Post: #1

whats up everyone, i'm a junior in college, and this summer i'm going to have to get an internship. i go to school 2 hours away from where i live, i love the area i live in and would not mind living there for the rest of my life as long as i was successful.

anyway, i'm having a hard time deciding what direction i want my life to go in. basically after college i have two options, and i'm not sure which one would be more rewarding or better. so here are the two and i'm looking for inputs from all you older folks.

option 1.
get a consulting job, live in a populated city, philly, pittsburgh, new york, etc. have most of my life just be working hard w/ co workers as a team on a project, traveling a lot, and having fun on the weekends. But again.. working a LOT.

option 2.
go back home, get a government job that probably will pay the same if not a little more than option 1s job. Do jack shit at work .. literally. Buy a house, invest money in apartments maybe, buy toys like quads, cars which i love, and hang out w/ old firends i've grown up with and go out every weekend. but not living in a big city like philly, living in a rather small area, where everyone kinda knows everyone.

its really hard for me to decide. because part of me feels like i would have a blast with option one, traveling, making money, working w/ young ppl the same age as me, and almost having the time of my life. but i'm afraid it may not be all of what i expect. now option 2 seems like much more slow moving for me and something i can do for the rest of my life. areas where i would not have fun at work would be made up for at home and on the weekend w/ my free time. and with government i can work shorter and get bangin benefits

or i could do option 3 which would be do option 1 for 2 or 3 years, then settline back home and doing option 1 for the rest of my life. so i dont really have anyone except my parents to ask this too, so i want to see what younger adults opinion on this subject

Post: #2

(10-14-2008 05:24 PM)pimpc Wrote:  whats up everyone, i'm a junior in college, and this summer i'm going to have to get an internship. i go to school 2 hours away from where i live, i love the area i live in and would not mind living there for the rest of my life as long as i was successful.

anyway, i'm having a hard time deciding what direction i want my life to go in. basically after college i have two options, and i'm not sure which one would be more rewarding or better. so here are the two and i'm looking for inputs from all you older folks.

option 1.
get a consulting job, live in a populated city, philly, pittsburgh, new york, etc. have most of my life just be working hard w/ co workers as a team on a project, traveling a lot, and having fun on the weekends. But again.. working a LOT.

option 2.
go back home, get a government job that probably will pay the same if not a little more than option 1s job. Do jack shit at work .. literally. Buy a house, invest money in apartments maybe, buy toys like quads, cars which i love, and hang out w/ old firends i've grown up with and go out every weekend. but not living in a big city like philly, living in a rather small area, where everyone kinda knows everyone.

its really hard for me to decide. because part of me feels like i would have a blast with option one, traveling, making money, working w/ young ppl the same age as me, and almost having the time of my life. but i'm afraid it may not be all of what i expect. now option 2 seems like much more slow moving for me and something i can do for the rest of my life. areas where i would not have fun at work would be made up for at home and on the weekend w/ my free time. and with government i can work shorter and get bangin benefits

or i could do option 3 which would be do option 1 for 2 or 3 years, then settline back home and doing option 1 for the rest of my life. so i dont really have anyone except my parents to ask this too, so i want to see what younger adults opinion on this subject

When I was your age
- graduated
- stayed in my college town
- lived with my GF (wifey at the time)
- got a consulting job
- broke up with my GF (went from stripper to suburb mom in 5 years)
- got a govt job (and lost that)

If I could do it all over again? I'd leave the country and travel.

Post: #3

Go for the consulting job. You never know what the new experiences will bring. I think your town will be there even if that government job isn't available.

Although either way you should be ok with a job especially in this economy.

Post: #4

I would go with option one. Do what you love man. If you don't like it well then you can always change. Success is something only you can define.

Cheers

Post: #5

Do option 1. If you end up not liking it, you can do option 2.

Post: #6

I know a lot of people here are not fans of the corporate, 9-5 environment but I happen to be. I worked for about 4.5 years doing something similar to consulting in NYC and am now back in school getting my MBA. My advice to you is to go with option 1 for a couple of years. You'll make some decent money and get some decent experience. If you don't like it then you can go back to school or quit and do something else while you're still young. You never know what kind of valuable experience you might get or what kind of valuable connections with people you will make.

Post: #7

one thing to consider is that consultants accrue credit card bonus points and airlines miles when they travel. After 2 years of consulting, you could have saved enough miles and money to go vacation for a year somewhere very exotic.

Post: #8

Bankers vs. Consultants

http://www.thegmanifesto.com/2008/09/dam...tants.html

Post: #9

I don't wanna ruin all your dreams here, but the economy will get a lot worse. You seriously think that with all the phony american jobs in vogue, a 70% consumption based economy and a gigantic debt , you will be able to CHOOSE your employer? I don't even want to talk about India spurting high qualified engineers every hours, and China waking up to capitalism.

I am not making my primary revenue with trading just for fun.

Post: #10

If you're talking about a consulting gig with Accenture or IBM or such like, I'd advise option C: a job that doesn't suck. Those "Enterprise Consulting" outfits are horrible, horrible places run by incompetent blowhards and full of climbing backstabbers with no ability.

Do not work for large organizations built around billable hours. Larger product companies can be OK, but labor farms always suck. They sell time, not competence. So they want a lot of your time and will use it incompetently.

Do not work for the government. If you have any ambition you will be miserable. In any case you will be damaged goods inside three years. Once people work a cushy mind numbing job like that for a while they can never snap out of it and achieve anything. They get addicted to sitting there sucking on the teat. Also, government employment will probably not be as sure a bet as you think. Government bankruptcies and layoffs at all levels all across the country are almost a certainty over the next couple years. Revenues have plunged and the over-promised boomer retirement benefits are coming due.

You want to work for a small company (sub 150 people) that is doing well. Ideally it will still be privately owned by the founders. Ideally they sell a product.

Post: #11

Hey guys,

I’m looking for some career/life advice right now.

I'm in somewhat of a similar situation.

I'm 19, Graduated High-School in 2016. Took a winter off and hung out with family outside of the state. Summer time I worked an adventure tourism job that I worked the year before and loved; in my small tourism hometown during the summer.

Tourism season ended that fall and I'm currently living in the largest population city in my state (approximately 300,000).

I got a place with a buddy and his friend (who ended up being a scumbag and we've pretty much kicked him out of our apartment and are paying his share) and then got a job in retail. I was seasonal and was knowingly laid off right around Christmas.

I buddy of mine got me a job at the beginning of the January working for the state government. It’s a pretty sweet deal, good pay, 9-5 type hours, full benefits, practically do nothing all day, really cool co-workers. Except I kind of truly hate it. I’m bored out of my mind all day, just sitting in front of a computer screen.

I was offered a year round full time position at this job and don’t know if I should accept it.

I hate this shithole city, but it’s one of the only places that has anything going on in my state.

I currently have no debt of any kind right now, and have put off college because I know it’s probably not for me. Trade school is not out of the question but there are very few trades that appeal to me.

My lease ends at the end of June 29th, so I would have to find another place to live if I accepted my job.

I figure I have a few options.

1) Move back to my hometown and live on my parents property to save money while working and partying like I have the past two years.

2) Accept this job, save up somewhere around 15,000 grand in a year and a half approximately and go travel.

3) Accept this job, and try to put myself through school slowly on the income I’m making freeing myself from taking on any debt. Or saving up for a trade school.

I know I want to travel and party, but I also feel the pressures of conforming to society.

I always believed in Happiness > Money but I'm not sure if this is that type of scenario.

Any advice for my situation is greatly appreciated.

Post: #12

What's your personality type like? Are you more of a homebody and smalltown kinda guy or do you like the big city and a bit of a faster lifestyle?

Something I noticed of myself as I found myself in a similar situation to you are was I really wanted to travel, live in the city, do that whole thing. Not that I woudln't have fun but that's just not really me. I found myself almost wishing that I enjoyed that type of thing more so that I could do it, where as in reality I kind of like where I'm from, like being around friends I've grown up with, liked being near family.

On the plus side you could give the consulting thing a go, see how you like it. Work for a year or two, make some money, have some experiences and re-evaluate down the road a year. If your not enjoying it or if your burnt out I'd imagine that same government job will be waiting for you when you get home