Help a high schooler (me!) pick his career path
I know this subreddit is probably not the best place to post this, but I don't think I know of a better fitting subreddit. If this is unfit for the sub please tell me where else to post this.
I am going into 11th grade and need help picking my career path. I'll try to keep this post short. Basically, I realized that I'd feel bad about myself if I ended up working in your average business, or really most jobs. This is because I want to maximize the amount of good I do and I think the average job would actually be closer to the opposite. Of course, I have some selfish desires, like being able to live comfortably and eventually retire, see the world, etc. I know to some it may seem early to think about this stuff, but I need to get my classes in order now to help make my goals more achievable. The next bit will be me explaining more about myself so that recommendations can be more accurately targeted.
Besides your average "core" classes, I've been taking computer science classes and will in 11th too. I realized recently that actually, as much as I'd like the lifestyle of a programmer, most programming jobs go towards the consumption of media, business, and communication. Don't get me wrong, I mean no disrespect to these fields. I just realized that they are not for me. Oh, and I kind of like the idea of cyber security as a field, but I can't really place why.
I'm not really outdoorsy, but with hardly any research into the field, environmental scientist sounds like an alright job. Maybe some kind of biologist? I used to think I wanted to be a microbiologist and I haven't shot it down but after getting my request of a tour of a microbiology lab a few years ago, I felt like it might not be like how I'd imagined.
I'd probably do the most good as a politician, if I could get enough resources / support behind me. The problem is that I sort of really don't feel like that would be a job I'd like. Which I guess is kind of selfish. I sort of see it like a trolley problem where I'm sorta responsible for deaths I could've prevented had I been a politician, which I think there'd be at least one so the point stands.
I kind of like math, english, science, but not really social studies / history, or at least the bits I get taught in school. If we focused on more interesting or important things maybe I'd be more interested in the classes of that field.
I don't think I could be a doctor or veterinarian, I'm a little squeamish. Idk I'd probably get desensitized to biological stuff you have to see as a healthcare worker. But also the long working day, and long study period are factors. Also it seems like you don't get remembered on a large scale generally, unless you make some kind of huge development.
That's another thing, a small factor is that I kinda like the idea of being remembered, at least in a very tiny way, for a good long while in human history. But that feels like a cart in front of the horse thing to be worried about.
What else? I've sort of ruled out professional artist of some type. Although I am interested in music and visual art among others, and I know art can be widely influential and beneficial, I feel I could do more tangible good for the world. Also I've heard of the don't make your hobby your job thing so that too. If there's any kind of art I'd consider, it would probably be an author, since in my opinion writing has the most potent meaning and influence on average. And I'm somewhat interested in philosophy. But idk.
Stuff I've been considering / worrying about lately is overconsumption, under education, and algorithm influenced thinking (especially in AI). These worries are especially prominent since I live in America (if you couldn't tell already by the words I use) and see them prominently in my life, especially in my peers. Of course there are many things to worry about (wars, genocide, environmental degradation, poverty, wealth inequality, etc) but I think with the internet there’s no way to think about many of the worlds problems at once, there are tragedies every second of the day.
I think the average job relates to consumption of resources in one way or another, and I am against rapid consumption, urbanization, expansion etc.
I like to think of myself as logical, empathetic, etc, but in reality I am not perfect about these things of course.
The kinds of things I'm considering are politician, some kind of scientist / doctor, teacher, and engineer of some kind.
- Politician would be probably the biggest platform for good but I'd probably not enjoy it.
- Scientist / doctor is broad and I don't really know what fields I'm interested in, but I don't know if I'd enjoy it. But I think it'd be a pretty guaranteed way to do at least some amount of good.
- Teacher would be a lot of good done on a very small and distributed scale. For instance, my teachers collectively have been a factor in getting me where I am today as a person, but I can't really trace anything back to a specific teacher.
- Engineer seems like a good workplace. It seems like you get varied work material and get to problem solve as a job at least.
Is there a job out there for me? I'll supply more information if necessary.
Sorry for yapping and jumbled thoughts, I wrote this mostly at night with very little editing. I hope the sections on who I am and what I think help you to help me. And many thanks in advance!