no career job yet, depressing -in mid 20's guy

[joe45]

hmm what do u feel. i'm a 26 yr old , did my business 2 yr diploma and now doing my 3rd yr in business degree. i couldn't find work realted wiht my diploma, so i went back for a degree.
i could find work but dead end low paying jobs-data entry, warehouse, order picker......etc
previously before that i was at another school for computers and have a 1 yr certificate in IT support, applied and worked for a company, but was there for only 2 wks-i got let go -since they said my communication skills wasn't strong enough. i also didn't really catch on fast enough during the one wk of training they had.
i kind of lost faith in computer tech support and i found what i learned in community college(learning computer prgrams) had nothing to do with what i was doin on the job. the job made you work in real life situations- can't go onto the internet, ip config stuff, routers and swtich problems...etc. i kind of think it was a waste of time.

not even sure if i finish this business degree if i would even be able to get a job related or even a job that pays decent-no min wage or close to it. whos nows goin to college doesn';t guarantee a job in ur related field anyways nowadays.

well being 26 and soon 27 and not having a career job is kinda of depressing considering i think most ppl my age already have a established job and career.
i mean it could be b/c of growing up my folks always told me what to do, miltary style of strictness, and i was never told what do u think u want to do-thinking for urself. yes even to this age.

anyone guy/girl in the same boat as me. any suggestions and advice. try explaining this to the girl ur dating my situtaion, i think it be a major turnoff.

 

[joekerr31]

i mean it could be b/c of growing up my folks always told me what to do, miltary style of strictness, and i was never told what do u think u want to do-thinking for urself. yes even to this age.

read my resent post "who are you?' - it's very relevant to your post.

what you need to do is you need to stop. stop thinking about the past, present or future. and you need to search deep down and figure out what do you want to do in life? if the career fairy appeared and granted you any career - instantly gave you all the skills you needed to do that career - what career would you pick?

once you figure that out, then you need to ask yourself whats it going to take to get that career off the ground. and then go do it!

27 ain't to old man.

i switched careers at 27 and was very successful. but now i kind of wish i had made a different choice, and im actually considering going back to school to get a PHD (would take me about 4 years). and im 32!!!!

dont know if im going to do it or not, still thinking it through, BUT, if i could go back to being 27 id probably have gone and done it.

the good thing about getting older is that you when you do something your doing it becuase you really want to. whereas when you are younger most of hte time your doing x,y, or z becuase you have no idea what else you should be doing. so your just following the herd if you will, putting one foot in front of the other with no real passion or long term plan.

 

[DjVelvet]

I am 26 yr old myself. I think i can advise you more about career. I'm holding a very high pay career (8k per month)(Banking line) and I'm only a diploma student (business administration).

When i was 24, i was only doing contracted job (paying $1k per month), and i keep wondering.. Do i have to earn this little for now and in the future?

My contract ended, I was jobless. But i was really hardworking and keep sending resumes to different banks and getting rejected in interviews for 9 times! (No banking experience at that time). I finally succeeded on the 10th time.

I tell you man... Know what you want, foresee what you want to do in the future, and keep trying for that.

Getting rejected in interviews is a great thing, because it opens up to you what questions the Human resource manager will ask. Keep trying and trying and trying. It is bullsh!t to tell yourself that... "They won't take me.. there are so many qualified ppl out there"

Start low and climb up with hardwork. Job hop if there are no prospects.

I made it. And so can you. I'm only 26.

 

[blueguy]

Life isn't linear. It's multidimensional. Most people will change what they do several times during their life. And guess what? That's life. I didn't even finish college... it wasn't challenging enough. I'm going a little now just a little at a time to learn and for the fringe benefits although really... I'm not learning anything. Maybe if I were working on a graduate or medical degree or something else I would be.

But back to the point. Life is NOT linear. I made half a million dollars already in a certain line of work (I'm 25), and I got bored. And now I'm starting ALL OVER on something entirely different that intrigues me. And I imagine that I will do this many times in my life. Because it's not really about the money. It's about what challenges me and makes me tick. Although the most challenging things in life usually do bring a lot of money. Don't think that if you haven't done something by a certain age that you're a failure. Pretty much, you're only a failure if you're not challenging yourself.

 

[WestCoaster]

You're still pretty young and you have some good skills, IT/computer experience. Those are really applicable to many things. Vancouver's economy appears to be going well right now, but you might want to look at re-locating. Vancouver is my favorite city of all-time, but sometimes we can't live where we want. I've limited myself somewhat geographically and it has limited me.

Another option -- which I wish I would've done at your age -- is start your own business. Yeah, you need partners and start-up money, but working for yourself is usually better than working for someone else. Hang in there, you're young and you have some good skills. Keep knocking on doors.

 

[Master Bates]

Another option -- which I wish I would've done at your age -- is start your own business. Yeah, you need partners and start-up money, but working for yourself is usually better than working for someone else. Hang in there, you're young and you have some good skills. Keep knocking on doors.

I also hear working for yourself is a giant pain in the ass and can have you working 70+ hours a week.

 

[blueguy]

I also hear working for yourself is a giant pain in the ass and can have you working 70+ hours a week.

It can. It's the age old issue of sacrificing for your future vs. living in the present.

Indeed, you can't have everything in life.

That's why you shouldn't regret. It pretty much is just wasting more time.

 

[Jukeboxhero]

Dont' feel bad. I'm 29!! That's right, 29 and still looking for a good career. Right now I work at a hotel and make less than $10 an hour. I could probably switch jobs and get paid more, but I think I should have a job in Animation within the next year. The one benefit to my job is I answer phones (which is boring and involves almost no REAL human interaction) but I am able to sit around and come up with ideas and browse the internet.

 

[Monster]

Underage poster in the Mature Man forum. Poster is 21 Years old

 

[BLebowski]

dont know if im going to do it or not, still thinking it through, BUT, if i could go back to being 27 id probably have gone and done it.

Go for it. Doing a PhD is one of the biggest mental tests you can do. You get to know yourself on so many levels it's unbelievable. Not to mention the fact you're around smart people, back in school is fun times, you get to travel to talk about your work/papers and getting rid of the corporate bull**** bingo should be reason enough. :woo:

To the OP: don't worry, careers aren't built on 1 day, but be sure you figure out what motivates and inspires you and draw a plan to get there. Otherwise you end up like a few of my coworkers: 45 years old and mentally dead, with only retirement as the highlight of their future.