Good Career Choices

[Shifty eyes]

Hi im 15 from Sydney Australia.
Next year im starting my final 2 years of school (my high school certificate)
Ive decided to keep music as just a fun thing to do and not attempt to pursue a career in it such as what some of my tutors do (basically saying I don't want to be 30 and broke)
My mum told me if I want to go to university that id be paying for all of it
The subjects I have chosen are quite broad such as general maths and business studies and I do qualify for a uni score because of the subjects I have picked.
What are some good career choices that I should look into?

[Pilgrim]

Info tech - Engineering - Business of any kind - Hospitality and Restaurant Management - those are some.

Take a look at society and consider where we're going: tech industries are growing, and service industries are growing. The restaurant industry is a tough biz, but it's growing overall. Graduate level statistics actually has a role in computer chip design. Digital media are growing fast. My daughter graduated in Business-Marketing this spring and had a job waiting for her at the Dish network, satellite TV providers.

The famous hockey player Wayne Gretzky said it: "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."

Think about businesses and technologies which are growing and have a future. Also - you're in Australia and most of us are not, so use your knowledge of your country. Talk with your parents about where they think the country is going.

[Auzzie-Phoenix]

Independent architects make nice money, so do engineers. They both require a signifigant amount of math skills, and business skills never hurt. Business accounting is usually a stable job. You could also be a statistician for a company or agency that researches trends and other such things.

Though I think it's still a bit early for deciding that right now. Your first year of college you should look into getting fundamental requirements classes out of the way (required maths, language or what have you classes). That way you gain more time to figure out what you want to do for a career, and can focus your studies later on without having a bunch of basic requirements classes to contend with.

But, it is a good thing that you're considering what you want to do and asking for recommendations. It gives you things to look into that might give you ideas on what you want to do. It will also allow you to get a good idea of specific areas of study to apply yourself to once you find a few that seem promising.

[Shifty eyes]

Thanks for the replies I already like your answers, and I don't believe its too late to decide now as at the start of year 10 they kept asking you what you want to do with 85% of us being like *shrug shoulders*

[jmattbassplaya]

1. Go into college having an idea about what you want to do. You don't have to stick with it if you find out it's not for you, but for some degrees you need to go into your freshmen year taking all the right classes or else you'll be behind (ex. medical, engineering, etc...). Trust me, it will save you a headache.

2. Pick something you love doing, but be reasonable (ie. make sure it pays a decent enough salary). As many adults have told me - if you love what you're doing the money will eventually follow. However, if you hate what you're doing no amount of money will turn that around.

3. Play to your strengths. I'm not too great at math so I avoided paths that would of forced me to take anything above Calculus II. I'm currently doing business and am planning on either law school or graduate school for my MBA.

4. If you can, see if you can go to a community college for your general education classes. This can save you thousands. Just be careful and make sure all your credits will easily transfer to the college you actually want to get your degree from.

[ubado]

Accounting.

Even companies that are losing their butts, needs a bean counter to tell them exactly how much.

[Bett]

Make sure you do something you're going to like. We had to read some articles for my social problems class, and one of them was related to jobs. The author had an interesting theory on work. A job is some work you do to make money, and you don't necessarily like it. A career is a job you spend your life doing. Finally, a calling is something one does where they know they're doing something beneficial, and whether you're hugely successful or not, you still enjoy doing it. So shoot for your calling, instead of just a career you may not enjoy after 20 years.
Be prepared for changes in your plan. I always wanted to be a veterinarian as a kid. After high school I went to college for biology, and had no idea what I wanted to do. Now in my second year, I'm thinking about transferring to another school with a more specific program, maybe something horticulture related. I'm finding the requirements for the general biology program not all that exciting, and we're doing stuff that I don't feel are helping me with things I want to do. My current school doesn't offer any specific biology fields as it is.
If you stay with broad subjects for now, you should be able to narrow it down after a year or two of college. Then you'll have more ideas on what to do with life, and whether you like where you're going. I'm not sure about Australia, but around here there's a lot of scholarships being offered, and kids often don't bother to take them. My dad's friend's son got a $10,000 dollar a year scholarship for 4 years of school, which would be quite helpful if you have to pay yourself.

[popinfresh]

In my honest opinion, don't even bother stressing it at all. I am originally from Melbourne. When I was your age, I was looking at school options based on careers. By the time I was in year 12 not only had the career industry flipped around (which it always is now), I realised I still didn't know what I wanted to do with my life other than the career.
I worked out of school for a year and a half with well paid factory work trying to figure it out and what I might want to do for Uni. In the end, I packed a backpack and left to see the world instead.

I've now been traveling around for 2 years, and I've learnt more about life than I ever would have in University. Not only that, I find out more and more every day who I actually am, so by the time I've found it, I'll be passionate enough to follow it in any way.

I'm traveling around Canada in a van (ignore the location, I'm on the East side at the moment), loving life and the people I meet, getting by with random odd jobs and busking. I've got a 12 string acoustic, Djembe, Mac book, some books, clothes and a van. Being broke aint bad, it's actually a blast! I'm doing a Reiki course soon which is something I would never have considered or even heard of two years ago, which I am really excited for. If you want to call that my career direction, it earns you $50-60 an hour, better than most Uni degrees would have gotten me. Even better is that I'm happy and love doing it.

Point being? Follow your heart and just do whatever makes you happiest.

What I have done might not be for everyone, but I wouldn't swap my life for anything

[Linas]

dentistry.

[Kosko]

Major in health computers law or a trade skill

You can dual, or minor, but NOT major in philosophy language music history sociology anthropology hospitality communications poli-sci or womens studies

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Aim for a professional qualification, most medical subjects, engineering etc.

[EdHunter]

It helps if you know what you want to do as early as possible. Ever since I was in 8th grade (now in 11th) I wanted to get into Politics, so if you can make your mind up early, it'll only be an advantage.

[Komakino]

Originally Posted by Shifty eyes

Hi im 15 from Sydney Australia.
Next year im starting my final 2 years of school (my high school certificate)
Ive decided to keep music as just a fun thing to do and not attempt to pursue a career in it such as what some of my tutors do (basically saying I don't want to be 30 and broke)
My mum told me if I want to go to university that id be paying for all of it
The subjects I have chosen are quite broad such as general maths and business studies and I do qualify for a uni score because of the subjects I have picked.
What are some good career choices that I should look into?

Surely this is a question only you can answer?

It's all very well us telling you what we think are "good" career choices, but:
1. "Good" is subjective and vague. Do you mean good prospects, good opportunities for travel, good pay, good conditions...?
2. What's "good" for us may not be good for you. I could tell you that programming is a great job to be in, but if you have no aptitude for it or find working with computers in an office dull then it's not going to be the career for you!
3. What do you enjoy doing? If you don't want to be inside all day then an office job is not for you. If, on the other hand, you hate to get your hands dirty then it's no good us suggesting you become a tree surgeon.

Ultimately, decide what you enjoy doing and go down that route. You could be doing whatever you pick for 30 or 40 years, so it's most important that you enjoy doing it.

[Vorago]

Dentist: a friend of mine started this year as an assistant after completing his studies.

He's making € 3000 a month (taxes already deducted).

Also, stay away from 'English Literature'.

[Vorago]

Originally Posted by EdHunter

It helps if you know what you want to do as early as possible. Ever since I was in 8th grade (now in 11th) I wanted to get into Politics, so if you can make your mind up early, it'll only be an advantage.

+1

[tycobb73]

The careers where the output is clearly seen usually are better: accounting, engineering, healthcare, etc. Subjective output like psychology, art, etc is usually not so great. Neither are jobs that don't require a college degree.

[IconBasser]

Originally Posted by ubado

Accounting.

Even companies that are losing their butts, needs a bean counter to tell them exactly how much.

true, but you really have to like that sort of thing in order to do it well. I understand all the concepts in class, but forcing myself to do it is torture.

my best general advice is to

1. examine which career paths have promise of a good salary (as others in the thread are helping you out with)

2. Go for the one that naturally interests you. Not the one that bores you the least, but the one that actually makes you excited rather than putting you to sleep.

I ended up in Economics (3 semesters to go for my degree). I can do just about anything I want with it, and when I go to class and work out problems, I feel like a kid in a candy store.

Long story short, go find your candy store.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by IconBasser

Long story short, go find your candy store.

Unfortunately Boobitology isn't a major at most colleges

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

Unfortunately Boobitology isn't a major at most colleges

If it isn't, you aren't doing college/university right . . .



. . . well, it isn't official anyway, but, you know . . .