Thread: what do i want to be when i grow up?

this problem has occured to me lately that im a junior in high school and i still have no idea at all what i want to do with my life career wise. im just getting around to starting to mess with programming so i dont know how much ill like it. i excell in all of my subjects at school, but none of them pop out as a subject area that i would like to have a career in. im thinking about pursuing a bs in computer science but im not very sure. i dont want to go to college and get a degree just to discover that i dont like what ive gotten into. i would just like some advice or ideas about how to find out what i want to do if anyone has suggestions.

> i still have no idea at all what i want to do with my life career wise.

Good. In my experience, people who thought they knew what they wanted to do at your age are either 1) wrong or 2) boring as hell.

If you still have no general idea in a year or so, go to college as an undecided major, take classes that sound interesting to you, and see how you like them. Also, take classes that are off the beaten path for you, like music classes or a photography class or something. College is for experiencing things, not locking yourself into a career before you start.

Originally posted by Govtcheez
> i still have no idea at all what i want to do with my life career wise.

Good. In my experience, people who thought they knew what they wanted to do at your age are either 1) wrong or 2) boring as hell.

If you still have no general idea in a year or so, go to college as an undecided major, take classes that sound interesting to you, and see how you like them. Also, take classes that are off the beaten path for you, like music classes or a photography class or something. College is for experiencing things, not locking yourself into a career before you start.

Well said...

I had no idea what I wanted to do while in high school and really didn't care. I was just having fun and coasting through school, doing my studies, and playing my sports. I didn't have a clue what I wanted to major in until I finished all of my General Ed classes after my sophmore year in college. I finally decided I enjoyed computers and like business so I majored in Computer Info Systems and here I am now in the IT industry.

Do yourself a favor, have fun in school and experience as much as possible.....don't worry about what you want to do when you grow up. You have plenty of time later in life to grow up and be whatever you want to be.

Talk to your career guidance counsellor (or whatever you Americans call them) and see what they recommend.

>>career guidance counsellor
Are they any good nowadays? When I was at school, they were totally useless.

We spent something like 1 or 2 days with them in total, they gave us a book containing descriptions of professions, and "said there you go, pick out what you want to be". What good is that?

> Are they any good nowadays? When I was at school, they were totally useless.

Same for my school - the only thing that they were good for was arranging to have people who had graduated come back and talk about their school... (I got roped into that one - never again)

Got to agree with Cheez there, keep as many of your options open for as long as possible.

When I was young, I wanted to be a lion when I grew up, I followed Geochemistry at Uni, now look at me, I'm a software engineer - how things change...

Just keep as many doors open as possible. Take pre requisits for the courses you may consider as a career.

When I was young I wanted to be an architect. Took some drafting courses in High School, and when it came time to apply to University, I decided to get into Comp Sci.

When I was younger, I wanted to be a police officer, then in the navy, and then a police officer again, and a naturalist, and an archaeologist and...

How the hell did I end up a Computer Engineer?

> what do i want to be when i grow up?
A toys R us kid!

Seriously, I want to do something with computers, preferably on a hardware level. I love my toys, and I know that's what I want to do. My room looks like an electronics repair shop.

OP:
I'd suggest analyzing what's fun for you in life, and what also comes easy, yet, sparks interest and deep thought.

For me, it's hardware, electronics, and computers(all sort of tied together). Maybe you can find a similar passion.

Originally posted by Scourfish
Be a garbage man.
Problem solved, close thread.

That's great!

I think the best way to take an undecided major, and in college you can meet people from different majors, so you can have information about almost all majors you might be interesting!

Originally posted by VegasSte
Talk to your career guidance counsellor (or whatever you Americans call them) and see what they recommend.

I kind of agree with Hammer on this. With the exception of a few dedicated, talented people, most GC's are just teachers who wanted out of the classroom and wind up being as useless in
the Guidance Office as they were in the classroom. If you don't
know what you want to do with your life, don't sweat it, and
don't let mom or dad pressure you into joining the rat race at the
soonest possible moment. If you want to join it at the soonest,
then that's a whole nother matter. But I'm telling you, the
world will be just as screwy at 22 as it will at 18. With the
economy the way it is today, it may behoove those that can
afford it to take some time off and maybe see Canada or Europe
or even the good old USA for themselves before deciding what
to do with themselves career-wise.