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The Career Discussion Thread
Because what good's all the education without somewhere to use it? Some people get the benefit of doing something they love or can geek out over and for others it's just a means to an end.
I'm a Quantity Surveyor, I do accounts for construction sites, I buy and negotiate packages of work. I've done this for nearly 10 years now and I'm feeling stagnant with it. What I'd really like to get into is Building Information Modelling (BIM) using these new high tech software packages. The company is not the best at embracing this stuff but I've asked our BIM expert how to get into it and I've looked up some expensive independent training courses in London. If I can get my chartership it could open more doors too.
I hope I'm not shit talking because my current job makes me work away and I'm hoping for marriage and having kids in the next few years.
I wish my work ethic was better, I can be so lazy and procrastination is my tragic flaw.
What's your career been like? Does it fit your imagination? What's next?
I'm a Quantity Surveyor, I do accounts for construction sites, I buy and negotiate packages of work. I've done this for nearly 10 years now and I'm feeling stagnant with it. What I'd really like to get into is Building Information Modelling (BIM) using these new high tech software packages. The company is not the best at embracing this stuff but I've asked our BIM expert how to get into it and I've looked up some expensive independent training courses in London. If I can get my chartership it could open more doors too.
I hope I'm not shit talking because my current job makes me work away and I'm hoping for marriage and having kids in the next few years.
I wish my work ethic was better, I can be so lazy and procrastination is my tragic flaw.
What's your career been like? Does it fit your imagination? What's next?
Comments
It's interesting, because it touches on both my love of science and my desire to help people via the healthcare industry. I'd wanted to be a doctor, but decided that it was too much work for too little reward. But there are other ways to safeguard health.
Given to do over again, I may have focused on clinical microbiology rather than environmental/food, largely because there are more opportunities and mobility on the clinical end of things. From what I've looked at, environmental/food is more individually challenging (we work with a lot of bizarre bugs and unique situations), but clinical work more directly impacts people.
The job is stagnant now, but that's due to forces beyond my control. We're also gearing up for whole-genome sequencing, so that should provide some new enthusiasm.
I wanted to go to a 4 year college, but my parents couldn't afford it. So here I was, a high school graduate with honors going to community college, while all my good high school friends went to prestigious 4 year schools. I sort of felt left behind.
However, living at home and going to community college worked out. I ended up working at local hole in the wall video store that had a "Japanimation" section, that got me more into anime. That led me to discover an local anime rental shop (VHS), to where I ended up befriending people that I call my good friends today. This also led me being part of conventions, etc.
Anyhoo, after several jobs and being fired as a banker from Well Fargo, I landed a job with the VA in 2003, by suggestion of my mother who worked there. It was entry-level. I eventually worked my way up at the VA Hospital to medical biller/revenue technician, but was stuck with no upward mobility.
Since summer 2013, I moved from the Veterans Health Administration to the Veterans Benefits Administration. I went in, taking a downgrade in GS/Level (but not pay because government pay doesn't work that way), but I was hired on a Veterans Service Representative (VSR: work on claims to help get them rated in favor of the veteran's request for compensation) within 8 months. I've been working as a VSR for over a year now and was recently promoted up two GS levels. I should get another GS Level increase next year and the next year, as long as I can test out and get selected by management. I have a very good chance of getting selected to be a Senior VSR due to all the extra duties I take on (Military Sexual Trauma Coordinator, Programs Super User, Training Committee, Military Records Specialist).
I figure I work at least a year or two as a VSR, then apply to be a Rater (RVSR/rates claims, makes decisions on what level of compensation a veteran gets). A few years of being a Rater, I then apply to be a DRO (Decision Review Officer/reviews work of others and is a subject matter expert). They make the equivalent or more than our bosses and we're still bargaining/with union representation.
Going to the Veterans Benefits Administration was one of the best moves I have made in regards to my careers. I was assigned to one of the hardest teams that deals with the most difficult cases that normally new hires don't get assigned to. I work on cases to include TBI (traumatic brain injury), PTSD due to Military Sexual Trauma, Parkinson's, ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), MS (multiple sclerosis), POWs, Homeless Veterans, Very Seriously Injured/Seriously Injured veterans (paraplegics), and Terminally Ill cases. While the work I do is crazy challenging, it's never boring and keeps me motivated to work hard everyday.
It can get tough at times when I do call MST veterans to where I have to get some additional information in regards to their assault. There have been many times where end up crying on the phone and it's so hard not to cry. In the end, most of the cases I do work on have the veteran getting some sort of benefit, which makes me feel like all the crazy stress and hard work is worth it.
TL;DR
Didn't go to 4 year college and didn't get a degree, but ended up on a path to where it nurtured my inner-geek to be a full fledged geek and into a career path that I'm very happy with, with decent pay, and a sense of accomplishment.
Fortunately around the time of the financial crisis, I moved from what was now called Study Management to IT and haven't looked back. Lots more growth potential, weekends and a awesome father like boss, I've now spent 11 years with the company and for a while was traveling a lot and feeling pretty good.
Recently though they finally got someone to cover a few of the sites I was covering and the job has gotten a bit more stagnant, though I'm still increasing in pay and position rapidly. At this point I'm about 3 years out from being the Manager of IT for the location and maybe even a region so it's not that bad but it's hard waiting.
Decided to change to go back to school when I realised 70% of my class had already left the profession way earlier than I had, instead of doing Medicine which is equally as full of idiots and a job that demands way more time than it should. I actually wanted to do Computer Science and Engineering out of high school but was heavily influenced and full of myself at the time so took the advice of a random friend of the family.
Having fun at University again, work is very simple. Hopefully I get a job which is intellectually challenging but if I get something monotonous and pays well I don't give a shit as it is a way to make enough money and holidays to enjoy doing stuff I like (and I would likely have some health science consulting software that I want to write and market).
Specifically, I am a public defender. I'm not married to the defense side or anything, this was just the easiest job to get in a tough market. I'm not very happy living where I live, so I spent a lot of time, money and effort to become admitted to the Bar in a state where I'd rather be, and I'm currently sending out resumes almost every day to people in that state.
My clients range from people charged with Public Intoxication to people charged with Murder. My Murder defendant is set for trial in July and, at this point, it looks like he's going to trial. Bad decision on his part. He's been offered twenty to serve if he pleads guilty, but if he goes to trial he's liable to get life without parole.
Being a PD is mostly a thankless job. You try and protect the rights of people who most other people hate and despise, for which those people hate and despise you as well, because how can you represent those people if you don't somehow endorse their bad behaviors? Meanwhile, the people whose rights you're trying to protect hate and despise you because they confuse you with the system and they think your kung fu is no good because they didn't have to pay for you. Finally, you aren't paid very well. However, you end up with great war stories.
It's a little like being in the X-Men. Most people, including the people you try and help, dislike you for trying to do your job.
I'm not attracted to it so much for the "helping people" thing but for the persuasion thing. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, like convincing a jury to return with a "Not Guilty". This doesn't happen very often, so you can't rely on this for a source of job satisfaction. There's a similar, but less intense feeling related to convincing a prosecutor to give your guy a favorable offer.
Even though I like it a lot, I wouldn't advise anyone to choose this as a career. The job market is terrible, and there is usually very little job satisfaction.
I started tooling around with audio not too long before I joined this forum (16). I kept practicing and learning because I wanted to work in radio. In college, I pursued Journalism and then, when I started to feel it not being such a good fit, the Cinema Television Arts which I got my degree in last June after 6 years of being an Undergrad.
Through the years, as I got better, I helped my dad as a subcontractor when he got jobs from his clients that he didn't know how to approach and have had the opportunity to boost my resume with clients like Polycom, Atari, Paramount, Putnam Investments, and MIT. Over time, MIT became my client as well (working on something for them right now, actually). I also interned at my college radio station, which didn't employ my production skills at all, but still taught me a great deal.
My professional life had to be put on hold a while ago for family reasons. I have to stay at home with my folks to help with things and take care of my brother. I had to turn down a couple of good jobs because of it. I'm still doing contract work and I do consulting gigs for people with an abundance of time and still more money who want to dabble in making media. Things are looking like they'll be getting better soon, though.
Last year, I was the Podcasting Editor for my school's newspaper for one semester. I wasn't the first one to take the post, but I was the first one with experience in it beforehand and was able to really kickstart it in terms of the actual effort being made by the paper. I converted a lot of print journalists who use to think that podcasts weren't valuable for news into people who never went to any story without a recorder in hand. I am immensely proud of my work there and it was, honestly, my favorite job ever. I haven't kept tabs on the current state of it, but the current staff there constantly tell me they wish I could come back and run it again.
Not being able to work for a media company like I wanted to has taught me to be more self driven in my own media production. And not being surrounded by radio people (mostly professors) telling me to go into radio has let me see that online media is where I really need to be. I'm producing videos that I like that now draw an audience that is enthusiastic about the subject matter. In December, Thaed transferred ownership of Friday Night Party Line to me and I've since turned up the release schedule and added another podcast in there too. I produce at least two videos and one podcast a week and I'm trying to find time to do one more video show.
In short, I'm not making a lot of money, but I get to do what I love. Maybe, in a while longer, I'll be able to make money off of what I love too.
As my bit for career path advice, a friend and I determined that you should "do whatever makes you feel like a wizard."
I also considered being a veterinarian or a lawyer. But my government teacher in high school made it sound not as cool as Phoenix wright (go figure). And I wasn't sure I had the stuff to have to put other people's pets down. Just seemed too upsetting to me. I have an affinity for handling animals though so that was why I was thinking about it. People are always surprised how well their pets respond to me compared to interactions with others.
My most recent case was my Mum's cat, the first clinic they went to broke the Poisons act when a nurse handed S4 medication that was unlabelled across the counter. I reported the Vet to the board and she got a minor slap on the wrist (what she did was literally broke the law and nothing came of it as no harm came of it). Parents mode their cat to another clinic which had Vets who didn't know how to take blood (something you should have been able to do before graduating), didn't know how pharmaceuticals worked (3rd year should have been down pat plus add more logic and common sense) and found it offensive when I called them out for being disingenuous about the available treatments (because they were lying to my face about how to handle a standard hormonal disorder).
They boohooed and divorced me as a client (even though my parents were the legal clients, so they failed at even that). None of 5 vets consulted fixed the cat in 4 months. I ordered some meds and stabilised him in 1 week for less than $100, while the parents had been conned into spending $1000 plus.
By the time it came to thinking about careers it was a no-brainer. Obviously computers are hot. I already know and like programming. It's going to make moneys since it's so hot right now. Let's do it. I followed the path of living life exactly as society prescribed. I went to school, went to college, got a degree, and got a job. I'm now doing that job like a good little cog in the machine.
But nowadays, I definitely do not want to do this anymore. It's not that I don't like programming. If I did not have to work, I would still spend at least some of my time writing software. It's that I don't want to work anymore. There is nothing in this world that I enjoy doing enough that I can do it for so many hours a week, every week, for the next few decades. Even if my job were to record GeekNights, play Netrunner, or be a professional cyclist, I would get sick of doing any of those things if it was for so many hours per week.
I need to find a way to live a life where I can be free to live according to my mood. I need to be able to do whatever I want to be doing at any given point in time. The only remotely realistic escape plan that I have available with my skills is to create some software that becomes a big deal and makes me very wealthy. I have plenty of ideas, and some of those are realistic. It's just very hard for me to execute on any of them when I've already spent all my programming brains at work.
I think my only chance might be to enter a period of suffering for 6-18 months and sacrifice many other things in life in order to roll the dice. Because it's pretty clear at this point nobody is just going to hand me a year's salary for nothing.
I feel pretty lucky in that I'm probably working for one of the most exciting companies on a possibly game changing type of technology. It's like being in the personal computer industry in the late 70s. Also, I get to work with some of the most amazing people in the tech industry.
There are definitely days where I want to risk it all and try for a legit brewery/charctuerie place, but I also know the income projection and stability of those industries.
I do have to say that Scott's characterization of following societal expectations exactly captures how I've felt in my post-college years. I loved RIT because I met the crew, and I suppose my degree has allowed me to have a living - but I fundamentally question whether or not it was really worthwhile.
And nowadays, with the cost of tuition? Fuck college. Trades or community college.
The only other career that I've considered, and what I will probably do when I get much older, is teaching. Throughout school I was always told that I tend to explain things much better than real teachers do, and it does feel good helping others solve problems. So I can definitely see myself doing that.
If there was anything I would change about what I've done so far is that I would've tried to get into a large technical firm earlier on. I've learned more about proper programming practices in my 1.5 years at Amazon than I did in my 5 years at other companies.
Although yesterday I was chatting with a Google recruiter and there was a decent amount of things she mentioned that really interested me. Mostly because it sounds like they give you time to just work on whatever project you want to which sounds pretty ideal. So maybe I would enjoy working there, but who knows. Recruiters are meant to make things sound appealing.
Also, Google's company culture is fantastic - very relaxed and light-hearted, but more diverse and socially-conscious than a start-up.
There are days that completely drain me mentally. I work way too hard compared to most of my colleagues, but that's only because I want to be the best at what I do. I'm also setting myself up to be the first considered for other promotions. I get beyond frustrated with a lot of the clean up work I have to do because people are lazy, but in the end, the work has to get done and I'll be damned if I let a claim assigned to me be worked half-assed.
There have been many times, where I think about what would I do if I didn't need this job to pay the bills? While I do enjoy my spare time pursuing hobbies/interests, I think in the end I would love to continue doing this job, but with less time involved. Having mandatory overtime sucks, but right now I'm working it anyways so the extra money is nice.
I've looking forward to being a part of the work at home program. It will definitely clear up several hours of prep/commute time in my day, so I can do other things. Also the VA is looking into more flexible schedules to where as long as people put in their 8hours/day or 40hours/week, doesn't matter when, then that's all they require. We can work anytime of day or night. A few hours here or there. However, this is all just being talked about. Having it actually pass and being implemented is something else entirely.
What we really need right now is better servers, better computers, and better internet access. That would make my job so much easier. I'm so spoiled by my recent upgrades to quad core and solid state drives. I multi-task so much on my work computer that the current set up can barely take it.
There are also plenty of lower skilled jobs way better than Best Buy that people don't often think to look for. Most people try to get jobs in places they know, which are retail stores like Starbucks or Best Buy. But there are plenty of other opportunities that pay really well. You could be a door man at a fancy building, grounds crew at a sports stadium, usher at a theater. There are tons of opportunities out there if you put in the effort to look for them.
The big problem is that learning a trade often require money to pay for the schooling. Perhaps there are scholarships available depending on individual circumstances.