Help finding a good career

[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.