What Do I Do With My Life (Next)?

February 9, 2009 10:07 PM

Looking for alternate career paths: one 30-yo-ish web designer who just ain't into it and seeks pastures in shades of More Meaningful. I'm pretty friggin' unhappy doing what I'm doing. I've done the 'What Colour Is Your Parachute' exercises (results within) but am being held up by uncertainty and not really knowing much about many careers outside my immediate sphere of influence. And, ok, probably by being an INFP, too. ;) Help? Sorry -- this is long.

Background
My first Real Job has been in web design, the result of studying a Bachelor of Multimedia which I got through ok but without much interest; and that has thus far seen me do all the pretty stuff at the company for which I've worked ever since (where, for full disclosure's sake, I rather dislike the commercial nature of the beast and the people who are into it). My only interest when I got into the field was markup, standards compliance stuff, usability and whatnot -- not all this pretty stuff I'm doing now. Somehow I got a bit diverted and don't know how how to find my way back, or that might be my first port of call.

But I rather suspect it wouldn't be my last. I could certainly try and work out how to move back onto that path - and if anyone has any suggestions on how I might do so easily I'd be really appreciative about hearing them - but I also am wondering if I'd be any more happy doing that. Overall, design's really not worth much to me (at least for its own sake), and it's such a field full of impassioned artists that generally I think I'd best just leave them to their effusions and go find something I feel similarly about. Certainly I figure I should think about it before I invest a whole lot of time into any change of direction.

After I did my B.Mm, for interests' sake alone I studied a Bachelor of Arts in Gender Studies. Did an honours year and wrote a thesis on queer young adult novels. Now that was some cool shit: all sorts of things I'd never learnt before and that made me into a better, more aware, more authentic (capable of thinking for myself) person, plus gave me the opportunity to give something back. Personally, politically, philosophically relevant and rewarding... All up, a great way to spend some time.

Alas, also a good way to gather some student debt. Accordingly (and because, y'know, I'm terminally single and still hope one day despite this state of, uh, independence, to raise funds enough to purchase a dwelling of some kind for myself), I've adverse to returning to study, accruing more debt (eek!), and staving off gainful employment (worse! no way of paying BACK debt!), unless I'm sure I'm putting everything aside for The Most Positively Absolutely Right And Perfect Field For Me (stamped and signed with the approval of an all-knowing deity would be good).

Insert current problem. What do I doooo??

Ideas and Ideals
In my ideal world I get to read all day and learn brain-twisting new shit and discuss ideas with people and get paid for it. Meantime, back in reality.....

I've considered librarianship, and indeed am looking at a deadline of Friday for an application to a Masters course therein (have printed out the application form, but am dragging my feet in uncertainty), but everyone on here seems to shriek "No! There's too many of us already!" at every wannabe librarian. I've read your horror stories. I've read your complaints of little monetary compensation (security's important to me). On the positive side, yay for information and learning and all that sort of fulfilling stuff; I could get behind that, assuming I enjoyed the day-to-day stuff adequately.

I've also considered academia, but my honours thesis supervisor, whilst saying she's glad I'm considering it, tells me the conditions are pretty pitiful at present and she wouldn't get into it today if she was just thinking about starting out. Again, too, the pay seems a bit blah.

Myers-Briggs-wise, I'm an INFP. (I know! Imagine! I can't make a decision! Whoever would have thought?!) I'm pretty reserved around people I don't know, and a bit self-conscious when making noise or drawing attention to myself, so am not much into getting up in front of crowds, though that may be something I'd be willing to work on if it was the only thing holding me back from something awesome. (I tend to like challenging myself anyway and doing a Toastmasters course is on my To Do list.)

Going by the list below, which represents the "Everything On One Piece Of Paper" page of 'What Colour Is Your Parachute', does anything occur to you that might be perfect for me? Apparently I'm looking for something:

Utilising my favourite transferable skills: developing/improving, researching, writing, analysing, interpreting others' ideas, organising/systematising/classifying

In a field defined by my favourite interests: communication, books, learning, philosophy, nature/travel, queer rights/anti-discrimination, ethics

Serving my favourite values and goals: growing in wisdom and compassion; having an impact; helping fight discrimination/unkindness; helping people

In organizations having my favourite people environments: interested in making the world better somehow; have progressive ethics; sensitive to nontraditional issues; at least moderately socially "ept"; heterogeneous in gender and race and hopefully even sexuality; humorous; with I/A/S type people (I = investigative/analytical/curious, A = artistic/imaginative/innovative, S = social/into informing, training, developing, curing or enlightening)

With my favourite working conditions: good feeling of teamwork/morale/support; variety in my tasks; ability to control the noise environment around me (quiet when needed); friendly, effective management; adequate resources to perform my job as well as conceivable

At this salary and level of responsibility: $55k+ (Aussie $); creative control over my work; overtime hours appreciated rather than expected; able to select people I have to supervise, but preferably no hierarchical management duties.

Okay, some of this isn't going to happen, but I'm including it all anyway because who knows what connections might get drawn. Also open to general advice on career selection, on choices generally, or whatever you think is relevant. Hit me!

Thanks MeFites; you rock!

posted by springbound to work & money (13 answers total)

The first thing that comes to mind is a Research or Policy Officer position with a Queensland Government Department. Best fits would be the Department of Communities followed by Disability Services QLD (and since both are covered by the same Minister, you could easily get a job in one and later transfer to the other).

I say this because in such roles you basically get to read a lot, advance the goals of social justice and make the world better and if you're lucky you might even get to travel. Most of these positions start at the AO4 to AO5 range, which is around $55k. Also, most public servants will tell you that the public service in QLD is a great place to work (unless you get a real prick of a manager) and they're very sensitive to minorities and sexuality and teamwork is usually a big thing.

Look at jobs.qld.gov.au and search for jobs under Organisation --> Communities or Disability Services QLD. Then see what comes up.

One word of warning though; my experiences with trying to land a job in the QLD public service taught me that it takes aaaaaaaaaaaages for them to actually get round to even contacting you after you send in your application (3 months, average) and then interviewing, shortlisting and actually starting can add another one or two months to your wait time. So don't expect to be starting tomorrow.

Also, your background isn't condusive to getting a research or policy officer position right off the bat. Chances are if you applied for one you'd maybe score an interview but unless you really wow'ed them in the interview, you'd probably get knocked back. So here's Effigy2000's tips to help you get one!

First, since you seem to have a background in IT (web esign counts as IT, dosen't it?) you could apply for IT or communication jobs in the public sector. Any Department will do... it needn't be DSQ or Communities. Assuming you get one of these jobs and become a public servant, you can then apply for what are called Expressions of Interest, which are basically temporary jobs that are only open to Departmental employees. Your chances of getting a policy or research officer job via an EoI is much higher than if you were just another jobseeker looking to get one of these coveted positions right off the street.

The other easy way to get into the public service and apply for an EoI is via a professional job agency. I'm not talking about Job Search Australia or the Salvos here. They're fine if you want a normal job but they don't really get you a public service job. The jobs.qld.gov.au site has a page which lists who they recruit with for entry level jobs. These jobs are usually AO1 or AO2 jobs... not very high paying ($30k at most) and are usually admin jobs but again, if you can at least get your foot in the door you can apply for EoIs and that's where you get to where you want to be. Plus if you get in via a recruitment agency you usually don't need to do up an entry application and you could get a job within a fortnight (as opposed to three months or more).

Whatever you wind up doing, good luck!
posted by Effigy2000 at 10:38 PM on February 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

A career in law/being a lawyer was the first thing that came to me based on your values, interests, and working environment preferences. It would obviously require more schooling but hey, that's not such a terrible thing necessarily.

I am in much the same boat as you right now (i.e. working the parachute) so I can really appreciate your situation. Best of luck!
posted by karizma at 10:51 PM on February 9, 2009

75% of attorneys are the T type, so if you're a borderline F/T, I wouldn't go that way. (If you are, you might love standing up for the little guy.)

A few quick ideas. What about teaching? I know a few introverted teachers. What about writing, especially journalism-style (fast turnaround, good for Ps). My INFP friend really wants to be a therapist and would be awesome at it. But like you, there's an educational barrier there. Hmm, developing potential... a one-on-one leadership or career coach? Management consulting for nonprofit organizations or something?
posted by salvia at 12:43 AM on February 10, 2009

Whoops, I meant "UNLESS you're borderline F/T"
posted by salvia at 12:44 AM on February 10, 2009

I'm afraid I don't know what you should doooo, but I was basically flailing around trying to figure a lot of this stuff out for myself a year or so ago (I'm an INFP as well), so I have a few thoughts which might be helpful.

I spent ages looking for The Most Positively Absolutely Right And Perfect Field For Me as you put it, and then had a bit of an epiphany when I realised that that's kind of the same extreme thinking as expecting there to be One And Only One Perfect Love Of Your Life out there. Which is not a theory I subscribe to - I think there are lots of people out there who could be really happy together and very much In Love Forever, it's just a case of finding one, making a decision and sticking to it. So why do we approach careers in this absolutist way? I dunno. Once I started recognising that there are lots of things I definitely don't want to do, that there's nothing that is so consuming for me that the path is clear, but that there ARE a small number of things that I think I would very much mostly enjoy, it became easier to make a decision about where to begin.

Also, I took a test called the Harrison Assesment which really clarified things for me. I took it through the careers service at my uni (which made it about half price, so that's good if you can swing it, since it was still in the hundreds) and at the time I looked at the results and had a think and walked away. Then, a year later when I was REALLY wanting to find the answer to exactly your question, I went back and looked at it (in conjunction with some Myers-Briggs stuff) and there were some insanely clear patterns about what I should be doing, and it made it relatively easy to make a decision about where to start. I think it was probably important that at this point I was open to Making A Decision, as opposed to having an out of the blue lightning bolt moment about my Life's True Purpose.

Also, I reckon if you're wavering, you should put in that application for librarianship. If you decide in a month that it's a bad idea, then you've lost nothing. On the other hand, if you don't apply and decide next week that you should've done it...well...

I agree that maybe a research job in the government might suit you. I have a friend who works as a researcher for the NHMRC into ethics. It sounds very interesting. I think you could probably parlay Honours in Gender Studies into something like that, although, as Effigy2000 suggests, it might take a little time going sideways and up before you find somewhere you're really comfortable.

Good luck!
posted by Emilyisnow at 1:57 AM on February 10, 2009 [3 favorites]

Don't forget the federal government agencies such as AusAID (especially for the socially-minded and travel-lusty part of you - I have some insight into this agency, so mefimail me if you want more detail) and even places like the Office for Women.
posted by Lucie at 3:14 AM on February 10, 2009

Oh christ. Springbound - are you my secret twin? I absolutely feel for you. I'm very similar - and the need to be authentically 'me' in my work, learning and sharing but maintaining security is a tough act to balance. My first job was at a web design agency and it sucked the soul right out of me. I'm general happier in the public/cultural sector.

The library qualification would be useful for museums if you're interested in non-library applications. Coupled with web skills it would also be a route into information architecture across a lot of sectors. You could look at part-time work to mitigate the overhead for study?

I absolutely would not recommend working in the Law. I work for a legal organisation now. As a fellow INFP I find the prevalence of T/J types really, really hard. I thought it would be academic and interesting - not so. People don't share ideas here, they debate points - it's a very dry environment.

The best job I ever had was web work within a big museum. The people were of (or at least sympathetic to) an academic, slightly eccentric bent and I was surrounded by collections that resonated with all the socio-cultural marrow you could suck out of them. I felt a *part* of things, lives lived, exchange of ideas etc, and I loved how the web was a window into interpretation. Incidentally, museums need good taxonomy and analysis people to manage their web audiences, which is all apt to your transferable skills. There were downsides, the boss was a raging maniac and everything took a million years to happen but I was so able to be 'me' in that environment, and the content was so engaging that I could sweat the petty stuff you get in many jobs. Alas it was only a year's contract and the pay was not comparable with the private sector but I'd go back in a shot.

Alternatively, a lot of my friends work for independant think tanks as researchers. Lots of ideas and learning afoot there - I'm not sure how easy it is to get involved but might be worth a look. I agree there's no *one perfect job*, but you can definately find work that's a better fit. Best of luck!
posted by freya_lamb at 3:16 AM on February 10, 2009

I don't think switching back to interface accessibility and usability would be that difficult, even here in Oz, where the design and development jobs tend to meld more than usual, I'd say. If this is something you think you'd actually be interested in doing, talk to your current boss about focusing more in that, or look for jobs that fall within this. You may dislike the corporate atmosphere, but I actually, within my own circle of friends and family, have not seen where it doesn't give a lot of choice, provided you are willing to ask and work for it.

From what you wrote, it sounds to me like you would like to edit something. How much media/journalism did you do in your multimedia degree? You could edit for a magazine or something. In fact, you could even couple your experience in web design this way, if you aimed for an online mag (which I recommend, considering the state of print). There are many political and other bodies that need good editors. If you can prove you're good at reading and catching people's mistakes, you can start somewhere and work your way up. However, don't expect your starting salary to be great, because you have a degree in multimedia, not journalism. I don't think this would particularly hinder your getting a job, but it might mean you spend an extra year than a journalism graduate to get a good salary.

You can look into working with private charities or government organizations to write for them. Just because they're a charity or aid organization does not mean they don't have paid employees, of course, and you could be one of them. This might fulfill your desire for something with "more meaning."

Personally, I think that if you haven't already done so, you should travel. This might mean dipping into your I'm-saving-up-for-a-house-and-the-whole-nine-yards fund, but I think it could round you out and make you more aware of where you want to go, career-wise.

One possible way of looking at this is to ask yourself, if you didn't have to worry about earning money for anything at all, and could just get up and do whatever you wanted to, no degree or experience required initially, what would you do? The answer is probably right under your nose.
posted by metalheart at 4:57 AM on February 10, 2009

I'm a final year graphic design student and I'm also having second thoughts. Did some work experience at a Sydney based web agency, they're called LPIP, which was a disappointing experience.

I'm thinking about undertaking a degree in urban planning. I've got a 3-4 year old flyer from the University of NSW that I'll just paste here. It lists:

- physical, economic, social and political forces which shape cities and regions
- environmental, financial, legal, geographic, cultural and historical aspects of urban development processes
- design and conservation of the built environment
- quality of the natural environment

as interests addressed by the degree. It's a pretty broad list, perhaps not very useful as far as lists go, but I imagine the scope of urban planning is pretty all encompasing. It's social change from a very different angle and with a different time frame than say a legal practitioner but maybe that's what makes it interesting.

It's also written in the booklet that the "program is not narrowly technical", that it is involved with "human and public dimensions" and "appeals to individuals seeking interdisciplinary learning".

It sounds like your skills, interests and values/goals intersect with urban planning. Of course, having no experience or much knowledge of the field, I can't tell you what an actual career in urban planning will entail. The other thing is I envision some set of people skills would be much needed. I can imagine a lot of collaboration in this line of work since it has to juggle so many things.
posted by quosimosaur at 8:22 AM on February 10, 2009

Wow quosimosaur, I'm a graphics/advertising student and I have just begun to think about switching to urban planning as well. How weird! I wonder if there's some reason for that.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:14 AM on February 10, 2009

developing/improving, researching, writing, analysing, interpreting others' ideas, organising / systematising / classifying

You could become an evaluator. Plenty of jobs in the APS all the time. I found it to be very rewarding work.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:03 PM on February 10, 2009

A quick search for 'evaluation' at APSJobs threw this up at the Department of Finance in Canberra - APS5 project officers to evaluate Indigenous programs. All they seem to be looking for is 'analytical skills'. There's also an ad for APS6 project officers so there seems to be a career path.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:09 PM on February 10, 2009

Hey guys, sorry for the slow response! Everything you've all written has been great and I've thought about each post as it went up, though at the end of it all found myself confused so not sure what to post along with a thank you to you all. I'd like to pm a lot of you too, if I may, but am going through a tired spot at the moment, so it seems sensible to just bloody wrap up here already!

So I decided against applying for the library science degree at this point in time, largely due to people saying, "Do what you want to do right now!" which I realised, well, wasn't anything other than kick back and relax a bit, and perhaps that's for good reason: there's probably internal stuff holding me back from a decision just now, and I could stand to step back a bit and deal with that stuff for now, which is something I wouldn't have time to do whilst studying.

So, that decided, I've now got ample time to read your thoughts, ask friends similarly for ideas, and do a bit of pondering, towards which all your suggestions have been great. There's stuff there I've thought of (hearing both sides of the lawyer debate was good actually) and stuff that I wouldn't've thought of at all. All's helpful. Thanks heaps guys, you're all fab. :)
posted by springbound at 6:30 PM on February 12, 2009