The Student Room Group

Can't decide on a career path.

FYI this is more of a rant than anything.

I'm in Year 12 atm, never had huge ambitions. My mother has consistently encouraged me to go into medicine but the high stress and long hours seemed rough. I don't know what I want, especially since this pandemic kicked in I can't get excited about any particular career, since work is called 'work' and not 'fun' for a reason. I do Chem,Bio,Phys,Maths. All of them are boring to me. Biology the least so, Maths and Physics the most. So at least I know what I don't enjoy. Even then it's not like i'm super interested in Biology. Had I reset the clock I would've chose more art related stuff. I like computers but I hate programming since my abusive dad was a software engineer. Ugh. I'd rather not take a gap year since I don't want to waste a year being hounded by my step-dad to get a job.

Honestly I don't know what I want. I'm a mental mess. Literally moved to a new area about a week before schools shut down, so I know absolutely no-one here. True isolation, past friends don't even contact me lol.

I'm tired. I've revised practically all of next year's biology and chemistry. I can't be bothered with Physics and Maths, too many numbers. I'm autistic so I can't even function socially. It's depressing to think i'll be stuck in a boring job as an awkward outcast.

What is the solution here? I've tried searching online but I can't brainstorm jobs I want when I don't even know what I want. Send help. ~Chris.
Reply 1
I hope my response is useful not sure how helpful I will be but I will do my best :biggrin:

Firstly, you should never feel pressured into a certain profession by parents. I just graduated as a veterinarian and have a friend that is a doctor and both of us have colleagues semi-forced into their respective professions by parents. At the end of the day you need a profession you enjoy because if you love your job you will never 'work' a day in your life and enjoying what you do is much more important than the perceived 'kudos' of the role. Our respective colleagues that have been forced into this have not enjoyed the training and long term the job may not be for them so it is a long way round to work out what you don't want to do.

The best way to decide on a career really is to do work experience with a company or professional working in a field you may be interested in. I realise given the pandemic it may be difficult to do this but even emailing a company asking if you could discuss what a typical working week is like for one of their employees if they would mind would give you more information about what to expect in a particular field.

Again it sounds like the subjects you are currently taking would not be large enough motivators to encourage you to undertake and apprenticeship or university degree in a similar field. I realize you do not want to take a gap year and a year can seem like a long time. However, in the grand scheme of things its really not long and its certainly not longer than starting a degree only to realize it is the wrong one and then needing to complete different training in something you enjoy. If you really are undecided taking a year to investigate career options and picking the right one for you would be a sensible investment for the future and would take the pressure off you now when you have a lot going on. Gap years don't have to be focused on making money although this may be part of it depending on financial situations, the work experience you may have missed out on due to the pandemic may start to be offered again and you can start organizing places you would like to get experience with/ investigate for your career. You do not have to be 'stuck in a boring job' if you find the subject that motivates and drives you the work won't seem like work and suddenly you will make more progress than you realise. It's all about finding your niche and what you enjoy whether that be art, science or building computer software (without parental influence :smile: ).


Of course you aren't sure which career you would enjoy because you need to speak to people working in all sorts of professions before you can know what you would enjoy :smile: ask around and brainstorm pros/ cons for careers you have spoken to people about. Get experience and try not to worry about 10-20 years down the line :smile: one day at a time.

Hope that helps with my ramblings and good luck on finding your niche :smile:

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