Growing up question

ladysolitary85 · Post by **ladysolitary85** » Tue May 22, 2007 7:47 am

If you could do anything (anything you wanted) in a job what would it be? It doesn't matter on your experience now, but if you could go back and do it all over again, what would you do and why? thought this would be fun because I'm having trouble figuring out what I want to do and I'm 22 years old

So I'd like to get some ideas from you guys

plus hearing your answers would be fun

ladysolitary85 · Post by **ladysolitary85** » Tue May 22, 2007 7:58 am

Oh come on 6 viewers and no respond? come on guys speak up, anything I don't care how silly or lame it might sound, just speak up.

Eric · Post by **Eric** » Tue May 22, 2007 7:59 am

I'd be a pilot. I've always loved flying. I was all set to go to the Air Force Academy, but I found out when I was a junior in high school that I needed glasses. At the time I thought that the airlines took all of their pilots from the Air Force. I didn't find out until much later that a significant number of pilots don't come from the military and that you don't have to have perfect vision to get your commercial certification.

ladysolitary85 · Post by **ladysolitary85** » Tue May 22, 2007 8:02 am

Eric wrote:I'd be a pilot. I've always loved flying. I was all set to go to the Air Force Academy, but I found out when I was a junior in high school that I needed glasses. At the time I thought that the airlines took all of their pilots from the Air Force. I didn't find out until much later that a significant number of pilots don't come from the military and that you don't have to have perfect vision to get your commercial certification.

Wow, see I tried going into the military myself (my grandfather was in it) but I wasn't accepted because I'm deaf in my right ear... kinda pisses me off but I can understand why they wouldn't accept me.

Ziola · Post by **Ziola** » Tue May 22, 2007 8:15 am

As much as I would love to impart some great wisdom as to what I would like to be doing instead of what I am doing, I can't. Ever since I was 2 years old, I told people that I wanted to be a dance teacher. I went to college for it, I taught for many different studios and now I own my own. It has always been my dream and the fact that I never gave up on it and never let other's opinions about my dream change it is something I am really proud of. My mother wanted me to pick another career, one that would make me more money, but it has never been about becoming rich...its about making my heart happy. My advice would be to find out what truly makes you happy and go for it. Anything less is selling out....

colbertnationgirl · Post by **colbertnationgirl** » Tue May 22, 2007 8:33 am

I have no idea what I want to do. It scares me.

Sim7lizard · Post by **Sim7lizard** » Tue May 22, 2007 8:55 am

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

VeiwerZane · Post by **VeiwerZane** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:11 am

Sim7lizard quoted wrote:The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives.

My friend in my college course is 24 and wasted most of his life now this year he decided stackign shelfs sucked way to much.So he took the same course i went on and hes the best in the group and is marjoring all the work.

ladysolitary85 wrote: because I'm having trouble figuring out what I want to do

Im 17 but im in the same situation right now i have no idea where to go. I even picked my current college course as advanced ict becuase i spend most my spare time online or playing games and i didnt realy know anything else i felt confident in.

As a bit of background i spent my school years in primary and secondry school as that kid the cool kids hated so i never had anything else to do with my time.

I spent allot of time in "drinking sessions" with friends or playign games. Some of the best times was being on warcraft 3 where i had been in a clan for 2 years as a shamen(moderator) and met quite a few friends untill my college work go in the way and i left. School work was never a primary concernt for me becuase i wasnt that good anyway as long as i got strait Cs i was fine.

I realy whish i could of managed my time so i would be able to enjoy that along side my school work then mayby i would of goten some where i want to be.

I have spent about 6 months last year as a beta tester for some realy rubbish games that didn't go anywhere most didnt even make the shelfs. Right now iv thought about getting into games development.

The problem is iv started a bit late and i made the biggest mistake people do when thinking about getting into this. Most people think "oh you just need to know how to program to make a game" but its not. The art and desing part of production thats the best job (pays more to)

Now the concept of going back takeing a art foundation and graphics courses and all that follows is bit much for me. and i dont realy know how good it may be picking your pecil up after what 4 years? I dont think i have the right mindset for it.

Sorry for giveing away a few chapters of my life story but i wanted to provide the right mindset.

Post by **Broken Kid** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:13 am

What I learned from my experience knowing what I wanted to do, doing it for a few years, and discovering it's not really what I want to do: It's not that important to get a job doing what you love. Most of us will never have a job doing what we love. If we did, we'd have very few garbage men and burger flippers. If you can, you're very lucky, and that's something to strive for. But it's not required. Instead, get a job you don't mind and that pays you enough to do what you love on your time.

In my experience, I love(d) to write. I got a job doing it full-time and realized I had no interest in writing for me in my spare time. It kind of defeated the purpose.

Wrathie · Post by **Wrathie** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:32 am

I would re-live the moment i went to my first football match in 1998...wembley division 2 play off....pure class

Renegade · Post by **Renegade** » Tue May 22, 2007 11:09 am

I want to be a computer game programmer. And although I probably won't be one right out of uni, I'm pretty confident I'll make it some day.

If it comforts you, I more or less stumbled into actually studying as well. I had said for years that I was not gonna study, I never tried to accomplish anything great (grade-wise) in school, since I assumed I wouldn't need it, and I had no idea what I'd do when I left school.

I only decided to try to get a place in uni after I was drafted and half-way through my basic training. Call me arrogant, but it was a thought along the lines of "I don't wanna spend the rest of my life like this...someone's lowly henchman. I'm better than this.". And yet, even after deciding that, and after finishing service, I still wasn't going anywhere. The specific course I was hoping for only started in winter semester, so I had to wait half a year until I could even try getting into it - and with my grades, it didn't look good. In the end, I got admitted, but only because less people applied than they had places.

And even now, I cannot be sure I'll make it, because I already failed my first two attempts on my transition exams. Go me. -_-

Yet, I don't really worry. Even if I fail, there are enough options to get into a programming job, and I'll make it one way or another.

Hence my advice: Figure out what you like to do. Not job-wise, life wise. What hobbies you have. What you enjoy doing. Then check out what jobs there are in that sector, and what you have to do to be allowed to do them. And then, be realistic. Search for a realistic way for your dream job. I know full well I'm not gonna be a high-level programmer at Petroglyph when I finished studying. I know I'm gonna spend several years coding office applications or web sites. But I know just as well that, using the same skills, I can start coding games in my spare time, and then get my foot into the door. So find out what you'd really really really really really really really really really really like to do, and then look for realistic steps to go there.

A path of Highschool -> College -> Dream job will always look unrealistic and impossible.
But if you find a way akin to Highschool -> College -> Job A -> Job B -> Job C -> Dream job, and A->B->C is entirely possible, the jump to dream job starts to look a lot more realistic all of a sudden.

Final note: Pick something where you not only like the end results, or parts of it, but the process of work as well. I see that in uni a lot: There are those of us who live coding and, as boring as it is some times, love and feel it, and those of us who're just touching it now for the first time, simply because it is part of their course. The latter ones seem to see it merely as a task...an annoying obstacle. They're simply using what they learned in class, and not much beyond it - resulting in bad code. Working, yes, but in no way good.
So, when looking for your future job, always keep in mind that the job is not what you create - but how you create it. If you'd love to be someone who sells beautiful photographs, but hate taking pictures, there's no use trying to become a photographer. If you'd like to travel the world, but hate interacting with people, there's no use trying to be a stewardess.

Contrary to what Broken Kid says, I think it's very important you get a job you enjoy doing. The job you choose will probably dominate half or your waking day for the next fifty years - I don't think these will be very enjoyable, if half of your day is only "tolerable"...

P.S.: As somebody who's served in the military, let me tell you: It's not that great. Too many idiots that are allowed to give orders -_-

Hmm...*looks at post*
Mental note: Write application that shortens your posts.

LesterG · Post by **LesterG** » Tue May 22, 2007 11:28 am

I would have joined Boxing, trained really hard and loved it...

also finished college and got my degree. got a good job and saved up money...

but then I would've never met my wife and had my unnaturally strong son.... I can't say that I would go back for risk of missing out on meeting my wife...

can't say I wish I could've dated other women before I met her... but then what if I met someone else that I would fall for and never meet her?

I can't say I wish I never did drugs and partied... cause then I'ld end up doing it at a more crucial part of my life and lost even more then losing nothing...

well... the only thing I would've changed would be the boxing thing and just have more money and be more financially stable and be exactly where I am now. Now, those things...I don't have to wish I could change, I could do it today

VeiwerZane · Post by **VeiwerZane** » Tue May 22, 2007 1:43 pm

Thanks for the amazing advice renagade i think i should say congrats on getting where you are i think... Id quote some pats it but its a bit to get around.

As a small note im in the uk where it goes primary>secondry>sixth form/college>uni.

gah my parents have been nagging me to take up something in the next month or so i plan on dragging myself to the job centre just to get something for the summer. and my current course has a second year so iv got a good amount of time to work towards it.

Damn i love these forums the comunitys so much better than others.

LesterG · Post by **LesterG** » Tue May 22, 2007 1:47 pm

heh too true and very diverse

JellyFish72 · Post by **JellyFish72** » Tue May 22, 2007 1:52 pm

I'd be either a dancer or on Broadway. I've danced since I was little, but blew my knee when I was 12, and had to quit dance. I've started it again (I'm 16 now), but I'll never be able to get back down to 95 pounds, or even 110. Broadway, I could do the dance, but I don't have the voice for it.

Otherwise, I'd love to be a linguist or a professional student. I love learning new languages... heck, I love learning in general. Those two would be the two perfect careers for me.

But I can't do any of those, so I'm just going to overachieve and double major in Computer Engineering and Computer Science with at least a minor in Linguistics - Spoken Languages.

Lonelygirl15

Growing up question

Growing up question

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