What are you doing with your life?

[Twisted Metal]

Computer science graduate. Unemployed and still living with parents. Lacking in skills to do CS-related jobs. College was a waste of my time. Looking for a crappy $8/hr. job just to have some income. Want to be in a band but also lacking in guitar skills. No real idea what I want to do with my life; only thing I know is that right now mine sucks. :/

That's kind of disappointing to hear. Your school had no internship opportunities or anything? Do you have a bachelors, or an associates? Associates I can understand, you can't get many jobs with that (maybe answering phones), but with a bachelors, surely there has to be some kind of entry level computer job that you can get?

Jacks:SmirkingRevenge, glad to hear you're on the right track. Your last sentence frightened me though, because that's pretty much my plan.

Kou, you are a friggin genius if you can do all of that stuff simultaneously.

 

[Kou]

...if you can do all of that stuff simultaneously.

It's hard as hell sometimes.

 

[pine]

Good luck with that Jacks. Going into the military seems like a great idea until something bad happens and you get shipped off to combat. Not a dice roll I'd like to make with my life, although it does work out fine for lots of people.

 

[SleepyHe4d]

He said he was joining the Navy man, there's no 'shipping off to combat' there's six month 'tours' or whatever.

 

[pine]

Well, however it works, the Navy is still an organization whose basic job is to fight wars, and as such being a part of it means you're agreeing to participate in a war if the need arises.

 

[SleepyHe4d]

Yeah but I don't think you understand that he'd be on a effin aircraft carrier! There's a higher chance of dying driving to work, is that a dice roll you'd make with your life?

 

[Kaithofis]

Hey, this is a great thread!
As for my story:

I'm 20 right now and living with my mother. I study Architecture at the Technical University in Delft, which is only 45 minutes away, so I don't really feel the need to move out. I'm in my 2nd year, but I'm redoing my 2nd semester since I dropped out last year. I tend to be really lazy and do just enough to get a 6.
I still need to find a job too. It's been 18 months since I quit my last job, and although I still have a big pile of money left I really don't want to lose too much of it. So yeah.. I need some income if I want to go on an extended holiday including festivals and all that.

Oh, and I need a new girlfriend too. Or maybe I just need to get over the failed "relationship" I had recently. In short: last Dec. I broke up with my now-ex (after 17 months). 1 month later I went away for a weekend with, like, the perfect girl. After that weekend things have been going downhill and I'm still kinda upset about it all.

 

[T2A`]

That's kind of disappointing to hear. Your school had no internship opportunities or anything? Do you have a bachelors, or an associates? Associates I can understand, you can't get many jobs with that (maybe answering phones), but with a bachelors, surely there has to be some kind of entry level computer job that you can get?

Notice that I said it was a waste of my time. College for others might not be. I never really wanted to go and I was extremely unhappy there, but I felt that I had to stick it out and did so more or less against my will. I've never felt as though I've had any control over my life, and college was no different. But I had to go. You can't be successful without a degree -- that's what they tell you in school and that's what they tell your parents -- so I had to get one.

Thus, I had no will or motivation to do well; I only got by. Many places that take on interns only want people with a GPA above a certain level (usually 3.0), which mine was not. The only summer I felt I could have potentially done an internship I was taking courses instead to make up time. I still managed to graduate in four years but I don't feel like I have anything to show for it. Yeah, I have a BS but that has yet to prove to be enough. My lack of experience and lack of knowledge from such experience has probably hurt me more than not having the degree would have. Those four years I spent going over theoretical things and reinventing the wheel all to do well on some exams I could have spent learning actual real things and how to apply them in the real world. Therefore, it was a waste for me.

I had a job as a programmer for a month -- exactly -- in August. Things got kind of f**ked up and I ended up leaving. I got blamed for something I had no real control over and the boss's only response was that it was obviously my fault, so I left. He questioned my commitment, completely forgetting that to start when I did I gave up a week-long beach vacation with the family, so I had to go. So, while I have that meager experience, it's ultimately useless as I can't really use that place for references, and no one likes seeing such a short time spent at a company unless it was for contract work, which this wasn't.

I've had some interviews for entry-level positions since then but have been turned down each time. Do you know how it feels to be told you're not good enough for entry-level?

 

[_Zd_Phoenix_]

Cool

US Navy

Hey, sailor

 

[Thrash123]

24 years old. BS in Comp Info Sys. Currently working as a professional graphic designer/web designer at a newspaper. I do special cover designs for some of our extra publications, some ad design (when we are strapped for time, which we usually are), advertising layout (I get to figure out how many pages the paper is and what ads get to go on which pages ), some tech stuff, admining a forum run by the newspaper (lots of drama there). Also take pictures for the paper on occasion.

Outside of the day job I also do web design/dev, artwork, photography, and write/record/perform my own music (working on my 10th and 11th albums now - one industrial, one blues).

 

[MoogleRancha]

I'm 17 now, trying to figure things out. As of now, I'm applying to Northwestern University and University of Chicago (so that I can stay local) in hopes of majoring in Chemical Engineering or Political Science (I have to pick one eventually ). I'll pull off a minor in Spanish very quickly, as well.

That's about it.

/shrug

 

[Angel_Mapper]

Finally having surgery in Thailand in August.

Still working for Pipeworks, and doing contract work on the side. Cramming all of the money from the side jobs into investments.

 

[_Zd_Phoenix_]

Finally having surgery in Thailand in August.

Still working for Pipeworks

I couldn't help but find the name 'pipeworks' slightly hilarious given the context of the first sentence Good luck.

I also ... perform my own music (working on my 10th and 11th albums now - one industrial, one blues).

Like I commented on your YouTube vid, your cover of Lux Aeterna was amazing. :tup:

Sometimes I think that people with so much talent should probably be shot, so as to make me look better overall, but in your case and after that vid I guess you can hang around for a bit Btw, your YT username there is so much better, not just than your current one, but than pretty much all things.

 

[dragonfliet]

Well, I'm 25 and finally finishing up my B.A. in English (took 3 years off because I had no money--long, long story--When I actually looked at Navy stuff (took the ASVAB and DLAB and all that stff until I figured out that being on a boat with a bunch of dudes for 4-6 years of my life (at least) sounded horrible), Until I bit the bullet and went back for my useless degree.)
Waiting to hear back from grad schools to go for my M.F.A. in Creative Writing (well, waiting for one's that haven't rejected me yet), working as a supervisor at Starbucks. I've been married for two and a half years and it's been pretty damned grand so far.

I write short stories pretty much any time that I get the chance and a little bit of mod work from time to time (though most of it is just support as I just don't have the time in between school full time and working full time). Whether or not I get into grad school I'll keep writing, start sending stuff off to Literary Journals, try to get published, try to get some books out and try to teach creative writing eventually. Who freaking knows though, I chose such a silly and difficult thing to pursue as a living.

~Jason

 

[Thrash123]

I couldn't help but find the name 'pipeworks' slightly hilarious given the context of the first sentence Good luck.

Like I commented on your YouTube vid, your cover of Lux Aeterna was amazing. :tup:

Sometimes I think that people with so much talent should probably be shot, so as to make me look better overall, but in your case and after that vid I guess you can hang around for a bit Btw, your YT username there is so much better, not just than your current one, but than pretty much all things.

lol, yeah, my username here is a bit.. blah. The only reason I stick with Thrash123 here is just because it is part of my history with the Quake/Unreal scene. That's what everybody knows me as. When #unrealed was reincarnated by a bunch of people at OMG (and a lot of us old fogies invited over), they remembered me as such (and as "/me gets a martini" - except now I can and do literally get one .

 

[_Zd_Phoenix_]

Well I certainly can't preach on the subject of usernames ... I start playing UT and with a whole world of language and imagination out there, I come up with: Phoenix. Genius. It's just that inverted panda is just massive amounts of awesome.

 

[Continuum]

He said he was joining the Navy man, there's no 'shipping off to combat' there's six month 'tours' or whatever.

Sitting in the middle of an ocean in a metal cell is so much better.

 

[Stilgar]

Im 20. Just started my third year of a physics degree at Otago University. As for after that... dunno. I'm keeping my options open at the moment.

3rd year? Did you get bumped up through high school? And I hope you're not a castle street denizen!

 

[Jacks:Revenge]

He said he was joining the Navy man, there's no 'shipping off to combat' there's six month 'tours' or whatever.

Yeah, for half a year each year I'll serve out at sea. If there's a situation (war) that our battlegroup gets assigned to we'll "pull up" to the coast line. And like Sleepy basically said, the chances of anything happening to a carrier, letalone a battlegroup of that kind, are pretty much zero since nothing has happened.
The last time anyone died on a carrier since we began owning the ocean (post WW2) has been during a surface or training drill accident. A carrier battlegroup consists of numerous support ships, destroyers, and radar boats spread out for miles around the carrier itself.
You launch attacks to the land from offshore, you don't really go there.

Hey, sailor

 

[Angel_Mapper]

I couldn't help but find the name 'pipeworks' slightly hilarious given the context of the first sentence Good luck.

Sitting in the middle of an ocean in a metal cell is so much better.

Oh he shouldn't worry about that, there's plenty of ship to clean.