Are you in the industry you wanted to be in in high school?

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So sitting on the train I listened to a 18 year old girl have a crisis because she doesn't know what to do with her life and she feels like she is wasting her time in uni.

Led me to think about what I wanted to be at 18 and how I am no where near that now. At 18 I wanted to be a journo but I mucked around in year 12 and didn't take it seriously so I didn't get a good enter score. So I never went to uni and I am grateful for that because I absolutely love my job in Emergency services.

So what about you, are you in the job you always wanted to be in since high school? Do you love it/hate it or are you on a different path now?
 
I really didn't know what I wanted to do when I was in high school. I loved English at school and played the piano so did a English/Music double major without any real idea of what I wanted to do with it. The last year of uni they had a careers expo and there were some people advertising teaching English overseas. Really interested me and went overseas doing that.
 
I really should not have done IT. In fact my final year was an Economics minor. I probably shouldn't have done that either :)

A lot of what I did in the late 90's through running BigFooty was helped by knowing my way around computers but I had little patience for scratching myself on badly made computer cases, and I completely ignored this brand new thing called "the world wide web".
 
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I didnt have a clue as to what I was going to do leaving secondary school. I finished secondary school one week started in the bank the following week, was in a hold up and left 1 year later. Got into teaching and have enjoyed it, mostly. I enjoy teaching kids and parents were great to me, hated dealing with nutcase teachers. That has taken away a lot of my enjoyment of teaching.

To the people who are struggling finding work or a job that they like- I hope you stay positive, I know its easy for me to say that. I have had many ups and downs in my life. Continue to improve yourself, do courses, stay in contact with people and most importantly keep a positive mind. Working is the best medicine.
 
Coasted through high school, got a meh ENTER or whatever it was back then, did some industry certs then accidentally got the job I wanted in IT while working as a shade sail cutter.

Cager Macleod said:
I absolutely love my job in Emergency services.
Click to expand...
Your work is important and it's appreciated.

giphy.gif
 
I'd assume a large number of people end up in a different line of work compared to what they wanted in year 12. The kids dropping out in year 10 or 11 to pursue a trade would by and large stick with that trade.

Looking back, so much pressure is placed on getting a good ENTER/ATAR score. The reality though is that there are countless backdoors into uni courses that otherwise required a high entry score.
 
Despite graduating uni a few years back, I’m still in the factory but am fairly contented with it especially given it pays more than those shitty level entry jobs.

Most graduates won’t find something well paid which reflects my decision to stay in printing. Who knows I may become manager one day but for now I’m just cruising along on $30 plus time and a half for OT while living with parents and saving shitloads.

I feel I’m on a good wicket so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
 
I ended up in the service industries when I wanted to be in computer programming, designing products...

The problem I have is, too introverted to progress in workplaces, end up struggling with the gossipy, hierarchal/cultural nature of work. I mean it's far more complex than just having that simple dream of "i want to do this" when i grow up, even in graduation years, it all sounds great, but in reality, it's hard, and unless you are in an environment that you CAN and feel that you can progress and function well in, then you can get stuck in jobs and industries you never intended to. Even though you can learn a lot from those jobs in terms of quality standards and other aspects.

Life is far easier for those who just have a natural ego, have healthy self-esteem to progress and just take it all for granted as if it's nothing.
 
High School I pissed around with and didn't get into what I wanted at the time (Physical Sciences namely Geoscience) after completing year 12. It really interested me so after a few years of moping about working in some shitty factory job I got off my arse and went to TAFE and got a Diploma which I used to enter uni. Studied Geoscience, mining downturn occurred, continued with uni in Environmental Engineering field. Graduated into a super competitive job market and couldn't break into any entry level roles with my geology major. ****ed around running a business in the solar panel consultancy field + volunteering for an environmental education centre about 40 minutes drive from where I lived. While all this s**t was happening I started applying for absolutely everything in the resource industry + graduate Government jobs. Got invited into into a lot of assessment centres, got about 10 job offers... reduced the list down to five. Four were in locations in outback QLD (2 X Gov, 2 X Mining) and the other in an extremely competitive Fed Gov job in ACT. Career development + support networks in Fed Grad job is second to none from what I've ben told so took that job. Pay is pretty good but the work/life balance is amazing.

TL/DR Wanted resource industry $'s, ended up in Fed Gov role instead and regret absolutely nothing. It's been amazing. Never thought I'd be a public servant when I was 18.
 

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Mr Cashie said:
Despite graduating uni a few years back, I’m still in the factory but am fairly contented with it especially given it pays more than those shitty level entry jobs.

Most graduates won’t find something well paid which reflects my decision to stay in printing. Who knows I may become manager one day but for now I’m just cruising along on $30 plus time and a half for OT while living with parents and saving shitloads.

I feel I’m on a good wicket so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Click to expand...
seems very short sighted tbh. i was on less when i was at uni and living at home and it was fine but it won't be enough when you get older and/or move out or have dependents.
 
I didn't have a clue on what I wanted to do. Thought about being a youth worker. Looked at the pay rate and went "Nup". Wanted to become a police officer, but in WA you had to have your Bronze Medallion. I couldn't swim the required distance so that was out. Took 2 years out of High school and worked a Woolworths as I didn't get a good TEE result.

Ended up in teaching which is not a bad thing.
 
Nope. A bad choice out of school and am not in the area I thought I would be.

BUT: I do like my job (minus the *******s and politics) and even if I went straight to Uni and did X or Y degree there are no guarantees I would have got a job anyway.

You're first instinct thou tends to be the most correct. Personally I'm not built to work for others. Really wish I could work by myself or had a business that had of taken off.
 
Wanted to go in to IT/engineering but after a few months of uni took what was only to be a year off, went back packing and ended up in mining & landing a trade apprenticeship. The industry has changed so much over the past decade, the unions have little power now days & pay and conditions have dropped dramatically and most jobs are labor hire! My job is boring but can’t complain it’s easy, next to zero stress and low work load! can pick and choose rosters, not worried about being made redundant as it’s easy to find work, pays well, always earnt over a triple figures for the year, had the opportunity to work in PNG & Africa,
tried a few stints offshore on the rigs but not quite as cracked up to be, hot bedding & zero tolerance for alcohol whilst on the rig & can’t stand fishing or cold weather

My ex partner was a doctor (radiologist) not to boast, but I always earnt more $ than her whilst working less hrs over a month with far less stress!

Supporting her and seeing her go through all the stress of exams, tears & lack of a social life! Some days she would come home in tears from being abused at work by patients! Really opened my eyes of life as a doctor & dealing with the general public
 
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Yes, different job than what I initially thought I would do but wanted to be a health professional realistically throughout school.

Really wanted to be a police officer, but I knew even then about the reasonably high rate of turnover and the need to get some other skills or knowledge because of it. I wasn't really suited to it anyway.
 
I wanted to be a cop.

I ended up working in mental health palliative care disability care aged care ect.

So many people in mental wrongly treated with medication and just made sicker.

When in mental health , The amount of people who were suicidal on Zoloft and efexor ect and then told they had biplor and given more dangerous drugs. It wasnt funny.
 
Im 38.
Never knee what I wanted to do in High School.
Still dont know what I want to do now.
Worked at my current job for 12 years.
Make a decent but not crazy living.
Love it but not what I thought Id be doing.
Can't be bothered starting somewhere new now.
Some people just dont know their dream job.
Not that theres anything wrong with that.

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Also in like year 10 or something I felt like I was forced to pick subjects for following year(s) because I remember hearing something along the lines of "what subjects do you need to get into your preffered uni course " and thinking i dont know what course/do i even want to go to uni.

Uni isn't the be all end all... i never went and own my own place now and am ok (sort of i guess... people way worse off)

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Finished high school and starting an Engineering degree. Did it for 2 years and then dropped out because it wasn't for me.
Worked full time for a year before going back to uni this time to do a science degree. Enrolled and applied when I was pretty stoned and instead of getting accepted into a Physics based Science degree I got into a Biomedical Science degree. I figured I might as well give it a go and then 12 months late I was out of uni again.
Then I worked for a couple of years and decided I was going back to uni to finish something this time. Tossed up between finishing my Engineering degree or doing an Accounting degree. Did the accounting degree and have been in the field for 10 odd years now.
Pretty amazing considering during high school I never did Accounting or any business subjects. I don't mind my field, the one good thing is that it allows you to swap industries and experience different workplaces. Just wished I had realized that I didn't have to do an extra 3-4 years after uni studying to get CPA/CA accreditation as well.
If I had my time again I probably would do a commerce/finance degree as opposed to an Accounting/Finance degree
 
Interesting question.

No never have been. After I finished school, my household needed the extra income. So went and worked at a factory, when I was made redundant I went into hospitality for 10 years. Have done stints doing security, other labouring jobs. For the past 8 years have been doing stores/warehousing. I don’t enjoy what I currently do, as it is repetitive , no challenge required besides showing up.

With all of my jobs, the only time, I have truly gotten job satisfaction is training people. I get huge satisfaction, in seeing others progress. With most of the jobs I have had, I honestly feel that I work against my strengths, in order to remain employed. So understandably I’m over looked for promotion, as while I’m viewed as being reliable, dependable, and adaptable; I’m then viewed as being good at my job, rather than standing out.

I read a lot, mainly topics such as socialogy, communication and so forth, studies I never took in high school, as I had no concept as to what it was about. At the moment I’m studying part time, a diploma in Business and Leadership, which I’m enjoying. My long term goal at this stage, is to buy and run my own business. With that I hope that I can start to use my strengths a lot more, which for me I believe, is creativity, being innovative, problem solving and training. So maybe in 5 years time I will be able to answer this question with a HELL YES!
 
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