Why you’re probably not doing your “dream job”

sorry but its never too late to get your dream job or anything

Most likely, you'd have multiple careers, so don't settle so early for a career. Just go out and explore the world.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A world leader to lead humanity out of the climate crisis! :D

well im 16 and rn im going towards underwater welding im doing engineering and i plan to go to diving school and after that underwater welding school so hopefully im going towards the right path by having it all planned out like that.

I've always wanted to be a writer, but as I grew up I've realized there is already too much junk out there for sale, no need for the world to add mine. So I went to healthcare

I went to college choosing my major as per my passion. The major seemed reasonable and legit, but impractical in hindsight. Still, I was a high achiever. I graduated with flying colors yet, failed hard to make any use of my education. I'm now the most overqualified person at my workplace but can't progress due to glass ceilings. For so long, I blamed the pandemic. Then, I realized, I've been grossly misaligned all along.

Cool animation. Hope to see your tutorial videos on visualisation someday😂

Actually I kinda am.

These studies are skewed and mostly lies. What about all those kids who didn't care didn't know what they wanted to do and ended up happy, healthy and paid well? Musicians, IG models, YT stars, sports personalities, broadcast celebs, etc?????? There's millions of well paid jobs where no education is required at all.

I thought I knew what I wanted to do at 15, i achieved it but now I realize it was too early to decide back then and I did not know myself enough. The problem is you have to choose and plan ahead very early in life and even if you feel very sure of yourself, your decisions are very uninformed and shaped by society. Even if you tick all the boxes presented to you by this system, it is still very hard to just be happy and content with yourself&your life

In Asia, the social status plays a very big role everywhere. You can see a lot of jokes about parents wanting their children to become a doctor, lawyer, or an engineer online but it's not just joking at all. It's a reality here. I admit these professions are considered to be very well respected but they overshadow other professions at the same time. That's why when you ask many people (not just children) about the academic requirements or the general job description of a particular job title, they can't tell. I think exposure only is not enough, people also have to change their minds and show respect to all professions equally.

So some kids who were high achievers in Math and did not want a career in science did not go into a career in science. What’s the problem? I’m more concerned about the kids who DID go into a career in science that they did NOT want just because they were good at math. The underlying thinking seems to be that high achievers in math are “needed” by science (in its narrowly-defined sense). That’s bad thinking: all fields of knowledge and all professions need a variety of profiles, including people who are strong in math.

As someone who doesn't know what I plan to do. Something that always stumped me was what options are there? I've grown up only hearing about the same 10 jobs doctor, engineer, artist, etc. and when you try to look up jobs your flooded with so many options it's impossible to look at all of them critically. So, it's a problem of too much choice and too little.

I had my life planned I had nearly 10k in savings ready for college but I had to follow my dad's business because he didn't want to deal with me going to college

I wanted to be dead by now so.... progress 🙂

Jobless

I dreamt of being a veterinarian since elementary. Now in college studying for it but I know I'm privileged than others.

When I was 15, I thought I would be a psychologist. Turns out that I'm pretty bad in biology. However, because I was good in math and IT, I decided to do an IT study.

While I was in college, I expected to do Software Engineering since that was super common in the IT field. After 3 years, I did an internship in Software Testing and realized I wanted to do this as a career. No one ever told me about Testing before I went to college and it's an example on how there are so many jobs that we don't know about.

I really want to appreciate that the marginalised childrens are at greater stake comparatively so true it is...

Im only in 8th grade (14 y/o). Last friday in business class (they didn't put me in art), we took a quiz that would supossedly help us figure out which career would fit us. My top 3 were all art related. My top two were animator/digital animator. When I got my results, I audibly gasped out loud because I had actually been considering animation as a career. Yet, at 14, I feel like I'm behind. I know I have years left to hone my craft. I know I have years to make up my mind on whether or not this is actually what I want to do. But It's hard. Because I'm not entirely confident that I want to be an animator, I don't put in the hard work and effort that it requires me if I were to be one. My family is also very poor. I have almost no materials to create art with, greatly limiting all of the potential progress I could be making. All I use is paper, pencils and erasers. I want to ask for a tablet in high school, but by then how many years will I have left? The problem is, if I do want to be an animator and go to art school, will I be too late? I would've wasted so much time already, not working on my art. Another problem is art school itself. I'm an A Honor roll student. I have mastery on all of my past exams, I get straight A's, I go to school everyday and I've never had a referal. If I choose art as a career, all of my effort in my academics would go down the drain, another reason as to why I am not sure.

I wanted to be a writer at15. I am now a grad student at a writing university

its a good thing we arent saturated with doctors and lawyers

I feel like this fails to mention how there are many different ways to achieve job goals. It doesn't always have to be School - > collage - > job

A lot of assumptions in this analysis.

After slightly exploring some paths I have more of an idea of what I DON’T want to do. This has given me a clearer picture of what I DO want to do. I will be continuing to explore my career interests to really figure out what I need to do to get where I want to go.
I am 15 now, but I know whatever I do I want to be a woman in STEM.

I think that considering all the kids that want to be doctors or lawyers, that might be an unrealistic ambition. It's really hard to become a doctor or lawyer, and I would say that most kids don't even have any concept of what is required, much less plans for it, and then even less, the means to make it happen. Regarding things like work visits, that type of experience is simply not the kind of thing that magically just happens, the opportunity must present itself through the charity of others. It's entirely realistic to say "I don't know" when asked what do you want to do when you grow up, to a 15 year old.

When I was around 15, I had an appointment with a guidance councillor (as did everyone else in my year). Had it in my head that I wanted to be an astronomer until they asked how my maths skills were 😅 ended up leaving school two years (and a pretty serious period of depression) later and doing half a year of photography before dropping out.

Following that, worked some low paid service jobs. Back to college around age 22 to study a subject that somehow never occurred to me before (despite excelling in computing at school and having a genuine interest). Got a degree in computer networking. Several more years of low paid work/unemployment followed. Unrelated civil service work for 5 years and then... finally! The network engineer job I'd been hoping for for almost a decade. Still sometimes can't quite believe I've ended up where I am.

Point is, you don't need to have your future set in stone at age 15 (or 20, or 25, etc). Maybe I'd be making more money or be further in my career if I'd gotten to it earlier, but I'm here now, doing the job I want to be doing, and that's everything I could have hoped for.

As a 17-year-old, I went to a career fair a few months back. It was very helpful

This video is somewhat awkward for someone who chose to be a teacher at age 10 and is currently 30 and in my ninth year of teaching 😬

Zoologist at 15 - I work in IT

ok but you missed the very key factor that College costs money, kids who do not have plans to go to college are likely to be in a family who may not have gone to college or may not be able to afford college.

Misalignment doesn’t just occur due to guidance and aspirations but is still routed in economic inequalities

Some countries government encourage more students to study engineering but when the students graduated, they cannot find a suitable job because companies only want people with 5 years experiences.

15 yo kids should not be planning or be ambitious about a profession, it’s a kid for god sake, they should be enjoying life while they can

nice and hlepful video

as a 15-year-old who has been given many of these opportunities, i still dont know what i wanna do because im only 15. i dont really know if its fair to expect teenagers to know this early on

I wanted to play video games better, so I stumbled into a career breaking video games. whatever you wanna do, just keep going

I don't understand how you can, at this point, categorize a job as at risk of automation. There are certain jobs that seem obvious like software engineer, writer, legal assistant, but there are other jobs that are on the brink, such as real estate agent, therapist, and video production. The entire entertainment industry could eventually become automated, as evident by how AI art is progressing. This could expand to the music industry as well, with the Drake x The Weeknd song and vocaloids being examples. Real estate agents are already using AI to write zillow descriptions, and in the future it would be feasible that an AI assistant could give a tour of a house and cut out the idea of a physical agent entirely (leaving a key in a lockbox like airbnb, AI communicates for the sales process, etc.) And therapy/mental health companies are already replacing their employees with AI. Snapchats AI friend that I think they made to support people who are lonely, and more specifically The National Eating Disorder Association hotline being replaced by a similar chatbot are evidence of this. So who's to say that jobs like medical researcher, doctor, construction worker, pilot, or even politician couldn't eventually be replaced by AI. Would have been nice to have some more clarity on how you made this distinction, IE jobs that are language based and rely on rules and logic, so copywriters, programmers, lawyers, writers. Or jobs that existing AI equivalents, expanding it to artists, drivers, video editors, hiring managers.

Mine was being a soldier here in PH

"You don't need college to do well in life."
"College education is not essential."
"You can learn more online."
"A college degree is frivolous."

Youngsters nowadays are often presented with these narratives, which are misguided and lack nuance. Asians are more likely to achieve their career goals because attending college, in whatever field they wish, is almost compulsory. In the US, parents put that burden of decisions on teenagers who barely know anything.

I think we should be asking kids what their dream LIFE looks like, and then pick a job that aligns with the lifestyle they desire. This whole mentality of shaping your life around a job is twisted. Shape your job to fit your LIFE

I actually am doing what i said I'd be doing at 15, but I took a roundabout way getting here and it happened a couple years after 30.

Not enough variables excluded.

My dream job is to be an endocrinologist to help more women with my condition become recognized

I would have LOVED more job shadowing or exploration in school. It was never offered. I was told "go to college." End of story

When I was a kid, I dreamed everyday of becoming a pilot. Now I’m a programmer. Not because I don’t like pilot. I just don’t have enough resources.

I already got my degree in computer animation degree (Master's). Ever since I graduated, I've been applying to jobs I want but all of them say sorry, we need 15 Years of experience. Sometimes I get ghosted so I was wondering, did I made a bad choice? At the port in my life, I have no idea what to do anymore.

why student is one of the jobs?

I love Vox's motion graphics. It's so satisfying which makes me watch even more..