How do I pick a major or figure out what I want to do?
Picking a major and deciding what career path you want to take are some of the most important decisions you’ll ever make in life. It can seem like a daunting decision to figure out what you want to spend your life doing. You always hear things like “find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” and while that sounds good, it isn’t always realistic. Sometimes it is more important to figure out where your next paycheck will come from than figure out what will make you the “happiest” when it comes to job choice.
The best thing about having a job is that any job worth doing, when you give it all you’ve got, can be rewarding when you can see the outcomes. Even flipping burgers can be rewarding when you go from working in the kitchen to managing the entire establishment all because you came to work and put in the effort every day. What I’m trying to say is, figure out what you job could be good at or what career field interests you and then go learn about it starting from the bottom.
After I graduated high school I started working in the operating room at a Level One Trauma Center in my hometown. I started in the lowest paying position, cleaning the surgery suites, and worked my way through the department until I’d done every position you didn’t need a degree or certification to do. By the time I left that particular surgery center I had been running their Control Desk with the head nurse! I had learned so much about the department that I was one of the “go-to” experts that the nurses, scrub techs, and even surgeons would go to for information. It gave me great satisfaction and was something I never thought about when I first started the position. I had no idea it would bring me so much joy to work there and work hard.
I worked in the operating room through the entire time I got my associate’s and then my bachelor’s degree and I loved it. Looking back, however, I wish I had found a starter position that more closely relates to my chosen field of study- psychology. I wish I had become a secretary at a counseling office or maybe worked for a mental health facility as some sort of specialist. Any of these positions would have given me a great foundation from which to build my education. If you want to go to college you need to have a specific career in mind. Don’t go to college thinking “I’ll figure out what I want to do with my life once I get to college. I have plenty of time to figure it out”. This type of thinking leads to a huge waste of money while you take random classes which will most likely not contribute to the degree plan you end up deciding on in the future.
Instead, figure out what areas in life interest you and then go learn about them on your own! Do research about people who work in that area and figure out what sorts of jobs are available in the field you’re thinking about. Then I highly suggest doing more research about the average salary in your area (or the area you plan on moving, if that’s what you want) so that you are completely aware of what your future salary will most likely look like. It’ll help you determine which schools to consider (SEE: Paying off my student loans? What happens when college is overpriced and your future career is underpaid?)
The worst thing you can do is go to an overpriced college for a degree which won’t help you land a job and you’re stuck trying to pay back your student loans on a retail job salary because you’re degree is useless. You’re smarter than that!
Please feel free to comment below with thoughts or any questions you may have. If you want me to make a post on a certain topic, just let me know in the comments! Take care, everyone!