hethatishere: On Vox: Life's Biggest Question

Peter (

hethatishere) wrote,
@ 2008-10-20 22:51:00

On Vox: Life's Biggest Question

What the hell am I doing here?

Okay. Perhaps, put slightly more concretely: What do I do with my life? Mmmm. Again, more specifically: People spend most of their lives at work, so what do I do with the majority of my life? There we go.

The economy sucks and so does the job market, but nonetheless I have begun to pull a reverse-ostrich and start to survey my surroundings. It isn't pretty and I am feeling pretty uninspired and useless with my Liberal Arts degree in a totally esoteric interdisciplinary self-designed major. Go me. So after being woefully unemployed for a few months (after leaving my unfulfilling and underpaying job in non-profit development), I have begun to think about what I am doing and where I am going (which is unfortunately nowhere at the moment).

Obviously, this needs to change. This is where inspiration is key, and a good place to start is getting ideas from other people. So Internet, friends and strangers alike, I turn to you.

So here we go - Choose Your Own Adventure style!

If you know me: When you think of me what kind of work do you think I would be good at or enjoy?

If you don't know me: What do you do for work? Do you like it, why or why not?

For over 9000 points: What would your ideal profession be and why?

Originally posted on iheijoushin.vox.com

(16 comments) - (Post a new comment)

tk7602
2008-10-21 03:32 am UTC (link)

in a general sense, my ideal job is something interesting enough that i don't dread going, while not so demanding as to take up much of my time beyond the m-f, 9-5.

i also firmly believe you should do what you like for work, not what you love. i find that if i am paid to do something, my passion for it fades.

which is why i work in tech, but get my joy from sculpting and painting on my own.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	driftingfocus 2008-10-24 07:05 am UTC (link)
	"i also firmly believe you should do what you like for work, not what you love. i find that if i am paid to do something, my passion for it fades." I have a similar situation with studying something. The main thing keeping me from getting a history master's is that I know it would make me hate history, which I never want to happen. (Reply to this) (Parent)

super_lucky
2008-10-21 03:36 am UTC (link)

I wouldn't recommend you doing anything I'm doing, being disabled sucks. :) Nonprofits all seem to pay very little unless you're high up the ladder, but to me they've always seemed like the type of businesses where you feel good about what you're doing. My ideal profession would be something involving animal charities. I've always enjoyed finance, so I might like to be a fundraiser of some sort.

My job before, as an SAP administrator for Gamesa Wind, was nice. They're not nonprofit, but they're alternative energy so at least I felt they were somewhat helpful. There aren't many people out there who know how to use SAP, so if you wanted to learn an in demand computer program you might want to look for some classes in it.

(Reply to this)

dreamtlife27
2008-10-21 03:52 am UTC (link)

Sorry to hear that. I think a lot of people feel that way after college, but it's no big deal. My mom got her BA in art & philosophy, then did a stint teaching, and later on got her doctorate and now teaches calculus and such. Several older folks have told me a pretty similar story. One's undergrad degree often has nothing to do with their middle age career.

~You always seem very compassionate and level headed, and generally you strike me as a counselor/therapist/advocate. I could see you doing work in something like family therapy, or being very good as a conflict resolver.

~Perfect would be secretly ruling/serving via media and intelligence agencies and expanding power until all other systems can be subverted to the total expression of freedom and will of the people. Ideally, as a career, something managerial/coordination/understanding the architecture of systems, moreso because I'm intrinsically good at it and would be too bored and disinterested to be in anything else for long. I wish could be a musician or something creative, maybe having a suburban ideal, but it's probably better to capitalize on one's strengths.

You could try taking the MBTI to get a better idea: http://spt.skeletus.com/eng/
http://www.personalitypathways.com/MBTI_intro.html
Of course, you probably already have some idea what you're intrinsically good at.

(Reply to this)

brigid
2008-10-21 05:04 am UTC (link)

* If you know me: When you think of me what kind of work do you think I would be good at or enjoy?
I think you would be a good teacher. i'm sticking with that one. either that or an administrative/executive assistant or personal assistant. either that or maybe doing some sort of community organization stuff, or getting involved in a non profit thing utilizing art and education (like that disability is an art thing you did)

* If you don't know me: What do you do for work? Do you like it, why or why not?
i don't work because i am sick. i do not like it because it doesn't pay well, the benefits suck, though the hours are pretty sweet.

* For over 9000 points: What would your ideal profession be and why?
you are not a channer! my ideal job would either be a licensed social worker or psychologist or patient advocate. a tiny part of me would love to own my own retail store though...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

driftingfocus
2008-10-24 07:08 am UTC (link)

I agree on the teaching bit. I have watched you teach on numerous occasions, and I think that your focus on the administrator angle rather than the teacher angle has been a bit of a mistake. You're educated and have a good background, and I think that you could do well as a teacher. Doesn't pay much, but you do have a cushion that most don't, and they do okay. I do think that something like teaching over here in Korea would be good for you.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

nacilmeiel
2008-10-21 12:20 pm UTC (link)

I feel like you would be good at some people based task. I wish I could be more specific, but you know, people-things are out of my range of expertise.

One thing that I have learned recently is that I am surprisingly happy with the job I have. I work for a small company which writes software for drug design.. we are small (about 100 people), but it doesn't feel like any of the corporate nonsense I had absorbed into my brain growing up. (Which is not to say that corporate in the wide scale does or does not suck). But I have the opportunity to work on interesting projects precisely because it is not a big company, non-profit or academia... All three of which have a strict sense of hierachy and would not let a lowly BA do work comporable to that the PhDs (the rest of my company) do. In any case, it works great for me.

But it was a learning experience. I took the internship (to see how the other side lives) -- planning to go back to grad school and become a professor. Now I'm in a full-time position and really happy with what I'm doing. I guess I would say don't be afraid to work for something that you were wary about, because sometimes there are unexpected benefits. (Or leave the nonprofit realm, I am learning that there are some for-profit companies which can do really cool things too...)

(Reply to this)

heatray
2008-10-21 02:06 pm UTC (link)

I still think you could thrive in non-profit, because you are an exceedingly kind, giving person. But you'd need to be in a situation where you were in charge of your own professional development, and did not feel as if you were being taken advantage of (i.e. required to do work beyond what you were hired to do, while being underpaid and screwed out of benefits). That, unfortunately, is a difficult balance to achieve in any career.

I found temping to be a pretty good way of learning about different professions, and different ways of doing things. It's hardly fulfilling, but if you're motivated and curious, you can learn a lot. Plus, the drudgery of being a temp is a huge motivator to figure out what you want to do.

I think you'd be an excellent salesman, but you'd have to really believe in whatever you were selling. You're very good with people, and convincingly passionate about pretty much every subject you talk about.

I think you'd be a good teacher for the same reason.

Grad school is usually a good answer to not knowing what you want to do. Especially during an economic downturn.

(Reply to this)

smashthemachine
2008-10-21 02:17 pm UTC (link)

I thought teaching would be a good fit for you: Teachers need to be organized, have a sense of humor, people skills, and enjoy working with people. As to whether you enjoy it, it matter a lot whether the school and group of students is a good fit.
Have you thought of Americorps or the Peacecorps? I mean, like other jobs it may be thankless and not pay well, but depending on the placement you may find leads for other jobs through whatever work you do, and they provide a lot of training and benefits. Like grad school, it can be a productive thing to do until you figure out what to do next. And looks good on a resume. And there is the feeling of making a positive difference, changing the world. I have the impression that appeals to you.
My ideal profession right now is to start a computer science camp for young girls that provides the majority of it's services for free to young women from inner cities and underfunded schools. Not a very realistic goal, but I think it's a nice idea and let me know if you hear about one. : )

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	fancytitle 2008-10-21 10:43 pm UTC (link)
	That camp sounds really sweet! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	zombiemommy 2008-10-22 12:25 am UTC (link)
	there is an organization that does this sort of girl focused tech thing in the SF Bay Area but I can't remember its name. Try doing a search at the 611.0rg site for SF. (Reply to this) (Parent)

fancytitle
2008-10-21 10:17 pm UTC (link)

I could totally see you as a high school counselor. Have you thought about Teach for America? Warning:it's really tough, but hella rewarding.

I lead activities in the rehab of a nursing home. On the side, I teach art classes at an independent living community. I enjoy it. Nursing homes are often looking for workers. Independent living communities pay better. Both jobs are really meaningful, though.

A traveling art therapist. Because it'd be hella awesome. I'd travel to different hospitals and nuring homes doing art therapy with the patients.

(Reply to this)

here is an idea

zombiemommy
2008-10-22 01:05 am UTC (link)

First – I do not know you but you helped me with beer so that is a big plus from my point of view.
Second – I know nonprofits better than anyone you will ever know.
Third – I have years of experience…
So the first thing to understand, I think, is that unless you are in the medical field your degree has little to do with your money making activities. The education helps you be a well rounded thinking person. It helped you learn how to learn so that as you progress through life you can keep learning new skills thus working in many areas for fun and for money. Woohoo for education.
Nonprofits do traditionally pay way less than the corporate sector, however, with so many younger people looking at the nonprofit sector as a career choice things are changing. Nonprofit work is slowly becoming respected as a career. If your generation sticks with their ideals and doesn’t sell out like your parents moving from love children to corporate sharks you can alter the nonprofit sector as you gain greater roles of responsibility. You can make it a viable and valued industry career choice. However, this does not help you in the moment.
I run a nonprofit and here is the truth I know. I must move my outreach online through things like facebook, MySpace, etc. I need to start getting things up on YouTube and I need to be able to put my newsletter in html and set up an email blast moving away from the high cost of USPS and paperwaste.
I can pay a consultant to do our web – and I do. But I have no one on staff or available as a consultant to do these online and outreach pieces. Volunteers and interns come and go so we get no consistency or finished projects in this tech arena. The firms that do this sort of work have rates only corporations and very large nonprofits can manage. I am not the only nonprofit leader with this issue.
If I found someone who could write pretty well, and understood the mechanisms of the major online communities, etc. and who would not charge me too much for their services I would jump on using them as a consultant and if I had the budget as a salaried position. Sort of grass roots marketing in the 22 century. Look at what Obama has done through his online outreach!
If I were just starting out I would try this myself. Think about it. You get to mainly work in your jammies. Your clients can be anywhere not just your neighborhood. Once a client’s online sites are up it is only the updates they provide to you. You are helping nonprofits that serve client bases you care about, children, puppies, whatever. If you want to interact directly with people you expand your services to more traditional fundraising through cross marketing projects. If you start with really low rates nonprofits will tell other nonprofits about you and bring you more business. As your work brings new donors and clients and exposure to the nonprofit they have more dependence on you and lowered costs in other areas allowing you to increase your fees.
If this sounds interesting to you and you’d like to talk about it let me know.
Heatray can give you my telephone number.

(Reply to this)

	sykopomp 2008-10-22 05:18 pm UTC (link)
	#1 You always came off as someone who would really enjoy media work, possibly graphic-design related, probably with computers. This is based on a pretty old dataset, though. #3 My ideal profession would be a basement-dwelling OSS hacker. (Reply to this)

driftingfocus
2008-10-24 07:22 am UTC (link)

If you know me: When you think of me what kind of work do you think I would be good at or enjoy?
I think that you get too invested in things to ever truly be happy in nonprofit work. As constructive criticism, you have a habit of letting people take advantage of you when you care about something, and that is not a good trait for NP work.

I do think that you should look at teaching again. You were a good, kind, empowering, and thoughtful teacher when I saw you teach, and you are good at making people feel relaxed and appreciated, which I have learned is an important and oft-overlooked skill in teaching. Personally, I think that you should consider coming over here to Korea, or China, or somewhere else to teach English. It would be a good way to take a "pause" and look at your life, while still earning money and gaining experience. I am having a tough time down here in Jindo, but up in Seoul, I think you would do fine.

If you don't know me: What do you do for work? Do you like it, why or why not?
I'm a bum! Well, sort of. I tend to see work as a means to an end, though if it's something I enjoy, then that's always a plus. I have enjoyed teaching here, and if I weren't with Marc, I'd continue it, albeit in a country that I am more interested in. I have gotten some really promising leads recently with my photojournalism, and if I can get that going, that's what I'll do.

For over 9000 points: What would your ideal profession be and why?
I vacillate back and forth between two dream-life situations. One is living in the rural countryside in New England as a history teacher, and the other is traveling around as a photojournalist. Both are possible, and I'm sort of working towards both, but they are very, very different. It's entirely possible that I could start off as one, and end up as the other, 10 years down the line. My *ideal* profession, as in what I think I would be best at (though not necessarily enjoy the most) would be being some sort of consultant for the history channel, organizing the reenactors, etc. Alternatively, shooting video for them.

(Reply to this)

	seriously. duralict 2008-10-24 08:28 am UTC (link)
	You should be running local film* festivals in your upscale coffee* bar. star wars piles of people **tea (Reply to this)

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