I’m 42, and I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. How can I find help figuring it out? I’ve worked in the IT field for 15 years and don’t find it fulfilling. What are some resources that can help someone like me?
The scientific approach is to go through skills and personality assessments. While these each have their own bias, you can develop and even greater understanding of who you are and what you need internally within a career to find your day-to-day fulfilling.
For the students I can’t work with directly I recommend: What Color is Your Parachute – updated annually, but the exercises may as relevant today as they were in 1971 and Aptitude Testing at the Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation for skills and aptitude testing.
Expect to confirm many things you suspect, but I have had many students delightfully surprised with the little discoveries. It may take a few trips through the book.
Once you’ve decided on a new path, see if you can volunteer or work part time under a mentor (even if that mentor is younger) to produce a project or two before you really invest in the new path.
Happy adventures!
Please login to submit your question