how do i decide which one i would want as a career?

Hey Keshya,

I can understand how you feel about choosing your career, most people who start out in college don't usually choose a major within a year.

But if I have to say, you are doing the correct thing right now for yourself because you are questioning what you want to do in future. Right now, you could major in business but you might change your major by junior year or your career might change after graduation. The way how I see is this, to find your major, find something that you are genuinely interested in then try it out on your own free time. I think when you choose a major, you are basically choosing the skills you want to learn. Whether it's coding, you like to spend hours and hours on end to figure how to resolve for a program or designing a magazine to the length of showing your work to public.

Nobody has it all together in the beginning, we're all winging it in our own way.

The way how I found my job is by working at a printing company part-time while I was in school, I picked up Adobe programs while I was doing my Computer Science degree. Then along the way, I found out that this was something I want to do, and I change my major at that point.

Try talking to friends or work in a place that you always wanted to work at, then you could find out if some like their job or they're searching something different. Hearing other stories might spark a epiphany.

Here's a different perspective: If you can have a long career where you can honestly say that you've never actually "worked" a day in your life, then you'll know you found yourself where so few others ever have - your "happy zone" where you can make a difference to the world, leave some footprints in the sand, be proud of your efforts, and enjoy every minute of it. Remember, money can't buy happiness or fulfillment. At the end of a really tough day at work, be able to look yourself in the mirror and realize that THIS is what I was always meant to do. :-)

Hi Keshya!

I agree with Andy’s sentiments on doing a bit of self discovery. Combine understanding what motivates you with a couple of small “test drives” and you might be able to sort through the craziness of choosing a career path.

That said, if you know of friends, professionals or even professors of the careers you are interested in, ask them to coffee. Pick their brain on what a day in the life is like. See if you can shadow someone for a half day to really dive in and then check in with yourself. How excited would you be to do that job every day? What makes you feel at home? Classes are certainly different than actually doing the job. So, see if you can take your interests for a test drive first.

Hope this helps!

-Stacey

Hi Keshya,

You're asking quite a big question. It's something that many adults still haven't figured out. And your major might not even lead you to your future job.

From my own experience, I know many people who work in industries unrelated to their undergraduate major (myself included). Unless you're at a vocational school, I feel like the principal purpose of education is to get you to think critically and to better understand yourself and the world around you. That isn't to say that majors don't matter. But if the coursework is robust enough, you should be prepared to handle a wide variety of things.

Another thing to keep in mind is that even once you've graduated and started a career you're not locked into it forever. I studied biology, worked in IT, and now I'm an illustrator in the video games industry. I'm also pursuing a personal interest in writing.

One way to help decide would be to talk to your guidance counselor and/or career center and see if you can get an internship in one of the fields that you're most interested in. You won't necessarily get the full responsibilities but you might get a better idea about what the day-to-day responsibilities are like and if it will suit you.

You can also try to find working professionals in your fields of interest and ask to interview or shadow them. Be polite and courteous and keep in mind that not everyone can accommodate that kind of request. But perhaps you might find a way to get some exposure to your intended major(s).