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ENTP career advice for those not inclined towards math/science?

[ENTP] 
5K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  Negativity Bias 
#1 ·
I am a grade 11 student ENTP who is trying to find out what to do with my life! My family are all hardcore math people, and they have been continuously pushing me in that direction. However, all my natural talents and things that I like are more on the artistic side. I do theater, singing and dance. I know that I respect math/science a lot, and I'm not bad at them, but I can't seem to pinpoint anything in math or science that I am absolutely passionate about. The only thing that seems alright at the moment is programming which I did last semester, but I don't just want to sit at a desk the entire day as a job. Every time I find a career that seems amazing, it turns out there are big flaws in each career. Either its uninteresting or brutally hard to do (ex. engineering, possibly programming), doesn't pay well (actor, dancer, musician), or there isn't a demand for it (teacher, professor). I keep getting the same two pieces of advice that don't really help me: 1) Follow your passion (I don't have one that I know of yet, and once again there's usually little money involved) or 2) Just find a career that will sustain your future family.(that i may not like). I'm sure someone here has had a similar problem and fixed it after finishing high school. Any advice?:confused::frustrating:
 
#2 ·
Ok well, there is one job that involves all the things you like, well 2 actually.
1) Become an Entrepreneur
2) Become a Spy.

Both will sustain your future, both interesting, both involve science-math stuff, both involve acting.
 
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#7 ·
It also depends on the type of engineering. Yeah, I'd say it was harder or at least as hard...but if you do your stuff you will be fine. I found it fun. At the end of the day though, all jobs suck, money sucks, yada yada yada. I think that most people who make their career their focus end up disappointed and/or depressed later in life. Conversely, if you are dead broke you dont tend to be so happy either. Unless you are selling coconuts on a beach in Thailand....lets do it.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Interaction Designer (examples)
UX Designer (see details below)
Usability Engineer
Information Architect
User Research

You can get an undergrad in anything and go into one of these fields. A lot of designers get music or English majors. It helps if you go to grad school for psychology but it's not necessary.

"Systems analyst" is kind of the word n00b companies use for "interaction designer." It was rated the number 1 'Best Job' by CNN last year.

Edit: Or you could do what my startup accelerator coach does and SEO affiliate links. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm trying it out myself for the first time with this post lol. I read dozens if not a few hundred books and sum it up in a few sentences of advice... and drive traffic to amazon based on my book recommendations. So here's to me making a few cents off a referral link maybe. Just wanted to give full disclosure for ethical reasons.

As long as I'm investing in this recommendation list, I'll give a quick introduction. I started Computer Science then decided I wanted to be a part of deciding what gets made and less about following through, sitting in front of a screen all day, and building it... I wanted to lead or at least feel important. I found out designers are the ones who actually make all these decisions along with marketing. Anyway, I taught myself much more on my own than in college. According to credible people, my startup's worth 500 to 750k at the moment... so I'm more successful now than if I went the traditional programmer route. But I have to mention that starting your own company is EXTREMELY risky. There's a 3 to 5% chance I'll actually come out of this ahead.

But yeah, right now we're trying to sell about 10% of the company to investors so I can pay myself minimum wage, focus on this full time, and pay everyone else a decent salary. It's a lot of effort and risky, but I'm no longer a member of the proletariat and there's high prestige. Plus I spend all my time in a "flow" state which positive psychologists would define as happiness... in a job sense. Enough about me, here's how to get started as a UX Designer/Interaction Designer. You can work for a big company and make more money than your math/science/computer graduates, use creativity/empathy, make the world a better place, etc. etc... The field is still very new but Human Computer Interaction has been around since the 80s.

Starting Point
To get started in the UX field, The Design of Everyday Things is seminal work. This guy basically coined the term usability.

While you're at it, if you have 3 or 4 hours, read Don't Make me Think! by Steven Krug. It's really entertaining, will probably change your life, and is like super short.

And finally, to get a really good idea of what design actually is, Sketching User Experiences will give you concrete examples of what you're doing here. Interesting fact, the author was a music major in college and is the head design manager at Microsoft. He's traveled all over the world and worked with some of the most creative minds, such as hollywood movie directors, to give them creative advice. He also bikes a lot, which I like.
(Make sure you get the book and not the handbook)

Going further
If you're really hardcore, read The Inmates are Running the Asylum. Everyone needs to read this book and the Design of Everyday Things (listed above).
 
#12 ·
So, to hijack this thread how would someone like me, a college dropout, get himself into this field? It sounds amazing. Ive always described my perfect job to people and I didn't even know that it existed until now, so thanks for that. I will certainly read those books regardless when I get the funds.

EDIT: I am planning to return to College at a later date when I better understand my work ethic since I was rushed and thrown into College by people and society when I wasn't fully ready and even though I want to be to some sort of designer I need to be ready with myself and jobs in general before I just jump right on in.
 
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