Trying to pick a career, need a little help.

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trappd-in-859

New Member
Well, its my senior year of highschool and I really have no idea what I want to do after I graduate. I was thinking of something in the medical field because of the job security as well as decent pay. I dont want to get a phd because IMO its a waste of time for me.

For those of you in the medical field, what degree do you have? Now I know asking someones income is rude so could you tell me what someone in your line of work makes in a year?

I am also thinking about something in the legal field like a paralegal, or something along those lines.

TIA to all the people who help me with this.
 
hell im a junior in college and im just getting settled in

took me way to long to even get an idea of what to do and im still not positive

depending on what college credits you are coming out of high school with you can just take the core requirements for the first and second years and see what you are into
 
I'm 15 years into a career and I still don't know what I want to do :)

Don't worry about it - College is a time when you'll see other majors, realise new things, and change your mind. Something will catch your attention. I would suggest the stronger math and sciences fields - But that's because I'm a nerd and I've realised that it's 2005 and there are still no young I.T. pros.

Instead of picking your target, and focusing your eyes in the direction, Slowly focus your eyes and identify the target that you see. So many people find their way through frustration and wasted time because they define their goals incorrectly. Read "Of Mice and Men", it's an important look into how goals, depending on how you achieve them, are ultimately doomed from the start.

-> Steve
 
Read the book, it does show no matter how hard you try to do something there is always something to fuck it up.

But yea, I get what youre saying. Im just trying to get into a field that wont be shipped over seas during my lifetime.
 
The best advice I can give you is don't study Pre-Law or Pre-Med. People that study in those undergrad programs are usually dumber, and destined to be less successful. If you really have the balls for med or law school, major in something related: Biology, Bio-Chem, etc for med and Philosophy, International Relations, etc for Law.

There are numorous studies showing that people that do not study "Pre" programs do better and are more likely to get into Med
 
I have about 2 years under my belt for the networking field. I think this is one of the easiest fields to get into but you have to have an aptitude for computers and for the whole networking dealy-o. I never even went to college and it didn't have to much trouble getting a decent job that pays over 40K minimum for doing almost 0 work... Half the day I spend surfing hondaswap and other misc internet sites.. Or watching TV. hehe
 
What all is involved in networking?

Thanks for the info Citizen, thats something I didnt know.
 
Originally posted by vtecsir1@Sep 4 2005, 03:55 PM
civil engineering or any engineering for that matter.
[post=549565]Quoted post[/post]​


Will engineering jobs still be available inside the US for a long time tho?
 
For a good job, A CCNA is a good start. That teaches you about LAN/WAN configurations on Cisco routers and how routing works. Teaches you basic troubleshooting of why packet wouldn't make it to their destination. You can pick up books on it. If you are a smart guy and can remember alot of stuff from that and can logically think your way through troubleshooting by eliminating causes of your problem you should do fine. The CCNA test cost $128 for the single test or you can take it in 2 parts each test costing $128. A background in computer is helpful. the A+ test can be take in the same fashion.. it is 2 tests and you retain that for life and never have to test again. The CCNA expires every 3 years. I have yet to go get my CCNA again. but it should be pretty easy. The average networking job involve determining why workstations are not connection to the network. installing new workstations and such. I like it alot and this is my career path. In a bigger city i could be making $60k plus with the knowledge I have and that is 3 years experience with an ISP trouble shooting cable modems and link between routers. :)
 
Ok, cool. Dont really know to much about the inner workings of a computer but I do know the basics. Any classes you would suggest taking to become more familiar with them?
 
you should be able to find some vocational classes on A+ and computer systems. if not any of the A+ books do a pretty good job about teaching you as long as you don't mind reading them.. it helps if you pick up a couple of old systems for like $50 a piece and get a 4 port router to link them all and you can mess with that for a while..
 
Since you know alot about the medical field, could you help me with this question? To be a phamacy tech or pharmisist what degree would you need? Im guessing you need a Phd to be a phamisist but what about a tech?
 
I'm be a bum, I aint even get my GED till the age of 21. What do I want to do? Hmmm make money spending as little of time as I can at work. WOOT.

work is over rated.
 
The trick to life is to find something you enjoy doing-- and then find someone who is willing to pay you for doing it.

The IT field is overloaded with recent college grads. its making salarys go down, and lots of people can't even score a job. Fact is, college doesn't teach you shit about things that are used. running this website has done more for my professional career than college did. you get a basic over view about everything in college, but rarely do you get into it deep enough to matter. I did 3 years of college and a 9 month tech school program, and not one thing i do at my job, i learned in school.
i learned php on my own, and started this web site.
i learned mysql on my own, and used it on this website.
php lead me into asp, and ms sql... and thats what i do for a living now... none of which i ever even knew about in school.

They teach you C++, BNC lans, visual basic-- but mostly jsut the click-and-drop forms- not the language behind it.

C++ is great- if you want to make dos programs. but who the fuck uses dos?
BNC conenction lans are from the 80's. sure, you'll touch on tcp/ip, but there's SO much more to it than what you'll learn at school.
visual basic... no one uses that shit. its all .net now
sql? no... they'll teach you access instead. what a useless fucking program IMO.

I was in the same boat you are in... i had no clue. hell, i didn't even own a computer my senior year. well, i did... but it was a 386 with win 3.1 on it... (damn, i'm dating myself here.. lol)

i went in undecalred, and it was the worst thing i ever did.

IMO, if you aren't sure- don't even go.

Soph year, i changed to history.

junior year, i changed to comp sci.

so here i am, a junior, with 3 credits into my major, and a ton of core classes under my belt that i didin't need. Basically, if i would have stayed, i would have been on the 7 yr plan for a freakin bacholors, all because i didn't know what i wanted to do.
$60k later, i said fuck this, i'm out...

if you don't want to go all the way to the phd, going in the medical field is worthless IMO. shitty hours, weekends, holidays, and not the best pay until your at least an RN.
and then there's all the malpractice insurance and shit you ahve to pay for.

frankly, if you wanted to be a doctor, you would have known this a long time ago... i don't think its really want you want.

paralegal-- your basically a secretary who knows the slang/abbr. for legal terms. thats about it.

Whether it be IT, or any other field you think you might like, i highly suggest KNOWING 100% that that's what you want to do with your life.

you have 8 months or so before you need to decide for sure. start cracking.
 
Do you have any friends in any fields that you can actually see what kinda work they do. what complaints they have. what they like? trail and error. Personally I love networking and always have. Makes my job not really a job. Pissedoff is right that your don't learn hardly anything that you use in the real world. Most of my experience comes from doing low level work that just supports my field. It was complete crap but I learned alot and it gives me a base to build off of.

Over all, it depends what you enjoy doing.

Pissedoffsol - At least you didn't bring up Thicknet and vampire taps.. hehe I had a windows 3.0 box - Had to use QEMM to get my games to work right.. ah good times.
 
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