I’m thirty-two and I hate my job. I hate it so much. I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to put teenagers in charge of picking their future professions but that person should be fired. Sixteen year old me really wanted to be a structural engineer. Boy was I wrong. I made this decision purely on the fact that I was good at mathematics and had an interest in physics. What I really wanted to study was design. I’ve always had a passion for branding and logos but when I told my parents that I wanted to do art for VCE they scolded me and told me to stick with maths as that’s where the money is. Sure, it might be where the money is but it’s definitely not where the happiness is.
My younger brother has a highly recommended Melbourne based youth career advisor coming to his school for a talk tomorrow and I keep telling him to make sure to ask questions. I feel like if I had asked more questions about engineering as a career, I might not have pursued it. I’ve had a few people tell me that design is an extremely cut-throat and tiring industry as you’re constantly working to a brief and managing different clients, but I honestly don’t mind that. I like having a brief and debating it with people. I don’t mind if I have to sketch something one hundred times. What I do mind is inspecting ramps and measuring them to check if they’re suitable and built properly. There’s zero enjoyment in any of that for me.
I haven’t told anyone but I’ve booked an appointment for next week with a career consultant. Melbourne is a place that has so much opportunity when it comes to the design industry and I hate that I’m missing out on it all. I’m hoping she can provide me with some advice as to how I can make this change and hopefully it’s not too late.