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Author Topic: Choosing a career  (Read 2347 times)

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Offline cheeku1999

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Choosing a career
« on: June 28, 2014, 01:06:51 PM »
Choosing ones career is one of the biggest choices one makes in his/her life so its extremely important we choose wisely and carefully.

Recently I had a conversation with my family regarding my career and I said maybe I want to pursue writing. They were pretty against the idea though they said they wouldn't stop me and said there is no scope or money for you to lead stable life with your own family. Now I am really confused right now because this is the year I make that choice and I don't know what to do. Since most of you have really made that choice and are experienced to guide young ones so I want to ask you something

Should you pursue something that guarantees a safer future for you and your future family or do something that is potentially more difficult, unpredictable and in which you can fail a lot but grants you satisfaction

that is I have a choice between a doctor or Writer and I cant choose...
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Offline Vacant

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2014, 01:24:31 PM »
                  Theres no set career path for writers, very similar to if you want to become an Actor, a singer, an artist, a comedian or anything else along the same vein. It almost happens by accident, being able to make a comfortable living off of your stories. It is crucial that you have some way of supporting yourself financially when you're an adult. Since there's no guarantee Writing will work out, it's essential to have something to fall back on.
 
                  With that said, I am a firm believer that working somewhere solely for money is counterproductive. After all, you will be doing something you hate, in order to support yourself to continue doing something you hate.

                   My advice is to choose a career, but continue to write. Many of us I'm sure have full time jobs or are in full time education and have to fit writing or drawing around these activities, but that's unfortunately how the world is. On the plus side, the money you have can pay for supplies, advertising, publishing and promoting your works.
               

Offline cheeku1999

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2014, 01:33:12 PM »
firstly I greatly appreciate you took some time to go through what I wrote and gave me an advice... Ariagato! That is most probably how things will work out for me I guess.... I'm planning on being a Cardiologist atm and pursue writing as a side project... Hopefully one day I can write something I am proud of and if all else goes well I can publish it ^_^
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Offline Coryn

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2014, 01:45:53 PM »
i would love to have gone to writing full time, but as mentioned already, it's not economically feasible. you have to be a really successful writer for it to cover a family.


instead, i went into engineering, and am choosing to be a writer on the side. plus when you look at history, most writers don't come onto the scene until they're in their 30s or 40s. after all writing is one of those things that you need life experience to be really good at. so unless you're planning to be a journalist or something, getting into writing professionally just out of high school isn't a solid career choice.


my advice: choose a career that you wouldn't mind having, and one that will make you the money you need to prosper, but never give up on your dreams of writing or drawing. following your dreams is nice, but you have to be able to do it in the first place. most of those people who get a job as a starving artist or writer right away usually have rich parents to support them. so don't be fooled into thinking anyone can just do it.

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Offline 50 Words for Paipis

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2014, 01:55:47 PM »
Remember, too, that a career just means what you use to generate income. You can consider yourself a writer even if most of your income comes from being a cardiologist. You can do a multitude of things in this life without those things being your main source of income. And it seems like you like science enough to want to be a cardiologist, and it's worth doing if you like it.

But I don't know what my backup plan is yet. I want to go into music, but there's not much schooling for the kind of music I want to do (rock), and the schools that do have a degree for it have entirely the wrong focus. I've considered getting a musicology or ethnomusicology degree, but I'd have to go out of state, and I'm not sure I'm emotionally ready for that. I've considered am English degree with emphasis in creative writing, which would be of some use to me for lyric writing, but it doesn't make for much of a back-up plan. Business? Maybe, but I have a feeling I'd be bored out of my mind with it. I've considered math or physics, to which I have no objections, except that I don't know if I'm actually very good at math or physics.

I'm just whining I guess. I don't think it's the degree itself that will matter in the end.

Offline legomaestro

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2014, 02:18:18 PM »
Sigh, the whole follow your dreams thing would be nice, but yeah it's safer to have a career on the side.

I think If I don't see things going along by the end of this year I'll seriously sideline writing as a hobby. It's a short time frame but seems reasonable. Not planning on making a bestseller, but at least see something begin to build up.

Offline hikari

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2014, 04:00:09 PM »
For me, safe is never an option.
I see people who live their lives by working so that they can feed themsleves but they dont pursue their dream. I honestly dont want to wake up in 10 years asking what ive done with my life. My other problem is that there is literally nothing I enjoy more than writing manga and im absolutely garbage at everything I do, so I want to make myself proud and show that I can become a skilled manga writer who can take on the biggest and brightest

yes, I do have a backup plan of working for a radio station seen as its fun and pretty easy to do. But to be completely honest, I dont think ill ever give up on being a mangaka, if I cant do the thing I love to do then really ill be living to exist
« Last Edit: June 28, 2014, 04:05:43 PM by Hikari »

Offline Gordion

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2014, 04:05:01 PM »
Ok, I can relate quite a lot to your situation.

I've had many discussions with my family about what to do with my life. I actually don't have the guts to tell them what I actually want to do, to them all I do is being lazy.
My parents dream is for me to go to University, study to become something(?) and then do that for the rest of my life. I did try a couple of courses there, but it really wasn't my kind of thing. I literally had no motivation to do anything. In hindsight, I have no idea why I even tried it, I really can't think of me as anything else than where I am now... Sounds kinda depressing and sad, but where I am right now... is pretty much where I want to stay. My sister is more casual about me not studying (she currently is) but she still wants me to do more than work at IKEA, which is where I work.

At IKEA I earn enough to do what I actually want to do and that's writing manga-scripts, pay my artist/partner for drawing, and to live my life. The work there is so simple and easy that I can constantly think about other more "important" things.

But now I've just been rambling about my life. My actual advice to you is to find something that doesn't require to much work from what you actually want to do. My cousin is a doctor and it looks quite tiring, she enjoys working as one, but that's probably because she's always wanted to be one. You don't seem as motivated as her to become one... So I wouldn't recommend it. Hopefully something that I've written can help you in someway.

Offline Blackbird

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #8 on: June 28, 2014, 04:38:19 PM »
I recently turned down the Creative Writing studies that would have helped me become a professional writer who'd live on nothing but writing for one simple reason.

In history there have been (if I remember correctly) 127 writers who earned their money by writing nothing but novels. All others had to write reviews columns and other uninteresting stuff.

Also having to live of writing only makes it a task and you might lose the element of fun and relaxation once it has become an obligation.

I hope you can make up your mind without any regrets.
Tomorrow I'll stop running...

Offline Manimal

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2014, 04:45:20 PM »
-
« Last Edit: January 19, 2017, 09:22:22 AM by Manimal »

Offline Vacant

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #10 on: June 28, 2014, 06:04:22 PM »
               Well It does depend on your situation as well I guess. If you have parents who will support you financially and your happy to just live with them, then you could just focus on writing that way. If not then you need something to live on.
             
                Don't let it get you down though, most people have to work while they chase their dreams. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a bricklayer to fund his career. Eminem used to wash dishes and sweep floors in able to afford copying mixtapes. Why even I am chasing a dream, I'm working full time to pay for wrestling school and building my own home gym to train in, something I couldn't do if I wasn't working.
 

Offline Roshiro Byakko

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #11 on: June 28, 2014, 06:12:02 PM »
Trying to become a WWE superstar Vacant? Or for like the olympics or something?

Offline NO1SY

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #12 on: June 28, 2014, 06:47:20 PM »
That's the all important question isn't it: Will there be any recognition of my existence in this world? - Will I produce or contribute something that people know me for and what will I leave behind when I'm gone.

I often ask myself these questions assessing my own self worth. But at the end of the day, it's not really something you can force. Hard work can help make things happen, but at the end of the day you may find yourself living a very unfulfilling life if you focus on it too much.

It's important to find a source of stable and reliable income in order to be comfortable in life. If your chosen career path facilitates the opportunity to contribute something truly great to, or recognised by, society, then great! But more often than not you will have to look to do that in side activities you choose to do, which is also ok.

The ideal career path is something where you do something you enjoy, are good at and that yields positive and memorable results for society. Often this ideal is not really available and compromises have to be made. I watched a talk given by Corey Taylor at Oxford University. He essentially said, "Do the things you are good at and even if you don't enjoy them so much, you will find enjoyment in achieving good results." This is a compromise that I can kind of understand and makes sense to me as I enjoy the feeling of reward from being good at something, despite it not always being enjoyable when I am doing it - for example my D of E hikes and expeditions. Conversely I enjoy drawing but being a perfectionist I don't really think I'm all that good at it and I don't like the results. So in the long run, what would I make my career choice out of the 2? - probably the former. There are obviously things that fall midway - I'm decent at drums (I think) and I enjoy playing, but to me drumming is not a stable career.

I'm lucky because I find medical science interesting and I do well enough at it, so I can make a happy career out of that, as well as do the things I enjoy on the side.

I like the suggestion that was made to have a career that can subsidise the things you enjoy and want to work on, which could lead to success but are a bit too unreliable to make into your actual career. At the end of the day, you don't want to be in a situation where you regret not making opportunities for yourself or not taking the opportunities presented to you, and in my mind there is no better way to facilitate that than to have a stable security net. Put 100% effort into everything you do, be friendly, helpful and live life to the fullest and its highly possible you will be the cause/creator of something worthwhile in this world.

Offline cheeku1999

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #13 on: June 29, 2014, 01:01:05 PM »
Firstly thanks to you all for sharing your experience and thoughts with me you don't know how much it means to me....

Secondly I think after assessing my goals in life in the long run becoming a doctor would be a better choice, My parents aren't supportive to me at all and our relationship is not that of love in anyway, I actually want to live an independent life outside of this hell hole which is India and settle abroad to never come back or meet anyone here, To fulfill this goal I will require large amounts of finance which I wouldn't be able to gain from writing, Hence I will become a doctor and continue writing as a hobby untill I have produced something I really love, get it published and find others like it aswell. I am not entirely unmotivated to becoming a doctor I think it is a good respectable job hence maybe this would be a better path..
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Offline KagePen

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Re: Choosing a career
« Reply #14 on: June 29, 2014, 03:57:28 PM »
Well, my only advice is to be selfish, very selfish. "If you want something, go and get it." as it goes in 'The Pursuit of Happiness' --  That's my philosophy. I try to separate myself and the world around me from what I want. To me, life is a game, I am a character and the world is stack of levels to beat. By feeling nothing for my vessel I enter a higher plane of view, one where there is nothing between me and what I want. Just like an obsessed gamer.
And...

Just.

Like.

That.

I can get what I want.

:)