Need advice on choosing career

Beenlost123

I graduated from Electronic Engineering 4 years ago. I worked in software/integration engineering after college for a year. I left it due to mental health reasons but now I am back to my old self after getting ADHD medication.

I literally have no clue what I want to do in life. I disliked electronic eng while I was in university. The IT job I got was OK but didnt exactly inspire me although I worked hard at it doing 70 hours a week.

How can I discover what I want to do?
My interests personally have varied a lot throughout my life and never remain constant. This doesnt give me any faith in myself.

I paid 400e to a Dublin consultancy agency and the choices they gave me werent inspiring me after research into them.

Should I just go into IT by default as I am handy with PCs and learned a good amount of IT related material in university? Being 27 and directionless....

How should I go about finding something I enjoy doing? Books? Tests?

BabySlam

What do you do on a day off? where do you like to spend your time when not working? do these activities prompt any thoughts about career/job?

nikkibikki

Look up some post grads or night classes in your area. Some of them might give you an idea as to what you want to do and you might have transferable skils from Elec Eng and/or IT.

These classes probably won't be starting til next Sept. You could look up online courses too or Open University. In the meantime maybe volunteer? Are you interested in GAA or soccer or anything? Local clubs are always looking for help with their juvenile teams and this can also be a handy way to "network."

Speedwell

Sweetie, whatever it was (depression, anxiety, burnout, I'm not asking), you're doing well to be at the point where you're looking forward to having a direction. Congrats on your recovery However, from telltale things you say (feeling drab and uninspired, having no faith in yourself) you are not all the way back yet. When you've forgotten what "normal" feels like, you think things are always going to feel the way they do now. Trust me and don't push yourself.

The best thing you can do for yourself right now is just notice when you're doing things that make you feel "in the zone", those things that motivate you, just those things that seem to make time go by faster. The skills you have gained are solid and valuable, even if it wasn't so much fun getting them, and you may find that what you wind up doing in the future draws on those skills. Plenty of engineers I've known had side interests in things like architecture and interior design, or did a side move into training (some of the ones who think they're lackluster really find their feet in this area), or even picked up a fiddle and made extra money playing "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" in a honky-tonk (in one memorable case). Volunteering is a great idea, if only because it gets you out and among people who will be in a position to lead you to what you eventually want to do.

You will do what YOU YOU YOU YOU find engaging and motivating, not what some consultant thinks you SHOULD do. You will come back to yourself when "I should do this" becomes "because I want to" and not "because everyone wants me to".

Beenlost123

BabySlam wrote: »

What do you do on a day off? where do you like to spend your time when not working? do these activities prompt any thoughts about career/job?

I like to read the news, cycle, running, football, reading history. I used to like technology but I don't seem to follow it anymore. Most these activities are new to me within the last 2 years (except the news lol). I used to have a completely different set of activities when I was younger. None of these seem to have an easy path into a career. I am not fanatical enough with any of them to pursue long term.
Before I had my mental breakdown I was into:
- Business theory and dabbled with an investor account. Couple 100 messing around.
- Political theory
- Computers/IT
- Mining
- Macro economics
- Science

nikkibikki wrote: »

Look up some post grads or night classes in your area. Some of them might give you an idea as to what you want to do and you might have transferable skils from Elec Eng and/or IT.

These classes probably won't be starting til next Sept. You could look up online courses too or Open University. In the meantime maybe volunteer? Are you interested in GAA or soccer or anything? Local clubs are always looking for help with their juvenile teams and this can also be a handy way to "network."

Thanks for the reply. I am looking into that currently. That was my low cost / risk plan of finding out what I may be into. I am currently volunteering for a drug reb center.

Speedwell wrote: »

Sweetie, whatever it was (depression, anxiety, burnout, I'm not asking), you're doing well to be at the point where you're looking forward to having a direction. Congrats on your recovery However, from telltale things you say (feeling drab and uninspired, having no faith in yourself) you are not all the way back yet. When you've forgotten what "normal" feels like, you think things are always going to feel the way they do now. Trust me and don't push yourself.

The best thing you can do for yourself right now is just notice when you're doing things that make you feel "in the zone", those things that motivate you, just those things that seem to make time go by faster. The skills you have gained are solid and valuable, even if it wasn't so much fun getting them, and you may find that what you wind up doing in the future draws on those skills. Plenty of engineers I've known had side interests in things like architecture and interior design, or did a side move into training (some of the ones who think they're lackluster really find their feet in this area), or even picked up a fiddle and made extra money playing "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" in a honky-tonk (in one memorable case). Volunteering is a great idea, if only because it gets you out and among people who will be in a position to lead you to what you eventually want to do.

You will do what YOU YOU YOU YOU find engaging and motivating, not what some consultant thinks you SHOULD do. You will come back to yourself when "I should do this" becomes "because I want to" and not "because everyone wants me to".

Who ever you are, thank you very much for writing this. I printed it out and stuck it to my motivation and inspiration board in my room. Thank you. x