Career counseling

[Phil Thien]

From time to time, I end up discussing (with other parents mostly) the fact that so many kids are clueless about what to do with their lives (career-wise).

There was never any doubt for me, I was interested in working in IT and I've pretty much paved my own road.

But I've always felt a little sorry for people that didn't have a similar love to chase. Telling the youth to do something they love is worthless if they don't really have anything they love to do (other than playing video games).

So one of the guys I was talking to over the 4th said he felt anything we do will become interesting (to us) and we just need to pick something and do it.

So how many of you are in a career that you didn't anticipate, that you enjoy, and did you grow to enjoy it?

OTOH, how many of you can't stand what you're doing and would like to do something else, you just don't know what?

Extra credit: What do you tell members of the younger generations when they seem lost?

[Matt Meiser]

I knew from about the time I was in my early teens, I knew I wanted to be a mechanical or electrical engineer working in the auto industry working with electromechanical systems. I got my EE degree and did get a job with Cat out of college doing some of that but really didn't enjoy working there, and disliked being a single young, shy guy in a town where I knew no one so I didn't last long there before I basically took the first job I could find back home. There I got lucky and was able to pretty much create a new department with a few others and got into software. A few twists and turns later, now I write software for manufacturing companies interfacing plant floor systems to business systems, doing reporting, etc. Lucky for my job stability I've done very little work for the auto industry the last 8 years--most of my customers are in the consumer products and food and beverage industries.

Now my 13yo daughter who has always said she wanted to be a vet until we found out what the average vet makes and found that her expensive tastes and being a vet might not be a good fit, has learned she likes and is good at math and science (just found out she has qualified to take Algebra I as an 8th grader!) I told her she should look at what different engineers do which of course was met by loud protest because I'm an engineer, but she started looking and discovered biomedical engineering. That's all we hear about now. She's selected a school too--my alma mater. More power to her if she sticks with it. I think we are going to go to Homecoming this year so she can get a picture of what college is. Or maybe she'll discover something new in the next 5 years.

Our (private) high school starts kids looking at careers and even colleges as 9th graders. Our middle school (also private) does numerous quarter-long electives to get kids exposed to a lot of different topics.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I told her she should look at what different engineers do which of course was met by loud protest because I'm an engineer, but she started looking and discovered biomedical engineering. That's all we hear about now.

Slightly off topic from the OP, but Matt - try to talk her into ME or EE, with a minor (or something) in biomed, instead. I work in this industry, and the biomed engrs are clearly a rung down the career/respect/compensation ladder from the MEs and EEs. The broadness of the biomed engineering curricula just doesn't add a lot of value when you've got project teams in the hundreds of people (which is common in medical devices). Generalists end up doing the test reports, design verification, etc, while the MEs and EEs are doing the design.

[Steve Peterson]

When I was younger, I was fortunate enough to be able to take about 2 years trying different fields at the local community college. I took classes in accounting, business, automotive technology, computer science, and electronics. The electronics classes were the most interesting to me, so I got a 2 year AA degree as an electronics technician. I worked for a few years, then went back and finished my BS in computer engineering.

I ended up not interested in some of the classes that I thought I would enjoy. I couldn't get enough of the computer and electronics classes. Some of it was personal interest and some of it was the quality of the teachers.

I was 30 years old when I earned my BS, but am now in a field that I really enjoy. My recommendation would be to try to do everything a bit quicker. Take classes in 4 or 5 different fields with a goal to decide a major by the end of the first year. It will still take another 4 years to finish a BS degree, so it is best to start at a community college to keep the costs down.

Steve

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Phil, I always wanted to in the electrical field (no pun intended) however I didn't want to be a tradesperson or an Engineer so I became a Technologist.

I've had a great career, heading into early retirement shortly.

I have spoken to many students through volunteer activities, and I'm amazed at the number who have absolutely no interests, or ideas about their future careers.

It seems to be a sign of the times, however I don't see how you could do something for a lifetime that you didn't love.

Good discussion, thanks for starting it..............Rod.

[Mike Henderson]

I guess I always wanted to do something like being an engineer. In high school I decided to be an electrical engineer.

Side note: I worry about young people who go into fields that just don't pay anything. I know it may be something that they would like to do but they really need to temper that desire with practicality and choose something that they can do that will provide them with a living. There are many "glamour" jobs, with being a movie star as the most extreme, but the number of job openings are very small.

Mike

[Erik Loza]

I'm a college dropout. Professors would always say I was one of the brightest students in class but ask why I had no motivation to study or even show up in class. Life did not become clear to me until I actually started working for a living. In school, I never had ambition to "be anything". Much preferred rolling up my sleeves and doing something manual or active to studying or being in class. Once I abandoned school and entered the work force, that's when life started for me. All that being said, I regret not taking school more seriously when I had the opportunity and think it's important to have an education or certified trade skills.

Erik

[roger wiegand]

I was sure I wanted to be a physicist (like my Uncle Dan) from as early as I can remember. Then I got to college and discovered that my brain wouldn't do real math (I barely squeaked through a class on differential equations before calling it quits.) I went into a funk and became a history major. Then in a core curriculum biology class a light went on and molecular genetics became a calling. Now, of course, that's all about the bioinformatic algorithms and advanced statistical methods, so I'm back where I started with respect to competence. Fortunately I've gotten pretty good at raising the money and herding the cats in the meantime and can hire scary bright folks to do the hard stuff. If not for a college that demanded a broad educational foundation (i.e. requiring history majors to take real biology classes) I'm not sure where I might have ended up. I definitely tend to become intensely interested in whatever I'm working on, ranging from woodworking, flyfishing, and mechanical musical instruments to neurobiology, malaria, and improving agriculture and have a hard time understanding people who aren't passionate about at least one thing in their lives.

We've sent both of our kids to an excellent career counseling service in Boston. They do extensive testing for personality and aptitude types than work one-on-one with kids to show them options that might work well for them. For our son (very analytical) this worked great; they pointed him towards accounting and he's now in a graduate program eating it up. For our daughter the jury is still out. I think they figured out what she could do, but nothing has yet aroused any passion.

[Shawn Pixley]

I took several of those career counseling sessions when I was in High School. They were zero help saying, "you can do anything you want to do." That is no help when you don't know what you want to do.

i might have become a surgeon but there is no way I could afford to go to school that long. I'd liked to become an artist but I had grown accustomed to eating daily. I started in Chemistry and the went into Architecture. I keep toying with studying Mathmatics for my own amusement.

[Moses Yoder]

I do not believe it is important to find out what you like to do. I think it is very important to like what you are doing. If you don't enjoy or like what you do, it makes for hell on earth both for you and those around you. Liking what you do is really a simple matter of finding your talent, employing it, and seeing the good in it.

[Larry Frank]

I really believe that looking at careers should be a major high school class and a critical discussion between parents and kids.


Kids should look at the future demand for jobs they are interested in
Kids should be aware of the typical yearly income for various jobs
Kids should be aware of the cost in time and money to get the education required.
Kids should be aware that not everyone needs or wants a college education. It is not a guarantee for a job.
There are many good paying jobs for non-college people.
Kids should be aware that grades do make a difference in getting a job. Some companies do not even look at an engineer with a low GPA.
Kids should be aware that the college you go to can make a difference. You can find d out the per cent of graduates from a school get jobs.


One needs to spend quality time with their kids on this topic to help them make one of the most important decisions in their lives. But this does not happen enough.

[Erik Loza]

I really believe that looking at careers should be a major high school class and a critical discussion between parents and kids.


Kids should look at the future demand for jobs they are interested in
Kids should be aware of the typical yearly income for various jobs
Kids should be aware of the cost in time and money to get the education required.
Kids should be aware that not everyone needs or wants a college education. It is not a guarantee for a job.
There are many good paying jobs for non-college people.
Kids should be aware that grades do make a difference in getting a job. Some companies do not even look at an engineer with a low GPA.
Kids should be aware that the college you go to can make a difference. You can find d out the per cent of graduates from a school get jobs.


One needs to spend quality time with their kids on this topic to help them make one of the most important decisions in their lives. But this does not happen enough.

This ^^^....

My dad tought Adult Ed for years. Basically, people who never were going to go to college but nonetheless needed a GED and the ability to integrate into and become contributing members of society.

It's a fallacy to assume every high school student should or will be able to get a colleage degree. But we need to do a better job of preparing them to be contributing members of the US workforce. Lots of kids get out of high school, conclude that they will never become a college grad, then just give up without ever realizing there are many other channels open to them. I think it would be terrific if there were one compulsory class in high school whose curriculum was "life skills after you leave here": Financial literacy, how to search for housing, how to interview for a job. Bring in young professionals the kids can relate to, to talk about what the working world (and college world) is like.

We got a little of that in high school but it went one ear and out the other. The guest speaker was (at the time) "some old guy" in a suit who none of us could relate to, so nobody really paid attention. We need to find a way to better connect with kids at this stage, to prevent them from becoming disenfranchised. Auto techs, electricians, or other skilled trades, for example. Perhaps the final exam for the class could be for each student putting together their own "life plan" for after graduation, and how complete and do-able that is. Just thinking out loud.

Erik

[Ryan Mooney]

I mostly disagree that you need to necessarily like what you do. I do think its useful to be good or at least decent at what you do. The two situations are often conflated, but they are distinct. Ideally you'd find something where both conditions were true, but that's not always the case. There are plenty of things I LIKE to do that I'm not any good at (at least not to a paying the bills level).

There's also the risk that if you make something you really love your job you can end up still hating your job and ruining the thing you love. This would be more true for hobby type things, but I don't play with computer stuff on the weekend either anymore cause come friday I'm pretty much done with it.

Finding something you have aptitude for can certainly be challenging, especially in a traditional educational environment and even within that there is so much variation between what you think you're doing and what you're actually doing in the end that its hard to pin it down very well. I sort of went the other way and started out training horses (and cleaning stalls) and ended up in IT. I have (or had, its been a long time since I've done much with horses) a pretty good aptitude for either, but the one sure payed a lot better than the other. Am what I'm doing as "fun" do I "enjoy" it as much? I don't really think so... but then I only did the other when I was younger and spryer so I'm also pretty sure my perceptions are off.