I'm 24, and got tricked into a job I thought would pan out.

whillywhanka wrote:

You'll never pass your creative writing assignment with such lame material.

How are you helping this guy. Offer some ideas.

You mentioned Psychology. You might consider Social Work such as in case worker, probation officer, etc.

You do not have to have a master's degree to get a job although those who have one make the big dough.

These are good jobs. You might have to start out part-time or in a low rank position. I do not know

much about the modern day system but I have many relatives who are in social work.

You might be able to work for your local government. They have many jobs. Welfare, Libraries, etc.

Did you EVER touch a computer during the six years you were at the school district?

Go for an IT Support position.

Then spend the time you waste at this crap site instead learning Python scripting, and go for every Python job out there after a year or two from now. You'll make $60K plus automatically at that point.

If you have no idea about half or all of what I just said, that doesn't matter. You can be dumb as rocks and type crap. That's all this is.

What ever you do, please don't join the military.

If nothing else it's bad for your health.

And you are not able to use Strava anymore.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/28/fitness-tracking-app-gives-away-location-of-secret-us-army-bases

semenyagoat wrote:

I would not go into a profession that is killing millions of people around the world. But americans seem to enjoy it so perhaps it is also good for you

In which country do you live? Where do you have citizenship?

11K is great. Wish I had that much. Sorry but you aren't bad off. You're just someone that never realized what real life was going to be like. It's hard. Real hard. Makes running seem extremely easy.

I work maintenance. I'm not sure where you're from but any experience in machine repair/maintenance (not janitor) is sought after big time. You can get a job quick at 26+ without much problem.

I'd spend more time in maintenance, learn electrical better and move into a PLC programmer/controls engineer type job.

John Utah wrote:

semenyagoat wrote:

controlling a drone from your whirlpool really is a couragous act. but would not expect anything else from the country where finishing a race gives you a medal

The object is to kill the bad guys. Stacking the deck in your favor (through technology, tactics, innovations, weapons, etc.) is optimal and has been the desire of every military organization since the beginning of time.

Except our wars recently have been mostly not about killing "bad guys" but just the "other guys. " We mostly fight now for economic reasons, to control natural resources in our favor.

It seems to work, but is also awfully expensive and is setting a lot of the world against us. Reasonable people can debate if it is morally good or bad that we are doing this, I'm a bit split on the issue myself.

But to claim our military is predominantly engaged in killing "bad guys" is pretty darned silly and makes you seem like an equally silly person.

On the advice of the military?

Be careful what unit you consider enlisting in.

But, before you sleep chant the mantra.

"I call upon my highest power to assist in my evolution."

Say it till you sleep, and you should come up with a goal.

Are you jamin?

join the Air Force. You'll learn a trade , get a pension and have a trade and steady income after 40

Cassius Clay wrote:

What ever you do, please don't join the military.

If nothing else it's bad for your health.

And you are not able to use Strava anymore.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/28/fitness-tracking-app-gives-away-location-of-secret-us-army-bases

Ha ha ha hilarious

NextGen wrote:

2/10

You'd be a great school teacher, and an education degree is the easiest college major.

Dude, move out of warroad MN and try Duluth or the Twin Cities. You’ll have much better opportunities for future employment or education...you might just stumble across something you never considered that you really enjoy

You said yourself that you often feel dissatisfied at your white collar job and wish you were outside "doing more". I get that "finding yourself" has become a super cliche' snow flaky thing to say, but what's the harm in working a part-time job while trying to figure out what he actually wants to do with his life?

Learning a trade or skill is definitely something to consider. We have fewer and fewer plumbers, electricians, landscapers, etc. but plenty of people going to college in the "liberal arts" and graduating with tons of debt.

Figure out what you enjoy or at least what you are interested in (i.e. the trade path, military path, or college path), work a part-time job en route, and make a choice.

You can be almost anything. Doctor, lawyer, accountant, software engineer, PhD, whatever. There are a few industries that only select from Ivy League type schools, and you won’t get those, but otherwise anything is in play.

Think long term. You may have 40 working years ahead of you, it’s OK if this early part takes 4, 6, 8 years or whatever. You’ll get there. Just get it right, and go in eyes wide open - do your research.

Figure yourself out wrote:

You said yourself that you often feel dissatisfied at your white collar job and wish you were outside "doing more". I get that "finding yourself" has become a super cliche' snow flaky thing to say, but what's the harm in working a part-time job while trying to figure out what he actually wants to do with his life?

Learning a trade or skill is definitely something to consider. We have fewer and fewer plumbers, electricians, landscapers, etc. but plenty of people going to college in the "liberal arts" and graduating with tons of debt.

Figure out what you enjoy or at least what you are interested in (i.e. the trade path, military path, or college path), work a part-time job en route, and make a choice.

I think we are saying the same thing. I don't like the idea of "figuring yourself out". I do like the idea of figuring out what is out there, what the jobs are all about, and what might be your best fit. Maybe it's just semantics, but I don't think it's the same thing. "Figuring yourself out", to me, is a trip down the rabbit hole, disconnected from reality, resulting in minimal practical application.

I totally agree that too many people are kind of "pushed" towards white collar jobs, which might be counter to their natural inclinations.

Lastly, I think most people's expectations are way too high and not rooted in reality. No job is going to be perfect.

At age 30 I made a career change that took me 7 years to get the education I needed, get my foot in the door, then finally finish up the credentialing process. I was ahead of you in that I already had a college degree, but I was older, so actually if you wanted to pursue the same career starting now you'd get there at a younger age.

In my 20's I worked at career for like 9 years and eventually I was sick of it. Now in my new career I'm 5 years in and it's losing its luster. I've come to the conclusion that it's just going to be like this. Working just kind of sucks.

With that said, go for the money. Choose a career with a high barrier to entry that forces you to work your ass off and takes a while to finish, but is more or less guaranteed to pay you handsomely in the end. That's where I ended up. I'm not really any happier than in my old job, but now I make twice as much money, with more upward growth on the horizon.

So if you like the mental health field, don't be a psychologist, be a psychiatrist. Sure it will take a couple extra years up front, and it will be hard, but if you're going to give away half your life to other people, at least get paid as much as you can for it.

I’m 37 and changed careers last year after burning out from my first career. If I had one piece of advice for 24 year old me, it would be try out as many careers, ideas, etc. as you can until 32-35. Finding out what you want in this life is pretty important and you can’t do that without tying new things. As one poster mentions, be weary of the college path unless you decide to get a degree that will have good ROI. Don’t just go and get a BS in Communication Administration or something, only to end up 20+ grand in debt.

ploosh wrote:

In my 20's I worked at career for like 9 years and eventually I was sick of it. Now in my new career I'm 5 years in and it's losing its luster. I've come to the conclusion that it's just going to be like this. Working just kind of sucks.

.

That's why there are different words for work and fun. People can talk a bunch of BS about passion for their work, loving their jobs so they "never work a day" and all of that fantasy nonsense, but at the end of the day, work is work. For 99% of the people, you wouldn't be doing it just for the fun of it. Which is why someone is paying you to do it. It's not bad or good; it just is.

Stop drinking. Go get a job at another school district or government institution. If that doesn't work, go to trade school to become an electrical lineman or some other lucrative trade profession. Pays well and is in demand (especially with the movement towards electric cars, as the T&D infrastructure in this country is not set up to handle much more than about 10% market saturation before all of the utility infrastructure needs to be replaced to accommodate people fast charging their cars each night). Don't waste money on a psych degree. You will require a masters to get a job and it won't pay as well as being a maintenance supervisor at a school or as an electrical lineman. You're 24 and probably haven't touched a book or done a math problem since you graduated high school, so be honest with yourself and don't pretend that you aspire to be an academic. You could always apply for the military. Depending on your fitness and acumen you may or may not get in.