A very difficult decision I have to make…

[LynxParticipant 302]

So, as I mentioned in my introduction, I am currently studying aviation engineering but I am having motivation issues and my attention problems are not helping at all. Grades are also going to s~~~ because of this.

But I think I have chosen the wrong subject in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, I have always had some interest in aviation but cars have been my main thing since I was two years old. However, I chose aviation because the pay would be higher and my parents were concerned that I would not find a good job in land transport area.

Anyway, fast forward to this day, I’m sitting here, with no motivation, piles of work I have to do (which I have nearly finished forcing myself through so at least I am safe for the moment) and feeling a complete lack of direction in my life. It is not too late to switch to transport but that means loosing state funding (which I will probably lose anyways since I can hardly keep up with my redbull-sipping nerd robot peers) but in that case my father will probably hang me in a fancy public execution and have a piñata party with my cold dead corpse. Then again, without any direction I feel like a corpse already. It’s not that I hate the subject itself but the job I am heading towards.

So, question remains: Do I stay in for the money but probably end up not liking the job or do I switch and roll the dice?

[Anonymous 42]

Make sure you’re eating right and sleeping good.

Stay with aviation and take up auto as a personal hobby.

The aviation is much cleaner and more $pay$, do both, but aviation will put you in contact with allot of amazing people that work on allot of amazing stuff. Then get a pilots license.

[Jeremiah JohnsonParticipant 2219]

You are facing a right tough decision brother…Indeed, as it would seem, no matter which path you choose, it will bring pain and suffering….Only you can examine each choice with the full understanding of each path….Only you can face each of the corresponding consequences that either decision will likely bring…No matter what anyone says, or feels, those are the underlying facts…That being said sir, it would only make sense to choose the only pathway that will make you happy in the end…If it is a career in auto repair, in my humble opinion sir, as long as there are cars on the roads, we need someone to repair them, be in the engine, the frame, or the body…A fellow brother here just a had a posting talking about the auto body repair career, and according to his calculations you can make 6 figures a year in that area, so that is not chump change at all, I also happen to know for a fact that ASE certified auto mechanics make a KILLING here…Work is generally 40 – 50 hours a week for someone else, or 100+ hours a week for your self in a self started business…No matter how you look at it, there are endless opportunities and endless pay scenarios that should all leave you financially self sufficient…SO, go with your heart brother, as long as it really will bring you happiness, your father will see it in time, as you will have money and happiness, and that is all he really wants for you anyways….But this is just my two cents sir….

Men are at a time when panning for gold in a urinal has a higher probability of success than finding a faithful and loving woman, it is time to go your own way.....

[LookAfter#1Participant 352]

However, I chose aviation because the pay would be higher

Yes and no.
The pay is good if you are a licensed aircraft engineer with EASA Part 66 cat B and a type rating.
Even then, the guys I know who went down this route, only get contract work. Its not a secure job and they drift from contract to contract.
Surprisingly most of the guys I knew in the military, when they left, no longer continued aircraft engineering. As getting the EASA licensing was too much of a ball ache. Instead they walked into other engineering jobs that paid just as well ( mostly offshore oil and gas. And a few wind turbine jobs).

[Anonymous 0]

Lynx wrote:

So, as I mentioned in my introduction, I am currently studying aviation engineering but I am having motivation issues and my attention problems are not helping at all. Grades are also going to s~~~ because of this.

But I think I have chosen the wrong subject in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, I have always had some interest in aviation but cars have been my main thing since I was two years old. However, I chose aviation because the pay would be higher and my parents were concerned that I would not find a good job in land transport area.

Anyway, fast forward to this day, I’m sitting here, with no motivation, piles of work I have to do (which I have nearly finished forcing myself through so at least I am safe for the moment) and feeling a complete lack of direction in my life. It is not too late to switch to transport but that means loosing state funding (which I will probably lose anyways since I can hardly keep up with my redbull-sipping nerd robot peers) but in that case my father will probably hang me in a fancy public execution and have a piñata party with my cold dead corpse. Then again, without any direction I feel like a corpse already. It’s not that I hate the subject itself but the job I am heading towards.

So, question remains: Do I stay in for the money but probably end up not liking the job or do I switch and roll the dice?

I’m reading a book called “Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. It’s a best-seller currently on the market. It’s based on a class taught at Stanford University in California for college kids trying to figure out what to do with their lives. It’s mainly about choosing a career, but it can be used at any phase in life. It’s quite inventive in its approach.

The authors strongly advise against fighting your way through 4 years of courses that you find difficult in order to end up with a job you hate. They say a lot of people make that mistake: They get tracked onto a career path that doesn’t really suit them, and frankly they would have done better to just fail and find something that was a better fit.

They note that:
–Only 27% of college grads end up in a career related to their majors.
–2/3 of workers are unhappy with their jobs; 15% actually hate their work.

Of course, one has to be realistic about one’s prospects. The authors are the first to admit that writing poetry doesn’t pay well. But they say that students today should expect to have at least two and probably three to five different careers over their working lives. In other words, there’s no single right answer for an entire lifetime; instead there may be lots of right answers out there. So why kill yourself to achieve something that you’re pretty sure is the wrong answer?

If you choose a career path you like, then it’s easier to excel in it. If you can excel, you’ll make it to the top of your field. In turn, that will give you more career options, including going on for advanced degrees in the subject. So if you already know of a good fit for you, then you should probably prefer that over a bad fit. You’ll probably end up more successful (and definitely more happy) in the long run.

Also, you might want to pick up that book that I mentioned. It will spur on some new thinking and help you to justify the choices you make, both to yourself and to your father.

Check out the reviews for the book at Amazon.com or Borders.com.

[LynxParticipant 302]

Anonymous wrote:

Make sure you’re eating right and sleeping good.

Stay with aviation and take up auto as a personal hobby.

The aviation is much cleaner and more $pay$, do both, but aviation will put you in contact with allot of amazing people that work on allot of amazing stuff. Then get a pilots license.

You see… Because of the nature of the job I will have extremely limited time for hobbies and since there are no car mechanics in my family it will be difficult to develop my skills.

Jeremiah Johnson wrote:

You are facing a right tough decision brother…Indeed, as it would seem, no matter which path you choose, it will bring pain and suffering….Only you can examine each choice with the full understanding of each path….Only you can face each of the corresponding consequences that either decision will likely bring…No matter what anyone says, or feels, those are the underlying facts…That being said sir, it would only make sense to choose the only pathway that will make you happy in the end…If it is a career in auto repair, in my humble opinion sir, as long as there are cars on the roads, we need someone to repair them, be in the engine, the frame, or the body…A fellow brother here just a had a posting talking about the auto body repair career, and according to his calculations you can make 6 figures a year in that area, so that is not chump change at all, I also happen to know for a fact that ASE certified auto mechanics make a KILLING here…Work is generally 40 – 50 hours a week for someone else, or 100+ hours a week for your self in a self started business…No matter how you look at it, there are endless opportunities and endless pay scenarios that should all leave you financially self sufficient…SO, go with your heart brother, as long as it really will bring you happiness, your father will see it in time, as you will have money and happiness, and that is all he really wants for you anyways….But this is just my two cents sir….

Thanks for the advice. I would like to start my own business within my lifetime and aviation would not allow that.

Go atomic.

One page at a time. One task at a time.

Tough it out.
I was in the same boat in college.

JUST GET THROUGH
JUST GET THROUGH
JUST GET THROUGH

Un f~~~ your ass, zero TV, NO VIDEO GAMES, get in monk mode and fuvk HARD at your studies.

Make flash cards.
Contrive test questions.

MARINE UP!!!

Do NOT make me come over there mother f~~~er!!!

Bro..you got this.

Stealthy

OWN YOUR CAREER LIKE A WHORE AND F~~~ HER HARD.

Pep tak over.

Ps. GREATEST GENERATION AT YOUR AGE WAS STORMING BEACHES, BULLETS FLYING.

IT IS JUST HOMEWORK.

Look into
Hardings Ginseng.

Coffee up

Testosterone diet..three eggs a day.

That was very motivational but the question is whether to go left or right… Not whether to stop or go.

LookAfter#1 wrote:

However, I chose aviation because the pay would be higher

Yes and no.
The pay is good if you are a licensed aircraft engineer with EASA Part 66 cat B and a type rating.
Even then, the guys I know who went down this route, only get contract work. Its not a secure job and they drift from contract to contract.
Surprisingly most of the guys I knew in the military, when they left, no longer continued aircraft engineering. As getting the EASA licensing was too much of a ball ache. Instead they walked into other engineering jobs that paid just as well ( mostly offshore oil and gas. And a few wind turbine jobs).

Interesting… I was told a similar story when a guy who was actually working in the industry came to speak at a lecture. Definitely points to transportation in that case.

Anonymous wrote:

Lynx wrote:

So, as I mentioned in my introduction, I am currently studying aviation engineering but I am having motivation issues and my attention problems are not helping at all. Grades are also going to s~~~ because of this.

But I think I have chosen the wrong subject in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, I have always had some interest in aviation but cars have been my main thing since I was two years old. However, I chose aviation because the pay would be higher and my parents were concerned that I would not find a good job in land transport area.

Anyway, fast forward to this day, I’m sitting here, with no motivation, piles of work I have to do (which I have nearly finished forcing myself through so at least I am safe for the moment) and feeling a complete lack of direction in my life. It is not too late to switch to transport but that means loosing state funding (which I will probably lose anyways since I can hardly keep up with my redbull-sipping nerd robot peers) but in that case my father will probably hang me in a fancy public execution and have a piñata party with my cold dead corpse. Then again, without any direction I feel like a corpse already. It’s not that I hate the subject itself but the job I am heading towards.

So, question remains: Do I stay in for the money but probably end up not liking the job or do I switch and roll the dice?

I’m reading a book called “Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. It’s a best-seller currently on the market. It’s based on a class taught at Stanford University in California for college kids trying to figure out what to do with their lives. It’s mainly about choosing a career, but it can be used at any phase in life. It’s quite inventive in its approach.

The authors strongly advise against fighting your way through 4 years of courses that you find difficult in order to end up with a job you hate. They say a lot of people make that mistake: They get tracked onto a career path that doesn’t really suit them, and frankly they would have done better to just fail and find something that was a better fit.

They note that:
–Only 27% of college grades end up in a career related to their majors.
–2/3 of workers are unhappy with their jobs; 15% actually hate their work.

Of course, one has to be realistic about one’s prospects. The authors are the first to admit that writing poetry doesn’t pay well. But they say that students today should expect to have at least two and probably three to five different careers over their working lives. In other words, there’s no single right answer for an entire lifetime; instead there may be lots of right answers out there. So why kill yourself to achieve what you’re pretty sure is the wrong answer?

If you choose a career path you like, then it’s easier to excel in it. If you can excel, you’ll make it to the top of your field. In turn, that will give you more career options, including going on for advanced degrees in the subject. So if you already know of a good fit for you, then you should probably prefer that over a bad fit. You’ll probably end up more successful (and definitely more happy) in the long run.

Also, you might want to pick up that book that I mentioned. It will spur on some new thinking and help you to justify the choices you make, both to yourself and to your father.

Check out the reviews for the book at Amazon.com or Borders.com.

That is what many people tell me… I will definitely try to make the most of this short vacation to make my decision. And to prepare for the finals.

[TaxGuyParticipant]

I would say have a heart-to-heart with the old man. I’m probably closer to his age than yours and I can tell you that I would rather have that conversation with you sooner rather than later. Just be honest with him about how you feel. Hell, he may tell you that he wishes he had picked a different career and be supportive.

I would NEVER tell my kids to just tough it out. If you don’t like your job you will never be successful at it. Better to figure it out and switch now than toughing it out for what you THINK other people might say. For me, I’m just not willing to support my kids if they go to college to get a Women’s Studies degree or some other meaningless piece of paper. That’s too much money to spend on something that doesn’t give you a tangible education that leads to a job. But both your paths sound like good choices to me.

Order the good wine

[SaltySpoonParticipant 47]

I’m with Tax, you should speak with your parents, let them know how you feel. You will need to have that talk sooner or later, and they might be more supportive than you could ever imagine.

I once was in a similar ditch you find yourself in right now. I took up an engineering career for duty rather than passion, got overwhelmed, lost drive and almost drove myself into depression. I luckily managed to make it through, but most people didn’t. My first year I had around 100 classmates, the second year I had 20. With this, I want to say that career hopping is quite normal, even more so in the first years of college. Most of us jump the gun (and in a lot of cases, like yours seem to be, with some parental pressure) and end up making rushed choices. You won’t be the first, you won’t be the last. One of my former engineering mates recently graduated in psychology.

Now, there are some certain key elements in play. How deep are you into the career? How much would it hurt you to lose the state funding? Basically, you have to balance how much you have already invested in your current career, and how badly it would affect you to throw that investment “down the drainer”. Keep in mind that you unless you are in dire straits economically speaking, you can finish aviation and then take up transport. Probably they have some overlapping subjects you won’t have to take up twice, saving you money and time on getting a second degree. All the knowlegde and habits accumulated during aviation will be highly useful as well.

Keep in mind getting a degree doesn’t mean you have to directly jump into the job market. Also, I’m not sure how it works there, but here you can take up to 8 years to finish a 4 year career, meaning that you could take a break from university a join a trade school, which usually are cheaper and take 2 years to finish a degree, in which you could get knowlegde and experience as a mechanic, and make sure that it really is your calling. If it is, you can enter the job market with your trade certificate or take up transportation at university, and if it isn’t, you can just finish aviation without compromising your pool of choices.

University is not the be-all and end-all of education. Trade schools are highly competitive on fields that don’t require as much abstract theory as practical knowlegde, and anything related to cars falls into that category. Do you want to be a mechanic or a car designer? These are two completely different paths, and the transportation degree might not quench your particular thirst.

I just wanted to double down on some points I thought you might want to consider. Now, for my personal, totally subjective and irrelevant opinion:

Now that you found yourself stranded at this beach, you might as well storm it. You are in a healthy position, backed up with goverment grants, and a mile of the path already beaten. Finishing the degree will let you pick useful skills, knowlegde and habits, and will show you you were tougher and smarter than you thought. You will be a more mature and capable man at the end of it, and you will be able to then focus on your true objectives with ten times the strength you would’ve if you would have just dropped aviation, always second-guessing yourself over whether you made the right choice.

Whatever you do, for the love of God, please, sleep many hours, eat healthy and work out. This will improve both your drive and your mood massively. If you live near a big park or in a village, take long walks in order to relax and ponder over things in quiet and peace. We think better when our legs are in motion, don’t ask me why.

Today we may say aloud before an awe-struck world: "We are still masters of our fate. We are still captain of our souls." ~ Winston Churchill

[53ClicksUpParticipant 1345]

Listen, it is important to get a degree in a field that you are interested in. If aeronautical engineering is not doing it for you, then switch majors. Mechanical Engineering has provided a good life for me. I dabbled in general aviation as a hobby for many years in fact the first thing I did when I graduated college was to go out buy an old 1946 Cessna 120. In time a ended up working for the airlines and now finally for the FAA. Along the way I’ve owned a dozen airplanes and picked up my ATP, A&P and instructor ratings. My younger brother got a degree in aerospace engineering, worked for NASA a few years, got bored and became and FBI agent, where he had a very distinguished career. Just because you have a degree in some specific area of discipline does not mean you will be stuck doing that one thing for the rest of your life.

[experiencedParticipant]

Try getting to a local general aviation airport, maybe for a Saturday only type job. You will meet plenty of successful men who went through what you are going through. Kind of a motivation from the ground up.

"It seems like there's times a body gets struck down so low, there ain't a power on earth that can ever bring him up again. Seems like something inside dies so he don't even want to get up again. But he does."

[RumpoleParticipant 994]

As many gentlemen on this site can tell you, being in a relationship with somebody (or something) you hate is a slow form of suicide. I went through four years of that in the Navy, and I was clinically depressed the whole time.
If you don’t like the aviation field, you will never excel in it, and you will hate yourself. You have the talent to do well in other fields of technology; please explore those options.
Live long and prosper!

[Author]

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