Career Myths

Submitted by Christina on Tue, 09/01/2009 - 12:27

did you knowDid you know... ...that it doesn't matter - you can still be happy! Recently a fellow TOG blogger, Jenny, wrote an article called Quarter Life Crisis. Personally, I feel like I go in and out of this crisis. But I took a class (yes, a class!) a year ago that really changed my outlook: Career Planning. To be fair, I wasn't looking to validate myself when I signed up. In fact, I just decided that I should take a class at the community college to meet new people, learn new things, and keep my mind off a breakup. Yoga was full and I didn't feel like taking a business class. I saw a class called Career Planning in the catalog, and I decided, why not!

 

First, I recommend that everyone should take a community college class. I think lifelong learning is so important, and never underestimate the classes your local CC has to offer. And 3 hours a week is nothing compared to the experience you get out of it.

 

Anyway, this class was a very heterogeneous mix of students, with a huge age range and very diverse backgrounds. Some people were taking it to choose a major, while others were taking it because they were recently unemployed. The first day, our professor told us that she was NOT going to give any sort of personality tests. She holds the same view that I do - while they may be interesting, you don't really find out a lot of new stuff.

 

Instead, we talked about our dream assignments, talked about what work ethics we value, and what aspects of work we hate. We discussed, wrote, and read The Unplanned Career,

which was written by our professor. By the end of it, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but most of all: I knew that there weren't "wrong" or "right" career choices - only choices to be learned from. The only wrong thing you can do in regards to a career, is not care.

 

I have had 4 major, "What am I doing with my life?!" eras. The first was during my fourth year of college - graduation was looming, and I didn't want to work in a lab for the rest of my life with my Physics degree. I decided to go to DC and try to get an internship working in an International Relations type job using my Spanish skills. The second came soon after when I realized I hated DC, missed my friends, and was no closer to knowing what I wanted to do for the next 40 years. This led me to crisis two, when I decided I wanted to teach then got rejected from the Teach for America program even though I was very qualified. (As it turns out, TFA doesn't want people who WANT to be teachers and, in my opinion, is not a great program.)

 

Crisis three - I am in San Francisco (would have never had the guts to do it if I hadn't moved to DC; bad idea turned good #1) and I am teaching, but I am having a hard year. I decide I want to try for a new job, but can't find one all summer. Boo. At the last minute (since I left my teaching position) I find a job as a elementary school science teacher. The bonus? The department had just received a huge grant and had all this technology that a lot of the teachers didn't know how to use. I got promoted to Technology Coach quickly and worked on a team to get the teachers up to speed. I loved the job, but there was still a lot of tough aspects about teaching.

 

So, crisis four. I decided to leave again. Spent another whole summer job hunting, and nothing. But finally, at the end of the summer, I finally landed a job and everything fell into place. Working for a tech company in Silicon Valley is something I have been wanting to do for a while, and I am really happy to be here now. It was worth everything, and I realize that everything I have done in my life career-wise has been a step forward. For a while, I felt bad that I had studied Physics, because I went into teaching instead of lab work. But it paid for my credential program! And then I felt like I wasted my time teaching because I didn't like it and now I don't like it - but in reality, teaching made it possible for me to move to San Francisco and work with computers in the classroom. I won't go through all my epiphanies, but here is my point: it's not a mistake. You keep trying, and you will eventually find something that makes you happy.

 

That was the best class I ever took. It gave me confidence to question my decisions, and the knowledge that progression towards an ideal career is never a bad move.You don't have to take a class to realize that; just know that we all question our choices in careers, and it's ok to try something new.

 

References

Quarter Life Crisis - Jenny @ The Online Grapevine

The Unplanned Career - How to Turn Curiosity Into Opportunity, by Kathleen Mitchell

 

 

 

4.5
 
 

Comments

So true!

Submitted by Anna on Sat, 09/05/2009 - 18:48.

I found this very encouraging, Christina. Having just graduated last month and being on the God-forsaken job hunt, I've really started to ask myself all sorts of questions. What am I doing with my life? I always thought I had a plan, but I'm realizing you can try and map out your life to the T, but life will always throw in some detours and wrong turns along the way. Someone I knew always told me to follow my heart - until now, I never really took into account those words. I may not land my dream job right away, but I'll eventually find my way.