Thread: Are You What You Planned To Be? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by Kaplan Corday (# 16119) on :
 
A former school friend, who from when I first knew him always wanted to be a meteorologist, did all the right courses, became one, and had a successful career in the field.

I have always envied people who know what they want to do and be, and who pursue their dream unswervingly.

The careers I considered over the years included underwater salvage diver, stonemason and psychologist, and almost accidentally I finished up as a history teacher.

Are you in the job you always foresaw?

And if you can’t afford to actually make a living from your lifelong passion, have you still achieved success and recognition outside work hours as a photographer, dancer, archaeologist, gardener, cricketer or whatever?

My daughter, for example, has found fulfillment as a published author, but there is no way that she could afford to give up her day job and live off the sales of her books.

If your childhood or adolescent self could have looked forward and seen what you are doing now, would they have said, “Yep, strictly according to plan”, or, “She became a WHAT? She finished up doing WHAT?”
 

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Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
I don't really know what my younger self wanted (I guess he didn't know it very well himself either), but I went to a high school reunion a couple of years ago. We didn't know it at the time, but it turns out that when we were in the same school, one of my classmates had made a list with predictions of what all of us would be in the future. She showed us the original list, it was fun to see it in her handwriting of a 16 year old girl.

After my name, she had written: 'boring computer programmer'. I guess I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere in my life.
 

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Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Well, I have ended up retired so does that count?

I had a couple of careers but where I ended up didn't exist as a career when I was a lad so no, nothing went according to my expectations but I reckon it all went according to plan
 

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Posted by Galilit (# 16470) on :
 
Yep!
Funny you should ask.
Even funnier that I can answer.

At the age of 15 I had a blinding flash of a vision and it has all come true.

I was on my way home from school and I could not see how on earth I would get from the suburbs to what was described but I did.

It is repeatedly manifesting itself in unimportantly different ways as time goes by and insignificant circumstances change. (Unimportant and insignificant in terms of the original model described to me then, I mean)
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
We had this conversation in our house the othe r night: my husband was remarking that he had never anticipated as a young man that he would be where he is now (Quite Eminent in his field). I realised I had never thought of my future life in terms of a career at all (Thank you, 1950s female expectations!)

That I refused to be directed into teaching, and actually intended to be self-supporting, rather than marry, was quite bolshie for the time and place. I did stumble into a line of work - early office automation/systems/business intranets/websites - which changed as I went, and carried me places which hadn't existed in my younger days.

All very interesting, but not actually intended or even particularly well-suited.
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
My earliest ambition was to be 'a shoe shop lady', which I've never fulfilled, even as a Saturday job.

As a young teenager (13 or so), I decided I wanted to be a lawyer, and here I am, so yes, but not exactly how I'd expected it to be.

M.

[ 24. April 2013, 06:46: Message edited by: M. ]
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
From age 7 I was going to be a nurse - my teddy got doctored to death, I can still smell the potions I covered him with.

Aged 18 I had my applications in to the teaching hospitals in London (I knew I wanted to live in London) when I woke up in the middle of the night, sat bolt upright and said "I can't do shift work".

I was right, no way could I have coped with shift work!

At our school girls were given three choices of career - nurse, teacher or secretary. Secretary was completely out - I can't sit still for two minutes together. So teacher it was.

In 1975 went to London to train and haven't looked back. I have loved it. teaching is a million things, but it's never boring!

[ 24. April 2013, 08:23: Message edited by: Boogie ]
 

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Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
No. I planned to live in the middle of nowhere as far away from London (sorry Boogie, but I utterly loathe and detest the place and can never get out of it quickly enough) as possible. I'm only about half as far away as I'd have liked and I'm not in the middle of nowhere.

As for career they didn't have computers the way we have them now when I were a lad so I couldn't have foreseen my career path. I wanted to be a brain surgeon so be thankful that we don't all get what we want.
 

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Posted by Alaric the Goth (# 511) on :
 
Posted by K-LB

quote:

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I wanted to be a brain surgeon so be thankful that we don't all get what we want.

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My equivalent is that, aged 14-15, I wanted to be an airline pilot!!! I seriously looked into it in the school careers library!

My default setting for years was wanting to be a paleontologist. I even chose my 'O'lvels with this in mind. But I couldn't do Geology (I even turned up, along with others, for the first lesson) as Mr O. had thoughtlessly retired. Mrs M., the other Geology teacher (whom I kind of fancied ), only taught one side (the other side) of the timetable, alas.

Now I'm a flippin' Auditor!

[ 24. April 2013, 08:55: Message edited by: Alaric the Goth ]
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
I planned as a teacher to teach English and History and I did all sorts of teaching in Secondary schools (Religion, Looking after Children, Maths) and that seemed fine but suddenly I was told by the Head to teach LATIN also as I seemed to be the only teacher who'd done it a lot at university (St Andrews). I hadn't planned that but it was fine and all the students passed which made me feel fine.
 

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Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :
 
I wanted to be an English teacher but nobody from my council estate went to university and my parents expected me to start work as soon as I left school so that put paid to that. I did a youth training scheme working in a residential care home and then did traditional nurse training (hospital based not university based in those days). I loved nursing and was very good at it but I always knew my career ladder would never lead towards a management role. I specialised in Ophthalmology (moved to London for this!) and became a nurse practitioner, did practice development and finally became a lecturer in my field.
I teach health and social care with the Open University now and am about to finish my second degree and start my Masters in education - so much for not going to university

[ 24. April 2013, 09:10: Message edited by: Heavenly Anarchist ]
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
As a kid, growing up with All Creatures Great and Small on the haunted fishtank, I wanted to be a vet. I'm not really sure where it all want wrong but I ended up in biological science and my first job involved spending a lot of time making unfortunate critters ill. Truly the fates have a sick sense of humour.

Now I'm still in science, but feeling more and more that I have to get out or at least get into something more productive - academia just seems to be self-fulfilling from where I am, and there's only so long I can ride the roundabout. I love history, but there's no sensible way to make a living in it, and I've no desire to go anywhere near teaching admin or sales. So all in all I'm not what I planned to be and I seem doomed to remain at a lonely crossroads forever seeking the right exit.

Bugger.

AG
 

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Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
Ah, I remember. When I was around 6, I wanted to be a cheetah. Still haven't figured that out.
 

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Posted by Bob Two-Owls (# 9680) on :
 
I wanted to be a blacksmith but unfortunately the school I went to reserved metalwork for the violent or stupid. Being good at maths I was only allowed to choose computer programmer as a career choice. Even more unfortunately I am good at maths but really terrible at programming (I also loathe technology) so now I do bookkeeping work for minimum wage.

Maybe if I had punched a few teachers or failed my exams I might have been what I wanted.
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Alaric the Goth:


My equivalent is that, aged 14-15, I wanted to be an airline pilot!!! I seriously looked into it in the school careers library!

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So did my youngest son. The careers department brought in a variety of people to give talks and motivate the youngsters. One was from the RAF - Boogielet2 rushed home (aged 16) declaring he wanted to be a fighter pilot. Soon after that he went to the local forces careers place and they told him he needed 20/20 vision. He doesn't. So he gave up the idea and pursued a career in engineering.

Six years and a BEng degree later he couldn't get a job except on the shop floor, paying minimum wage.

So he went back to the piloting idea - this time in civil aviation. He became an Easyjet cadet. There were only eight on his course and four of them were ex-RAF pilots who had been made redundant just before they even finished their training!

Boogielet2 is now a fully fledged first officer for Easyjet and loving it. He flies to Lanzarote and back today


Here is a photo (he is 25, although he only looks 15!)
 

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Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 
I wanted to be a footballer or cricketer when I was young. The football went by the wayside pretty early, but I'm still managing to hold down a place in my cricket club's first team so that's something.

In my teens, inspired by various TV shows and the rapidly-growing understanding of genetics and suchlike I wanted to be a forensic scientist. Got as far as graduating in biochemistry before deciding I never wanted to see the inside of a laboratory ever again.

The other dream was to become part of a big rock band. The "big band" bit hasn't happened yet, but the "rock" part? That's in hand
 

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Posted by Lots of Yay (# 2790) on :
 
Before starting school I recall wanting to own a pet shop (specifically the one near my house which ceased existing several years later).

In year 1 there was a "dress up as what you want to be when you grow up" day. I went as a travelling librarian.

In upper primary school I don't recall having any career aspirations.

In early high school I thought I might like to be a food technologist or a bassoonist.

In late high school I thought about medicine. Then decided not to do that. Then thought about a whole lot of sciencey things that I had no idea about (like bioinformatics! Whatever that is!). Then I thought I'd be a pharmacist so went to pharmacist school.

But now I'm a doctor. From the very start of medical school the "What do you want to be when you grow up?" game started again. So I thought I'd like to be a GP or a psychiatrist... and now I'm on the training program to be a paediatrician.

So er... I suppose that'd be a no!
 

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Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :
 
I was thinking about this this weekend. I don't think anyone has ever wanted to do specifically what I do when they grow up. I enjoy it, but it is a segment of the law that even people I went to law school with have little understanding of. I do find ways that the things I wanted to do when I grew up come up in my job. I always wanted to be a detective or spy. And I do get to do a lot of detective work in this job, and I occasionally get to bust someone who is trying to get away with something.

Does the thought that no child has ever said that they want your job when they grow up ever hit anyone else?
 

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Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
Does the thought that no child has ever said that they want your job when they grow up ever hit anyone else?

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It goes without saying in mine. What kind of child would grow up wanting to spend most of their life stuck inside an office pushing numbers around on a spreadsheet?
 

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Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :
 
My mum was a nurse, my dad a teacher, and when I was a kid I did at various different times want to be both. The nursing thing stuck around for a while and after my degree (in English) I looked into the training and then realised I was doing it because I couldn't think of anything else to do. So I trained as a secretary and ended up in publishing, which was a lovely place to be with an English degree although I wanted to move into proof reading and my boss didn't let me - I was probably too useful as a secretary.

After a "career break" to have a family I brushed up my secretarial skills for computers and now work as a part time administrator for a charity, which I love.

But my main lifelong ambition was to marry and have children and I've done that.

quote:

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Originally posted by Boogie:
Here is a photo (he is 25, although he only looks 15!)

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Boogielet2 is a very handsome young man.

Nen - likes a uniform.
 

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Posted by QLib (# 43) on :
 
I must admit to having originally wanted to be a teacher - or a librarian - but I soon realised that ordinary school teaching would drive me mad and I came to pretty much the same concluison about working in a public library. Academic librarianship was out of the question for a variety of reasons, so I decided to go for special needs teaching and hoped to end up somewhere a bit like Summerhill.

And where I ended up - after a few years unemployed (Thatcher years) and in Residential Social Work - was a kind-of Summerhill-meets-Borstal, where I served for fourteen stressful (but never boring) years. Then I moved somewhere quieter and happier - still special needs - and still not a school and with a 'client group' that I had long faniced working with.

On reflection - it's been fine. Sometimes I wish I'd been more adventurous, but there were very good personal reasons for not being adventurous in my 20s and 30s. Might explain why I'm feeling a bit restless now, though.
 

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Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:

quote:

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Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
Does the thought that no child has ever said that they want your job when they grow up ever hit anyone else?

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It goes without saying in mine. What kind of child would grow up wanting to spend most of their life stuck inside an office pushing numbers around on a spreadsheet?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Edith:
And the second was to paint the white lines down the middle of the road.

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But I'm sure you would do it with a lot more artfulness than the big machines that do it these days.
 

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Posted by Keren-Happuch (# 9818) on :
 
In primary school I wanted to run a tea shop on Guernsey with roses round the door and sell butterscotch ice cream - can you tell that a very specific experience provoked that ambition?

In secondary school I wanted to work with children.

At university I realised I was rather good at translating stuff, and actually enjoyed it. Ten years down the line, I'm starting to make some money at it.
 

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Posted by loggats (# 17643) on :
 
Yes and no. Always thought I would end up writing for a living and I'm working towards that. It feels exciting to know that I might eventually get paid to research topics that interest me, write about them and share what I've learnt with others.

I might not be an Egyptologist (much to my 8 year old self's disappointment) but I think I'll be happy all the same!
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
Well, no.

But I'm not dead yet.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I wanted to be a writer--and I am that, though I'm not making a living at it either. And I wanted to write fiction, and instead I'm writing everything but.

I emphatically did NOT want to be a missionary (I was the child who wanted to sneak out of church on mission Sunday) and lo and behold...



Little Lamb was quite impressed when I told him about the time I asked God what I should do with my life (aged seventeen). Got back the unmistakable answer "missions" and responded, "SHIT!" Oooh Mommy, you swore at God...
 

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Posted by HughWillRidmee (# 15614) on :
 
Aged eight I announced that I was going to be a missionary/doctor - probably much influenced by Sunday tea with visiting preachers back in England on furlough.

Was supposed to become an actuary but got bored stiff, would have applied to the Met but eyes weren't good enough, became a management accountant (they do useful stuff rather than bean counting) by accident, then fell into selling. Spent fourteen years selling a FUD* based concept to businesses and twelve years working with the police to develop and supply hardware relevant to their needs - so a bit of the missionary and a bit of the bobby if you want to try to close the oval.

*Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.
 

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Posted by Lothiriel (# 15561) on :
 
I wanted to be an editor. I don't know when the idea took root, and it was probably helped along by being yearbook editor in high school. After university I did technical writing and editing for a while, but found that corporate culture to be soul-suckingly desolate and barren.

I took a few years to stay at home with my toddlers, and then ventured into horticulture. In 2005, I thought I wanted to work indoors again, looked at editing job ads, and quite suddenly decided to take a publishing certificate at a local university, after seeing an ad for a book production editor that required a certificate.

I hoped to work at an educational publisher or a university press for a few years, and then work as a freelance copyeditor -- a ten-year plan. Amazingly, by being in the right place at the right time, I got a job in a publishing house, finished the certificate, and then began freelancing a few years ago with the promise of a steady stream of work from my former employer to get me started (and they're still at least half my workload).

So my teenaged self would say "Yes -- finally got there!" I sometimes regret the detours, and wish I'd pursued the dream earlier, but here I am. *Most* days I love my job.
 

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
I have two part-time jobs that I enjoy equally but the one where I garner the most income was totally unknown to me during my university years. I was a failed stockbroker 25 years ago and never supported myself at it....what I had learned as a day trader while at uni did not carry over!
 

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Posted by Kaplan Corday (# 16119) on :
 
Does anybody on the Ship work at anything useful - plumber, electrician, mechanic...?
 

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Posted by Kaplan Corday (# 16119) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
I wanted to be a writer--and I am that, though I'm not making a living at it either. And I wanted to write fiction, and instead I'm writing everything but.

I emphatically did NOT want to be a missionary (I was the child who wanted to sneak out of church on mission Sunday) and lo and behold...



Little Lamb was quite impressed when I told him about the time I asked God what I should do with my life (aged seventeen). Got back the unmistakable answer "missions" and responded, "SHIT!" Oooh Mommy, you swore at God...

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I once met a Brethren woman from England who told me that when she was a child, she and her sibings changed the properties on their Monopoly board into the names of prosperous or struggling assemblies, and changed Go To Jail to Go To The Missionary Meeting.

[ 25. April 2013, 02:33: Message edited by: Kaplan Corday ]
 

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Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :
 
I can't really remember early childhood. What I can remember is agonising over the decision in the last year of school: what was I going to do in university? Science? Music? Both?

The correct answer was Law.
 

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Does anybody on the Ship work at anything useful - plumber, electrician, mechanic...?

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quote:

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I thought they were crazy.

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Was that your prefessional opinion?
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian.

Well, they're not laughing now.
 

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Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Firenze:
They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian.

Well, they're not laughing now.

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I am!

 

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Posted by Gussie (# 12271) on :
 
I always wanted to be a librarian, because I couldn't think of anything better than being surrounded by books all wanting to be read. Of course when I actually became one, I realised you don't get a lot of time for that, but I enjoy all the organisational, information finding side too. Mind you, after a visit to the National Archives last year, I think I should have ended up there rather than in schools!
I also liked the being a novelist idea, but I had this idea if you hadn't written a best selling novel by the time you were twenty-one you couldn't be one
 

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Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Does anybody on the Ship work at anything useful - plumber, electrician, mechanic...?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

quote:

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Does anybody on the Ship work at anything useful - plumber, electrician, mechanic...?

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IT Systems Engineer

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quote:

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

quote:

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Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

quote:

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Does anybody on the Ship work at anything useful - plumber, electrician, mechanic...?

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IT Systems Engineer

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Ah, but can you fix a blocked loo?

Seriously, no-one on the Ship appears to be a tradesperson or businessperson.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Tree Bee:
Like Nen, my Mum was a nurse and my Dad a teacher.
Unlike Nen, looking at their working lives, I knew I could never be either.
My Dad was my teacher at primary school,and I treasure the memory of a conversation about my future career that we had while perched on a climbing frame in the playground.
I decided that I wanted to be a mobile librarian, and indeed my first professional post was such.
After that I worked in branch libraries, and I feel fortunate that I was able to enter the profession when it was respected and there were enough posts to go round.

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To be fair the teaching thing didn't last very long with me because I saw the stress it put my father under. Coupled with the fact that (apart from my own) I don't really like children. Or schools.

I too considered being a librarian, but I'm glad I didn't go for it as nowadays working in public libraries seems to be a lot of crowd control with teenagers on the computers.

The nursing thing still hangs around me a bit, simply because I think it must be rewarding to go into work and make a real difference to someone's day. Every so often I wonder about going into the caring profession and then I remind myself how useless I'd be at it. The charity I work for does its hands-on stuff overseas so the admin I do is fairly far removed from the coalface, so to speak.

Nen - who likes office work but not spreadsheets.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

Seriously, no-one on the Ship appears to be a tradesperson or businessperson.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chorister:


However, I'm not sure that I'd go into that profession now - during the 1990s something changed

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quote:

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Does anybody on the Ship work at anything useful - plumber, electrician, mechanic...?

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I'm an engineer - some of the time I design, and make measurements on, stuff (in a similar line to Tom, above, as it happens). But most of the time I teach, because I work in a university, so this does not perhaps count as being genuinely productive.

My childhood self always enjoyed making things from thrown-away shite. And I still do - I mainline on the contents of the university skips (dumpsters). It keeps me coming to work. And also going to church, where I rent space in the boilerhouse to house some of the collection...
 

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Posted by The Rogue (# 2275) on :
 
I never had a clue as a child what I wanted to be. I still don't know what I want to be but I am enjoying what I am doing. I'm a company accountant and the Roguelings think I play on computers all day. This is correct but, of course, I would never tell them that.

When Mrs Rogue's sister was born and a midwife came to visit she told the midwife she was going to be one when she grows up. And she is. And she is loving it.
 

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Posted by moron (# 206) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Does anybody on the Ship work at anything useful - plumber, electrician, mechanic...?

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Damn you - I bite.

A couple of years ago it occurred to me the most pleasurable part of any job I had ever had was the driving so I obtained my CDL Class A and paid some dues. Tomorrow I will set out again hoping against hope to get another 4000 miles in the next week or so and then take as much time off as I want to do things like kayaking in Newfoundland or on the Buffalo River.

You see a lot of country and I've done less entertaining work for a lot less pay.


(I told you Ruth I was not making that up.)
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
From the time I was tiny, I knew I wanted to be a musician. When I was two, my parents gave me a little toy piano which I immediately started playing tunes on. It was a passion that led me to practice (a real) piano for five hours a day. Then I studied organ, and now make most of my living as a church musician.

It's certainly not a way to get rich, but the joy of making music and directing choirs brightens my days! A side benefit is that every week, I get to do new things!

My niece always knew she would be a doctor, and today she is. My sister has always envied us somewhat. She teaches geography in a university, but still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up.
 

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Posted by Kaplan Corday (# 16119) on :
 

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Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

quote:

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

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Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

quote:

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Does anybody on the Ship work at anything useful - plumber, electrician, mechanic...?

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IT Systems Engineer

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Ah, but can you fix a blocked loo?

Seriously, no-one on the Ship appears to be a tradesperson or businessperson.

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Is that your definition of "useful"?

As it happens, I can fix a blocked bog (I fitted our entire bathroom suite, I've added radiators, fitted new valves, etc.) but I'm not sure being able to fix and implement the sort of computer systems that we all depend on now is any less "useful" than plumbing or wiring a ring main.

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quote:

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Originally posted by CuppaT:
I think, when the last is finally raised, I will not go back to bookbinding though. I will perhaps move on to being a lactation consultant. My skills have changed.

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quote:

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Originally posted by TomOfTarsus:

From the time I was young, I wanted to be a pilot.

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Same here. The problem was that in Germany at that time girls could not get airline scholarships. So I went to the US for my flight training. During that, I found that I much loved flying eights around a cactus (I trained in Arizona) and tinkering with the Cessna's engine, but the thought of an airline pilot's life (wearing a uniform, working to strict schedules) was not at all what I wanted to do. So, I kept flying little Cessnas over the desert as a hobby while switching to a degree in Business (big mistake!) and eventually returned to Europe. My business degree opened the doors of Hell (a.k.a. Corporate Life) for me, and I spent several miserable years working for airlines and manufacturers, travelling business class, pretending to be a cool executive and hating every second of it.

The thing that had been nagging at me for a long time was that I loved to read, loved to play with ideas, and I spent a lot of my spare time in University libraries (**nerd alarm**).

When I was about to turn 30, time came to be honest with myself. The firm I worked for in the UK had fired me because they said I had an "attitude" problem (i.e., I did not go to office parties & preferred to work alone) took my savings & severance package, went to live in Finland (I love empty places and was fed up with people, anyway) and did a PhD to become an Academic. Since then my life has been a happy one, because I get paid for shutting myself away with a stack of books and play with ideas. And I discovered another love: that of teaching. I never thought I'd enjoy it so much, but I do. That discovery was a late, but welcome, gift.

So no, I am not what I planned to be, but I possibly am becoming what I am meant to be.

[ 26. April 2013, 06:42: Message edited by: Desert Daughter ]
 

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Posted by Ad Orientem (# 17574) on :
 
As a little kid I wanted to be lots of things, all pie in the sky stuff, like an airline pilot, an astronaut etc. When I was a teenager I didn't know what I wanted to do and I hated school. Had you asked me then though if I would like to work in a warehouse for the rest if my working life I doubt I would have answered yes. So no, I'm not what I planned to be.
 

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Posted by Kater Murr (# 17479) on :
 
I never thought much about a profession that would suit me perfect. Maybe that was wrong and I should have... but I didn't. So I went around and did lots of things, some of them seemingly annoyed me to death, some places where I worked where quite okay and decent. From all of my jobs I took something with me, something I learned about people and so on. The thing I'm doing now seems quite okay for me. If it stays that way, it's still not my dream job, for the reason a dream job doesn't exist for me (<- Just looking for a place to get some money out of, which I'm going to use to buy me things I like and things I need, without getting to much in trouble). But my job now is decent and can be fun some time.

But since I was 12 or so I had this naive dream of becoming singer in what I imagined back then as a great rock band... And that's something I became in some way. Okay, it's not really a rock band, and we will probably not go down in musical history, but it's fun, we play small concerts in galleries and studios now and then, and that's something I love and so I'm really grateful for that opportunity.
 

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Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

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Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

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Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

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Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Does anybody on the Ship work at anything useful - plumber, electrician, mechanic...?

---

IT Systems Engineer

---

Ah, but can you fix a blocked loo?

Seriously, no-one on the Ship appears to be a tradesperson or businessperson.

---

Is that your definition of "useful"?

As it happens, I can fix a blocked bog (I fitted our entire bathroom suite, I've added radiators, fitted new valves, etc.) but I'm not sure being able to fix and implement the sort of computer systems that we all depend on now is any less "useful" than plumbing or wiring a ring main.

---

You are quite right, of course, and I imagine I would miss doctors and nurses "that we all depend on now", also.

I even believe that teaching kids history is also "useful" in giving them cultural literacy and some semblance of a sense of proportion.

And yes, we all have a few practical skills.

I too have dealt with a blocked loo, and I can change tap valves, fuses and tyres (as well as my socks, opinions and, sometimes, a fifty dollar note).

It still seems noteworthy, however, that the demographic which has emerged from this thread is heavy on doctors, nurses, clergy, engineers, IT specialists, librarians teachers, social workers, public servants and psychologists.

Nobody seems to have done an apprenticeship and followed a career in carpentry or bricklaying, and nobody seems to be a business executive, or even a small business proprietor, and nobody seems to be a shop assistant.

This would appear to suggest that the Ship's demographic, for better or worse, does not conform to that of most Western societies.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
No, but I'd be willing to bet it matches better the demographic of most Western churches.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
No, but I'd be willing to bet it matches better the demographic of most Western churches.

---

Very unlikely, I would have thought.

The Ship’s demographic is atypical - more like that of a fairly homogeneous middle-class church, or a church in a university town.

In my church of about 300 members we have one or more doctors, lawyers, engineers, meteorologists, dentists, vets, teachers, IT people, pilots, psychologists, social workers and nurses.

However we also have one or more business owners, accountants, shop-keepers, technicians, policemen, tradespeople, cleaners, gardeners, drivers, heavy equipment operators and pensioners.

Two of the most glaring omissions are no-one in the armed services, and no-one full-time in the arts (music, painting, writing).

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
No, but I'd be willing to bet it matches better the demographic of most Western churches.

---

Very unlikely, I would have thought.

The Ship’s demographic is atypical - more like that of a fairly homogeneous middle-class church, or a church in a university town.

In my church of about 300 members we have one or more doctors, lawyers, engineers, meteorologists, dentists, vets, teachers, IT people, pilots, psychologists, social workers and nurses.

However we also have one or more business owners, accountants, shop-keepers, technicians, policemen, tradespeople, cleaners, gardeners, drivers, heavy equipment operators and pensioners.

Two of the most glaring omissions are no-one in the armed services, and no-one full-time in the arts (music, painting, writing).

---

That's an interesting point, being in Cambridge my large church does have more than it's fair share of academics, medics and scientists. But we do have tradespeople, gardeners and shop workers, though less so. We have several people who work in the arts as well; photographers, dancers, musicians and a clothing designer, though that may be influenced by being a chari church (where it is acceptable to dance in the aisle or bring forward a word in song and which has a monthly gallery of art by a featured church member).
I don't think there are any ex-military, though there was at St Helen's, including the rector. Location makes a lot of difference, St Helens, being in the City of London and with a professed outreach to the city, had loads of lawyers and accountants and office workers in general.
Given the ship's profile and it's emphasis on debate I'm not at all surprised by the demographics.

[ 26. April 2013, 10:33: Message edited by: Heavenly Anarchist ]
 

---

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
I'm sure to most Shippies I still count as a foetus, but when I was small(er) I wanted to be an archaeologist, a German teacher (!), a translator and a pub owner.

I didn't anticipate being at university and failing at it and still being single at 24, no. I also wanted to be living in London (sorry Karl, I love the country but no thanks to living there) and owning my own home

On the other hand, I didn't anticipate the existence of Pointless so Current Me wins there.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jade Constable:
I also wanted to be living in London ... and owning my own home

[/QB]

---

The latter ambition is relegated to status because of the first.

There's not just London and Countryside in the UK you know.

Like - erm - Northampton.

[ 26. April 2013, 12:24: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
Northamptonshire is pretty rural though - a lot of Northampton is made up of villages shoved together so on the outskirts there are still lots of little villages as well as the smaller towns elsewhere in the county.

I'm from Coventry so used to non-London cities but Coventry is just so grey. I love Yorkshire though so actually I could live in Leeds quite happily.
 

---

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
(The most annoying place I have ever lived is Chichester - beautiful but so, so inconvenient and hideously expensive. Everyone wears Boden.)
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
The Where can be as unplanned as the What.

I was sure I didn't want to stay in Ireland. It wasn't just the being bombed and shot at, it was more that too much was known about you. Cohesive traditional social networks have their downside.

I might have been happy to stay in Wales, but there were limitations career wise if you didn't speak Welsh.

The London option came up - but that was just more City than I could cope with.

So Scotland it is. Edinburgh more by accident than design - but large enough to provide a range of employment, but not so large as to suffocate.
 

---

Posted by BessHiggs (# 15176) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Nobody seems to have done an apprenticeship and followed a career in carpentry or bricklaying, and nobody seems to be a business executive, or even a small business proprietor, and nobody seems to be a shop assistant.
[/QB]

---

When I was very little, I would play at restaurant, making up little menus and serving my parents breakfast etc. I so badly wanted to be a waitress. Then when I was eight or nine, I remember going out to dinner with my grandparents and having to wait at the bar for our table to be available. I fell in love. Flash forward 30+ years and I now own my own bar. Everything else I've done in my life - college, seminary, pre-school work, service industry, accounting and theatre production - prepared me quite nicely for what I do now.

So, I guess my answer is yes, I am doing what I dreamed of doing as a small child (although the 8 year old me did not begin to imagine what a bunch of drunken farmboys can do to a restroom on a Saturday night )
 

---

Posted by Evensong (# 14696) on :
 
Great to read everybody's stories.

I think my youngest memory was wanting to be an engineer (tho I don't think I had the faintest idea what one was). Then vet came up cos I loved animals so much.

My friends in the early teens thought I would be a comedienne.

Had no idea what I wanted to do after leaving school so did a biological sciences degree because I was rather good at Biology. Swapped all over the place during the first year and a half of my degree (law, accounting, politics) then stopped when I had children. Returned to Uni for a bit to do Human Resource management when my youngest was about 4 but he didn't like childcare and it wasn't particularly grabbing me.

Started studying theology at age 26 and am still studying theology and loving it.

Currently training for ordained ministry and high school teaching but still not sure what I want to be when I grow up.

I'm 38 tho....and stressing...... I should have this sorted by now.....
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
I wanted to stay in Creamtealand, which is what happened, not because of my own strength of will (as I grew older I'd have been prepared to travel) but because Mr. C. wouldn't live anywhere else. He's travelled and worked all over the world, but on Friday evenings he's almost always hopped back on the plane or the train to spend the weekend back in Pastyland. Consequently, he's hardly seen any of the places where he's worked, and I've seen more of them when taking a holiday to go out and visit him!
 

---

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 

quote:

---

posted by Jade Constable
(The most annoying place I have ever lived is Chichester - beautiful but so, so inconvenient and hideously expensive. Everyone wears Boden.

---

Don't know about the Boden, but lots of Lands End, Rodan and Quiksilver...

Know the place well. Appalling traffic - railway gates always down. A27 around 2 sides supposed to act as a ring-road but clogged with lorries. Don't go near the place when there's anything on at Goodwood - the place sets solid.

Inside the city they have this curious arrangement that allows buses through but nothing else so front of Army & Navy is a de facto bus station...

Festival Theatre had some good shows but expensive.

If in that area and want somewhere quaint or appealing you're better off heading to Arundel.
 

---

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Are you what you planned to be? NO

But then I know people who are and

At the moment I'm busy trying to turn myself into super-organised (!) parent of uni student children who really can get to grips with the Probate system and other horrors. Churchwise, I'm trying hard to be patient with people who think wearing a cope means a PP is off to Rome on the next bus

Useful skills I've gained in life: well, I can play a complete Widor or Vierne symphonie, do percussion for an orchestra, play the 'Cello (badly), tap dance and sing at the same time, Plumb-in a dishwasher, put together a fitted kitchen, do simple bricklaying, drive a forklift, make a Croque en bouche, sew a wedding dress, bake bread, kill plants with just one look, use a chainsaw, and make jolly fine sloe gin. But not all at the same time.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jade Constable:
I'm from Coventry so used to non-London cities but Coventry is just so grey. I love Yorkshire though so actually I could live in Leeds quite happily.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:


Nobody seems to have done an apprenticeship and followed a career in carpentry or bricklaying, and nobody seems to be a business executive, or even a small business proprietor, and nobody seems to be a shop assistant.
.

---

I have had a lot of jobs while being a church musician and between churches. For five years, I was a cashier at a hardware store. I also did construction clean up with my mom for a few years. (The stories I could tell you about construction workers.) I was a hot line cook at a restaurant at Disney World. And there was that short period of time that I cared for a quadriplegic young man. All to supplement my music habit!

Fairly useful jobs, all. But not my passion by any means.
 

---

Posted by geroff (# 3882) on :
 
Mainly yes.
I wanted to be an architect but you know school didn't quite work out right and then I went to work in a builders design office and by the time I was 20 I had worked out the architects didn't draw or design much but mainly did paperwork. And so here I am 30 years or so on, a senior technician in an architects office doing all the technical drawing (on a computer nowadays) and designing stuff most days and I get to talk about and see great architecture and stuff, so yeah I suppose its worked out OK.
 

---

Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :
 
I'm in business. Never expected to be. I didn't expect politicians to destroy the middle class dream in the 1980s either (the British destroyer just recently died).

Before that, I got three degrees, just expected to get one, but they gave me a scholarship and then I was awarded a 4 year fellowship so I got a third one.

During that, got married. Did expect to do that, and have kids. It is actually the most important thing, to be married and to be a parent. Education and work seemed important at the time, particularly when money was tight. But they are certainly not in the longer term.
 

---

Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Does anybody on the Ship work at anything useful - plumber, electrician, mechanic...?

---

IT Systems Engineer

---

Ah, but can you fix a blocked loo?

Seriously, no-one on the Ship appears to be a tradesperson or businessperson.

---

Is that your definition of "useful"?

As it happens, I can fix a blocked bog (I fitted our entire bathroom suite, I've added radiators, fitted new valves, etc.) but I'm not sure being able to fix and implement the sort of computer systems that we all depend on now is any less "useful" than plumbing or wiring a ring main.

---

You are quite right, of course, and I imagine I would miss doctors and nurses "that we all depend on now", also.

I even believe that teaching kids history is also "useful" in giving them cultural literacy and some semblance of a sense of proportion.

And yes, we all have a few practical skills.

I too have dealt with a blocked loo, and I can change tap valves, fuses and tyres (as well as my socks, opinions and, sometimes, a fifty dollar note).

It still seems noteworthy, however, that the demographic which has emerged from this thread is heavy on doctors, nurses, clergy, engineers, IT specialists, librarians teachers, social workers, public servants and psychologists.

Nobody seems to have done an apprenticeship and followed a career in carpentry or bricklaying, and nobody seems to be a business executive, or even a small business proprietor, and nobody seems to be a shop assistant.

This would appear to suggest that the Ship's demographic, for better or worse, does not conform to that of most Western societies.

---

• Christians (for all we say ITTWACW)
• people who enjoy intellectual engagement (well debate does seem to draw many people to this site)
• people who are fairly computer literate (we are happy to communicate through the internet)
• people who are better off (access to computers/internet costs money)

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
<tangent> Coventry is dire. </tangent>

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
No, but I'd be willing to bet it matches better the demographic of most Western churches.

---

Very unlikely, I would have thought.

The Ship’s demographic is atypical - more like that of a fairly homogeneous middle-class church, or a church in a university town.

In my church of about 300 members we have one or more doctors, lawyers, engineers, meteorologists, dentists, vets, teachers, IT people, pilots, psychologists, social workers and nurses.

However we also have one or more business owners, accountants, shop-keepers, technicians, policemen, tradespeople, cleaners, gardeners, drivers, heavy equipment operators and pensioners.

Two of the most glaring omissions are no-one in the armed services, and no-one full-time in the arts (music, painting, writing).

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by MSHB:
I liked learning, so perpetual student was a career I pursued for quite a while.

---

If I didn't have to earn money, I think perpetual studenthood would be my ideal.

Did you know the Queen of Denmark has five degrees?

My idol.
 

---

Posted by Scots lass (# 2699) on :
 
I wanted to be lots of things, but never anything enough to put all my efforts into it. When I got to careers advice in my last year of school the adviser basically said "oh, you're going to university, they have good careers advice there" and left me to it. I then spent 4 years still not knowing what I was going to do when I left, and the careers advice didn't help much. Several temp jobs later (including some I would happily have done permanently) and I found a career possibility, did a masters and became an archivist.

I love a lot about my job, but it's not one I would ever have thought about when I was little! From the sound of it, it's the kind of job a lot of people would love on this thread. You get to do bits of research, there's lots of history involved, there's a lot less of the crowd control you get in libraries and every so often you spend a whole day carrying boxes around. I'm actually kind of surprised I seem to be the only archivist on board!
 

---

Posted by Desert Daughter (# 13635) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evensong:
If I didn't have to earn money, I think perpetual studenthood would be my ideal.

Did you know the Queen of Denmark has five degrees?

My idol.

---

Same here. Oh, why can't they give me, say, 5000 Euros a month and just leave me alone with my books?
 

---

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evensong:

quote:

---

Originally posted by MSHB:
I liked learning, so perpetual student was a career I pursued for quite a while.

---

If I didn't have to earn money, I think perpetual studenthood would be my ideal.

Did you know the Queen of Denmark has five degrees?

My idol.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evensong:

quote:

---

Originally posted by MSHB:
I liked learning, so perpetual student was a career I pursued for quite a while.

---

If I didn't have to earn money, I think perpetual studenthood would be my ideal.

Did you know the Queen of Denmark has five degrees?

My idol.

---

I've been studying part time whilst working for most of the last 20 years, for 6 years I was working full time as a nurse whilst also studying for a degree. Now I have my ideal situation, as the OU pays me as an associate lecturer for a few hours work a week and lets me study with them for free the history degree I'm doing at the moment is purely a hobby and to feed my addiction to study.
 

---

Posted by Zacchaeus (# 14454) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by M.:
Although I am a lawyer, as I wanted to be for a long time (see post up thread), this was my own desire. The only careers advice we had at school was one session in the 5th form (age 16), and my session fell on the day there was a trip to see a play (can't remember which, Macbeth probably), so I was kept back, much to my chagrin. The careers adviser asked whether I had thought about a career and when I said 'lawyer', suggested social work.

It turned out she suggested social work to everyone.

However, it never occurred to me that I was supposed to take the careers advice seriously, (any more than it occurred to me that I was supposed to take sermons seriously), so no harm done. Except that I missed out on Macbeth.

M.

---

I had one session with a carears advisor when I was leaving uni. He suggested accountancy
I have an absolute inabilty to read a balance sheet.

It turned out he suggested accountancy to everybody.
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Desert Daughter:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evensong:
If I didn't have to earn money, I think perpetual studenthood would be my ideal.

Did you know the Queen of Denmark has five degrees?

My idol.

---

Same here. Oh, why can't they give me, say, 5000 Euros a month and just leave me alone with my books?

---

Many years ago there was a student at the University of Virginia who had an MD, a law degree, and several PhD's. He was working on still more PhD's.

Someone's will had left him an income which would cease as soon as he had completed his education. He resolved never to complete it.

Moo
 

---

Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :
 
Re: the general uselessness of careers advice.

I had one (mandatory) session at 16 at a time when I was hoping to become a Forensic Scientist. Having found some very basic info myself, her response was: interesting career choice, that info looks about right, I'm afraid I don't know anything else. Cheers for that, very helpful.

I ended up studying archaeological sciences (yes, another one) including some forensic archaeology, but the job opportunities are small to nothing, resulting in work in 2 completely unrelated fields. It may not have been part of the Grand Plan, but I wouldn't change any of my education/training for anything. Whatever jobs I may have in the future, I'll always know how to put a skeleton back together. You never know when odd knowledge will prove useful.
 

---

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by kingsfold:
Are you what you planned to be?

God, no. Not in the least.

First off, I wanted to be an archaeologist. I can't remember why or at what point this hit the buffers but... probably when I went to secondary school and history in the first couple of years or so was dull.

Anyhow, my next grand plan was to speak multiple languages and to either a) join the diplomatic service or b) join the UN as a translator.

[tangent]we do seem to have had a large number of nascent translators or archaeologists..[/tangent]

Anyhow, the whole languages thing sort of stalled during English Lit O-level and my frustration at having to say the same thing several times to make the point (say it, quote it, refer to text - what's the point? I said it first time), and languages at A level were to a large degree lit based... Also I got kind of interested in chemistry.

Even so, I then fondly imagined I would go into drug development and run a laboratory/drug discovery team (Well, after first thinking I'd be an analytical chemist: work experience in this field was somehow simultaneouly interesting and deadly repetitive). So I ended up working in radioactive chemistry for medical imaging, by way of industry, academia and now the NHS. Even with a chemistry degree, I didn't know such things existed...

Fortunately however, I seem to have wound up doing something that actually suits me very well and I can't quite imagine what I would do if I didn't do this. Whilst I still enjoy different languages and the challenge of the way they're put together etc, and would love to be able to speak several fluently, it's entirely fair to say (with the benefit of hindsight) that the life of a diplomat or a translator, forever on the move, would probably have been really bad for me.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by kingsfold:
Also I got kind of interested in chemistry.

I then fondly imagined I would go into drug development and run a laboratory I didn't know such things existed...

---

quote:

---

Whilst I still enjoy different languages and the challenge of the way they're put together etc, and would love to be able to speak several fluently

---

Learning a language is greatly overrated.

I did French at school, but when I finally got to France and spoke to people, I was disappointed to find that they just looked at me blankly.

Imagine that, a nation that can't even speak its own tongue!
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
Every time I see the thread title, I think of this song, and it's kind of sad. (See second verse.)

I have thought about this, and in light of a recent birthday I have decided my first answer wasn't entirely accurate.
The very first time I remember answering the question What do you want to be when you grow up?" (at age four, by my grandma) I answered "I want to be a funny lady, like Carol Burnett."

While I can't even claim anything near her accomplishments, I think I have turned out to be a pretty funny lady.

[ 28. April 2013, 04:32: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
 

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Posted by PeteC (# 10422) on :
 
I wanted to be a librarian.

Then I tried law school. Bombed - because I was bored.

Then I became a librarian. Never a boring minute for thirty years.

Now I am retired and I have finally found my niche.
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Careers Advice? Don't make me laugh.

"Which university were you thinking of - Oxford, Cambridge? Or there's London or Bristol - oh, and I think we've got someone at Durham at the moment.

Some of your year have mentioned Sussex and Birmingham, but I shouldn't think you'd want to go there!

Of course, we can give you information on the army and navy - and I think sometimes they can use a degree too."

At this point I mumbled something about music conservatoire.

"Really, well, that's different. I'm afraid I don't really know about that but I expect you can find someone in the music department who may be able to help, hm? Still, plenty of time left and we all change our ideas at your sort of age."

In the music department only the peripatetics, not either head or deputy head of department was of any use and then, not much.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
Learning a language is greatly overrated.

I did French at school, but when I finally got to France and spoke to people, I was disappointed to find that they just looked at me blankly.

Imagine that, a nation that can't even speak its own tongue!

---

quote:

---

posted by Kaplan Corday
I did French at school, but when I finally got to France and spoke to people, I was disappointed to find that they just looked at me blankly.

Imagine that, a nation that can't even speak its own tongue!

---

• Might it have been your accent? Don't know where you're posting from but here in the UK there is very little emphasis placed on the importance of speaking French with an accent approximating something the natives might have.
• Where in France you were might have some bearing on the matter; the denizens of Paris are notorious for refusing to budge over language and there are some in that fair city who will make no attempt to listen through a non-native accent. Alternatively, if you were in Brittany you may have encountered a Bretonne speaker and, if a nationalist, some are capable of refusing to speak French unless they absolutely must.

And for those who think my point about Brittany far-fetched, my late Papa LOVED the fact that he could speak Welsh there and be greeted with smiles whereas an MFL graduate in the party, speaking beautifully accented, faultless French would be answered with either a blank stare or in Bretonne.

Nid yw Celtic undod ydych yn gwybod! (Celtic solidarity, don't you know)
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
[tangent]

The Bretons like to believe their language is derived from Gaulish with a bit of south-west Brittonic thrown in.

It isn't, of course, it's pretty much middle Cornish with French influence*. I wonder if it being essentially a British language is why the French authorities have always hated it?

*And nothing like as close to Welsh as popular mythology has it. It's true that Breton onion sellers were understood in Wales decades ago, but that's because they'd taken the time to learn some Welsh.

[/tangent]
 

---

Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
If I may tangentially allude to the various cries of "my careers advice was pants!"...

Has anyone here managed to find any decent careers advice at any point?

I work for a large UK university, suffice to say that we've just won the Boat Race. It took me over a decade of working for it to be eligible for assistance from Careers, only to find that they rely on Prospects Planner - which is aimed at school leavers applying for degrees, and really has passed its usefulness once you've taken your 2nd year options (note - even Prospects own career advisor says this!). That's over 20 years ago for me, so it's a bit bloomin' late. They also have a tool called Windmills that gets so far and then says "OK, now you need to make a list." I've made lists till I'm blue in the face! Here on the staff side, I've yet to hear anyone say "Actually, careers were really useful".

I'd love to be able to sit down with someone and really work through possibilities, but I'm well on the way to deciding that it's a pipe dream, and the reason that most careers advice is so pants is that actually it's (nearly?) impossible to sensibly give.

AG
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Careers advice at Grammar School consisted of: Choose the best university available for your favourite A-level subject.

You don't want to go to university? Sorry that does not compute....
 

---

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :
 
Careers, in good schools, became a separate department and separate subject in the late 1970s - I remember having to spend at least 30 minutes per pupil on a 'JIG CAL' print out after several aptitude tests - before the government cut it.
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
When I was in eleventh grade, I made an appointment with the guidance counselor. He actively tried to discourage me from going to college, and to concentrate on homemaking, instead. (I graduated in the top twenty of my class, so not entirely useless in studies.) When I insisted on a college education, and asked for help with scholarships, he wrote the name of a book and told me to borrow it from the school library and just choose a potential grant or scholarship from that. The three inch thick book (which I did study) was full of information overload, and full of things that did not apply to me at all.

My brother made the same appointment with the guidance counselor the following year. Even though he was far lower in his class than I was in mine, the counselor found him several potential scholarships and had many recommendations for the universities and colleges in our state.

Thank goodness that era has mostly come to an end.
 

---

Posted by Kaplan Corday (# 16119) on :
 
Napoleon used to say, “On s’engage, et puis on voit” – you commit yourself and then see how things work out.

I committed myself to a rather ponderous and, I would have thought, obvious joke (ie my schoolboy French, spoken with an Australian accent, was impossible for French people to understand, leading me to conclude that the French couldn’t speak their own language) but came to see from the responses of KLB and L’organist that I should have signalled it with an emoticon.

Quel shemozzle!

Seriously (Note: no smirky emoticon), though I didn’t like French and was not good at it, in retrospect it was one of the most valuable subjects that I ever studied, for cultural, intellectual and practical reasons.

The people to whom I spoke in France were actually gratifyingly patient, and met me half-way.

Even when we worked in India I was once able (to the amazement of my children) to help some French-speaking tourists, and when we holidayed in Pondicherry and were looking for accommodation, I was able to explain to my wife that the imposing building carrying the sign Hotel de Ville was not in fact a hotel.
 

---

Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sandemaniac:
Has anyone here managed to find any decent careers advice at any point?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:

Quel shemozzle!

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( a fine Yiddish word meaning "hullabaloo", which is a fine English word, so you should know it.)

Judy, My grandma got the same counselor you did. My stupid counselor told me not to take the SATs because I planned to go to community college before university. Idiot.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Sandemaniac:
Has anyone here managed to find any decent careers advice at any point?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Two-Owls:
I wanted to be a blacksmith but unfortunately the school I went to reserved metalwork for the violent or stupid. Being good at maths I was only allowed to choose computer programmer as a career choice. Even more unfortunately I am good at maths but really terrible at programming (I also loathe technology) so now I do bookkeeping work for minimum wage.

Maybe if I had punched a few teachers or failed my exams I might have been what I wanted.

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quote:

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Has anyone here managed to find any decent careers advice at any point?

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My school careers advice was that I shouldn't go to University.

We had three people with different careers come to talk to us for three consecutive weeks - a theatre director, a missionary on furlough and a newspaper editor. Plus there was a rack of leaflets in the school library. And then we each had a career interview, at which I was told that University probably wasn't for me. Apparently I have a very low IQ.
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
Wanted to be a solicitor since I was about 14. How boring is that?

Actually, there were a couple of potential deviations from The Plan™: the first when I was about 20 and wanted to be a missionary for about 5 minutes and then a little later in the Goth phase from which my avatar dates when I was in a Goth band and wanted to make a career out of that, which lasted until we failed to get a record deal
 

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Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Matt Black:
Wanted to be a solicitor since I was about 14. How boring is that?

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Stop it; you're freaking me out!
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 

 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
I wanted to have a career like Joey Bettany in the Chalet School Books; combining writing historical novels with having numerous children, and a housekeeper to do all the boring stuff, leaving me to spend my days writing, doing the non-messy aspects of raising a dozen adoring children, plus a spot of gardening and flower arranging.

I also fancied running my own museum.

The first practical plan was to be a librarian, but a summer holiday job in the Council Library Department aged 16 put me off that. (Though it was an excellent job - I was put in the room of secret books - books which were part of the library, but uncatalogued, on the basis that if no-one knew they were there, no-one could borrow them.)

Having been told that a history degree would be a quick route to a career as a bus driver, I opted for law. I knew throughout the degree that I was far more interested in history than law, but persisted, got the degree, did the training, became a solicitor; all of which convinced me that I really wanted to study history. So I started my history degree through the OU whilst working full time as a solicitor, then chucked the legal career when my son came along and combined finishing the history degree with being at home with the babies. I'm currently writing up my history PhD.

My 18 year old self would be beyond delighted to think I'd one day do a history PhD, but horrified that I would be in my late 40s by the time I did it.
 

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Posted by Gextvedde (# 11084) on :
 
Until they find a way to make radioactive spiders that bite teenagers transforming them into superheroes my first choice is out.

I was convinced that my band was going to make it. Unfortunately other people have to like 13/8 time signatures in order to like our music so that career disapeared.

Comic book artist? I liked drawing and am not bad at it but was too undisciplined to put the hours in.

So that's it. I'm a failure
 

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Posted by Surfing Madness (# 11087) on :
 
NEQ, glad i'm not the only one told I wasn't clever enough to go to uni (or in my case to do A-levels) and have since proved people wrong.
When I was growing up I didn't really know what I wanted to be other than not a nurse, which is what my mum really really wanted me to do!
 

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Posted by Caissa (# 16710) on :
 
I planned on being a teacher; I have spent the last 19 years working in university student services departments.
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Incidentally am I the only person here who gets a burning desire any time that someone says "Why don't you go into teaching/admin/sales? (or combination the worst possible options thereof) to kick them so hard up the arse that their teeth splinter?

AG
(dunno about the thread, but I seem to be getting increasingly hellish - need a cuppa, methinks)
 

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Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by North East Quine:
So I started my history degree through the OU whilst working full time as a solicitor, then chucked the legal career when my son came along and combined finishing the history degree with being at home with the babies. I'm currently writing up my history PhD.

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I'm in my last year of the OU history degree, doing Total War at the moment (and writing an essay today).
 

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Posted by ChaliceGirl (# 13656) on :
 
I wanted to work in a medical research lab. I am now a clinical research coordinator, so I am still in medical research, but in a different way.

I thought I'd have a higher degree and more money, but it didn't work out that way.

As different times, I wanted to be a writer and graphic artist. I actually do these things but as a hobby.
 

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Posted by Matt Black (# 2210) on :
 
Medical research lab? Researcher or subject?

[ 30. April 2013, 14:11: Message edited by: Matt Black ]
 

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Posted by ChaliceGirl (# 13656) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Matt Black:
Medical research lab? Researcher or subject?

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Researcher. You know, slides, petri dishes, test tubes...I love all that stuff!

And just a note: I have never tested on animals, so to all animal rights people: no hate mail please!
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by ChaliceGirl:

quote:

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Originally posted by Matt Black:
Medical research lab? Researcher or subject?

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Researcher. You know, slides, petri dishes, test tubes...I love all that stuff!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Sandemaniac:

quote:

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Originally posted by ChaliceGirl:

quote:

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Originally posted by Matt Black:
Medical research lab? Researcher or subject?

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Researcher. You know, slides, petri dishes, test tubes...I love all that stuff!

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I used to, but years of just exploring one more pathway for one more paper have left me pretty jaded, and I can't find my way into something closer to an application. Any bright ideas?

AG

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• in elementary school, wanted to be a librarian
• in first three years of high school, definitely wanted to be a micro-biologist, which was totally unrealistic, as our school had a very weak science division
• started organ lessons in 11th grade and by the next year was going full tilt towards college level training in church music
• thanks to a dept chair who was just as trying as he could be, I dropped the program in my senior year, and started work as a church secretary
• went back for a second try at music (at another institution) which didn't work out
• tested high on the Computer Aptitude Test, was hired as a programmer, and worked in that field nearly 30 years, of which I enjoyed maybe the first 10
• was recommended to a vocational testing service, which after many, many tests and interviews, said that I should be either a librarian (see above) or a hair-dresser, and should never have anything to do with computers!
• started free-lance performing arts reviewing (great fun!) and some creative writing
• worked for 10 years as a church administrator and part-time organist-choirmaster (life can be elliptical)
• worked briefly as a full-time church musician (see above)
• am now happily retired, though still doing some church music and some writing

quote:

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Originally posted by leo:
Careers, in good schools, became a separate department and separate subject in the late 1970s - I remember having to spend at least 30 minutes per pupil on a 'JIG CAL' print out after several aptitude tests - before the government cut it.

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And by the 80s my school had 1 teacher who also taught woodwork/metalwork/electronics providing career advice. He gave me good advice for what I wanted to do at the time, and an interesting work placement for my work experience week (in the Bod bookstacks ).

The majority of my friends reckoned the JIG CAL stuff was rigged, as we all got teacher at the top of our recommended careers, and at the time none of us wanted to do that! (Far as I know none of us have gone into teaching either).

I'm now in an admin job which can get a bit too interesting at times due to what we admin for. Maybe I'll have a look and see what I'd need to do to become a librarian...
 

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Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Celtic Knotweed:
Maybe I'll have a look and see what I'd need to do to become a librarian...

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quote:

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Originally posted by Sandemaniac:
Is anyone hiring anyone at the moment?

AG

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Good Point.

(Though re: library staff. IME non-hiring of qualified staff has lasted at least a decade so far and counting).

[ 02. May 2013, 19:51: Message edited by: ArachnidinElmet ]
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Sandemaniac:
Is anyone hiring anyone at the moment?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Sandemaniac:
Is anyone hiring anyone at the moment?

AG

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quote:

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Originally posted by Celtic Knotweed:

quote:

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Originally posted by leo:
Careers, in good schools, became a separate department and separate subject in the late 1970s - I remember having to spend at least 30 minutes per pupil on a 'JIG CAL' print out after several aptitude tests - before the government cut it.

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The majority of my friends reckoned the JIG CAL stuff was rigged, as we all got teacher at the top of our recommended careers, and at the time none of us wanted to do that! (Far as I know none of us have gone into teaching either).

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quote:

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Chorister: When I was at college training to be a teacher, BBC computers started arriving in schools. So, in the very last week of our training, we were shown a computer and invited to have a try. I, like several others, were very reluctant to even touch it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that, 20+ years later, I would be a Host on an Internet Bulletin Board!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chorister:
When I was at college training to be a teacher, BBC computers started arriving in schools. So, in the very last week of our training, we were shown a computer and invited to have a try. I, like several others, were very reluctant to even touch it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that, 20+ years later, I would be a Host on an Internet Bulletin Board!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
At the risk of making you feel old, the BBC is more like 30 years.

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Shhhhhh!
 

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Posted by ExclamationMark (# 14715) on :
 
A vet specialising in treating cats.

It never happened: teachers said I couldn't get the grades and I realised that I'd never be able to put any cat down without being unbearably upset.

In the event I did get the grades (and higher than needed for study in Veterinary Science) but worked as a labourer when I left school (as I had do part time before that to fund study). A scholarship (in geography) to Cambridge then followed - then a week's trial as a PhD student: I didn't find any connection wiuth studying German population movements.

15 years in a Building Society followed, finally running a Division within said organisation. Self employed for 2 years as a Business Consultant in the City before going to theogical college. 13 years in ministry, 11 in one church, 2 in current.

Can't believe things turned out as they did -- along the way came Mrs M and 3 markettes -- girls but hardly girly. 2 Nurses and a medical researcher among them. Now all married and 2 grandchildren.

Still like cats and still have one ....
 

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Posted by Emily Windsor-Cragg (# 17687) on :
 
Hello. I'm new, and this is the first thread that caught me eye.

I was a foster kid, and adopted, and my new family belonged to a very difficult culture from my bio family, who're all Brits (with one Cherokee great-grandmother in the mix).

So, I grew up with absolutely no idea coming from my family en situ; they had no interest in education. I grew up in a wholesale dry cleaners, and in school besides academic subjects I took tailoring.

But I spent after-school from age 9-11 at the local Library reading the biographies of the Tudors and the Stuarts.

I married (and divorced) three Anglo men (that my mother liked). They were the safe and conventional sort that she approved of. I found them ultimately very narrow.

I never did grow up; I've done all sorts of different kinds of work, publishing, editing, business machine repair, nine years of college. I have a dozen books listed at Amazon.com.

what am I going to be when I grow up? Uhm, let's see. Either I'll never grow up at all, just be retired and do research that interests me (and I did put in 45 years of paid labor and contributed to Social Security), or maybe I'll just take up art again after a long time away from it.

I'm enjoying studying solar astronomy right now, and discovering surprising new facts... I never heard spoken til now.

Grow up? All my children did that, and they went on and had kids of their own, a few of whom also grew up. But growing up sounds so terminal.

:giggle: I'm going to stay a kid as long as I can.

I thought my name is Pinocchia around here. Oh well; I must have placed the wrong name on the wrong line.

Nice to have a chance to chat with you Friends.

Emily
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
Welcome to the Ship and happy sailing!

There's a thread at the top of All Saints; you might like to say hello there.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Hello Emily, and welcome to the boards! Take some time to look around and familiarise yourself with the rules for each board, as customs can differ depending on which board you're on.

As North East Quine has said, there's also a general introduction thread on the All Saints board, so I'll copy your post over there and people will be happy to chat with you there.

Happy sailing!

Ariel
Heaven Host
 

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Posted by Emily Windsor-Cragg (# 17687) on :
 
Wow! Copy a thread over?

Never heard of that before.

Okay. I can do that, okay.

Thanks.
 

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Posted by wishandaprayer (# 17673) on :
 
What an interesting topic. And it's nice to see that most, like me, have no idea where they will end up as a younger person. I remember at around 16 declaring that I would "never, ever work in an office, 9-5". Guess what, I work 9-5 (albeit from home now) but in the earlier days, an office.

I was convinced that I was "called" to work in a church setting full time, and did it from the age of 18-19 as an internship. I applied for Bible college (because that's what you do), and got rejected. The best thing that happened to me, I think!

I somehow landed in IT, and have been there ever since, steadily progressing up in the corporate world that I regarded with some disdain. I like to think along the way I've become a more tolerant and generous person; but that varies day-to-day, person-to-person.
 

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Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :
 
I certainly never imagined my life would be this: An overweight, chronically ill woman. I had plans, baby, plans! I was going to be a graphic artist. Or a mechanical drafter. Or a multimedia designer. Or a 3D Level Designer for video games. Or a proofreader.

Sadly, I am not employed and may never be again. I live on a measly pittance from the government and take care of my two wives, whom I love. They too are disabled and are definitely not what they planned to be... sigh.
 

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Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
Sistah!

Similar, too similar.
 

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Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Lyda*Rose:
Sistah!

Similar, too similar.

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