Thesis for CareerDay

August 2021

Listening to

https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/6wtmql7FJ7SSLuSw8JD8rX

Was there a career day that I didn't go to?

I've asked myself this often over the past 10 years, assuming one existed and I opted out. I thought I had just said "no" when asked to come along.

I recently discovered there wasn't. And very few high schools and universities offer them. And when they do, they're often poorly organized and attended. Shocker.

(For what it's worth I attended a top 100 University in the US. It was recently in a 4-way tie for #99.)

Primary education does have them. But they're typically remembered as that time someone brings a dog or a cool prop. I do still remember a classmate's Dad bringing a Dalmatian from his firehouse and his name was actually Sparky. This is cool. But at age 8 our brains cannot make the connection to "I should probably pay attention here because it can impact my decision making for the rest of my life."

When you attend any form of higher education you typically declare a major or a track. The research shows that "dumb luck" plays a huge role. That we will not declare a major if we're taking a class about a particular subject early in the morning. And that social pressure often leads us to study what other people that look like us are studying. Oof.

There are no outcomes based tools to help. Nothing that allows you to say I want to work outdoors, have a pension and drive a company truck, and get Tuesdays off.

Sadly, modern human lives often fit the mold of The 3 stage life cycle. Train, work and retire.

On average, we spend 20-25 years training. And only a fraction of those specializing. 40 years working. Commuting. Playing politics. Realizing we've screwed up and made a bad choice sometime in our teens or twenties. And then we muster whatever energy we have left and hit a few Royal Caribbean cruises before the plastics we consumed in the early 90's give us big health problems. And then we dissolve back to our pre-training state.