(Note: The below assumes you're just-starting-college-age, I assume that's how old you are):

I didn't know how much I hated sales and marketing until I was in my mid-twenties. This was when I worked in retail and I was carefully trained on sales techniques and given a complete understanding of the subject.

I didn't know how much I hated management-related stuff until I was in my late twenties and early thirties, when I was given an opportunity to see how the management structure works in a large corporation, and was given detailed training on management and TQM.

There was a time when I thought I would have been great at telephone technical support. Until I had to do it for a while, and hated it. I eventually got the job taken away from me when I pissed off a customer by being hard-nosed about a particular problem (I was right, but they were still pissed at me).

I'm now in my mid-thirties, in an IT position, doing a little bit of programming here and there, and avoiding direct phone tech support as much as possible by keeping my network running smoothly. I've found that's my niche, I like it, I feel comfortable in it, and I do well at it. But I came to it in a very roundabout way, by working at different jobs and sort of being gently redirected to IT-related tasks until those tasks consumed my entire job description.

In my experience, if you're good at something, you'll tend to gravitate toward it. Lots of little gradual career moves will eventually land you in the job you're really best at. But it's not something you can simply "decide" at eighteen, or something you can glean from answering a multiple-choice personality test. It takes time and experience to find your niche.

I believe that it's impossible to choose a college curriculum accurately until after you're already too old for college. The important thing, in my opinion, is to get college over with as quickly and as painlessly as possible, and get on with your life. I'm sure there are those who will disagree. But in response, I present this poll question:

Are you actually doing the thing you majored in college?
Only one choice allowed


Votes accepted starting: 27/06/2004 19:33
View the results of this poll.
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Tony Fabris