View Full Forums : If you could start over...


Panamah
06-30-2005, 11:33 AM
I often think of careers I wish I had gone into. Right now my choice is rather an odd one... I think I would have enjoyed being a Medical Examiner (i.e. coroner). I love solving puzzles, figuring things out. To me I think figuring out how someone died would be like doing puzzles every day and getting paid for it!

What other career options interest you if you could start over?

Jinjre
06-30-2005, 12:06 PM
I probably would have gone into nursing or accounting if I could start over.

My actual field of study was Biology with a secondary ed. teaching certificate. Everyone was talking about "the teacher shortage" that not only didn't exist, but teachers were being laid off by the bucketload when I graduated.

Having a relatively secure job or at least being in a field where if I didn't like my current job, I would have opportunities to go work somewhere else, would be nice.

I also like the idea of having skills which could be used to help people in a charitable way (like Doctors without Borders or the Red Cross).

jtoast
06-30-2005, 12:26 PM
I hadn't thought of it but I actually love what I do for a living. I honestly can't imagine myself doing anything else.

Thicket Tundrabog
06-30-2005, 12:33 PM
Interesting question. In my last two years of high school, I made a very conscious decision on my career direction. I even decided that the results of a set of aptitude tests would influence my decision. Too bad my results were essentially identical across the tests.

I chose my profession because;

1. I liked chemistry.
2. I wanted a profession that would allow me to be financially successful --- engineering.

I became a chemical engineer.

If I had to do it again.... hmmm... I probably would pick the same career because other potential careers aren't as financially rewarding.

If money was not a criteria I would choose;

1. Archaeologist/Paleontologist/Anthropologist
2. Writer/Author (I might still do this, but more as a retirement hobby than a profession.)
3. Environmental Activist (I definitely will do this when I retire. Heck, I'm doing it now, even though I've spent my entire career in 'polluting' industries.)
4. Post-graduate professor - probably in Management Sciences.
5. Professional public speaker - just about any field except politics.


Professions I would NOT consider would be.

1. Anything that requires multiple languages - ironic since I'm fluently bilingual and acceptably quatralingual.
2. Anything technical that involves electricity - hugely ironic since I currently manage a power plant, but I have others deal with the electrical techie stuff.
3. Anything that requires athletic ability - I'm definitely the cerebral, couch potato kind.
4. Anything that requires significant physical labor. (Digging up bones and pottery is Ok.)
5. Anything that involves human blood other than my own... i.e. the medical profession - ironic since I'm in the 1% of Canadians that regularly donates blood.
6. Law - Yeah, I know that lawyers are necessary, especially in the U.S.... they just don't seem to actually contribute that much to society.
7. Politics - I'm not a masochist.

Klath
06-30-2005, 01:19 PM
That is an interesting question. I liked the profession I chose (computer programmer) but there have been times where other professions have been appealing.

1) Geologist -- spend time exploring interesting places and figuring out how they were formed
2) Explosives engineer -- woohoo, blowing **** up is soooo cool.
3) FBI agent -- lots of puzzle solving, tracking down serial killers

Panamah
06-30-2005, 02:09 PM
2) Explosives engineer -- woohoo, blowing **** up is soooo cool.
A friend of mine worked in Fire Prevention area, I guess inspecting buildings and stuff for fire code. Something like that.

He now runs (part owner?) of a fireworks company. :D

I probably would be doing something medical. If not a medical examiner then I've been real interested in hormones ever since my thyroid exploded, so perhaps an endocrinologist.

Klath
06-30-2005, 03:09 PM
He now runs (part owner?) of a fireworks company. :D
Sweet! I bet he's popular on New Years and the 4th of July.

I've been real interested in hormones ever since my thyroid exploded, so perhaps an endocrinologist.
What caused your thyroid to explode?

Anka
06-30-2005, 03:20 PM
I think I'd have gone into the same career that I did actually take but make better career decisions once I was there. I'd do the same for University and school too really.

I'd quite like to have just a year of being a film, holiday, or restaurant reviewer. A whole career of it might spoil all the pleasure but just for a year I'm sure I could put up with it.

Panamah
06-30-2005, 03:45 PM
What caused your thyroid to explode?
My immune system apparently attacked it or something. Anyway, I took Radioactive Iodine to kill it, really wish I hadn't now... Anyway, I haven't felt "normal" since then because doctors really don't know crap about thyroid replacement, although they think they do. So I plunged in and learned everything I could about it, got better treatment and in the process learned so many people with bad thyroids are getting really horrible treatment and very bad advice. But the most fascinating bit to me is how hormones influence your personality, your characteristics, your temperment, your talents, pretty much everything. And then so many things you eat and do actually can influence your hormones and how your body deals with them. Its fascinating and there's so much crap no one really knows.

oddjob1244
06-30-2005, 04:12 PM
Wow, I've actually thought being a medical examiner would be the worst job (well beyond the obvious low-pay stuff like flipping burgers). Digging through dead bodies really makes my stomach turn. Especially a decomposing one or a baby, yea I don't think I could do it.

I don’t know what I would do if I did things over again, and I still don’t. Maybe wood working or a chef. However I do know that I wouldn’t get caught up in the .com boom and think, “There will always be jobs there.”

Arienne
06-30-2005, 05:19 PM
Methinks Panamah has been watching too much TV. Everything on TV is made to seem more exciting. I'm surprised that there hasn't been some "super sleuth beancounter" series on yet. Don't get me wrong. I know a lot of accountants who enjoy their job. It's just that it isn't fast paced and full of excitement unless it's tax season or you're being audited.

For me, I kind of like where I've been in life but might make a few changes in my decisions outside of work. :)

Panamah
06-30-2005, 05:53 PM
Yeah, I love Dr. G, medical examiner. But she's a real examiner. :D She does talk about how rewarding her job is finding out why their loved ones died, exonerating innocent people, finding out the real reasons people died. She does sometimes get to know about the people she autopsies, very much into their lives to figure out how they died. Like this one guy they found floating in a lake, she discovered he was quite a good artist, but he was a homeless guy and an alcoholic.

As far as the yucky stuff, well it becomes routine. She says that the decomposition doesn't really bother her.

Of course, every job seems more exciting or interesting until you get into it. My first career path was as a classical musician, but I was shanghai'd by computers. Now I look at the sort of incredibly competitive and low lousy wages most musicians are earning and I'm so glad I didn't go that way. But at the time, I couldn't imagine any career that would have been more rewarding than being a musician.

Fenmarel the Banisher
06-30-2005, 07:04 PM
Well I think you know I would definately be doig something different if I could. I just don't know what. Working with pyrotechnics sounds fun!

Stormhaven
06-30-2005, 07:21 PM
I was that kid in school who never could answer the "what do you want to be when you grow up?" question. I still don't know, but as far as I can figure, the closest thing would be "Independently Wealthy," because there's no career field that really grabs my interest in an encompassing manner. While there's a lot of stuff out there I'd love to learn and maybe take a spin at, I think the tedium of the job would destroy the fun factor. So my career choice would be "everything" but only with the condition of "didn't <i>need</i> it."

Unfortunately "be rich" is hardly ever a career option (I mean, who wouldn't choose it, right?), so I'd like trying my hand at independent cartooning. Unfortunately I love my toys, so unless I hit it "Dilbert" big, I couldn't afford the lifestyle I've become accustomed too :)

Aquila Swiftspirit
07-01-2005, 09:57 AM
I DID start over, a couple times, and eventually found my way to something I love. But boy oh boy there were tense and stressful times in there.

Lots of folks in the field of career counseling say that most people in the US will change careers at least once, so if you always wanted to do X, GO for it!

B_Delacroix
07-01-2005, 01:13 PM
I often say if things were different (as in I knew what path I had to take to do it) I'd be an astronaut.

Panamah
07-01-2005, 02:02 PM
I'm too old to start over yet again. Especially as my new interest would require a ton of additional schooling. Bleh!

Arienne
07-01-2005, 06:31 PM
On second thought, maybe I'd marry a wealthy man and become a philanthropist with no conscience about family.