how did you know what you wanted for your career path?

Hi Manuel!

Not everybody knows what they wanna be at a young age, even as they get older and start getting ready to graduate high school! I didn't know what I wanted to do until I graduated and thats when I joined the military. It gave me time to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life, and I earned money while traveling the world FOR FREE!

Don't worry if you don't have any idea what you want to do for a career, some people don't decide until they are in their 30's! Take your time, find some "career interest" quizzes on the internet to tell you what you are into. Don't stress about it to much now while your young because someday it will just come to you!!

I had never known what I wanted from my career exactly. What really helped me in my teenage years was that I had become fascinated with this new thing called the internet and its ability to connect people. So fascinated, in fact, that I couldn't think about anything else.

When I look back at my resume, I see all these different positions: first a UX designer, then a product manager, then web developer, web analyst, data scientist. What I realized much later is that those specific roles did not matter much to me: I drifted around until I found the best fit.

What was important, what kept me in the industry and ultimately led me to getting my best jobs was that desire to create amazing new stuff on the web.

The important learning I got was that my 'career path' is not roles I want to take on, or industry. There's something important in the world that I kept caring about all this time, and this core belief gave me motivation to try, fail, keep going, develop lateral skills and ultimately find jobs that I really love. I don't call myself a data scientist: I rather think of myself as someone who facilitates new ways of communcation for the mankind.

Manuel, pay attention to what activities generate energy in you. Do they involve working with people, data, ideas, things? Some combination?

Try to find places to apply those skills, preferably in areas you care about contributing to - kids, agriculture, culinary, government, travel, banking, entertainment. Then try it out through volunteer or internships. Don't work backwards - looking for high paying or prestigious or safe. That's a temporary fix that will leave you unhappy in the long run. Take rhis time to explore but focus on what generates energy and what you care about. That's the winning combo. Best of luck!

Discussing my interests with others and getting information from those already in the field helped me the most in making my decisions along the way.

Marilyn Lowry