My future!

[CraigofScotland]

I think only wanting a job in paintball is really limiting yourself. How many jobs come up in paintball and how many of them for relatively unqualified / inexperienced persons.

Why not start doing something a little more academic than doing things like basic IT skills or photography or day dreaming of someone giving you a job in paintball.

Go to college / uni, do a degree in engineering . . pharmacy . . aviation . . degree in an IT subject. The rest follows from there. Then earn the money to play paintball as a hobby, build up your playing. Build up your knowledge. Then start something, a site perhaps. From then, work towards bigger and better projects.


Maybe not the advice you wanted but I hope someone hasn't painted you some magical picture of working life. There are of course the few exceptions but they are few.

Hard work pays off in the end.

 

[SantaCruzScotty]

Well i was thinking (day dreaming if you wish)
Owning a shop that sells the stuff i like and maybe more...
if that fails photography/desighner for internet...

my level two is equivelent to a first diploma...
but the main thing I DO NOT WANT TO DO, is to be stuck behind a desk 9-5 all week... i want to do something a bit more!!!

 

[CraigofScotland]

What you want and what is necessity can be different things. I dont want to work at all for example.

Sure I can get away from this desk in an outdoor enviroment, but I also wouldnt enjoy the 7 quid an hour or whatever minimum wage you get these days.

I think the biggest thing your going to have to do is make a decision and follow it. Whatever path you do, do it well, do it educated and make sure your stick at it.

You've just done a course in IT . . but not wanting to do that now . . maybe wanting photography, maybe wanting IT, maybe wanting design . .

Crunch time. Choose a field you want to work in, find out how to academically make yourself better in the field you choose. Then never stop striving to be better than you are. Keep on doing courses, keep on trying to get the next rung on the ladder. In my field of work, im having to do a 2nd degree just to progress, but needs must.

Some of it you will enjoy, some of it you wont. I dont think anyone will tell you they have loved every moment of their career be it the study, long hours, stress, pressure . . sadly it seems to be the way it works.

 

[Rider]

admit it tho craig your 2nd degree is in "Robbie Williams"

Craig amonst others has a good point. Do something you like, but make sure you do it well. In these hard economic days, colleges and unis are demanding more and more and more in terms of entry - and it's not just academic qualifications that are need either.

your basic IT is a starting point - it could be a good starting point for anything computer based - be it admin, comp aided design, programming, business, etc. but it will not be enough to get you a top job these days.

but you don't want to do the hard work - you want the "dreams of bodyboarding pro, playing paintball all my life" and owning your own shop.

to start with, do you have the £10s of 1000s that you'd need to rent/buy premises and buy in stock? you could get a business loan, but to do that you need a sound business plan. do you have one of those? even if you get the loan, most banks, at best, will only match the capital YOU are fronting, unless you have something like a fully owned home to secure it against.

you'll find that unless you have that initial capital to invest, it has to come from somewhere. most likely place is YOU. to get it you'll need to work. to get it quicker, you'll need a very good job (not "good" in the traditional white collar sense, good as in the money's good....) and to do that we come back to qualifications.....

find an area you enjoy. find a course that's appropriate. build from there.

 

[Tom Allen]

scott, what subjects were you good at in school, and which did you enjoy

 

[SantaCruzScotty]

Tom: I.T. was my strongest and i enjoyed P.E...since then ive gained weight!
But i want to be like john and chris (I think thats there names) from LIPS, they seem to have a lot of fun running the shop!!

As for what i want to do, thats the probelm i really dont know
but what i am sure is i dont want to office work, ill grow up being a boring comuter person who dresses smart gets the 7:45 train to plymouth ¬¬

But what i do know is that i want it to be the highest i could get and be happy with it.
And as for the shop, i know i need to get more qualifactions than i have, and im going to talk to my tutor about it later this afternoon...maybe after i post this.. ill see if shes free, but the point is i think im going to go for it and try get all my business levels avalible and see where i go on from there...

 

[Tom Allen]

ok, give me a rating from 1 to 5 for these subjects that you were good at and enjoyed.

Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
English
Art
IT
PE
English Lit

5 being the highest rating.

 

[SantaCruzScotty]

ok, give me a rating from 1 to 5 for these subjects that you were good at and enjoyed.

Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
English
Art
IT
PE
English Lit

5 being the highest rating.

Maths 2
Physics 2
Chem 2
biology 2
English 4
Art 4
IT 5
PE 5
English Lit 4

 

[xDansomee]

Try and increase your IT grade, I did 4 units over 2 years and now have 2 IT GCSE's at distinction level (Which equates to A/A*'s) and it was easy as pie. Luckily, IT is an easyish subject at GCSE and A level, and employers like high grades

 

[Tom Allen]

Photography would be a good choice, given the answers you gave.
Years ago i taught photography in an arts centre, this was before digital cameras. Then you needed to be fairly practical to get by, but now with the digi cameras it's the more artistic side that's needed. There are a few guys on here that photograph the events, have a chat with them and see if it fits. I doubt a shop would suit you, it's pretty boring.