Boring... I currently work as a 'Supermarket Assistant' with perks, as in I have been there so long that the managers don't bother telling me off anymore. Going to Surrey Uni this year though, so hopefully I'll be out of that hell hole soon enough.
DigiPen as in the one in Redmond? Didn't think a school that small would be too well known. A friend of mine goes there, absolutely loves it.
I don't have it that hard. I apologize if I've made my life out to be some sort of epic eternal struggle in my past few posts - it's really not, not when you consider that I'm fit and healthy (mostly ) and have friends and family who I care about and who care about me. Let me put it this way - I realized when I was about 20 that I needed to do a whole lot more work than I had been up until that point to get the qualifications and career that I have always wanted. I am passionate about many things, and the thing that I am most passionate about is engineering, specifically in electronics. When I realized this (and it literally was an overnight thing by the way), I pretty much instantly gave myself far too much work by trying to work doubly as hard as I had been and "play" at the same time - if that makes sense. As I've already mentioned, this didn't go well, so to get to where I want to be I gave more time to my studies and work than I had and stopped doing some of the things that previously had taken up a lot of my time. I didn't get the balance right at first. I worked too much (took on contracts I shouldn't have) and didn't study enough. I don't need to tell you what that led to. I got it right eventually though, and cope with everything pretty well now. I didn't mean to make it sound like I never have time for anything other than working and studying by default - nobody has a gun to my head at uni every day, and there's definately nobody forcing me to work every day and night that I spend in the workshop or on a job site. I'm doing it by choice to get where I wanted to be in 5 years (at 20) and where I want to be in two at the moment. It may take longer than I first planned but I'm willing to do what I'm doing until I get there. I want to say one last thing about your last comment (bolded above). We're different in this respect. Yeah, I love the things you've mentioned - but I also have a plethora of other hobbies and interests. I think this is what makes me so "busy all the time". I'm constantly learning. I have about 5 main hobbies and two jobs. That's a lot for two people never mind one but it's just the way I am. I find engineering of any sort fascinating, and I also have a keen interest in product design, multimedia, computer aided design and a dozen other things. In terms of career advancement, I find this to be one of my biggest flaws - if one of these things distracts me for just a couple of hours, I feel guilty because that's time that I haven't been productive in. It's interesting to hear you say that having very few interests is one of your flaws and knowing that having too many is one of mine To give you an idea of just how distracted I could become by the things that interest me in one way or another: Music, photography, computer hardware, gaming, netowrking, high end flashlight design, high spec knives, cars, motorsport, ice hockey, radio control, EDC items, data center design, CAD, interactive multimedia, product design & development, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic engineering, software engineering, industrial and commercial refrigeration, metal fabrication, CNC machining, reading, car refinishing (applies to PCs too), car valeting, paint detailling.... I'm going to stop now ^^ I'm assuming you were being sarcastic but for the record, both socialising and gaming were and still are very important to me, as well as the other things that I mentioned, like spending time with friends and family. I was a manager and first team player in a successful UK gaming clan and community for 5 years. That counts for something when you consider that I lost count of the number of clans and communities which started and disbanded in the first year of our existence. It fell apart when the managment (the owner, a deputy manager and myself) became too busy with real life commitments to continue to run it at the level it was at or take it any further or higher. I honestly believe to this day that we had professional league potential - if not with our then current teams then with new recruits and the backing of an existing strong community - but I'll probably never know whether that was true now. I also mentioned socialising. I love going out and spending time with friends and family and it sucks when I don't see them for long periods of time. I'll never apologise for saying that. Also, nice double post I'd like to take a moment to apologize if it seems like I've been trying to derail this thread. If you think about it, an interesting discussion came up that has turned out to involve many of the thus far participants in the thread. I hope the mods see it that way too
Lots of people really not sure what to do, nor was I, I suggest looking at work in the third sector - once you get any from the sterotypes of working for charity you can do nearly anything for that you can do in the private sector: IT consultant, managment, engineering, developwork, socialwork, etc. You get paid a little less, but it's much more rewarding (that said don't work for the big corperate charities such as Shaw Trust) I now manage a small project (only 4 workers under me) that looks at supporting people into volunteering/training/employment opportunities in the local area, we've got a really unqiue aproach (essentially it brings togther 21 large charites and around 400 local community groups) and is absoloutely nothing to do with goverment (local or otherwise) or the jobcentre, which seperates us nicely from all those completely flawed systems. I fell into this, no plan and now I've just turned 24, run this very successful project and know that I personally have helped over 500 people and got over 100 people a job in the last year. I've also had a nice long chat to Mr Gordon Brown about 6 months ago about why the JC+ system dosn't work and have managed to get our work reconsied/reported on. At various level of goverment = it's a shame it's just not really taken in and they stick to the same old same old, but that's a different story. My Talent - talking, I'm often told I'd make a great salesman, and afew companies have offered me fairly lucrative contracts. If you got the gift of the gab you can actually use it for good rather than evil people!
Manage to land myself a graduate web developer job in Farnborough last november. Ruby on rails, front end / back end. Spend my days creating pari mutuel betting sites (horse / dog racing sites to you and me). It's generally pretty interesting . If there are any comp sci graduates looking for work in the Farnborough area, we're recruiting..
Maybe it's not actually my biggest issue. I didn't really make a full list of my interests however. If I did, badminton and hockey would definitely be on it, as well as music (I only listen to it, I don't have any musical aptitude). I also like physics, history, movies among other things. I have been thinking a lot about who I am, what I'm doing and if I should keep doing it (or what I'm not doing and if I should start doing it). I... I don't know. I just don't know.
You're really not alone in this. I have close friends and relatives who are in exactly the same frame of mind as you and some of them have even asked me over the past year or so how I knew what I wanted to study and work at. I keep telling them that it's never been certain. There are days and even weeks when I get fed up with what I'm studying, what I'm working on or any number of other things and I start to wonder if I've made the right choices as well. I think it happens to everyone when they grow up a little. It's perfectly normal in my opinion - you'll figure it out When I was a child I spoke as a child. I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things. I Cor. xiii. 11
Nah, didn't watch it today, but now you mention it, it rings a bell from there too. Just wondering if you watch the same TV as I do... We seem to share some other interests and hobbies.
That shouldn't be surprising, we're on the same forum for a reason Although as far as the quote goes, I know it from the original source
Thanks I guess I should try one more time (one more semester). It'll be my last chance anyway as I will be under conditions. If I fail anything they'll kick me out
Business Intelligence Developer (.net SQL, SSIS , SSAS) Semi Pro Rugby Player starting out Mixed Martial Artist
Job: Medical student Enjoying it so far. Long terms and early mornings compared to my friends doing science degrees, but no regrets so far. www.supplemento.co.uk
Now, lets go over those perks, as i bet we get better perks than most, if not all other 'Supermarket Assistants' 15% off all Grocery Shopping (Waitrose) inc Wines and Spirits (Excludes Petrol, Lottery and Cigarettes) 12%-25% off items in John Lewis (TV's, PC's etc only 12%) 4 Weeks annual leave before 3 years service, 5 Weeks after, and 6 Months Paid after 25 Years Discounts to Theme Parks (Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventure, Thorpe Park) 50% (i think) on your money back from tickets (concerts etc) Heavily discounted food from our dinning room Discounts on Health Insurance Discounts at select restaurants Discounts at Hotels, and English Heritage sites Pension Scheme Discounts on Holidays Discounts on Car Hire Plus many many more. As you can guess, i work in the same place as Akava, and i do enjoy what i do, i can go outside and enjoy the sun, instead of being stuck in doors stacking shelfs, and personally prefer it to sitting behind a desk too. Sam
Part-Time Service Clerk (a.k.a bag/cart boy, b*tch of the store) at a Hannaford (supermarket chain in New England). Full time Information Management (with a focus in Networking and Security) student, taking 19 credits this fall to graduate by June....
