How did you decide on a career or other long-term form of employment?

[OrganicOzarks]

I like growing plants PERIOD. I don't care if you eat them or smoke them I want to grow them. The deeper I got into my vegetarian diet the more I wanted to provide myself with food,(and smoke) that was grown as "clean" as possible.

I know I have the word organic in my name on here, but in real life I am not a fan of that word. It really doesn't mean what it should when you are talking about USDA organic guidelines for American farmer's.

I feel that I am truly organic in my growing of plants, and that is all that matters.

The whole point of the nonsense that I wrote above was that, find something that you are passionate about, and it won't be a job.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

My drummer took horticulture in high school because "the teacher's a trip, man". Nobody thought the fucker would grow anything but mold.

He went on to comm college so daddy wouldn't charge him rent. He'd given zero thought to his career path. Forced to fill out a schedule, he remembered growing a couple of shit tomato plants in high school horticulture. It wasn't much but enough to pursue an assoc in horti and now he's the head groundskeeper at the comm college. He flies to other colleges and instructs other groundskeepers as well as managing the work on his campus.

The money's good but not great. The difference is the benefits, plus the fact he can work year-round and draw early retirement as opposed to working only 9 or 10 months a year.

 

[supermanlives]

mechanic. even as i kid i would take things apart and put em back together. also welding and metal fabrication. i got certified for mechanic as i went back to school. now i chill and grow weed. i do mechanic stuff as i want.i also took alot of horticulture classes as a side trade. came in very handy with the herb

 

[headband 707]

Yeah I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up .. I think I'd like to grow cannabis on a tropical Island in the Caribe and swim in really warm water everyday and see what I could come up with. Not really big on doing much more I think I've done enough ..lol.. I get bored pretty quick with shit.. need to move on to new projects or I start to feel trapped. Not much on sticking to one thing for years upon years headband 707

 

[headband 707]

This I just found on the net..

This I just found on the net..

I like growing plants PERIOD. I don't care if you eat them or smoke them I want to grow them. The deeper I got into my vegetarian diet the more I wanted to provide myself with food,(and smoke) that was grown as "clean" as possible.

I know I have the word organic in my name on here, but in real life I am not a fan of that word. It really doesn't mean what it should when you are talking about USDA organic guidelines for American farmer's.

I feel that I am truly organic in my growing of plants, and that is all that matters.

The whole point of the nonsense that I wrote above was that, find something that you are passionate about, and it won't be a job.

　
Utah Garden Challenge for Suckers　
By Cassandra Anderson
July 5, 2012
The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food is promoting the Utah Garden Challenge in order to collect information about independent food production for the USDA.
The Utah Garden Challenge is a voluntary contest to register 10,000 gardens. The data mining project has a broad interest in any "resource" who is growing food:
"Whether you grow a tomato in a pot, a row in a community garden, have backyard gardens, a CSA or working fruit and vegetable farm, we want to hear from you because you are an important resource as a food producer."
While the contest paints a proud face on independent food production, it is important to remember that registering with the government sets up a system to track, tax, permit or confiscate the registered item. Gun ownership is a good example of this scheme.
According to a pop-up window on the official website, participants' gardens will be registered with the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS):
"We need to know how much food is being produced in Utah. The Census of Agriculture is done every 5 years. Every agricultural operation in Utah, regardless of size, is vital to this question. If you produce $1000 of agricultural products, you can influence economic development and decision making by filling out a NASS survey. We will only share your information with NASS by your permission. Your response to the census of agriculture is protected by law. For more information, you can go to www.agcensus.gov "
In other words, people who produce $1000 or more worth of food have an impact on the food market, and the USDA wants to know about what you are doing in your backyard.
Victory gardens in America produced up to 40% of all vegetables consumed during World War II, with over 20 millon home gardens and community plots that produced over 9 million tons of food.
The USDA is notorious for its corrupt partnerships and revolving door business relationships with big commercial agriculture.
Government Crackdowns & Food Control
Food is under attack because if you can grow your own food, have access to water and shelter, then what use do you have for a government master?
The federal government has profoundly overstepped its constitutional authority on all fronts, and there are a number of examples of the USDA's outrageous control over food that include SWAT team raids on raw milk sellers and fruit tree confiscation.
The Food Safety Modernization Act expanded the power of the FDA and its sister agency, the USDA. The law is bad for many reasons and is an overwhelming burden on small and independent farmers due to over-regulation and increase in paperwork and reporting.
Additionally, the FBI identifies people who store food as potential terrorists!
Why Is Utah a Threat?
1. A few months ago Utah voted down a Food Freedom Bill that would have made it a crime for anyone, including Utah state agents, to enforce the Food Safety Modernization Act's unconstitutional mandates. It would have made farmers who trade only inside of state lines exempt. The bill was a direct constitutional challenge to federal overreach.
2. Highland City, Utah passed a Food Freedom ordinance that exempts residents from federal regulations on food that is produced, exchanged and consumed within city limits (state laws still apply).
3. Utah has the largest concentration of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons) who have an official policy of food storage, currently set at a 1-year minimum supply. This may be construed as a threat by the FBI, especially since a 1-year supply of food can cost as little as $225.
Conclusion
Survivalist.com points out that the Utah Garden Challenge is linked to the United Nations Agenda 21 Sustainable Development plan for totalitarian control.
The Utah Garden Challenge is enticing Utahans with meager prizes (a 1-in-1000 chance of winning a giftcard or free restaurant dinner) to register their gardens and subject themselves to invasive government data mining. But is your food independence worth it?

Add this to your website
http://morphcity.com/home/117-utah-garden-challenge-for-suckers
Homeland Security Report Lists ‘Liberty Lovers’ As Terrorists

Americans who are "suspicious of centralized federal authority, reverent of individual liberty" deemed domestic threat
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
A new study funded by the Department of Homeland Security characterizes Americans who are "suspicious of centralized federal authority," and "reverent of individual liberty" as "extreme right-wing" terrorists.
　
Entitled Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970-2008 (PDF), the study was produced by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland. The organization was launched with the aid of DHS funding to the tune of $12 million dollars.
While largely omitting Islamic terrorism - the report fails completely to mention the 1993 World Trade Center bombing – the study focuses on Americans who hold beliefs shared by the vast majority of conservatives and libertarians and puts them in the context of radical extremism.
The report takes its definitions from a 2011 study entitled Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism, produced by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, in which the following characteristics are used to identify terrorists.
- Americans who believe their "way of life" is under attack;
- Americans who are "fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)";
- People who consider themselves "anti-global" (presumably those who are wary of the loss of American sovereignty);
- Americans who are "suspicious of centralized federal authority";
- Americans who are "reverent of individual liberty";
- People who "believe in conspiracy theories that involve grave threat to national sovereignty and/or personal liberty."
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
The report also lists people opposed to abortion and "groups that seek to smite the purported enemies of God and other evildoers" as terrorists.
As we have exhaustively documented on numerous occasions, federal authorities and particularly the Department of Homeland Security have been involved in producing a deluge of literature which portrays liberty lovers and small government advocates as terrorists.
The most flagrant example was the infamous 2009 MIAC report, published by the Missouri Information Analysis Center and first revealed by Infowars, which framed Ron Paul supporters, libertarians, people who display bumper stickers, people who own gold, or even people who fly a U.S. flag, as potential terrorists.
The rush to denounce legitimate political beliefs as thought crimes, or even mundane behaviors, by insinuating they are shared by terrorists, has accelerated in recent months.
Under the FBI’s Communities Against Terrorism program, the bulk purchase of food is labeled as a potential indication of terrorist activity, as is using cash to pay for a cup of coffee, and showing an interest in web privacy when using the Internet in a public place.
As we have documented on numerous occasions, the federal government routinely characterizes mundane behavior as extremist activity or a potential indicator of terrorist intent. As part of its ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign, the Department of Homeland Security educates the public that generic activities performed by millions of people every day, including using a video camera, talking to police officers, wearing hoodies, driving vans, writing on a piece of paper, and using a cell phone recording application," are all potential signs of terrorist activity.
The DHS stoked controversy last year when it released a series of videos to promote the See Something, Say Something campaign in which almost all of the terrorists portrayed in the PSAs were white Americans.
http://www.infowars.com/homeland-security-report-lists-liberty-lovers-as-terrorists/

 

[Luv-U-Long-Time]

Sounds like a bit of soul searching is in order.You're going to have to figure out what you may be inclined at,or enjoy doing.
I too was in investment banking/commercial finance with a distinct knack at sales which led me to a gig as a corporate trainer then consulting.

It was just a good fit.

Also wanted to add that its refreshing to see a young(er) college grad who seems as though he was at least awake during high school English class.

Follow your heart,but be sure to sniff out some dough in the process.Good luck.

 

[Rob547]

You should try different things and see what you like and don't like. Have you tried volunteering for shit? Any kind of volunteering will do. You see the good thing about it is, you get to try new things that you normally would not do and you get to meet a bunch of gifted people in the process(loosers usually dont volunteer). But you should only volunteer because you really want to and not because you 're expecting something to come out of it, it doesn't work that way.

I've been in your shoes(still am actually), but I've been involved in so many things until now so i pretty much know now whats for me and whats not.

Take care and good luck bro!

Thanks for the response. I have actually just very recently begun to consider volunteering or looking into non-profits, kinda my thing as the work would actually accomplish something to better people or society etc, all that good stuff. Also a good networking source.

i've been doing computer shit for 45 years ... ever since a classroom assignment in Freshman year to write a program to play tic-tac-toe ... i pulled an all nighter, my first ever, and it occurred to me that if i could be that motivated by something, it must be right for me.

computers were more fun back then, but i still dig it. i can make money from computers, but just enough. i lack the greed gene that makes a person rich.

Nice man, I was into computers A LOT especially as my generation is kind of the internet generation. Used to do things like create custom weapons in computer games, reface the levels, simple stuff but C++ was a bit much for me. Also when I got to college I questioned my desire to sit in front of a computer all day every day, but idk many routes to be taken I suppose. Another reason I was considering the Cisco certification but $3k for the class.


I also grew up slaving away in the parents' garden and just saw it as a chore. But as you can safely assume I have come back to it Horticulture was another route I slightly considered for a major actually, still kinda wish I went that route. A year or two back I looked into growing flowers on a larger-than-personal scale for sale/profit. Definitely an interesting business choice, quite a niche industry too, lots of options there.

thanks again for all the responses, I did read through all of them and agree with most of the points highlighted.

 

[D. B. Doober]

i like getting baked and relaxing, so I'm trying to find something along those lines.

 

[StinkyGreen]

I'd like to share some advice I was given when I was in a career funk about 7 years ago. It's a technique from Prof. Srikumar Rao at Columbia. I gave it a shot, and now have a "dream job" that would not have even existed had I not started down this path.

His technique in a nutshell (as I remember it):

1. keep track of all the things you like doing in your current job. write them down. do this for several weeks, or until you have a good list.
2. pick one item from the list that involves learning on your part, and increases your job satisfaction. do something that gets you more of this in your job the first thing every day for 1 month.
3. repeat for a different item on your list every month

The results will be transformational. You basically force yourself to invest time every day according to your innermost values. when you do that, the world has a way of opening up doors of opportunity for you. I tried it, and it worked for me. I ended up changing jobs 3 times, but each time is was less about leaving a bad situation, and more about moving to something that was better aligned to what I loved doing.

There is a website (www dot areyoureadytosucceed dot com) and a book you can buy with more details. I haven't read it, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy it.

He's also got an online TED talk too:
http://www.ted.com/talks/srikumar_rao_plug_into_your_hard_wired_happiness.html

Here are a couple other tips that have also served me well:
- learn something from every situation you are in
- seek ways to make things better: help others, improve the system, or improve yourself.

These are like compound interest ... they pay off immensely in the long run. Good luck!

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I've had over 50 jobs and I'm only 41

I've had 2 jobs since I found out I was high functioning autistic.

Though I wouldn't have signed up for that many jobs and it's paid quite a bit less than a 'career' would have... there are distinct benefits to be gained.

I have a MUCH more complex view of the world than most people. I've worked in just about every industry from customer service to food processing to R&D. Most people can't see past the packaging on an item, I see sourcing, marketing, logistics and everything else that brought it to you.

The downside is that most people I come across now are so narrow minded and simplistic... it's actually depressing. LOL

I can get a job just about anywhere now, doing just about anything. I won't work for employers that drug test, unless they say my stuff tested out the best in their bong. I won't and Don't have to work for any company or person that I don't want to.

I'm very wealthy, just not financially well off. I'm also deliriously happy. LOL

YMMV

Stay Safe!

 

[Iraganji]

I read motivational books.
What I still find fascinating about how well it worked, is that you can open up my old copy of a Tony Robbins book and still find the bookmark I used with a goal of the $ figure I wanted to make with a new job I liked. I made exactly that amount the first year.

 

[usda101]

I hear u Hydrosoil can be depressing having to dumb things down to relate .

 

[BudToaster]

not relate, tolerate ... i can dig it.

 

[Pinball Wizard]

I thought I wanted to be a social studies teacher in High School...

...but, I ended up teaching metal casting to noobs, in a foundry...40 years..

 

[JHerbz]

Wish i could just find a job doing ANYTHING.

Fuck Felonys.


idk what im bitching about i havent even reached that 1/3rd mark yet.


I really have dreams about growing, not just cannabis.
But mainly cannabis.

 

[Luv-U-Long-Time]

On a related side note,I recently read about a program that is training folks for skilled,well paying manufacturing jobs,even those with checkered pasts and such.Its called the M.O.S.T program and its tied into a show that was on television with John Ratzenberg(sp?) the mailman from Cheers.

Thought it was worth mentioning

 

[still pluggin]

Money. Every job I have ever had has sucked. I'd rather be doing something else. I even had a job as a fishing guide, and I love fishing. You guessed it; the job aspect made it suck ass. I quit in four months.

Don't buy into this pseudo hippie bullshit about finding your "calling." If your calling is anything like mine, it generally involved PS3, masturbation, porn, more masturbation, some sex, an occasional jog and potato chips.

All jobs realistically attainable for non-connected people suck major ass, unless you have a weird fetish for hard work and just generally suck at relaxing.

Go make those dollars and retire young.

 

[Littleleaf]

If the job is not boring,I will do it.
If I can't fix it! It ain't broke.....

 

[Snagglepuss]

Find something you don't mind doing as a job, just to earn money...From their often things will just fall in your lap.....I think the most important thing ,is just to start working period..
Get work experience for a resume...

At age 12-13 .I started on a beach ,carrying umbrellas and setting them up for a guy who ran a stand that rented chairs/umbrellas/boogie boards..Fun job good people ,didn't pay shit...

Then at the same beach just before i turned 14,i talked my way into working the concession stand washing dishes mopping,and eventually flipping burgers....Thats when i first started smoking grass,My boss and the employees would take turns doing "Inventory" upstairs getting jayed behind the boxes of cups and supplies..

From age 14-25 after that, i worked a whole series of resteraunt jobs starting out as the dishwasher at many places .And ending up as a busboy from age 18-25...I tried being a waiter,,but was stoned all the time and was terrible at it....

Then at 25 i got a job (without being too specific)...washing vehicles with my brother...When they were short help..They started letting me work on projects they had going..along with the washing..Then before ya know it....I was just working on projects ,in a field many go to school for......

Never got my liscences in that field ,but did that for 12 years at same location...4 years ago when the economy fell out.Skilled but with no liscences in the particular field....I got a job at the same location for a diff company...but a different job type....

They loved my resume...but the job was way below my skill level ..which had me kinda pissed feeling it was below me.....But now instead of sporadic work ,or having to compete with others....I'm doing more of a customer service type thing,,and the 40 hours never change ,except the occasional overtime....

I got in and then purposly took the shift noone wanted ...To avoid managment and lots of annoying rules...now i do very little work for 6 months out of the year .But get paid almost as much as i did ,with the more prestigious job...The same money for 1/3 of the work ...

Going to work often doesn't feel like work at all...its more like a bunch of friends hanging out.......

Its just an example of how i didn't plan anything for my career or future.....But it just came together like that from just getting a job and working,,,,,,,,,,The main incentive was how much it sucked being broke all the time...with folks who rarely gave out extra money..

 

[lost in a sea]

i just was born interested in nature but i wouldnt say i will ever have a career just running random businesses and doing other bits and bobs,,