Archive: 15 posts

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[Warning: wall of text] I don't know what I want to be when I grow up.... and I'm 31 Up until the end of last year I was working as a communications technician (cable guy) for a major cable company. The work wasn't great but I mostly enjoyed it, particularly the part about tracking down and fixing problems (I seem to get some kind of high off of problem solving). I got fired in December for being stupid (not un-intelligent stupid, but doing-the-kinds-of-things-that-get-you-fired stupid); it was a good lesson for me and I'll be sure to never be that particular kind of stupid again. I'm not attending college (yeah, I put it off for over a decade) and my major is IT 'cuz that seems to be what I have a knack for... but I'm not sure it's something I actually want to do as a career. I'm a reasonably good artist (http://thewanderingslacker.deviantart.com/), but I've always kinda' thought that illustrating or painting or whatever professionally wouldn't be a whole lot of fun: I can rarely get into commissioned projects enough to do them well. I'm also pretty darn good at figuring out logical problems: I picked up lbp logic pretty quickly and every time I come across a logic problem in lbp, I'm pretty good at solving it. Even when I have to ask for help, I usually end up solving it on my own (though some helpful suggestions have pointed me in the right direction or got me thinking differently). I've built things (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=33647-Monocycle) that I think nobody else in lbp could build (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=22150-Vehicle-tools-Tilt-and-motion-sensor-and-control-pod-%28Copyable%29) (though that might be at least partly because very few people have even wanted to build those things). I learn very quickly and I used to get crap from my high school teachers when I was the only one not taking notes, but they left me alone after they started seeing my test scores (they weren't perfect, but they were better than most of the people who were taking notes). I've dabbled a tiny bit in programming and I found it difficult to stick with, so I dunno' whether I'd be any good at programming. I'm a fairly decent writer, though I haven't worked much to develop it. So my question is, does anybody have suggestions on what a person like me might enjoy doing career-wise? I enjoy being creative and at least a little artistic, and I especially enjoy solving problems... especially the unsolvable kind. I'm asking on a lbp site, because a big part of what's made me realize I enjoy creative problem solving so much is lbp. I've thought about game design, but I dunno' if that's something I'd really want to do, especially with the programming aspect, and I've heard that working in the game industry can really freakin' suck (looooong hours and a ridiculous amount of pressure, especially when you get close to a launch date). I'm planning on researching graphic design a little to see what that's all about and if it's anything I might enjoy, so I guess there's that. Any other ideas?

2010-10-08 18:46:00 Author: Sehven Posts: 2188

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If you're handy with engineering why not go for that? Become a licensed electrician, those guys make a lot of money around here and don't do much manual work. How about working for airliners or the military as an engineer? Game development has changed a lot in the last few years, once upon a time all development for the game was inhouse but now programming is not the bulk of the game development effort since there's all these packaged engines and middlewares people can use, so it is something worth developing if you think you have a knack for developing gameplay. Personally, I've been out of work for a long time But I do want to start a game company, I have some serious ideas in mind.

2010-10-08 19:14:00 Author: Foofles Posts: 2278

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Quit your job. Start a fight. Claim your humanity. Or you know, if thats not your thing, you could do something else. I don't suggest being a commission artist. You feel like your whoring yourself out and the people your selling to usually don't even understand art, they want it superficially so they can look sophisticated. Also, you'll have to create what they want, not what you want.

2010-10-08 19:16:00 Author: Bremnen Posts: 1800

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I have these thoughts too, but rather differently I'm a teenager. I'm fairly smart, but everyone knows what they want to do when they're older. I'm always being told to consider what I'm to do for the rest of my life. It's very, very scary so I can tell how you, at 31, feel. Perhaps, do what they always tell us. Go out and do what you want. If I was in your position I would certainly go out and go all for it. What do you have to lose?

2010-10-08 19:46:00 Author: talbot-trembler Posts: 1114

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As the Boss (Bruce Springsteen, duh) once said: "You can't start a fire, You can't start a fire without a spark" < Dancing in the dark Follow your heart!

2010-10-08 20:15:00 Author: moonwire Posts: 1627

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well, my cousin is a lot like you dude, and he designs websites, it's a pretty neat job, and it requires both technical skills and artistic skills... soooo....

2010-10-08 20:18:00 Author: Joshofsouls Posts: 1569

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go in the army as a electrician thath is what ill do on my 18th and i study electro now Best of my class ^^

2010-10-08 20:26:00 Author: Unknown User

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working for airliners...as an engineer? That might be interesting. I'll have to do a bit of research to see what that's all about. Game development has changed a lot in the last few years... I guess my opinion was based on one article I read about 6 years ago or so... and it was based almost exclusively on what EA employees said, so I suppose it's not the most unbiased thing. I'll have to do some research into that as well. I have these thoughts too, but rather differently I'm a teenager. Yeah, I've been scratching my head about what I wanna' do since I was a teenager. You might wanna' try to pick something before you get to my age though If I was in your position I would certainly go out and go all for it. What do you have to lose? Easy to say until you consider that you've got all these bills to pay. ...he designs websites... That does seem to be all the rage these days, doesn't it. I've kinda' blown it off as some programming thing that I don't wanna' learn or whatever, but maybe I should rethink that. Thanks guys. I don't know if any of those things are anything I would necessarily want to do, but I've got some researching to do and even if none of those pan out, maybe they'll point me toward something else.

2010-10-08 20:32:00 Author: Sehven Posts: 2188

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I've always known what I wanted to be... Well since I was three anyway. A FIRE TRUCK!!! Ehhm... Actually a paleontologist, but you get what I mean.. (I hope... D: ) So I've never really been in this position, so I can't give you much advice. One piece I can give you, would be to not trust anything a virtual careers advisor tells you you'd be good at. I was a textiles engineer, my mate was a florist and my other mate was a religious leader or a pop star... So yeah. I could tell you what the others got, but I'd be saying professional dog groomer an awful lot...

2010-10-08 20:36:00 Author: Keanster96 Posts: 1436

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What don't you like about programming exactly? I would also suggest website designer, but this also depends on the above question. My friend works as an electrician, he enjoys it and gets paid well. I am curious about your "stupid" actions, heh. You seem calm and calculated around here. One thing I can recommend, is macromedia Flash. It's an animation/website/game making program. The best thing about it is that the programming language is easier to understand than others (miss a comma and you fail (still applies but it's eaiser to find the cause)), as it is more visual. It's my favourite way to program (besides LBP2 of course). Oh, and post a link to your a portfolio/CV for us. I still don't know what I want to do either.

2010-10-08 21:40:00 Author: midnight_heist Posts: 2513

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Try these: http://www.mycareerquizzes.com/job-quiz http://www.fasttomato.com/index.aspx By the sounds of it, You might make a good games designer - and a good way to get into the industry is to become a games tester which involves a lot of problem solving!

2010-10-08 21:57:00 Author: Weretigr Posts: 2105

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a religious leader or a pop star... Heh. Well those two things are exactly alike so I can see why he'd get both of those I am curious about your "stupid" actions, heh. You seem calm and calculated around here. Well it's easy to seem calm and calculated when you have to take the time to type out everything you wanna' say: it gives you time to filter yourself. Also there are plenty of stupid calm and calculated things you can do... like having miserable attendance at work . I used to program in Basic when I was a kid making those old text games (go north, get ye flask, etc). I enjoyed it a little, but it got tedious really quickly. I did look into C a little but never could muster up the enthusiasm to learn much. For some reason, it's just more fun to work out logic networks in lbp. Flash is interesting, but isn't it pretty limited/inefficient? Along with that, Steve Jobs decided not to support flash on any of the new "i" products, which, as prolific as Apple is (for some reason that's still beyond my grasp), means flash's days may be numbered. a good way to get into the industry is to become a games tester which involves a lot of problem solving! Hm. I didn't know being a tester involved problem solving. Thought it was just playing and reporting problems. Anyway, I always figured being a tester wouldn't be fun at all--instead of playing, you're searching every nook and crannie of the game trying to find problems.

2010-10-09 02:39:00 Author: Sehven Posts: 2188

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well, my cousin is a lot like you dude, and he designs websites, it's a pretty neat job, and it requires both technical skills and artistic skills... soooo.... This was what I was going to recommend. I just recently visited two studios that specialize in designing websites and helping set up the visual side of a company. Basically, from what I saw, it's simply divided as a team. First, the website wire frame is made up, when the final version is decided on, two groups, designers and programmers, work on each part individually. Because of the wire frame, they can collaborate on how things work without any trouble. I believe the designers have very little to do with coding HTML and JavaScript, but I believe they may do some. The programmers don't do any kind of media. I also forgot to mention they do things like iPhone apps...latest project I heard from one of them was designing a large touch screen (HDTV) for a museum. So, designers do art stuff and maybe some programming, whilst programmers simply make websites work and operate with all browsers. Both studios were small companies, only composing of about 10-20 people, I hear there are larger companies, but they are apparently much different from each other. They also both agreed that they hate Internet Explorer 7. (Apparently the browser would always mess up when the other browsers would perform just right.)

2010-10-09 05:17:00 Author: warlord_evil Posts: 4193

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I recommend something like web design. Something fairly new that will grow in worth in the future works well. For example, there's a web design business in my local city which is just 4 guys in a room. Their business is worth half a million. It's good to get involved in the cutting-edge of things.

2010-10-09 06:15:00 Author: tomodon246 Posts: 624

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Have you ever had any experience with Adobe Flash? Your avatar looks Flashy (Pun very much intended) maybe becoming a Flash Developer is something to consider. It combines IT and art and wouldn't involve much prgramming. My brother started as Flash Developer 2 weeks ago and is liking it so far.

2010-10-09 07:36:00 Author: SR20DETDOG Posts: 2431

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