I (23M, American) feel completely paralyzed from a career perspective because I have no idea what the hell to do. If I choose the wrong degree program, I have to pay back all the debt with nothing to show for it. Even if I get a job, there’s no telling how long that will last. Everything keeps changing so fucking fast and it seems like any field I could go to college for could cease to be viable by the time I finish. On top of that, I have chronic health conditions to worry about that limit what I can even do.

(Edit: Basically I have POTS and a neck injury, so it’s hard to do physical labor and I suffer from dizziness, brain fog, and fatigue from being up for an hour or so. I don’t know my exact limits yet, since the severity of my condition varies by day and there appear to be ways to partially recover from the fatigue without having to lay down.)

I think stuff like urban planning and designing walkable environments would be cool, but I’m not sure if that’s a viable path in 2027 and beyond. I also used to be interested in programming, but ever since AI and mass layoffs hit the scene, I’ve become disillusioned and stopped pursuing that path.

I used to feel like the world was stable and I could pick a career based on my passion and be fine. But ever since 2020, everything has felt increasingly more uncertain. The world seems to be losing its collective shit and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.

Is staking your sense of stability on your career the wrong way to think about this? Should I be trying to find close friends or some kind of supportive community that could act as a safety net? Or is everyone too hyperindividualist to look out for each other?

  • thethrilloftime69@feddit.onlineEnglish
    9·
    4 days ago

    Hi I’m an American doctor here. I’m going to parrot something my father told me growing up. (I come from a family of doctors). “They will always need doctors”.

    I resisted it because I took it for granted but he was right. Being a doctor is among the most stable lifestyles you can find today. I live like I think everyone should be able to live. I can tell my job when I’m not available. People take my opinion seriously(even in non medical matters).

    The road to being a doctor is hard as balls and will take a minimum of 7 years (often more) before you can do anything with it but you get to help people, you get to think critically every day, and the life is stable. Tbh I can’t imagine myself doing anything else now. (If you had asked me during training how I felt, I would have told you this was the biggest mistake of my life).

    The road to the end is very very long and it is very very stressful. I felt like I was going to die during it several times.

      • rothaine@lemmy.zip
        3·
        3 days ago

        Except everyone and their mother are trying to become those now. There’s a good chance that that labor market will become oversaturated. 😢

        • mursejoy@lemmy.zip
          9·
          3 days ago

          Take it from a nurse, any job that regularly deals with literal human shit will never be over saturated.

              • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.worldEnglish
                11·
                2 days ago

                any job that regularly deals with literal human shit will never be over saturated.

                -MurseJoy

                Long list of people that want to do a cool job (EMS) = lower pay and over saturated.

                -MurseJoy

                Well there you go. Disproved your own thesis lol

                  • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    1·
                    2 days ago

                    Are you some kind of moron or what. So far you’ve argued that no job dealing with human shit could be oversaturated, then argued that the job where you spend more time covered in human shit and other bodily fluids than any other on the planet is oversaturated.