(in)Stability
January 11th, 2008
As Eric and I consider moving to a different city, I have been ruminating about what jobs I should apply for and what work I would enjoy. The fact that I don’t know is particularly frustrating because I rushed through high school in three years and through college in three and half years just so I could hurry up and be an adult already. I longed for the stability of a nine-to-five job with a steady income and a 401K. I anticipated the days when I would not have to study every evening and could instead come home from work to no obligations. Now that I have arrived, I find myself jumping from one career to another with no direction. Following is a list of the work I have done since I graduated from college only two years ago:
Worked for the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development doing data entry and creating spreadsheets, not nearly affecting as much change in communities as I had hoped.
Learned how to start a business in Chesterfield County, completing an outrageous amount of tax forms and license applications just so that my dad and I could build a house. Over two years later, we still haven’t built a house due to circumstances not in my control.
Designed master plans for private secondary schools, traveling to Jackson, Mississippi and Birmingham, Alabama and becoming proficient in AutoCAD and Adobe Photoshop. I thought that I would work here forever – until I decided that I want to be a programmer.
Returned to my parents’ company (the third time that I have been on their payroll) to draft window details in CAD and improve their computer system to gain programming experience. After three months, I still have not done much programming. But the commute isn’t bad and I get to meet Eric for lunch most days.
Despite the variety of these jobs, they start to feel stale after a few months and now just make me feel meh. Ultimately, I dream of a different career every week. These are a few of the other jobs I have considered:
- Train engineer
- Airplane pilot
- Bus driver (I guess I have a thing for transportation)
- Math teacher
- Math textbook editor
- Magazine editor
- Technical writer
- Video game level designer
- Video game tester (because I am very thorough and always find all the wang)
- Professional blogger
- Maid at the Windsor Castle
- Mailman
- Tea cafe owner
- Barista
- Farmer
- Architect
- Filmmaker
I am not even kidding.
Last week, I decided not to go back to VCU to pursue a second baccalaureate degree in computer science after all. I became anxious when I realized that I would not be able to work full-time while attending school and retain the stability and predictable schedule that I have accustomed myself to. Plus, I already have one degree and that is more than enough degrees for a person to have if said person just wants to move to Mexico and build a house on the beach.
