general How did you settle on a career?

[Denim&Venöm 16,509]

So I'm at the point in life where I'd like to move on from the job I got. Pays well for the simple work I do but there's far too much overtime. But I have no idea what to work towards. There's little point moving to another entry level job. The only way up is to pursue a career. And I have no idea where to even start.

So I'm asking all you working professionals of MLPF, how did you settle on a career? How long did it take for you to reach the top? How far back did you have the career in mind? What made you think 'I'm good doing this until i retire' ? How did you ever figure out your dream job? And for those that changed careers, what sparked you to try something different? 

[Fluttershyfan94 5,738]

Well I don't particularly have a career but I have my university degree in business administration and management. On which I'm adding my current education of carpentry as I wanted to get a look into the building industry as a career to find ways that it could increase efficiency and furthermore increased overview of the project management needing to take place to eliminate the all too many bottlenecks that happen in the world of building industry. Though I also am doing my masters degree on leadership management. I was quite literally raised in the building industry as a kid I would try out excavators and trucks while watching the building process from the cement to the moving in. Therefore my career focus has been largely to grow my fathers business and become a leading building corporation but of course alongside smaller business ideas. 

Technically the only official job I do is investing as I do investing as I am also an investor had great interest in investing at my university. Would talk to fellow investors and business owners about it which got me interested. So while I focus primarily on having a large business of my own I technically could get any job anywhere I am just securing myself a CEO or CFO position within a company if not become the owner myself which is of my interest. 

That said as a kid I always wanted to be an excavator operator then I wanted to become a doctor. But I realized I didn't particularly like working with people let alone asking them about their excrement.. Or their sex life or their urine not particularly interesting. Instead I chose the glamorous world of business, the endless possibilities and essentially just very interesting field to me especially as I am also an entrepreneur. 

[Narcissus 352]

I don't exactly have a career. I work in a bakery and I don't like it at all so I don't expect I'll be doing this decades down the road. I wouldn't mind working in air travel or at an airport because I like the work and it suits me. But I haven't gone into applying for it yet because I have other things occupying my attention right now. 

[Venomous 18,813]

I always knew I wanted to work with animals. Ever since I was a child, I have adored them. I have only ever had jobs that entailed dealing with animals and i even went to college to become a veterinary technician. What caused me to choose a career in dog grooming, however, was working 2 years as a dog bather at a PetSmart grooming salon. I decided that I wanted to become a dog stylist. I love making them feel better than they did coming in.

[Lucky Bolt 34,914]

I haven't settled on a career yet. I love animals, and I have went years thinking I'd love a career working with animals in some medical way but after starting vet tech school and even working at a vet clinic for the first time, I've realized this type of career isn't for me. However, I've worked for a spay/neuter adoption shelter and animal control headquarters for a short time and i absolutely loved it. I even considered branching out and working for animal control. I'm not interested in working in the animal medical industry as much as I am doing other things with animals. 

 

I also love working on old vehicles, but that's more of a hobby of mine than something I'd make into a career. But who knows...I've been considering going to trade school. So we'll see.  For now I'm happy working where I'm at. 

 

[Dreambiscuit 8,024]

As far as choosing a career, I decided when I was six years old that I wanted to work at Disneyland. At age 13, I knew enough to make an informed decision as to the specifics and waited until I was old enough to pursue the dream. I forgot about it and did odd jobs during my later teenage years until, in my early twenties, a friend told me Disneyland was holding auditions in North Hollywood. So as a nod to my younger self I gave it a try with little hope of success and, to my amazement got the job I wanted. I worked as a ‘Casual Temporary’ (aka part time/seasonal) for the first year and became a ‘Casual Regular’ (not quite full-timer) after that. After three years, due to age restrictions my duties changed and I became a department lead, then supervisor a little over a year later. I knew from the beginning that I’d never leave the job until they dragged me away from it; I was working in a place I love, doing what I love best. Some people might consider some of the work silly, but I remember the impact it had on me as a spectator when I was growing up and that was anything but silly. It was in fact life-changing.

If you’re deciding on a career to pursue, look to what you love most. It can be something momentous or totally frivolous. Prestige, money, etc are secondary considerations as long as the job brings you happiness because we’re looking at the long haul and achieving fulfillment along the way. Nothing is impossible, trust me. Try anything and everything that suggests itself because it costs nothing and you might just stumble into a lifelong dream in the process.

[ZiggWheelsManning 7,366]

It was the help of an assisting career service agency, being my skills were of productivity, so I interviewed for grocery store work and was hired there.  

[AppleButt 8,669]

Well I wanted to be an airline pilot, so I got a job at an airport fueling planes to help pay for lessons.  Some things changed, and happened and now I can’t do that anymore.  10 years later I’m now the supervisor of this place, so guess this’ll  have to do now.   I’m around planes all the time so that’s a huge plus.  Just kinda all happened though.  I never aimed for any of this.  Now that I’m supervisor though I’m hoping one day to move up to a manager position in this field.  I’ve thought about moving on to something else, but hard to justify now that I’ve gotten somewhere with this I guess. 

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

I never settled on a career and this ended up costing me in some ways. At my current age, it would be difficult to achieve a career so I've opted to help others who are younger and who have yet to figure out what they want to do. It's my way of helping them not make the same mistakes I did.

[Props Valroa 26,042]

Haven't settled on a career yet. I need to, and I don't want to be lost when I am older.

[TBD 17,228]

Where to start? I guess you could say I wasn't quite sure what I really wanted to do- my childhood dream was nothing more than just me fantasizing and interests. But I know one thing that has always been clear to me, and that is I wanted to do something to help others. Such ideal, got me lost several time since as simple as it sound- it's not. The questions like these kept me doubting myself like; "What make you think working at a hospital or crime is the best place or could actually help anyone? Since there are many other ways to do it. than working there?", "Are you really going to be happy working there?", why would you want to work there beside helping people?"

I begun to think these questions being asked was because they think I'm just here for the money thanks to most the images being ruined by shitheads in the health/law field these days. I yearned to serve and help others but the more I reach for it the more I feel how delusional and fake it has become. My actions doesn't fit the bill due to my anger and frustration-thus believing I'm not worthy anymore to hold that ideal. On top of that, there's rude people on the other hand and people in the society and shit that can drive you crazy to the point of me thinking, "fuck this humanity".

So in the end, I have decided to settle on a so-called "career" with this thought "making money" with a descent job  who paid enough just to get through the day, nothing else. It's a sad reality for me to accept but that's basically my whole progress on "how did I settle on a 'career'".  I guess you could that-

"At least I'm not as sad as I used to be-- That's my life, nothing is sacred. I don't keep friends, I keep acquainted, I'm not a prophet, But I'm here to profit."

 

[Sonic Shimmer 4,116]

I needed to eat and I found a company willing to give me money to buy food.