Comments | love_pirate: End of the Career Era? / Investment

love_pirate

End of the Career Era? / Investment

Feb 24, 2010 17:21

In the environment I was raised in, it seems like kids were primed to think about careers, not jobs, from an early age. We were always asked, "What do you want to BE when you grow up?", not "What job do you want to have?" I'm assuming that most kids in the same or similar socio-economic class experienced the same thing. As a kid, all the adults ( Read more... )

Comments 11

fellmama February 25 2010, 03:29:10 UTC

I feel the exact same way about my "career." Exact! Down to the part about training.

love_pirate February 25 2010, 03:51:43 UTC

Thanks for saying so-- I'm glad I wrote about it, then. :-) (Oh, and go you!)

braveatoms February 26 2010, 06:07:52 UTC

Ohhhh, I relate to this. Part of why I'm ambivalent (and quasi-dreading) graduation is that I've seen so many of my friends (whether they had career plans or not) settle into "jobs" and career-based-confusion after entering the "real world." I have to think more about where I'm at with this, but I think I'm having a very similar struggle. I need relationships, but like you -- I feel I could be comfortable meeting that need in ways that do not look like "lifelong marriage." The idea of not having an OTP-career, on the other hand? -- is totally unnerving. I think it's part of why -- in the past couple of years -- I've been shifting toward careers that offer more room for diverse positions/ questions/ relationships. Like maybe if I do entirely different things, but they all fall under the "social work" umbrella (or the "professor" umbrella, to be more current) I can still claim it's one career.

Fascinating, those old-school narratives and the strength they have, when internalized. Thanks for the post.

(go you!) love_pirate February 26 2010, 20:19:05 UTC

You are welcome, glad you can relate! When I was in college I saw all these people graduating without careers and was like, "I will be different!" although the only way in which I was different was that I had very specific career goals, however, I had no skills that these other people didn't have. Not to be depressing but it seems like you noticed something similar. I used to worry a lot that I would "settle" on a career but now I really see no danger of that. If anything I go too far in the other direction.

Re: (go you!) braveatoms February 26 2010, 20:53:27 UTC

Aigh, I know. I try to tell myself I'm different, too... as if the massive number of extra-curriculars and the weird degree will just magically result in a career (period) and my dream career at that. I try to talk myself out of believing this, but I'm afraid next January when I'm scrambling to convince the local retail shops to hire me, will still be a bit of a reality check. What a weird time to be entering the workforce...

Re: (go you!) love_pirate February 26 2010, 21:38:30 UTC

College degrees sure ain't what they used to be, it consoles me a little that at least, it's not a reflection of me. It's those old-school narratives again. As long as I can remember, I was told, "Go to college, get a job". As if, like you said, one thing just flowed into the other. No one ever talked about actually looking for a job.

Thread 6

bigger_tigers February 26 2010, 06:26:50 UTC

I can say I'm in a similar situation to yours. Right now, I think know what I want to do, I just can't afford the education to get there. There are many things I would like to accomplish in my life that could be tied to a career, but I'm not sure what direction this is all gonna take.

The job I'm at right now kills me because the people who work there are more interested in starting shit with coworkers than minding their own damn business and doing their job like they're paid to!!

bigger_tigers February 26 2010, 06:31:51 UTC

Lol. As far as getting-married-because-it's-the-thing-to-do goes, I always told my parents I never wanted to get married because I thought they argued too much. I assumed when I was younger that that's just how marriage/dating was: arguing all the time. So from a young age, I was opposed to anything beyond friendship.

Now I'm older and I know that not every relationship is full of so much discord, but all the same I still don't want to date/get married.

(and go you!) love_pirate February 26 2010, 20:22:16 UTC

Oh goodness, your job sounds like my last job. People were so resistant to change that if anything in the organization was on the verge of changing, folks would start unnecessary drama. There's a lot I want to do, too...but figuring out how to get paid for them is a whole different story! I wish we could all find good careers, but I do like knowing that others are in the same boat as me :-)