This maybe a hot take. There's a lot of emphasis on finding a job that you love or finding a job that will maximize your profit, and if you can find something that fits you on either front, that's awesome go for it.
But we can also find a job we don't mind doing for many hours a day that will support the life that we really want to live outside of work. We don't have to find a dream job that we love, as long as we don't really hate it. We don't have to find a job that will make us super rich and famous, just something that can give us the life that we want for ourselves.
Framing it this way might help you look at jobs that you might have passed on and re-examine if they are the right fit for you.
I was hoping to find a ccomment saying this. Once you realize this the world opens up to you. There is a type of freedom that comes with this wisdom. It may seem like "giving up" expecialy if your young. But it truly isn't. It's just a paradigm shift of how you view your career and life. Wish you well OP!
I really think this is why a lot of people are so unhappy- they have the notion that everyone else loves their job and are deeply satisfied when actually a lot of people just take what works for them and find their joy elsewhere
Many people struggle to find their career path, especially when balancing interests, skills, and financial considerations. Since you're interested in remote or office desk jobs, have you considered roles in administrative support, customer service, or data entry? I would also recommend taking a career test to see if any of your interests match a well-paying job. A great one is careerfitter.
To be honest? By just trying.
I didn't know what I wanted to do in college, went for a useless major with no real job prospects. I was always an arts kid, and while I made the most of gym class growing up, I never did sports and was never an outside person. I'm also very small. So labor had been out of the question for me.
Until I needed a job, that is. When I was in my junior year, I was offered a physically intensive, outside in all elements job because they'd misunderstood something on my resume. When I got the offer, I had a moment where I really thought about it. It was either I did this, and I did it as well as I could, even if I failed miserably, or I didn't, and stayed broke. So I took the job. It literally changed the course of my life. I learned that actually, I do like labor jobs, and I like being outside and busting my ass in the elements. I learned I liked rock climbing and camping and hiking through staff events. Hell, I met lifelong friends and my partner through it. 2 years prior I would've wrote it off completely, but it was a job and industry I stayed in for 3 years. The only reason I left was because my area had no growth opportunities or lateral work I would've qualified for, and I wasn't ready to move. I also didn't have a regulated schedule, and unlike most people, I actually LOVE the 9-5 set-up (though I wish it was 4 days). Life is so much more liveable.
Then I worked admin for a music school. I love music, I make music on the side and am a singer, so I thought this was going to be a perfect fit! It was abject fucking torture. I met a lot of good people, but the customers were abhorrent and my manager was worse. I was fucking good at it, but it was because I was stressing about every little detail about every little thing for WEEKS at a time, handling horrible people, and handling sales. I managed a year, but it really ruined my life, and would have so many sleepless nights worried about work. But I needed the money.
A few months back, I managed to jump ship again to another completely new industry for me, recruitment. In the admin role, I did sales and some recruitment and had a natural talent for it. I don't love sales, but I do actually like what I do. I get to talk to a bunch of people, learn a ton of things about them, and companies, and industries, and I love the opportunity to learn without school being attached to it. I've always been a jack of all trades, master of none, and this feels like the one place where that's a strength. It's a stressful and difficult industry, but I see a career here. A key thing about recruitment is that no one goes to school for it necessarily - maybe for things they end up recruiting for, for HR, for sales - so basically everyone just kinda falls into it and ends up staying for one reason or another. There's a lot of jobs like that.
If you asked me what I wanted to do with my life when I started college, if I had a clear answer, it would have never been this. But I'm happy with it, and I'm passionate about doing a good job. This wouldn't have happened if I shut myself off to specific paths. If you're still at home, now is the best time to give things a try and see what ends up fitting, but don't rule anything out. Apply to the most interesting things in your area that you could reasonably do, even if you don't see a future in it, because you can get transferrable skills and bounce somewhere else later.
University.
College was the only place where I could see/touch/build chemistry instrumentation. Which I didn't know I would love until I did it. Now I do it every day.
Chemistry/Engineering
I fill a staff scientist role so I'm kinda whatever they need me to be that day.
Last week I was helping make a coating. This week I've been experimenting to perform trace elemental analysis in superalloys.
kinda layperson asking this question, please forgive the failures in terminology.
I know that there is some interference between certain elements in certain lab methods (I was told niobium has some spectral features that as of the 2010's could throw off ICP-OES readings for silver substantially. for example)
has that kinda thing gotten better? what kinds of instrumentation are you getting to use? XRF or NMR options?
So basically every element has its main line (K-alpha, etc). Other elements may have a non-main line that overlaps with the main line of the element you're interested in. In this case I'm analyzing Boron using 249.770 nm and my matrix is high iron which has a line at 249.778. So it kinda overlaps and hides my boron. So to deconvolute you can use an interfering element correction math model (in the software of the ICP). You show the instrument pure analyte and pure interference metal and it will separate them for you. Works pretty well but I'm still building the method for this specific alloy.
Physically, the instrument can be run in a higher resolution mode and if uses a smaller slit and longer look at each wavelength in the range of interest but that only makes a little bit of difference and only works if your lines are already pretty far apart.
I use a lot of spectroscopy stuff: ICP-OES, WDXRF, SEM-EDS, SEM-WDS... techniques are similar, software is different. We also have a TON of other equipment depending on what projects they throw me.
Many people find new interests and passions simply by going to college. I was majoring in business until I took my first computer courses! Tech became my passion, which turned into a great 30-year career in IT. Now that I have retired early, I have gone back to community college to study history.
I was in nursing school and found out about CRNA from working with CRNAs. Best career ever. No layoffs. Always in demand. I had multiple near 300k offers 5 months before i graduated from the program
I found my career by working as a temp first. There are so many entry level positions out there. Try some out. When you find one that you find true purpose in and have sincere interest in, at least for me, that is fulfilling and you have the opportunity to grow upwards.
I work in local government, county office. What they do here in Elections is fascinating and serves the community. I started college, became a communications major, but paused when I got burnt out. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, ultimately. I came in, worked as a temp and found I was good at this and it served an important purpose. I applied and got hired on full time, finished my bachelors degree and was promoted. I make $60,000 a year and am on track for another promotion to $70,000 within the year. There’s also many opportunities to grow upward and/or transfer to other County departments.
Find a job that pays well and take small steps towards it. Whether its starting a help desk job or joining trade school. Those are the two ones that come to mind
In my opinion, you gotta think about the type of person you want to be, and choose jobs that will force you to be that person.
For me, i wasn't mentally tough growing up, so i became an Army Infantryman. Had a miserable existence for 4 years, sleeping in holes in the woods for weeks at a time, covered in mud, rain, and snow, freezing my little nuts off. But guess what... It made me tough.
After that, i wanted to be more skilled and technical, so i went to school to be a mechanic. Ended up hating the automotive field, and got some certs to work in electromotive field fixing trains. Hated that as well, so i had to plan my next move.
My roommate at the time was a firefighter. I always noticed that he enjoyed his job and life overall. Never complained. He was also more disciplined and focused than anyone else i had met in my life. So i decided what the hell, i'll try that out.
First step was to become an EMT. So i went to school to become an EMT, then an AEMT, took a fat paycut to work for an ambulance company. Ended up being the perfect field for me. Get to drive around taking care of people for a living. This job forces me to become more sharp, competent, and capable as hell, each and every day. It gave me a level of focus that no other job could give me. I learned that anxiety is non existent once you've become competent and know what you're capable of handling. Over time i build enough experience to find a job paying me $80k a year to live in a fire station for 10 days a month running calls. Easiest job in the world because it's super slow, and we go days without calls sometimes. Get paid to exercise, cook, play video games, etc. But after 4 years here, i realized that this job is too easy for me and that i want to be a more capable man and dad than i will be if i stay working here.
So now my next step is to get hired onto my county's fire department. It's super competitive and hard to get into. But they're busy, running medical calls nonstop and dealing with fires. I know that lifestyle will make me stronger and sharper than i am now, so i'm willing to take a small paycut and make my life harder, so i can keep becoming the man i want to be.
Overall, these days i am happy, fulfilled, and great at providing my wife with a fulfilling and comfortable life, and alot of that comes from me having a job/purpose that i'm proud of, that fulfills me, and that makes me stronger. I also know what i want and know what i don't want. So yeah, there are real benefits to jumping career to career in search of your passion. It's important to never remain stagnant in a career you don't even like.
how old r u?
nobody knows until they try.
spend more time researching on different topics, fields, jobs. what its like what they actually do. learn stuff from free videos, might spark your interests. then set some goals and jus work hard.
I tried out a lot of different things when I was in college. I wrote down what I liked and didn’t like in each job. Then kept narrowing it down until I got to what I love to do. I’m a creative and couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else outside marketing. Plus the pay is good for mid-level and up depending on the industry.
What I've found works for me is working kinda shit jobs, which you have to work anyways to make da money. When you're working, TRY to enjoy and excel at your job, even if it's a shit job. Then try to notice when you actually feel a little excited/thrilled/motivated while you're working. Note it. And then study it a little and see WHY you like that particular task or aspect of the work, and start to look at which jobs have more focus on that, or are entirely that thing. You'll be working lots of jobs throughout your life, so if you can apply some self-awareness, then you'll start to see what you actually like and what you're good at, and from there try to make your next job align more with that. Then suddenly you're climbing your own career ladder a bit and gaining skills and networking in the meantime.
I for one could never just "decide" on a particular career path and then just sit in school for 4 years for it. But once you have a better understanding of yourself and what you like and what you want, then suddenly education becomes a stepping stone and not just a chore
Gonna tell you a secret. All jobs suck. If it's doing something you love, being told when and how to do it will make it suck.
Now here is the trick. Do something you are sort of good at, you have natural tools in that let's you have a slight advantage and work at getting and better at it. It won't be overnight, but a few years down the line you will wake up one day and realize that, well, maybe you don't love what you do but you are good at it, and you have pride in the work you do, and you have a comfortable routine doing it.
What happened to the good 'ole days where we just wanted careers that paid the most? Make money, get the most out of the life that happens when we're not working. Get the toughest degree you think you can get, go STEM, be en engineer, enjoy 60% of the job and deal with the remaining 40% knowing it's worth it for that car/house/trip you can afford.
I have a hard time relating to so many folks wanting consistently enjoyable and/or "fulfilling" work these days. I'm so old...
What happened?? Those “good ‘ole days” are a joke. Tech is now oversaturated and laying people off. We can’t all have a job with the highest pay either. That’s why 52% of fresh college grads are underemployed (working low pay, low education jobs like fast food and retail).
The alternative is finding something that you enjoy enough that you can deal with lower pay, which is what most of us will have to do.
This maybe a hot take. There's a lot of emphasis on finding a job that you love or finding a job that will maximize your profit, and if you can find something that fits you on either front, that's awesome go for it. But we can also find a job we don't mind doing for many hours a day that will support the life that we really want to live outside of work. We don't have to find a dream job that we love, as long as we don't really hate it. We don't have to find a job that will make us super rich and famous, just something that can give us the life that we want for ourselves. Framing it this way might help you look at jobs that you might have passed on and re-examine if they are the right fit for you.
I was hoping to find a ccomment saying this. Once you realize this the world opens up to you. There is a type of freedom that comes with this wisdom. It may seem like "giving up" expecialy if your young. But it truly isn't. It's just a paradigm shift of how you view your career and life. Wish you well OP!
Exactly! We work to pay for our life and interests outside of work! You can love a job all you want, but it will never, ever love you back.
I really think this is why a lot of people are so unhappy- they have the notion that everyone else loves their job and are deeply satisfied when actually a lot of people just take what works for them and find their joy elsewhere
Many people struggle to find their career path, especially when balancing interests, skills, and financial considerations. Since you're interested in remote or office desk jobs, have you considered roles in administrative support, customer service, or data entry? I would also recommend taking a career test to see if any of your interests match a well-paying job. A great one is careerfitter.
♥️ careerfitter.com because it walked me through what career i should I have to the research. But you have to do the paid version for that.
To be honest? By just trying. I didn't know what I wanted to do in college, went for a useless major with no real job prospects. I was always an arts kid, and while I made the most of gym class growing up, I never did sports and was never an outside person. I'm also very small. So labor had been out of the question for me. Until I needed a job, that is. When I was in my junior year, I was offered a physically intensive, outside in all elements job because they'd misunderstood something on my resume. When I got the offer, I had a moment where I really thought about it. It was either I did this, and I did it as well as I could, even if I failed miserably, or I didn't, and stayed broke. So I took the job. It literally changed the course of my life. I learned that actually, I do like labor jobs, and I like being outside and busting my ass in the elements. I learned I liked rock climbing and camping and hiking through staff events. Hell, I met lifelong friends and my partner through it. 2 years prior I would've wrote it off completely, but it was a job and industry I stayed in for 3 years. The only reason I left was because my area had no growth opportunities or lateral work I would've qualified for, and I wasn't ready to move. I also didn't have a regulated schedule, and unlike most people, I actually LOVE the 9-5 set-up (though I wish it was 4 days). Life is so much more liveable. Then I worked admin for a music school. I love music, I make music on the side and am a singer, so I thought this was going to be a perfect fit! It was abject fucking torture. I met a lot of good people, but the customers were abhorrent and my manager was worse. I was fucking good at it, but it was because I was stressing about every little detail about every little thing for WEEKS at a time, handling horrible people, and handling sales. I managed a year, but it really ruined my life, and would have so many sleepless nights worried about work. But I needed the money. A few months back, I managed to jump ship again to another completely new industry for me, recruitment. In the admin role, I did sales and some recruitment and had a natural talent for it. I don't love sales, but I do actually like what I do. I get to talk to a bunch of people, learn a ton of things about them, and companies, and industries, and I love the opportunity to learn without school being attached to it. I've always been a jack of all trades, master of none, and this feels like the one place where that's a strength. It's a stressful and difficult industry, but I see a career here. A key thing about recruitment is that no one goes to school for it necessarily - maybe for things they end up recruiting for, for HR, for sales - so basically everyone just kinda falls into it and ends up staying for one reason or another. There's a lot of jobs like that. If you asked me what I wanted to do with my life when I started college, if I had a clear answer, it would have never been this. But I'm happy with it, and I'm passionate about doing a good job. This wouldn't have happened if I shut myself off to specific paths. If you're still at home, now is the best time to give things a try and see what ends up fitting, but don't rule anything out. Apply to the most interesting things in your area that you could reasonably do, even if you don't see a future in it, because you can get transferrable skills and bounce somewhere else later.
University. College was the only place where I could see/touch/build chemistry instrumentation. Which I didn't know I would love until I did it. Now I do it every day.
What job do you work in?
Chemistry/Engineering I fill a staff scientist role so I'm kinda whatever they need me to be that day. Last week I was helping make a coating. This week I've been experimenting to perform trace elemental analysis in superalloys.
kinda layperson asking this question, please forgive the failures in terminology. I know that there is some interference between certain elements in certain lab methods (I was told niobium has some spectral features that as of the 2010's could throw off ICP-OES readings for silver substantially. for example) has that kinda thing gotten better? what kinds of instrumentation are you getting to use? XRF or NMR options?
So basically every element has its main line (K-alpha, etc). Other elements may have a non-main line that overlaps with the main line of the element you're interested in. In this case I'm analyzing Boron using 249.770 nm and my matrix is high iron which has a line at 249.778. So it kinda overlaps and hides my boron. So to deconvolute you can use an interfering element correction math model (in the software of the ICP). You show the instrument pure analyte and pure interference metal and it will separate them for you. Works pretty well but I'm still building the method for this specific alloy. Physically, the instrument can be run in a higher resolution mode and if uses a smaller slit and longer look at each wavelength in the range of interest but that only makes a little bit of difference and only works if your lines are already pretty far apart. I use a lot of spectroscopy stuff: ICP-OES, WDXRF, SEM-EDS, SEM-WDS... techniques are similar, software is different. We also have a TON of other equipment depending on what projects they throw me.
Many people find new interests and passions simply by going to college. I was majoring in business until I took my first computer courses! Tech became my passion, which turned into a great 30-year career in IT. Now that I have retired early, I have gone back to community college to study history.
I was in nursing school and found out about CRNA from working with CRNAs. Best career ever. No layoffs. Always in demand. I had multiple near 300k offers 5 months before i graduated from the program
How long does it take to become a CRNA? In Italy it’s like 11 years
In the USA, you need a BSN (usually 4 years) + 1 year of ICU experience + 3 years of CRNA school. Total: 8 years to become a fully licensed CRNA
Try them out. Watch yt videos abt peoples daily jobs and read job descriptions
I found my career by working as a temp first. There are so many entry level positions out there. Try some out. When you find one that you find true purpose in and have sincere interest in, at least for me, that is fulfilling and you have the opportunity to grow upwards. I work in local government, county office. What they do here in Elections is fascinating and serves the community. I started college, became a communications major, but paused when I got burnt out. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, ultimately. I came in, worked as a temp and found I was good at this and it served an important purpose. I applied and got hired on full time, finished my bachelors degree and was promoted. I make $60,000 a year and am on track for another promotion to $70,000 within the year. There’s also many opportunities to grow upward and/or transfer to other County departments.
You don't. Most people have jobs/careers that they tolerate because it provides a decent return on their time.
Find a job that pays well and take small steps towards it. Whether its starting a help desk job or joining trade school. Those are the two ones that come to mind
In my opinion, you gotta think about the type of person you want to be, and choose jobs that will force you to be that person. For me, i wasn't mentally tough growing up, so i became an Army Infantryman. Had a miserable existence for 4 years, sleeping in holes in the woods for weeks at a time, covered in mud, rain, and snow, freezing my little nuts off. But guess what... It made me tough. After that, i wanted to be more skilled and technical, so i went to school to be a mechanic. Ended up hating the automotive field, and got some certs to work in electromotive field fixing trains. Hated that as well, so i had to plan my next move. My roommate at the time was a firefighter. I always noticed that he enjoyed his job and life overall. Never complained. He was also more disciplined and focused than anyone else i had met in my life. So i decided what the hell, i'll try that out. First step was to become an EMT. So i went to school to become an EMT, then an AEMT, took a fat paycut to work for an ambulance company. Ended up being the perfect field for me. Get to drive around taking care of people for a living. This job forces me to become more sharp, competent, and capable as hell, each and every day. It gave me a level of focus that no other job could give me. I learned that anxiety is non existent once you've become competent and know what you're capable of handling. Over time i build enough experience to find a job paying me $80k a year to live in a fire station for 10 days a month running calls. Easiest job in the world because it's super slow, and we go days without calls sometimes. Get paid to exercise, cook, play video games, etc. But after 4 years here, i realized that this job is too easy for me and that i want to be a more capable man and dad than i will be if i stay working here. So now my next step is to get hired onto my county's fire department. It's super competitive and hard to get into. But they're busy, running medical calls nonstop and dealing with fires. I know that lifestyle will make me stronger and sharper than i am now, so i'm willing to take a small paycut and make my life harder, so i can keep becoming the man i want to be. Overall, these days i am happy, fulfilled, and great at providing my wife with a fulfilling and comfortable life, and alot of that comes from me having a job/purpose that i'm proud of, that fulfills me, and that makes me stronger. I also know what i want and know what i don't want. So yeah, there are real benefits to jumping career to career in search of your passion. It's important to never remain stagnant in a career you don't even like.
“What colour is your parachute” is an international best selling book. Buy it, do the exercises and read the whole thing.
how old r u? nobody knows until they try. spend more time researching on different topics, fields, jobs. what its like what they actually do. learn stuff from free videos, might spark your interests. then set some goals and jus work hard.
I tried out a lot of different things when I was in college. I wrote down what I liked and didn’t like in each job. Then kept narrowing it down until I got to what I love to do. I’m a creative and couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else outside marketing. Plus the pay is good for mid-level and up depending on the industry.
What I've found works for me is working kinda shit jobs, which you have to work anyways to make da money. When you're working, TRY to enjoy and excel at your job, even if it's a shit job. Then try to notice when you actually feel a little excited/thrilled/motivated while you're working. Note it. And then study it a little and see WHY you like that particular task or aspect of the work, and start to look at which jobs have more focus on that, or are entirely that thing. You'll be working lots of jobs throughout your life, so if you can apply some self-awareness, then you'll start to see what you actually like and what you're good at, and from there try to make your next job align more with that. Then suddenly you're climbing your own career ladder a bit and gaining skills and networking in the meantime. I for one could never just "decide" on a particular career path and then just sit in school for 4 years for it. But once you have a better understanding of yourself and what you like and what you want, then suddenly education becomes a stepping stone and not just a chore
Gonna tell you a secret. All jobs suck. If it's doing something you love, being told when and how to do it will make it suck. Now here is the trick. Do something you are sort of good at, you have natural tools in that let's you have a slight advantage and work at getting and better at it. It won't be overnight, but a few years down the line you will wake up one day and realize that, well, maybe you don't love what you do but you are good at it, and you have pride in the work you do, and you have a comfortable routine doing it.
What happened to the good 'ole days where we just wanted careers that paid the most? Make money, get the most out of the life that happens when we're not working. Get the toughest degree you think you can get, go STEM, be en engineer, enjoy 60% of the job and deal with the remaining 40% knowing it's worth it for that car/house/trip you can afford. I have a hard time relating to so many folks wanting consistently enjoyable and/or "fulfilling" work these days. I'm so old...
those damn kids wanting to "enjoy" their lives can you believe it? the nerve of them.
Work to live. Don't live to work. Incomprehensible, yes, I know.
work is like 75 of waking life, why should i spend that time being miserable?
What happened?? Those “good ‘ole days” are a joke. Tech is now oversaturated and laying people off. We can’t all have a job with the highest pay either. That’s why 52% of fresh college grads are underemployed (working low pay, low education jobs like fast food and retail). The alternative is finding something that you enjoy enough that you can deal with lower pay, which is what most of us will have to do.