I often try to post about something to which my readers can relate. Therefore, I don't blog in too much detail about my job, poker, ultimate frisbee, or comic books. But here is something that everyone can understand.
Life goals.
Every child can tell you what they want to be when they grow up. It's usually one of 3 things: A fireman, astronaut, or the president (mine was the president). No adolescent boy wants to be the CEO of a big corporation. No little girl says that she wants to be a housewife, and lead the PTA.
But as we grow, the world expands (or shrinks, depending on how you look at it). We learn about many more careers. We find out what we're good at. Math, Science, cooking, lying (read: lawyer), etc.
In High School, we may have a better grasp on our futures. Most teenagers, myself included, rule out POTUS as a career. Many forsake earlier interests and decide they want to teach. And so on, and so forth.
Now we get to college, and this is where my point becomes more clear. College is where you finally have to stop and say "What am I going to do for the rest of my life?" Then you take the classes and try to make it all work. Certainly by the time you graduate, you should have a clear idea of where you want your life to go.
So my question is, who followed it? Who stayed on that straight line? Do you work in the field that you wanted? Did you succeed? Fail? Did life throw a curve ball that lead you to a wonderful new life?
And more importantly, is this where you want to be in 20 years?
That's what I ask myself every day. Mainly because I still don't know what I want to do with my life. I have a great career at a great company. And I know that I could really move up the ranks. But is this what I want?
In college, I wanted to be a programmer. The guy who slept all day and coded all night. His computer was surrounded by pizza boxes and empty soda cans. Long hair. Beard. And a t-shirt that read "trust no one."
Today, I work in an office. I explain technical things to business people in a language that they understand. I wear a shirt and tie. I reside in a cubicle. I work 9 to 5. I slave for the man.
Don't get me wrong, I like my job. It has a lot of great moments. But I don't know if I've found my niche.
So that's all. I was just curious if other people obsess about this question.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Like Tommy and Gina
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I can't really answer about a career, since I still have two and a half years of Lie School left.
I guess the question is, can you still be a programmer? I mean, is it too late? Do you still want to do that? You're a smart guy, and I'm sure you could.
You know what they call the first lady? FLOTUS. Say that out loud. Its funny.
OK, so I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. I say that, and I'm pushing 30. (I know you think that's old....)
When I was little, I thought I was going to be a super-duper business woman and rule the world. My Barbie dolls were all business women who had hot boyfriends. They cared about making bank so they could rule the world, buy fancy clothes, and take exotic trips with their hot boyfriends. I had the best dressed Barbie on the block....
I was in the Jr Achievement program in high school. I was VP of Marketing and President. I was "President of the Year" and Prez of the Company of the Year my Sr. year of high school.
Basically, I was a big dork.
I went to college with a grand plan - to be a business major, so that I could rule the world and have hot boyfrieds just like Barbie did. Then I took Finanical Accounting my first sememster of college, and hated it. It was awful. I dropped that class, said hell with business, and became a Russian major.
That's right. A Russian major. My strategy changed - I was going to rule the world by overtaking one country at a time.
Kidding, kidding.
It was somewhere in that first sememster of college that I realized, I am not here to decide what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I'm here in college to enrich my life, to learn about it. Heck with figuring out what I'm going to do with the rest of it. Why should I be held to a Business degree, when there's so much other cool stuff out there to explore? When will I have the chance to learn about this stuff again?
I'm not using my Russian degree one bit these days. I can barely say "I want Vodka" in Russian anymore (believe me, I used to say it all the time!). But I love the fact that I was a Russian major, and I love how it influenced my life. My first employeer really respected the fact that I majored in something non-traditional. She hired me saying, "she's a Russian major, so she must be smart."
And after all that, I am here, 8 years after college, a businesswoman. I just got promoted to management. I'm following in Barbie's footsteps.
Wait a second, I was a RUSSIAN major!!?!
You know what??? Who cares! In the end, it doesn't really matter. All employeers care about is that you graduated from college, not what your major was, unless it's a specialized position.
I think the moral of all my jibber jabber is this - do what you want in life. Do what makes you happy in the here and now, and it'll fall into place for you. Yes, you need to make smart decisions for the future, but what you really need to do is make yourself happy, or you'll go nuts in this world. Will programming make you happy? Go for it. Will owning your own biz one day be rewarding? If so, then go for it! Wanna write scripts for movies? Do it!
Do I see myself working in advertising forever? Eh! I dunno! Maybe. Maybe not. I like art, so I could see myself taking classes that would set me up for being an art rep or gallery owner one day. I like to travel - so maybe I'll use my Russian degree and become a diplomat or something....OK that's a stretch, but you get my drift. I live my life day-by-day.
Many people have more than one career in their lifetime. It just happens. You get burned out, you want a challenge, so you change your job! It's natural.
Life's too short to be worried about this kind of thing. And you are obsessing over it. You do this in person, too.
The funny thing is, at the top of this blog, you say "I live my life a quarter mile at a time...." But do you? If you feel like you need to plan your life like this *at the age of 25*, then you're really not living your life a quarter mile at a time, are you?
Think about it.
Let me think way, way back, to a time when you youngsters weren't around, a time when toys came out based on cartoons, not the other way around.
High School - Wanted to go into the military via West Point or Annapolis. Got all my ducks in a row, but was too blind to go.
College -
Started out in Mechanical and Aerospace engineering (Dual Major). Wanted to design spacecraft. Hated Physics.
Switched to Literature. Wanted to be a writer. Hated pretentiousness.
Switched again to Business Marketing and Management. Hated ALL my classmates.
Sat down and looked at what I was good at, because the financial aid was drying up. Wanted to go Philosophy, but also wanted to eat. Switched to Biology Pre-Med.
Graduated finally, on my way to being a doctor.
Didja know that well over 50% of the med students in the US aren't Bio majors? Or even Science majors? They're Pre-Law. With a healthy (25%) dose of Business.
So. Worked for a while at a hospital laboratory. Eventually realized that the computer work I was doing as part of my 'additional duties' paid more than my job.
Spent seven years working on various Hell Desks, surrounded by the dregs of whatever company I was working for. Finally just walked away from it, eventually got a job working on the more businessy side of IT.
Along the way realized two things. There is literally no job I can't do, and being defined by your job isn't really a good idea in most cases. So now I work for the money, and spend my 'what do I want to do with my life' energy on things outside of work.
Ironically, I finally have a job I actively enjoy, working for and with people who aren't brain dead.
Post a Comment