need help with chosing a career :(

[Akonyl]

Well, here's my advice.

Go to Denny's and strike up a conversation with your waiter. Then, have it come up in the conversation that you don't know where you want to go to college, and your waiter will ask what you're interested in and give you a suggestion.

This suggestion based on a true story.

But for a suggestion that will work better for people that aren't me, I'll say one thing: Don't major in what you're best at in college, major in what you find enjoyable. A fair number of entry jobs care less about what your degree is in than the fact that you have a degree at all. Many people enter college not knowing what they want to major in, and so if you don't know either, it's not a big deal. What is a big deal is entering college, thinking "I'm good at chemistry so I'm gonna major in chemistry", and then realizing after your second year that while you may be good at it, you absolutely detest it, which seems to be the case for most chemistry majors I know.

So though you might be good at math, and are fluent in arabic, I wouldn't base my decisions on that, really.

[ranger]

hello  all, ive been trying to find a good career choice so i can prepare for college, im 15years old at 10th grade. sadly, my school does not have career days or anything for that matter  :-\.


what im looking for is an interesting job (not some boring office job) that can sometimes require footwork (i dont want to stay indoors that much) with good pay, in school im one of the best students who understand mathematics (algebra and geometry, i dont even know what calculus is ) i have even showed my teacher shortcuts on solving problems, how equations work and one time was able to solve a question accurately  without even knowing the method used to solve it.

i can speak both Arabic and English fluently, but im bad when it comes at grammar and such, math is basically the only subject i understand WELL but im able to score A's in pretty much all subjects but i suffer a bit.



please help me decide and PLEASE avoid silly comments...this is important for me  :'(

Ambitious for being an incoming sophomore

Do you go to school here in the states or somewhere else?  Just want to understand, and if you are willing to attend universities in the US.

Regardings an 'interesting job', you basically don't want to sit in a cubicle all day?  Due to your passion for mathematics, I would probably recommend some sort of engineering - all of the specialties, computer, agricultural, mechanical, all require a solid foundation of mathematics and its intertwined into basically everything engineers do.  

Um, it may not require a whole lot of "footwork", but a lot of engineering jobs are hands-on, meaning you're not going to be just sitting the entire time (but it might be a majority).  To be honest, Conan, high paying jobs that have mathematics as their foundation usually requires someone to be sedentary.

On the topic of engineering, like I said, there are a lot of specialties, that are all vastly different, despite the common name.  Nuclear, Mechanical, Agricultural, Environmental, Chemical, Computer, Electrical, Biomedical, Astronautical, Material, Physic Science.. list goes on.

A career solely on mathematics, like a pure Math major, frankly, usually isn't going to be as high paying, and if you want to be on the upper levels of salaries for that major, you're going to have to get a phd for research or to become a professor.

This is all my opinion btw, not facts or guidelines or anything.  Hope you found this helpful.

[Akonyl]

if you try something out and it turns out not to be your cup of tea, you can always switch over to something else (preferably in the same-ish discipline so you don't have to re-take a lot of classes). A friend of mine went to college to study physics, but after his second year he skipped over to economics (though he was still declared as physics until his third year). He's in college for an extra year, but physics and economics are pretty different fields anyway. Bottom line, I would worry more about getting into a good university before worrying about what you're going to do there. Many universities have classes that are required regardless of discipline, so you could spend your time taking those classes until you're sure of yourself.

Also, you can always go sit in on an engineering class or two without actually taking the class.

one thing i found interesting is working as  intelligence analysis for military or something, but who wanna works in military anyway 

Dealing with the military doesn't necessarily mean you're in the military, my jobhas me working on some military software and it's very non-military feeling.

[ranger]

Why do you think you'd hate you hate a job that would have to do w/ engineering?  I mean if it's because of just sitting at the desk, you still got 2 more years of high school and maybe another 4-8 years of college where you're still going to be sitting and taking notes

I mean...you can walk around and stuff at the company/work place..haha, and actually a lot of the bigger named companies have gyms/cafes right in the building - so there are fun things to be had at work

If you enjoy what you do, it's not going to be boring and you're not going to hate it.

Detective work, to be blunt, is a pipedream in the reality aspect and in the economic-sense.  Private investigators hardly make any income, plus, it's not as easy as it seems like in the fictional stories.  If you truly want to become some sort of detective, the best would in the law enforcement category - whether as a police officer detective, or you could try your country's respective intelligence agency.

I honestly have no idea what Kuwait's intelligence agencies are, but in the US it's of course FBI and CIA (including many others) - this definitely is what you're thinking about, "footwork".  And, mathematics-wise, as far as I know, special agents in the FBI need to have some sort of expertise - whether it be some sort of communications major like language, or computer-related sciences for handling cyber crimes.

Take note, that usually, intelligence agencies are rather demanding and "elite", meaning it's hard to get in, you need to be mentally (intelligence) and physically capable - no matter the respective country, you're going to have to take some sort of physical test that would be grueling for anyone that's not a professional athlete (high school athletes would have trouble with this w/o properly training beforehand).

Military isn't that bad, Conan, working for your country is definitely a dream for a lot of people, of course it requires a level of nationalism..

Also, what's GBA?  something similar to GPA (grade point average)?

[Kor]

Become a politician and bring peace to the middle east

[ranger]

oops yeah i meant GPA LOL


"Military isn't that bad, Conan, working for your country is definitely a dream for a lot of people, of course it requires a level of nationalism.."

i had a teacher who kept telling us not to join the the military  lol, but judging by akonyl post, maybe intelligence analysis isn't  a bad deal after all,  anybody have any idea what/how they do their job?

i have read some brief summaries about it and i kept reading words like 'tactics ' and "strategy" which any chess fan would want in his career

Once again, this is just my opinion, but I don't think being an agent of an intelligence agency is going to be similar to that of a chess player - regarding the strategies and tactics.  You're not being a general or a commander, and you don't control fronts of soldiers.

The concepts learned from Chess and what your mind stimulates from the game of course is beneficial, as it can definitely help in many categories later on..especially if you want to do something math-orientated.

Just to give you a taste on what to expect from an intelligence agent, such as the FBI for example, things you usually would do would be handling identity theft, drug trafficking, civil rights violations, white collar related criminal acts and if you're going to associate your math background - you are probably going to be in the cyber crime department.  Or you're going to be investigating crime scenes and understanding the culprit's motive - a la Conan style, but not as extrapolate, since you're not going to see the culprit just chilling at the scene, and you're most likely not going to deduct that the criminal used some crazy plan with plastic tape and fishing wire.

Don't imagine that every day you're going to be dealing with terrorists and handling bomb threats, or taking down a huge syndicate - if you want that job you'd have to specifically apply to the their counter-terrorist unit, HRT.

EDIT: I wish you the best of luck Conan324, study hard the next two years in high school, especially this and junior year, most important.  While it's smart of you to be thinking long-term, think about what university you want to attend, i hope you continue your pursuit of mathematical knowledge, and maybe in 2 years I'll see you post again at a school in America  

I'm afraid I can't give you anymore advise, but there are plenty of others here on the forums willing to help ya out.

Farewell

[Abs.]

Please remember that working in something dealing with intelligence/military does not always mean you are running around with a gun.

There are a LOT of jobs (more than half) dealing with intelligence/military where all you do is go to the same office, day in and day out.

Intelligence ANALYSIS is one of them.

[xpon]

what about teaching?

you can be math theacer...

i used to dream to be one.. and nomemory go to the collage but quit.. she got furter then me.. i quit chasing that dream in High school

[nomemory]

what about teaching?

you can be math theacer...

i used to dream to be one.. and nomemory go to the collage but quit.. she got furter then me.. i quit chasing that dream in High school

i hate nothing more than teaching:P

If you are insecure try talking yo people who work in with engineering, ask them about their job and how it is. I'm sure someone would gladly tell you.

[Kleene Onigiri]

I can't tell you more that was already said. You still have alot of time. Go around and ask people. Maybe even ask your family member, neighbours etc. what jobs they do and how it is, even if it's not related to mathematics.

Well, I can tell you what I did to choose my career: I tossed a coin!
I'm not kidding here :x

What I wanna say with that, you can still change it later on. Butt don't hang around and do nothing at all. I think that's worse than spending a year on a course you'll change later on.
And you should also choose something that you like. Not something other people want you to do or people say that it's too hard. If you want to do it and work for it, then go for it!

[Akonyl]

Well, I can tell you what I did to choose my career: I tossed a coin!
I'm not kidding here :x

glad to hear I'm not the only person who leaves these things up to random chance.

Butt don't hang around

teehee

[Tanner-kun]

I also have no clue what job to get but since brain surgeon is the highest paying i might go with that. but trauma center for the DS gave me a pentagram habit

[Kleene Onigiri]

Well, I can tell you what I did to choose my career: I tossed a coin!
I'm not kidding here :x

glad to hear I'm not the only person who leaves these things up to random chance.

Butt don't hang around

teehee

Damn you akonyl! XD I can't stop laughing because of that typo you found! XD
But in both senses, it's correct ;p

[Akonyl]

I also have no clue what job to get but since brain surgeon is the highest paying i might go with that. but trauma center for the DS gave me a pentagram habit

drawing pentagrams on peoples' brains isn't a very good idea, I'll admit.

Butt don't hang around

teehee

Damn you akonyl! XD I can't stop laughing because of that typo you found! XD
But in both senses, it's correct ;p

...in both senses? So are you giving him advice on how his butt shouldn't hang around or he won't get a good job?

[Kleene Onigiri]

I also have no clue what job to get but since brain surgeon is the highest paying i might go with that. but trauma center for the DS gave me a pentagram habit

drawing pentagrams on peoples' brains isn't a very good idea, I'll admit.

Butt don't hang around

teehee

Damn you akonyl! XD I can't stop laughing because of that typo you found! XD
But in both senses, it's correct ;p

...in both senses? So are you giving him advice on how his butt shouldn't hang around or he won't get a good job?

Yes. Would you employ someone with a hanging butt? D: