What careers do you have?

[kayumidome]

I'm a college student at Penn State in my first semester. I wanted to get an idea of experiences you have in your careers and do you enjoy what you do and what careers are good to get into right now besides law and healthcare. Any input would be appreciated.

[offline]

Moving you to offtopic

[Cobra]

I am currently studying at university, and I have one semester to go before I graduate. I study biology, and have recently completed a research project involving genetic engineering of a pathogen to explore the mechanism that allows it to switch between symbiosis with one host to pathogenicity in another. I will be going into clinical microbiology or biotechnology.

[gadgetguy]

I've been a shop boy at a golf course, a gas station attendant (full serve), a sales clerk in a retail store, a furniture delivery man, a warehouse manager, a building supply delivery man, a floor care specialist (janitor), a telephone cableman, a security system service technician, an electrician (journeyman - still licensed), a telephone/data cable installation technician, a telephone system(PBX) installation/service technician, a tech support engineer, an application software specialist, a software developer, and a telecom consultant/subcontractor.

Most of that was spent doing work I did not enjoy to support the true enjoyment in my life, my wife and kids.

My advice to you would be forget about what is currently a "good" field to get into and forget about what others have to say about their career choices. You need to think about what you really enjoy doing and want to do for the rest of your life. Then research what fields of study will allow you to do it. Someone who has a genuine passion for their work, regardless of the field and competition, will always succeed.

[smearbrick1]

You need to think about what you really and enjoy, find out how much money a person in that field usually makes, and then make a decision. If it's too little, you need to find something else that you enjoy. If you enjoy making money, become a CPA. CPAs do quite well on average (not my thing really). Lawyers can make good money depending on your specialty. Right now, unfortunately, law is not something that is doing so hot in the job market. Alot of the law grads that call into our office (I work in the student financial aid industry) are working sub-par jobs in crappy restaurants or public service jobs that make way less money.

My suggestion, if you are attending Penn State and plan to reside in PA following your tenure at Penn State, I would go for nursing (if you can handle that sort of thing). Employers are currently offering all kinds of sign on incentives for their nurses. This can include: cash payments, scheduling perks, and tuition reimbursement. Right now the Pennylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency's non-profit foundation is offering huge grants for nursing students. Besides, if you do the nursing program and find you don't like it, you will have a bachelor's degree and a ton of biology, chemistry, and pharmacology courses under your belt. You could roll this into repping for a pharmaceutical company such as Phizer or Bristol-Myers Squib, Merck Chemical... etc...

[Cobra]

"If you enjoy your job, you won't work a day in your life"