Im like you :wink:

1. Animation--pays very well but not a steady job year after year. usually 1 year contracts.

2. Interior Design--pays even better but even less steady and I have just started in this industry, so its tough...although I have some amazing contacts (this is KEY, who you know). I never went to school for this, just begged an HGTV guy for a job.

3. Illustration/odd design jobs--doesn't pay as well considering the amount of work but its usually just ontop of the other jobs on weekends.

4. Construction with my stepfather--he owns a company and hires me when I really need the work.

Basically I take all the work I can get! Sometimes too much at once and I get myself into a bind...like this month lol. But you always find a way to get it done. My point is that with this kind of work and many other kinds, you sometimes have to just do whats available.

One thing about this kind of a "career" is that stuff like my mortgage was hard to get. Luckily, although my income is all over the place, it has steadily been over a certain year total for the past 5 years. The crazy thing is that some years there is a $40k difference!

Hope you end up being happy with whatever you decide. You will if you find something you love!

I'm in that bind right now. On top of taking all work offered me my wife is really not feeling well so I'm a mom at home here too. Just a little nutty.

I had decided in high school to be an engineer because they make good money. So I get into Uni and hated it. All math and I knew full-well as an engineer I'd do next to no math but I couldn't motivate myself to do anything and dropped out. I'm very good at math (or was) but the thing Is I chose a job because it paid well and I like mechanical things. Sometimes it pays to research a little more thoroughly. Being good at something and enjoying it (calculus) are very different.

Do you need some extra work then? I have a logo that needs some "updating" :lol:

No I wouldn't do that to you...the client is terrible! :neutral:

The other thing...

Sometimes loving something or having a passion for something does not translate into a career all that well. My older brother went to UBC, spent a lot of time and money getting a degree in Marine Biology, after 2 years of solid work, decided it wasn't for him. Luckily he had a kinesiology degree to fall back on and became a personal trainer. He loves his job but it's not his passion. Diving is his passion but it just didn't work out as a career.

I loved animation/drawing before I got into it as a career but the first few years on the job really ruined it for me. Needed to take a break and now I seem to be finding a passion for it again. But I'm the kind of person who loves change. I could never do just one thing for the rest of my life.

This one's for you Justin.

http://www.makemylogobiggercream.com/newsletter.html

LOL...Just what we need, more people making logos bigger :frusty:

What we really need is "make my logo smaller cause it doesn't look good filling up a whole t-shirt" cream :mmph: There are more than a few clothing companies that could benefit from such a cream.

I am looking for makemypaychequebiggercream

This is makemypaycheckbiggerthread.

Creams are in the next aisle sir.

Wow, thanks for all the response everyone!!

I'm kinda in same boat as Christy. I really love anything to do with biology, but what kind of career is at the end? I have definitely taken into consideration that I want a career that I can do in various locations. I have also thought it would be cool if my job would take me overseas if I chose to.

The military life is not for me. Well, it would be (I thrive in camp jobs) except now I've settled down a bit. I have an older dog that I would never part with, and she has to be able to be wherever I am. I am also in a "serious" relationship.

I have taken a few different career aptitude tests, and veterinarian always comes up. No way. LOL I think those aptitude tests are bogus. Oh well, I will go try another one. =]

Maybe I should just pick a semester worth of courses that sound interesting and see where that takes me...?

That Chaeto I sent came in the mail huh?

Mindy:

I was actually going to post something related to your question. As you have already discovered you need to find something you enjoy. Every job/career has its good days and bad days (maybe years).

Even after technical or professional training you could very well head off in a totally different direction. Was the education wasted? Probably not. You gained a lot of valuable experiences (beer drinking etc) maybe made a friend or two and proved you can tough it out (something Delphinius touched on). For example the NHL is not made up of necessarily the best players but those that put up with the crap to get to the big league.

I put up with crap at 4 years of university. Then almost 30 years of a range of jobs related to my field, most of which were positive experiences. Now I am in to the "fun zone" where I am driving the organization and having some fun doing so.

Yeah most days I come home bagged and we all put up with a lot of crap and the money may not be great but if there is a sense of job satisfaction and you can get going in the morning sort of looking forward to most days then you could be way ahead of most of the population.

End of rant, and one horrible run on sentance.

BTW: go Roughies