A Conversation About Careers: Are You Working in Your Field of Study?

[Still4faith]

I went to college for my chosen career field after working several years and figuring out what I wanted to do. After getting a BS and then MS, the economy tanked and I have not been able to find a job in my career field at all. I feel like I wastedmy time going to school as now I get caught in the over qualified for entry level positions and under qualified for the level my degrees should get. I am having trouble finding any job now.

 

[adekruif]

I have a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and I somewhat work in my field of study. The first circuits class I took I vowed to not go into electrical engineering (cause I hated electronics), so I got a degree in mechanical. My job now requires me to work with electronics on a daily basis. *facepalm* I love my job though, basically my dream job.

 

[christian74]

Political Science major - now plucking chicken feathers.

 

[Shouryu]

There was no option for "I am working in my field of study, and am okay with it." Some fields of study are fairly broad, after all.

By the time I hit high school, I was fairly certain that music was what I wanted to do. At first, I was fired up about being a band director, but as high school wore on, I began to realize that what I really enjoyed was playing. So my first degree was a performance degree. Ironically, I approached my task in college differently than other performance majors...most performance majors are very tunnel-visioned, and basically sleep with their primary instrument. I went into college already experienced in bass clarinet, saxophone, and voice, and instead of focusing my energy on one instrument, I pretty much played just about any reed instrument in any ensemble I could. I became a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none, which always surprises people when they hear me play clarinet (I'm better than average, but I'm not at that high level most expect from a performance major).

My graduate assistantship had me directing the athletic bands on campus, and I got into that real big...Gracie's heard some of the stuff that my bands did while was a director. At the same time, I was also teaching Music History for non-majors (101) and enjoying that as well. So I began to realize that what I really wanted to be was a music professor. Being a prof was all the best parts of being a band director/music teacher with very little of the stupid parts (dealing with parents, state testing, fund raising, endless football games). So my MA was in conducting, and by a quirk in my assistantship (and some very sly maneuvering on the music department chair's part), I finished with an educator's certification/licence as well.

The whole process took eight years to get my two degrees, with some minor detours. But right out of graduating, I was offered a position as a visiting professor at a smaller university in New Mexico. It was a door, waiting for my foot. I would be directing the university band, teaching theory and ear training, giving woodwind instruction, and teaching a few history lecture courses. It was like the job was custom made for me. So I jumped on it.

Two things:
1. I hated the city. I really did. Really really did.
2. I realized I'd become the very type of professor that I, when I was a student, had the least respect for...a scholar who was highly trained in knowledge and theory, but had zero practical, real world experience.

So after a semester, I realized I had to go get practical, real world experience, and left what was supposedly my dream job. And I am in my ninth year as a public school educator.

I don't hate it.

I could easily go back now, and find a university to hire me for the so-called dream job. But I kind of know what I'm doing now, and it's just as easy for me to just work until I can collect retirement in public school.

AND THEN become a college prof again. DUAL INCOME, yo!

*laughs maniacally*

 

[Loveneverfails]

When I was a child, I wanted to be a pediatrician. I kept telling my parents I wanted to help kids, and apparently I thought that was the only way I could do it. Pretty soon "pediatrician" just turned into "anything in the medical field". After a year in college I finally narrowed it down: pediatric nurse practitioner. I had already been taking lower level general courses and plenty of science so it wasn't hard to declare a pre-nursing major. I did that for another year, and was doing very well, but right before I submitted my application to the nursing school, I felt God tugging on my heart. I don't know how else to describe it. I spent much time in prayer, seeking His will about this important decision. It's all a blur now, but suddenly some doors were closing and others were opening...then the next thing I know I'm applying to the music program.

All my life, people have been telling me that I am especially gifted in music and teaching (I have taught Sunday school and a variety of dance classes), but I would just smile and assume those would simply be hobbies because obviously I was going to be a nurse. Looks like God had other plans, because now I'm in my third year of the music education program. By the time I'm finished ill be certified to teach music K-12 in my local school district. I definitely want to teach music to children in some capacity, but I'm not sure exactly how. It may be that I will be a private instructor and open up my own studio (I teach private piano lessons now and my student list grows every semester), or perhaps ill teach group music classes within the homeschooling community. I could always use my gifts within the children's ministry at church. All my students are from church anyway. I'm still praying about it, but I'm open to following God's leadership. All I know is I genuinely feel like I'm in the right place at the moment.

 

[Loveneverfails]

Ps-Shour: please please please come to be a Prof at my university. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE

 

[seoulsearch]

Seoulsearch, girl, you and your questions.!!

Yeah, just think of what I put my poor parents through.

Even now, I was asking them what it must mean that our riches never wear out in heaven while on a drive to visit family at Christmas.

I am REALLY enjoying getting to know everyone through their stories. It's also teaching me about fields and careers I knew very little or nothing about.

I hope people will continue to share as they feel led.

 

[AgnusDei]

I graduated from Modern Languages from college...English and French...

But after looking for jobs here in Venezuela...I ended up teaching English to children in schools till last year. I decided it was enough. I decided to work on my own.

I am teaching English to adults and children to my own pace.

I am also starting mine own business. I want to change the world, and I do not care if I hear laughters around....I desire to put the name of Christ on high through a different perspective.....different...

I am writing a book that will be called 15 Christian Short Stories, a comic called Valeniska, and some tales for little Children.
Need to travel to Greenland, Iceland and New Zealand in 2015 to find some answers there about a seven book saga I want to write...

I am also selling computer on my own stuff to gather money and invest it.

I am studying French and German on my own to master those languages to teach them...

That is it

 

[Arlene89]

When I was in second grade, our teacher asked us to draw a picture of what we wanted to be when we grow up. I drew myself as a teacher. When I was in eleventh grade I wanted to be a composer for film scores. Months later I decided I wanted to be an interior decorator. By my final year of high school, I settled for a primary school teacher. I decided I would like to spend 12 weeks a year being paid to have a holiday.

Because I received a very poor score after high school (because I spent too much time sneaking out to open house parties and bringing alcohol to school and generally being angry all the time) I went on to do a Diploma in Children's services through TAFE (equivalent to a college, I think). During this time I worked at a auto parts and accessories retail store on the weekends and holidays and drew portraits of people on the side for extra cash. For years people told me that I was in the wrong field and that I should be an artist, illustrator, tattoo artist or a writer because of my 'talents'. I smiled, nodded, then walked away because I was already set in my mind.

When I started TAFE, I was driven to channel my anger into passion. It may not have started well, but I wanted to impact children's lives just to be a hundred times better of a human being than my mother (so I told myself, now seeing what a silly thought that was). By the second year of my Diploma, I met a teacher named Lyn who looked beyond my insecurities and weaknesses, pin pointed my strengths and constantly challenged me to rise to the occasion. She'd stop the class, put me in the lime light and make me voice my understandings and experiences until my heart was tumbling out of my mouth. I realised that this was what a teacher should be.. and simultaneously angry that it took 18 years for someone to truly see me for who I was. I knew that it was 18 years too late. By then I was settled. I wanted to work with young children and let them know its okay to be the very best person they can be. I wanted to see children leave my classroom believing in themselves because someone in their life believed them and roused passion in their own hearts.

I then went on to University to do my Bachelor of Education. I failed half of the subjects during my first year because of my surrounding life. Most people gave up on their dream of teaching after failing one subject. I failed four, but I knew I had to make it to the other side. When ever people struggled with an assignment, they turned to me for help. I could explain the content like the back of my hand, but I chose men and alcohol over study and usually started and completed my assignments the day it was due. I eventually came back on track, drank less, studied more and ended well. By the last 6 months of my course, I found God (Or He finally got through to my thick head). My final assignments went really well.

I am now a Kindergarten teacher. Kindergartens in Australia are situated in long day care centres... so I technically work in a long day care centre. Although I get paid more being a qualified teacher (You have to be qualified to teach the kindergarten program), to be honest, it is truly humbling working where I am. I don't have the 12 weeks of holidays I've always wanted... 'child care workers' have one of those very low titles that people often lift their noses to. I always saw myself in a primary school teaching Year 1-3... but God placed me here. (That's a whole other testimony). And I cannot deny that He did, sometimes I turn to Him and complain about how embarrassed I am. I love the children, but it wasn't what I saw for myself. Eventually I quite complaining and continued to love the children and be the very best teacher I could possibly be. Soon enough, God began to open my eyes. I suddenly saw the women I work with and the mothers of my kindergarten children in a whole different light. These women would tell me stories and my heart would ache for them in ways I never knew I could feel. It feels like if I don't reach them and love them, I would explode into a million pieces. I hear their stories, and I see my past flash before me and hear of very similar bondages I was once in. At first, it shocked me. But then it all made sense. The reason I am at this job is beyond 'how qualified I am' and 'what I want'. This job is beyond just loving the children and sharing the love of Christ in my teacher role... this is my mission field.

Despite everything that has happened in the past 6 years... I am honoured to be partnering with Christ in a fight, in an adventure where love is the key and my Mighty God is the answer. At the end of the day, I am paid to spend time with the children doing what I am passionate about, and I am paid to release a saving and tender love in to a place of hurt and lost people. I have front row seats to watching God's glory made manifest in everyday situations. As soon as I realised this, and moved and spoke with purpose, I saw hearts soften and people started to curiously ask about why I am the way I am and what I have been through. Not only have I lived through that moment of such surreal redeeming love as I began my life as a new creation, but I know I will see it all over again in the lives of these women. Therefore, I am so immensely blessed. I am so immensely honoured. I may have only been with the Lord now for 19 months, I still have so many issues to deal with, but I have so much to give because I love a God bigger than anything I have ever faced or witnessed.

For the future... I wouldn't mind being a tutor at University. Eventually, I want to write and illustrate my own children's books. For now, I am here, and later... well, I don't know. I'll leave that with God.

(Tangent and a half)

 

[zeroturbulence]

Ever since I was about 5 yrs old I wanted to be a pilot. I still do. Everyone told me I should be a graphic artist though because everyone could see that I was good at drawing and my parents thought that pilots were basically just glorified bus drivers (so they never supported my dream and I sort of believed them. There wasn't any google or internet back then for me to do research and when you try to find books about being a pilot in the library you'd find that there weren't any).

Fast forward to high school - I joined my school's marching band, concert band and jazz band and found out I am a gifted drummer and actually scored 13th in the entire state during a drum audition for the state orchestra's percussion section (but I had to be in the top 10 to make the cut). So..... I really really wanted to become a professional drummer, but once again my parents wouldn't support it. They really wanted me to go to college and become a doctor or a lawyer or at least a graphic artist.

I ended up getting a degree in graphic design from what was one of the foremost schools for it in the country but to make a long story short I ended up doing graphics in the wrong industry. I should have gone into advertising which is where the good graphic design jobs are. After spending years in the wrong industry (and not having a way to move into advertising) I got very burned out and decided to change careers completely.

I've secretly always wanted to work in healthcare because I've always admired the way nurses and doctors worked so patiently and diligently to care for their patients and I seem to have an overabundance of compassion for the sick and needy in me for some reason so I set out to find a course that I could complete in less than 2 years and that I could easily afford. I decided to become a pharmacy technician and that's what I do now. Right now I'm in a retail pharmacy but my goal is to eventually work at a hospital pharmacy. I'm still thinking about taking up nursing too but I don't know.

 

[NukePooch]

I decided to become a pharmacy technician and that's what I do now. Right now I'm in a retail pharmacy but my goal is to eventually work at a hospital pharmacy. I'm still thinking about taking up nursing too but I don't know.

That's awesome, Zero...I know I'm in-n-out of the forum, and have trouble paying attention while I'm here (Oh, look! A squirrel!), but last I knew, you were still unemployed... It's great that you found a job!

 

[dliz]

My parents are in the medical field and they somehow inspired me to pursue in my current profession . I thought at first it was pretty easy but I was sooo wrong. Hahaha. I can't really say I love my job. Sometimes I love my job and sometimes I hate it. Honestly, I feel like I'm not good enough. I've always wanted to become a history teacher or a tour guide but oh well.

 

[zeroturbulence]

That's awesome, Zero...I know I'm in-n-out of the forum, and have trouble paying attention while I'm here (Oh, look! A squirrel!), but last I knew, you were still unemployed... It's great that you found a job!

Thank you! Yes, I finally landed a job at the end of last summer.

 

[zeroturbulence]

My parents are in the medical field and they somehow inspired me to pursue in my current profession . I thought at first it was pretty easy but I was sooo wrong. Hahaha. I can't really say I love my job. Sometimes I love my job and sometimes I hate it. Honestly, I feel like I'm not good enough. I've always wanted to become a history teacher or a tour guide but oh well.

I can't really say I love my job either Liz. Too many patients upset because their drugs are waiting for authorization or aren't covered or have gone up in price. Hardly a day goes by when I don't get told off at by at least one person. On the other hand, when I interned at a hospital I loved it. It was exactly the job I hoped it would be. Unfortunately hospitals usually require a few years of experience first.

 

[Stratocaster]

1. What was your dream career as a child or young adult? Are you working in that field now? Why or why not? What field are you currently working in?

Dream career? At first I wanted to be a lawyer. But at 13 I decided that I'd be more suited to be an accountant. I only wanted to be a lawyer because of the money. In college I found that a LOT of people chose their field because of the money and not much else. I'm glad I didn't go this route because what good would money be if I'm working 70 hours a week? Plus many lawyers make their money trying to get murderers and rapists off the hook, or suing people who made minor mistakes (civil negligence) or overall just making the world a worse place. I would take more pride in cleaning toilets than that kind of work. I would imagine that most of those folks who got their degree for the money will be miserable in ten years.

Yes, I am currently working as an accountant. I'm very numbers-oriented and I knew that it could pay decently while still being a very stable job. It's a field that you can find a job virtually anywhere; a criminal psychologist can only work in correctional facilities, while everyone needs an accountant. I've worked at a non-profit, a high school, a manufacturing plant, and for a professional sports team; all with the same skill-set. And it's something that likely won't change much over the next 30 years.

2. Did you go to college to pursue your career goals, and if so, how long? Are you working in your field of study, and for how long? Can you see yourself in that field for the rest of your career?

Yes, I got a four-year bachelor's degree. I've been in this field since I graduated and I can see myself in it for the rest of my career if that's where the Lord leads me. The way I see it, "dream jobs" are hard to come by and something people spend decades of their life trying to find, all the while jumping from job to job without much direction. At my school there were a ton of psychology majors, and of the ones I talked to, at least half of them wanted to be high school counselors/therapists. There just aren't that many school therapist jobs out there, and they are very competitive. A lot of people were studying to be nurses, not realizing that means dealing with a lot of very sick, depressing people and working crazy hours for their whole life, even when they want to settle down and have a family. Sure, if I knew I could find something stable in another field, I probably wouldn't be doing accounting. I would probably be captain of a cruise ship or something. But how many people do you know who are captains of a cruise ship (not counting the one you met while you were on a cruise)?

Someday I would really like to run my own business. I think I would really enjoy that. And being an accountant, who sees the day-to-day of businesses, will help me be successful in that. Every day I see more of what works and what doesn't. And I see how profits get made. But if that doesn't work out, or if the Lord doesn't lead me to it, I'll always have good ol' stable accounting to fall back on.

3. Are you working in your field of choice, but intend to change careers? Why? Or, are you working in a different field, but still plan to go into your field of choice? What things have held you back?

I could see myself changing careers someday, if I have clear direction about what I'd be doing and how I'd get there.

4. Are you currently looking for a career change or direction in your life? Do you feel you know what God wants you to do? What tips can you offer as far as finding the correct path?

I'm still awaiting what God may have for me in the future. I'm fine where I am, but definitely open to change. I try to avoid the delusions of grandeur that many of my college peers have. These kinds of people are seeking this specific type of work that is satisfying, fun, and pays well. For the most part, I've decided, jobs aren't meant to be "fun". If they were, they wouldn't have to pay people lots of money to do them. Not to say that these jobs don't exist, but for every person in the world whose job title is "Tropical Vacation Tester", there are a million whose title is more along the lines of "Office Grunt".

It's kind of the American Dream to have one of these awesome fun jobs, but remember that all throughout history, people have had to work really tough jobs (tilling soil, building cupboards, herding cattle, molding iron, etc) and still led meaningful lives. Unless you were some sort of royalty, your choice of jobs was pretty limited.

In light of this, if I were to offer some tips to others, I would say try to find something that you can wrap your head around. For me, that was numbers. Some people hate numbers. But find something you could be good at, and that you can do without going crazy.

 

[Jullianna]

Just a few of the things I've personally seen lawyers do time after time, year after year:

Defend innocent people
Protect children and the elderly from abuse
Help elderly and disabled people secure benefits
Protect small businesses
Help people keep their homes

As a cop I've seen a lot of lawyers do a lot of pretty sleazy things. I've also learned that there are a lot of good ones who do a LOT to help people, more than most people ever know unless they witness it on a daily basis. For example, I know of one who has volunteered his time to prepare free wills for servicemen and women who are being sent overseas since 9/11 because his dad was a WW II vet.

And I have seen them leave courthouses in tears because they lost cases that were very personal to them, particularly cases involving divorce and children.

Yes, there are bad lawyers. There are also bad cops. There are also bad doctors, accountants, teachers, pilots, electricians, janitors, teachers, ...you see where I'm going with this.

 

[rachelsedge]

I answered with 5 of them. I'll explain, but will try to keep it short...

I did not have a clear idea of what field I wanted to work in - When I first went to college, I really only went because that seemed like what I was "supposed" to do. I was a bright student, had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so I figured college would help me with that. I was undeclared for most of my freshman year. My spring semester I took a General Psychology class and loved it, so I decided to make that my major with a double major in Sociology. With that, I also took classes in social work and counseling. Despite my introvertedness, humans absolutely fascinate me. I want to help them. I'm very non-judgemental. I can put myself in just about anyone's shoes, even those whom others would call the scum of the earth. That doesn't mean I agree with their actions, it just means...I don't know. I can feel their pain, in a sense. I loved my classes and the professors.

I am not working in my field of study or choice - See below...

I was on a path to my dream career, but something happened that stopped me - My junior year of college, I went on a mission trip. It turned my world upside down. The place/organization absolutely captured my heart. I knew I wanted to work there. I connected with the place, the people, the brokenness. My senior year of college, I was offered a job there and I accepted. It started out great. It was a good combination of office work (which I don't mind, I'm quite organized, I'm friendly on the phone, and I'm quite a fast typist) and people work (working with teams, working with others, working with children, oh those precious children, my heart is still soft towards them). I think it definitely involved my major. Not directly, but I definitely used psychology skills, social work skills, and counseling skills I had learned.

However, in a series of events and...people's decisions, it ended 4 months after it began. I had uprooted my life, moved literally 1,000 miles away from home and from everything and everyone I had known for most of my life to work for this Christian organization and it ended messily and so painfully, inflicted upon me by Christians I had trusted. I was totally broken at the end of it. Again, the story is much longer than on here, and deeper than I know how to convey to the people who do know. It's over 1.5 years later and there are still sections of my heart that are mending, but I have made leaps and bounds and grown from it. But...yeah. I had it, and lost it. My dreams, all totally smashed.

I am working in another field, but intend to get back to my original career - I'm currently a bank teller. I have been for over a year now. I definitely wouldn't have pegged myself to ever work as one. Money has never been my strong suit. However, I enjoy it. I feel that I'm good at it and have grown as a person and in my skills through it. I'm not sure it's what I want to do for the rest of my life. My teller manager/supervisor inferred that I could move up the company ladder if I stuck with it ("I won't always be here, you never know, I started off where you are"), but I'm not sure if I want to. I know I don't want to do strictly social work, or strictly counseling. Both sound a bit too draining for me.

I have no idea what God wants me to do with my life - At one point I thought I did, and I was so SURE of it, and then that crashed and burned and now I feel as though I'm back at square one with not knowing what I want to do. It's exciting, scary, and depressing to not know, to be completely open. I know, I know, "You're still young!" I just wish I had some inkling. Maybe I'm scared to let myself dream again. Maybe I'm scared of commitment, because there's a teller at my bank who has been there for 32 years and I think that's just crazy, I can't imagine being at any job for that long, though maybe it's more my fear of the possibility of feeling stuck at a job that I don't truly enjoy rather than the time frame of it.

There are some things that I want but are out of my control. I could see myself being a missionary with a husband. But, having a husband is out of my control. Sure, I could do it while single, and part of me still wants to, but I want that teamwork.

There are different people in my life who have told me what they think I'd be good at. Nurse, administrator, teacher, counselor, vet tech, event coordinator, etc. I could possibly see myself in some of those roles. But I don't feel certain. Is it because I don't know myself enough? Is it because God hasn't revealed it yet? I don't know. On the bright side, I know I'll keep moving forward, and it leaves me open to be whatever God wants me to be.

Welp, that was way longer than intended. Even if no one reads it, it was cathartic and really eye-opening for me, to put it all down at once. Thanks for the thought provoking topic, seoulsearch, as usual.

 

[kenthomas27]

. What was your dream career as a child or young adult? Are you working in that field now? Why or why not? What field are you currently working in?

I think it was funny Arlene89 wrote about having to draw a picture in 2nd grade about your intended career expectation. I had to do that too, only, my teacher made me take my drawing home and have my dad sign it. It wasn't pretty, but I think it was something to do with wanting to be an executioner. I have since dropped that as a goal since so few jobs in that field are readily available.

2. Did you go to college to pursue your career goals, and if so, how long? Are you working in your field of study, and for how long? Can you see yourself in that field for the rest of your career?

I didn't go to college. I was working in hs and it was sort of expected that I would work full time after. I'm afraid I didn't do well in school - I had the attention span of a cocker spaniel - and I think sometimes consciously, or unconsciously, some guys like me are left out of the equation in further educational development. I can't say I was discouraged from going to college - just never really encouraged either and was expected to do for myself after hs. I worked in several construction jobs and developed skills by just working.

3. Are you working in your field of choice, but intend to change careers? Why? Or, are you working in a different field, but still plan to go into your field of choice? What things have held you back?
As time goes on, I got more and more experience and training. King Solomon tells us in Proverbs that there's profit in labor and I believe that. I've been working for commercial property management firms and learning more and more about electrical/hvac and getting training.

How can I put this? I think, sometimes, people like me have it all wrong. We think it's all important to have a career in mind when really, the job somehow creates the career. Do you know what I mean? Like people like my own dad who went out to find a job but ended up finding a career instead. That's me, I think. The act of working found my talents - not the other way around. I admire and am jealous, really, of some of the folks in this thread that knew their direction, had the wherewithal and gumption and brains to prepare for it and then went out and got it . Me - I fall into rabbit holes.


4. Are you currently looking for a career change or direction in your life? Do you feel you know what God wants you to do? What tips can you offer as far as finding the correct path?
I don't really look for a career change but I expect it to happen! I believe I have the talent of adaptation. The talents God have given me are overwhelming to me! I easily change from one skillset to another. Here are my tips:

1. Accept authority - a lot of guys I've worked with hate their boss and feel like they can do things better and it makes them miserable I've noticed. I think God has placed them in their position for HIS REASON! Who am I to question that? And in that light, I render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God!

2. Adapt! What does career even mean? It means to move in a select direction - operative work being MOVEMENT. Moving requires adaptation and the only thing that doesn't change is change itself.

3. Endure. See #2 - bad things will change just like good things. I have a job right now - a second job - that's not real pretty but it too will change and it's good because....well, because there's profit in labor.

4. And most important, don't listen to a duck that's not too smart. Listen to your own heart.

 

[abbiejean]

. What was your dream career as a child or young adult? Are you working in that field now? Why or why not? What field are you currently working in?

I think it was funny Arlene89 wrote about having to draw a picture in 2nd grade about your intended career expectation. I had to do that too, only, my teacher made me take my drawing home and have my dad sign it. It wasn't pretty, but I think it was something to do with wanting to be an executioner. I have since dropped that as a goal since so few jobs in that field are readily available.

2. Did you go to college to pursue your career goals, and if so, how long? Are you working in your field of study, and for how long? Can you see yourself in that field for the rest of your career?

I didn't go to college. I was working in hs and it was sort of expected that I would work full time after. I'm afraid I didn't do well in school - I had the attention span of a cocker spaniel - and I think sometimes consciously, or unconsciously, some guys like me are left out of the equation in further educational development. I can't say I was discouraged from going to college - just never really encouraged either and was expected to do for myself after hs. I worked in several construction jobs and developed skills by just working.

3. Are you working in your field of choice, but intend to change careers? Why? Or, are you working in a different field, but still plan to go into your field of choice? What things have held you back?
As time goes on, I got more and more experience and training. King Solomon tells us in Proverbs that there's profit in labor and I believe that. I've been working for commercial property management firms and learning more and more about electrical/hvac and getting training.

How can I put this? I think, sometimes, people like me have it all wrong. We think it's all important to have a career in mind when really, the job somehow creates the career. Do you know what I mean? Like people like my own dad who went out to find a job but ended up finding a career instead. That's me, I think. The act of working found my talents - not the other way around. I admire and am jealous, really, of some of the folks in this thread that knew their direction, had the wherewithal and gumption and brains to prepare for it and then went out and got it . Me - I fall into rabbit holes.


4. Are you currently looking for a career change or direction in your life? Do you feel you know what God wants you to do? What tips can you offer as far as finding the correct path?
I don't really look for a career change but I expect it to happen! I believe I have the talent of adaptation. The talents God have given me are overwhelming to me! I easily change from one skillset to another. Here are my tips:

1. Accept authority - a lot of guys I've worked with hate their boss and feel like they can do things better and it makes them miserable I've noticed. I think God has placed them in their position for HIS REASON! Who am I to question that? And in that light, I render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God!

2. Adapt! What does career even mean? It means to move in a select direction - operative work being MOVEMENT. Moving requires adaptation and the only thing that doesn't change is change itself.

3. Endure. See #2 - bad things will change just like good things. I have a job right now - a second job - that's not real pretty but it too will change and it's good because....well, because there's profit in labor.

4. And most important, don't listen to a duck that's not too smart. Listen to your own heart.

I so agree. Worked that way with my dad. He grew up a farmer and died a professional welder.

I wanted to be a teacher but as life had it I worked as a secretary and while I did teach, I worked longer and in many ways loved being a secretary more so than a teacher (as a I teacher I had preconceived notions of what they did and once in the classroom wasn't willing to compromise biblical truths with what I was being forced to teach). Both jobs utilized skill sets I believe God blessed me with, but I worked more years as a secretary than I did as a teacher.

 

[Grace-Like-Rain]

Me - I fall into rabbit holes.

Rabbit holes are sometimes the best things that happen in life. I love my rabbit hole. God pushed me in there, after all.