Would like some help with this--career choices

Hey Fellas,

Today I'm here to get help in solving this problem that I have. I would be so grateful if you could give me a hand with this.

I am trying to find some clarity in my future choice of career. Then I had the idea of asking myself what kind of lifestyle I would want to lead in the future, and I came up with these points:

+High pay
+Giving lots of value/making a real impact on others' lives, not just working for the money - I learned that money alone is not really a good motivator if there are other choices
+Working together with high-quality/high-value people, or choosing who I work with
+Lots of independence (such as free time and where I want to work from)

The professions that come to my mind are entrepreneur and freelance architect.
Doctors have high pay, but very little free time and independence. I'm planning for a family somewhere down the line, so that's important.
Diplomats get paid well, travel a lot and are at the front lines of politics, but they have to switch locations every 4-5 years, and sometimes can't choose where they go.

If you guys have any idea, please do feel free to pitch in!

* Medical field: Physician may worth it but it is too much school, e.g. college + 4 years of med school + 3-5 years of residency. If you are not rich you will need some 250K or more loans. If you don't watch your money for the next couple of years, you may easily end up with loans 500K... Too much competition, you may not be able to even get to med school, and residency in field of your choice may be super competitive... Too much work, too much bureaucracy, too much competition, not enough rewards in comparison to past... Not the best choice these days, unless you have dedication and/or friends and family members who can help you, unfortunately not the best decision these days...

Look into physician assistant (PA) or nursing. PA needs college + some 2.5 years, make about 80-110 K per year, depending on location. Can change to different sub-specialities fairly easily... Not too much competition, not a bad career at all... Similar Nursing, if you put your time and effort into it, you'll make 60-90K per year... Or try anesthesiology assistant, similar to PA and make even more (140-160K), but more limited by location... Also look into becoming a pharmacist, it's also good and rewarding career, 4 years after college, 90K starting salary, bonuses, management positions...

* Law: Too many lawyers already, you better carefully plan which area of law you want to do. Average or below average lawyers don't make that much, some don't even survive or need second job... Good lawyers can make 100-200K plus more every year, it's all relative... First couple of years you will need to work your ass off to make your name... Too much competition... You may get a fancy degree from well recognized school for say 150K loans... but then you may ended up with a job that pays 30-50K per year... Does it worth it if you are not dedicated? Nope...

* Real Estate: Go Trump! It's all up to you, there is no limit. All you need is to pass Real Estate test, don't even need college... If you are really good you may become millionaire...

* Engineering: Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Civil, Biomedical, Computer... Good solid income, probably 60K plus, all relative... Come up with a new software and you'll make millions, but the thing is, there is thousands and thousands of excellent programmers out there, the competition is HUGE.
- Database Administrator: Good Income, around 80K average, all you need is some certifications...

* Trumperica: With Trump in power, there will be huge opportunities for business in the next 4+ years... Taxes will be cut, people will have motivation to work hard again... Many many people love to make money and Trump will make it easy... There was never an easier time to make money in USA and there will never be like with Trump, I bet 100%... Find a good idea for product or service, put time and effort in it, and you may become very rich in short period of time... Guys who are business oriented don't even realize how fucking lucky they are to have Trump in power. I've never seen so many fools, they still crying for Bernie instead...

If you are starting college now and if I were you, I would focus on difficult classes, on science.... physics, math, chemistry, biology... Get these out of the way and depending on your grades chose your future career... Everybody can do business classes, everybody can do well in psychology, not so many can do heavy duty science... Think Future, with solid degree you will have many doors opening to you...

Drck,
What an elaborate response!
All of these sound super attractive.

Also, I should have added that I live in Austria (Central Europe) and university here is completely free.

It's getting clearer now.

RAFox

Some things to consider:
I'd personally stay away from those high paying low education jobs in the med field. They have a ceiling. Even the nurse with a masters caps out at director of nursing. It's great for contribution but it's a limiting path

Entrepreneur is a good idea but ask anyone doing business plans in school and you'll realize it's 99% based on your ability to make things happen. It required negotiation and creative problem solving. You might be better served to start with a start up making yourself valuable to those who are figuring things out. I chose this route but I can say it's not for everyone

Freelance architect or any consulting position that is for an individual contributor can pay well but won't scale beyond your time unless you cross over into hiring people where you are an entrepreneur. To become a good consultant in any field, you want to get a job doing this type of work with big projects before you strike out on your own

transformative developer roles are interesting to me. I've seen people turn around business by taking them over and making them awesome, turn around neighborhoods by building great new real estate, and otherwise fix big problems in the world. It's a combination of skill sets where you aim your entrepreneurial energy at something that contributes value and use some unique skill set or talent you have as leverage to be transformative with it.

I really wouldn't look for Trump for inspiration. The majority of his business accomplishments are "meh" or worse for the world outside of those people who worked for him and weren't stiffed. But a lot can be gained by looking at entrepreneurs like Jobs, Gates, Musk, Zuckerberg, or certainly your own hometown entrepreneurial heros who gave value to the world.

Become a teacher, the pay is respectable in some states and nothing like making an impact on the lives of kids when they most need guidance in their lives. I have a teacher as a fuckbuddy right now and she makes a respectable salary (close to six figures) while having decent working hours.

Hey RAFox,

A little late to the discussion here but wanted to throw an idea out there that may not have been suggested yet.

Why not look into a sales career? I don't mean a door to door or telemarketing pushy salesman that most people equate to a sales job. I mean a professional selling role where you become an expert in a product/service field and consult clients on how to fix problems that you're product/service addresses. Typically this is business to business sales to offer products that improve the success of business growth.

Lets see if it matches your criteria:

+High pay- Professional selling careers are some of the most lucrative careers you can make for an entry level position. A friend of mine who just graduated is making 6 figures out of college.

+Making real impact on others lives- Depending on what you sell yeah sure this can be a huge aspect. A mentor of mine sells vaginal mesh to gynecologist's. He oversees the implementation of the vaginal mesh (kind of disturbing tbh) and then his patients have improved lives. I do sales for The 21 Convention which is a mens self improvement company. When my customers show up to an event and get to meet their mentors they've seen on YouTube it often changes their lives and they experience more success with women and success in life.

+Working w/ high quality people- Depending on what industry and company culture you get into yes there are some really heavy hitting solid people in sales careers. Again its all about what industry and company culture you have. I'm interviewing with a company that sells suits called Tom James who send their employees to self improvement seminars and many sales reps are big into personal growth.

+Lots of independence- Yeah outside sales roles are very independent and depending on the company culture as long as you're hitting your sales goals then you're free to work when you want choosing where you want to work from. Some professional selling roles are also travel roles.

Could be a solid option to consider.

-Rob

Just the take of an older man who's been in the work for more than 20 years.

Yes, entrepreneur seems like a good way given your objectives. It is however still very useful to start with a corporate job - as long as you keep in touch with your longer run objective which is independence. From a corporate job, you get the chance to learn the professional business practices and standards. You also get to learn about the industry your company is in. Take the chance to note who are the actors in the industry, the customers, the suppliers, the direct competitors, the "barriers to entry" i.e. what it takes to get started. Try to spot if there is a "niche market" which has been neglected by the major players. Also think if there is a creative new way to do the same old business more efficiently (think Uber). All things very useful to know when you get on your own business.

Agreed with Mr. Rob, sales is a good skill to have - especially if you want to start your own business. So it also fits nicely into the entrepreneur way. Interestingly, the core skills you learn in seduction will be immediately applicable to sales - don't look needy, abundance mentality, frame control, "cold approach", etc...

Engineering: there is a shortage of engineers in the West, and probably more building up. Problem is, you need to be, and remain, on the most cutting edge front. But what is "cutting edge" keeps changing all the time, and at an ever faster pace. For instance in the late 1990s, telecom engineering was the golden field (things like 3G technologies, CDMA, UMTS and so forth). Young people would flock into the Telecom degrees and masters. By the time they finished studies (2003), it was a bust business, most of the jobs were outsourced to India. To stay on the edge, you had to migrate to other things, like "Voice over IP" (skype and the likes). This sort of things will go on. So tech engineering can be good if you're sufficiently flexible and hardworking to keep yourself at the top, as your former jobs get "outsourced" elsewhere. There are also the non-sexy engineering fields that will always be short of people, like in Energy sector.

Finance: if you're good with numbers. It is an area that pays very well today. Not sure about tomorrow, because of all the new regulations coming up, but it probably is going to remain well paid for some time. It may have become less "socially sexy" after the 2008 crisis. Yet, it does add value to society. At the core, its function is to fuel the business with required capitals. It's what makes real economy happen.

That's it for what I directly know of.

Cheers man,
Seppuku

Rob, sales sounds really good. I never had a clear image of what sales actually is. And it has all the points I'm looking for!

Seppuku, I suppose you're right about getting a corporate job to learn about the market. But perhaps I can figure all that out by talking to some people who have that knowledge.

Thanks for all the advice. Love you all.

I guess nobody here has mentioned the post of a manager....If you have excellent skills ij getting people to do what you want them to do, then a career in management is quite suitable.

As far as the pay goes, I think it all depends on how well yoi manage yourself on the corporate ladder bit in my country, MBA graduates are paid decently. I don't know how the situation is in Austria.

Try considering the post of department manager....you might find it to your liking.

Pks,

Thanks for the input! I am studying international business now, so that's going to be included too.

RAFox

RAFox said:

Pks,

Thanks for the input! I am studying international business now, so that's going to be included too.

RAFox

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That's great just make sure to examine the market that you aim to enter because certain places have an excess of people with Qualified management degrees. The pay can greatly vary from market to market. Always select a sector which you are passionate about and wish to specialize in. The specialist will always trump the general practitioners.