The President of the United States. Vet. Brain Surgeon. Nothing. Accountant. Investor. Programmer. Tech Researcher. Professor. Interaction Designer. Consultant.
Going back as far as I can remember those are the occupations I dreamed of one day being. Nothing - that one hit during high school when I either thought that the high school years were the pinnacle of life and didn't care what was next, or because I truly recognized that I was clueless to my own interests for the future. I just remember teachers saying that new types of jobs were being created, and that my position did not even exist yet. I one-upped the high school profs, and majored in something that didn't formally exist during my hs years - Informatics.
I'm now working in a role that is a cross between business analysis and systems implementation. It's not my life's calling or what I see myself being, but it is a role within a business which became part of a much bigger business. That's all I asked for after college - experience in the "professional" world. I'm 24 and realize I don't have it all figured out, I still don't know what I want to be, and I'm completely comfortable with the fact that I'm not comfortable or satisfied on some days. I like feeling hungry for change in my life. Not Obama-change - just "regular, personal growth and satisfaction" change.
How did I get to where I am today in my Business Analyst role? I didn't just wake up and decide that "Hey, I want to grow up and sit in a cubicle and be a Business Analyst". I took steps that led me in this direction like switching majors from Business Finance and Accounting in the ivory tower of the Kelley School of Business of IU to Informatics - a degree from a school that didn't even have a formal building until my Sophomore/Junior year when they renovated an old sorority house into the new School of Informatics. I switched because I enjoyed the course I took through the business school titled "The Computer in Business". It was basically an intensive Access and Excel overview and application course - one that I enjoyed and everyone else in it hated. I hated all of the accounting and finance courses, so I switched to a degree that was more tech-centric and still allowed me to take business courses that were interesting to me like Entrepreneurship, Small Business Management, and marketing.
Several career paths presented themselves to me during my last two years at IU as I became interested in interaction design, network security, and fields that were not technically defined such as sports informatics. I considered grad school to continue on in interaction design, but I wasn't completely sure that is what I wanted to do. I took the GRE the winter of my senior year just in case I decided it was what I wanted to do, and ended up continuing interviewing with various companies in early spring. I was basically in a long hallway of doors, not sure of which one to walk through, and wanting to keep them all unlocked forever. Something just felt right about one of the opportunities for a full-time position after graduation, and I took it. Was there a reason or tipping point? Not really. It was a combination of thinking I needed a break from academia and the small college town of Bloomington, my bank account being empty and my credit card bills piling up, and my desire to apply my business knowledge to a real situation. Were these thoughts correct and did I make the right decision?
Yes and no. I can answer that way, right? That's the only fair and accurate response. There are days I regret not going to grad school right away, but at the same time I can always go back. It's just a matter of leaving the standard way of life I've become accustomed to over the past few years, and reverting back to learning mode, strapped for cash mode, and increasing debt mode in the hopes of expanding my knowledge and adding a few more doors to that hallway of options. There are also days where I think how much more knowledge I have gained working for two years in an actual business facing non-scripted situations over and over again that I will be able to utilize in my future business plans, endeavors, or to make my learning during grad school (if I go that route) more beneficial and realistic knowing what can happen outside of the bubble of the classroom and textbooks.
The point of this post is that my desires and what I think I would enjoy or excel in change constantly. I've tried to illustrate that for you in case you think you have it all figured out, and have some concrete plan of how your life is going to play out. I could go on for hours about how my mindset, career plan, list of friends, activities I participate in - my life have changed just in the past two years since graduation day.
No one is going to tell you what you are going to be. You have no idea what you should really be. There is no perfect system in place to alert you of opportunities you might enjoy, places you should live because they align with your lifestyle, and so on. I don't think this will ever be possible to create a system that lets you know what you should do and you will be happy doing it for years to come. So much changes internally and externally in your life, and you can either recognize or ignore the fluctuating factors that control your overall satisfaction with what you are doing for a living.
If it scares the crap out of you that you are about to go to college and pick a degree that will ultimately control the first few steps after graduation that's normal. If you just graduated and have a job or don't have a job that's ok. I'd recommend getting a job to experience something and to of course pay the bills so that you can move out of your parents house, but I meant it's ok that you're unsure of what you want to be.
I'm 24, two years removed from college, and have no idea of what I want to be. I do know what I want to do next, though, and after that I'm sure I'll figure it out just like everything else has been figured out on the fly thus far.
The thoughts of this post were inspired by an article in Esquire titled 'You'd Make a Good President. Or Maybe A Good Fashion Photographer. Or a Good Shortstop. The Point Is, You Have No Idea'. It's on page 68 of the June 2008 issue, and currently not on their website. There is an excerpt on Brijit if you are into summaries.
