hello!

[calibur]

Hey all, I'm not sure what's going on with the forums - I saw some messages about confusion in the past 36 hours?!

Anyway I am new here and I'd like to say hello. I discovered QLC when my uncle gave me the book last month. He's one of those uncles who gives great advice and is almost always calm during any crisis. After reading the book, I'm glad to know there are so many other people going through the same experiences.

I graduated from Stanford in 2001, had trouble finding a job for four months (I also applied to Old Navy, In-N-Out, and Electronics Boutique, all in vain), but I managed to land a job at a startup thanks to a connection through a friend. I've worked at that job since then for over two years... until two weeks ago.

I quit because the company was spiraling to its death and I was completely bored and unmotivated. So now I'm at my new job (another startup) but I'm mentally in turmoil. This new job is great on paper, but I'm very bored. I understand the first few weeks are slow, but there's only one person my age - everyone else is mid 30s. So forget making new friends to hang out with on the weekend.

As I was working for over two years in the previous job, I was very comfortable with the routine. Now I have a new job I feel very free - I could easily quit and go somewhere else... but to what? Jobs aren't easy to find these days, of course.

My biggest risk would be to drop my job and move back to the East coast near Washington DC (my hometown). My dad said I could live at home to look for a job (those of you who are living at home may yell warnings at this point), but that won't help my career choice... but at least I'd be close to my parents, my brother, and some old-school friends.

And grad school? Hah! I've ruled out med school, but that's about it. I'm interested in subjects from journalism to computer science (but aren't all those jobs going to India anyway?).

So the current snapshot of my life: I'm about to start the second week of my second job after college. I feel very directionless with my career and very apathetic towards my new job. Also, I worry about preparing for graduate school (I know if I wait too long, I'll be too old to study hard - I'm kind of burnt out as is!).

Anyway the point of this post is to let everyone know that you got another reader on the message board. Hope you all have a good March 1st!

PS - if anything, I know what to look forward to this week:
Monday: American Idol outtakes, Average Joe 2
Tues/Wed: American Idol
Thurs: The Apprentice!
Fri: Best Week Ever (VH1)

[jku]

In my family experience, its HARDER to get into Stanford because they're not as legacy/scion/influential family-affirmative-action oriented at Harvard and Yale.

Journalism/News might be a good field for you. I was well on my way toward a career in medicine, until I worked at a hospital for a year. I got an internship (then job) at a TV news/entertainment network and have loved it since. I had an interview today and might be up for a promotion soon - and I could never have been as motivated in another field. So consider your options -

And anyone that likes AmIdol (and William "the hungmeister general" Hung) has to be cool!!

[pisces2473]

LOL Guys, I think Calibur knows how hard/easy it is to get into Stanford since they did go there.

[uncertain]

hey calibur

Welcome to the board.

Sounds like you need a change in what you are doing. My guess is if you have the skills to be part of start-up ventures and also to recognise when you have had enough, you will also have the skills to come up with what it is you really want to do now yourself.

Just start fishing around on the web for stuff that interests you - like looking at journalism courses or IT courses - different jobs. Keeping things in the back of your mind until the right moment when are ready to make the change and apply for aposition which involves doing something else. how about traveling for 6 months? just a thought...

Just a note on the computer science/IT thing. I am going into IT consulting and was talking to a lady who was an associate manager at the firm I am joining. She recently left to have her second child. She said she believes if you can team IT with other skills, for example, strong business skills, then there will always be work for you. I have IT and legal skills which are not a bad combination.

Its very hard to tell because some say the hype about programming jobs going to India is over-exaggerated. I think outsourcing and offshoring applies in all sectors including the public service - not just in IT. No one's job is really safe in this world anymore, so check up with people you know if they think IT is really so much worse than any job for offshoring.

IT/comp sci is fine - I am not so sure what you learn. I have a feeling those who were good programmers were good before the course started. It was just 3 years to get a certificate to show employers they had skills they possessed before. Comp sci is a bit meatier than IT - so it depends on what you like really.

Good luck!

[calibur]

Thanks for the quick replies! I was feeling really down Sunday night due to the impending work week... but I'm sort of better now. I grabbed "What Color is Your Parachute?" and did a quick glance at the table of contents. Looks like it's just what I need - a kick in the ass to start doing something!

To answer some of the questions that were raised, I got a degree in Biology and almost minored in Computer Science (I cut it short to graduate in four years). You may wonder why I landed in startups instead of research labs, but it's because I did an internship at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland a long time ago in high school and I vowed never to do lab research again. Just not my kind of thing. I felt very isolated and I was surrounded by carcinogenic chemicals!

So to decide on a course of study, I think doing some of the exercises in the parachute book may help. If you guys went to grad school, how did you make your final decision? Did someone else make the decision for you (i.e. parents)?

[gambit293]

Hi calibur,

I was about to point you to Uncertain's posting in the work forum, but I guess he/she is already here.

Anyway, in reply to your other posting in the other thread, I get sent to different client sites to do all sorts of software work, whether this is to help an implementation, an upgrade, or to troubleshoot, or to develop a customization. More specific tasks include: data conversion, developing interfaces, developing customizations, developing reports, documenting everything, researching problems, training client staff, etc. etc. I work for one of the large enterprise software companies. I won't say who they are, though you've probably heard of them.

And I agree with Uncertain. To an extent the whole outsourcing of IT jobs is slightly overblown in the media. It's true that a lot of jobs are getting sent out of the USA, but IT will still remain a strong field to be in. It just won't be as cushy as it used to be, and it won't be able to accomodate as many people who are in it just for the money. It will still probably be a half step ahead of other fields, in terms of ease of starting up a career. But instead of starting with 40k-60k salary, you'll have to "settle" for 30-50k.