Having a difficult time deciding what to do with my life.

[adlp]

hey EnR you also need Jesus.

[Coolboyrulez0]

Originally Posted by adlp

hey EnR you also need Jesus.

or drugs & alcohol

[adlp]

Originally Posted by Coolboyrulez0

or drugs & alcohol

and then a burnout to humble yourself and then Jesus like you should have realized in the first place

[EnR]

Originally Posted by DotKritic

I talked with a guest at my work over an extensive time about past jobs in retail. We shared how many years we each have done retail (me: 5 years, her: 20 years). She also shared that she also worked for a home builder company making 6 figures - which interested me.

If you like being outside and building things, maybe look into being a home builder for a company.

I've worked for companies that build houses. I've done masonry (bricklaying) and laboring for a company who builds apartment complexes. I hate being outside. Especially in +20 to +30 celcius in the summer then -20 to -40 in the winter.

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

I'm 2.5 years into my comp sci program. Programming is easy til it gets abstract. Syntax and shit is easy enough to handle, but once you start getting into some more advanced concepts like data structures (linked lists, stacks, queues, trees) you might find yourself throwing your computer out the window trying to understand a good way to code them (even though there are preset programs for all of these, yet the instructor will still make you write your own so you understand it :/.)

So yea, gl

Is it boring or stressful? Is programming incredibly repetitive? I really don't want a career that I'm always doing the exact same thing. I'm still not sure what to do.

Bah, so confused and stressed.

[Cavernio]

I don't call myself unemployed anymore, but a homemaker. Marry a woman with a good job

My mental health and apparently physical health started falling apart when I started a psychology degree, and everything sort of messed up from there. I do know one very important lesson though, you fail when you stop trying, not the other way around. And if you hate what you're doing, you won't try unless you've got other strong reasons to keep going, eg: kids.

I too found math to be waaaay harder after highschool, but I think a lot of that is because in highschool you actually DO a lot more math. Half of the class or more is doing problems, not being taught them. And only some profs will give you weekly assignments to turn in. You really have to give yourself more time to do homework and study, because lectures are just that, lectures.

Programming is very mentally demanding, but it's not really math. My vaguely formed opinion about it is that if you don't seem to have a problem with some basic concepts it, you'll be fine. If, however, even with a lot of effort and a good teacher or tutor and it still all feels greek, then you probably shouldn't be doing it. It all builds on itself. There are definitely careers that involve minimal programming. I wouldn't call programming boring or repetitive. It's not data entry. It requires a lot of thinking things through. Even a program which *should* be the same as one you just wrote will have something different about it. There can be a very high level of frustration though, as the only pleasure one can get from debugging is not doing it anymore. Rather like being told you have to hit your head against a wall and how nice it feels when you stop :-p

UNB has an excellent CS program with an even better co-op program. You work a semester, study a semester, and the jobs they offer are from all across Canada and are diverse and are screened well so you won't be stuck doing data entry (like some people I knew at Guelph who were in cs co-op). It also has 5 or 6 subspecialties that you choose from eventually, all geared towards different career paths in the field. So you could become a network administrator, for example, or if you love it you could go on and work on theoretical stuff. I believe they also offer some sort of hybrid electrical engineering/CS degree.
You would, of course, have to get your highschool courses done first.

I don't really know all this, but you have to be careful about what your college teaches. I've just heard too many stories of people doing college only to find out that their accreditation was good for nothing. I would personally choose college only for programs that universities don't offer degrees in. Anything hands-on, or artistic, or something like accounting or human resources.

If you want a lot of money and don't want to do physical labour, I can only think of starting your own business, or university. (I'm sure there's other ways of making lots of money than I can think about though, it's just me.) If, on the other hand, you want to work ASAP and the thought of 4+ more years of education is horrible, there's plenty of administrative or not physically demanding technician jobs that I'm sure colleges can train you for in a year or 2. Those I would call boring and/or repetitive though.

You really seem like a person who should be pursuing higher education. It's the best way to avoid repetition/meniality.

[EnR]

My girlfriend currently has a 4.0 in her BSN program (bachelors in nursing) so she'll be making 70-80k a year no problem. I want a minimum of 60k to be happy. I'd like 40-50k out of university.

I'm going to see if the college I'm currently attending offers any upgrading of sorts for situations like mine. I think taking random credits will show me what I enjoy and what I hate and ultimately help me decide which career path to take.

What I'm considering right now is the three year Programmer Analyst in college, Bachelors in CS or Civil Engineering. But the thing about becoming an Engineer is the fact I'm terrified I'll fail considering it's all math based.

[Zageron]

Here you go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L_cGjQSR80

[adlp]

Originally Posted by Zageron

Here you go.
www.mormon.org

nice

[Reincarnate]

join Project Euler

[Emanresu13]

comp sci / comp eng

go go go

[leonid]

CS / CE are awesome for getting decent-paying jobs, but you'd better love programming to death to not go insane.
I pursued CS because it was the only thing I didn't suck at :P

[EnR]

I have barely programmed anything. The last time I did was in 11th grade and that was over 3 years ago. I just like the fact I could make 60,000$ a year easily with some experience and could go on to six digits if I so pleased with lots of experience and being in certain fields. It's also indoors, not manual intensive and does require thinking instead of lifting heavy shit all day.

[Reincarnate]

IMO it's hard to become a programmer that earns a lot of money if you hate math/problemsolving

same applies to lots of fields though. don't go into medicine unless you love it. don't go into finance unless you love it. and so on

otherwise you'll be like me -- making a decent salary, but not liking what you do. I'm a coder at heart but my education is all finance-heavy, so I'm pretty much pigeonholed. couldn't get past the HR at google

[EnR]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

IMO it's hard to become a programmer that earns a lot of money if you hate math/problemsolving

same applies to lots of fields though. don't go into medicine unless you love it. don't go into finance unless you love it. and so on

otherwise you'll be like me -- making a decent salary, but not liking what you do. I'm a coder at heart but my education is all finance-heavy, so I'm pretty much pigeonholed. couldn't get past the HR at google

I don't hate math at all though. I just don't understand why I was so terrible. It was less being taught and more him just answering the questions in the book.

I absolutely LOVE everything car related, but there's no way I want to fix cars for a living. I'd love to tune and mod cars for a living, but I'd prefer to have my own projects/builds in my garage. Having a job that pays a nice salary means I could afford these fun projects. So I will have a job I maybe don't LOVE, but because of that job I could do that I love.

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by EnR

I don't hate math at all though. I just don't understand why I was so terrible. It was less being taught and more him just answering the questions in the book.

I absolutely LOVE everything car related, but there's no way I want to fix cars for a living. I'd love to tune and mod cars for a living, but I'd prefer to have my own projects/builds in my garage. Having a job that pays a nice salary means I could afford these fun projects. So I will have a job I maybe don't LOVE, but because of that job I could do that I love.

that's pretty much the same logic i am using right now in my life, to be honest: work a job that pays the bills and allows you to afford whatever fun you want on the side. i mean, it works... but at the same time, you spend so much of your life at work, and so there's something to be said for loving what you do. it's a balancing act.

ideally you should find something that you enjoy that *also* lets you afford the kind of lifestyle you want. sometimes you have to put up with the grind, though, until you earn enough of a nest egg to buffer yourself against unforeseen consequences/setbacks/etc so that you have more wiggle room to pursue what you love. it can be risky, and risk is best mitigated by having sufficient capital to back it up (as we learned from the financial crisis...).

[EnR]

But that's the problem. I cannot think of anything that I am interested in doing for a career. I think about this every night and I can never come up with an answer. So I'm basically looking for something I won't hate more than something I will love.

[Reincarnate]

I admit I am ignorant about the car industry in terms of various positions and what they pay, but I was under the assumption that there were plenty of car jobs that pay decently well (esp if you work at, say, Ford)? Automotive engineering, etc.

[EnR]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

I admit I am ignorant about the car industry in terms of various positions and what they pay, but I was under the assumption that there were plenty of car jobs that pay decently well (esp if you work at, say, Ford)? Automotive engineering, etc.

There is I think one manufacturing plant in Canada. There is only one school that offers Automotive Engineering and they never even reply to my emails. After doing a bunch of research on becoming a mechanic I have come to the conclusion to stay far away from the field. Every forum I went on was just a bunch of 10-20 year experience mechanics telling people to find something else because they pay is bad, until you start getting experience you will be worthless in a shop because the more experienced mechanics will get all the jobs and you end up being the bitch. Mechanics basically cap around 50k after years and years of experience unless you work for a new car dealership. You're always on your back or bending over, reaching over etc, you're always dirty and most of them have bad backs early on. You also end up with thousands of dollars worth of tools, some people say they have 20k-50k worth of tools alone. To become a mechanic you have to complete the 1 or two year program in college then complete a 4 year apprenticeship making absolutely nothing (under 15 an hour). So you're basically working for 6 years to be a "certified mechanic". I could get a bachelors in 4...

[Reincarnate]

If all else fails, do what I did and move if you find that your interests are best served elsewhere. XD

I meant moreso the engineering side of things (electrical + mechanical handling/design, as opposed to fixing things with tools and whatnot), which typically pays more and employs more math/problemsolving ability. Would that be interesting?

DISCLAIMER: I'm dumb ignorant about this stuff so ignore if necessary -- just spitballing questions

[Poison-]

There's 10 plants in Ontario dude...