What would be your ultimate career choice?
I'm very lucky in that I get to do my favorite job. I love being a consultant! I travel, talk to everyone and I get to be the expert in the room!However, at some point I'm going to slow down and want to retire. When I do that I want to be a blackjack dealer in a casino. In my future fantasy, Las Vegas isn't going to dry up due to lack of water, so I'll have a cute apartment with my husband and friends. I'll work part-time and get all dressed up in my uniform, with a funky manicure and a beehive hairdo. I'll deal blackjack in the day, and it will be smoke-free (because it's my dream). It'll be a locals place so it will be like my friends are stopping by to play cards, and I'll deal, and give people shit and it'll be great fun.If I win the lottery, I'll start a charitable foundation and hire all of my friends and relatives to work for it. We will give grants to charities.I will have a compound of little houses for us to all live in, with a large building in the center for watching TV, making communal meals and general socializing.Not that I've given it much thought or anything.
INFP. Is this the right major/career choice for me?
I am pursuing a degree in Food Industry Marketing and Administration with the hopes of owning a bakery. It seems interesting, but I find myself second guessing it a lot. I have an INFP personality type and spend a lot of time wondering if I'm making the right decisions regarding my career. If you are a INFP, what is/was your major in college and what is your career? Are you satisfied with that choice? Do you think I will be satisfied with my choice? ( I have already changed from being a chemistry major/premed to the FIMA major and no longer premed.)
What should my career/major choice be?
Before you can answer that question, you need to know why? Why go to college? Why work? What's this life all about? Only you can answer these questions, and your answers will have a serious impact on all the decisions you make. At best, you probably only have a vague idea about these answers, but keep them in mind.I chose Business and IT. My goals were to try to make myself as marketable as possible. I don't want to struggle for money, so I was going to work smart and hard. I'll shovel shit with a smile on my face while I make friends, do great work, and keep an eye on the strategic landscape to position myself for success. It's all a game to me. But work life balance is also important. Balancing everything can be a challenge, but it's made easy if you are in tune with your own values.Live 1000 lives. I've imagined myself in the shoes of different people and different roles. It's a worthwhile exercise, but it can be taken one step further. When I'm seriously contemplating a life decision, ask someone who has already done it! Seriously. If you think you want to be a lawyer, find existing students. Ask them what their studies are like. Ask them if they like or dislike it. Ask them about their prospects. Find a lawyer. Ask them about their job. Ask them if they like it or dislike it. All of these activities are free, and it will likely lead you to a new perspective, which is invaluable. If you're anything like me, you won't get very far before lawyer gets crossed off the list, but don't get discouraged if you do - that's progress! Being a lawyer is not for me.Do this again for a teacher and various IT professionals and musicians. Find as many role models as you can, and ask yourself what they do that is worth modeling and what you will avoid.On the flip side, whichever choice you make, isn't forever. You can always pivot, go back to school, change jobs, etc.Whichever path you chose, just remember to have fun!
Would you help me with my career choice?
First, let's strike film studies for financial reasons. By all means, take a few film electives, join whatever film-oriented clubs that catch your fancy, etc. But unless you're independently wealthy, don't consider majoring in film.As a math major, perhaps I'm slightly biased to say that you might also consider striking majoring in pure math. To be sure, a math degree makes you several orders of magnitude more employable than a film degree. But it's possible to get lured into all kinds of very rewarding, intellectually stimulating pie in the sky topics as a math major, without developing any real skill to show for it. Don't get me wrong, you will be able to convince everyone you're smart. But there are few people who make the jump from "this candidate is very smart and has expertise in a bunch of tough stuff that's irrelevant to the problems he'll be be working on" to "hire that kid!"So, if you do major in math, at least keep an eye on the job situation. Take a few scientific computing courses. Take a few applied math courses. Don't just gorge on a steady diet of abstract nonsense (like I did). It's very rewarding to do so (and I don't regret doing so), but it puts you at a disadvantage for many jobs that don't have the phrase "professor of mathematics" in their title.With respect to the other options, I just recommend being flexible. Just prior to college I was certain I'd be a chemistry major. Then I spent some quality time with an organic chemistry book, and decided to double major in math/physics. After about two years I dropped physics. (Then after a master's degree in math, I took a sharp turn and went to law school. I was terrified. But that's another story.)The point is, at some moment you might suddenly not be as in love with a topic as when you started it. It might be a terrifying prospect to abandon one course of study in favor of another. But, I'd advise that doing so is better than the alternative: living in a subject area that you are no longer interested in, just for the sake of staying on some more-or-less arbitrary trajectory.
Career Choice... Corporation?
Large corporations have all kinds of jobs, and room for almost every discipline. Perhaps more important than the major you chose are 1) some business experience when you graduate (through internships), and 2) a good GPA. A record of extracurriculars and accomplishments will also help. My suggestion: choose a major that you find interesting. You'll do better and learn more, and it will set the stage for the type of job where you will also bring more enthusiasm and motication to work every day. By the way, I can't agree with the previos posting -- IT and accounting both include their share of challenges that the right people find endlessly stimulating and creative. Good luck!
Is majoring in biology a good safe career choice?
Not really, unless you plan to apply to a professional school (Medicine, Dentistry), teach (which typically requires a PhD), or work in a lab or research department (which typically requires a Master's at minimum). You should be able to get a lab assistant position (i.e. teaching first year and second year bio labs) with a BSc. A BSc in bio is typically 4 years, but some schools (at least in Canada) offer a 3 year degree (NOT diploma). For example, the University of Winnipeg. You can also take classes over the summer, which may shorten your time to graduation. As far as I know, there is no such thing as a "B.A. in bio". Biology is a science discipline. You might be able to do a B.A. with a bio minor in some schools, however, although I have never heard of this where I live. Yes, it can be challenging, but if you have a strong background in math, chemistry, and biology in high school, you should be fine. Be sure to keep on top of your labs and classes, and ask questions when you don't understand. If you leave it to later, you will fall behind. Once you have a strong understanding of the basics, you will find that your courses often are all linked. So studying for one exam often helps you learn material in others. Many people find biochem a tough class, but others find it not too bad. If you have a good memory, can link concepts, and really understand what you are learning, you will do very well in your program. Most programs require that you take a pure math course (not Stats, that's not enough to meet the requirement) and other electives, such as computer science and physics. Contact your school and ask to speak to a counsellor. They can help you assess your abilities and career goals. Anything is doable if you have basic ability and put your mind to it, but you don't want to take a program that discourages you either. Biology is a broad field, you may also find that you prefer one area over another (I.e. Botany over Cell Biology or Human Anatomy and Physiology). Bio is a GREAT field, but unfortunately, it does NOT offer job security, unlike a nursing or pharmacy degree.
How should I decide on my career choice?
Don't neglect doing some research. Take some time to talk to people who do things you think ressemble you. Find a way to get involved in activities that you might enjoy. You should have a basic grasp of your field of activity by now. Something to build upon. If education is leading you astray, get some hands on experience around something you may care about. Don't be afraid to go back to school afterwards. Some of us have this weird conception of schooling as a pre-requisite for working, while it's really a toolbox we should allow ourselves to reach for when we need to develop new resources.I can't speak as someone who understand your own specific situation in India. I speak as someone from a country were education is somewhat accessible and therefore expected, but not that much deserving of respect, however.
Should I listen to my parents in my career choice?
Biggest mistake I made in my academic life was listening to my well-intentioned dad.When it came to physics I was EASILY the Mac Daddy in my school year.But in maths, there were 3 of us that were about equal - myself and two Chinese guys. These Chinese guys work so bloody hard, but I think I had the better CPU! There was a Scottish guy that would have kicked all our arses if he tried but he was a lazy bum, fortunately.So I wanted to apply for Physics at Oxford. My dad’s response to that was “Son, don’t come running to me when you can’t get a job with your degree in physics”. Not quite a direct order, but I took it as that, so I decided to apply for Mathematics at Oxford.I got rejected.Ended up taking a year out, re-applying for Physics this time, for which I got in. 3 years later I got a job as an investment banker - an Oxford Physics degree was as good as any to get into banking or finance.My best friend at school also had a similar problem - he did relatively mediocre in his A-levels because his Asian dad told him he had to become an engineer, which is highly respected in Asian countries but not really in the UK, so he did an A-level in physics.After struggling with physics, he later decided to ignore his dad’s advice and went for a law degree. 3 years later he got a 1st class degree from the LSE, and a year later a distinction in his Masters from Cambridge. He now has an incredible career as a lawyer.The lesson of the day is don’t just listen to your parents. Aged 5 it makes sense. Aged 17 it’s not that clear-cut.
What should I do when I think I have made a wrong career choice in life?
You have made a wrong decision. Live with it.I assume you are one of those few people who joined CS / IT in hope for a good job at the end of the four years. Many do that and succeed even though they have no interest in computer science. You will be surprised to know the number of people making a good living out of IT industry even though they didn't want to become software engineers.I always wanted to be a particle physicist when I was a kid. However, in my high school several factor (but no force from parents) encouraged me to take up CS / IT. One of the biggest reason was the probability of nice-paying job.But unlike your case, I actually liked coding a lot. Mostly because it was math. I had early exposure to coding than most of my peers. I had access to my personal desktop computer when I was in 8th standard. I used to play around and got very curious about how things work.And as User pointed out, you should learn to live with the choices you make. In the long run no choice is wrong, because this choice is going to teach you how to make good choices in future. Always trust your intuition. They some how know what you want.You can quit your branch and do something you really like. But do it only when you know that you will really love doing what you will do. Big Risk is a pre-requisite for success. So if people call you a fool because of dropping your undergrad degree, then keep quite and bear it. Success is the best revenge.Also specific to you branch and institute - I can assure you that many in your batch do not understand even the first slide. There is no professor who can make the subject interesting and appealing to students. Half of those subjects is not about programming at all. So let me assure you life of a software developer is not as bad as these courses led you to believe. Coders often encounter interesting problems and solve it with basic common sense :)Regarding competitive programming - you aren't trying hard enough. You do not want it badly. You should keep trying. It's all about practice and hard work.