Career-Planning Advice Wanted

[Random Aquarist]

Well, I've been looking around at different careers and now I'm interested in psychiatry. That means that I've changed from architecture to nuclear engineering to psychiatry within the span of three or four days. In a way, it's beautiful, looking forward and seeing my future as a blank canvas, open to limitless possibilities. I have the grades, work ethic, and personality to succeed in any path I choose, but that's just the problem: choosing.

I've come to the Lounge to find advice. I'd like to know exactly what you did that inspired you to choose your career. What caused you to say "Hey, this is the perfect job for me"? How did you prepare in high school?

I know it's kinda strange for me to be planning my future when I'm only 15, but I really want to utilize my limited amount of time in high school. I want to pick a career early so I can choose a college that excels with its corresponding majors. I want to take the right high school classes that will prepare me and put me a step ahead of my competitors.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

[dwd5813]

the only advice i could give you would be to look 30+ years into the future and ask what you could see yourself still enthralled by at that time. it could be psychiatry, architecture, nuclear engineering, ditch digging, or firefighting. what holds your interest? for me, biology is what i'm beginning to study. my thoughts are that however long i live there will always be something else to learn, and keep me interested. i can easily see myself at age 50 still having questions and still wanting answers. what you need to do, in my opinion, is find whatever it is that seems to have the most potential to make you happy, and allow you to fulfill your need to satisfy curiosity by constantly learning and advancing. with any luck, you will personally contribute to the knowledge base in whatever field you choose. the point is to find that which makes you happy, and will continue to do so. decide early how important money is to you, because that may need to play a role in whatever path you choose. i hope that makes the least bit of sense, cause it's late and i know i'm rambling. good luck with whatever you choose.

[Muttling]

Psychiatry is a wonderful field and one with terrific need for more people.



That said, you have to be the right sort of person to go into the field. There are two aspects, the first is the MD who manages the med for their patients and the other is the therapist (e.g. psychologist) who tries to achive cognetive changes.

Becoming a PhD therapists is easier than getting an MD then specializing in psychiatry. However, niether path is particularly easy.

The pay on both paths is VERY good but you have to deal with the darkest emotions that confront people. A psychiatrist is an MD who will try to help with medications while telling the patients that they also need a good therapist. The psychologist is a therapist who will talk to the patients at length and try to improve attitudes while telling them they they need to talk to a good psychiatrist.


The bottom line is that both aspects work together to help the patients, but the patients don't always accept help and it is not an easy field to work in from either angle. It does pay well, but money isn't everything and this is not a field to pursue for money.

[dkh0331]

I'm on my third career. Most of my friends that I graduated high school have moved from what their college degree is in to other fields.

You're in 10th grade? Plenty of time. But if you do want to explore careers, you might see about spending some time with those in your field(s) of interest. Your school guidance counselor should be able to assist you with that. The actual day-day activities of a career you are interested in may be different than your expectations.

But kudos on taking action at such a tender age.

[snulma1]

Here is my advice as a 28 yr old who is back in school....Don't worry to much about an exact idea as far as work goes. Just think about a general direction.
I knew in high school that I wanted to do something in health care. So I went to college, got my paramedic license, my bachelors and my masters and have spent the past 5 yrs flying in the back of helicopters, meeting incredible people, and learning lots of stuff. And am now back in school to go to med school.

So just don't try and plan your life out too much, you'll end up watching as the rest of it passes you buy!

Good luck!

[Random Aquarist]

dwd, you're right, I gotta keep feeding my mind even after I've finished schooling. My mom likes to say that you only get old if your mind gets old. That's definately something I have to remember when planning.

Mutt, thanks for the description. I've always found psychology interesting because I've always been intrigued by the human mind and thought process. I've always liked thinking about people's weaknesses and how they try to conceal them by acting a certain way. It's definately not just about the paycheck.

dkh and snulma, I can totally see what you mean. My mom originally wanted to become a biologist, but after a few twists and turns and about 30 years, she's on her path to mastering nutrition. Life is full of surprises.

Today I'll go to the career center and/or councilor. Talk to you guys later.


BTW, here are a few links to what I've been using. See what you think.

Psychiatry

Nuclear Engineering

Architecture

[Sk8r]

YOur varied field of interest may give you something very valuable: cross-pollination of information, the very fount of ideas.

I knew at age 10 I wanted to write. Earlier that week I'd wanted to be a jet pilot and an astronaut [in the 1950's, before there were astronauts...go figure.] But writing took hold, and bent everything I did thereafter.

I studied ancient languages and archaeology, which would let me do either field research or teach. In the course of archaeology I picked up climatology, population studies, and geology, as well as comparative linguistics.

I roomed all through school with a human genetics major and used to help out in that lab, being both guinea pig and chief pan-washer for one aspect of the planaria experiment that was written up in the DNA/RNA studies.

I taught in classroom for a decade. I finally broke in as a writer and had to give up teaching because there was just no time otherwise. And I traveled Europe with a colleague who had a side interest in European history and cathedrals...and whose father was in vaudeville with Houdini...lots of interesting stuff there.

Spread your sails to the various winds that offer, but have a course in mind...you'll get there, if you stick to it. But keep your antennae up constantly: you may pick up a lot of really interesting cargo along the way.

[mfp1016]

I think you're too young to be making these kinds of decisions. You need to be more educated about varying disciplines before you can really say for sure.

Also, don't pay too close attention to college rankings, they really don't mean anything in industry; a good college is a good college. I understand where you are coming from, trying to get a leg up, but I honestly don't think you're ready to lock yourself into a career and start specializing in one field of interest.

If I were you I would just focus on doing well in all of your subjects and taking the most advanced courses possible, honors and AP.

[mfp1016]

I just now realized that I rudely didn't answer your question.

At one time I was a chemical engineer, an engineer specializing in the special exploitation of chemical reactions on an industrial scale in order to produce any and all chemicals. But, that was long ago and something I only did for a short while. Eventually I moved up the ladder from varying managerial positions, eventually becoming a VP for lets just say an large energy/petroleum company.

There were several things I liked about chemical engineering over other professions. Chemical engineers consistently get the highest starting salaries out of college when compared to ALL other majors. Most companies prefer to have engineers in management positions (you'd be hard pressed to find a technology/chemical/oil/energy/telecom/computer company that didn't have an engineer or lawyer in the top ranks. Also, the chemical engineering industry has afforded me many opportunities to live and travel around the world. My career has held me in positions in Pakistan, India, China, Kora, Saudi Arabia, Papau New Guinea, Tobago, Germany, etc.

Though it has changed from its original form, the life of an ex-patriot is very nice. This is one thing that I would stipulate a career must provide, if I were to do this all over again. Typically, as an ex-pat, your housing, children's schooling, health care, travel expenses, insurance are all paid for by the company. Additionally, you get two months of home leave, as well as 4 weeks of vacation, and 80 hours(2 weeks) PTO (personal time off). What this equates to, is enjoying all of your paycheck while getting to see the world on someone else's dime.

As far as cons, getting an engineering degree is very hard, especially chemical engineering. Chem e's usually see the highest dropout rates, but usually pull in the most amount of money for a University and usually do the best on standardized tests, like the EIT, ACS, and PE exams. Also, life in upper management is overly romanticized. You will undoubtedly work at least 50+ hours a week, and will face a broad of issues ranging from ethics to pragmatism. Also, being a manager was nowhere nearly as rewarding as when I was a process engineer. As a manager you become focused on the abstract and arbitrary measures of running a business. As a process engineer I could directly see the products of my efforts and I also was more challenged scientifically. If I were to pursue chemical engineering again I would pursue a doctorate and possibly a teaching career with an emphasis on private consulting.


Just a little about what engineering can and can't get you.

[Lotus99]

Here's some advice on not limiting your scope: take science and math classes if you're good at them. It's much easier to later turn to humanities from science than it is from humanities into science. Math, chemistry and physics are required in a lot of fields, wheras subjects like history, English, philosophy tend to limit your choice of careers.

If you enjoy the humanities, you can always pursue them in your spare time or in one class a semester, while sciences are much harder to study yourself, especially with the depth of mathematics for most science-based careers.

I think psychiatry is something you have to love. An acquaintance of mine was recently doing an internship for her Master's in a drug rehab facility. I can't think of many things I'd rather do less, but she was loving it.

[mfp1016]

Agreed with Lotus. Those are all good steps to not limiting your career options.

I may also add that breeding yourself as a well rounded person will get you farther than any specialist. Most people that I have seen advance are engineers who are willing to embrace the humanties (mind you I'm speaking from the engineering industry's POV). While other more specialized scientists/engineers prove to be poor at social relations are more often than not stuck in R&D positions, which will put you at a professional crossroads. Rounding yourself out will make yourself more available to the seemingly nebular number of people you will meet in your life.

Anyway, reiterating and emphasizing the point: maintain your options and learn about all subjects.

[Random Aquarist]

Well, the career center was locked, so I got a packet from my counseler that lists all of the high school classes and their descriptions.

I have my classes planned out. I definately took your advice to heart when choosing my options. So, without further ado, here are my plans:

Junior
AP Statistics
English 3H (honors)
Football Weights Study Hall
French 3
Computer Aided Drafting (CAD)
Physics
AP Chemistry
Wrestling Weights

Senior
AP Calculus
English 4H or AP English
Football Weights Study Hall
AP US Government & Politics/Economics (required)
Photography (visual/performing arts class required)
Advanced Physics or AP Environmental Science (APES)
Introduction to Psychology or APES
Wrestling Weights

Well, whatdyah think? I think this is about as focused as I can get while still being fairly well rounded.