Are you happy with your career?

Wow, what great questions.
First, I would suggest it is important to keep in mind that careers of today are not the careers of tomorrow. The job that I have today and the field that I am in was only starting to form when I was your age. As times change, so do the jobs and career opportunities. It is important then I think to find what you like and also maybe who you are in core values and align your career path with this. I was actually a political science major and when I went to work in my first non-profit they discovered I was quite competent around machines. (Most of the larger systems were called MIS systems at the time, IT didn't really exist as a term). They sent me to my first networking class, database class, and my education grew out of that opportunity. My security passion grew out of my next job where I was working in telecommunications in less-than-stable parts of the world. All new and exciting security challenges in that environment made me think what I really needed to do was find a place where I could work to programmatically solve those challenges and help more people... anyhow, though the career path was less than clear, what was clear was my passion for helping people, which drove the opportunities. And yes, super happy with what I am doing. What I would suggest is find out what drives you, what do you think are your inner qualities, beliefs, values, purpose - and if you already know them, make a note of skills/aptitude you might have. That will help you align the who you are with what you may want to do, and ideally drive you forward. If you find that you want to become a doctor because you want to help people, you have a passion for the human body, etc. than that would be a good opportunity to align. If you decide however you have beliefs and values driving you elsewhere, there are certainly other avenues to pursue!

Happiness is my choice while the career may not be... :) There are always things influencing , may be you influence them, never know.

There is some element of happiness that I can find in anything I did or might have done it.
Perfect happiness is an ideal stage, which may be momentary and sometime not even defined.

So I believe in finding happiness in what I do, than finding the career which makes me happy.
My career was never planned and, always guided by living legends around, as a pinball game.

One thing is common for most of us though, the purpose or the living we make out of it, for us and our dependents.

Answer to the question has always made me happy and satisfied, What am I doing it for? If it is not fulfilling it certainly it is not worth it.
Answer to the question has always motivated me to be good at whatever I did, is it my best performance or I can be better at it?
I am happy that I did not make those choices , so I had a lot of choices to choose from, and I made the best use of them and still making it. Yes!!

Today the careers are knitted so closely that technology brings people closer and doctors use technologies like 'Geeks" :) Reports on ipad !!
So don't worry, even if you pick the career of someone else choice , you would landup doing what you wanted to do, as your wish.
Even if you don't like to do something keep it as a challenge or a spice of life, it would never hurt you for sure. It's like a skill learnt well never goes waste,go for it. you will never regret it.

Keep Smiling :)

I'm glad that you think a lot on the early age for your own career! You are right the world is change faster adn faster, and the right attitude is to embrace the change and be responsible for your future!

My first advice is that you should really follow your heart, you know or you will know when the time comes, what you really want to do. Take myself as an example, I didn't think that much on what I want to do when I was your age, I kinda know I'm creative and like doing writing songs or designing things, but on the other hand I feel the uncertainty on earning enough money to support myself and my familily if I choose art related area. Now I'm an internal auditor with financial background, and I'm happy because I can find things creative on my work, and as long as I earn enough money I can pursue my dream on art anytime!

My second advice is that you should focus more on capability instead of knowledge or skills. knowledge or skills are easier to pick up by people, but also much possible to be replaced by the technology, while capability can't. So really practice all the capbilities including communication skills, logical thinking, creativity etc.

My last advice is that be happy or not is really your own choice, and the key is "living at the moment". People under the same situation might have totally different mood, so always stay positive and enjoy the moment of the life!

Hopefully it helps :)

As a child, I was always fascinated by technology and primarily video games in the SNES/Genesis era. My immigrant parents always wanted me to join a "lucrative profession" like lawyer or doctor, but I found that I was more happy pursuing something that interested me, than investing my life in a direction I found uninteresting.

Luckily my choice to stick in tech has expanded the possibilities in which my career could be pursued. Tech today is so far reaching across industries that it really pays in the long run to get your foundation placed and be able to pick what niche you want to really dive into. Currently I am working in the mobile games industry and I really enjoy delivering fun experiences in quick turnaround. My greatest achievement was developing and shipping a new social feature in one of our games that significantly increased the number of players interacting with each other! It was a great feeling to know that I was really connecting our players with each other add a huge scale!

I am definitely happy with my career choice. I'm sure doctors and lawyers make a lot more, but I would rather stay happy enjoying my time "working" with a reasonable pay than to end up with a lot of money and less happiness. A little philosophical, but it's choice many of us may have to make. I need to be realistic in sustaining my self and any family, but I don't want to lose all happiness in that.

Hi,
That is a fantastic question...I will provide an answer for the career happiness question.
I am happy with the company I work for and my job, I consider Dell to be my career regardless of what job I do for them. Some people may have defined career paths that take them to different companies and organizations within the same career field, I personally have made Dell my career on and off for over 15 years and have done a variety of jobs for Dell, some I enjoy/enjoyed better than others. I think people find job/career satisfaction from different places and for different reasons. I am proud to say I work for Dell even on those days when my job frustrates me! :)
Hope this helps...Gary

You cannot have your career chosen for you, of all of the things that can be taught this is not one of them. Parental influence is inevitable, the most important elements in trying to determine a career path is knowing that you enjoy the subject matter that you will need to study to pursue any given career. Taking a subject under duress is most likely going to fail, you need to be able to relax with subjects that are enjoyable and that you have a genuine interest in. Parents and Peers never always have their best intentions in trying to guide you toward what they see as well intentioned and usually well paid careers. Ultimately it is you that has to live with the choice or spend many more hours, months, years moving to something that you enjoy. Most of your life is spent working, that's a long time to be unhappy so taking the time to really think about what you enjoy and to pursue a career that you have passion for is critical to you future happiness which in turn drives its own success. I wish you all the best.

These are awesome questions! Your point about family influence is relatable for me. As a child, I always loved art & design. But there was an overwhelming sense from most adults I met that a passion for art & design would never be sustainable, reasonable, or useful in terms of job success. I continued to pursue this space in spite of that because I simply loved it. Nothing could keep me away from painting, art history, museums, the psychology of art, etc. Of course, I needed to adapt how and what I learned in this space as I grew older. I learned about UX (user experience) and realized that my passion for design could be applied to a career in tech. Now I research user experiences and designs for a living at Google. So I'd say: stick to your gut passions, especially when you're young, and balance/bring practicality to those gut passions with research about career outlooks, job roles, job growth in different industries, etc. Good luck!

Think back to when you were a child or in your early teens, what were you passionate about? What did you spend hours and hours on and often forgot the time? What did you truly enjoy doing regardless of other people thought? For me a fulfilling career and life needs both passion and meaning, so I have always adjusted my career path based on that, and have not regretted any of the major decisions that I've made, even if they may not appear to have been the best decision, temporarily. Having family pressure is difficult, but try to make them understand that this is ultimately your life and your choice, and even if you make mistakes they are yours to make.

Sounds to me like you have pushy parents who want what they believe to best for you, but from a rather limited view of what is important!

So whilst you should respect and acknowledge the input your parents have, and heed it, there's no need to follow it.

Beware of making a negative choice out of rebellion (i.e. not law/medicine), but instead try lots of different things, and find what is truly you. And don't be afraid if it is indeed law or medicine to admit that - provided that it's your own choice. As the other respondents say, it has to come from what motivates you.

This question is really about your self-esteem, confidence and career aspirations. The answer must be ‘yes’, followed by a brief explanation as to what it is about your career so far that has made you happy. If you have hit a career plateau, or you feel you are moving too slowly, then you must qualify your answer.