Are you in the industry you wanted to be in in high school?

[wadistance]

I left school wanting to be a teacher, but got so heavily into the coffee industry whilst I was studying, it was a full 2 years after I finished my masters that I started teaching. I taught for 3 years, and I'm now back in the coffee industry, albeit in another country

 

[tandino]

No.

Got to Year 12 and really didn't have much of an idea what I wanted to do.

Had an interest in Economics and to a lesser extent Architecture but didn't have the ENTER for either. I managed to scrape in to a Bachelor of Business degree out at Swinburne Lilydale, and scraped through that with a pass average. There was an expectation from School and parentals that I would go to University, so spent/wasted 5 years there.

Worked at a service station which was good/easy money but involved a lot of Friday and Saturday nights so the old social life took a bit of a hit. Just as I was finishing uni and angling for a move into head office, the business was sold to 7-Eleven and we all got the flick.

After a few years working an entry-level bookkeeping job, decided to throw my lot in with Mum and Dad and got into the hospitality game which is where I am now. If I am honest it was probably a mistake. We're looking to sell up and move on next year so I'm pretty much counting down the weeks until then.

After that, I know I want to work for myself and by myself. From there I don't have a good handle on what I want to do.

 

[Allikat]

I really had no idea what industry I wanted to be in when I was in high school. I changed ideas for careers every few months, like being a cop or lawyer or musician or dancer.

I've somehow ended up in a field that a lot of high school students want to get into - aviation. And it blows. It's a shitty shitty industry

 

[nobbyiscool]

I had no idea what I wanted to do in high school. Except wicket keep for Australia. Problem was I wasn't very good, and I was 16 before I realised that I wasn't that good, and that I wasn't going to suddenly break-out as a cricketer and be discovered.

Apart from that I was a lazy, disruptive, smart-arsed student.

Went to uni, cos it seemed the expectation at school... especially when you didn't really know what you wanted to do, and weren't interested in working yet. I tried two different degrees that, had I have obtained, would've been a waste of time, and I would've been awful in those jobs... and I ended up with an Arts degree with very generalist majors.

Unemployed for a year out of uni (aside from some casual shit that, knowing what I know now, were such illegal conditions, but I was desperate), I ended up lucking my way into a government grad program. Which meant moving away from my family and friends, having to grow up fast to try and succeed in what was my first "real" job. ****ing haaaated the job too. But it did lead me to another couple of jobs in industrial relations. And that's where I thought I was meant to be. In some ways I still feel like that's where I was meant to be. But it was long hours, it was stressful, it was crap work/life balance, it was shitty pay and in the last of the industrial relations jobs I did I worked for a ****ing piece of shit (I've told that story here somewhere, I'm sure..) I pushed on, thinking I was still just being lazy... until I didn't. I got to a point where my temper, my mental health and my boss just got to me, and I got to my wit's end and flipped out. In the space of 24 hours I went from deciding to work through it to quitting, and burning those bridges to the ****ing ground - I told my boss what a campaigner he was, I flipped a table, and I essentially extorted a separation payment from them to keep their secrets. Good things about that job were that it got me established in Melbourne, and it taught me to be much less tolerant of shit that you wouldn't accept in any other walk of life.

Then I ended up back in government, but in a slightly better job. Yeah, I do a lot of shit, I feel undervalued most of the time, I feel bored a lot of the time, and the machinations of public sector drives me crazy - but I get to write, sometimes I get to be creative, I get paid well, and I'm usually home by 5.30pm


I guess the reason for the long story is that it doesn't always matter what you wanted to be, or even if you had no idea what you want to be. While my story isn't representative, it is proof that sometimes, if you're persistent and if you focus on what you're good at, shit sometimes just works itself out.

 

[Perth gal]

I really had no idea what industry I wanted to be in when I was in high school. I changed ideas for careers every few months, like being a cop or lawyer or musician or dancer.

I've somehow ended up in a field that a lot of high school students want to get into - aviation. And it blows. It's a shitty shitty industry

Can u explain why?

 

[biggiemediums]

I wanted to be a professional fighter. I was well on my way when I got hit with Crohns Disease. Put me in and out of hospital for about 6 years due to useless doctors who don't know a ****ing thing about it. Pretty well cured myself with diet & cannabis - but unfortunately by that stage I was too old to start fighting.

I still train and work with fighters - but I'll always be miserable that I never got to fight for a living.

 

[Allikat]

Can u explain why?

It's a boys club managed by men that failed at doing operational jobs (i.e. failed pilots/atcs/airforce) that's drastically changed from a world-leader in safe skies, innovation, technology and equality, to one where the industry leaders are pushing for massive profits and putting their mates in cushy jobs at the expense of safety, and pay & benefits to the actual workers. Every aspect of the industry is understaffed, but they'd rather push their employees to breaking point, rather than spend a bit more on wages.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

In year 12 at the moment, really set on doing Civil Engineering. Did it for work experience and I loved it, but my biggest fear is getting into it and hating it. Reading a lot of the comments on here I can't help but I feel I might just be on this thread in 10 years time saying the same thing. I love city building video games and so i am hoping to someday get into a town planning position.

There's several different subcategories of civil engineering that all vary fairly wildly in what you do, whether you're office or site based, and how many hours you need to work. It really depends what aspect of civil engineering you're most interested in (design, project management, compliance etc.) and how high you want to set your sights.

If I may, what was your work experience role?

 

[magpienato]

There's several different subcategories of civil engineering that all vary fairly wildly in what you do, whether you're office or site based, and how many hours you need to work. It really depends what aspect of civil engineering you're most interested in (design, project management, compliance etc.) and how high you want to set your sights.

If I may, what was your work experience role?

For work experience I did both office and on-site work. On-site days I was mainly just following two other guys around while they showed me the ropes, how to set up the jigger, what it was, how it worked etc. Helped out wherever I could and was pretty hands on. Office days I was giving a pretty basic tutorial on AutoCAD and they basically just got me to do a rough draft of my house and then I put it into AutoCAD. I really loved the two of them, on-site was great because it was active and outdoors. I also loved the AutoCAD part because it's similar to my passion in graphic designing in a way. I would love to do design but an active working environment is also appealing.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

For work experience I did both office and on-site work. On-site days I was mainly just following two other guys around while they showed me the ropes, how to set up the jigger, what it was, how it worked etc. Helped out wherever I could and was pretty hands on. Office days I was giving a pretty basic tutorial on AutoCAD and they basically just got me to do a rough draft of my house and then I put it into AutoCAD. I really loved the two of them, on-site was great because it was active and outdoors. I also loved the AutoCAD part because it's similar to my passion in graphic designing in a way. I would love to do design but an active working environment is also appealing.

It all depends what you want to do with your career and how you want to do it.

Design: Spend the majority of your days inside of an office but you're making the "real" engineering decisions and analysis in the work you produce.
Construction: Get to work at the metaphorical (or literal, if mining is your thing) coal-face of projects and manage how they take shape, but not having a lot of input into the engineering behind the design.
Strategy/Development/Compliance: Get a good mix of office work & site visits but you'll find most of the actual engineering work is subcontracted out to the aforementioned categories

Then you can choose whether you want to work at a company at the larger end of the scale, say a multi-national, where you'll work on some of the biggest projects in the country but be quite "pigeon-holed" in the work you do. Or you can choose to work for a smaller company, where the jobs will rarely make headlines outside of a local paper but the work you'll do is a lot more varied. The bigger the projects, the more likely your work/life balance is going to suck too but most people I know like to go for glory when they're young and retire to something more mundane when they have kids & hit 40.

With all that said, I wouldn't worry about picking a path now if you're doing year 12 this year. Just rest assured that if you like civil engineering, the field is broad enough that if you work hard and keep your options open, you'll be able to find a niche role that suits exactly what you're looking for. It's not like something like accounting or nursing where there's really only one role you're going to end up doing.

If you do choose to do civil engineering, I'd try as many different roles as an undergraduate/intern as you can get your hands on while at university. I did undergrad work at a local consultancy with 4-5 people, a Tier 2/3 construction company doing small $5-10 million dollar projects and at a Local Roads Authority doing a mix of maintenance and compliance related things. Seeing all that gave me a lot of insight into what I found enjoyable and what I didn't, and definitely helps your applications for graduate jobs when you've completed your course. And I should mention that engineering students almost always get paid a decent wage to be interns as well.

 

[estibador]

I am now, but not without significant detours.

Always wanted to work in sports science, but I was a lazy little shit in high school, compounded by the fact that I waged a silent protest against my parents sending me to a boarding school I hated by doing as little work as possible. I still passed but didn't get a high enough score to get into what I wanted at uni.

So I started a boring marketing degree instead but dropped out after a year. Then spent my 20's working retail and backpacking overseas before deciding to go back to uni in my 30s to finally do that sports science degree. Best decision I ever made - I'm doing postgrad right now while working in the industry and I love every minute of it.

I'm actually happy the way it worked out, because working in shitty jobs for so long really makes me appreciate what I'm doing now.

 

[00Stinger]

I am in finance despite never doing a finance, business or accounting subject at high school.

Looking at numbers basically all day has it's moments

 

[The Edukator]

It all depends what you want to do with your career and how you want to do it.

Design: Spend the majority of your days inside of an office but you're making the "real" engineering decisions and analysis in the work you produce.
Construction: Get to work at the metaphorical (or literal, if mining is your thing) coal-face of projects and manage how they take shape, but not having a lot of input into the engineering behind the design.
Strategy/Development/Compliance: Get a good mix of office work & site visits but you'll find most of the actual engineering work is subcontracted out to the aforementioned categories

Then you can choose whether you want to work at a company at the larger end of the scale, say a multi-national, where you'll work on some of the biggest projects in the country but be quite "pigeon-holed" in the work you do. Or you can choose to work for a smaller company, where the jobs will rarely make headlines outside of a local paper but the work you'll do is a lot more varied. The bigger the projects, the more likely your work/life balance is going to suck too but most people I know like to go for glory when they're young and retire to something more mundane when they have kids & hit 40.

With all that said, I wouldn't worry about picking a path now if you're doing year 12 this year. Just rest assured that if you like civil engineering, the field is broad enough that if you work hard and keep your options open, you'll be able to find a niche role that suits exactly what you're looking for. It's not like something like accounting or nursing where there's really only one role you're going to end up doing.

If you do choose to do civil engineering, I'd try as many different roles as an undergraduate/intern as you can get your hands on while at university. I did undergrad work at a local consultancy with 4-5 people, a Tier 2/3 construction company doing small $5-10 million dollar projects and at a Local Roads Authority doing a mix of maintenance and compliance related things. Seeing all that gave me a lot of insight into what I found enjoyable and what I didn't, and definitely helps your applications for graduate jobs when you've completed your course. And I should mention that engineering students almost always get paid a decent wage to be interns as well.

@magpienato this is a good post pay attention to his advice. I'll throw my 2c in. I didn't do an engineering degree but I work for a decent sized commercial builder in project management and the biggest perk of the job is not spending the whole day in front of a computer. I'll spend hours a day on my feet on site and it really beats my old office job. I think you get more say in design than swoon has suggested too but more on the functional/aesthetic side as opposed to the structural side.

 

[biggiemediums]

I am now, but not without significant detours.

Always wanted to work in sports science, but I was a lazy little shit in high school, compounded by the fact that I waged a silent protest against my parents sending me to a boarding school I hated by doing as little work as possible. I still passed but didn't get a high enough score to get into what I wanted at uni.

So I started a boring marketing degree instead but dropped out after a year. Then spent my 20's working retail and backpacking overseas before deciding to go back to uni in my 30s to finally do that sports science degree. Best decision I ever made - I'm doing postgrad right now while working in the industry and I love every minute of it.

I'm actually happy the way it worked out, because working in shitty jobs for so long really makes me appreciate what I'm doing now.

I've done Cert III & IV in Fitness, Cert IV in Weight Management, Diploma in Nutrition - heavily thinking about a Sports Science degree. What are you doing with it?

 

[estibador]

I've done Cert III & IV in Fitness, Cert IV in Weight Management, Diploma in Nutrition - heavily thinking about a Sports Science degree. What are you doing with it?

Working in S&C at a semi-pro sport level while I do my Grad Dip in Clinical Exercise Physiology.

Ultimate aim would be to work full time in pro sport, but it's a tough industry to crack so having the clinical fallback for a day job will be good.

Probably going to do my masters of research next year, which seems to be the minimum you need to break into elite sport these days.

 

[RU_]

In the industry I wanted to be in when I was in school (electrical trade) but now having second thoughts if it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life as being on the tools right now is fine (almost 23 years old) but is going to be a shit gig when I’m 35+. I’ll be qualified in the next couple of months and I’m debating between trying to pick up an internship for electrical engineering and doing the Bachelor degree or just staying on the tools, doing my contractors and trying to break into the industry as a small business owner in a few years time.

On the other hand though I’ve just found something I really enjoy (strength training) and wouldn’t mind going into something sports related/coaching. I could very easily do my cert 3/4 in fitness part-time from home while earning good money, and then go into sports science or nutrition, etc.

Ideally I’d just like to be off the tools in the next 10 years or so and earning decent money. My old man is a plumber and luckily ended up in a management role 8 or so years ago, as he is and has been for some time just one knee dislocation away from a knee reconstruction.

 

[pacemaker]

I always wanted to be a professional punter. But there was a problem. I wasn't any good.

 

[Engimal v3]

Actually, yes. It's definitely not all I thought it was, but I am doing the type of job I envisioned at 18.

 

[the_interloper]

Actually, yes. It's definitely not all I thought it was, but I am doing the type of job I envisioned at 18.

I call bullshit Onlyfans hasn’t been around that long

 

[Engimal v3]

I call bullshit Onlyfans hasn’t been around that long

That's why you always had to bank transfer me for the photos in the early days

 

[Jack Richards]

Had no Idea of what I wanted to do in high school and wasn't mentally mature enough.

Didn't do my T.E.E (WA) as I flunked 3/4 T.E.E subjects in year 11 so had to do non T.E.E in year 12. No good as a tradie when doing work placement. I wanted to do a 9-5 retail type job (JB Hi-Fi or Barista).

Ended up being a teacher as an old teacher who taught me reached out and suggested it. Entered as a mature age student into university..

 

[Wormkilla]

Didnt have a clue what I wanted to do by the end of year 12. Went and did commerce at uni for 6 months and hated it. Eventually did sports science and maths at UWA and loved it but I regret not trying harder and doing post grad. Me and a couple others got offered to pursue a masters in motor control and development by my lecturer who went and ended up working for Essendon. I turned it down to work full time. One of the other students ended up at the Eagles, another at the WACA. I ended up working in a gym then doing ex phys work, working with workers comp claimants which I hated. Went back to uni and did a Dip Ed in PE teaching. Finished that, did more soul destroying workers comp work and OHS because unbelievably there was no teacher jobs at the time. Then I eventually started teaching full time, out of my actual reaching area doing maths and science. Nearly ten years later and that's what I still do. Never went into PE teaching because for every maths/science teacher grad there's 20 wanna-be sport teachers.

I wish I went back to uni to pursue a post grad in something like motor learning, sports psych, coaching, or physiology, or even medicine, but now theres not much room to move being 41 years old with a mortgage. It would be tough to change careers and keep the same level of pay. Surprising to some, teachers in WA to get paid quite well. But really I'd love to be working in an academic role conducting research, lecturing and writing papers.

If you're at uni doing something you enjoy, then my advice to everyone is take it seriously and try your best because opportunities will open if you're seen as being motivated, dedicated and you're achieving highly. Don't treat it like a general year 10 maths class. Treat it like a full time job.

Next year Im making a move to another school for a change of scene. In 2027 I take long service leave, and I'll be using this time to work out my next career move, while drinking beers at the Ashes in England...

 

[dirty2]

Finished school... all I wanted was a job that wasn't to stressful... 10 years at holdens then fell into winery work (which I quite enjoy as much as you can enjoy work) and been doing it 6 years now.

Still working in wineries (cellar hand) 12 years now... Time goes so quickly...

Have moved a couple of times... Since my previous post 2018 but at current job for just over 2 years where I feel respected and appreciated and treated quite well.

Don't know if I will be there for another 20 years, but at this point I'm happy.

 

[ash_1050]

I doubt anyone in high school wants to work in Insurance, but here we are.

Insurance is the red headed stepchild of the finance sector.

 

[PoppedCorn]

Still working in wineries (cellar hand) 12 years now... Time goes so quickly...

Have moved a couple of times... Since my previous post 2018 but at current job for just over 2 years where I feel respected and appreciated and treated quite well.

Don't know if I will be there for another 20 years, but at this point I'm happy.

23 years in april in one place same industry as you
Will be 26 total as i did a short stint of 4 years before where im at now at a smaller place

Time WILL go quick