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I'm confused on what career I should focus on.
My main interest are science, math, drawing, phycology and computers science. I'm trying to think of a career that would suit me best, I know I'm young but I love to plan ahead.
#career #science #computer #math #science #psychology #computer-science
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Aloysius’s Answer
hi Tyler, thank you for sharing the list of subjects of current interests. One could either spend time to self-reflect and see if you see if the passion is for a subject or two from the list or the other approach is to see what the passion/attraction within each of the subjects. This would help you to see whether you'd fancy a 'generalist' role or a 'specialist role' within a given domain. To arrive at the domain i.e. industry sector like Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Computer applications, Robotics & Automation etc.
I think you have an awesome list of current interests, the goal is to always ensure the focus is on applied knowledge. Gaining knowledge comes with it share of painstaking effort, commitment, zeal and monetary support. The second step post acquiring that knowledge is spending time, energy and effort in finding areas that demand application of that knowledge. (a good number of people make the mistake of forgetting to focus on this aspect and as a result go into a 'dinosaur era' where they begin to rely solely on their personal work experiences).
One idea is to look up your listings of events locally and online around Startups programs or Incubators as they are also more widely known as. These startups are on a continual pursuit of new frontiers. Given their focus is to apply technologies to solve for pain points or realize opportunities, these emerging tech tend to be super agnostic to domain or industry sectors.
In summary, spend some time to fine tune your list of attractions of subjects, within subjects the areas to draw out your strengths/skills. Then go about researching on your PC/Mac events and also look up part-time jobs to work with Start-ups or established businesses that touch Computing.
Wishing you the very best as Math, Science and Computer Science would certainly keep your acquired knowledge high in demand, do continue to excel in application of your knowledge.
I think you have an awesome list of current interests, the goal is to always ensure the focus is on applied knowledge. Gaining knowledge comes with it share of painstaking effort, commitment, zeal and monetary support. The second step post acquiring that knowledge is spending time, energy and effort in finding areas that demand application of that knowledge. (a good number of people make the mistake of forgetting to focus on this aspect and as a result go into a 'dinosaur era' where they begin to rely solely on their personal work experiences).
One idea is to look up your listings of events locally and online around Startups programs or Incubators as they are also more widely known as. These startups are on a continual pursuit of new frontiers. Given their focus is to apply technologies to solve for pain points or realize opportunities, these emerging tech tend to be super agnostic to domain or industry sectors.
In summary, spend some time to fine tune your list of attractions of subjects, within subjects the areas to draw out your strengths/skills. Then go about researching on your PC/Mac events and also look up part-time jobs to work with Start-ups or established businesses that touch Computing.
Wishing you the very best as Math, Science and Computer Science would certainly keep your acquired knowledge high in demand, do continue to excel in application of your knowledge.
Updated
Barry’s Answer
Choosing a career is difficult. But I have observed you really don't choose a career (a progression of assignments and levels of responsibility over time), one just sort of happens. But you can choose to prepare yourself for certain career possibilities and even prune the opportunities (ex. staying technical or going into management).
It is critical to choose a career based on something you love. It is much easier to succeed if you love your work. Of course knowing what you love is difficult to guess at. So get some experience (via courses, internships, interviewing people in different fields, etc.) in several fields to help guide you.
You may find you will chose to charge "careers" several times over your lifetime. In my case I believed I wanted to be an Architect until I reached college. As I took classes I lost interest, and I moved into Engineering. I started as an Electrical Engineer but over time I received a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering . But I have worked most of my life as a Software Engineer.
So I would concentrate on the preparation aspect now. Getting a good education is a critical enabler. Seems STEM fields are the most critical to study for your stated goals. As your education progresses you can concentrate on some fields (say Computer Science or Psychology). Even in such fields there re sub-fields to study (say Artificial Intelligence in the Computer Science field). Be prepared for continual learning. it does not stop after college.
First get a general education, then a STEM education.
Experiment with several fields if you can, then select one that seems most suited and prepare deeply for it. But be prepared to change your mind.
It is critical to choose a career based on something you love. It is much easier to succeed if you love your work. Of course knowing what you love is difficult to guess at. So get some experience (via courses, internships, interviewing people in different fields, etc.) in several fields to help guide you.
You may find you will chose to charge "careers" several times over your lifetime. In my case I believed I wanted to be an Architect until I reached college. As I took classes I lost interest, and I moved into Engineering. I started as an Electrical Engineer but over time I received a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering . But I have worked most of my life as a Software Engineer.
So I would concentrate on the preparation aspect now. Getting a good education is a critical enabler. Seems STEM fields are the most critical to study for your stated goals. As your education progresses you can concentrate on some fields (say Computer Science or Psychology). Even in such fields there re sub-fields to study (say Artificial Intelligence in the Computer Science field). Be prepared for continual learning. it does not stop after college.
Barry recommends the following next steps:
Updated
Carolina’s Answer
Hi Tyler, it's never too early to start looking ahead so be proud that you are already thinking about this. Looks like you have identified subjects that you really enjoy and that's a great first step. All of these can lead to many different kinds of careers/jobs so to help start narrowing it down, I'd suggest a couple of things:
1 - Make a list on the things you like the most about these fields, and another one of things you don't like as much (think about what drives you to like them, what would you like to create or give with these interests, and what about if you had to do it everyday?)
2 - Look up college coursework related to these fields. For example, what are all the classes you would need to complete to pursue a career in Math, Drawing, etc? Even though the list of classes won't necessarily define what kind of job you may have, it's still the foundation to prepare you for these opportunities so having an interest for the majority of these (or at least that sound interesting) can be a good indicator.
3 - Look up and read about what people in these fields do and what day in/day out looks like for them (if you don't know people that are in these fields already). For example, regardless if you are looking for a job or not, look up job postings from different companies and organizations so you can see what kind of exposure and experience you would get, and what the company/organization vision is.
One last note to think about, you don't have to choose one. Of course things like time and money for your training will come into play, but hoping you know there are options to pursue more than one career. Also, there are some commonalities in your fields of interest which can be helpful (some of the coursework may be shared for different fields).
Hope this helps a bit with next steps, and wish you the best of luck. Keep up the great mindset.
1 - Make a list on the things you like the most about these fields, and another one of things you don't like as much (think about what drives you to like them, what would you like to create or give with these interests, and what about if you had to do it everyday?)
2 - Look up college coursework related to these fields. For example, what are all the classes you would need to complete to pursue a career in Math, Drawing, etc? Even though the list of classes won't necessarily define what kind of job you may have, it's still the foundation to prepare you for these opportunities so having an interest for the majority of these (or at least that sound interesting) can be a good indicator.
3 - Look up and read about what people in these fields do and what day in/day out looks like for them (if you don't know people that are in these fields already). For example, regardless if you are looking for a job or not, look up job postings from different companies and organizations so you can see what kind of exposure and experience you would get, and what the company/organization vision is.
One last note to think about, you don't have to choose one. Of course things like time and money for your training will come into play, but hoping you know there are options to pursue more than one career. Also, there are some commonalities in your fields of interest which can be helpful (some of the coursework may be shared for different fields).
Hope this helps a bit with next steps, and wish you the best of luck. Keep up the great mindset.
Updated
Arlene’s Answer
Hi Tyler,
It is wise to start young! I noticed that you have a broad set of interests. Don't be afraid to try them all, do a deep dive and try to narrow down a specific area of interest that you think you will be passionate about for a long time. Note, you may find yourself down to 2 or 3 choices but still I think you will end up better than you started :)
My recommended next steps are:
1. Read more about the topic of your interest (try library, books, google, YouTube, free online class)
2. If you are still attending school, sign up to any extra curricular activities or extra class or volunteer activities that involves your set of interest. Don't be shy! Think of it as a free ticket to go on training.
3. Check your community and get involved. Sign up if it sparks your interest.
4. Last but not the least, imagine. Imagine yourself doing a job which is related to your interest. Then, imagine yourself progressing in that path for the next 10, 20 or even 40 years of your life. The more you can see yourself doing that job for a longer period of time means that could be your best career fit.
Depending which age group you are in, you can also:
5. Apply for company internship
6. Take in side jobs or contractual jobs until you find your best interest.
I also found this career matching website, I think it can give you roughly a good idea in which career your are best suited with.
https://www.careeronestop.org/toolkit/Skills/skills-matcher-questions.aspx
Good luck with your journey!
It is wise to start young! I noticed that you have a broad set of interests. Don't be afraid to try them all, do a deep dive and try to narrow down a specific area of interest that you think you will be passionate about for a long time. Note, you may find yourself down to 2 or 3 choices but still I think you will end up better than you started :)
My recommended next steps are:
1. Read more about the topic of your interest (try library, books, google, YouTube, free online class)
2. If you are still attending school, sign up to any extra curricular activities or extra class or volunteer activities that involves your set of interest. Don't be shy! Think of it as a free ticket to go on training.
3. Check your community and get involved. Sign up if it sparks your interest.
4. Last but not the least, imagine. Imagine yourself doing a job which is related to your interest. Then, imagine yourself progressing in that path for the next 10, 20 or even 40 years of your life. The more you can see yourself doing that job for a longer period of time means that could be your best career fit.
Depending which age group you are in, you can also:
5. Apply for company internship
6. Take in side jobs or contractual jobs until you find your best interest.
I also found this career matching website, I think it can give you roughly a good idea in which career your are best suited with.
https://www.careeronestop.org/toolkit/Skills/skills-matcher-questions.aspx
Good luck with your journey!
Updated
Rebecca’s Answer
Hi Tyler, I don't know how old you are. I am glad to hear that you would like to plan ahead on your future career and you have a wide range of interest.
Firstly, I suggest you ask yourself which one like most among your interest and you can rank them.
Then, you can find out what career are related to you interest, e.g. You like science. You can consider to be a scientist, a science teacher, etc. You can do more research on each of these careers one by one. You can then find out what careers you like and suitable to your character. You don't need to select one at this stage but you can shortlist a few of them.
You can further explore on the careers you have shortlisted, e.g. the actual working life of the career, speak to someone who is working in the industry, etc. You may have more visibility which career you would like to focus and develop. Hence, you move forward on that direction.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Firstly, I suggest you ask yourself which one like most among your interest and you can rank them.
Then, you can find out what career are related to you interest, e.g. You like science. You can consider to be a scientist, a science teacher, etc. You can do more research on each of these careers one by one. You can then find out what careers you like and suitable to your character. You don't need to select one at this stage but you can shortlist a few of them.
You can further explore on the careers you have shortlisted, e.g. the actual working life of the career, speak to someone who is working in the industry, etc. You may have more visibility which career you would like to focus and develop. Hence, you move forward on that direction.
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Updated
Botakrider’s Answer
You have a broad area of interests so I suggest that you focus on one priority you really like pursue. Since you put science first, there are so many fields in that area that you can take a look at. You'll have to put your effort on that one which most interests you, say like physics and/or chemistry. Then you take off from there and zero in on the specialization you would pursue. It does not hurt to become a generalist first.
All the best.
All the best.
Updated
Maudlyn’s Answer
Hi Tyler
There's an article here on STEM careers - might give you an idea of what job you could do within your areas of interest.
https://twigeducation.com/blog/10-exciting-stem-careers-for-2020/
It might also be worth searching for the top 3 STEM Universities and checking out their courses: Columbia, Cornell and University of Buffalo.
All the best!
There's an article here on STEM careers - might give you an idea of what job you could do within your areas of interest.
https://twigeducation.com/blog/10-exciting-stem-careers-for-2020/
It might also be worth searching for the top 3 STEM Universities and checking out their courses: Columbia, Cornell and University of Buffalo.
All the best!
Updated
Jessica’s Answer
Hi Tyler, suggest you can try out internship, part-time and assistant jobs in the potential fields you are interested in to feel what its like to take a job in that area. Then try to find people that have few years, 5+ years, 10+ years and 20+ years of experience in that field, speak to them to get some ideas how its like working in that field, whats their tips, whats their suggestions on career choices, what made them choose this career, what does it make to be really good in this career field. This will help you make the decisions.
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Daisy’s Answer
It's wise to plan ahead when you are young. But you should also remember that one of the advantages of being young is you can afford to try multiple different things to really understand what you like and good at. I would recommend you to try focus on one area per time and give it your best first. Find out what works for you and what doesn't work. Don't limit yourself too early in your career.