This might not be the best community for this, but I don’t know what job I want after high school. I’m afraid of pursuing a job that I’ll end up hating. How do I figure out what job I want when I grow up?
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.
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.
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.
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.
I always liked computers, so I got an entry level job in IT.
Just followed my passion tbh.
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.
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.
Lots of stumbling. Thinking I liked something, learning things in life, try other things. Eventually I found something that I really liked.
What do you do now?
For a while I cooked, now I work with computers. I travelled around, pre-covid with that job which was a good time.
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.
What’s a sub-entry level job?
I always liked the idea of going to a college that had a program with a work term so you can see if you like it and also get some experience. I would say talk to some people in areas that you are interested in and see if you find any jobs you may look doing.
Honestly? You don’t. I was gonna try to be a sysadmin but I’m a product support engineer now. The point being shit doesn’t always work out the way you plan. Find something you are interested in, or think about what you truly enjoy doing. For me, it is quite simply the act of helping someone get something done, and fixing various software problems. No matter what job I have, if I can do one or both of those things and make a living I think I’ll be happy with it. Hope this helps.
Thank you. I’ll keep this in mind.
Before you get married and have kids, just do a bunch of shit. Fail a lot, figure out what you like and what you don’t.
I had like 30 jobs between 17 and 23. I was a roofer for a couple days at one point (I do project management now, as a comparison).
Just try stuff and take advantage of the fact that you’re young and you can say “I’m figuring things out”. It’s a lot harder to make that fly when you’re 30.
College is a great place to start. Unfortunately college is ridiculously expensive these days, but community college is still pretty affordable. There are so many things you don’t even know exist in the world right after highschool. The world also works a lot differently than you’ve seen so far, so a college level education is really beneficial. Go to community college, knock out some Gen Ed courses, and take some interesting classes for your electives. You’ll learn about stuff that you didn’t know existed and you may find that you’re passionate about some of those things.
Try stuff out! I ended up in a career very different than my major because I volunteered at an organization and ended up really enjoying what I did there.
I think community college is actually great for this because changing your major/exploring new coursework or opportunities is much cheaper than doing so at a regular college/University.
After highschool (I actually dropped out) I worked a ton of dead end jobs. Cooking mostly, but there was roofing, painting, digging holes, lots of manual labour.
Eventually I moved to Vancouver and had an opportunity to become a card dealer. It was… How do I put it so you can fully understand… The worst experience by far, ever. It was toxic abusive, exhausting, and just all around the worst.
My partner at the time got pregnant and she actually gave me an out, said I didn’t have to be there at all. I thought my options over and decided I was going to be apart of this kids life and enrolled in college for IT. It was a bit of cheating really, I was already good at it so why not. 18 years later, I’m a consultant, doing well and my daughter is starting grade 12 next year.
You don’t. You’re highly likely going to go through some big psychological changes as you age that will probably cause perspective shifts about just who you are and what you want. And that’s biological. You’re going to experience other things that aren’t biological products that cause perspective shifts. You at 18 and you at 35 should be two fairly different people.
Hopefully you can find something that you continue to enjoy throughout life. If not it’s really not a big deal. Do what you have to, take opportunities given to you as they arise and you’ll probably end up somewhere you never expected. Work is work is work. Even if you love the field you can still hate work. It’s easier to make a change in career than to pigeonhole yourself into something that presents no way to diversify.
I heard somewhere that people on average will make 3 career changes during their lifetime. Which is not a hard fast rule of course but the point is to expect that your goals may change over time as you yourself will also likely change over time.
So in the meantime, I suggest pursuing stable work that gives you a comfortable standard living and maximizing the use of your free time to pursue enrichment in your life and not worrying too hard about trying to get satisfaction from your work.
