decide what to major in in college/university, and more informally along my early career trajectory with others I met, and it has been a huge help. One of the people I talked to even helped me realize how flexible a degree program I was considering could be, and she was absolutely right! And who knows–you may even meet someone who turns out to be a great mentor.
Picking a career path is intimidating, but it’s a path, not a label you’re stuck with the rest of your life! Even if you take a job that isn’t a good fit for you, it can teach you more about your strengths/weaknesses and what growth areas interest you. When you come to a fork in the road of your career path–you learn about a promotion opportunity, see a job posting at another company, or even just have a conversation with your manager at your current job–you’ll have the opportunity to make decisions that could help you find a role that’s a better fit for you (or even re-shape your existing role to fit your strengths and passions better). Learning about other people’s careers–especially the choices they made and what came of them–can be a huge help as you walk down your own career path.
Best wishes for your journey! It’s completely normal to be uncertain in making big career decisions, but you got this!
(EDIT: minor rephrase)
