9 to 5
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Deciding what you wanted to be when you grew up
in 9 to 5
I'm curious how everyone here chose their career. I have a bachelor's degree, worked in my major's field for a few years, and realized I hated it. It seems like almost everyone I know is working in/towards their dream career and now I'm completely lost, trying to make ends meet until I figure out what I want to do when I "grow up".
Re: Deciding what you wanted to be when you grew up
I got a degree in business admin with a focus on marketing. I landed a sweet advertising gig right out of college, but sadly I had to leave due to a verbally abusive boss. Really horrible situation.
After a few months working retail at a clothing store, I landed a teller job with a bank in my city.
From there, anytime DH and I moved, I'd work at a bank. I eventually moved into the banker/loan officer role.
Pros to banking:
1. Can't take any work home with you. No working at home including email or phone calls.
2. Defined hours - no coming early or staying late.
3. Banking holidays off.
4. Once you're in the industry moving around is simple since the job is essentially the same no matter what company you're with.
Cons to Banking:
1. If you're in the public area then you are dealing with a lot of customer service. Depending on the people you encounter - this can be very trying.
2. Have ot be comfortable dealing with money, confidential documents, and other bank processes that can get you fired if done incorrectly or unethically.
By middle school I knew I liked solving puzzles and building stuff. In high school it seemed obvious that I should pursue engineering. I was also really interested in medicine and didn't rule that out. In college I studied engineering and loved it; I realized I hated things I'd do in med school and ruled that out. Then I did grad school in biomedical engineering - the obvious synergy of my interests. I do that for a living now. I get to build things, I am involved in designing medical equipment, and it's essentially solving puzzles for a living. I have my dream job.
What you love may not look like an obvious major in school. I encourage people to think about:
* the types of settings they enjoy (office, outdoors, very social, mostly isolated)
* the types of work you enjoy doing (computer? math heavy? lots of meticulous spread sheets? social? verbal? up in front of people? same thing over and over? something new every day?)
* can skills you already have be reapplied to a different field that has the characteristics you like? These are called 'transferrable skills'. If you're good in excel that can span TONS of fields. If you're great at sales, TONS of fields. etc.
Good luck.
I always knew I wanted to work with animals, and actually chose to study Latin in 7th grade (and on) because I knew I would need to know scientific names. But it wasn't until I got into college that I realized i wanted to work with agricultural animals. I went to school just north of NYC, whereas I was from a semi-rural area. I was shocked by the things I saw in an urban setting and realized how much I loved the country. When I graduated, I just needed money so I had to work FT at a medical device company, but also began milking cows PT during the week. From there I networked my way to my current job selling dairy farming equipment and doing aftermarket care for farms who install it. So sometimes you have to go way outside your comfort zone or your own little world to see what you do and do not like.
But I cannot stress this enough..... do NOT get a degree in anything until you know its what you love. Otherwise you will be sad, bored, and in serious debt.
I originally wanted to be a cosmetic surgeon, I know very specific. And I went to college planning on going into that career field, but once I got into the pre-med classes I realized I didnt enjoy any of my classes, the only one that I really enjoyed was anatomy and physiology and I couldnt see my self spending 8+ years in school studying biology.
After I realized I didnt want to go to med school, I started thinking about other classes that I had enjoyed in high school and determined I would want to explore computer science as a major. I took the first required class in the program and never looked back. It offered me the chance to build the puzzle that I was looking for. After a few classes I figure out that I was really interested in network security so I went on to get my masters in network security, which is what I do now. Its all about looking at what the problem is and then trying to piece those parts together in order to get to the desired solution.
There is one book that I would recommend if you are trying to determine your passion: http://www.amazon.com/Career-Quizzes-Tests-Discover-Develop/dp/1593574444
This book has several quizzes to help you determine the skills you have and to help determine how it will translate into a career and then also to help you locate a potential career path based on your interests and skills.
They say the average person makes 5 career changes in a lifetime. It's a difficult thing to do and involves hard work and luck. Best of luck.
I work in business to business sales for a high end tech company. I love it. I kind of fell into sales and then identified my company as my dream job. It took my a year to network my way in but I finally got there through connections.
I have two semester left until I graduate with my BA in English. I originally wanted to pursue creative writing with this degree but did not like the professor who taught poetry at my college. Other students seemed to love this teaching style but I did not. I took a technical writing class a couple of years ago and really loved it. The English professor who I took my first British lit class with made us students keep a daily journal. We had to read our entries aloud in class. The professor commented that I would make an excellent technical writer.
After I graduate, I think I will enroll in an online technical writing certification program through a college within my state. I will have to apply to graduate school for the program although I would not be pursing a masters. (strange I know) I think by obtaining this certification, it would be helpful in gaining freelance technical writing, as well as grant writing, jobs. I became interested in grant writing when I realized my passion for volunteering and working with various nonprofit organizations. I considered offering to help nonprofits with grant writing for free to build up my portfolio.
As for fulltime work, I have decide to get into sales and marketing. Surprized?Well, one thing I hadn't mentioned is that I have about 7 years of sales and merchandising experience. I have been working my way through college and am hoping my work history will been seen as relevant experience when applying for positions after college. I am really interested in business to business sales. I saw one previous nestie said she had a job in this field. If you are reading this, could you pm with more info on how to break into the industry? I also read an article that English majors do well in the marketing industry because of the skills we acquire while reading, writing, and analyzing tons of info. I will be doing an internship this semester & perhaps in the summer as well.
I know a previous nestie said not to obtain a degree in anything until you know for sure it is what you are really interested in. That could be true for some people, but for me, I have tons of varied interests. My interests have changed since I started pursing my BA but my major has stayed the same. Don't be afraid to see where you interests take you.
My mom is a mechanical engineer, and my dad has a degree in botany (then was full time SAHD). Both are very logically minded, and so the natural fit for me was a BS in mechanical engineering.
Now that I'm two years out, I still am happy with the degree itself, but not happy with my role. The great part about ME is that it's flexible, I just have to land the right position for me.
A slight change in job duties, while still using your degree may be the answer for you?
I went to school for Marketing and International Business, ended up in Logistics and Supply Chain.....not really sure how it happened but here I am, out of college 5.5 years and I have been fortunate enough to work for 3 different companies, all wonderful in their own ways.
What is your degree in? Just because you have a degree in something doesnt mean you can't work in a different industry. I worked for a 3rd Party Logistics company and we had people that majored in Zoology, Biology, IT, English, etc. some companies are willing to take a chance on people that have a degree and some work experience even if its not necessarily in the same field.
Apply to different jobs, see what you can find. If you can afford to, take classes at a community college to get an idea of other career paths you might want to consider. Are there any hobbies you have that could turn into a career you love? (i.e. cooking? art? etc)
I figured out in high school that I liked working with and was good working with computers. I took Computer Science classes and figured out I didn't like programming, took Computer Networking and liked it but not enough to do it every day, then I took a digital art class and fell in love.
I've never looked back. I got my BFA in Graphic Design and landed an advertising job doing design for a big midwestern company. I love my job and I see myself being very happy continuing in it. My goal is to eventually be an art director, but that will take many many years.
I acknowledge it's rare to figure out early what you want to do and stick with it. Most of my friends I graduated with switched majors multiple times in college, graduated with a specific degree and now are either going back to school for something else entirely or are not working in their field at all.
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