Choosing a Career Path

The most important thing to say about choosing a good career path is that rarely is it the most important question for first-year students to be asking.

"I hear there are lots of jobs in (genetics, ecology, veterinary medicine, whatever).  Would it be good to go into as a career?"  Always, always, always, I refused to answer the question.  Here's what I said instead.
 
"How much will you love your work?  How good are you going to be in it, starting right now, today?  How good are you already, and how good are you willing to get?  How fast are you willing to get good?"  Nearly always, that burst of questions led to more than a moment of stunned silence, after which we were ready to begin our real conversation about careers. 
 
We usually started with the notion that the best people in any line of work get the best jobs, almost by definition.  Often when we ended, if we ever ended at all, it was with the thought that to get really good at anything takes two things.  Obviously, we must discover our strengths and strengthen them. But to get really, really good (even good enough to survive my first year biology course), we must discover our weaknesses and strengthen them too.  We must embrace our ignorance, and have fun doing it. 
 
How did I choose a career?  I didn't.  It chose me, at first mainly because I liked being outside doing things more than sitting still in a chair.  For a while I thought I wanted to be a philosopher, but I flunked my one and only philosophy course and high-tailed it back out of there.  When philosophers wrote about things, and especially when they argued, I just didn't get it.  So I became a biologist.  I became a teacher, too, when I discovered that other people's learning turned me on - - I was fascinated with how they learned, and it made me feel good when they learned well.  I became pretty good at both of those careers basically because teaching well and being a good biologist turned me on, just as being a good student had turned me on a little earlier in my career. 
 
Now I carve stone for a living.  Imagine being turned on for 50 years, or 60 or 70.  I think that's what the real question about careers is all about.

Lee Gass, Department of Zoology (Retired), University of British Columbia, and 3M National Teaching Fellow.

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BAndrew wrote:	Thank you for this. I'm in a predicament with myself right now: unsure if I should follow something that I'm good at, or something that I love. I guess time will tell. I hope my heart leads me in the right direction. Posted on Feb 09, 2012 at 09:56
chenkr wrote:	My comment is directed to the last commentor Posted on Jun 24, 2011 at 04:21
chenkr wrote:	^ Are you saying that if students don't get an A average throughout high school would lead to poor career decision making? Posted on Jun 24, 2011 at 04:20
chenkr wrote:	^ Are you saying that if students don't get an A average throughout high school would lead to poor career decision making? Posted on Jun 24, 2011 at 04:20
upyourvalues wrote:	I'm currently enrolled in Grade 12. I'm still having second thoughts about the career I chose. How do I know if it's the right career for me? Posted on May 08, 2011 at 10:46

 

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