Reddit mentions of What Color Is Your Parachute? 2017: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers

Home Assistants, Self-Driving Cars, Virtual Reality, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Big Data, Drones, 3D Printing, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, NoSQL, the Hadoop ecosystem ? What about following tech news portals so that you can see that for yourself ?

As a student, you are better off making sure that you know the basics and can prove that you are able to learn quickly. There is still so much you can do also with "established" technlogies. The most important thing is to know yourself first, because there are so many things you can pick and you have to find out where your main interests lie.

What color is your parachute?

Edit: added Blockchain, IOT, Cloud Computing, NoSQL, Hadoop. Hard to say what is "new" and what isn't.

Sorry for wall of text.

When /u/waytoomanychoices describes someone with model-level looks, who had prep school and Yale paid for by rich dad/grandparents, who dated a handsome billionaire heir seriously enough to receive a marriage proposal, as "average", you're feeding into the depression here.

The point is, the Rory character is a fairy tale fantasy that still screwed up every advantage she was given. She represents an unreasonable and unrealistic picture of life for 99% of the world, and still screws it up.

Any of us who got Yale paid in full by wealthy parents and grandparents would be in a better spot at 31 than Rory. And there are actual plot point you can point at as to why.

OP, you did not have Rory's advantages and your life is not written yet. You don't know if you'll like a job or not until you take it. Try it, and if you don't like it, look for another one.

To me, the danger in media isn't violence or sex, it's the setting of expectations of life being like TV or movies, your OP expressed it perfectly.

Number 4 is the opposite of real advice. I'm the child of immigrants in my late 30s and this attitude (it's not millennial, it's American) that some job out there can fill your soul with happiness and fulfillment... that you need to be overjoyed with your work and career... it sounds nice and that's why people keep repeating it. But it's not real life.

Seek contentment from work. Earn money to feed yourself and your family. Seek happiness in family and friends. Seeking literal joy from your job on a day to day basis is, frankly, unrealistic.

Now if you're genuinely unhappy with work, then start earnestly looking for what you can do to change your situation. In my very unpopular opinion, this does not mean quitting your job without another job/full time education lined up, nor does it mean turning down jobs you think are beneath you when you're unemployed. Working itself provides opportunities.

/u/copperboomcopperboom, you're not Rory. If you are in a rut, What Color Is My Parachute is almost a clichéd suggestion but it is a cliché for the right reasons. It's a good way to help focus you on your next steps in life.

It helped both me and my wife. Feel free to PM me.

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tl;dr I'm a former high school vocational teacher who gave high school kids career and educational advice all the time. I think my advice is solid: you can work a job you don't like while looking for one you do. One reason is that you're much more confident when you have a job and you're more likely to hold out for a job that's a great fit if you're not desperate. Exuding confidence at job interviews is important and that's much easier if you have a job and aren't sitting on your ass in mom's basement all day every day. If you're really unhappy with your career situation, do something about it. Buying and working through What Color Is My Parachute might be a great start. Anyone reading this can feel free to PM me.

OP needs to do some soul-searching, but I think What Color Is Your Parachute is probably a little more practical than Camus for their stated concerns. Coming to terms with the pain of existence is a tad. . . ambitious when all s/he's concerned about is a boring job!

https://smile.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2017/dp/039957820X?sa-no-redirect=1


God dammit

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2017: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers

It's a classic book that the author comes out with a new edition every year. If they haven't started there already it's a nice thoughtful gift.

If you're having trouble finding a person, two books may help you start the process: Do What You Are and What Color is Your Parachute. I know how frustrating it is to be "stuck" and then find a dream job. Unfortunately, I don't have much advice to share as I fell backwards into the profession by just taking every job opportunity that came my way that sounded remotely interesting. Best of luck to you!!!

Get a piece of paper, write down every job you've had. Beside each job write down the things you hated about that job.

Eg. "I hated working with kids."

This can inform your future job. If you hate working with kids, don't get a job working with kids. (Duh!)

Next write down the things you enjoyed:

Eg. "I enjoyed working on a team."

This will help you to see things you enjoy doing. If you like working on teams, get a job that involves working on teams.

If you've got no idea what you enjoy, it pays to sit down and do this exercise and get it clear in your mind.

Another thing you can do is similar. Write every skills / duties you did in each of your jobs or even in your life.

Eg. "I wrote reports. I analysed statistical data. I repaired my car. etc"

You can then put these duties and skills into order of which you enjoy most to least. The ones you enjoy most can inform what job you apply for. If you really enjoy writing reports - look for jobs where that's listed in the person specification.

There's a book named What Color Is My Parachute which has a number of these exercises with the overall result of a sheet of paper with your preferred job on it. Worth checking out if you have no clue.

There is a book called "What Color is Your Parachute" that is designed to help you find answers to the very questions you're asking.

https://www.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2017/dp/039957820X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478498575&sr=8-1&keywords=what+color+is+your+parachute

Me too since September. It has been a terrible experience. It is a bit comforting to know that I'm not the only one. I found What color is your parachute? to be a reassuring source. Good luck with the search if you haven't found anything yet.

There are many many great books out there full of exercises for discerning what you might like to do professionally. Probably the most comprehensive is What Color Is Your Parachute by Dick Bolles. One geared to "calling" specifically is Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson. But again there are many out there.

Meditation can be helpful. One of the things meditation does is help you see things more clearly. It helps you take a step back and look at your life without getting caught so much in the emotional drama about who you believe you are and who you believe you should be and who other people believe you should be. This is really helpful when you are deciding how to spend most of your day and taking on a social and economic identity.

You can also just ask yourself "What do I feel I need to do?" and then be quiet and see what comes up.

Hi there,

With a sociology degree, you can do more than just be a professor or work in social services. Check out here and here for some ideas. The good news is that a sociology degree is very flexible, and gives you good transferable skills (the ability to do research, synthesize complex ideas, write reports, etc.).

You say you're "average" at everything, but don't forget that there are many different types of strengths out there! For example, look at this list. You're probably really good at some of these things - the key is to recognize both your strengths and weaknesses. You should promote your strengths and work on your weaknesses.

I know I've mentioned it a million times on this sub, but What Color is Your Parachute is really useful - your local library will likely have a copy. Your library should also have a careers section with other useful books.

Best of luck!

I'm an HR professional and have been giving career advice for years. Have you read What Color Is Your Parachute? It might help you figure things out.

https://www.amazon.ca/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2017/dp/039957820X

You can probably find a copy in the library. :)

First, relax and take a breath. A job is not a career and doesn't lock you in for life. You may start in one field and later end up doing something completely different.

Second, you may want to look into books like What Color is Your Parachute or similar.

You may also want to look into books about finding a career you are passionate about, although I would caution that passion doesn't always a good career make, and to ignore religious concepts some of these types of books use:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Finding+career+passion

You may also want to consider creating your own career as a consultant or contractor. Although some specialization or mastery/expertise may be necessary to carve out a niche.

Good life to you!

Further to /u/UmamiSalami 's suggestion, you may want to think about reading What Color Is Your Parachute. It does a good job of giving you a guide to how to apply for jobs, even at big firms (although they do recommend going for smaller ones).

On that note: how big is the wage difference at, say, Google/Facebook vs a smaller company, in the same role? A quick Google (heh) said that a software engineer makes ~$100,000 a year there, which is more or less on par for the average? Plus, long-term, even if you start out on say $70 - 80,000 a year, that's still a lot, and it's likely to go up as you gain experience and skills. So within five years, you could easily be pulling down $100,000 if you work hard, even if not at Google.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the big firms, just do as well as you can in your current situation and aim for the job you want, taking 80,000 Hours suggestions as a suggestion.

The bureau of labor statistics is always updating their career outlook and I believe you can filter by region so it would help you based on where you currently live.

https://www.bls.gov/home.htm?view_full

What color is your parachute helped me back in my mid 20s understand what I enjoy and what makes me happy and I've been able to turn that into a career. It might be worth a read at your age.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/039957820X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486618247&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=what+color+is+your+parachute+2017&dpPl=1&dpID=51AAkv%2BYjWL&ref=plSrch

There's been a couple articles recently talking about the growing job market for clean energy jobs. It's a highly politicized topic so I won't get it that here and the article below does include a political slant but there's some good info there regardless.

http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-energy-job-growth-2017-1

I read this one, but there are many identical books that I imagine are just as good. This one is also very good general career search handbook.

Pick up a copy of What Color is Your Parachute?. It's updated every year!

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2017: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers

Start journaling every day. Just write what's on your mind, let your thoughts flow. Journal to the Self: Twenty-Two Paths to Personal Growth - Open the Door to Self-Understanding by Writing, Reading, and Creating a Journal of Your Life