Comments | youngthales: Practical Advice Sought for Near Future

youngthales

Practical Advice Sought for Near Future

Feb 25, 2007 15:16

I need some practical advice for the near future. My goal is to finish a book I’ve been kicking around. There are two ways to get the time to do this. One, the current plan, is living with the parents, working for a year or two, saving everything, then taking two years off to write full time. I did something like this on a smaller scale last year. ( Read more... )

career, book plan, money, advice, job

Comments 11

sholeh February 26 2007, 07:14:18 UTC

For web design, you really need more experience. There are a lot of people who really know their stuff out there (including stuff like Flash), so I would say it would be a good skill to learn, but don't expect to get a job doing it. Learn it because it is a good asset to have. I don't know a lot about it personally, but having a good number of friends who do this stuff I've heard enough to know that you really need to get into it to do well.

As for jobs...well, I've mostly had office jobs, even if they were entry level, and it really helped boost my resume. Of course, I was a business major, so it could be different for you. I would say that if you need to live, get what job you can...but if you can be a little picky, get jobs that will help you in the long term. With a college degree, you might be able to find an entry-level job that will sustain you while you write, you just need to apply for a lot of jobs, interview well, etc.

I hope you figure out what you want to do. Good luck!!

youngthales February 26 2007, 08:56:12 UTC

For web design, you really need more experience.

...crap. Oh well, I suspected this. I hope computers go away and we return to abacuses. Being an abacus designer was probably so much easier. All paint; no computer languages.

I don't think I've ever asked you this, but do you have a particular coveted role or job you're working towards in business? Or is it a more open-ended issue of accumulating experiences and following better opportunties as they arise, wherever they lead? If so, would you follow those opportunities even if they led you into a bowl of spaghetti?

Thanks for your advice!

sholeh February 28 2007, 14:06:06 UTC

Event planning/project management seems to be the direction I'm going right now. But really, I am not set on certain things because it is easy to get disappointed. If I am too focused on one thing I MUST do, then I might miss out on something else amazing. ;-)

mmm spaghetti...

I got really lucky with business...I really enjoy it. As for following opportunities...it really depends on a lot of factors. Does it violate my ethical/moral code? Will it take away from my family life? Will it take away from my ability to serve as an active member of my community (religious and otherwise). All of these things are things I have to factor in as the time comes, therefore I can't really make specific plans.

youngthales February 28 2007, 21:39:15 UTC

Berry eenteresting. That makes your work in Haifa planning Bahai events make even more sense, from a career point of view, not just a personal/religious/service point of view. I'm glad you're happy with what you're doing. I can see how planning events, experiences, or products could be a very creatively and socially rewarding experience.

Maybe I should take notes from you on career flexiblity. In some ways, I'm too scared to be flexible. I think it's because when I'm flexible I'm too flexible, and shoot all over the place. I think I'm kind of rigid to compensate. As they say of the reed that bends without breaking, flexiblity is strength! I judging from "mmm spaghetti" that you might be flexible enough to switch over from planning/project management into a bowl of spagetti, provided the spaghetti is ethical. I may be able to arrange that.

Thread 5

myelectricsheep February 26 2007, 16:56:38 UTC

Web design used to be one of those coveted high-paying, no experience required jobs, but it's not anymore. If you have solid design skills, you could start small doing friends' sites, and build up a portfolio. You could eventually do well this way, but I wouldn't expect much at first.

youngthales February 26 2007, 18:57:14 UTC

Stop raining truth on my fantasy parade. Starting small then building up sounds like work. Work is the last thing I want to do for work. I hope our economy picks up and starts explodong in the coveted/high-paying/no experience job sector. Thanks for you advice, Chris!

somalian_girl February 27 2007, 21:09:32 UTC

Hi...thanks for adding me, I think I saw your posts from looking at some of my friend's friend lists and I liked what you were writing.

I wish you the best of luck with the book you are working on...and I too live in a fantasy land where if everything I wanted to have happen actually happened I would be elated beyond belief! It doesn't hurt to have high hopes...go for it!

youngthales February 27 2007, 22:00:58 UTC

Ahhh, OK. Thanks for the encouragement :) Best luck to you too!

forcemajeure February 28 2007, 10:34:51 UTC

I'm more or less of the view that most part-time jobs require about 70% of the effort of a part-time job, so it may be more efficient to oscillate between full-time employment and full-time writing ( ... )

youngthales February 28 2007, 22:14:19 UTC

Wow, thank you for this great advice. I haven't got much feedback saying that working/writing simultaneously is a bad thing. So your words help reinforce my commitment to status quo plans. The tech writing suggestion is new. I'll look into it. The one problem with that path seems like the same problem with the web designer path: I'm technically retarded, relatively speaking. Perhaps though, this is a sign I should start undoing that. What you're saying about tech writers being humanities majors rings true. So many English majors I knew in college went that route ( ... )