DM_ME_SQUIRRELS,

I agree with many of the comments about just choosing a direction and trying out a lot of things - that is absolutely what you should do at first.

However, I disagree with many on the part about just finding something that pays the bills and finances your hobbies. You’re going to do your job for 40 hours a week for almost your whole life. There is nothing you’ll spend more time doing than your job.

I’ve found a job that I love and it makes life much more enjoyable. While my job doesn’t have an exact US equivalent, the best way to describe it is that I work as a teaching assistant during the school day and as a teacher at after-school. Sure, I still hate getting up on Mondays (and the rest of the days too, honestly), dealing with difficult parents and idiot bosses and all the other annoying shit that comes with any job, but all in all I love it and I’d gladly keep working 20-30 hours a week there for free if I won the lottery tomorrow. I could make hundreds or even a thousand dollars more every month if I took say a factory job, but it’s still worth it because I genuinely have fun doing my job.

Try to find something that you really like and still pays the bills. It’s worth it.

ProvokedGamer,
@ProvokedGamer@lemmy.ca avatar

I’ll try to find a job that gives me fulfillment/enjoyment at least enough that I’ll be content with doing for a while, but also pays okay so that I have enough for my hobbies and stuff, but I won’t hate my work. Hopefully I find a job that pays okay and I love though.

DoisBigo,

You want the job that is offered to you, pays good, and won’t feel like hell every day. This job may or may not be related to your field of study, but you better study something useful if you want to be taken seriously.

Stop thinking that you can pick and choose, sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t. Some people can, most people can’t.

SamHandwich,

This this. I’m in my 30s and have hopped around jobs for a decade, and now I’m considering going back to school for accounting. My first degree choice was biology, which I still love but it wasn’t at all practical.

EchoCT,

That’s the neat part, you dont. I’m in my mid 30s and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

null_,

Try to find out as much as you can about what the job/career is actually like, ask people who are in that field, if you can try to get some experience as an intern.

The worst thing you can do is focus on a major without considering what the actual work will be like once you graduate. Even if you love studying a topic, the actual work may be much less fun in practice.

Try to get some part-time experience of your own as you can, even at sub-entry level/intern levels it should help you know better what kinds of jobs you would enjoy full time. It’s often hard to envision a job without having some exposure to the field.

CalcProgrammer1,
@CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml avatar

What are you interested in? What are your hobbies/what are you good at? Do something that involves that field. For me it was technology, I was always into video games and computers growing up in the 90’s and by high school I knew I wanted to get into programming. After high school I knew I wanted to go into some form of programming so I went into computer engineering and am now an embedded software engineer. Do you have passion for any particular topic or area of study as a hobby?

Carter,

I’m 29 and I still don’t know.

arcrust,

For real. Also 29 and have been taking night classes. After 2 years of school Ive changed my mind again. I just have no idea what I actually want to do.

I grew up always being told I was really smart and would go places. So I’ve built my life goals around trying to do something “grand”. I’ve only recently realized that I don’t HAVE to do anything. It’s OK to just exist and enjoy life. I’m still struggling to fully accept that, but I think I will eventually.

makanimike,

The most interesting people I know
Didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t

stsquad,

But trust me on the sunscreen 😁

mojo,

Figure out your favorite hobby or whatever makes you feel the most fulfilled/happy. Look for a viable job/career that is related to that. Figure out the path to get into that career.

Kissaki,

It’s not wrong to start with whatever / at random. Once you gain some experience you can decide whether to pursue or try something else.

For me it came naturally from my interests and learned capabilities.

You can ask about and try out different jobs to get a bit of insight and more data points for making a decision. Even if you won’t have a definite favorite you may find things you consider undesired or desirable for you.

itsmikeyd,

I always liked computers, so I got an entry level job in IT.

Just followed my passion tbh.

monkeytennis,
@monkeytennis@lemmy.world avatar

Same here. WTF do I do with a history degree… Joined a helpdesk because I liked fixing tech, transitioned to web development because that was more fun, spent years enjoying learning and progressing, then moved into UX because that was more rewarding (and less stressful).

I’m glad I gravitated towards IT because it gave me a lot of freedom and choice - and the money was always good.

I’d be careful with the “follow your hobbies” advice, I’ve known a lot of frustrated people who feel they’ve wasted years studying / trying to get a job in video games, acting, that sort of thing. Seems you have to be in the top 1% and have a ton of luck or connections to stand a chance.

abbadon420,

For me the best way for finding out what job I wanted out of highschool was turning 27. Out of highschool, I thought I wanted to become a teacher. That didn’t work out, so I did some years (12) of various blue collar jobs, got married, had children. In the meantime I kept searching for my passion. Eventually I found it in programming. I spend a good 4 years tinkering with it until I eventually decided to go back to school. Now I’m finally loving my job and I’m again back in school trying to get my master.

jordanlund,
@jordanlund@lemmy.one avatar

Nobody gets out of high school and gets the job they want when they grow up. ;)

Your first job is going to suck. It’s going to be hard work. The pay and hours are not going to be great. You won’t be respected as an employee or often as a human being.

What it’s going to teach you are organizational skills. Show up on time. Do the best job you can do. Admit your mistakes and learn from them.

Carry what you learn there to the next job and the next job. Do better each time. Learn new skills. Find jobs that interest you.

If you can, go to college for a STEM degree, network with other people and employers, and when you get out of college, you can do what you want.

If college isn’t for you, find a trade you’re good at and enroll in trade school. Plumbers, electrictians, HVAC techs, mechanics are never out of work.

Avoid: Retail work. Restaurant work. It will break you. Fine for when you’re in school, not if you’re out of school.

Saigonauticon,

This is a major failing of the school system.

The best I can recommend is that you try out jobs now – but maybe skip anything ‘fake’ like online courses unless you think they prepare you for what’s in the next sentence. Go find people professionally doing a thing you might like, and try to work with them, somehow. Internships, volunteer work, organizing events, etc. File paperwork and make coffee, if that means you get to see the work actually being done.

Barring that, do the thing yourself if possible. Publish the results. All code goes on public repositories, all stories should be submitted to magazines or literature groups. All songs written must be sung in public. Get certified for CPR and first aid if considering medicine, and volunteer using it. Get an amateur radio license and build a radio. Look at jobs on a freelancing platform, and just do them on your own to build a portfolio (maybe actually apply for the jobs, once you have a portfolio). Not every type of job can be tried out this way, but many can.

You’re going to get rejected a lot, you can’t just show up with a resume and demand a job (people who claim this works are weird). People who create and do nothing will mock you sometimes. A lot of jobs want young people ‘out of sight and in school’ too. However, this kind of disappointment happens to all of us at some point anyway, so may as well get it over with.

If you’re lucky, you’ve got a few years between the age of say 14 and 19 where you’re not expected to support yourself financially but your brain works as well as it’s ever going to. While it’s useful to get good grades while you’re in school (although they are useless afterward), I think it’s a mistake to focus on that at the expense of actually trying to do things. A college degree is too big of an investment of time and money to go into blind.

If you’re in a situation where you do have to support yourself or your family before finishing school, then the necessities of life obviously take precedent. I won’t pretend I have a good solution to that difficult situation.

ProvokedGamer,
@ProvokedGamer@lemmy.ca avatar

Thanks. I don’t have to support myself financially before finishing school. I’ll take your advice for doing and trying stuff.

makanimike,

Ikigai

The cross-section of…

  • what you love
  • what you are good at
  • what the world needs
  • what you can be paid for.

In other words, the area where Mission, Passion, Profession, and Vocation overlap.
There is a book that was quite popular about it by Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia. Might be worth looking into it.

But beyond that…it’s hard, bro! It’s not the romantic thing you want to hear at your age, but I think the amount of people who really achieve this ideal, and manage to build a life around a profession that gives you positivity in all dimensions, are rare. Most of us are content with something that does not have a negative impact on us and pays the bills. And the truth is, it almost surely changes over the course of your life.

Try out a lot of things. You will find things that you enjoy and that you are good at. Then continue in that direction.

Toocool,

And what’s worse ? It will most likely change overtime…

If you don’t know how to get started, try something you’re curious about, that will offer possibilities to learn and see how it goes, don’t worry about it and keep in mind that it might be that interest that leads you to other jobs later as long as you’re willing to learn and not stuck in a dead end job.

Abrslam,

Don’t be so hung up on getting a job you hate. The secret they don’t tell you is that pretty well everyone hates their job. Get out and pursue things that seem interesting to you, and don’t be afraid that you won’t be good enough, that was my big downfall when I was younger. Since then I’ve held many wildly different jobs.

I started pursuing IT since I love computers, but ended up hating being an on-call computer janitor. I did fire surpression, then IT sales (hated that too), then randomly got a job on the railroad. After bouncing around the railroad I have now ended up as Jack of all trades master of none handyman that does maintenance for a nonprofit, and I love it.

I was more surprised than anyone to find out that I preferred working with my hands, and working outdoors. I had always dreamed of a cushy job with a nice office where I could wear fancy shoes. But now I’m a nerd for workboots who absolutely does not thrive in an office environment.

But essentially I’m saying try not to sweat it. It may take you a long time to settle into something you like. Don’t be afraid to go outside your comfort zone because you just might like it.

intensely_human,

Do a bunch of low-commitment jobs. Don’t commit to a 10+ year path on something you haven’t experienced.

Volunteer and work a bunch of nothing jobs. Get a sense of what works for you and what doesn’t.

Then when you’ve experienced a few things with throwaway jobs, come back to the question of what you want to invest serious time into.

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