[CyberneticTitan]

So it's that time of life for me. Senior year, scholarship applications, bursaries, entrance applications, deciding on schools, careers, majors, minors, and all that kind of stuff.

However before I can proceed with my life I will need to decide on a main field or career with the possibility of a secondary one. I excel in all courses that are presented to me in my school, albeit it's pretty rural with less than 500 students. I enjoy the computing field, but I find no joy in coding. To me, you just look at a bunch of words and type for hours on end. I'm not too good on the graphical end either. My math teacher has pushed me towards an engineering position. Computing engineer? Idk aha. Would prefer avoid having to sit in a desk for most of my work hours. As you can see, it is very hard for me to narrow down a vast range of choices to just one or two. The idea of not being able to do everything is just unnerving... I've been stalling for the past two years, but eventually I will have to do it.

So that's enough about me. I would like to hear from you guys, specifically ones in college or university. I would like to hear the steps you took in choosing your career/field and how you have managed with said field so far. I'm sure you all have interesting stories to tell! I also would like to hear your input on campus life, and how much it differs from a high school life style.

Thanks for your time! It means a lot to me.

[Leaf™]

When I finished highschool I was determined to be an economist or banker, so I enrolled in a general Bachelor of Business with no major to be decided until my second year.

While in college/university, you learn so much more about the field you will be working in, what you will actually be doing and how easy it is to get a job. In my Bachelor degree you get to try out each discipline in first year with introductory courses (Marketing, Management, Accounting, Economics, Statistics, IT). With this first year in a broad based area, I found that Human Resource Management was probably the most interesting challenging thing to pick, so that's what I chose for my major, with a financial planning minor. Obviously trying hard matters, but if you are committed and show leadership and drive to get through the degree, that is a major plus no matter what field you choose.

I have now graduated and I advise managers in a company with 200k+ employees, and at 21 y.o. on a salary of $80,000 p.a.

It is an office job, but the company does let you travel on business. I have a good team around me, and am working up to be an acquisition manager on $120,000 p.a. in about 1-2 years.

[stfn321]

Do bare in mind once you have chosen your career go purely for something you are passionate about and not for money, as going a good university/college will help you get a foot through the door. So do aim for Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, MIT etc.. because you will have a big salary either way if that's what motivates you.

[son of a gun]

Well coding will forever bring opportunities to your life, many people on this forum hire freelance coders. If there was a group of highly educated coders that offered a "x group coding service" and could code anything, they would make a lot of money as they would be the go to people. If you master every language of coding you will be a dynamic coder capable of any task. With new advances in technology you will be needed to update, fix, or produce new products. Coding is a gift that continues to give back, plus you will be able to work from home or on the go. It will be all virtual and if it's via this forum the income will be untaxed.

[CyberneticTitan]

When I finished highschool I was determined to be an economist or banker, so I enrolled in a general Bachelor of Business with no major to be decided until my second year.

While in college/university, you learn so much more about the field you will be working in, what you will actually be doing and how easy it is to get a job. In my Bachelor degree you get to try out each discipline in first year with introductory courses (Marketing, Management, Accounting, Economics, Statistics, IT). With this first year in a broad based area, I found that Human Resource Management was probably the most interesting challenging thing to pick, so that's what I chose for my major, with a financial planning minor. Obviously trying hard matters, but if you are committed and show leadership and drive to get through the degree, that is a major plus no matter what field you choose.

I have now graduated and I advise managers in a company with 200k+ employees, and at 21 y.o. on a salary of $80,000 p.a.

It is an office job, but the company does let you travel on business. I have a good team around me, and am working up to be an acquisition manager on $120,000 p.a. in about 1-2 years.

Wow you seem pretty successful. How would you describe the origin of your economist/banker goal when you graduated?

I hope to have some of that success in my endeavors aha.

Do bare in mind once you have chosen your career go purely for something you are passionate about and not for money, as going a good university/college will help you get a foot through the door. So do aim for Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, MIT etc.. because you will have a big salary either way if that's what motivates you.

Agreed. However I really don't have any passion or just haven't discovered it yet 😝

The biggest thing that would motivate me is finding a job that I can look forward to everyday when I wake up and not grunt at that thought.

Well coding will forever bring opportunities to your life, many people on this forum hire freelance coders. If there was a group of highly educated coders that offered a "x group coding service" and could code anything, they would make a lot of money as they would be the go to people. If you master every language of coding you will be a dynamic coder capable of any task. With new advances in technology you will be needed to update, fix, or produce new products. Coding is a gift that continues to give back, plus you will be able to work from home or on the go. It will be all virtual and if it's via this forum the income will be untaxed.

Yes, coding is a much needed position these days with everything becoming digital.

I haven't scratched the surface of that yet, but the thought of learning various programming languages, fixing bugs, machine-to-software interfaces, etc just intimidates me. As I have said before, I don't particularly enjoy looking at a blank notepad and begin typing something without meaning. I can't exactly place my own personal touch in lines of code aha.

Thank you all for your replies. It really helps.

[SuaveCrouton]

Yes, coding is a much needed position these days with everything becoming digital.

I haven't scratched the surface of that yet, but the thought of learning various programming languages, fixing bugs, machine-to-software interfaces, etc just intimidates me. As I have said before, I don't particularly enjoy looking at a blank notepad and begin typing something without meaning. I can't exactly place my own personal touch in lines of code aha.

Thank you all for your replies. It really helps.

From what I have heard, experienced coders rarely if ever sit down and start coding from scratch, rather they pull from past work, either from themselves or others, and begin coding that way

[Overcome]

You could look outside of computer related education. You could look into the healthcare field? I'm currently in 3rd year of my BSN and will be going for my MSN to become a Nurse Practitioner. I will be making very good money, and the job prospects are good.

[Aesthetics]

Yep, I was on the same boat about coding. I did Software Design development in HS, hated it, but did pretty well in it with minimal effort. Decided coding wasn't going to be my thing, picked up some IT subjects, hated it, whole first first year was on databases, boring.. When I finished Y12, I knew, I wanted to do Engineering, wasn't particular sure on which stream to pick. I had my mind set on ICT Engineering/Comp Eng. Looked it up, and it was pretty much a glorified CS degree with some Engineering topics. So that was out of question, found Electrical engineering, looked through and stroke some of my interest and could relate to my existing knowledge. I went with it, 2nd semester, and so far I've been enjoying it and the challenges. I haven't decided on what to do after, probably start off as junior engineer and work my way to the top.

[CyberneticTitan]

From what I have heard, experienced coders rarely if ever sit down and start coding from scratch, rather they pull from past work, either from themselves or others, and begin coding that way

Ah I see. Still seems pretty boring for me 😝

You could look outside of computer related education. You could look into the healthcare field? I'm currently in 3rd year of my BSN and will be going for my MSN to become a Nurse Practitioner. I will be making very good money, and the job prospects are good.

I will do that. I'm more of a techy geeky guy so that's where my basis is aha.

As for the health sciences, nursing and being a doctor does pay very well. I'm sure you will have no hard time paying your bills 🎉 However the cons for me on that job is the immense healthcare knowledge you must have as well as great people and one-on-one skills. All of those I really don't have to be honest. I'm currently taking an animal kingdom oriented biology class, and although it isn't human health, the taxonomy alone is very intimidating. Next semester I'm taking the human oriented biology class so who knows ✌

Thanks for your input.

Yep, I was on the same boat about coding. I did Software Design development in HS, hated it, but did pretty well in it with minimal effort. Decided coding wasn't going to be my thing, picked up some IT subjects, hated it, whole first first year was on databases, boring.. When I finished Y12, I knew, I wanted to do Engineering, wasn't particular sure on which stream to pick. I had my mind set on ICT Engineering/Comp Eng. Looked it up, and it was pretty much a glorified CS degree with some Engineering topics. So that was out of question, found Electrical engineering, looked through and stroke some of my interest and could relate to my existing knowledge. I went with it, 2nd semester, and so far I've been enjoying it and the challenges. I haven't decided on what to do after, probably start off as junior engineer and work my way to the top.

"I had my mind set on ICT Engineering/Comp Eng. Looked it up, and it was pretty much a glorified CS degree with some Engineering topics." A bit of the same for me. Right now I'm aiming towards a more hardware type engineering career, but I'll have to do more research on what my university offers in those areas.

What topics did you personally cover with your electrical engineer experience? Probably a lot on electrical circuits, interfaces, ports, controllers, and whatnot huh? Work in labs or out in the field?

[Leaf™]

Wow you seem pretty successful. How would you describe the origin of your economist/banker goal when you graduated?

I hope to have some of that success in my endeavors aha.

The origin of my goals were developed in highschool, I had good economics and business teachers. After I graduated, I still wanted to do economics, but I was offered a job directly, and for $80k when the graduate average is $50k in my country, I couldn't knock that back.

[-ΒMW-]

When I was a senior I absolutely dreaded the fact that college was next. I said fuck college and looked for good jobs that didnt require it, now im working at UPS and soon will be making excellent money, I love the job and best part...no college.

[stfn321]

When I was a senior I absolutely dreaded the fact that college was next. I said fuck college and looked for good jobs that didnt require it, now im working at UPS and soon will be making excellent money, I love the job and best part...no college.

If you're money motivated, once you get to a certain age and you're doing the same shit different day routine. You will want to do a job you enjoy because it's sole sucking if your not.

[Aesthetics]

Ah I see. Still seems pretty boring for me 😝


I will do that. I'm more of a techy geeky guy so that's where my basis is aha.

As for the health sciences, nursing and being a doctor does pay very well. I'm sure you will have no hard time paying your bills 🎉 However the cons for me on that job is the immense healthcare knowledge you must have as well as great people and one-on-one skills. All of those I really don't have to be honest. I'm currently taking an animal kingdom oriented biology class, and although it isn't human health, the taxonomy alone is very intimidating. Next semester I'm taking the human oriented biology class so who knows ✌

Thanks for your input.


"I had my mind set on ICT Engineering/Comp Eng. Looked it up, and it was pretty much a glorified CS degree with some Engineering topics." A bit of the same for me. Right now I'm aiming towards a more hardware type engineering career, but I'll have to do more research on what my university offers in those areas.

What topics did you personally cover with your electrical engineer experience? Probably a lot on electrical circuits, interfaces, ports, controllers, and whatnot huh? Work in labs or out in the field?

DC Circuits + AC Circuits
Advanced Circuits
Electromagnetism
Physics
Maths Modelling
CAD/Engineering Drawings
PLCs and OP amps/ micro controllers
Practical stuff (soldering + low voltage wiring, cable termination )
Sustainability - ethics

Work in labs or out in the field?
Personally I have my own lab setup with my personally bought test equipment.
shit was expensive, sold my Gaming PC, got my self nice Digital oscilloscope, multimeter, soldering iron, function gen and some components to tinker with on a breadboard.

It depends on what field you get in, EE is really broad Stream, the stream I'm personally heading for is more out in field.

[Joshlondon2012]

Best career choice right now is to get into app developing and gaming creating.

[LemonOn]

Just started my first year of college and I had no idea what I wanted to do so I just decided to do Liberal Arts..

Taking basic intro classes to Therapy and some Arts, it definitely helps since you're able to take the core Math and English (which you basically need for every major) and while you do that you can stick your head into different categories.
At first I wanted to do computer science but I said fuck it and joined Physiology/Therapy and it's interesting.

I had friends that knew they wanted to do computer science at first but after joining they changed their minds. They say most students change their major 3~4x before they find something they really like.


Note that i'm in a community college (which is much cheaper) so I have the financial freedom to do this.