<p>After beginning a thread on careers in law, it dawned on me that it might also be interesting if people posted a synopsis of their career, what the educational requirements are, and how satisfied they are with their career choice. There are so many careers out there that young people know nothing about …</p>
<p>This is funny. My career pays very well (particularly in my region) is lots of fun, and <em>requires</em> NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!! (LOL :))</p>
<p>I sell real estate. </p>
<p>My education actually helped me a great deal, however. Real estate requires constant problem-solving, intelligent negotiating, and frequent “thinking outside the box.” It is essential to be a good communicator who can simplify the complex, connect with many different people, & understand human psychology. You have to be very resilient & determined-- to be able to hear “no” many, many times without giving up or getting discouraged. Finally you must be self-motivated and not need a boss to tell you what to do.</p>
<p>When I look back my <em>very</em> liberal (i.e. no core requirements) “liberal-arts” education set me up perfectly for a great career in real estate by making me an independence junkie & a thinker. </p>
<p>Prior to RE I worked as a freelance writer and also had a great time with that. It also tapped into my creative side & my desire/need to be my own boss. </p>
<p>My RE mentor says people in real estate are “people who can’t work for anyone else…” ;)</p>
<p>Strictly an academic career: BA to MA to PhD with a certificate in area studies as well. I’m very satisfied with this choice. When coming out of undergrad school, I considered both law and doctoral studies, and applied to both types of school. I got into every place I applied but felt more comfortable going in the academic direction, and so I went.</p>
<p>[ol]
[<em>]First Job: 10 yrs old, grocery store, crating and stacking returned soda bottles (25 cents/hr)
[</em>]HS Job: Grocery store, bagging groceries ($1.00/hr + tips)
[<em>]In college: co-op student in defense industry
[</em>]Sideways step: VISTA (only a few months; anybody remember VISTA?)
[<em>]First job out of college: teaching HS math and physics
[</em>]Next (during grad school): teaching at a technical university
[<em>]Next: Stipend from a fellowship (further grad school)
[</em>]Next: Air pollution meteorologist (computer modeling)
[<em>]Next: Major university research staff job (Artificial Intelligence)
[</em>]Next: US Govt Agency (applied Artificial Intelligence); mgmt
[<em>]Next: Major telecom laboratories - applied AI research and systems development; operations planning; mgmt
[</em>]Next: Major telecom firm - strategic technology planning; operations planning; mgmt
[<em>]Next: Major telecom firm’s international division - operations planning for Caribbean wireless start-up business; mgmt
[</em>]Current Job: Independent international wireless technology consultant
[/ol]</p>
<p>My education (undergrad physics, grad computer science, additional grad work in meteorology and education) was of course useful, but mostly I changed jobs to follow my interests and to do interesting (and thus fun) work. Sometimes I (gasp!!) took a cut in salary because the next job looked like more even fun. I’m still having fun.</p>
<p>Note to SBMom: Anyone who can follow the math of a closing settlement statement must have quite an education and a mathematically inclined brain!! What should be simple plusses and minuses is so convoluted that I suspect it’s INTENTIONALLY confusing so that we need RE agents to interpret then for us.</p>
<p>Well I guess I am a writer/educator. This year I am finishing up 16-17 years of homeschooling, as my younger son graduates. I have used that, as well as my long-expired teaching certificate, to move into other areas: grading essays online for one company and writing standardized test questions for another.</p>
<p>Besides, I have been a part-time freelance writer for 20+ years. I write all sorts of things from children’s stories to personal experience articles to Sunday school curriculum.</p>
<p>What I love about my job is that, besides a couple yearly business trips, I can do my job right at home on my own computer. Just love that commute!</p>
<p>Digmedia,</p>
<p>I admire you for following your dreams. I just read your post to my daughter to emphasize to her to follow her dreams and find a career that she enjoys doing and if there comes a time that she doesn’t enjoy it anymore, to just change direction. Thanks!</p>
<p>I started working at a real estate company in 1977 in the market research department as an administrative assistant. I actually got the job by mistake. I had just moved to CA and was headed for a job interview and by mistake got on one of those “fun buses” that only take you to Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, etc. instead of the regular city bus. So I got off near Disneyland and walked and walked and walked to where I thought I was supposed to go and ended up in the wrong place. But since I was there, I applied for a job anyway. And 28 years later, I’m still working with some of the same people, just in a different capacity!</p>
<p>I’ve been self-employed for 23 years now as an executive assistant. I also do sales and marketing for an internet-based residential architectural and design library. There is an architectural photographer who takes all the pictures of model homes across the United States and then the library is archived by architectural themes and design elements. Builders, architects and interior designers subscribe to the website and use it as a design tool. </p>
<p>I never went to college and was lucky to find my niche. I have loved being self-employed as I never had to put my daughter in daycare and have always been able to spend a lot of time with her. I really feel I’ve had the best of both worlds.</p>
<p>I like yours a lot SBmom. It shows certain people really are most suited for certain jobs.</p>
<p>Wow! SBmom, momofonly, and TheDad have or once had careers in real estate!</p>
<p>EDIT: Wait, I just read that TheDad is a writer 
</p>
<p>I have an 18 yr background in Telecom with two major firms(wireline (86-95, then wireless(95-98)) and most recently IP/Broadband (including lots of VoIP, hosting, storage, disaster recovery, mixed media contact centers, etc: 98-present). I’ve developed a new niche for myself as an expert in supporting cable companies with the focus on high speed internet, VoIP, video streaming over broadband, which I’ve been doing exclusively for 2 years. At this point, I mainly manage relationships and negotiate deals. </p>
<p>College degree needed: no. But, lots of experience needed. All of my colleagues have as much experience as I; most have more; most have degrees. The field is very lucrative if you land with the right firm. I started at an entry level and worked my way up. </p>
<p>Actually, its odd that I do this because I am a non-technical person. I don’t think in technical terms and hate numbers. I’m not detail oriented and I hate long, drawn-out projects. But, I’ve been successful because I seem to be one of the few people in my field with a real personality for establishing relationships with key decision makers and who is well liked by clients. Nothing against techies as they make it all happen (Digi, you know what I mean)…but they have very different personalities (and ALWAYS say things to anger my clients :() and tend to prefer to work behind the scenes as opposed to facing people, managing relationships, negotiating, etc. </p>
<p>My best advice to students coming out of school and going into large corporate situations:
- Follow the money (know where the company’s cash cow is and follow that cow)
- Face the client (jobs where you have relationships with the clients are the safest, as companies hate to sever relationships that bring in the cash - also, if you have a great cleint relationship and do you get fired/laid off, you’ll have a place to go because your client will hire you if you’ve proven your worth)</p>
<p>SBMom, I know what you mean about knowing that you need to be your own boss. Even though I am with a large firm, I work from home and manage my own cleints. I could probably advance my career quite a bit by returning to the office (politics) and “sharing my toys” a little more…but I know it isn’t my style. It really helps to know yourself…as you know what’s important to your own personal success.</p>
<p>This is eery…SBMom, before I got into real estate, I was a freelance writer for a number of years. With D off to college, am trying to dust off the fiction side of things, short stories and a novel. </p>
<p>TheDad was a rolling stone: engineering aide and department store clerk during college, afterwards: member of US Senate staff, administrator for private university, counselor at public university, computer programmer, management analyst for manufacturing company, member of paid staff for Presidential campaign, writer for a direct mail firm (for which I owe time in Purgatory), writer for public relations firm, self-employed writer for years, went into real estate when I finally figured out that I could make more money there than as a writer, plus writing all the freelance stuff really burned out the energy that I wanted to use for my fiction. (Instead, real estate and sharing in the raising of a daughter swallowed the time.)</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I also became a volunteer manager in the arts, doing stuff for D’s ballet company including marketing, advertising, ticketing, publications, public relations. Segued into coordinating a 10-day European trip for D’s top high school orchestra…a process that was not unlike facilitating the mating of elephants. </p>
<p>Looking at the synopsis on paper, I see that I’ve become the middle-aged equivalent of the BWRK in that I did not put together a spectacular career in any one thing but there are a number of things I do well and a fairly large number of things I can pinch-hit at.
Probably the biggest surprise to me from when I was 20-something is that I’ve evolved from being a “Lone Ranger” type to being a decent team player with some leadership skills.</p>
<p>SBMom, did you ever have thoughts while putting out “Open House” signs along the lines of “And for this I went to college?”</p>
<p>TheDad, </p>
<p>I know what you mean… I think realtors are about one rung up from used car salesmen in many people’s minds. Oh well, people may underestimate me… until I start negotiating! 
Then they begin to get it.</p>
<p>I also hate schlepping signs! </p>
<p>Yeah, RE isn’t as glamorous as my former writing career but one good thing about it is that you can actually meet people!! I wind up making friends with all my clients. I loved the creative side of writing, but I could easily be in my apt for 5 straight days and not talk to anyone but my cat. I am an extrovert so the people part of RE is a big plus for me.</p>
<p>What’s tricky about planning college around one’s intended future career is how few of us would have said “Mom, I want to be a Realtor!”-- even if that turned out to be a great move & a great job & fulfilling… </p>
<p>Just pointing out: things change!</p>
<p>" I see that I’ve become the middle-aged equivalent of the BWRK" </p>
<p>A BWRA…which is very favorable, probably moreso than the BWRK.</p>
<ol>
<li> First job as a mantenance man’s assistant at a vacation resort at age 15. First learned to drive by driving the garbage truck around the campground to empty the cans. In college I worked as a house painter.<br></li>
<li> Graduated with a BS in Zoology with a minor in Chemistry.</li>
<li> Discovered that there aren’t many jobs dealing with wild animals. I thought about law school and business school, but just I couldn’t get very enthusiastic about anything but science, so I fell back on my chemistry skills and got lab job doing immunochemistry. I knew nothing about Immunology but soon found it fascinating.</li>
<li> After 2 years I moved up to a better company. After 4 more years I’d gone as far as I could go with a BS and so went to grad school.</li>
<li> Earned a Ph.D. in Immunology.</li>
<li> Went to work in biotech R&D and have been there ever since, although working on many different diseases and many different technologies.</li>
<li> Thanks to a convoluted series of corporate acquisitions I’m back working for the same company I did in line 4. - almost 30 years earlier.</li>
<li> I don’t get to travel on business; I HAVE to travel on business, which means I travel too much, although it has gotten me to most US states and many foreign countries.</li>
</ol>
<p>All in all it’s been a pretty interesting ride. Given a do over, I still wouldn’t be anything else but a scientist, except maybe a writer if I had any talent.</p>
<p>SBMom, when I was a freelance writer, I was working alone with my computer, my phone, and my FAX and I was on a first-name basis with the FedEx, UPS, and US Postal carriers. Drove me a bit nuts as one might be tempted to hazard a guess that I can be a bit on the talkative side.</p>
<p>I have several stories about D and real estate but one of my favorites is when I had her in tow when I stopped by my office to pick up some papers. Some well-intentioned person leaned over and in a condescending voice asked, “Are you going to go into real estate too?” To which D replied, “No, it’s too unstable.”</p>
<p>SBMom, at some point would you please clear out your PM box? I just tried to send you a message that I doubt would interest anyone but Thee and Me.
But Thine PM box is stuffed to the gills.</p>
<p>You know how in RE all the deals come together the day before you are about to leave on a major vacation?</p>
<p>My favorite real estate story was one like this. I had just been running back and forth like a crazed person & sold a difficult house with everyone at home with packed bags waiting for me; we got to the airport with seconds to spare… My littlest, then age 5, was telling the lady next to him on the plane about his marine biology class. He mentioned how on one of the field trips he’d kissed a sea slug for good luck-- and so had I. And then he matter of factly said, “…and guess what? She got good luck-- because she’s in ESCROW!”</p>
<p>Terrific thread!
I did drafting when I was young for several years. HA HA , they were the days when there was some manufacturing in the U.S.!!
Then I finished college and got a job with the National Park Service- yes, Smokey the Bear! I worked there several years but kept getting laid off . Beware the National Park Service- there are opportunities, but layoffs follow that department of the government everywhere.
During one of the layoffs I went to nursing school. It was a highly concentrated R.N. program- extemely consentrated to the point we had to live at the hospital and were shipped to a psych. hospital for 4 months. Although doing fine in the academics I quit because of the psych. hospital . I didn’t like that at all!
I had a large family and because of my husband successful and demanding career have chosen to stay home and manage the children and house.</p>
<ol>
<li> First paying job–admissions cashier at the New England Aquarium after serving as a volunteer.</li>
<li> Other high school/college gigs included working in the music library, administrative assistant in the Department of Children’s Services, and helping a summer community arts program.</li>
<li> First job out of college–assistant editor for an alumni magazine at a local university.</li>
<li> Graduate school work (part-time)–music librarian for a state university, choral accompanist, symphony orchestra librarian, music therapy worker, editorial assistant, Humane Society worker, and teaching assistant.</li>
<li> First job after grad school–music therapist in a state facility for kids with emotional disabilities.</li>
<li> Music therapist with a small nonprofit–working primarily with kids with severe to profound multiple disabilities; and also organized annual conferences and fundraising for the agency.</li>
<li> Fundraising for an LAC.</li>
<li> Fundraising for another LAC.</li>
<li> Fundraising for a non-academic arm of a large university.</li>
<li> Fundraising for a small college of a large university.</li>
</ol>
<p>Interestingly, nobody ever says “I want to be a fundraiser when I grow up.” Also, when D was about 6, she attended a fundraising event with me. One alum complimented me on her behavior; they were sitting side by side on a sofa, alum asked D how she was enjoying herself, and D responded, “This is a lovely event, isn’t it?”!!! I guess she thought of it as a bigger than life tea party.</p>
<p>What a fun thread. I’ve always wondered how some of you manage to work and post so often. It seems there are many self-employed here. SBmom, my husband joked that on the college ap , advertising was akin to used car salesman. We figured it didn’t sound very intellectual and it’s not. Just very creative.</p>
<p>My past career was as an advertising art director. I worked for about 7 years for the largest agency in Minneapolis (not the most creative, but nice big budgets) starting out in paste-up where I helped all the other art directors with their presentations. I worked my way up to art director and worked on some very fun national accounts. You may have even seen some of my ads. (way back in the eighties.)</p>
<p>After meeting my husband at work, getting married and unexpectedly pregnant after 3 months, I decided that my personal life was a little to entwined with work so I quit to free-lance when my son was about 8 months old. I worked another 5 years and gravitated more to graphic design - brochures, logos and especially package design. I found that suited my personality better. Intovert here, who loves getting into that creative zone undisturbed by people.</p>
<p>Advertising is a very different world now - lean and mean and not a friendly place to older workers. They like the hippest hottest new creatives who will work long hours with little pay. It is great fun while it lasts. I got to travel and work with very interesting people, but it wasn’t a world I wanted to go back to. Being hip gets tiring. I quit freelancing when my daughter was born in 1990 and have been a stay at home mom for 14 years. Longest running job yet. When I finally realized I just couldn’t get motivated to learn Quark and Photo Shop (I quit right when computers were taking over) to get back into design, I decided to try another related field-Kitchen and Bath design. And now I’m learning computers in another,so horribly designed operating system-Windows XP-Yuk! I really don’t understand how Bill Gates became so successful -Apple is so much more intuitive and logical. Anyway, a kitchen designer is sort of like an architect and an interior designer for kitchens and baths.( No disrespect meant to real architects by using that term-I know it takes much more education.) We’ll see how it goes. It’s supposed to be a very open field and very good for older workers. So far I like doing the design but can’t stand the quality of instruction at this particular community college. I truly understand the meaning of busy work. I have to do an internship this summer- how weird is that at 48!</p>
<p>Lawyer (and aspiring professional dog handler).</p>