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I don't know what to do with my life

HomeForumsTough TimesI don't know what to do with my life

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  • #56060
    audufanatic518
    Participant

    Currently I’m a senior in college double majoring in computer engineering and applied math, but I’m slowly finding out that I really don’t want to do either of them for a living. My grades are at the top of my class, so that’s not the issue here, I tend to be good at anything I (feel forced) to put my mind to. I like engineering, but I can’t handle the fustration (especially after my senior design project). I would say my distaste for it began last summer when I had an awful internship experience at a certain fourtune 500 company. I guess that’s when I realized that industry is nothing like what we learn in school, it’s much less hands on and to be honest, I don’t want to sit at a desk all day in front of a computer., I’d much rather be outside.

    With that said, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I feel like I wasted 4 years, but I would say that I feel like they could have been better spent. I don’t know, I guess I’m not really in-sync with the notion that a kid should be sent to college to figure out what he wants to do for the rest of his life in a contained environment with limited choices. I guess I’ve felt like college was more a necessary evil rather than a choice, it’s difficult to think otherwise at a young age when everybody from your parents and teachers to your friends and peers expect you to attend. I’m sick of the rat maze of modern society. The rules are a s follows: Go to school, go to college and figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life. Then get a desk job you hate and do that until you’re too old. In the meantime, buy a lot of stuff. Then try to enjoy what you’ve got left and hope you’re physically capable to do the stuff you missed out on while you were working.

    The other thing is, lately I’ve developed this distatse for technology; sometimes I wish I were living among the Amish or in a cabin on Walden Pond like Thoreau. I had a smartphone for 4 years and I really saw no benefit to having one, so I went back to my old clamshell dumbphone. I really can’t stand how people are glued to their screens and always connected these days (myself included, though involuntarilly). The thing that disgusts me even more is that I will be helping make this stuff if I use my degree and it’s something I want no part of anymore. I almost feel oike the devil, making temptations for people. I’d rather be a farmer and produce food, something we actually need to survive. We don’t need cellphones, Smart TV’s. tablet computers, etc. But you can’t be a farmer anymore, it’s unprofitable and being exported overseas like everything else. And don’t try growing organic crops or you’ll get sued by Monsanto when their corn crosspolinates with yours.

    There’s just something inside me that just screming “slow down and smell the roses,” but everything in this world is so fast-paced that I can’t just stop on a dime, especially when I’m surrounded by people going just as fast or faster. Lately I’ve been thinking of just driving out to the end of one of the forks (I live on Long Island, NY) to figure out life free of distraction, but God forbid I don’t have my cellphone, my parents and everyone else would panic if I’m gone for more than 3 hours (it takes about an hour and a half in driving one way). I’ve also considered going on a retreat at a monestary for a few days to help me get back to my Catholic roots. Most of the time I just want to pack up and go out for adventure like Chris McCandles, I did a book report on “Into The Wild” as a freshman in high school and I’ve been fascinated by his story ever since. I’m sick of people and the government telling me what I can and cannot do and what I’m expected to do. They want me to pay into social security; I’ll never see that money again. Tax dollars are wasted by pigs in Washington. Man should not have juristiction over how another man chooses to live his life so long as he is not harming anybody else in the process. “Do unto others as you would want done unto you,” Jesus used this to summarize all law, we shouldn’t need any more in my opinion.

    Sorry if this is kind of jumbled, I just kind of needed to bleed my feelings onto a page, whether or not the make sense.

    #56072
    Big blue
    Participant

    Hi Audifanatic518,

    Being disillusioned is not unusual at your age. I went through it. When I got my Bachelor’s degree I decided I didn’t like my field – like you – based on some practical exposure to it. I was able to use some of my education to move in a different direction.

    You’ve stated a lot of your dislikes and that’s good to call them out.

    What do you like? What directions can you go in? What career lifestyle do you envision? With your capabilities even the sky is not a limit.

    Big blue

    #56203
    audufanatic518
    Participant

    Hey Big Blue,

    Sorry for the delayed response; I got caught up in finishing up some work before finals week begins.

    Anyway, I wouldn’t necessarily say I hate my field though I probably came off that way earlier (and often times I tend to let my emotions take charge and blame the field rather than pinpoint the problems more directly). I do like building things as an engineer. I guess I don’t feel “good enough” when I can’t figure something out and I become extremely frustrated with it. Then of course there’s the other aspect of being cooped up inside all day as with any other white-collar job. There’s only so much of that I can take. During my internship last summer it almost felt like a sin to waste perfectly sunny summer days inside on a computer.

    Finally, as I said, I’m disgusted with what modern tech has done to people’s social skills. I hate the pace of modern society as I’ve already made clear. I cringe every time I see people taking selfies and posting them on Twitter and I wonder what this world has come to when I see people playing on their smartphones at the dinner table with family or friends. I can’t stand this notion of consumerism either, people just buy new stuff even when their old stuff isn’t broken (and then they wonder why they’re not financially secure). It’s as though life is now a matter of making money to buy lots of stuff and then die; I don’t like that notion at all. Every time my mom brings up graduation, all she talks about is the money I’m going to make and buying a new car for myself. I just shake my head in pity, I’d much rather be happy in what I’m doing and there’s nothing wrong with my car. sure it’s 13 years old, but it’s an Audi; I treat it well, it looks sharp, rides super smooth, and it has everything I want and need in a car. I have no need for all the toys in modern cars, just give me a radio and I’m more than happy. I guess song can sum up what I’m saying better than words; Miranda Lambert’s Automatic and Bradley West’s These Days kind of do a good job summing up my feelings. So while I do like engineering at times, I don’t want to contribute more to what I see as an epidemic.

    So now that I’ve got the restof the monkeys off my chest, I guess the question is “what does a tech guy that seemingly hates tech possibly do?” and that’s what I’m still trying to figure out. I’ve been considering taking the actuarial exams and going that route instead, though it’s probably a very boring job. I do like operations research / industrial engineering type work and that’s what I’ve focused on in my math major. However, I can’t seem to find work in that area. All places I applied to haven’t even given me a call back (that’s not a surprise though, even the tech companies I apply to never call me back despite me having a seemingly perfect resume and a personal website where I keep a “living” resume).

    Other than those fields, it’s a tough call. Again, I want nothing to do with this whole smartphone, Twitter, Facebook, Internet craze. Out of all the engineering classes I’ve taken, my favorites by far involve embedded systems. I was recently asked to do my PhD with one of my professors where I would study 3D printers; that is something I could see myself doing. But again, embedded systems are becoming incorporated into “the internet of things” and that is something I do not like.

    I guess I might be better off working for myself doing consulting work where I can make my own hours and hold meetings on the beach if I choose to. I just don’t want to be confined to an office contributing to stuff I’m personally against.

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