That Career-Selector Thingy
1. Go to Career Cruising, www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark
3. Answer the "Career Matchmaker" questions (upper left-hand corner)
4. Post the results
5. Put the careers you have seriously considered in bold
6. Put the careers you've had in italics
1. Anthropologist(Hmm, never really considered that one. I think I took one class in undergrad, and liked it well enough, but it didn't really grab me.)
2. Website Designer(I've done this on and off for quite awhile, though I enjoy it a lot less once clients get involved in the mix.)
3. Historian(I'd love to, but actual paying jobs in this or lit or phil or any of my humanities interests are bloody impossible to get, and too narrowly specialized for my interests.)
4. Industrial Designer(I have no idea what this even entails. Designing products? Designing factories and machinery? Maybe the former, if I could design the sort of Green and efficient stuff we're going to need in the coming years.)
5. Desktop Publisher(pretty much the same skills as web design, with different software suites. not exactly a growth industry right now)
6. Technical Writer(I'd be good at this, but it would bore me to tears)
7. Sign Maker (hmm, maybe. I'd need someone else to do any drawing involved.)
8. Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator (can't draw for shit)
9. Fashion Designer(no freaking way)
10. Interior Designer(see #9)
11. Plumber(wow, that is out of left field)
12. Animator(again with the can't draw)
13. Electronics Assembler(is this even a career in the US anymore? I do love taking things apart and messing with them and hopefully putting them back together though. But this seems more like factory work, which, no thanks.)
14. Cabinetmaker(I do like the idea of building stuff, but I'm also very sloppy and imprecise)
15. Curator(I've definitely considered going back to school for something in the curator/librarian line. I love collecting, organizing, and categorizing stuff. The artistic elements of most curation work would probably do me in for that though. I'm surprised something like research librarian didn't show up on here however. Not enough questions about information and critical thinking and such.)
16. Multimedia Developer(I guess this is like Flash and video and junk in addition to text and layout? Not very fond of those aspects. I've stubbornly refused to learn Flash, which has dampened my career prospects in the web design world.)
17. Industrial Machinery Mechanic(maybe not industrial, but I could see fixing machinery. I worked in my dad's shop growing up, and am handy, and love taking stuff apart as above.)
18. Millwright(what is this, the 19th century?)
19. Conservator(this is... conserving stuff? Like preservations of artifacts and texts and such I guess? Interesting, but I'm not meticulous enough.)
20. Professor(Yeah, me and a million other people, many of whom are willing and able to work way harder and be more focused than I am. This would be the living the dream if I could get like a genius grant and be a visiting scholar and just study whatever interdisciplinary craziness catches my fancy, but... yeah, good luck with that.)
21. Office Machine Repairer(I guess this instead of industrial mechanic would be more up my alley if I was fixing shit. I do some of this at work now.)
22. Biological Tech(this is about 1/3 to 1/2 of what I actually do now, and I like it well enough, though again the short attention span, imprecision, and sloppiness tend to work against me in terms of doing real sustained benchwork.)
23. Cable Installer and Repairer(well, judging by my experiences with cable installation, they at least get to be really lazy and never have to show up on time, so there's that.)
24. Graphic Designer(I'm a lot better at layout than graphics and Photoshop. I just can't creatively visualize stuff very well.)
25. Artist(no way, unless some sort of collage or arrangement sort of work. Can't draw or paint, terrible at visualization. Maybe could sculpt or do some sort of crazy abstract modern arty stuff.)
26. Communications Specialist(depends on the kind of communications I guess.)
27. Activist(Great in theory, no fun in practice. It's hard to be a professional activist when you have reservations and skepticism and nuanced views about pretty much everything policy-wise. Plus the pay is terrible to nonexistent, and you have to deal with a lot of well-meaning but clueless assholes.)
28. Writer(yeah, me and everyone else in the world who likes to write. Maybe someday. I'm not prolific enough anymore to freelance full time or write the kind of blog that could get noticed these days.)
29. Computer Animator(see above about Flash and lack of visualization ability.)
30. Political Aide(Probably, if it would lead to bigger and better things like wonkery. Not so interested in the spinning and servility aspects.)
31. Print Journalist(Print is dead! But seriously, print journalism jobs are disappearing much quicker than print journalists and aspiring print journalists are. Now, if I got to take over and fix the web operations of a print newspaper, that would be awesome.)
32. Musical Instrument Builder and Repairer(Hmm, interesting, but again with the precision and concentration.)
33. Public Policy Analyst(Yes plz. Though again, I am too much of a generalist / dilettante for most policy positions.)
34. Bicycle Mechanic(Might be decent at it, but I need health insurance and money and so on.)
35. Market Research Analyst(Booooring, though I have gotten a little more interested in economics and markets. But I'd never want to do it as a career.)
36. Medical Illustrator(Couldn't they have saved everyone a lot of trouble with a question like "Can you draw worth a shit?")
37. Translator(well, if I knew any languages besides bad Spanglish and BASIC.)
38. Upholsterer(no way)
39. Furniture Finisher(No way. I'd want to design and build stuff, not just put it together and varnish it.)
40. Picture Framer(doubt I'd be good at this. I'd ruin too much stuff.)
2. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark
3. Answer the "Career Matchmaker" questions (upper left-hand corner)
4. Post the results
5. Put the careers you have seriously considered in bold
6. Put the careers you've had in italics
1. Anthropologist(Hmm, never really considered that one. I think I took one class in undergrad, and liked it well enough, but it didn't really grab me.)
2. Website Designer(I've done this on and off for quite awhile, though I enjoy it a lot less once clients get involved in the mix.)
3. Historian(I'd love to, but actual paying jobs in this or lit or phil or any of my humanities interests are bloody impossible to get, and too narrowly specialized for my interests.)
4. Industrial Designer(I have no idea what this even entails. Designing products? Designing factories and machinery? Maybe the former, if I could design the sort of Green and efficient stuff we're going to need in the coming years.)
5. Desktop Publisher(pretty much the same skills as web design, with different software suites. not exactly a growth industry right now)
6. Technical Writer(I'd be good at this, but it would bore me to tears)
7. Sign Maker (hmm, maybe. I'd need someone else to do any drawing involved.)
8. Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator (can't draw for shit)
9. Fashion Designer(no freaking way)
10. Interior Designer(see #9)
11. Plumber(wow, that is out of left field)
12. Animator(again with the can't draw)
13. Electronics Assembler(is this even a career in the US anymore? I do love taking things apart and messing with them and hopefully putting them back together though. But this seems more like factory work, which, no thanks.)
14. Cabinetmaker(I do like the idea of building stuff, but I'm also very sloppy and imprecise)
15. Curator(I've definitely considered going back to school for something in the curator/librarian line. I love collecting, organizing, and categorizing stuff. The artistic elements of most curation work would probably do me in for that though. I'm surprised something like research librarian didn't show up on here however. Not enough questions about information and critical thinking and such.)
16. Multimedia Developer(I guess this is like Flash and video and junk in addition to text and layout? Not very fond of those aspects. I've stubbornly refused to learn Flash, which has dampened my career prospects in the web design world.)
17. Industrial Machinery Mechanic(maybe not industrial, but I could see fixing machinery. I worked in my dad's shop growing up, and am handy, and love taking stuff apart as above.)
18. Millwright(what is this, the 19th century?)
19. Conservator(this is... conserving stuff? Like preservations of artifacts and texts and such I guess? Interesting, but I'm not meticulous enough.)
20. Professor(Yeah, me and a million other people, many of whom are willing and able to work way harder and be more focused than I am. This would be the living the dream if I could get like a genius grant and be a visiting scholar and just study whatever interdisciplinary craziness catches my fancy, but... yeah, good luck with that.)
21. Office Machine Repairer(I guess this instead of industrial mechanic would be more up my alley if I was fixing shit. I do some of this at work now.)
22. Biological Tech(this is about 1/3 to 1/2 of what I actually do now, and I like it well enough, though again the short attention span, imprecision, and sloppiness tend to work against me in terms of doing real sustained benchwork.)
23. Cable Installer and Repairer(well, judging by my experiences with cable installation, they at least get to be really lazy and never have to show up on time, so there's that.)
24. Graphic Designer(I'm a lot better at layout than graphics and Photoshop. I just can't creatively visualize stuff very well.)
25. Artist(no way, unless some sort of collage or arrangement sort of work. Can't draw or paint, terrible at visualization. Maybe could sculpt or do some sort of crazy abstract modern arty stuff.)
26. Communications Specialist(depends on the kind of communications I guess.)
27. Activist(Great in theory, no fun in practice. It's hard to be a professional activist when you have reservations and skepticism and nuanced views about pretty much everything policy-wise. Plus the pay is terrible to nonexistent, and you have to deal with a lot of well-meaning but clueless assholes.)
28. Writer(yeah, me and everyone else in the world who likes to write. Maybe someday. I'm not prolific enough anymore to freelance full time or write the kind of blog that could get noticed these days.)
29. Computer Animator(see above about Flash and lack of visualization ability.)
30. Political Aide(Probably, if it would lead to bigger and better things like wonkery. Not so interested in the spinning and servility aspects.)
31. Print Journalist(Print is dead! But seriously, print journalism jobs are disappearing much quicker than print journalists and aspiring print journalists are. Now, if I got to take over and fix the web operations of a print newspaper, that would be awesome.)
32. Musical Instrument Builder and Repairer(Hmm, interesting, but again with the precision and concentration.)
33. Public Policy Analyst(Yes plz. Though again, I am too much of a generalist / dilettante for most policy positions.)
34. Bicycle Mechanic(Might be decent at it, but I need health insurance and money and so on.)
35. Market Research Analyst(Booooring, though I have gotten a little more interested in economics and markets. But I'd never want to do it as a career.)
36. Medical Illustrator(Couldn't they have saved everyone a lot of trouble with a question like "Can you draw worth a shit?")
37. Translator(well, if I knew any languages besides bad Spanglish and BASIC.)
38. Upholsterer(no way)
39. Furniture Finisher(No way. I'd want to design and build stuff, not just put it together and varnish it.)
40. Picture Framer(doubt I'd be good at this. I'd ruin too much stuff.)