Dear daughter,
Choosing a career path is a very important decision, especially when or if you have to decide what to study at the university level.
Why is very important?
Because it is what you will live from. At least at the beginning.
From time to time a read about people recommending careers, and changes in the lives of other people.
They usually recommend you to do something that you like. If you don’t like it, you will be miserable.
This is true.
However, let me tell you another truth, you won’t really know if you like it until you try it.
So, where to start? If you have to choose a career path, but you still don’t know what you like, because you didn’t try it before?
These are some of the questions that I asked myself when I was in high school and had to choose what to study because I wanted to go to the university. And this is what you are asking yourself now.
Let me tell you what I’ve learned through the years about career path decisions.
Some teenagers think they like to be a doctor because the father or the mother (or both) are doctors. And it happens with many other professions, such as accounting, nursing, computer science, law, etc.
However, there is no way they can be sure they like it because they didn’t experience it yet. They just think they like it. By the way, it is not a bad place to start.
In other cases, parents tell their kids what they “should study”, because that is what is best for them. Because parents always know better.
As a teacher, I’ve seen kids struggling in university studies. Most of the time when I ask them, why do you struggle so much, why you don’t study more? They say they don’t like that career.
My next question is obvious, then why are you here? Why don’t you study something else?
Most of them answer because this is what my parents want for me as a career.
The problem with following what your parents tell you to choose as a career is that it will be your career, not your parents’ career. It is you who will have to learn about that career and make a living out of it, not your parents. And this usually doesn’t end up well.
I hope you start to see the pattern here.
What I ask you to, as your father, is to choose yourself what you want to do. What do you see yourself 10 years from now, 20 years from now, or 30 years from now? Try to answer that and then choose a career that fits best to take you there.
Yes, I know, is a bit difficult.
But let me tell you, it has to be your choice. Because probably, the career you choose will define your future. And your future is only yours. I can give a lot of advice on what career I think you should choose, but in the end, it is your life.
Therefore, it must be you who makes the call.
When you make the decision, it becomes easy to know what to do at each time. Because it was your decision.
On the other hand, if you choose what your parents want for you, the first time you are in any trouble regarding your career (and you will be several times, it just works like that), you will just try to blame your parents, because it was the career they wanted for you, not the one you wanted and choose.
My last advice regarding what to choose is to choose a career that once you finish your studies, you can easily get a job.
A university degree is worthless if you cannot find a job related to that degree.
Some professionals can get a job at any place in this world, some of them are:
- Doctors
- Accountants
- Teachers
Other professionals, however, can find it more difficult, such as:
- Nuclear physicist
- Astronaut
- Landmine remover
Others, need to be in certain geographic areas to be able to get a job, like:
- Mining engineer
- Fishing related career
- Computer Science
- Agricultural engineer
So, let’s say you live in a village or a very small town without industrial development and you don’t want to move to another place. It will be weird if you choose to study Nuclear Physics. If you do it, without moving from that place, you just won’t find a job.
Another example. Let’s say you live in a big city; you like to go out and be in clubs. Suddenly, you decide to study Agricultural Engineer. That won’t make any sense, as you won’t be able to work in that field.
So, once you find out what you think you like, think about how easy can be to get a job in that field. If it will be easy, and it fits your future plans (moving to another place, or staying in the same place you are), then the decision will be clear for you.
There is another decision that some parents won’t even consider for their kids: Not going to college. In my case, I can fully understand if you decide you don’t want a university degree. Although I want you to get a university degree. But, as I told you before, it is your future that we are talking about, not mine. The thing with university degrees is that can give a high-paying jobs. If you learn how to use your paychecks from the beginning, you will be well off very soon after you start working.
If you don’t want to continue your studies, you need to know that you must start working. Many jobs don’t require a university degree and allow you to grow professionally while getting experience doing the job. One of them that I saw very closely is sales. You can be a great salesperson learning by doing and getting short training. This is just one example, but there are many outside there.
I support 100% whatever decision you make and will be with you all the time during this journey.
Love you, Dad.