This is going to be long.
Right then.
I got back from Canada yesterday, where I had a really great time. Even though the weather was mostly crappy, I never get tired of Jen and Kay's company. Thank you both so much for having me to stay, you really are two of the most generous, caring and fun to be around people I've ever met.
They took me to do some really fun stuff:
I got to meet Cass and her boyfriend Stu, who are really great people. Both clearly very intelligent, friendly, and a great match for each other.
Kay and I went for a gentle walk around a beautiful lake with one of Kay's friends from work.
We went to the aquatic centre with it's 50m pool and diving boards a few times.
The three of us went for sushi numerous times (which believe it or not was a first for me, I wasn't even really aware there was such a thing as vegetarian sushi).
Ice skating with Kay was great fun, I hadn't been in over a year but picked it up again fairly quickly.
We took a trip to hot springs, with a hike the next day.
Kay and I took 2 trips to Whistler to ski, and although there were only a few runs available, it was good to be back on snow.
The three of us went to the VPL winter ball, which was a blast.
Jen took me to the IMAX theatre at Science world, and then Science world itself another day.
Bowling where I got to meet Kay and Jen's friend Erik, who seems like a really nice guy.
I also got to meet a bunch of Kay and Jen's work friends who all seem like really great people.
I'm sure I'm forgetting things, I'm still fairly jetlagged.
Anyway... what it comes down to is that I'm back now, in dreary England, working a job that although it isn't too bad, and the pay is OK, I don't really feel like I'm being stretched. I have an unfulfilling social life (although I have some great friends), a lack of freedom, a country that's going to the dogs, with shitty weather and a failing economy.
Seeing so many happy people living in a great city really brings it home just how much more I could do with my life. I'm a clever enough guy that I could do near enough anything if I put my mind to it, but I don't know what I want to do. People say that you're supposed to think about what you'd do if you had a million dollars, and that should be your career choice. Unfortunately like the guy in Office Space, I think I'd pretty much do nothing. A very large part of me would like to just bum around and do nothing much. It's not that I don't have interests or ambition, but (probably the same as most other people) the things I really enjoy are things I'm never going to get paid for (music, skiing, etc).
I think I also made a major blunder by leaving school at 16. Although I have 4 years experience in a skilled trade, I have no formal qualifications past GCSEs, which are basically fucking worthless. This makes applying for certain university courses and jobs more difficult. For those of you not in the UK, there are qualifications you take when you are 15/16 called GCSEs, and further more advanced ones called A Levels you take when you are 17/18, which are what universities look for. You can leave school at 16 with just GCSEs and go to do apprenticeships and things, which is what I chose to do, but now feel it was in error, especially since my "apprenticeship" wasn't formal and I don't have a qualification from it.
I really do want to make something of myself, work to be able to do something which I'd enjoy, I just don't know what that'd be.
Possible options are:
Architect:
I've had a taste of CAD design of scructural components in the form of conservatories. Conservatories are pretty basic compared to drawing up plans of full buildings, and that's pretty much why I want to get out of it. I'd like to design big impressive buildings. The problem with this is, I have no way of knowing if I'd actually like the day to day job, and it's a 7 year slog to actually get the qualifications. I think I could do it, but if I were to get half way through and realise I didn't like it I'd have wasted most of my 20s in and out of university with no real result. Also I'm not sure how much of the day to day job is taken up by minute picky details of the construction industry, which wouldn't interest me.
Civil engineer:
Getting involved in huge engineering projects would be amazing. I'd absolutely love to get into stuff like dam and bridge building, but this sort of project doesn't come up all the time(as far as I'm aware), and I'd probably be more likely to fall into areas like railway engineering, which doesn't really interest me. Also I'm not sure I could do it without a maths A level.
Mechanical engineer:
Interests me slightly less than the other 2, but if I were to get into R&D that would be very interesting.
Other stuff:
Scientific research would be a great thing to get into. Unfortunately I have no particular aptitude in Biology, and while I'm quite interested in chemistry I once again only have a GCSE in it. Physics would be the one that interests me, but as I understand it physics related jobs are sparse.
Astronomy would absolutely fascinate me, but the money is rubbish and the availability of jobs is very low.
Flying: I think being a pilot would be a great career. I need to look into it more, but from what I can gather, it's really expensive, which rules me out.
3d Animation: Being able to produce something that people actively enjoy watching/looking at/using would be great. Unfortunately I'm not particularly gifted at hand drawing, which is considered a pretty large disadvantage doing 3d computer animation. Not only that, but as far as I'm aware it's a competitive industry, and the pay isn't great.
Programming: Well I've obviously already done a year of this degree, which was kind of cool, and while I enjoy the logical challenges of it, there is an element of tediousness involved. I'm not sure that I could cope with sitting in front of a computer hacking away at code for 8 hours a day.
In Summary:
I'd like to be doing something where the results are large, tangible things, with problem solving challenges and design elements, OR something scientific like R&D, or some sort of engineeringy related subject.
If anybody can think of related things I haven't considered then I'd be interested to hear them, or just any advice in general.
I know I can be a successful person. I'm not scared to put work in, I'm just scared of wasting even more of my 20s doing something that won't actually enhance my life in any real way.
I got back from Canada yesterday, where I had a really great time. Even though the weather was mostly crappy, I never get tired of Jen and Kay's company. Thank you both so much for having me to stay, you really are two of the most generous, caring and fun to be around people I've ever met.
They took me to do some really fun stuff:
I got to meet Cass and her boyfriend Stu, who are really great people. Both clearly very intelligent, friendly, and a great match for each other.
Kay and I went for a gentle walk around a beautiful lake with one of Kay's friends from work.
We went to the aquatic centre with it's 50m pool and diving boards a few times.
The three of us went for sushi numerous times (which believe it or not was a first for me, I wasn't even really aware there was such a thing as vegetarian sushi).
Ice skating with Kay was great fun, I hadn't been in over a year but picked it up again fairly quickly.
We took a trip to hot springs, with a hike the next day.
Kay and I took 2 trips to Whistler to ski, and although there were only a few runs available, it was good to be back on snow.
The three of us went to the VPL winter ball, which was a blast.
Jen took me to the IMAX theatre at Science world, and then Science world itself another day.
Bowling where I got to meet Kay and Jen's friend Erik, who seems like a really nice guy.
I also got to meet a bunch of Kay and Jen's work friends who all seem like really great people.
I'm sure I'm forgetting things, I'm still fairly jetlagged.
Anyway... what it comes down to is that I'm back now, in dreary England, working a job that although it isn't too bad, and the pay is OK, I don't really feel like I'm being stretched. I have an unfulfilling social life (although I have some great friends), a lack of freedom, a country that's going to the dogs, with shitty weather and a failing economy.
Seeing so many happy people living in a great city really brings it home just how much more I could do with my life. I'm a clever enough guy that I could do near enough anything if I put my mind to it, but I don't know what I want to do. People say that you're supposed to think about what you'd do if you had a million dollars, and that should be your career choice. Unfortunately like the guy in Office Space, I think I'd pretty much do nothing. A very large part of me would like to just bum around and do nothing much. It's not that I don't have interests or ambition, but (probably the same as most other people) the things I really enjoy are things I'm never going to get paid for (music, skiing, etc).
I think I also made a major blunder by leaving school at 16. Although I have 4 years experience in a skilled trade, I have no formal qualifications past GCSEs, which are basically fucking worthless. This makes applying for certain university courses and jobs more difficult. For those of you not in the UK, there are qualifications you take when you are 15/16 called GCSEs, and further more advanced ones called A Levels you take when you are 17/18, which are what universities look for. You can leave school at 16 with just GCSEs and go to do apprenticeships and things, which is what I chose to do, but now feel it was in error, especially since my "apprenticeship" wasn't formal and I don't have a qualification from it.
I really do want to make something of myself, work to be able to do something which I'd enjoy, I just don't know what that'd be.
Possible options are:
Architect:
I've had a taste of CAD design of scructural components in the form of conservatories. Conservatories are pretty basic compared to drawing up plans of full buildings, and that's pretty much why I want to get out of it. I'd like to design big impressive buildings. The problem with this is, I have no way of knowing if I'd actually like the day to day job, and it's a 7 year slog to actually get the qualifications. I think I could do it, but if I were to get half way through and realise I didn't like it I'd have wasted most of my 20s in and out of university with no real result. Also I'm not sure how much of the day to day job is taken up by minute picky details of the construction industry, which wouldn't interest me.
Civil engineer:
Getting involved in huge engineering projects would be amazing. I'd absolutely love to get into stuff like dam and bridge building, but this sort of project doesn't come up all the time(as far as I'm aware), and I'd probably be more likely to fall into areas like railway engineering, which doesn't really interest me. Also I'm not sure I could do it without a maths A level.
Mechanical engineer:
Interests me slightly less than the other 2, but if I were to get into R&D that would be very interesting.
Other stuff:
Scientific research would be a great thing to get into. Unfortunately I have no particular aptitude in Biology, and while I'm quite interested in chemistry I once again only have a GCSE in it. Physics would be the one that interests me, but as I understand it physics related jobs are sparse.
Astronomy would absolutely fascinate me, but the money is rubbish and the availability of jobs is very low.
Flying: I think being a pilot would be a great career. I need to look into it more, but from what I can gather, it's really expensive, which rules me out.
3d Animation: Being able to produce something that people actively enjoy watching/looking at/using would be great. Unfortunately I'm not particularly gifted at hand drawing, which is considered a pretty large disadvantage doing 3d computer animation. Not only that, but as far as I'm aware it's a competitive industry, and the pay isn't great.
Programming: Well I've obviously already done a year of this degree, which was kind of cool, and while I enjoy the logical challenges of it, there is an element of tediousness involved. I'm not sure that I could cope with sitting in front of a computer hacking away at code for 8 hours a day.
In Summary:
I'd like to be doing something where the results are large, tangible things, with problem solving challenges and design elements, OR something scientific like R&D, or some sort of engineeringy related subject.
If anybody can think of related things I haven't considered then I'd be interested to hear them, or just any advice in general.
I know I can be a successful person. I'm not scared to put work in, I'm just scared of wasting even more of my 20s doing something that won't actually enhance my life in any real way.