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Choosing a Career: My Path from Artist to Biologist to BureaucratJul 11 '01 (Updated Jul 13 '01) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Some smart questions to ask yourself as you choose a major and a career “You’re smart. You could make more money if you went into business.” I have heard that comment several times. I don’t argue. I confess that I like money. I will even admit that I prefer it in large doses rather than small, and I have to agree with my critics that I just won't be as wealthy working in the public sector as I might have been as CEO of a private corporation. However, as much as I like it, money isn’t the most important reason I work. I began school as a graphic design major. Graphics would be a good, lucrative career, but I wanted to do something meaningful, not simply spend my creative abilities selling things. Like good parents everywhere, mine had raised me with a sense that I could go out into the world and "make a difference." The question remained, “How?” With a pencil I had skill. However, as a good art professor frankly told me, almost echoing my own inner thoughts as I completed my junior college art courses, "Your craftsmanship is good, but you lack the passion." The best artists obsessed over their work. Caring little about what was happening around them, they carried their drawing pads everywhere and thought of nothing else. I was too well rounded for that lifestyle. I wanted to know too much; I couldn't focus on art at the expense of all other pursuits. How could these other artists be so passionate about their work? Perhaps magnificent artists are passionate because they have a compulsive need to express themselves to the world through their art. In this way, they truly can "make a difference" but would I? Probably not; I couldn't think of anything to say to the world. Even if I had been willing to shut out the rest of life for my art, it wouldn't have been great because I needed to look outward and find a message worth expressing. Before I would have anything to say, I needed to do. I began to search for a career that would allow me to make myself useful to the world even before I had found a message to give it. More importantly, I needed work that would give me the opportunity to discover what it was that the world needed and how I could contribute. My faith, my family, my studies and my own experiences working with the mentally disabled and with impoverished people in the Dominican Republic have implanted in me a desire to help others. Don’t get me wrong; in spite of all this idealistic babble I am not a saint. But I hoped that even without being Mother Teresa, I might in a small way meet Emerson’s measure of success: “To leave the world a bit better.” I want to have a global perspective of problems--I want to be able to aid one person at a time through daily service, but concurrently have the opportunity to affect policy decisions that broadly reach the roots of societal problems. Of the career options I considered, government seems to me to be the best career match to allow me to pursue these goals through my work. If our government is truly a government " of the people, by the people, for the people," I can meet these goals through public service. If it is not, I can meet them by helping to make it what it should be. For me,"Can I meet my life goals if I enter this profession?" is the most important question I asked myself as I discovered my career path. This question closely ties with another: "Will I be happy?" As much as I enjoyed art, I couldn't be truly happy in a profession that required of me an obsession. I needed to have energy to spare that I could devote to my family, my friends and my own spiritual, emotional and intellectual growth outside of the office. The goals of having a loving family, strong friendships and developing all of my talents, not just the artistic ones, did not seem attainable for me in graphic design, and without reaching these other goals I would not be happy. I know many wonderful people in the art world that are perfectly capable of reaching all of these goals and for them, art is a medium, rather than a hindrance, to achieving these blessings. For me, that was not the case. After junior college, I changed my major from graphic design to Public Health, the field in which I earned my undergraduate degree. I chose health because it would provide me more opportunities for service and would better utilize my talent for academic aptitude. However, I was again unsatisfied. While I was successful in my coursework, I found myself becoming increasingly bored by Biology and Chemistry. Science was just too scientific for me--I resented how cut and dry many aspects of it are. I did not find within myself the curiosity and excitement that true scientists have for their work. For me, it was drudgery. Boredom is not happiness! In my classes, I became most excited when we discussed health policy and advocacy. The realization of what it was that I really enjoyed lead me to pursue a Master's Degree in Public Administration and Policy, with a health emphasis, instead of continuing in Public Health. Another important question I considered as I examined my choices was, "Do I have the capacity to succeed in this line of work?" I am a pretty cocky person--I tend to believe myself capable of success in virtually anything I attempt to do academically, but as I searched for a major after leaving art I realized that I needed to be realistic. Social Work was very appealing to me because of its service-oriented nature and because I had so loved the elective Sociology classes I had taken in college. But to earn a reasonable salary in the field I would have needed to become a therapist. I had horrible dreams of me shouting at a troubled person seeking my consolation, "Get over it!" I had to face it--I am better at debating with people than I am at empathizing with them. I will be of more use to the world making up political soundbites than I could hope to be by offering soothing words. And since I have already confessed that I like money and that the prospect of a social worker's salary made me a little queasy, I will admit that the last question I considered in choosing a career was, "Can I provide for myself and my dependants at the lifestyle I want?" The reason I condition the question with, "at the lifestyle I want" is because different people have different needs in this category. Some people are happiest at work when they figure out how to make lots and lots of money. Good for them. They are the ones that keep our economy going. I am not one of them. Figuring out how to make lots of money is not very interesting to me (another reason I have chosen to work in the public sector) and besides, I really don't need lots of money. I don't particularly care if I don't happen to have a lot of stuff (by "stuff", I mean cars, boats, electronic equipment, etc.) However, I do have expensive taste in entertainment. I love to travel more than about anything else I ever do. I prefer live productions over TV. I like the opera, the symphony, the ballet, art galleries, and a host of other venues that tend to fall into the snooty upper-class snobocrat entertainment category. If I am to continue to enjoy these activities when I am no longer eligible for the student discount, I will need a job that can adequately pay for them. I share my experiences with you because, first of all, I have that all-too-human tendency to enjoy talking about myself, but secondly, because I believe that these questions are the same ones that everyone should consider as they go through school and prepare for a life that will be fulfilling to them. Be smart about it, try as many things as you can, and you will find a career that is right for you.  |
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