Naivety and depression led to a lack of qualifications - any advice going forward?

Hi everyone,

Just a bit of backstory for you. I'm 18 years old, left highschool aged 16 with neither a plan or useful qualifications. Basically, a mixture of naivety, teenage rebelliousness and depression led to me picking subjects I enjoyed but were not in anyway beneficial in improving my career prospects. I was pretty much delusional and thought I would walk out of highschool and make it big as an artist or musician or something. I ended up leaving highschool with five decent national 5s but only three highers. A 'B' in English, a 'B' in Art, and a 'C' in Music Technology.

I think if I had adopted a less anti-education mindset and had parents that were more realistic regarding the lack of financial opportunity in these subjects I would be in a completely different place right now.

Now, due to me not giving the more academic subjects a chance I feel as though I never got a well rounded idea of which subjects I enjoy and which ones I don't. My idea of what I want to do for a career changes radically every few weeks. I applied for a Computing course at HND level which I thought was a good first step, and I've even been given an offer, but I've let my mind wander a bit and have been thinking about other completely random career ideas now. Lately, I've thought about medicine and some speciality fields like Radiology have really caught my eye. I've always been interested in human anatomy and I'm good at analyzing and have a good eye for detail. It's unfortunate I don't have the necessary qualifications to even get my foot in the door! 😭

If you were in my situation with no real concept or idea of what you would enjoy, what would you do?

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 1

Vam1970

13

Original post by spicytea123

Hi everyone,

Just a bit of backstory for you. I'm 18 years old, left highschool aged 16 with neither a plan or useful qualifications. Basically, a mixture of naivety, teenage rebelliousness and depression led to me picking subjects I enjoyed but were not in anyway beneficial in improving my career prospects. I was pretty much delusional and thought I would walk out of highschool and make it big as an artist or musician or something. I ended up leaving highschool with five decent national 5s but only three highers. A 'B' in English, a 'B' in Art, and a 'C' in Music Technology.

I think if I had adopted a less anti-education mindset and had parents that were more realistic regarding the lack of financial opportunity in these subjects I would be in a completely different place right now.

Now, due to me not giving the more academic subjects a chance I feel as though I never got a well rounded idea of which subjects I enjoy and which ones I don't. My idea of what I want to do for a career changes radically every few weeks. I applied for a Computing course at HND level which I thought was a good first step, and I've even been given an offer, but I've let my mind wander a bit and have been thinking about other completely random career ideas now. Lately, I've thought about medicine and some speciality fields like Radiology have really caught my eye. I've always been interested in human anatomy and I'm good at analyzing and have a good eye for detail. It's unfortunate I don't have the necessary qualifications to even get my foot in the door! 😭

If you were in my situation with no real concept or idea of what you would enjoy, what would you do?

I would not worry too much 😊
I dropped out of A levels and just couldn’t be bothered much when I was a teen, my parents were really strict so they made me do a beauty/ hairdressing course and I ended up working in the family business as I could and it was easy.
It actually ended up being really good for me as I was a shy person so I had to learn to chat and build relationships with clients.
I always knew I wanted to do something else and my sister was studying midwifery and it started me thinking I would like to do that, so I did a health access course which was good for many fields of healthcare.then I got a job as a health care assistant then applied for midwifery assistant. At that time I shadowed a radiographer which I thought may be a bit boring for me so after I passed my access course I applied for midwifery.
That is not where my learning journey has ended as I now want to become an occupational therapist.
What I’m trying to say is it doesn’t matter what you do you will find your way.
The teen years are hard and some people know what they want but many feel like you do.
Sometimes, like me you will try a few things before you get there.
Do they do btech or access courses where you live?
Get some shadowing in after coravid 19 or call up some people and chat about their professions. Most will give you an honest opinion.
Good luck.

Reply 2