Help finding a good career

[EricH]

I was actually going to suggest a Comp Eng degree. And there is at least one school in the Midwest that offers it--South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, at the far end of South Dakota from the OP. I happen to be working with 1 EE, 2 Computer Science, and 1 Computer Engineering student (along with another two ME seniors) for my senior design project--a robot.

[pfreivald]

A "good" career choice will minimally satisfy these criteria:

a. You must be good at it.
b. You must enjoy it.
c. There must be demand for it.

2/3 isn't good enough, and beyond that, the sky's the limit!

[RyanCahoon]

Meant to respond to this thread a couple days ago, but have been busy...

In addition to what [JamesBrown] and [pfreivald] said,

I would suggest talking to some of your mentors who are close to the fields you are considering. If there are none on your team, try asking teams near you or find other community members (your team's mentors and parents may be able to help you find somebody even if they don't know the field directly). This will allow you to have a more in-depth conversation than you will get online, which IMO is what this kind of question requires. During the conversation, focus on discussing what kind of things you like doing the most (you may enjoy many different things, but which are your absolute favorite), but more importantly, figure out why you enjoy these activities.

The next step from there is I would think it would be helpful to do a couple of job shadows. My high school required us to do at least one as part of our graduation criteria, but even if yours doesn't have a similar program, there's no reason why you can't do it on your own. Try to find some people who work in the fields you are are interested (hopefully you've done this already from the previous step) and ask if you could accompany them or somebody who works at their company during their job one day. As long as their job isn't classified, usually they're pretty willing, but it usually takes a couple of weeks to a couple of months to set up. This will help you see first-hand what kinds of things somebody in that occupation does on a day-to-day basis.

[fuzzy1718]

In my senior year of high school I was in the same boat as both the OP and the 1st reply...

I ended up going to an almost entirely engineering school thinking that EE or ME was what I wanted to do. Turns out... it wasn't... Now I am a 2nd year Anthropology major at said engineering school. Even though I was involved in almost all aspects of my robotics team, like the two of you, turns out it wasn't the engineering or the robots that I was interested in; it was the interactions of all the different people.

My advice figure out why you like doing whatever you like the most... There are so many different elements to a FIRST team; just limiting your gaze towards the technical side of things is an injustice towards the diverse culture we live in.

Also don't pick something just because you are good at it. You have to remember that you must love what you pick, or doing in everyday will spoil that activity for you and drive you insane... Like engineering for me.

You also don't have to decide right now. Many schools don't require you to declare a major until your second or third year. I would advise taking classes in many areas your first year. This will enable you to make a more informed decision of where your interests lie. Also taking a wide range of classes wont hurt you in the long run, most degrees require you to take courses in many other areas to give you the experience of approaching a problem from another angle. Plus it helps to get them out of the way early, so you don't end up taking a class in an area that you find extremely difficult while working on a senior project.

Bottom line is figure out what you love the most and why you love it, then don't let anyone stop you from doing it. No one can tell you what you should do to be happy and successful other than yourself, as we all measure both things quite differently.

My two cents... and a shot at a semi-non-but-kinda-still-STEM-approach

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

A "good" career choice will minimally satisfy these criteria:

a. You must be good at it.
b. You must enjoy it.
c. There must be demand for it.

2/3 isn't good enough, and beyond that, the sky's the limit!

I'd change the order:
a. you must enjoy it
b. you need to be good at it
c. there needs to be a demand for it

In my 30+ year career, one thing I have learned is that if you truly enjoy your work, you'll be good at it. As evidence, think back on school classes where you got an excellent grade: Wasn't that a class you enjoyed? And vice-versa - poor grades are usually in classes you don't like at all.

Not to mention, who wants to earn a living for 45+ years doing something they don't like doing?

I agree that most larger companies what you to know more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing (almost). I work for a large car company, and I know a guy whose entire 40 year career was designing positive battery cables. Not the negative ones, just positive. Talk about specialized! But he knows it inside out & backwards, probably better than anyone on the planet, and he just loves what he does.

So find out what it is you enjoy doing the most, like in your spare time or as a hobby. Then find if someone will pay you to do that, or at least something similar. Then find a job doing that.

That all being said, it's not unusual for a HS senior to not know the answers to all that. Don't fear, as you get exposed to topics in college, and by talking with people, things will become clearer. Most people also have to work for several years before they zero in on what they really want, so don't fear that part of the process either.

[A_Reed]

Don't worry this is only the first bump in the road, you have some time yet to decide what major you want to study under. Wait until you start getting internships under your belt and start eliminating and narrowing down studies withing your given field. Spend as much time as you can in internships/co-ops and make friends with your advisers and you will have plenty of confidence in making those lasting decisions when it comes time to graduate from college.

I'm currently at this stage and having issues, small companies don't know what FIRST is and the big ones don't much respect my degree. Finding a direction in robotics/automation design from the mechanical side is not as easy I though it would be.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

I'd change the order:
a. you must enjoy it
b. you need to be good at it
c. there needs to be a demand for it

I would say that the order of importance doesn't matter, because you need all three in order for it to be a "good" career. Eliminate any one of the three, and you've got yourself an unsatisfactory and/or unsuitable career.