So, what SHOULD I do to make a living?

Pharmacist. There's a shortage so they pay is good, and the schooling isn't nearly as hard as med school. The job doesn't seem that stressful, although I think the hours are probably awkward.

Originally Posted by munchausen

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Pharmacist. There's a shortage so they pay is good, and the schooling isn't nearly as hard as med school. The job doesn't seem that stressful, although I think the hours are probably awkward.
One area to avoid is retail pharmacy. I'm just a lowly technician btw.

Originally Posted by harvey_birdman

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Become a prison guard. As we continue to throw more and more of our population into prison we will always need people to watch them. Unlike being a cop or a social worker you generally don't need more than a high school diploma and if you work it right you can make some money on the side sneaking drugs into the joint for inmates and even get some ******** from them if you work it right.

But what do prison guards make? Like $35K? I know it's not much. If you're thinking about being a guard then Bureau of Prisons is the way to go. It's federal and they pay better then the state.

Originally Posted by BP348

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But what do prison guards make? Like $35K? I know it's not much. If you're thinking about being a guard then Bureau of Prisons is the way to go. It's federal and they pay better then the state.
Corrections officers in my county get paid an insane amount of money.

Originally Posted by Milhouse

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Radiologist? No. . . easily outsourced

What? Radiologists are one of the most highly paid, highly competitive field in medicine. Only ones I can think of that are more competitive are eye surgeons and spine surgeons - and you definitely cannot work from home in those specialties.

I'd say nursing is a great career right now. They are in high demand, very stable job, reasonably high pay, there are many scholarships (at least for men who endeavor to do nursing) and you can become a nurse practitioner who performs many of the same duties as a GP.

Originally Posted by Svenn

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I'm a recent law grad and am very fortunate in that I have family connections to find employment, but even so I wish I had chosen to be a doctor. Doctors are always useful and in need in any situation, and while the debt is huge, the exams and studying are trying, I think I would have enjoyed that career more than my prospective law career. That being said, I'm not sure I would have been smart enough to get through the medical training, and the 3+ years of residency would probably be kind of bleak. At least with lawyers we have one bar exam and then it's over, doctors I believe have like 3 similarly potentially career-ending exams spread out over several years.

And for my $0.02, at least in Canada an MD is a more secure job than a lawyer and are guaranteed a much higher wage. If you are worried about student loans, the Forces will pay for your loans, give you $70k a year while you are in residency, pay for your housing, give you a salaried job as a family doctor and even pay your overhead/licensing fees. You are except from basic training so long as you have a research project and you get a lieutenant's pension. Of course you have to be a family physician for four years, but at least you won't be operating a turnstyle-type practice that is very common in public health. Don't see many lawyers being taken in by the CAF for a deal like that.

Originally Posted by ChiliPalmer

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I seldom come into the General Chat room, but it seems everytime I do there is another thread about why being a lawyer is a poor choice.

This parallels life. Pick any career field, and you can find fifty people who will tell you you're a fool for considering it.

It seems no one is happy anymore. It's hard to get a feel for how much of the misery is endogenous and how much is exogenous.

If you were to start over today, what would you do and where would you do it? To make this realistic, please take into account any known educational and financial constraints (i.e. student loans, etc.).

And for the record, why do you care that others are telling you that a lawyer is a poor choice? Making a decision so big as a career change based on threads in SF isn't the best idea.

Geologist. All you need is a BSc, the pay is really good and you can work almost anywhere in the world.

Physical therpist. It's a "gotta be here to do it" job, and you get to wear comfortable clothes, help people out, and make decent money. It doesn't seem to be very high stress either. Most PT's I know are very happy in the role. The demographics support strong job security as well.

Im wondering the same thing as the OP. I am ******* lost right now. I have a job, but it sucks and I want to blow my brains out every morning when I wake up because I hate it so much. Every single morning I do the math ibn my head to see how long I could live off my savings just so I could quit so I wouldnt have to continue with this **** job. The pay is decent considering how ming-numbingly easy the work is, but a really smart monkey or a 6th grader could do my job.

I have a BS in Finance, and I would ******* murder everyone at my university if I paid full price for it. Lucky for them grants covered most of it. But **** the business world. I cant even get a god damn entry level data entry or analyst position without 2-5 years experience. Anywhere. What the **** is that ****? Pay me in dog ****, I dont care, just let me get my foot in the door.

I thought about law school. I even took the LSAT, got recommendation letters from professors and a current employer, and got started on my personal statement and applications. Then I realized the law market is heading down the *******, has been over-saturated for decades, the 160k/year big law jobs that the general public assosiates with all lawyers only go to cream of the crop top 5% of Ive League motherfuckers, and the employment and salary statistics published by law schools are misleading at best and flat out lies at worst. Unless you go to a top 14 school or are #1 in your class at some third tier trash school, youll be stuck doing document review for $25/hr with the clock ticking on $100K+ student loan debt. Thats IF you can even find a lawyer job. Good luck finding anything outside of law that youd be considered 'overqualified' for because they wont ******* hire and train you because they know youll leave as soon as you find something better. LSAT scores are good for 5 years, but I dont see things in this field improving enough for me to become interested in it again.

Then I started looking into med school. I could handle 4 more years of school and 3+ years at minimum wage with long hours for pretty much garaunteed employment, great pay, and a job I could proudly tell my friends/family/bitches Im trying to **** about. Then I learned that a high %age of doctors are ******* miserable, seriously regret going to med school, would not recommend medicine to their children, and only continue to practice because they are in debt up their eyeballs. Everyone in medicine that I have talked to has told me that going to med school chasing money is ******* stupid.

Now Im considering Physician Assisant school, or Pharmacy school. I would have to go back to undergrad for 1-2 years for science credits, but the pay is good, job satisfaction is high (not as high for pharmacists, but whatever), and while it's not as prestigious as becomming an MD, they are both meaningful and substantial careers. Although I dont know how much I would like being an 'assistant' at 40+ years old - marsupials in the general population think PAs answers phones and make coffee and ****.

All I know is I dont want to be a ******* peasant for the rest of my life. This **** sucks.

Originally Posted by BBSLM

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I am ******* lost right now. I have a job, but it sucks and I want to blow my brains out every morning when I wake up because I hate it so much. Every single morning I do the math ibn my head to see how long I could live off my savings just so I could quit so I wouldnt have to continue with this **** job. The pay is decent considering how ming-numbingly easy the work is, but a really smart monkey or a 6th grader could do my job.

I have a BS in Finance, and I would ******* murder everyone at my university if I paid full price for it. Lucky for them grants covered most of it. But **** the business world. I cant even get a god damn entry level data entry or analyst position without 2-5 years experience. Anywhere. What the **** is that ****? Pay me in dog ****, I dont care, just let me get my foot in the door.

I thought about law school. I even took the LSAT, got recommendation letters from professors and a current employer, and got started on my personal statement and applications. Then I realized the law market has been saturated for decades, the 160k/year big law jobs that the general public assosiates with all lawyers only go to cream of the crop top 5% of Ive League motherfuckers, and the employment and salary statistics published by law schools are misleading at best and flat out lies at worst. Unless you go to a top 14 school or are #1 in your class at some third tier trash school, youll be stuck doing document review for $25/hr with the clock ticking on $100K+ student loan debt. Thats IF you can even find a lawyer job. Good luck finding anything outside of law that youd be considered 'overqualified' for because they wont ******* hire and train you because they know youll leave as soon as you find something better. **** that.

Then I started looking into med school. I could handle 4 more years of school and 3+ years at minimum wage with long hours for pretty much garaunteed employment, great pay, and a job I could proudly tell my friends/family/bitches Im trying to **** about. Then I learned that a high %age of doctors are ******* miserable, seriously regret going to med school, would not recommend medicine to their children, and only continue to practice because they are in debt up their eyeballs. Everyone in medicine that I have talked to has told me that going to med school chasing money is ******* stupid.

Now Im considering Physician Assisant school, or Pharmacy school. I would have to go back to undergrad for 1-2 years for science credits, but the pay is good, job satisfaction is high (not as high for pharmacists, but whatever), and while it's not as prestigious as becomming an MD, they are both meaningful and substantial careers. Although I dont know how much I would like being an 'assistant' at 40+ years old - marsupials in the general population think PAs answers phones and make coffee and ****.

All I know is I dont want to be a ******* peasant for the rest of my life. This **** sucks.

Dude you've been reading too much ******* styleforum. I know several lawyers who have been in their practice for about five years, all went to state law schools, and they all make over 150K a year. You don't go in debt going to a state law school, and oftentimes it is pretty easy to get a decent scholarship. My sister in law received a full ride to a state school in Ohio, and has a very good job now.

All I can say is shut the **** up. You've got to be like 23 years old, man up. Everything is ******* hard in the beginning, but **** pays off.

Originally Posted by Biscotti

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Dude you've been reading too much ******* styleforum. I know several lawyers who have been in their practice for about five years, all went to state law schools, and they all make over 150K a year. You don't go in debt going to a state law school, and oftentimes it is pretty easy to get a decent scholarship. My sister in law received a full ride to a state school in Ohio, and has a very good job now.

All I can say is shut the **** up. You've got to be like 23 years old, man up. Everything is ******* hard in the beginning, but **** pays off.

Holy ****, the 'several lawyers' you know are obviously representative of the lawyer market as a whole. 150k/year jobs for everyone! Yay! Great poast!

And no, I dont venture outside of the streetwear or bs forums much. My gloomy outlook on the profession comes from various law blogs, forums, news articles, etc.

But yes, I am 25.

Originally Posted by BBSLM

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Holy ****, the 'several lawyers' you know are obviously representative of the lawyer market as a whole. 150k/year jobs for everyone! Yay! Great poast! And no, I dont venture outside of the streetwear or bs forums much. My gloomy outlook on the profession comes from various law blogs, forums, news articles, etc. But yes, I am 25.
Shut the **** up. Change your attitude, I'm not a dumb ass. Obviously, I realize that the lawyers I know don't represent the whole market. But I can't stand the mindset that if you don't go to ivy league, your not going to get a decent job. Utter bullshit. Yes the job market sucks for a lot of professions, but **** will change. You just have to stick with something.

Kiss a lot of ass and get a nice patronage job (municipal or state level). Then, become corrupt (be subtle!) and reap the bennies.

Become a babymaker. Have kids full time and go on welfare. You'll make way more money, if you pull the right strings, than working a 9-5.

Also, whoever said nurse, etc, that stuff is all easily "in-sourced". I have a friend whose nursing assistants don't even know how many seconds are in a minute.

Don't get sick making babies playa!

Originally Posted by Biscotti

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Shut the **** up. Change your attitude, I'm not a dumb ass. Obviously, I realize that the lawyers I know don't represent the whole market. But I can't stand the mindset that if you don't go to ivy league, your not going to get a decent job. Utter bullshit. Yes the job market sucks for a lot of professions, but **** will change. You just have to stick with something.

For all I know, you may be right - it may be a lot easier to make a decent living as a lawyer than it seems to me. I dont have first hand knowledge of post-law school employment, but the overwhelming majority of what I read about the law market (layoffs, deferments, job offer rescissions, etc) leads me to believe that you shouldnt go to law school unless youre top14, maybe top ~30 (or have a full ride somewhere lower ranked and can graduate near the top of your class), and have/will have family/personal connections that will lead to employment. I was dead set on going to law school, but everything Ive read in the past year has been gloomy as ****. Its nothing but flashing red lights that spell out 'Do Not ********** This.' Literally no career that Ive researched has such a negative outlook for the future.