21 answers
Doc’s Answer
Before you can choose the right career, you must learn about yourself. Your values, interests, soft skills, and aptitudes, in combination with your personality type, make some occupations a good fit for you and others completely inappropriate. Use the SELF ASSESSMENT tool and the CAREER ASSESSMENT test below to gather information about your traits and, subsequently, generate a list of occupations that are a good fit based on them. You can also choose to work with a career counselor or other career development professionals who can help them navigate this process. This may sound like a lot of work—and it is. But it's much easier to forge a career path when you know what you want. Taking these steps early will save you a lot of struggle and uncertainty in the long run.
SELF ASSESSMENT – https://www.whatcareerisrightforme.com/
Before you can choose the right career(Job), you must learn about yourself. Your values, interests, soft skills, and aptitudes, in combination with your personality type, make some occupations a good fit for you and others completely inappropriate.
√ What skills do have? – Communication, Technology, Sports.
√ What are your interests? – Teaching, Law, Chef, Artisan.
√ What your work style? – Collaborative, Mentoring, Independent
√ What are your core values? – Recognition, Supportive, Guarding.
CAREER ASSESSMENT – https://www.careerfitter.com/
CareerFitter has a comprehensive career test that will provide you with a full career profile. So, not only do you learn more about what kinds of career paths might be right for you, you’ll also learn the kind of work environment and culture that suit you the best.
√ Careers that fit your personality, interests and skills.
√ Your work personality.
√ Your strengths at work.
√ Your preferred management style.
1) MAKE A LIST OF OCCUPATIONS TO EXPLORE – You probably have multiple lists of occupations in front of you at this point—one generated by each of the self-assessment tools you used. To keep yourself organized, you should combine them into one master list.
2) CREATE A "SHORT LIST" – Now you have more information, start to narrow down your list even further. Based on what you learned from your research so far, begin eliminating the careers you don't want to pursue any further. You should end up with two to five occupations on your "short list."
3) NETWORK – When you have only a few occupations left on your list, start doing more in-depth research. The more people you meet, the more insight you can get into what the work environment is like, what the people are like, and how they enjoy the work. And if you are looking for that next job, networking is crucial.
4) FIND A MENTOR – Never underestimate the value and power of a good mentor! When I made my career shift, I knew I couldn’t go at it alone. I decided I wanted to learn from the best — so I started working with mentors.
5) IDENTIFY YOUR GOALS –Finally, after doing all your research, you are probably ready to make your choice. Pick the occupation that you think will bring you the most satisfaction based on all the information you have gathered. Realize that you are allowed do-overs if you change your mind about your choice at any point in your life.
YOUR COLLEGE BOND – Based on all your research and self-assessment of the first five stops on your journey, you should now have a better idea of the careers/majors you are not interested in pursuing, as well as a handful of potential careers/majors that do interest you. What are the typical majors found at a comprehensive university?
Surya, below are some tips to help pick the right university
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Carlye’s Answer
I had no idea what I wanted to do in high school, so the fact that you are reaching out and creating the discussion is great! I went into engineering because I wanted to be a part of making a difference in people's lives as cheesy as that sounds. :) I am not saying the journey is easy but I can say I have no regrets majoring in STEM and really enjoy what I get to do for work everyday!
Prior to college classes, see about job shadowing a professional in your area that works in a position that interests you. When you begin taking college classes, take an intro class for computer science. These could give you more insight into whether or not it is the right career path for you.
Thanks for the question and hope this helps!
Carlye
Elwira’s Answer
That is great question indeed.
In order to answer that you need to learn a little bit about yourself and skills and predisposition you have. As suggested by others please take a look at:
SELF ASSESSMENT – https://www.whatcareerisrightforme.com/
CAREER ASSESSMENT – https://www.careerfitter.com/
Additionally I would suggest to read excellent book: FIND YOUR WHY by Simon Senek which will give you guidelines around how to find your purpose in life which will be your internal driving force making you get up in the morning and be passionate about what are you doing. That is very important to have your purpose because only then you feel fulfilment which enable you to overcome all the challenges and thrive in fast paced environment.
Secondlly I would suggest to look into IKIGAI concept, as that is fantastic roadmap which will navigate your thoughts to get the answer of what is really important to you in life.
Ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) is a wonderful Japanese concept that essentially means “a reason for being.” It's made from two Japanese words: iki, meaning “life” and kai, meaning “effect, result, worth or benefit.” Combined: “a reason for living.”
Ikigai is the union point of four fundamental components of life: passion, vocation, profession and mission. In other words, where; what you love meets what you are good at, meets what you can be valued and paid for meets that which the world needs. Ikigai is only complete if the goal implies a service to the community. We feel more satisfied giving gifts than receiving. The next step, once you’ve identified these components, would be to start following your compass. Start working on your questions, and see how your answers fit in the Ikigai components.
Hope that gave you another perspective to look at your search to discover your career path!
Keeping fingers crossed!
Greetings,
Elwira
Jake’s Answer
Christina’s Answer
Karim’s Answer
Technology is everywhere, so maybe you can look at industries that are of interest and see how technology plays a part in that industry. Sports, travel, manufacturing, fashion, software, construction, etc...technology plays a part in many ways.
Last thing I'll say is you may see areas where technology can improve something, but no one has thought of it. Use your ideas to spark creativity in how you can find a job you'll love (or at least like a lot). =)
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vasavi’s Answer
Computers and technology offers a wide range of paths and almost more than 50% of time career path for people evolves. Focus on what are the topics that catch your interest.
You pick a path based on what grabs your interest on a day to day basis like technology , media , marketing. You definitely want to head a direction and choose a career that will help you grow both personally and professionally. Another big thing that helps is talking to people from different background and different industries/ domain. Connecting to people in these career paths may seem challenging so leverage social media(linkedIn) or reach out to people who can help. Passionate professional will always exhibit their passion towards their career by highlighting their achievements and also giving live examples which can be very valuable to evaluate if that is where you see yourself in future.
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Abril Gabriela’s Answer
This is Abril.
First you will need to ask yourself why do you like computer science? Is there any other new field undiscovered I can develop myself?
I don´t what older people told you about this (LOL) but for example ten or maybe twenty years ago there were a few options to study in tech filed. So maybe you can start discovering what are your hobbies and if those hobbies can be applied in the job field. The most important thing about choosing a career is that choosing a career is not the process ... you need to discover what things you like to learn and to do and at the same time you enjoy.
And to get to that point, to learn something you will need to ask yourself some questions to start searching in the internet what options or skills you can adopt and combine with hobbies...
MY suggestion is before choosing try to explore your creativity and ask yourself: since I was a kid... What I enjoyed to do the most?
Here is a book that you can look for and see if the book can bring some inspiration for you: Steal Like An Artist from Austin Kleon.
Abril
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Nick’s Answer
I would also say to follow what makes you excited. What subjects do you read books about in your free time? What youtube videos are you always watching? What subject do you always have questions about and find yourself getting lost on Wikipedia trying to answer them? It sounds corny, but having a passion for something will make it less like a job and more of a pursuit.
To summarize, there isn't one way to simply know how to choose what career you want. Gravitate towards a field that makes you feel passionate, but know that you can always switch it up and adapt as needed. Good luck!
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Gloria’s Answer
Once you have some idea of what you might be interested in, find someone who does that job for a living. See if they will show you what they do and how they do it. I agree with a previous answer that job shadowing can be a powerful way for you to see if you want to do that work. And some jobs use technology in ways that you might not imagine. So maybe just job shadow a few people you know to see how they use technology. Volunteering with various organizations can help you with getting exposure to jobs that you might not have considered as well.
Steve’s Answer
But don't put too much pressure on your self . What do you enjoy? Where are your interests? What seems interesting to you and feels like something you'd want to commit several hours each day to?
It's a journey. You WILL change your mind. You WILL start down a path that you thought was your forever plan, and will find something along the way that may be more interesting, or may present opportunities you will want to explore. Keep your mind open.
But also, talk to others. Find adults in careers you think might be interesting and talk to them about what they do. How did they get to where they are? what was their journey? Find a mentor or two...people who can provide you with ideas and direction...challenge your thinking. Don't be afraid to experiment. And to change your mind.
Think about where you want to live someday. And what careers might be ideal for where you want to live.
Personally I ended up on my career path almost accidentally, and got my start thru a company founder who I became friends with and who believed in my potential. He took me under his wing, and years later, I'm still on that path, and he and I remain friends.
I hope that helps. There's no absolute answer. Oh, and enjoy life!! Be curious. Discover. Live life. It's about more than just work
Aubrielle’s Answer
Networking is another option that helps build your brand, get you connected to professionals in the workforce but also may provide an opportunity to connect with a peer/friend/ business partner of individuals in a different fields that could be of interest.
David’s Answer
Rob’s Answer
Also, look at where those occupations may lead as you grow in skills and seniority. Is that a destination(job) you dream of? Many times your starting point may only hit on some of the areas you are passionate about so it is important to map a course to get you toward the perfect job that fully utilizes your passions
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Dilasha’s Answer
This is something I was struggling with for the longest time.
What I realized is first, I need to know myself, my values, and then accept it. There are many times when external factors get in the way of choosing a career path that may be best for you (e.g. money & status vs. what you enjoy in life). Make a career of what you enjoy and what you are good at, because usually, what you're good at is what you will enjoy the most, and in turn, it will become something you will be amazing at with the effort you put into it.
You mentioned you are interested in technology and computer science. Find out what about it interests you and how you can use it in line with what you value. You may not know the answer now, but with experience, it will be more clear.
Best of luck with selecting your career path but don't stress too much if you don't know it yet. There are many of us who did not know what career path to go to and was undecided even after graduating college. Sometimes, it may not be clear until you get your first or second job out of college, and that is completely OK. Just remember who you are, what you value, and what you enjoy the most, and it will help you determine the best path for you.
Karen’s Answer
I also think it's important to have a broad background so may suggest that when you do go to college and pick a major that you find something else that you are interested and may make you more well rounded and possibly choose as a minor.
Last, I would recommend finding either older students or graduates that you may be pursuing the career you are interested in or the studies you selected and asking them what they like best about what they do and what they like the least.
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Amanda’s Answer
I suggest first investigating some area's of interest and highlight some of the studies or skill sets that seemed to standout more than others.
If you are still unsure there are generally placement questionnaires that you can try to find online that might help steer you towards a course or general area of study that suits your interests.
Counselors at your community college may have suggestions for you as well if you are feeling uncertain or are looking for a mentor.
The is high demand in the technology world and I wish you best of luck in your en devours.
Christina’s Answer
I would say do something that you think you would love waking up to do for the rest of your life! It is ok to not know what you want to do now at your age it is perfectly normal. When I was in High School in 2011 I did not know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go to school. If I could tell you one thing it would be to follow your dream, that thing that keeps you up at night , the career that your scared to do or think is to hard to do or study for ! That is usually the job you will always want to do and wish you did!
I put a job quiz at the bottom for you :)
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