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[lobsterbox]

OK, question time. For those reading, how did you decide to do what you do for a living? If you have or had a steady career, how did you get into that and decide that was for you? I ask this because I'm feeling the return of that old angst of wondering just what the fuck I'm going to do with myself. As I've writen before, committing to a lifetime

Comments

[ephemeraltoast]

search me :[

I think there are probably more adults who have no idea what they want to do when they grow up than would admit it/than we are led to believe

[lobsterbox]

I think that would actually be sort of comforting! It's always nice to know you're not alone and that if you have to be drifting, others are at least in the same boat. Oh well.

[sandyosullivan]

I do have a personal theory that people who (not including sigkapboo in this cos I think its different when you recognise that there is more you can do as well, you know?) know what they want to do, do it, and just keep going up some kind of corporate (or not) ladder miss out on a lot of stuff. Sometimes in my job I'll work with researchers who went to school, to uni, then got a job at the uni as researchers after finishing their PhDs, and all I can say is that I avoid working with them like the plague (or don't and regret it) cos they aren't robust, can't see beyond their own experiences and seem to be unable to deal with the unexpected. I love a good sweeping generalisation! Anyway, I wrote a book in response below... oops, sorry!

[sigkapboo]

I knew I wanted to teach since I was old enough to talk. Knew I wanted to teach math as soon as I started learning it. I know I'm good at it, but still, now that I attained that goal, it's sort of anti-climatic.

[lobsterbox]

I always think it's cool to hear about people who knew they wanted to do something from a young age and, when they're old enough, actually do it! I guess that what gives me pause when I consider my own career prospects is the anti-climax aspect of it that you mentioned. I think about getting just what I want, say, being able to make money doing art stuff. The inevitable next thought is, "Ok, then what?" I guess that's unavoidable and just part of life. Thanks for your answer!

[sandyosullivan]

I think the thing is, though, it doesn't have to be the end. I mean finding something you like and doing it and achieving that doesn't have to be the end-point. I guess for me (see my book-sized rant below) the big issues are around always wanting new projects in my work. I'm a Research Fellow, as you know, but if I thought I was just gonna do one field of research for the rest of my life, no matter how much lots of people want that job, it would destroy me. I love working across disciplines, finding a field of interest and exploring it. And I think we can do that in a lot of jobs. I think there was a point where I was doing lectures year in and year out, and sometimes teaching slightly different courses - but essentially using a lot of the same skills- where I found that hard. No matter how much I enjoyed dealing with students, I felt I wasn't fresh and that it wasn't giving me new challenges, but while my job now could stay the same for the rest of my life (god, not that I think it would, or would want that), I do think that I

[perfectbound]

I bumbled my way into my field. Never knew what I wanted to do, majored in what I was good at. Realized junior year that while I'm good at synthesizing information, it HURTS MY HEAD, except for the part at the beginning where I'm in the library gathering all the information and I know where to find everything. Therefore, library school. All my other pipe dreams about what I want to do for work are more about things I reallyreally like than things I'm good at. Nothing else, yet, is quite as viable as the library gig, and while I have been bored and might still jump ship from the profession, things have mostly transpired in such a way as to keep me from sporking my eyes out.

[lobsterbox]

I like the "bumbling into the field" approach myself. As well as the "avoiding wanting to spork my eyes out" approach.

[sandyosullivan]

Settle in, get yourself a cup of coffee, cos I am about to rant... nah, just kidding and a lot of it you've heard me say before... so here is my more than two cents worth

[sandyosullivan]

I do have a suggestion about one thing - and it sounds bossy, only cos I'm being specific! If you were interested in make-up for the screen and working in that field, an idea might be to consider contacting the Smithsonian or other museums in DC and asking them if they are shooting any of their promo materials (they have an enormous creative output) and asking them if you could work on one of their straight-forward video outputs doing makeup. The reason I say this based on something that a friend of mine (god, how remote is that?) told me once. Donna (Kennedy) works with her husband on a fair few pro shoots here in Aus, which is a small market. I think I told you that her husband (and Donna for a while) worked on Farscape. Farscape had a bunch of creature makeup stuff, but the showreel that Donna showed was very straight makeup, and her reason for this was that basically that's a shitload harder than doing creature makeup... I am a messenger and have no idea what I just said - feeling slightly like the idiot part of the idiot

[sandyosullivan]

Okay, that's it. No... really!

[lobsterbox]

Ha ha ha, I can always count on you to give a truly robust answer to questions like these! I'm glad, though, as you always have very constructive things to offer. Where to start? First of all, you were in foley work? That is so cool! What kind of involvement did you have with that

[chicanestar]

I always said I was going to be a writer when I grew up, but "being a writer" isn't really that simple, especially since it doesn't offer things like stability or health insurance. Still, it was never really my intention to be a floral designer. It was the gig I did for summer/winter breaks in college, and then after I moved back home, it was easy to give them a call and get back on the team and now it's been five years. The decision to work in a flower shop, however, wasn't completely random. When I was a teen and not feeling very excited about any traditional summer jobs, my mom asked a friend of family friends who was kind of creative what jobs she might suggest for an artistic person and her suggestion was working in a flower shop, and she was right on. I'm not going to do it for the rest of my life (there's the computer design stuff and the writing stuff and the photography stuff and I still haven't ruled out set design), but it has turned out to be very satisfying work. If you told me back in the summer of 1999 that I

[lobsterbox]

I always like reading about your work in the flower shop. I'd never given much thought to the floral design field because it hadn't really occured to me, but reading about your experiences it really does sound something right up your artistic alley. It's cool how summer jobs can lead to satisfying decade-long gigs that you still enjoy, even if you don't plan to do it forever and ever.