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Exploring different careers
Fizban140
Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
A while ago I made a thread about getting into a career in science and a lot of people gave their opinions and insight into what it is like. That to me was very interesting and helpful, is there any sort of website like that for lots of different careers?
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The career spectrum is pretty broad, and varies based on level of education even within one field. Could you elaborate on what area of you are interested in? Other than a generic article on MSN or something, I'm not sure you'd be able to find a reliable source for information without a focus. There's so much out there, it's hard to contextualize in a single place.
If I was looking for a definition, I'd probably go to a university department homepage for information. They will have job prospects, syllabi on classes, and an overall summary of the field. It won't have several fields compared to each other though.
Is this what you are talking about? (Am I helping?)
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Maybe I should just explain what my goal is. I want to find a career as I will be going to college soon and need help on deciding a major. I know I don't have to decide right away and I can try out different stuff to see what my interests really are but I would like to know where those classes lead me too, what the job experience is really like. I want to do science, specifically biochem or chemistry but I read that it requires a lot of math which is my immortal nemesis.
Hell, you can be a biochem major and turn into a pharmaceutical sales rep. There really isn't a degree path for sales rep outside of "do you kind of know the field?"
So, like a forum where actual people discuss the non-filtered information without bias. There's probably a few out there.
You could probably talk to professors, graduate students, or undergrad seniors about their experiences. This takes a lot more effort than a website, but may ultimately influence you more. You might hear about how much OChem sucks (it does), or how the prof never used math when he was in the private sector unless he was adding up molecular formulae.
In a science field, long hours or whatever in are often a factor of job and not degree/major.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Otherwise a lot of "science" tracks will slot you into some sort of research, academic, or clerical career. The saddest thing that happens around here is when someone comes in with a Geoscience major and no masters or PhD and we put them into data management. They die inside.
Maybe something in clean energy, which will be big in the future.
This is a good idea, but the best way to get into a business-related career in a scientific field is to get a scientific degree and choose the business route. Much harder to do it the other way around (read: selective), although the degree may be easier to get at the beginning.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Pretty much any and all hard science related degrees are going to require advanced math (calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, etc) but there are so many ways to get through the classes even if you struggle with math. The important thing is to go to class, go to TA/GSI review section, go to tutoring sessions, and just keep practicing.
My career path went like this: engineering degree -> engineering job, but the majority of my classmates have ended up as engineering degree -> patent lawyer, -> math professor, -> sales rep, -> human resources, etc. So as other people have mentioned, you can pretty much go anywhere given the right motivation. Also, I want to emphasize that it's much much easier to go from science degree -> business position in science industry, than from starting with just a business degree.