# What will the next 2 years of your career look like?



## xraydav (Jan 3, 2013)

Pretty straightforward question, I’m asking in what way you, either hypothetically or realistically, see the next 2 years of your career being carried or planned out. 

Everyone’s different, so it will be interesting to see different responses.


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## chad86tsi (Dec 27, 2016)

People should probably add a stage in life/age, that will skew the results for some of us. I'm 44 and expect things to look the same until I retire. I have reached the peak of my career path and am exactly where I want to be. I'm paid well and have few other careers to replace this income that are enticing, and all would require timely and expensive retraining and a pay cut to start at or near the bottom.

I've changed jobs numerous times, but I've been in the same field for 26 years.


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## Handsome Dyke (Oct 4, 2012)

I'd like to quit or work very little (preferably with academics rather than businesses) so I don't have to rely on Internet access and can focus on something else, possibly with a simple, low-responsibility side job. 

I should be finished with my professional certificate within a year, but I doubt it'll make me more employable. My current major projects seem to be winding down, so I could be really hurting for money within the next few months.


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## Taileile (Jul 2, 2016)

I'm 21, about to graduate in the spring, so...

Hopefully I'll have a career, lol. I'm a biology major so I have quite a few options, which is making it difficult to pin down what I want to do. It's entirely possible I'll be in school for nursing while working research, or something like that, but if I'm being honest everything is up in the air and it's absolutely terrifying.


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## ai.tran.75 (Feb 26, 2014)

32- recently opened up a learning center/after school care this year , I'm in process of opening up a reggio inspired preschool


Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


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## xraydav (Jan 3, 2013)

chad86tsi said:


> People should probably add a stage in life/age, that will skew the results for some of us. I'm 44 and expect things to look the same until I retire. I have reached the peak of my career path and am exactly where I want to be. I'm paid well and have few other careers to replace this income that are enticing, and all would require timely and expensive retraining and a pay cut to start at or near the bottom.
> 
> I've changed jobs numerous times, but I've been in the same field for 26 years.


If you don’t mind me asking, what was your career from 20-30?


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## chad86tsi (Dec 27, 2016)

xraydav said:


> If you don’t mind me asking, what was your career from 20-30?


Communications technician, working mostly on communications systems in major commercial environments. Things like data networks, industrial controls, security systems, data centers. In the state I lived in this required an electrical license, so in the trade I was called a low voltage electrician.


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## Soldier of fortune (Nov 29, 2012)

I will continue working on my PhD and maybe be an occasional teaching assistant.


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## xraydav (Jan 3, 2013)

Bump


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## Turi (May 9, 2017)

Finish my law degree, don't even use it and pursue something I'm actually passionate about in the medical and health fields. 

Ideally I would love to get into mental health.


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## 0wl (Mar 12, 2018)

I will continue to write articles about topics of my interest for a lifestyle magazine. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get in front of the camera too. 

In a year or so I'd like to gain more freedom relating to my topics as well as my own talk show, or at least a regular show online.

I'd also love to try out radio and finish my book. 

Lol...too many plans.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'd love to finish an album, so yeah, that too.


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## heavydirtysoul (Jan 13, 2012)

Don't know, don't care and I love it.


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## pwowq (Aug 7, 2016)

If I stay at my current job I will, naturally, keep me where I am. Promotion possibilities? Nope. Demotion possibilities? Nope (well, I can technically be fired).


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## xraydav (Jan 3, 2013)

heavydirtysoul said:


> Don't know, don't care and I love it.


This is a cool answer. 

But how do you plan on making money?


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## xraydav (Jan 3, 2013)

0wl said:


> I will continue to write articles about topics of my interest for a lifestyle magazine. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get in front of the camera too.
> 
> In a year or so I'd like to gain more freedom relating to my topics as well as my own talk show, or at least a regular show online.
> 
> ...


oh oh this intrigues me. 

I’ve done an internship in media and I’m just wondering about your process, when it comes to filmmaking ..


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## heavydirtysoul (Jan 13, 2012)

xraydav said:


> This is a cool answer.
> 
> But how do you plan on making money?


The same way I do now - doing and enjoying my job.


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## xraydav (Jan 3, 2013)

heavydirtysoul said:


> The same way I do now - doing and enjoying my job.


but if you’re just doing and enjoying your job, by the age of 50-60, you may still be enjoying just that ...

One would need to pay off debts, start a business, buy a home, and that requires a career. 

Otherwise, life is not meaningful, all individuals experience a mid life crises for the exact same attitude you presented. They reach 50, and wonder what it is they truly gave back, if anything at all.

A career and a job are two different things, so the question was more in terms of career, not a job.

So, I guess the question would be, how do you plan on making money from your long term career?


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## heavydirtysoul (Jan 13, 2012)

xraydav said:


> but if you’re just doing and enjoying your job, by the age of 50-60, you may still be enjoying just that ...
> 
> One would need to pay off debts, start a business, buy a home, and that requires a career.
> 
> ...


The answer is my life and my career is none of your business.


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## Blue Ribbon (Sep 4, 2016)

Not everyone finds meaning in their career. My plan originally wasn't to go into engineering. But it doesn't matter now because I'll be doing my masters, and in two years I plan to graduate from that. 

A lot of people sit around, looking for the perfect career option and they never find it. That is a source of great frustration for a lot of people. 

I don't really care where my life ends up as long as I can enjoy my job. As for fulfilment, I'll find it elsewhere.


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## 0wl (Mar 12, 2018)

xraydav said:


> oh oh this intrigues me.
> 
> I’ve done an internship in media and I’m just wondering about your process, when it comes to filmmaking ..


I write articles most of the time, I don't have much experience with films, that's something very different. I've done a few interviews on the camera, but I am not very experienced in this.


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## starscream430 (Jan 14, 2014)

I hope to be in medicine by then since that's what I'm still trying to pursue (after a failed application cycle this past year).

I have gone this far, so I just hope I don't get put out to dry again. For me, it's also because a lot of my peers are starting to beat me...and I'm just stuck in my failures.


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## bearlybreathing (Aug 6, 2013)

I know what it'll look like for the next 3 months. I'll love what I do, then something's going to happen and I'll hate it and find something else completely different. Maybe I'll go back to school though.


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## Electra (Oct 24, 2014)

None existent probably- I am an adult student


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## Electra (Oct 24, 2014)

Funky & colorful


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## littlelamm (Jul 5, 2018)

Hopefully having enough money to go to college (preferably art school). I wanna pursue Digital 2D Animation as a major, and honestly I can't wait until college so i can actually take classes that I need/care about (highschool is the worst, why do I need to take 3 years of math to graduate, which requires me to take calculus this year???) Just being able to finally start my path towards my ideal career will be enough.


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## Electra (Oct 24, 2014)

probably further education and dog-caretaking as planned


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## KillinIt (Jul 27, 2015)

I don't know what next week will look like, let alone 2 years! I just quit a stable yet soul sucking job and my future seems wide open and free. I hate being a part of the corporate wheel so rather than 'play the game' and just get by I've completely rejected the system....with no alternative plans.

The thought of working the same job for years on end is incredibly depressing for me, I don't want my future mapped out. I guess sometimes making sacrifices in the present pays off but I have this awareness that every year I sacrifice working a job I hate or studying a subject I'm not interested in is also a year of my life I won't get back. I figure I'll make the decisions that make me feel happy and my gut say 'yes' even though my brain says 'this is totally illogical'.

Like a lot of people, I have many interests and talents but no one 'thing' that I feel driven to do so I'm going to try things and see what works for me.


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## Mange (Jan 9, 2011)

I get 2 weeks paid vacation after I've been there for 2 years. So that should be nice for honeymooning when I get married.


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## Bunniculla (Jul 17, 2017)

Hmm, I'm not sure and the thought is somewhat scary. I'm preparing to have a child soon, and being a working mother is going to be a lot tougher than the current situation. I also get to work from home at my current job, so that is a huge bonus but who knows how long this will last. There isn't any logical foreseeable doubt in this opportunity but who knows, you can never say never, ya know? My next plan is to join MetLife and start over as some kind of Senior Corporate Accountant or maybe higher if I can land it. Currently, I work in private equity accounting as a mid manager but this is such a niche field, and cannot be easily found where I currently live (I moved from NYC a few years ago). The skills should be transferable but I probably have to sacrifice a year or two of "starting over" if I am to switch fields. It kind of sucks because I grabbed my current position with blood, sweat and tears to climb up here within 5 years of joining this company (I started at the bottom back in 2014). It would suck to backtrack after all that, but hey, life happens and we should be prepared to get back up and keep moving. Honestly, I think I'd be content just making enough to provide for my family. I find life's meaning and worth through others, not through work.


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## Forest Nymph (Aug 25, 2018)

Grad school. But I hope that within that time I'm facilitating some real change in my community (or in the state of California, or within state environmental organizations) towards plant based diets for environmental reasons. Both the department chair and my new advisor are optimistic about me working with major organizations like the Sierra Club or Environment California or even doing something in LA, which is what would be big. I don't know if it's bigger to convince the Sierra Club to go veg or impact Los Angeles, but I'm at one of the best environmental schools in the nation, and though my school is semi-rural, it's got a better program for Food Systems/Agriculture than even UCLA. They have NOTHING like that there (though there are UCLA grads implementing inner-city community programs and getting vegan widespread on campus and in town). Part of me wanted to be like "oh my Masters is from UCLA" but I really need to drop my 20s self and get a life, on the real, professionally I'm at one of the top schools in the nation for what I want to accomplish.

HA HA hahahaha.

I feel a little crazy with what my advisors have said. "Reach out to these organizations," they say, "tell them where you graduated from and what your Masters project will be." 

Yeah, let me just dial up the Sierra Club this summer.


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## Forest Nymph (Aug 25, 2018)

Electra said:


> None existent probably- I am an adult student


Being an adult student is the new being a 20 year old student. At least you know who you are and what you want.


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