What does your future hold?
View(s):
Chameera De Silva – Lecturer, Nawaloka College of Higher Studies (Federation University-IT degree programme) B. Eng., MBCS, ACS,Certified Cloud Architect
Identify your interests and select the career of your dreams
INTRODUCTION
Choosing a career path can be very intimidating for a high school graduate. But at the same time, it is really important to make the right choice at the right time. How do we decide which choice is the right choice? We are living in an information rich era where we are flooded with tons of options and opinions on our questions. It is hard to choose the right stone to step on when all of them are under water. There must be some way to make a decision best for you, right? This article talks about possible career paths to choose from and how to make the correct decision for yourself.
KNOW YOURSELF AND YOUR INTERESTS
The first thing that is going to influence your career choice is your interests. The career you choose to pursue must be a shadow of your interests. However, how do we identify what our interests are? There are certain ways you can know yourself and list out the things you like. You can start from your academics. Look for subjects that interest you. Remember that scoring high and being interested in it are not the same. You may score well in History, but this does not mean that you are interested in history or should pursue it as a career. On the other hand, you might be average in science, but your grades were affected because you are always keen to know the facts behind the theories, and this is a characteristic needed to have Science as a career choice.
Life is not just about books and studies. Real life is majorly dependent on how you are as a person. What are your interests, likes and dislikes outside school, which tasks you love and where your talent lies. All this cannot be judged by checking how well you score in your exams. You are much more than a sheet of paper. How to know your personality? Look around yourself, your lifestyle and what you do in a day. Make a list of tasks which you love doing and those which you always look forward to. For example, are you always excited for the annual soccer tournament at your school? Not only because you love watching soccer, but you are actually interested in being in the management. You are the assistant coordinator to your sports coach during that time and love to manage things during the tournament. This is a good indication that you are very good at management and can do great in a career around management and leadership. Or are you always keen to know what is new in tech and always learning more about the IT sector? You could be great as a computer engineer.
Knowing the subject you like and recognising your personality will help you in deciding which path to choose for your higher education. But again, a career is not just education. It is more about you, your interests and your personality. Take time to understand your day. Notice what small things you do just because you like it or if it’s a part of your personality. Similarly, look around for such details about yourself. If you are interested in IT because the technology is exciting and you also like coding and can dig deep into things to solve them, then YES! You have what it takes to pursue a career path in Information Technology. In this way, look around yourself and recognise small but important details about your personality and try to link them with your other interests in studies and outside of academics. This would be the real you, the complete you and would give you a broad idea about what professional path is for you.
RESEARCH MARKET – TRENDS AND DEMAND
Now that you know what you are good at, it’s time to do the market research to know the real value of your skills. Some skills are valued directly, and people are paid for just having the skill. For example,
coding. People get paid really well just because they are very good at writing code, or they can talk to machines and make them do what they want. Whereas some skills need a profession to be applied at to create a career out of it. R
Spend time finding answers to your questions, no matter how small or big. Google will be your wise uncle to get what you want. Search for in-demand skills based on your interests (subjects or personality traits). Check for current professions around these, what companies are hiring and what is the future scope of the industry. The decision of the career path must be a combination of both mind and heart. You must do what you like but at the same time be aware of what the world is looking for. This will lead you to the place which is for you, and which needs you.
GET BASIC LEVEL EXPERIENCE
Making choices by observing things is a real big deal, but how to know that the choices made are right for us? Now that you know your skills, interested subjects and what are the possible career options present in the market, it’s time to test yourself in the actual position of the chosen profession.
We are surrounded by so much information, we should make the best use of it. Let’s say you discovered yourself to be a tech geek extremely interested in creating new exciting apps. This is what your grades and day to day life speaks to you. But, now you need to check if tech and coding is the best career choice for you or if it’s just a trendy interest. To check this, you need to do small but good projects related to your chosen profession. For the tech geek, create a small basic application, do coding for a month and check what it actually feels like when you live the profession you chose. If you are feeling happy, energised, excited and if you look forward to the challenges every new day, then you have found your career path. Otherwise, your findings are not fundamental, rather temporary. You need to spend a little more time with yourself and find what actually drives you.
One thing is very important to keep in mind throughout the process. That is – always be true to yourself. Do not make choices under anyone else’s influence. You must be yourself throughout this exercise to discover the best career choice for you. Everyone is different and everyone is unique. Find your strength, your way and walk it! All the best!
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