What do guys think about when they hear the word "Career"?

[Zac]

What are your impressions on this word? Are you comfortable were you stand with your career? Do you have goals? Do you even think you have a career?

I want to hear what guys have to say on this topic.

[Thenewguy]

I think a career is a journey up some promotional ladder in a certain field to achieve a higher rank and more money.

But by my personal definition I don't want a career because I want to be able to by my own boss. I want to become an entrepreneur and start my own company so that I can eventually mold it into a machine that can work without me and still grant me revenue.

Right now I'm in college 2nd year as a criminal justice major, But I have been studying business on my free time whenever I can so that whenever I find an opportunity to form a business, I can be ready and not be a statistic of the many people that have failed businesses due to lack of knowledge. I'm trying to transfer to NYU next semester so I could be in the city and do many diverse things to see inspiration for a business idea since I will learn more about life itself.

I suspect that my first few ventures won't go perfect just due to lack of experience, but I know that I will learn from my mistakes and eventually be able to do the right things to succeed. I also know that it's gonna take a lot of hard work in the beginning to mold the business.

From my business I will acquire other assets, maybe get into real estate since it offers great passive income, depends on how it goes.

My main goal in life is to be able to travel the world freely without debt or obligations to a JOB, to have to get up early in the morning and forced to be somewhere so I can pay my bills. I want freedom.

[Thor]

For me a career provides the life style I want. I love travelling in fact I took a whole year of travelling back in 2008. Spent 7-8 months travelling around south east asia and most of europe. I use to work as a freelance for nearly 5 years

In my humble opinion a career can either be a spring board to what you really want to do in life or getting involved in something that you really enjoy which also allows you to support yourself.

(03-31-2012 10:59 PM)Thenewguy Wrote:  I think a career is a journey up some promotional ladder in a certain field to achieve a higher rank and more money.

But by my personal definition I don't want a career because I want to be able to by my own boss. I want to become an entrepreneur and start my own company so that I can eventually mold it into a machine that can work without me and still grant me revenue.

Right now I'm in college 2nd year as a criminal justice major, But I have been studying business on my free time whenever I can so that whenever I find an opportunity to form a business, I can be ready and not be a statistic of the many people that have failed businesses due to lack of knowledge. I'm trying to transfer to NYU next semester so I could be in the city and do many diverse things to see inspiration for a business idea since I will learn more about life itself.

I suspect that my first few ventures won't go perfect just due to lack of experience, but I know that I will learn from my mistakes and eventually be able to do the right things to succeed. I also know that it's gonna take a lot of hard work in the beginning to mold the business.

From my business I will acquire other assets, maybe get into real estate since it offers great passive income, depends on how it goes.

My main goal in life is to be able to travel the world freely without debt or obligations to a JOB, to have to get up early in the morning and forced to be somewhere so I can pay my bills. I want freedom.

[Chaos]

(04-01-2012 04:24 PM)Oldguy Wrote:  For me a career provides the life style I want.

Gold. I was about to post a much longer post but that phrase just summarizes everything I wanted to say.

[Mark]

Career = the implementation of your life purpose.


...in a perfect world that is.

[TheBoss]

I picture myself in a dress shirt and a tie looking depressed.

[IdEngager]

(04-04-2012 06:37 PM)TheBoss Wrote:  I picture myself in a dress shirt and a tie looking depressed.

Shut up I'm wearing that right now!

Anyway, I try to take a holistic view to the concept of a career these days. Obviously, the days you stay 30 years with an organization and retire comfortably are dead. But I have an older school view of work in some ways. I mean, my parents were mail carriers, one of my grandfathers was in the military, the other did manual labor. They did this to get by, provide (in my grandparent's case) a large family, and cross a freakin' ocean. They would laugh in my face if I bitched about my office job in an air conditioned building with a view of the hills and ocean and pays more than any of them cause it wasn't "fulfilling" enough for me. When push comes to shove, I'm willing to grind it out, and I don't ever want to completely lose that blue collar mentality.

At the same time, I'm not gonna pretend that my purpose for being on this Earth was to write breathtaking business software. I enjoy programming, but with any office job, there's a certain element of "I give you my time and skills, you give me money". Some places, that element is stronger than others. There's definitely times of day I turn off my brain and play along just to get by. But every job has shitty parts. There's shitty parts to being a touring musician and there's shitty parts to being an entrepreneur too. I appreciate that my job gives me enough free time to pursue my creative interests (mainly music) and gives me enough money to live comfortably.

Where I want to be is a position where I'm always at least somewhat in control of my own destiny. If the music stuff ever takes off enough that I can quit my day job or just take on freelance jobs to supplement the income, that'd be great. If I want to jump to a completely new business venture, I want to be in a position where I can make it happen. And if some programming work came along that would really get me financially set (even at the expense of some freedom), I can't say I wouldn't consider it. I feel pretty damn blessed to be at this point already.

So consider it a 21st Century Renaissance Man. Or a 21st Century Schizoid Man, take your pick.

[Chaos]

(04-04-2012 07:28 PM)IdEngager Wrote:  

(04-04-2012 06:37 PM)TheBoss Wrote:  I picture myself in a dress shirt and a tie looking depressed.

Shut up I'm wearing that right now!

What are you talking about??? Suits are awesome!!

[IdEngager]

I don't even necessarily need to wear a suit or tie! I'm a programmer, I deal with exactly no clients in person on a daily basis. Sometimes I just feel like dressing fancy.

I also think dressing sloppily puts you in a bad mentality for other things in your life. If you can't be bothered to give a shit about the way you present yourself to the entire world, can you really stay on top of everything else in your life? Maybe I'm a bit neurotic in that way.

[Mark]

(04-05-2012 07:52 PM)IdEngager Wrote:  I also think dressing sloppily puts you in a bad mentality for other things in your life. If you can't be bothered to give a shit about the way you present yourself to the entire world, can you really stay on top of everything else in your life? Maybe I'm a bit neurotic in that way.

Halo just posted an article in the Off Topic thread "Embodied Cognition" that shows evidence to support this. People who dress well perceive themselves to be smarter and more capable. People who dress sloppy don't.

[TheBoss]

(04-05-2012 05:25 PM)Chaos Wrote:  

(04-04-2012 07:28 PM)IdEngager Wrote:  

(04-04-2012 06:37 PM)TheBoss Wrote:  I picture myself in a dress shirt and a tie looking depressed.

Shut up I'm wearing that right now!

What are you talking about??? Suits are awesome!!

Oh I agree that they are awesome. Doing work sucks