Career - Tell me about your fields

[hpdrifter]

I have decided that now is the time to get off my ass and go back to school, either for an evening certificate program or a Master's Degree. I am having a hard time trying to decide what direction I want to go in.

I am primarily an administrative assistant/mid-level coordinator with experience in the nonprofit sector. I was thinking about pursuing another administrative direction like fundraising/advancement, grant administration/coordination, hr, project management, regulatory compliance, etc. All things I would need further education to pursue.

Does anyone here do jobs in these fields, do you like it?

There is a part of me that would like to pursue an new direction, something more exciting like something related to law enforcement or travel but I have no experience in these fields. For those of you in these fields, how feasible is it for me to switch gears at this age (29)?

In general, what are people's thoughts on career or work life?

[cookiepuss]

Skye---so it kinda appears that you didn't move to SF. I'm guessing that's because Nash Bridges isn't on the air any more so they didn't need you for set designs?
:confused:

[Echewta]

My major was recording industry engineering but never took it anywhere after school.

Worked in commercials/television for awhile and got burned out.

Worked at one of the buzzed about streaming video companies during the internet bubble and saw money being spent foolishly and bailed before the bubble popped.

Did some temp work and worked on one tv show and realized that i was still burned out on production.

Became an assistant at a major studio for awhile.

Now I coordinate large meetings/events at that studio and make chocolate during the holidays.

I miss school.

[cookiepuss]

not now, no.

maybe down the line I might go back to SF....LucasFilms is taking over San Francisco right now so you never know. ;)

of course! This is going to be Hollywood North, you know!

[hpdrifter]

See, I think a career in entertainment would be really exciting but there's no industry around here for that. I have considered moving back to Cali, though. I wanted to be an actress when I was younger and lived in LA for a couple of years trying to make it happen but it sort of ate me alive. But maybe I could still be a part of it, just not in front of the camera.

[Mrs_Princess]

I have an associates in graphic design... I want to go back to school but I can't no $$ and dad said if I take out a loan I have to pay him back for my associates + interest, err so I'm looking for a job in graphic design!

[cookiepuss]

(y) See, I think a career in entertainment would be really exciting but there's no industry around here for that. I have considered moving back to Cali, though. I wanted to be an actress when I was younger and lived in LA for a couple of years trying to make it happen but it sort of ate me alive. But maybe I could still be a part of it, just not in front of the camera.

I would like it if you moved down here.

and you already know I'm just as lost career wise as you are. I feel kinda locked into what I'm doing at the moment...but there are somethings that may come into play next month that might be worthwhile enough to dump this job. we'll see.

[Nuzzolese]

I help people who help people. And I help the helpers charge those people for being helped.

[beastieangel01]

I'm still in school. I am actually grateful in some ways that my Father was always very strict about me going out during high school. It made me a net nerd, and I learned web design for "fun." Got me the job I have today while in school.

Anyway, I started out going to school for Game Art & Design. At 18 I thought "oh working all day drawing for games is awesome!" I still think that, but I also would like to go home to a family ONE day in the future, instead of overtime being a constant, normal thing. You have to not only love games, but LIVE games. That's how the industry is right now anyway.

So, I decided to stick with art since I love it. And now I'm a fine arts major (and maybe I can just make up game characters anyway in my free time, good practice). I'd like to teach. I hope to get good enough to teach. I still have a lot to learn myself.

[Bob]

I help people who help people. And I help the helpers charge those people for being helped.

i annoy the people who help people by burdening them with paperwork (i work for an insurance company)

the main thing i've learned from my job is that i do not want a career in insurance, it sucks. my job's ok, it's very low level and stress-free, but i just don't like the industry.

[Nuzzolese]

i annoy the people who help people by burdening them with paperwork (i work for an insurance company)

the main thing i've learned from my job is that i do not want a career in insurance, it sucks. my job's ok, it's very low level and stress-free, but i just don't like the industry.

I work with insurance companies every DAY! We're buddies, sort of. You annoy the people I work for. You guys are a sneaky folk, always changing the rules. I try to get money from you all the time. This month a doctor forgot to turn in some official credentialling papers on time. You win this round.

[beastiegirrl101]

My major was marketing with a concentration in PR and a minor in dance.

My goal was to do performance and chorography but because the average performance dancer is 5'8...my height held me back. You could say I could have been the one to break all sterotypes and try my hardest to be the smallest dancer on broadway but it was so stressful and dancing is so cut throat. Looking for something artsy to do with my old ballet slippers. Suggestions? I was on point at 8 years old. Man...i miss that. :(

ANYWAY..so what I do now ...I am an events coordinator / sales manager for a fine dining restaurant group. The majority of our restaurants have private space and I book that space, whether it's corporate or personal functions. Pretty much what Chewy does...but he books meeting / conference space where as I only handle the events on site. It's just eh...the perks are better than the actual job.

[Bob]

I work with insurance companies every DAY! We're buddies, sort of. You annoy the people I work for. You guys are a sneaky folk, always changing the rules. I try to get money from you all the time. This month a doctor forgot to turn in some official credentialling papers on time. You win this round.

actually i'm not that bad, i work for a disability insurance company, not health insurance. the worst we do is request pages upon pages of medical records and make doctors fill out forms (which they are usually loathe to do, and i don't blame them, really).

it's not so bad now that i work for long term disability, but when i worked in short term, we expected a turnaround time of about 3 weeks, which most doctors weren't able or willing to do. so the claims would get held up because we were waiting on records all the time, and we'd look at the doctors like they were the bad guys here. doctors, bad guys! how douchebag are we?!

anyway i don't like insurance

[Nuzzolese]

actually i'm not that bad, i work for a disability insurance company, not health insurance. the worst we do is request pages upon pages of medical records and make doctors fill out forms (which they are usually loathe to do, and i don't blame them, really).

it's not so bad now that i work for long term disability, but when i worked in short term, we expected a turnaround time of about 3 weeks, which most doctors weren't able or willing to do. so the claims would get held up because we were waiting on records all the time, and we'd look at the doctors like they were the bad guys here. doctors, bad guys! how douchebag are we?!

anyway i don't like insurance

All of that is so familiar to me, because I'm supposed to be working on it today. Well, a doctor is anyway. They do hate paperwork of any kind. They became doctors to help people, not to sign things. I'm not sure anyone becomes anyone so they can sign things. But you know...whatever.

[Bob]

All of that is so familiar to me, because I'm supposed to be working on it today. Well, a doctor is anyway. They do hate paperwork of any kind. They became doctors to help people, not to sign things. I'm not sure anyone becomes anyone so they can sign things. But you know...whatever.

yeah, seriously. i always feel so guilty when i send them, but it's not really my decision, i just do the grunt work. it's gotta be time consuming, and it's not like doctors have other things to do, right? i mean, i guess you could consider it as part of taking care of the patient's health, since they need our money to live well, and we need those records to pay that money, but i dunno. i feel dirty about it all the same.

[enree erzweglle]

My major was marketing with a concentration in PR and a minor in dance.

My goal was to do performance and chorography but because the average performance dancer is 5'8...my height held me back. You could say I could have been the one to break all sterotypes and try my hardest to be the smallest dancer on broadway but it was so stressful and dancing is so cut throat. Looking for something artsy to do with my old ballet slippers. Suggestions? I was on point at 8 years old. Man...i miss that. :( It's a terribly hard field to even break into and then if you do, you have to deal with SHIT. Lots and lots of petty, back-stabbing shit and the performing arts disciplines weed away so much of your instinct that you'll wind up second-guessing yourself to near insanity. You're limited in options and you'll be retired by the time you're 28 so it's really not a career unless you're in the top ~1% of dancers and even then, you're still going to be fairly limited. I would guess that you are probably much, much better off finding something that'll support you fiscally and then doing your dancing on your own and for fun.

[hpdrifter]

My cousin is a working dancer. Of course, she's 22 and 5'11". She's in Jubilee in Vegas. She always says that her height has given her an edge.

I knew you were a dancer, Nata. You have that kind of figure.

Yeah, cp, I hope the things you are hoping for come to pass, we'll both break out of the admin assistant mold. Its no place to stay.

Please continue to tell me about your careers and what you like and don't like about them. Its really interesting.

[enree erzweglle]

Please continue to tell me about your careers and what you like and don't like about them. Its really interesting.I don't call what I do "a career." It's a job but I like it anyway.

good things: People who know me, know my work and appreciate the contributions that I make and the contributions that the people in my field make; you can make a difference in published pieces that would have been crap otherwise.

bad things: Until you develop a rapport with a new author, you have to work to prove your worth, to be taken seriously as a team member. Once you do that, though, you're set. With new authors--people who think they can write and edit and who in actuality haven't done much of either--you usually have to prove the worth of the entire field of writing and editing before you gain any leeway with them.

About where I work specifically (at a university): we have flexibility (y) and we get to take classes for free or close to it (y). You can get degrees in your spare time at no cost and if the field of study is related to your job and if you try hard enough, you can swing doing part of the requirements as part of your specific job and get interesting internship positions to boot. It's like getting paid to go to school. And that's like when my friends were writing their PhD theses and their research was applicable to research that local companies were doing so those companies hired them as consultants. My friends got free graduate tuition/expenses at a top university in their field, got a monthly stipend, AND had consulting/billable hours for writing each thesis. That's win win win.

[icy manipulator]

i have an interview lined up next week for a position to be a Securities Analyst. if i get that position i'll finish my maths/finance double degree off part time.

after doing that for a decade or so i want to go back to uni to continue the degree i started off doing when i finished high school. it's called photonics and nanoscience. it's real cutting edge stuff, really specialised and something i have a true passion for. and the best thing is that the university that offers the course have achieve some really signficant breakthroughs in that field, better than any top particle physics centres in the world including CERN

so yeah i'm excited to go back to that one day(y)

[milleson]

I wanna be a scienstist when I grow up.

Right now I'm in school, and I work in lab. I plan on grad school after I get my BS. However, I'm really nervous about finding work after graduation. Anyone looking to hire a professional geologist in 2010?

[marsdaddy]

29 is still young enough to go back to school, if that's what you want to do. I thought about going back to school last year, but decided against it. I decided my top 3 priorities right now are health, family, and my existing job and a graduate degree didn't warrant the trade off on those priorities.

My job: I work for a company that helps people who are helped by medical people not have to wait around for help in the hospital if they don't need the clinical benefits of that setting. We also help the medical people avoid getting involved in billing insurance companies and government agencies for the equipment needed by those who need help. And, we help insurance companies keep the cost of care down, as hospital stays can be ten times more expensive than providing equipment at home. I'm a sales manager for a medical equipment company.

[icy manipulator]

I wanna be a scienstist when I grow up.

Right now I'm in school, and I work in lab. I plan on grad school after I get my BS. However, I'm really nervous about finding work after graduation. Anyone looking to hire a professional geologist in 2010?
geology rocks!!

yeah i know it's the worst joke ever.

there's a guy i know who finished uni last semester with a geology and now works in western australia and makes about 80 grand a year. plus all his expenses are paid for, it's a pretty sweet deal.

so if you're willing to go overseas, the land down under is the place to be

[hardnox71]

I work in the commodities market at the Chicago Board of Trade. I like it but nothing really interesting to talk about. Interest rates and unemployment numbers, rollover and deliveries.

Meh.

[Teh]

I wanna be a scienstist when I grow up.

Right now I'm in school, and I work in lab. I plan on grad school after I get my BS. However, I'm really nervous about finding work after graduation. Anyone looking to hire a professional geologist in 2010?

If you're interested in geology you should consider civil engineering. I originally wanted to work for the UK or US Geological Survey, but i wasn't sure i'd be able to find interesting/challenging work here and it didn't really involved enough maths/physics for me, so i'm now intending to specialise in geotechnical engineering this time next year when my university course gives me the chance.

Plus this way i get the added bonus of blowing stuff up. It's just a suggestion, it might not interest you but it's worth a consideration!

[milleson]

^ I actually left civil engineering to become a geology major. But the two are very intertwined. I hope to eventually work for the government. Or failing that, at a civil engineering firm as a geologist.

[beastiegirrl101]

I work in the commodities market at the Chicago Board of Trade. I like it but nothing really interesting to talk about. Interest rates and unemployment numbers, rollover and deliveries.

Meh.

Dude...my office is down the block from you. Stop being flakey...

OMG I found the best sushi spot in the city and it's right across the street from Jakes.

[hardnox71]

Dude...my office is down the block from you. Stop being flakey...

OMG I found the best sushi spot in the city and it's right across the street from Jakes.
1. What do you do?

2. How am I being flaky? The market bores the hell out of most people. Sometimes it bores me and I actually like it.

3. I can't remember what the hell is across the street from Jakes. I know Buca Di Beppo's is diagonal and that little bodega is kitty corner but for the life of me I can't remember what is on the opposite corner across Clark St.

[Planetary]

music-do what ya love....

[hardnox71]

do what ya love....
If you are able to find a way to do that and still manage to buy food and sleep indoors, you have truly found the secret to happiness.

There is nothing worse that getting up every morning and going to job that you can't fucking stand. I've done it many times. God, it sucks.

[QueenAdrock]

I went to University of Maryland, College Park and majored in history. I didn't think I'd do anything with it until I applied for a government position at the DoD, they specifically asked for someone proficient in research and certain information databases, which I am. So I'm currently waiting for my security clearance, and I *should* be working in the upcoming two weeks, but they've been REALLY slow getting it.

Either way, I plan to take night/weekend classes sometime eventually to get my master's. Not sure in what yet, but I was thinking geopolitical systems (international politics, basically), or holocaust/genocide studies. Or American history. Depends on where I see myself going, and what interests me.

Either way, I'm happy. :)

[anahata]

If you don't mind coming to live in my God-forsaken state, it's pretty easy to find a job here---my brother makes about 80 grand.
P.S. I live in Texas----hot as hell here!!!

[anahata]

Hmmm...forgot to say what I do, though. I am a waitress/secretary/maid/attitude adjuster/driver/teacher/and ...bullshit artist
Sorry, I'm being a dumb ass tonight. I am a stay at home mom; for those of us who do it right and have smart kids that don't act like idiot assholes in public(like demanding to use the baffroom when others are still in the stall;) ), it really is the hardest thing I have ever done.

Before that, I was in Admin...it was O.K., but my degree is in Biology/Psychology and I was used to being in a research lab before my little one came along.

Good luck to ya'...29 is not old! Make a change if it makes you happy.

[drizl]

im a loser

[mikizee]

i install slot machines, jukeboxes, and superscreens.

free car, free phone, almost no weekend work. our company also does the production lighting for pretty much every big band tour that comes to australia, so i get plenty of backstage passes for most tours. theres a V8 supercar event called the clipsal 500 which is one of the biggest in the country, i installed 27 massive superscreens, and then got paid to ride around the track in a golf buggy or scooter and perv on promo girls for 4 days, and mingle with famous ppl backstage at the concerts! i got soooooooooooo wasted.