Serious Profession/Career Discussion

I'm in second year of high school with 15 years old and I'm currently investing in my international career. By the end of the year I already intend to have my passport, so that next year I participate in an exchange to get to know a little of the country that I would like to live, Canada. I imagine that it is not so easy to earn a student visa in another country, I am Brazilian, but I would like to study psychology outside Brazil, to add more knowledge and enrich my curriculum when I enter the world of work. Since Canada has a reputation for receiving several immigrants, I see it as an opportunity to study outside Brazil and have a better living. I do English course since 2015, started with 11 years old and I feel that I'm advanced with the language. Also, I don't know if I will live outside Brazil when I finish my college, if all goes well. However, I hope to have my own psychology and sexology clinic, it would be a dream come true.
When it comes to an academic career, as stated above, I would like to pursue the field of psychology and sexology. However, I'm also investing in my modeling career, which is a dream come true for me too. I'll just wait for fate to show me which door will open first, college or an agency.
 
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Cresselia~~

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I majored in biology but didn't get into the top percentage of people, as I had poor grades, so I know very well that science jobs won't hire me.
They won't even consider.

I once worked at an office of a pharmaceutica as an assistant and realize just how much I hate office work.
I tried being a freelance illustrator, but that didn't earn me a living.
I later taught piano and now I'm teaching drawing/ illustration to little kids.
I find it quite easy and way more enjoyable than having to work at an office. I still have time for some freelance work nowadays.

I learnt one important rule: supply and demand applies to jobs as well.

In my case, obviously, way too many people want to become freelance artists, and there is not enough demand (assuming, that particular artists' art is professional enough)
For piano, although a lot of kids want to learn piano, there are a hell lot of qualified teachers for piano as well. So the competition is also quite fierce. Also, parents really care about music exams for kids (namely, Royal British School of Music certificates), if you can't make kids pass the exam, then you are basically a fail in the parents' eyes. (They won't think their kids are bad, they blame you for everything)

For drawing/ art lessons for kids, it seems to me that there are very few teachers where I'm from. But a lot of kids / parents are interested.
A lot of parents don't really care if the kid learns anything, because there isn't any internationally recognized art exams for kids.
Kids usually want to draw cartoon or anime characters, like Pokemon.
Sometimes they want some snacks. And snacks aren't really expensive anyway.
So I can make them happy quite easily.
I'd say having taught piano helped me with my current career, since both involved handling kids.
Scratch that.

I'm beginning to feel that being a freelance illustrator full time might be possible, provided if your illustrations are actually good, since I'm starting to get more and more commissions lately.
I think it's probably because my art has improved, and that most people would only commission if your art had reached a certain level.
Now I make more money doing commissions than teaching little children, and I'm liking this because I don't need to travel to a physical place for digital commissions.
I've also calculated the hourly rate of the 2, and commissions usually have a higher hourly rate than teaching kids.

Maybe I should follow my dreams, after all.
(But still, working part time before you succeed in your dream job is crucial.)
 
Currently 4th year studying aviation. Planning to be a pilot one day but also have had considered joining the local airforce to make Australia proud!

Also once concidered maybe starting a aviation engineering firm that creates electric and solar powered jets. Obvious reasons to end air pollution and reduce carbon emissions. Also as of 2019, the concepts of electric and solar powered planes look classy as hell. If i even get an opportunity to say one thing out loud to the world I would like it to be the following - welcome to the future of aviation and welcome to the future of energy!
 

Ivy

resident enigma
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Currently 4th year studying aviation. Planning to be a pilot one day but also have had considered joining the local airforce to make Australia proud!
I'm so sorry, but whenever I think about the Australian military, this is all that comes to mind:
 
I'm so sorry, but whenever I think about the Australian military, this is all that comes to mind:

What's embarrassing about Australia is that we have less than 500 F15 fighters yet at least a third of them are grounded due to maintenance and technical reasons. Aka only about 300 are fit for combat if a war breaks out right now. XD
 
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Currently I work as a help desk analyst which I know isn't that impressive or anything but it could lead to me becoming a project manager, QA on programs we develop, or even a developer.

I believe my luck honestly boils down to work experience and connections. I was lucky enough to have a high school with some good tech classes to teach me enough for a certification that helped me get a job at the local best buy selling computers. I worked there for a few years and then transferred into help desk work. It's roughly $30k a year starting. Which I felt was pretty good without a degree. I tried the whole college thing, but it just really didn't fit well with me. All throughout high school i hated that i had to take general education classes instead of what I was interested in, computer science, and I just couldn't handle it a second time around in college.
If you are serious about moving up in the IT field, pick a path and stick to it. You should dedicate some of your spare time to self-study. Want to get into DevOps? Show me that you know containers and are fluent in a major programming language. Want to be a sysadmin? Show me your Linux/Windows skills and tell me how you would automate a daily task in your favorite scripting language. Interested in security? Familiarize yourself with networking, especially on Linux, and tell me what the most vulnerable thing in my organization is (the answer is always the same).

Do not let your lack of a degree prevent you from learning new skills. Half the guys I work with right now lack a degree and make 6 figures, one of which is a VP.
 

Jimbo

take me anywhere
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
I'm a Pediatrician - I graduated from medical school last year and am currently a 2nd year resident. I went straight from college to medical school so was more or less a professional student, but not anymore! AMA about being a pre-med or medical school.
 

Stratos

Banned deucer.
Guess I haven't posted about my life in over three years (mostly thanks to one obvious reason lmao) so heres an update on me if you care:

I graduated two years ago with a BS in Comp E from UMD. Between scholarships, in-state tuition, and relatively well-off parents, I was fortunate to not have to pay for my college expenses basically at all. After graduating I spent my savings from jobs I worked in college on a nice used car and was able to buy it cash-in-hand, and then started a development job at Epic (the EHR, not the games).

What this all means is that I have basically zero recurring expenses and have been able to save money at an astounding rate. I already have over 100k in liquidity (in addition to my 401k) which is more than enough for a down payment in my area, about 40% of the median 2-bedroom price. I renewed my lease for another year recently but before it's up for renewal again (next March) I need to make a decision: am I going to keep my current job—in which case I should buy a house and quit pissing away rent—or am I going to look for greener pastures. I have 6-9 months to decide, but it's still weighing on me pretty heavily.

There's a lot in favor of staying. I don't have strong loyalty to my job, but on the balance, I like it more than I don't. I enjoy the feeling of being competent and comfortable at my job that I'm really just starting to develop, and I'd hate to throw that all away. I wouldn't say that I'm "established" here, but I do have friends. Madison is a very young city (the youngest of its size in the nation, apparently) so the odds bode well for my eventual goal of starting a family. A lot of the school districts here are very bourgeois (i.e. good). And when the world catches on fire, Madison will still be inhabitable.

There's not a lot in favor of switching. My compensation would be higher, but I hardly have expensive tastes and I'm already earning more than I need. Frankly, that's about the only thing it has.

Seems like this should be a no brainer, yet somehow this is a really hard decision to make. I guess it's just fear of commitment. Probably the fact that I've never had another development job makes it hard to make an honest comparison.

I remember reading a news article about the "boyfriend problem." The generalized version is the problem of picking the best option from a list, where you only see the list members one-by-one and can't go back after you pass on one. Jobs are slightly more willing to take you back than boyfriends, but the basic premise still applies here. The conclusion of the paper was that the winning strategy in most cases was to marry the first boyfriend you get which is better than your very first boyfriend. My current job is my "first boyfriend," but it seems like a really good one, so am I one of the exceptions?

If anyone's been through a similar situation, I'd appreciate the advice. Thanks for reading.
 

Platinum God n1n1

the real n1n1
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My current job is my "first boyfriend," but it seems like a really good one
confirmed gay

also yes, always be prepared to leave for better opportunities. dont think back wishing what could have been, take risks

I work in Equity Risk Management for one of the largest banks on Wall Street. Coming from crappy state school with 2.8 gpa. If anyone is interested in interviewing for finance positions or wants to learn more AMA
 

Platinum God n1n1

the real n1n1
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I like it. I've moved around from IT to Finance and finally found a place where I enjoy the work and want to build my career. Would recommend to anyone who likes math and following the markets.
 

Wigglytuff

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I'm a Pediatrician - I graduated from medical school last year and am currently a 2nd year resident. I went straight from college to medical school so was more or less a professional student, but not anymore! AMA about being a pre-med or medical school.
Assuming you live in the US. Hoping to get into the medical field and I have some questions.

1: How long do you have before you have to decide a specialty? I'm currently interested in surgery (have a couple specific subspecialties but surgery in general) and psychiatry/therapy and I'm wondering at what point I have to decide between the two?

2: is the workload THAT horrible in med school? have heard nightmarish tales of studying 10 hours a day every day

3: as a high school senior, what should I do between now and when I pull up to the med school application interviews to best prepare myself to get into a (optional: good) med school?

4: did any medical drama shows influence your decision to go into the medical field? i have to admit that house md pushed me from the general study of psychology to the medical extensions of it

Thanks for your time!
 

Jimbo

take me anywhere
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Assuming you live in the US. Hoping to get into the medical field and I have some questions.

1: How long do you have before you have to decide a specialty? I'm currently interested in surgery (have a couple specific subspecialties but surgery in general) and psychiatry/therapy and I'm wondering at what point I have to decide between the two?

2: is the workload THAT horrible in med school? have heard nightmarish tales of studying 10 hours a day every day

3: as a high school senior, what should I do between now and when I pull up to the med school application interviews to best prepare myself to get into a (optional: good) med school?

4: did any medical drama shows influence your decision to go into the medical field? i have to admit that house md pushed me from the general study of psychology to the medical extensions of it

Thanks for your time!
I do live in the US! Happy to help.

1. If you're a high school senior, you have many, many years before you have to decide on a specialty. People apply to residency in their fourth year of medical school, so you have until then to decide between Surgery and Psychiatry (or anything else!). Some people even apply to multiple residency specialties to give themselves some extra time. I decided on Pediatrics during my ~2nd year of medical school - there's even still time for me to decide amongst the Peds subspecialties (which would be fellowships after residency).

2. Eh, it was fine. If you work hard during college medical school typically doesn't feel like that much of a shellshock, or at least it wasn't to me. The difference between college and med school is that usually in med school there is nothing except for tests. You rarely have to do any sort of projects or papers for grades, just take tests. So between going to class and studying, that's all that is required. I never really ever did work past ~9 PM, if that helps.

3. Work hard in college and try to make yourself a well-rounded applicant. Go to a school where you'd have the option of doing some research, be it basic science research (aka in a lab) or clinical research. Try to get involved in a leadership activity or something in the arts. Etc etc. Beyond that, jut try to get good grades. I majored in Biochemistry because I liked Chemistry and thought it'd help in med school - it didn't. The upper level chemistry courses are very, very hard to get good grades in. Would of rather majored in Biology, Psych, or Neuroscience.

4. I've always loved Grey's Anatomy. The shows themselves are very realistic but I realized while watching them i would pause the show to look up the conditions they talked about. Realized I must've been pretty interested to do that.
 

Wigglytuff

mad @ redacted in redacted
is a Tiering Contributoris a Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnus
I do live in the US! Happy to help.

1. If you're a high school senior, you have many, many years before you have to decide on a specialty. People apply to residency in their fourth year of medical school, so you have until then to decide between Surgery and Psychiatry (or anything else!). Some people even apply to multiple residency specialties to give themselves some extra time. I decided on Pediatrics during my ~2nd year of medical school - there's even still time for me to decide amongst the Peds subspecialties (which would be fellowships after residency).

2. Eh, it was fine. If you work hard during college medical school typically doesn't feel like that much of a shellshock, or at least it wasn't to me. The difference between college and med school is that usually in med school there is nothing except for tests. You rarely have to do any sort of projects or papers for grades, just take tests. So between going to class and studying, that's all that is required. I never really ever did work past ~9 PM, if that helps.

3. Work hard in college and try to make yourself a well-rounded applicant. Go to a school where you'd have the option of doing some research, be it basic science research (aka in a lab) or clinical research. Try to get involved in a leadership activity or something in the arts. Etc etc. Beyond that, jut try to get good grades. I majored in Biochemistry because I liked Chemistry and thought it'd help in med school - it didn't. The upper level chemistry courses are very, very hard to get good grades in. Would of rather majored in Biology, Psych, or Neuroscience.

4. I've always loved Grey's Anatomy. The shows themselves are very realistic but I realized while watching them i would pause the show to look up the conditions they talked about. Realized I must've been pretty interested to do that.
All of this sounds great, thank you so much for the advice!
 

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