Career Advice Request

[bjensen]

I greatly respect the opinions of many of you, and thought you may be willing to respond to this off topic thread.

I have worked in sales for about 4 years, and like NavyDoc once said about his past, I have similarly lost the drive for sales.

I know that many of you are engineers, but I wondered what you all thought about the value of a law degree today.

I know there is a glut of JD’s. I have researched extensively about how lower tier graduates aren’t making enough doing temp work to pay down their student loans.

It seems like it is so much more a high stakes game now that tuition for 3 years is over 100k. It seems access to easy credit has also increased tuition, much like it did to home prices. Now the law professors who can only teach 6 hours a week get a plump salary, and money from university law schools is funneled away into the general fund.

Anyway, there are roughly 200 accredited law schools in the US. Because there is such competition for good jobs I probably wouldn’t go if I couldn’t get into a top 30 school. I think that would improve my chances of getting a decent job post graduation, IMHO. My grades could get me in at all but Harvard and Yale, but I haven’t taken the LSAT yet so who knows.

If you think law school is a bad idea, what other career paths would you consider? I’m 26, with a wife and a 6 month old baby .

I have always had a tough time with the hard sciences. Anything above algebra is out of the question. I wish I was better at math as I have found it extremely career limiting.

I graduated in communications only to find that I don’t really like PR/Advertising/Marketing and that they pay so little for the first many years that I could never support a family in the short term.

I know this is not a career advice website, but like I said I respect your collective intelligeceas you put on a clinic for me here daily, and have kept me from buying a home for the last few years. I just had to ask.

In fact the advice to rent has also done wonders for my flexibility as I consider grad school! Thanks!

Thanks

[Borat]

Learn Mandarin and become an international business consultant for Chinese companies in the US or vice versa. Unlimited upside potential there, no hard math or science classes — just unbelievably hard language classes. The smartest move anyone your age could make. You could also do Spanish or Portugese and specialize in Latin American business but I think Chinese is the way to go long term, especially since you are so young. Good luck to you.

[Borat]

Learn Mandarin and become an international business consultant for Chinese companies in the US or vice versa. Unlimited upside potential there, no hard math or science classes — just unbelievably hard language classes. The smartest move anyone your age could make. You could also do Spanish or Portugese and specialize in Latin American business but I think Chinese is the way to go long term, especially since you are so young. Good luck to you.

[Borat]

Learn Mandarin and become an international business consultant for Chinese companies in the US or vice versa. Unlimited upside potential there, no hard math or science classes — just unbelievably hard language classes. The smartest move anyone your age could make. You could also do Spanish or Portugese and specialize in Latin American business but I think Chinese is the way to go long term, especially since you are so young. Good luck to you.

[Borat]

Learn Mandarin and become an international business consultant for Chinese companies in the US or vice versa. Unlimited upside potential there, no hard math or science classes — just unbelievably hard language classes. The smartest move anyone your age could make. You could also do Spanish or Portugese and specialize in Latin American business but I think Chinese is the way to go long term, especially since you are so young. Good luck to you.

[Borat]

Learn Mandarin and become an international business consultant for Chinese companies in the US or vice versa. Unlimited upside potential there, no hard math or science classes — just unbelievably hard language classes. The smartest move anyone your age could make. You could also do Spanish or Portugese and specialize in Latin American business but I think Chinese is the way to go long term, especially since you are so young. Good luck to you.

[sd-maybe]

Soliticing career advice on a housing bubble blog is an interesting approach, but who here knows what you want to do and what interests you more than you? If law interests you then go after that with a single minded focus. With a family to support it sounds like you don’t have the luxury of bouncing around to different things to see if you like it.

[sd-maybe]

Soliticing career advice on a housing bubble blog is an interesting approach, but who here knows what you want to do and what interests you more than you? If law interests you then go after that with a single minded focus. With a family to support it sounds like you don’t have the luxury of bouncing around to different things to see if you like it.

[sd-maybe]

Soliticing career advice on a housing bubble blog is an interesting approach, but who here knows what you want to do and what interests you more than you? If law interests you then go after that with a single minded focus. With a family to support it sounds like you don’t have the luxury of bouncing around to different things to see if you like it.

[sd-maybe]

Soliticing career advice on a housing bubble blog is an interesting approach, but who here knows what you want to do and what interests you more than you? If law interests you then go after that with a single minded focus. With a family to support it sounds like you don’t have the luxury of bouncing around to different things to see if you like it.

[sd-maybe]

Soliticing career advice on a housing bubble blog is an interesting approach, but who here knows what you want to do and what interests you more than you? If law interests you then go after that with a single minded focus. With a family to support it sounds like you don’t have the luxury of bouncing around to different things to see if you like it.

[XBoxBoy]

The one thing that I wish more people had told me when I was looking for a career was, “Go into what you’re good at.” If you pick a career that matches your skills, chances are high that you will excel in that arena, which will make you more valuable and surprise, surprise, you’ll end up enjoying it tremendously.

When I went through college I majored in music, and while I had some professional success, I had a lot more frustration than anything else. But I was always good at math and logic. Gradually I drifted from writing music and doing sound effects to programming video games. What I realized with time was that I was dang good at the programming, and found myself having more and more success doing that. This success was a lot better than the constant frustration of the music gig. Not only was it better financially, but it was more enjoyable, because success is way more fun than beating your head against the wall.

So, whatever you pick, pick something you will excel at! That can be hard to determine. But try to think about the tasks you’ve had at school and work so far. What were your successes? What were your failures? What skills did you use that caused you to succeed. You’ve already identified that math is not a strength, so definitely do NOT go into anything that requires much math. But what are your strengths? You have good grades, so there must have been a reason for those. There must have been some good skills somewhere that lead to good grades. What were they? What career would give you the chance to develop those skills and excel?

As to law school. I can only saw that I’ve met lots of ex-lawyers who are doing other things, and lots of lawyers who wish they were doing other things. Way more than I’ve met of people in other fields. But I’ve also met a couple of lawyers that like their jobs. In all those case they are lawyers who are really successful and well respected for their legal abilities. So, maybe if you think you would be a really super good lawyer, then law school would be a good idea. But don’t go to law school just because you don’t know what else to do.

Hope this helps,

XBoxBoy

[XBoxBoy]

The one thing that I wish more people had told me when I was looking for a career was, “Go into what you’re good at.” If you pick a career that matches your skills, chances are high that you will excel in that arena, which will make you more valuable and surprise, surprise, you’ll end up enjoying it tremendously.

When I went through college I majored in music, and while I had some professional success, I had a lot more frustration than anything else. But I was always good at math and logic. Gradually I drifted from writing music and doing sound effects to programming video games. What I realized with time was that I was dang good at the programming, and found myself having more and more success doing that. This success was a lot better than the constant frustration of the music gig. Not only was it better financially, but it was more enjoyable, because success is way more fun than beating your head against the wall.

So, whatever you pick, pick something you will excel at! That can be hard to determine. But try to think about the tasks you’ve had at school and work so far. What were your successes? What were your failures? What skills did you use that caused you to succeed. You’ve already identified that math is not a strength, so definitely do NOT go into anything that requires much math. But what are your strengths? You have good grades, so there must have been a reason for those. There must have been some good skills somewhere that lead to good grades. What were they? What career would give you the chance to develop those skills and excel?

As to law school. I can only saw that I’ve met lots of ex-lawyers who are doing other things, and lots of lawyers who wish they were doing other things. Way more than I’ve met of people in other fields. But I’ve also met a couple of lawyers that like their jobs. In all those case they are lawyers who are really successful and well respected for their legal abilities. So, maybe if you think you would be a really super good lawyer, then law school would be a good idea. But don’t go to law school just because you don’t know what else to do.

Hope this helps,

XBoxBoy

[XBoxBoy]

The one thing that I wish more people had told me when I was looking for a career was, “Go into what you’re good at.” If you pick a career that matches your skills, chances are high that you will excel in that arena, which will make you more valuable and surprise, surprise, you’ll end up enjoying it tremendously.

When I went through college I majored in music, and while I had some professional success, I had a lot more frustration than anything else. But I was always good at math and logic. Gradually I drifted from writing music and doing sound effects to programming video games. What I realized with time was that I was dang good at the programming, and found myself having more and more success doing that. This success was a lot better than the constant frustration of the music gig. Not only was it better financially, but it was more enjoyable, because success is way more fun than beating your head against the wall.

So, whatever you pick, pick something you will excel at! That can be hard to determine. But try to think about the tasks you’ve had at school and work so far. What were your successes? What were your failures? What skills did you use that caused you to succeed. You’ve already identified that math is not a strength, so definitely do NOT go into anything that requires much math. But what are your strengths? You have good grades, so there must have been a reason for those. There must have been some good skills somewhere that lead to good grades. What were they? What career would give you the chance to develop those skills and excel?

As to law school. I can only saw that I’ve met lots of ex-lawyers who are doing other things, and lots of lawyers who wish they were doing other things. Way more than I’ve met of people in other fields. But I’ve also met a couple of lawyers that like their jobs. In all those case they are lawyers who are really successful and well respected for their legal abilities. So, maybe if you think you would be a really super good lawyer, then law school would be a good idea. But don’t go to law school just because you don’t know what else to do.

Hope this helps,

XBoxBoy

[XBoxBoy]

The one thing that I wish more people had told me when I was looking for a career was, “Go into what you’re good at.” If you pick a career that matches your skills, chances are high that you will excel in that arena, which will make you more valuable and surprise, surprise, you’ll end up enjoying it tremendously.

When I went through college I majored in music, and while I had some professional success, I had a lot more frustration than anything else. But I was always good at math and logic. Gradually I drifted from writing music and doing sound effects to programming video games. What I realized with time was that I was dang good at the programming, and found myself having more and more success doing that. This success was a lot better than the constant frustration of the music gig. Not only was it better financially, but it was more enjoyable, because success is way more fun than beating your head against the wall.

So, whatever you pick, pick something you will excel at! That can be hard to determine. But try to think about the tasks you’ve had at school and work so far. What were your successes? What were your failures? What skills did you use that caused you to succeed. You’ve already identified that math is not a strength, so definitely do NOT go into anything that requires much math. But what are your strengths? You have good grades, so there must have been a reason for those. There must have been some good skills somewhere that lead to good grades. What were they? What career would give you the chance to develop those skills and excel?

As to law school. I can only saw that I’ve met lots of ex-lawyers who are doing other things, and lots of lawyers who wish they were doing other things. Way more than I’ve met of people in other fields. But I’ve also met a couple of lawyers that like their jobs. In all those case they are lawyers who are really successful and well respected for their legal abilities. So, maybe if you think you would be a really super good lawyer, then law school would be a good idea. But don’t go to law school just because you don’t know what else to do.

Hope this helps,

XBoxBoy

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