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I have been in college for three years, I'm starting my fourth year now. I still don't have a solid, sure feeling of something that I'd love to do for the rest of my life.
How did you bees figure that out? How did you just "know"?
I'm just feeling down today. Sometimes I wonder if there really IS something that I'm that great at and be really passionate about. Sometimes I feel like I have an empty personality. And it sucks!
End rant.
@JeffsWifey: I feel the exact same way a lot, I'm sort of glad I'm not the only one. I wish I could "just know" too. It's so difficult to justify the costs of college when I still don't know what I'm going to do afterwards, so I'm curious to see some responses also!
i'm a software engineer, technically my title is "senior web developer" and i never ever had an idea that's what i wanted to do. it was totally by accident that i stumbled on software development and i just loved it as soon as my friend tried to get me to write an app. before that I thought i was going to law school. i'm sure glad i abandoned that.
I'm 23 and I still don't know!
Honestly, the only thing I want to be is a mom! I would love to just take care of my kids and bake cookies all day. I really belonged in the 50's!
I have to be honest..I'm in the last year of law school and I'm still not sure! I just hope I will find it when I start looking...
my niece is 18 and getting ready for university, i told her that she is going to have a few careers in her life so try not to think about it as having to choose something for "the rest of her life" but do think about a career that is portable so she can travel and move into different industries
im an accountant, its something i fell into from when i was in construction and im good at it/enjoy it but when i was 18 i wanted to be a teacher for special needs
I'm about to enter grad school to be a teacher after taking 2 years off from school while I worked at a desk job at a university. I'm going to be honest-- I had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated college. But after a year or so at a desk job I knew what I didn't want to do (not that desk jobs are bad, they're just not for me). I honestly just chose something I had a feeling I might enjoy and decided to go for it. I figured I could sit around and hope I would figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life while I worked at an unsatisfying job, or I could take a risk doing something I will most likely like and even love right now. This might not be my career forever, but it's what I'm pretty sure I'll like right now. Now let's hope it works out!
That's the thing! I want to be a sahm mom, but at the same time, I want to be on the same intellectual plane as my husband who will have a Doctorates degree!
I guess I just kinda "knew". I had taken an English class in high school that made me love it so much I never wanted to stop. I had been raised to love reading and writing but this put my passion on a whole new level.
My parents at the time thought it was a stupid idea, and basically didn't believe in me. So I convinced myself that I wanted to major in chem. And while Im super interested in it still, my brain can't wrap itself around it well enough to major in it. I nearly flunked my chem class first semester of college and I was lost in a sea of numbers and letters.
After that experience, I knew doing something just because my parents told me it's what I should do wasn't what was right for me. It was MY job and something I'D have to live with for the rest of my life. THEY wouldn't be working my job.
And now I'm happier than ever because of my choice. I have a lot of schooling left but I guess I'm lucky?
In high school people told me I was good with kids and I should be a teacher. I didn't want to do that because I didn't want to deal with difficult children. I went to college as a marketing major. I never took one business class but I got a job working in an office and I thought it was BORING! Time went so slowly in that office environment. So, 2nd semester my freshman year I changed my major, wanting to be a buyer for a department store. I took a few classes in that field that semester. That summer after freshman year I was unable to get a job in retail. However, I was able to get a job as a teacher's aid and the rest is history. I went back to school in the fall and changed my major again. I graduated with a degree in elementary education. I've been teaching for over 20 years now. Somehow I did figure out how to deal with difficult children (though I didn't learn it in college).
ETA: Actually I was an elementary teacher for 13 years. I went back to school (while still teaching full time) and finished my Master's so for the last 8 years I have been a school librarian (still technically classified as a teacher). I decided to get my library degree because as a classroom teacher one of my favorite things to do with my students was read to them, teach reading, recommend books and the like. It just made sense. BTW I don't miss grading papers!
I've always, always wanted to teach. I played school with my siblings, and read the encyclopedias for fun (that's kind of embarrassing to admit... but I actually still enjoy that!). So, it was an easy decision to make.
I'm always going to be a teacher at heart, too, even if I'm not in a classroom for my whole life. I've actually thought about going for my financial counseling certification down the road too because I enjoy money management (and think I'm pretty decent, considering that we don't have much of it!) and would love to teach the skills of budgeting, living within one's means, and being frugal to others.
After looking at my interests to get a rough idea of the area, I got involved with the field, took classes on it, and after working in the tourist industry in high school and part of college so knew I didn't want day-to-day interaction with the public (...if I get bitten by a child or teen one more time...)
What cemented it was a summer-long internship. Despite being way understaffed, cleaning up a former registrar's mess, worrying about the government cutting our budget even further, I loved every minute I was in the collections management office. I love looking at the numbers and hunting down the objects, updating the museum registration system and catalog cards, renumbering objects, and sitting in collections committee meetings. It's academic and anal retentive- so I was thrilled to pieces. Getting a good review from my mentor also helped- it's amazing what positive reinforcement can do.
@SweetRose2011: I have that same passionate feeling for history. I know I'll be majoring in history, the problem is that every even slightly related job near campus is work study only and I don't qualify... so I don't have a good way to know if I'll enjoy it.
Honestly I couldn't stand being a stay at home mom, I hate cooking! So glad my FI loves to cook. And I can handle cleaning but I'd rather not spend all day at it. That would make this whole future thing so much easier though! ;)
I wish I knew what I wanted to do in college too! I thought I was interested in science (research, pharma etc), because I was good at it. So now I'm in my 4th year of a PhD program and I HATE it. So that's how you know you DON'T want to do this for a living haha. Last year I started volunteering with young kids teaching them science though, and I absolutely love it! You can just tell when you look forward to doing something, the time flies when you're doing it, and you can really see yourself getting up everyday to go to work. I can't wait to finish up so I can make the career change, though most people will probably look at me like I'm crazy 
I was exactly the same. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I studied Music at university because I liked it and was good at it in school. I went through phases of wanting to be a conductor, a musician, an academic researcher, etc.
After uni I got a horrible temp job in a recruitment company to pay the bills and then did loads of auditions. I was cast in a touring panto which you'd think would be me all set on the road to stardom but actually I decided against it afterwards.The lifestyle just wasn't for me.
I went back to temping and applied for any job that came up in arts management/concert management/etc. Eventually I managed to get the one I'm in now as a Marketing Officer for a performing arts venue. When I took the job I didn't think it was what I wanted (just a foot in the door) but it only took about 3 weeks for my aptitude for this to be obvious and now I'm quite happy to set off in music/arts marketing as a career.
What I learned from this is that you'll probably never 'know' until you actually start doing it. So just do lots of things that you're good at and see what happens I guess!
Wow, this has been an issue weighing on my mind...I really envy people who have found their calling and are passionate in their jobs.
I'm 24, currently pursuing my Masters in Architecture (already in it for 5 years with another year to go) and yet I have not found my calling.
When you choose a professional field like architecture and actually proceed to the stage of Masters, people naturally expect you to become an architect. But unlike some of my peers, architecture is not really my passion and I chose that field because of my creative inclinations (though admittedly limited) and due to the limited types of courses offered in my small country. I feel guilty everytime I confess that I may not be pursuing an architecture career in the end. Many architecture graduates do go on to pursue careers in other design-related or even non-related fields, but I haven't really figured out what I want to do.
However, in the course of my studies, I did discover something I'm really interested in, that is fashion. Which brings me to my next confession:
I'm actually not a bride, not engaged, not waiting, and I've never even had a boyfriend.
What brought me to WB was my love for perusing through gorgeous gowns and I loved participating in polls, helping Bees making fashion decisions and design choices. However, inspiration hit me one day as I was perusing gowns again - what about becoming a wedding dress designer? Hahaha...the thought really excited me and I think it could be a potentially fulfiling job for me designing dream gowns for brides. However, I have no idea where to start. It was just a very happy thought and a field I could potentially pursue. I have no idea if I would be good in it or if I have the courage to trek down an unbeaten path but we'll have to see what happens after I graduate!
What I want to do for a living and what I do for a living are two very different things. I want to be an event planner. I've always loved planning events and I think I'm genuinely good at it. After our wedding I'm going to get the ball rolling by taking some online classes. What I do is very different. I'm currently an auditor for the corporate office of a retail chain. It pays the bills and it's not terrible but it's definitely not what I want to do for the rest of my working life.
I'm 30 and I have no idea.
I ended up getting a degree in Communication Studies because I was three years into school and I needed to pick something. A counselor basically told me, "everyone will hire someone who talks good!", so I went with that. It wasn't until near the end of the major that I realized that I could really only do PR or advertising with that degree and that both seemed shady and awful.
So, I got out of school and found a temp job in a file room. It happened to be for a pharmaceutical company. Several years and a couple companies later, I'm doing admin-level paperwork at a desk job in the clinical trial industry. I waver back and forth between finding it tolerable (it pays the bills) and hating it.
I'd love to do something that I enjoy and would pay enough for me to live on, but I have no idea what that would be or how to even begin going about finding it.
So if you figure out the secret, please let me know. Thanks.
This is exactly why I think people should be encouraged to work for a few years before going to college. Many have 'wasted degrees' and end up never using them for anything other than for how they look on a resume. Of course being educated beyond high school should never be a waste, but with all the requirements for degree fulfillment, how many times do you actually use any of it?
There are MANY people who never get that AHA experience until they are well into their 30's. I was one of them. It does become more difficut to do when you have a family, but its certainly doable!
I've always been a huge sports fan so I decided pretty early on I had to work in that field. I knew I wasn't cut out to be a couch and broadcasting sounded awful to me so I came up with the idea of being a sportswriter because I've always been a good writer.
Well, I wrote for my college newspaper my freshman year and hated it. So I had to come up with something that still allowed me to use my writing in sports. That summer I got an awesome sports media relations internship. With this job I really enjoyed working WITH the athletes and coaches instead of just interviewing them.
So this is what I've done for my career for the last eight years.
I'm 10 years out of high school with my BS in Business and my MA in Justice Studies - and I work as a Project Manager in Health Care Operations. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
@smyley: I agree. My son graduated from high school last year. He didn't really want to go to college because he said he had no idea what he wanted to study. I insisted that he go first semester. That didn't go over well. He took 2nd semester off and worked two jobs. He was working more hours than I do! One of his jobs laid him off in May. I'm torn right now whether to encourage him to go back to school or just work whatever jobs he can find because he still doesn't know what he wants to study and I'm thinking it might not be wise to take out student loans just to have a degree (most likely in something he really doesn't want to do) and not necessarily end up with a job (this economy is terrible) but certainly end up with a lot of student loan debt. It seems that things are so much harder these days as opposed to when I went to college in the 80's.
One of mine started in International Business and ended with a major in History,minor in French. Both are good for???
She's now back for a different degree in Speech Pathology. 8 years later, I hope this is the one!
I'd let him decide. He may need to work a few years to figure it out. He's young and has plenty of time.
I thought I knew but the moment I graduated and started working in my field I hated what a money grab the whole industry is and quit.
I'm a vet assistant.
I didnt. Hell, I still dont know what my "calling" is. I went into a familar field - engineering. I could do the course work, I knew there was decent money in it....nothing else really seemed that interseting so this is what I did. I dont love it, I dont hate it... its just a job that pays decent money.
@JeffsWifey: I honestly just kind of fell into what I do by a natural evolution of things. What do you love to do? What makes you happy when you do it? What does you want to do or wish you were doing when you have other obligations? Those are some good signs of what you *should* be doing. You can learn a lot about what you're good at by taking a closer look at your hobbies!
Also, consider volunteering even if you only have a teensy bit of time to do it! I majored in English and journalism the first time around because, well, I was good at it and it was easy for me. It certainly wasn't my passion and I had no idea what I'd do with it. I fell into what I do now because an area domestic violence counseling center was putting on a ball my senior year of college. My boss was on their board and invited me along because I love planning parties. It turned into so much more than that because I fell in love with the work! Working alongside the women who worked at the shelter inspired me and as soon as I had my degree in hand I enrolled in a victim advocacy program and joined them on staff.
I got hired at my insurance agents office at 20, and was in college without a real plan. Now, I am an insurance broker on the health and life side, and love it. Its good money, and pretty much recession proof. PLus, I can make my own hours, and work as much or as little as I want.
What is your major? Did I miss it?
I was a Psych major/Health Sci minor and graduated in 2010. Instead of going straight to graduate school, I took a postbaccalaureate research position in the lab I did my senior thesis in, but in a different capacity - went from basic science to patient research. It's really helped hone my interest from general (I like neuroimaging!) to specific (I like the study of psychophysiological reactions to chronic pain patients under different emotional, cognitive, and pain-related situations). Now I'm stoked to go to grad school because I have a purpose and a passion and I know I can market it - and it's something I can branch out from and move on from over the course of my career, I'm not stuck.
All that to say, getting an intro job in a field I was considering for the past year and a half was a lifesaver and made me so much more marketable to continue in my passion. Just gotta start somewhere!
@JeffsWifey: I have to say that I changed my major two times. I was passionate about all three, but I discovered the one that I was truly gifted at by chance.
Perhaps you could read the book "What Color Is My Parachute", sounds dorky but I read it after I had already decided and it was spot on to my goals.
We all have different gifts, you just have to discover yours. Some people know straight out of high school, my FH just had an ephiphany about this last night (after he graduated). I really do suggest the book.
Good Luck!
*waves* Joining the club! I'm 30, and have no idea what I want to be when I grow up, lol! I've bounced back and forth between what pays the bills, always with a desire to go back to school and form a career after that. For a long time, I thought I wanted to be an interior designer/decorator, but then I got to doing some research about it all, and had an "AHA" moment that it WASN'T what I wanted to do, after all. After some soul searching, I had another "AHA" moment, but I'm hesitant to confirm that that's it, because for so long, I was sure of the decorator/design thing, and that turned out to be false. Anyway, I'm still not sure.
I knew from age 5 or so that I wanted to be a scientist/marine biologist. 22 years and multiple marine bio degrees later, I do environmental microbiology for a drug company (ties directly back to my passions).
I'm going on my 4th year of work post-college and I'm still not totally sure what I want to do with my life! I have a lot of different interests and I think the next job I choose can set that path for me. I love what I do right now, but I can also see myself doing something totally different.
I am not doing exactly what I got my degree in, but I do not feel like it was a waste...I learned what I wanted to learn in college, but I don't necessarily believe that at 18 I was prepared to choose the job I'd still like to be doing when I'm 50. I'm currently in the same field as my degree (education) but I'm open to trying something else. I'm only 25, so at this point, I don't know if I'm ready to box myself in to a single career path.
I'm an interior designer, and apparently always had a passion for it. When I was 6 years old, my grandmother would be watching me as my mom was at work. When mom got home, she would find me pushing furniture around (across her nice hardwood floors, no less)...and I did it CONSTANTLY. My brother wanted to be an architect (which never happened), but we always used to pretend we had our own firm when we were little. Here I am, many maaaaaaany years later, and I'm an interior designer. And I'd love to be doing something else. hahaha. I'm thinking an event coordinator of some type. I seriously do love the bridal industry.
Hi! I miss chatting with you. Gotta run for now-Just wanted to say hi, and it's nice seeing you on the board. :)
I love words, so I am an editor. I also love dogs, so at some point I would like to start working towards dog training on the side. Or full-time, whatever ends up working out.
In a perfect world, I would be a farmer and novelist, but I'm OK with the imperfect right now.
@Grizz: Volunteering is a GREAT idea! I love athletics, I'm fascinated by the human body, and when I'm sitting at my current desk job, I always wish I was up around and moving and interracting with others. Personal training might be the way to go.
My husband and I were having a conversation about this last night. He is in his second year of his Doctorate of PT program. I asked him, "How SURE were you when you started?" He said, "Absolutely."
I just want that kind of confirmation! Points for him, though. He said as soon as he's done with school, if I want to move to a school somewhere else in the country, he'll be more than happy to find a job anywhere.
Thank you ladies for all your responses! It's fascinating to read all your journeys and how you feel about your jobs.
For the record, I'm almost done with an AS in just general studies.
I'm almost 25 and I still don't know! I've been out of college for 3+ years and had 3 different (completely different ) professional jobs and none of them are necessarily what I want to do, even though there have been aspects of all three that I have enjoyed. I hate not knowing what I want to do, but I try not to worry about it too much!
@MsJeep23: What sort of editor?
@scottsouth: You can do a LOT more than PR and advertising with a Comm degree!
I'm starting my junior year in college in two weeks (Im old though-26) and I will be graduating with a Communications major and Creative Writing minor. Originally I wanted to be an events manager for a non-profit and that is still my second choice. I'm a super-planner (much to my FI's distaste lol!) and very organized. My little sister also does this so I know a bit about the day-to-day of this job. However, it took a friend of mine to send me some of his writing for me to critique for me to figure out what I would love love love to do. I would love to be an aquistition editor for a publishing company. I love to read. I can read easier than I can breathe. When I was a kid I didn't get grounded from the tv, I got grounded from my books! This is my first choice, but as it is a very competitive field and a lot of the jobs are in NYC (a deal breaker for my country loving self) who knows if that is where I will end up.
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