Are you happy with your career choice/profession?

[bax]

I'm about to graduate with a B.Comm in December and I have zero idea what I want to do with it. I have a high interest in film making and advertising since high school/early university, but I haven't really kept up with it.

Does anybody have some unique experiences or stories from their B.Comm? Would love to hear some

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by bax

I'm about to graduate with a B.Comm in December and I have zero idea what I want to do with it. I have a high interest in film making and advertising since high school/early university, but I haven't really kept up with it.

Does anybody have some unique experiences or stories from their B.Comm? Would love to hear some

Got a BComm and took off for traveling for a while. Came back with a much better picture of what I wanted to do, but to be honest, I carved out my interest after a couple years of work.

I would say just start somewhere you think you may like, and allow yourself 3-5 years to really find your niche. Sometimes it what's you do that you realize what you don't want, and vice versa.

[Fl4me5]

Originally Posted by bax

I'm about to graduate with a B.Comm in December and I have zero idea what I want to do with it. I have a high interest in film making and advertising since high school/early university, but I haven't really kept up with it.

Does anybody have some unique experiences or stories from their B.Comm? Would love to hear some

^
Finished my BComm in April. Couldnt be any unluckier than to enter the market at a time like this. Been looking for jobs for months and the best I've come up with so far is a crappy sales job that can at least pay the bills in the meantime while I look for something better.

Im in the same boat as you as I don't really have a specific industry I want to get into but with the market the way it is I've admitted that I cant be too greedy anyways. I would kill to just have an opportunity to prove myself with a legit company and grow from there. Getting to 2nd and 3rd rounds of interviews only to be let down is mentally and physically draining.

Would also enjoy hearing some others experiences/advice.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Baron von Kriterium

Oh, sorry, I meant that the military would pay for civilian training/certification such as professional project management, supply chain management, environmental and safety, etc. They will pay for a lot of courses if the courses relate to your current trade. They will even pay for courses that will set you up for second career training after the military. For example, a few in the office are taking courses in emergency management because they would like to work in that field when they retire.

Military vehicle mechanics, for example, will be granted civ journeyman status as far as I know as long as they achieved the equivalent level (QL5 is considered journeyman in the military) at the time of release.

Which is what I was saying. I was a medic, could do minor surgery and lots of trauma training, and prescribe medication.

My training didn't have an equivalent on civie street.

In short the training I did while in was useless, i would have had to take civilian courses to be a paramedic.

[Baron von Kriterium]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Which is what I was saying. I was a medic, could do minor surgery and lots of trauma training, and prescribe medication.

My training didn't have an equivalent on civie street.

In short the training I did while in was useless, i would have had to take civilian courses to be a paramedic.

How long ago did you release? There are now Med A and Med Techs - techs being the Journeymen. There was even talk a few years ago for some LPN equivalency; I do not know where that ended up. I think BC and Que offer PCP(?) equivalency to Med Techs but I don't know for sure.

Suffice it to say, I believe that the military would prefer this to work the other way around. They would rather recruit the civilian who is already qualified and then just train them to live and work in a military environment.

The challenge our medical folks face is that they do not get much practice so to speak. They do not see the emergencies and the trauma unless on an operation. Sure, there are training accidents here and there they have to contend with, but they need the exposure to the emergencies to keep their skills up.

I am certain that the military doctors and nurses in Edmonton spend a lot of time in the civilian ER departments for the experience.

And it works both ways. The civ surgeon who fixed my hernia spent time in the trauma hospital in Afghanistan because where else would he gain that type of experience?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Baron von Kriterium

How long ago did you release? There are now Med A and Med Techs - techs being the Journeymen. There was even talk a few years ago for some LPN equivalency; I do not know where that ended up. I think BC and Que offer PCP(?) equivalency to Med Techs but I don't know for sure.

Suffice it to say, I believe that the military would prefer this to work the other way around. They would rather recruit the civilian who is already qualified and then just train them to live and work in a military environment.

The challenge our medical folks face is that they do not get much practice so to speak. They do not see the emergencies and the trauma unless on an operation. Sure, there are training accidents here and there they have to contend with, but they need the exposure to the emergencies to keep their skills up.

I am certain that the military doctors and nurses in Edmonton spend a lot of time in the civilian ER departments for the experience.

And it works both ways. The civ surgeon who fixed my hernia spent time in the trauma hospital in Afghanistan because where else would he gain that type of experience?

I got out around 20 yrs ago.

[VladtheImpaler]

Very good thread.
OP, I was in exactly your situation a few years go, as some on here may know. I cast about for other law careers, considering moves to Nunavut, Kazakhstan, Toronto, BC or London (ON) - basically anywhere but Edmonton. I was looking at non-law careers, even went through career analysis/counseling. I basically hated law and hated going to work - I wasn't even at big firms. I was a terrible employee, spending all day on CP or Poker stars.
In 2012 I made the decision to go out on my own, since I couldn't find any jobs that I liked. I will always be grateful to my wife for completely supporting the plunge into the unknown, notwithstanding that we just had a child, had no money really and only her maternity benefits for income. We agreed we would give it 2 years and then I would have to find a job.
It has been fantastic. Mentally, my outlook completely changed - I stopped thinking of myself as a lawyer who hated the practice of law. I was now a businessman whose business focus was selling law-related services. And I discovered that I actually had some work ethic and was a pretty good businessman - I could make it rain. That's why I have been posting so little on CP and why I basically stopped watching games on TV (except BPL Saturday morning and playoffs). Greed, my friends, is a great motivator. I made a decent living my first year, more than I had ever made before in my 2nd, and... a lot more now.
Yet, I am home a lot more than I ever was as an employee. Yeah, it kind of sucks because you are never entirely on vacation - I just spent the week in Vegas answering work emails at the poker table. But, you know, when you are working for yourself it's not a source of resentment - just motivates me to grow the business so that I can pass all that onto employees and live off the fat of the land. My articling student seems like a sharp kid, so I have great hopes in that department.
I hope this doesn't come out like a brag of some sort, but rather as a source of inspiration for the OP and others like him because, Jebus knows, there are a lot of miserable lawyers who hate what they do. Perhaps a change of perspective rather than a career change is the answer. I was a lazy, unmotivated rolling stone who got by on IQ alone and had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. Until I found the perfect employer - myself - I am not a very demanding boss. I am involved in some side businesses now, which will hopefully be my retirement fund. I found that I am happy being "in business" regardless of what it is I am actually selling. I happened to have received a legal education, so I am selling law...

[flylock shox]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Very good thread.
OP, I was in exactly your situation a few years go, as some on here may know. I cast about for other law careers, considering moves to Nunavut, Kazakhstan, Toronto, BC or London (ON) - basically anywhere but Edmonton. I was looking at non-law careers, even went through career analysis/counseling. I basically hated law and hated going to work - I wasn't even at big firms. I was a terrible employee, spending all day on CP or Poker stars.
In 2012 I made the decision to go out on my own, since I couldn't find any jobs that I liked. I will always be grateful to my wife for completely supporting the plunge into the unknown, notwithstanding that we just had a child, had no money really and only her maternity benefits for income. We agreed we would give it 2 years and then I would have to find a job.

For all the bashing marriage takes these days, this is a great example of the empowerment it can provide. If you're going to embark on a huge risk, what a difference a team mate can make.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by flylock shox

For all the bashing marriage takes these days, this is a great example of the empowerment it can provide. If you're going to embark on a huge risk, what a difference a team mate can make.

Yes, that's the kind of thing that takes love to a new level. There is nothing I would not do for her.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Yes, that's the kind of thing that takes love to a new level. There is nothing I would not do for her.

Mrs. Impaler is awesome.

Thanks for sharing your story.

[DownhillGoat]

Whole lot of backstory here:

Originally moved out to Calgary to get into web/media design. Saw myself doing either that or film for a number of years. Took a 2-year diploma course from SAIT, and graduated right around the time of the dotcom crash. It was a pretty abysmal course (still in its infancy, and not really geared to anything specific). Anyone I graduated with that wanted to stick in the field either went on to take a more established course, or design oriented course, or worked piece work for well below minimum wage while working part time as call centre tech support with Shaw. So I was stuck as a fresh grad from a not very good course, trying to get a job when thousands of people who had been in the industry already were out of work. About a month before I graduated from SAIT, I read an article (which I still have bookmarked) titled: Do What You Love and Starve. Honestly don’t remember how I even stumbled across it, but it always stuck with me.

I floundered around in retail “management” for about 5 years, which was fine when I was in my early 20s, and getting loaded on cheap beer with my buddies was basically my only priority. However around my mid-20s when I came to the realization that at this rate I wouldn’t ever have a house (or live without roommates), or a vehicle (forget about new even), or an RRSP, I started to look to something else.

It was right around then that that article came back to my mind. I decided that, for me at least, that I’d rather do something that may not be my lifelong dream, or something I’m passionate about, but could give me the freedom (both financially and time-wise) to actually live a life I actually enjoyed outside of work. Work to live, not live to work, so to speak. So I looked at a few fields that could be used in O&G, but weren’t limited to it. I had it narrowed down to Instrumentation, and a family member mentioned I should look at Power Engineering as well. So back to SAIT I went, applied for both, and got accepted to both. The decision ended up coming down to work schedules. I loved instrumentation when I took a few basic courses, and would actually really enjoy being on the PLC / DCS programming side of it. However given my mantra of being able to live the life I want outside of work, Power Engineering won out. Instrumentation is generally straight days, operating is shift work, which as odd as it may seem, I still love. Stretches off that can allow me to go on vacation without taking vacation, going skiing, hiking, or running errands in the middle of the week with no crowds is absolutely fantastic.

Fast forward to today, I’ve had a few jobs at gas plants, did the SAGD/camp stint which was fantastic for the money, and great for travelling. Not so much for the single/social life though. Moved into the control room for about a year or two which I enjoyed, but I was I getting sick of the camp life. We had new management that was slashing budgets even before oil started crashing, so when oil started to dip the writing was already on the wall. Talking to some people still left there they’ve started rationing bacon in the kitchen in the morning. And I get that that sounds incredibly trivial to someone who’s never worked in a camp before. After a lot of deliberating this year, I ended up eating about a 50% paycut to take a job in the city in a similar setting, different branch of O&G though. The upside though, is the schedule is fantastic (and more stable), I actually have more job security, great pension, it allows for a enough flexibility, still pays the bills, and I’m actually starting to have a social life again.

TL;DR version:

So to answer the OP, do I love what I do? No. Do I dread going into work every day and come home a zombie every night? Nope. And that, frankly is enough for me. I love my life outside of work and I feel that’s way more important in my world, but obviously a personal preference. And to be perfectly honest, I’ve got a pretty decent gig. My only regret is not doing something I enjoyed for the 5 years I was floundering, since it's not like what I was doing was paying any bills. However I'm quite content where I ended up.

In a perfect world would I rather be a parks officer, or a ski patroller, or K-country search and rescue, or running a snowcat in the winter? Sure! I would love all aspects of those things… as a hobby. However as glamorous as stopping Yogi Bear from stealing pick-a-nick baskets sounds, the reality is I’d be likely making 40k a year dealing with threats of getting bear sprayed by a bunch of roided-up ####rats because I told them they can’t have a bonfire during a fire ban. Right now I have the choice if I want to ski in -30 days, and not clean up after idiots who think they can tackle a 30ft drop because they saw it in a ski movie one time. I can hike and scramble and not care about anything else. Or I can hit the hill during the day instead of grooming it at night.

So for me, I’ll work to enjoy the things I love, not make the things I love turn into work, and not have to worry about things like will I be able to afford the mortgage this month.

[Bunk]

Get off CP and get back to work!

Originally Posted by Table 5

With a lot of hard work, and definitely some luck too, I had my dream job (or what I thought was my dream job all through college) of being an Art Director at a magazine in the media capital of the world, just two years out of college. Setting up photoshoots, working with illustrators, doing a lot of photo styling, designing layouts. I thought that was about as good as it got.

2 years later though I was bored. While the actual work wasn't bad by any means, working at a magazine was pretty repetitive. I also realized that I would much rather be doing the art, then the one directing it. Luckily I had always taken on a lot of design/illustration work on the side, and eventually had enough work to quit and do it full time. So two weeks into the US market crash in 2007, when everyone else was desperately holding onto their jobs like grim death, I quit and started my own studio.

I've been doing it ever since, and it was the best decision of my life. What I love most about my job is that every week is different, and every client provides a new challenge. Some days I am doing work for some Fortune500 company, the next day I'm designing identities for some mom and pop operation.

On the downside, as any business owner knows, everything is on you. There is no such thing as "checking out" from work, there is no such thing as paid vacation, and every good or bad decisions is the result of your actions, no excuses. That, and the more successful a business gets, the more of a managerial role you have to play instead of your core competency. I spend half of my days these days writing emails and managing projects, while my junior designers do the fun stuff.

All in all though, I think I have it pretty good.

[troutman]

A common thread in this thread - the best boss is yourself.

[octothorp]

I'm at a crossroads in my life. The last five years I've been a stay at home dad, and it's been the best five years of my life so far, but with the little guy going off to kindergarten this year, I need to find something else to do. Before that, I was a technical writer, which I went to school for and originally I loved, but over the years I came to dislike (mostly for the office environment / politics). I've also had some success as a creative writer (and some failures), but it's probably something I'll never be able to actually make a living at. The thing is, in my situation, I'm extremely fortunate in that it's more about having a calling and purpose in my life than it is about making a living (my wife is a ridiculously talented creative entrepreneur, and I supported her when she was launching her business and she'll support whatever I decide I want to do with the next chapter of my life). But I'm not sure what that calling is right now. For me, the next couple months are going to be about making those decisions. The closest thing to a plan I have is a creative bucket-list... a list of things I want to create during my life, from graphic novels to screenplays to video-game scripts to board game design (I've already ticked both literary fiction novel and genre-fiction novel off the list.) But it's hard to get from that list to an actual plan for my life, and a bunch of unrelated creative projects isn't what most people would consider a career.

[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by bax

I'm about to graduate with a B.Comm in December and I have zero idea what I want to do with it. I have a high interest in film making and advertising since high school/early university, but I haven't really kept up with it.

Does anybody have some unique experiences or stories from their B.Comm? Would love to hear some

Have you considered working at a design agency? You'd get to work alongside the film-makers and designers and put your business knowledge to use on some interesting projects. Some roles you might look at are project management, account management, strategy, and content. Look into Digital Alberta, Startup Calgary, and Ad Rodeo as they host community events that you could attend to learn more about the industry.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Get off CP and get back to work!

I'm DREAMing as we speak!

[bax]

Originally Posted by Flames0910

Have you considered working at a design agency? You'd get to work alongside the film-makers and designers and put your business knowledge to use on some interesting projects. Some roles you might look at are project management, account management, strategy, and content. Look into Digital Alberta, Startup Calgary, and Ad Rodeo as they host community events that you could attend to learn more about the industry.

Thanks for this! Definitely some interesting stuff and makes me more optimistic about post grad life.

Would it be silly to considering complimenting my degree with some graphic design/art training? A year or two long program seems enticing to me and why not do it while I'm still young. Any recommendations for these kind of programs in western Canada?

[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by bax

Thanks for this! Definitely some interesting stuff and makes me more optimistic about post grad life.

Would it be silly to considering complimenting my degree with some graphic design/art training? A year or two long program seems enticing to me and why not do it while I'm still young. Any recommendations for these kind of programs in western Canada?

Not silly at all. I think ACAD has a 2 year certificate program that you might want to look into. That said, you'll learn far more on the job than you will in school. You might want to try and get your foot in the door somewhere and then continue your education on the side.

I did business school as well, and only discovered the option of working at an agency in my final year. It's completely understandable how the business schools here push grads into things like oil & gas, finance, and accounting, but also a shame that so little time is spent looking at the other options.

Anyways, I don't want to derail the thread, so if you wanna chat further, feel free to PM me.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by bax

Would it be silly to considering complimenting my degree with some graphic design/art training? A year or two long program seems enticing to me and why not do it while I'm still young. Any recommendations for these kind of programs in western Canada?

It's never a bad idea to better yourself with more skills, but honestly, if you're not going to get the full degree (ie. go through something like the 4 year VC Degree at ACAD), I'm not sure it's worth the effort to try to pass yourself off as a Graphic Designer. Typically, the primary thing you're going to learn in one of those quicky certificate programs is how to use the software, but you're not going to learn enough of proper design fundamentals and the thinking/process that goes into good design. Software will always change, but design fundamentals will always be what's important...and unfortunately it's hard enough learn them in 4 years, never mind 1 or 2.

Ive had plenty of friends try to take that shortcut to a design career, and it rarely works (and if it does, its because they are crazy talented and self-driven). Most agencies or studios don't even bother interviewing anyone on the Design side who doesn't have a 4 year degree. There are many qualified individuals out there to pick from to have to do that. A quickly diploma will get you a shot at production work, but it will be a lot harder to move up because chances are you will be missing a lot of the foundational knowledge.

I would think though you could still get a gig in a Media or Ad agency with your current Communications degree. A lot of people in the Media/Ad world are just really good creative thinkers in a non-visual way. Strategy is also very important these days. Also, a good project manager who can liaise between clients and creatives is worth their weight in gold!

[CroFlames]

Has anyone here made the transition from account managing to engineering/technical positions?

In my personal life, I am very hands on and I love building/doing. My professional life is sales. I've oft wondered about going back and doing an industrial/civil engineering degree and combining my sales skills with an professional engineering designation.

Anyone have experience with that?