sdlaura, a lot. I work and am part owner with my dad. I also tried transcription in my business club and did really well at it. Took 4th in state but at that time my mom's job as a medical transcriptionist was up in air as they were outsourcing everything to 3rd parties so it wasn't a stable industry to get in to. My mom still does it but gets paid a 3rd of what she did and works a funky schedule.
Interesting! It sounds like your parents had a healthy level of involvement covergirl82, and it sounds like you made the right choice on which field to pursue 186momx.
2chatter, I definitely know where I came from, but I don't know how my parents ended up where they were, given their parents. My mom's parents got married as teenagers and had two kids immediately. My Mom has a teaching degree but I don't think teaching ever really interested her - she says as a first generation college student in Ohio, and as a woman, everyone became either a teacher or nurse. My Dad's Dad was ex-Navy and both of his parents were orphans and also alcoholics when he was growing up, and the only reason my Dad went to college was because he was friends with a neighbor kid (they're still good friends in their 70s) and the neighbor kid's family helped my Dad see college as a possibility. Then my Dad went on to get a PhD and was a mathematician. He broke his back in college in a drunk driving accident (he was drunk and a drunk friend was driving) and had to lay in bed in a body cast for 6 months and all that time to think inspired him to keep earning advanced degrees.
So anyway, my parents, my sister and me are the only people in our extended family to have completed college. My mother basically insisted that my sister and I major in business. She didn't want us to major in a creative field because she wanted us to be able to support ourselves, and she also didn't want me to go to law school when I thought about that. My sister and I did both major in business and it has worked out well for both of us (she works in advertising sales for business publications), so I guess her nagging worked out in the end.
My dad was very supportive. My mom asked me when I was going to get a “real job” until I got my past promotion (which put me to a spot between VP and SVP).
My mom believed that Marketing was silly, and that unless I was using my math degree by becoming a CFO and or CPA, I was just playing around. No idea how much I dealt with budgets, statistics, technology, etc. My favorite day was when she told me about how her friend’s daughter got a HUGE job at my company, and when I looked her up, she was 2 levels below me. 🤷♀️
1) I'm a marketing manager. 2) Sure, if they wanted to. They don't really know what I do for a job because it's hard to explain to a little kid. They just know I plan fun events and work on a computer. 3) They both claim a vet right now. DD2 loves animals and is so good at math, I could actually see it. Or, she'll be a hippy on her own farm doing god knows what. DD1, I honestly don't know right now. I can't really picture her with a strong passion or career path yet. 4) They're so young, I don't really have a strong feeling one way or the other on what they think right now. I'm sure it'll change 100 times between now and then.
Added note: I knew I wanted to "be a writer" from a really young age. I majored in it and started my career as a copywriter. My parents kind of just went along with it because they knew I was really smart and wouldn't completely fail at life. But there were some "What does that mean? What will do you with that degree?" discussions.
Post by supertrooper1 on Mar 20, 2019 14:06:53 GMT -5
My parents had no clue how to steer me in the right direction. They just knew I was going to college, and being the first one in my family to do so they thought that it automatically meant I would get a great job. They were shocked that my first job out of college was working minimum wage in retail since that was the only thing I could get. They were dairy farmers in a small community of farmers and loggers and the only thing they didn't want me to do was to get into farming or marry a farmer because it's a tough life.
mae0111 , I hope you told your mom that friend's daughter's "huge" job was 2 levels below you!
I did. She didn't believe me because "she worked on a HEDGE FUND" (probably as a fund accountant). Then my sister told her, and she didn't believe her, either. Then one of my cousins, who also worked at my company, told my mom that I did have a pretty senior job. Only then did she start to understand that I had an actual career.
My parent's major contribution to my career was to tell me to get a scholarship and go to college. Neither went. Nor were they going to pay for it. I was basically flying blind - I went to a small private high school with a guidance counselor who was a part time retired farmer. Which explains my graduating with around 20 extra hours, the major change halfway through, and picking basically a major I was familiar. I really like what I do, but I wish I knew what all the possibilities where when I started. Plus the money. Since I was paying myself, at some point I am just give me a damn degree in anything. I am broke and need to get to work.
Needless to say, I am constantly talking to my kids about college and possibilities to the point where they have to actively keep their eyes from rolling into the back of their head.
twinmomma, one of my accounting/tax prof friends tells her son that she has to crunch numbers a lot. He asked to come to work on a Saturday and she said okay (early in the season). He told okay let me get my hammer and hard hat. He really thought she got to hit and pound numbers all day long. She said after 20 minutes he was bored and she had to call dad to pick him up. He left muttering that mom doesn't crunch numbers she just looks at paper and the computer he was 5 at the time.
DD at almost 8 has a pretty good grasp of tax season. Early on I will walk her through scanning documents and labeling said documents. She can run the copy machine like a pro, knows how the typewriter works, and can now help with a number of menial office tasks. I love that she can now use the stapler efficiently, saves me tons of time during organizer week. She finds it very fascinating that I can type and 10-key without looking at my fingers.
I was the first on my Mom's side and second on my Dad's to go to college so they didn't really know how to guide me. I was ambitious and researched everything on my own - ACT's, set up interviews with a local CPA firm when I was in HS to see what they did, etc. Sometimes I wish I hadn't taken everything so seriously when I was younger. I couldn't decide on a major and their response was always that I would figure it out. It's crazy for me to hear coworkers talk about scheduling the ACT's, touring colleges, buying books, proofreading resumes, etc for their kids.
1) I am VP of business development for a credit union. I basically run the sales, training, and marketing departments.
2) Sure, I love my career. I have a BS in Finance, spent 15 years in retail banking moving up the ranks, and then moved to a credit union with this role. It's very flexible, I make great money, get to travel, I truly have my dream job. I have three girls so I would love them to have roles that offer them flexibility if they choose to have families of their own one day.
3) 10 yo - wants to be an engineer like her dad, 7 yo wants to be a mermaid (lol) most days, other days she wants to be a scientist, 3 year old wants to be what ever her sisters want to be.
4) I've been calling my 10 yo my future engineer since she was 3. She has the brain and thinks just like her dad and grandpa (also an engineer). My 7 year old is full of personality and I think would make a great sales person (like me!), but Id never discourage her from pursuing a science path.
I have a follow up question - how much did your parents influence what your career ended up being?
Neither of my parents went to college and they weren’t very hands-on when it came to my education, but they did manage to convey that there were standards I was required to meet and that college was expected. And they let me live at home rentvfree and paid for everything scholarships didn’t, so I owe them big for that. This is a big deal to me because I grew up with a lot of kids who didn’t try because “college isn’t for people like us.”
As to my actual career, they had almost zero influence. It wasn’t really discussed and they assumed if I had a degree in something I would be hired somewhere. This turned out not to really be accurate but I managed fine.
My parents had no clue how to steer me in the right direction. They just knew I was going to college, and being the first one in my family to do so they thought that it automatically meant I would get a great job. They were shocked that my first job out of college was working minimum wage in retail since that was the only thing I could get. They were dairy farmers in a small community of farmers and loggers and the only thing they didn't want me to do was to get into farming or marry a farmer because it's a tough life.
My parents thought the same. It drove me crazy when my brother was in college because I kept trying to get him to get internships and think about marketing himself to employers and they kept saying “if you get the degree you’ll be fine, like Library.” Like I’d just walked out and ended up with my current job! Evidently they didn’t notice me working multiple internships and then crappy entry level jobs or marketing myself to employers (granted it had been ten years by then). You can guess which one of us turned out to be right!
1) What do you do for a living? middle school teacher 2) Would you want your kids to follow in your footsteps? sure. teaching is a great job. 3) What do your kids want to be? DD1 wants to be a bird handler . DD2 wants to be a scientist and an artist. 4) How do you feel about that? well, I'm pretty sure bird hander is a volunteer job so...maybe not. I'm sure they will figure something out.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
My dad was an engineer and the first in his family to go to college. He started out in a junior college, then went to a university for his Bachelor’s. My mom did junior college as an adult but never was interested in a career. She just wanted a job.
My parents wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer. For a long time I fought the idea of law school. I was a teacher for a while before I went to law school, in fact. I always knew I was interested in the law, but the idea of law schoool was really scary. I didn’t know anyone who had gone through the process, and it was just daunting.
My parents seemed to have no idea how to help me do anything involving applying to college or picking a major or anything. My dad’s only demand was I get a degree in something that came with a job attached. So when I said I wanted to major in English, his response was “you can’t be English when you grow up.” Um, nope, but my English degree got me a full ride scholarship to law school eventually.
My mom was interested in accounting and did some bookkeeping for a small business on the side. She encouraged me to try it in high school because she thought I’d like it. She was right. None of my parents went to college though and had no idea how to help me on the process other than saying “you’re going”. I was the first in my family to go as was DH in his.
My dad is a farmer and my mom stayed home with us.
Post by covergirl82 on Mar 22, 2019 8:59:24 GMT -5
mommyatty, one of my cousins graduated undergrad with an English degree and is now a lawyer. I thought it was kind of an unusual combo myself at the time, but I understand now that it does lend well to a career in law.
I have a follow up question - how much did your parents influence what your career ended up being?
I would say absolutely none, but it’s possible they influenced it in the opposite direction. My parents both have PhD’s in engineering. I have a bachelors degree in theater. I don’t think I chose it to rebel, but it’s possible I subconsciously did lol.
They were very helpful with college visits and applications and understanding tuition. They probably would have loved to help with my early career choices but I didn’t let them because they knew absolutely nothing about how to work in the arts. They’ve always been very supportive but I don’t think they had any idea what I did with myself all day.
Funny enough, when I went into philanthropy at 35, I could finally talk to my dad about my work. He held a very similar job at a federal agency for a couple years when I was a tween and it was cool to discover we could compare notes on the day to day.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Mar 22, 2019 13:25:55 GMT -5
My parents pretty heavily influenced what I went into. My mom does not have a degree but my dad does. He's a very gregarious guy and he is in sales and owns his owned his own business. My dad encouraged me NOT to go into my own business and my parents encouraged me to go into law because I was good at reading and writing and they perceive the field to be prestigious and high paying.
It has turned out to be kind of true, I make good money. But I'm also sort of in a niche and so I don't feel the stability that I think they thought came with being a lawyer. Also, i'm not outgoing which is hard in law.
They always emphasized high wages as a way to happiness, and I wish instead they emphasized ...finding what you love and just adjusting your life to that. But you know. It's cool.