Q&A for How to Choose the Right Career

Ask yourself questions like, what salary do I need to maintain the lifestyle that I want? Where do I want to live, and what type of commute works for me? How many hours do I want to work per week? Do I want to work on short-term or long-term projects? What are my strengths, skills, and gifts? What do I love to do? What brings me joy? What's meaningful and important to me, and what impact do I want to have on the world?

There's a lot of variety and a lot of opportunity to grow within this field. Be open to constantly adapting, because the field is growing and changing a lot. You also have to be willing to admit your mistakes—that will allow you to grow, as well.

It's a good idea to research all of the different areas of engineering and determine which is of interest to you. Then you can search for the universities that have great engineering programs and look into enrollment based on the area of engineering that you choose.

Contracting for home improvement sounds like a career that is up your alley. You can work with a company and learn how to do remodeling work, renovations, etc. If you instead prefer to create on your own, you can become a vendor at craft fairs, and as demand for your pieces increases you may be able to develop partnerships with retailers and sell your pieces within their stores. Typically these would be independently owned furniture stores. You may also create a store online, so long as you build a great reputation, no matter which option you choose, more opportunities will come.

Perhaps you may combine the two. Consider becoming an office manager at a medical practice. It will allow you to interact with doctors on a more intimate level and learn the medicinal approach within the practice while finding a balance with administrative work. Should you wish to convert your career into a solely medical position, the best place for mentoring would be in the very practice you are already a part of. You can also consider becoming a medical assistant. There is some admin work along with medical duties.

Try for a job as a telemarketer, lecturer or teacher, or become a VJ or RJ.

if you love medicine, that means you are into biology. And in biology you need chemistry to understand the effects of drugs or organics. And you need physics too because you need to know about X-rays, microwaves , and other machines. Try reading interesting books in chemistry and physics, as you may find the textbooks a bit dry and need something more visually appealing. However, do your best as if you want to be a doctor or a medical researcher, you must have all these subjects in your background.

It's your life, and you get to choose what you do with it. However, you should be realistic. Dance and other artistic careers are often tough to find work in and support yourself on. If you're really passionate about it, good at it, and willing to work very hard for it, you might have a chance. But you should have a backup plan in case it doesn't work out. There's no need to do what your parents want you to do, you just need to have a realistic plan for how you will support yourself.

Becoming an airline pilot is considerably more expensive than becoming a singer but you are far more likely to find regular, lucrative and ongoing work as a pilot than as a singer. If you are good at flying, your services will be in demand and you can command a good salary or run your own flying business. Everyone wants to be a singer and the world has more than its fair share of people thinking that singing is a meal ticket. The reality is that being a pilot is far more likely to provide you with a solid career unless you're the one-in-a-million amazing singer. You could always try singing to your passengers on the airplane...

You can consider a job related to sports science. Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sport and physical activity promote health from cellular to whole body perspectives. You could also get into sports medicine and help athletes reach their highest potential.

You could become a lecturer, an analyst, an interpreter/translator, a tour guide, a writer, a business owner, and much more. Talk to your careers guidance counselor for more ideas.

You could open a specialty bakery where you design and create unique cakes, pastries, cookies, etc.

Think about design, architecture, and also maths and a few sciences. Maybe go for something a bit more of the creative side if you aren't into history and English etc, for example architecture, clothes designer, artist, coach, sports physiotherapist, etc. Food preparation and event planning are other options.

Be a doctor and volunteer overseas.

Drawing: Graphic designer, illustrator, free-lance artist, commercial artist, video game designer, web designer, cartoonist, architect/home design. Dance: Dance instructor/choreographer, dance therapy, children's dance instructor, back up dancer, YouTube promoted choreographer for videos, manager of dance company.

You still have years of learning and developing to do, and plenty of time to become good at math (which is the main skill you need for accounting). If you work hard at it, you can definitely do it.

Ninth grade is a great time to start looking at ideas. Although your plans will probably change slightly, looking into a career now gives the opportunity to take classes that fit what you may want to do in the future.

If you are creative, try art related options. Think about the areas of art you like ,such as: the history- consider careers like a lecturer or buying and selling antiques, maybe even an auctioneer. If you like making things, then make them. However, being an artist often doesn't pay well and you still need a day job. If you are a creative thinker, try publishing a book! Or enjoy being a publisher and seeing ludicrous ideas!

You can consider marine biology. It is very interesting, and you can travel the world in conferences and studying the sea.

The ideal career would be a combination of a) what you're really interested in, b) what you're really good at, c) what pays well, and d) good job prospects. Think about which of the careers you're considering offers the most of these benefits. Also try learning more about each of the careers and what day-to-day life and work is actually like for the people who do these things. Then consider how well that would fit the lifestyle and working style you would like to have.

The beautiful thing about writing in the internet age is that it costs nothing - as long as you have the time, you can write as much as you like, whenever you like, and even post onto a free blog while you gain a readership - virtually no financial investment is needed. Consider a double major in college - writing, and something else, or choose a different major/career and write in your spare time.

Consider becoming a Physicist. If you enjoy teaching, you can become a professor in either of these subjects.

If you become a successful architect, then you will be able to afford to travel around the world. You may even travel sometimes as part of your job.

Try taking a few classes outside your career path that interest you. If you find that you like them more, you can consider changing your major. Keep in mind that some schools only allow you to change your major a certain amount of times.

You can have two jobs, but it's difficult to have two careers at once given how much time and dedication a career usually requires.

Your interests say that you are an explorer. You should try to be an environmentalist. You might get a dream job at Discovery or Nat Geo.

You may pick any one of them and excel in it, or else you may choose a course in which you pair two of your interests, such as in economics and mathematics (together). Or, consider being a manager of a science department or an economic analyst in a management field, and so on.

You could become a lecturer, an analyst, an interpreter/translator, a tour guide, a writer, or much more. Talk to your career guidance counselor for more ideas.

Think about your hobbies and what you are passionate about. Try to go for something you really love.

The career you choose now,is not necessarily the one you have to stick to the rest of your life. If you need money, a job, to start life, and a programming job comes along, consider taking it anyway as a start. It will cover the bases and take some worries away while you look for something else. The fields you mention aren't really littered with jobs, much less high-paying jobs. Money isn't everything, true, but people need to eat. Or, consider starting your own company; since you have innovative ideas, perhaps one of them could be formed into a business strategy, or a patent? Hire people to do the programming for you.