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How did you get started about the career you are in and why were you interested in it? Was it easy to learn about your career? What do you enjoy about it?
How did you get started about the career you are in and why were you interested in it? Was it easy to learn about your career? What do you enjoy about it?
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8 answers
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Marc’s Answer
Like previous answers, it's tough to make that decision early on. Pick a track you have interests in but keep your options open. Interests will change throughout life so embrace change. My initial career choice was law enforcement. Obtained a BS in a related field, graduated and struggled to find agencies hiring. During this period I worked sales to pay the bills. Enjoyed it and began my career at Verizon Wireless. This sparked my interested into technology. Used their employee assistance program for continuing education and received a Masters Degree from JHU - 100% paid by the company. Transitioned into an engineering role and 27yrs later love what I do. Large companies offer a variety of job types. The key is to get "your foot in the door" and begin exploring all the options, select an interest and aggressively go after it. My wife followed a similar career path. Education was in one field, temp'd for several years, found a new interest and is now VP of a Global marketing company.
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Claudia’s Answer
I'm in IT field and I started with a year course on how to use windows, office, etc. I thought it was the easier thing and I could even learn more in college. When I get to college I understood that computer science was even more than using windows and office (lol), the reason I stayed there is because I got curious about programming, picturing myself as the next developer for windows :) with that dream in mind I kept going on... it took me maybe a couple of semesters to change my mind and think of AI, then I would be developing for AI... same happened again and changed my mind a couple of times again. It was until then that I realized one career choice has many many fields to explore and you can always experiment what calls your attention.
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TJ’s Answer
Good question! Everyone has his story to tell about this question, I believe. For me, I choose physics as my major since I believed that physics is the knowledge foundation to understand everything in the material world. After I got my degree in physics, I decided to get into a practical field, as physics itself is not a good field to easily find an attractive job. I chose telecom as businesses related to networks has been booming in past 20 years. In the same time, I realized that just relying on technical knowledge is not good enough for the job, creativity is the No.1 soft skill one must have if wanting to excel in the job. That's why I keep sharpening my creative thinking skills in my spare time.
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Shina’s Answer
I actually have a degree in sociology with a minor in psychology. But I do not work in either of those fields. I work for Verizon Wireless and have been with them for 14 years now. I was struggling to find work and ended up finding a sales position at Verizon. From there I moved on to several different positions. I am happy to say that although it has nothing to do with what I studied, I did find my work home.
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Sarah’s Answer
I'm a medical lab scientist. I work in the hospital doing the analysis of the patient specimen. I learned about the job in college after I took a clinical microbiology class. Some of it was hard to learn, like microbiology or blood banking, but totally doable! I love it for a lot of reasons. I wanted to help people without actually having to touch or talk to them. I work behind the scenes in the safety of my lab. Our work is rewarding, we do 70% of the diagnostic work for treatment plans. It's beautiful, we get to see patient blood smears revealing things like cancer and anemia, also bacteria, viruses, crystals. We get to see the clinical picture and correlate our results, so it's like a puzzle. We are often the 1st person to see a patients illness, whether its cancer or uti, and while it's scary or startling, it's also amazing to know that I'm the person who caught it and gets to start the patients healing journey by delivering the results to the care team. Also the lab tends to be good for introverts, people who are organized, people who follow procedures like a cook book, people who are "type a". This is a generalization but many of those people are happy and succeed in the lab setting.
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Rebecca’s Answer
Thank you for your question. This is a good question and many students may have the same question.
You have to identify the career you have interest. Otherwise, it would be a pain if you have to work on a job 5 days a week 8-10 hours a day (in general).
Below are my suggestions :
1. Think about your interest or your favorite subjects and identify related careers.
E.g. If you have interested in Maths, would you like to be an accountant, engineer, banker, financial analyst, maths teacher, etc.
If you have interested in Music, would you like to be singer, music composer, musician, music producer, etc.
2. Find out more on these career and identify what you have interest
3. Speak to someone who are working in these careers. Seek guidance from your mentor, school career counsellor, your parents, etc.
4. Shortlist 1-2 careers you would like to pursue
5. Find the entry criteria of relevant subjects in the collegs
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
You have to identify the career you have interest. Otherwise, it would be a pain if you have to work on a job 5 days a week 8-10 hours a day (in general).
Below are my suggestions :
1. Think about your interest or your favorite subjects and identify related careers.
E.g. If you have interested in Maths, would you like to be an accountant, engineer, banker, financial analyst, maths teacher, etc.
If you have interested in Music, would you like to be singer, music composer, musician, music producer, etc.
2. Find out more on these career and identify what you have interest
3. Speak to someone who are working in these careers. Seek guidance from your mentor, school career counsellor, your parents, etc.
4. Shortlist 1-2 careers you would like to pursue
5. Find the entry criteria of relevant subjects in the collegs
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Updated
Hsinlin’s Answer
I took a computer course (QBasic) in high school and fell in love with what computer programming can do. The first program I wrote drew a picture and had animations. That's when I decided that I would major in computer science in college. Even computer science itself had multiple fields. I found out through taking different mandatory courses in college that I was not into hardware or network related topics. Therefore, I took my first job as a software developer. Till this day, I still loved finding and solving for software bugs. However, during the middle of my career, I found out I was very passionate about support people and their careers. That's when I made the transition into management. While it has been hard as every single person has their unique challenges, I have found it to be very rewarding to see people grow and advance in their careers. At the end of the day, it's very important to do a job you feel passionate about since there will be hard times and your passion is the only way to keep you going and overcome those challenges.
Updated
Samantha’s Answer
Hi Chloe,
I kind of fell into my career and was not something I was planning for while I was in high-school or University. Currently, I’m a Sales Specialist helping public sector organizations modernize their environment with our products. I’ve held roles ranging from Business Planning, to Audience Marketing, Lead Product Launches, to Security Product Marketing, and Channel (Partner) Manager. I learned a lot within each role and it helped propel me for the next one.
For context, I completed my BBA and I specialized in Marketing and Finance for my undergrad.
Sometimes you don’t have to have it all figured out. Great organizations will allow you to pivot and grow your career in the direction that interests you the most and that’s what I found with my current company.
What helps is to write down what you like, and what is a non- negotiable for careers. This usually helps you sort out the type of work you would be interested in.
What I enjoy most about my career is I get to write my own destiny. I’m the one that determines if I want to stay in my current function or do something else. I’m not bounded by certain roles.
Don’t hesitate to reach if you want to connect more on this.
I kind of fell into my career and was not something I was planning for while I was in high-school or University. Currently, I’m a Sales Specialist helping public sector organizations modernize their environment with our products. I’ve held roles ranging from Business Planning, to Audience Marketing, Lead Product Launches, to Security Product Marketing, and Channel (Partner) Manager. I learned a lot within each role and it helped propel me for the next one.
For context, I completed my BBA and I specialized in Marketing and Finance for my undergrad.
Sometimes you don’t have to have it all figured out. Great organizations will allow you to pivot and grow your career in the direction that interests you the most and that’s what I found with my current company.
What helps is to write down what you like, and what is a non- negotiable for careers. This usually helps you sort out the type of work you would be interested in.
What I enjoy most about my career is I get to write my own destiny. I’m the one that determines if I want to stay in my current function or do something else. I’m not bounded by certain roles.
Don’t hesitate to reach if you want to connect more on this.