What Should Daniel Do? A Plea for Help.

I am beginning to think about what I want my job to be for the rest of my life and I have no idea.  Well, that’s a huge lie.  I have an idea.  In fact, I have many ideas.  That’s the problem.  I need help.  For those of you who don’t know, I am majoring in Marketing and Accounting and minoring in Chinese.  I am currently in China (duh.) taking business classes (duh.), but I am not sure if I want to go into business when I graduate.  I will present the options that I have come up with and then I would like someone to choose for me what I should do with the rest of my life because I’m indecisive.  Obviously.

Option 1:  Consulting

I could be a consultant.  I could work for a firm like Deloitte and travel all over the US (and the World) and help business solve problems.  I love traveling and solving problems.  This seems like a great job idea.  The situation would always be changing because I would always be getting new projects and that seems awesome.  The pay is good and I would get to meet all sorts of people (also good).

The Downside:  I don’t think I want to do business.  I don’t find it entirely interesting 100% of the time, and in all my MBA classes here, none of the students look happy.  They actually spend a lot of time complaining about work.  I would prefer to be happy in my job. 

Option 2:  Accountant

I could be an accountant.  No matter my major, I will graduate with 150 hours which makes me CPA eligible, and I like working with numbers.  I have already taken 2 accounting classes, powned them, and found them pretty interesting.  Going into accounting is also as close to a guaranteed job as I’m going to get because about 99.99% of the businesses that come to recruit at Miami are accounting firms, or firms looking for accounting majors.

The Downside:  Raise your hand if you fall out of your seat from excitement from hearing the word accounting?  Did any of you raise your hands?  Probably not (if you did, I’m sorry.  That’s unfortunate).  Going into accounting means that I wouldn’t get to travel, and the work doesn’t exactly change much.  Accounting seems very… static.

Option 3:  Lawyer

I could be a lawyer.  I’ve already taken some practice LSATs, I’ve done research into the different types of law, and even met with the pre-law advisors at Miami.  I would never want to be a trial lawyer, that would blow, but I think it would be fun to do international law.  That would allow me to travel a lot and maybe even practice my Chinese.  I would be able to read a lot and I would also get to learn a lot.  I would even get to call myself Daniel Albert Mater Esquire.  Who doesn’t want the title of “Esquire”?

The Downside:  Three years of Law School and $150,000 of debt and I may no longer be a functioning member of society.  Also, from what I hear, and watch on infinitely reliable TV shows, lawyers are prone to alcohol and drug addictions.

Option 4:  Computer Programmer

I could be a computer programmer.  I like computers (especially Apple) and I am fairly proficient at using them.  I have even been a registered software developer with Apple for the past six months (despite completely lacking all programming knowledge).  I have watched podcasts from Stanford on how to program for the iPhone and even taught myself BASIC when I was in high school.  I forgot all of it.  But.  I am trying to teach myself Objective-C programming language right now.

The Downside:  This may be perceived to be more boring than accounting.  As cool as it would be to design computer programs and systems, I would be stuck at a desk for the entire day, not get to travel, and there is no Prefix or Suffix that I could add to my name that would make me sound important like if I was a lawyer (Esquire? Still cool.)

Option 5:  Government Work (Specifically the State Department)

I could work for the government.  They are hiring.  This is probably another guaranteed job in one form or another.  All the baby-boomers will be retiring, and with the “Global Economic Crisis” the government will hire more people to stave off high unemployment rates.  I would specifically like to be an analyst for the State Department.  I’m thinking my specialty would be China.  Maybe.  I’m hoping the whole minoring in Chinese and studying abroad at Peking University thing might work in my favor.  I have always liked politics and read the newspaper habitually.  Plus, I would get to work in embassies all over the world and move every 3 years or so (assuming I would be a Foreign Service Officer).

The Downside:  The pay is nowhere near as high as other jobs on this list.  Plus, this may be too much travel.  It’s one thing to travel to other countries and do work there, but to actually live in a different country for an extended period of time like that?  I’m not sure that’s for me.  I REALLY like America.  Don’t get me wrong.  China is awesome.  But so is America.

Option 6:  Daniel Mater, M.D.

I could be a doctor.  All the books that I read for fun (both fiction and non-fiction) are medical books.  (Note:  Yes, I do read non-fiction books for fun.  Deal with it).  Of all the classes that I have taken at Miami (counting all my business classes) my favorite two classes have been Infectious Diseases and Experimenting with Microbes.  I love science.  In high school, my favorite class was AP Chemistry.  Science is way more interesting to me than business.  Plus, science allows me to constantly learn new things, travel (kind of, maybe, possibly?), and I would get to deal with all sorts of people considering I would be seeing patients.  I have no idea what kind of doctor I would want to be.  Whatever doctor I would become, I would be able to do problem solving and use math.  Plus, there is the perk of being Dr. Daniel Albert Mater.

The Downside:  It’s too late to change my major to something science-y so that I can apply to med-school.  Plus, all those years of med-school, plus residency would mean that I would be in school for a really long time and be in more debt that my mind can possibly comprehend.  I have done some research and I can do a one-year graduate program to crank out all the med-school requirements and then apply to med-school at the end of that year.  Possible.

 

Overall, it’s clear that I have some decisions to make.  Which is exactly why I went on Monster.com and took a survey about my personality and interests to see what jobs it would recommend.  Below is the list that I was given (pertinent jobs are in red):

 Intellectual Property Attorney

News Analyst

Design engineer

Biomedical Researcher

Network Integration Specialist

Software Developer

Psychiatrist

Cardiologist

Freelance Writer

Media Planner

Chief Financial Officer

Webmaster

Architect

Desktop Publishing Specialist

I think we can all agree that survey was no help.  That list pretty much covers every job I just listed above as something that I might like to do.  Monster.com also defined my personality as:

“… autonomous, aloof and intellectual; imaginative, innovative, and unique; critical, analytical and logical; intellectually curious, driven to learn and increase their competence and knowledge; socially cautious and reserved; organized and definitive.”

Make of that what you will but I think that it did a pretty good job analyzing and defining my life after only a few questions.  Monster.com knows me better than I know myself.  That's depressing.

This is where you all come in.  I need your help.  If you could please tell me what to do with the rest of my life, that would be great.  Thanks.