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Feb. 22nd, 2006 04:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taratemimaThe rest is shorter than the others. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.
Technical writing
Pros
I like explaining things
I understand that it is different from novel writing, and I’m OK with that
Potential for good pay
Can learn a lot about different subjects
Already have a portfolio
Can learn software like PageMaker fast enough
Have used RoboHelp
Cons
Hard to get an assignment if not an expert
Techies might think I’m an idiot (remember Tina the tech writer and her new title of ‘SCC’ (second class citizen)?)
Not sure if portfolio demonstrates the skill that employers look for
Increasingly, companies are cutting back and seem to be hiring programmers to write documentation. However, that rarely turns out well (‘engineer’s disease’)
Technical support
Pros
Have done it before
Decent pay
Technical support are seen as knowledgeable
Has potential for more technical jobs
Being a good listener helps
I get asked to explain how to do something even when I am not working as technical support.
People have thanked me for explaining something after they got the runaround.
Pretty job market for network administration and understanding human factors than programming, and this is one step toward that
Cons
A+ certification is being increasingly asked for in those jobs. I took the preparation courses. However, I fail practice tests. I was told that a lot of the test is brute force rote memorization. This may require more time to study than I have.
My experience is more a fellow user helping other users. I’ve never been an expert type or a network administrator
I have gaps in technical knowledge, and I’m afraid to ask others for fear I’m over my head (“What are you doing in this class, you know nothing”—some Algorithms and Data Structures lab mate)
I get frustrated when people cannot help me or if they ask for information already given.
I also get frustrated when I get vague and confusing answers to questions I ask to solve the problem
I shake like a leaf when people yell at me
Non-profits
Pros
Being around ethical people
Do something other than bitch about the state of the world
I like to write proposals. No really. Grant proposals sounds like something I could learn and write easily.
Researching to help solve the world’s problems appeals to me
I have a genuine interest in cross-cultural communication, technology, and community self-sufficiency, with language issues thrown in
Would be good practice for Peace Corps or teaching English abroad
I may make new friends outside of my usual social circles.
I work better when I think people I like are counting on me.
Cons
Paperwork, bureaucratic runaround, and incompetence seem pandemic
Volunteering seems to be the way in, but I’m often too tired from work and the commute and too caught up in other projects to even think of it
Frankly, I’m scared of caring about an issue and watching it all turn to defeat
Nice people can also be horrid backstabbers
Pay is not that great either. While I have a low rent, I worry I won’t be able to live on it
From what I heard from ex-volunteers, non-profits treat people poorly. There is no incentive to change, since there are always enough idealistic kids to take the complainer’s place
I hate fund-raising. I hate calling people to beg for money. I hate the idea that if I screw up, they yell at me
Logical place to start would be my own backyard, in the news for the wrong reasons. What does a pasty schnook (with little free time and energy) know about rampant violence anyway?
Hospitals
Pros
Have medical coding experience and can type fast
I’m interested in the state of medical research
Good benefits
I live almost next door to some teaching hospitals
My aunt is head of gifts in Children’s Hospital, so I may have an in.
I’m discreet
They need technical people too
Hospital food is tolerable, cheap, and filling
Cons
I bagged volunteering at Spaulding because 1) I was working late hours and my stupid then-boss would not give me set full time hours and 2) when I called to let them know I was back in Boston, no one called back. I feel any attempt to get a job in a hospital is tainted by my irresponsibility.
I suspect my aunt thinks I’m a child myself
My friend was driven crazy by coworkers at her ER receptionist job. They claimed she didn’t shower and she smelled bad. She broke down several times because of that job. I have the same tendency to take things personally as she does. I don’t know if I have the fortitude to deal
Hospitals are dreary and where people die
I would become very disgusted with HMOs and health care gaps, and I am already bothered by it
Lots of angry and scared people, and I’m expected to reassure them. I don’t know if I can even do it
Is that ‘god complex myth’ really a myth? Because I don’t want someone to think I was inferior because I’m not an MD
Customer service phone near where I live
Pros
I'll cut down on commuting
I'll pay less for cabs if I’m running late
I'll run late less
I’ve done customer service
May pay better than current job
I'm not far from the financial district
I like solving problems
Bonding over difficult customers is a nice experience
Customers have thanked me for explaining things they didn’t understand
I won a t-shirt for 'best complete call' in fundraising, meaning that I asked for the appropriate information, explained why I was calling, and followed procedures when the customer responds.
Good opportunity to practice active listening
Cons
Who is hiring in Dorchester, anyway?
What if the food around there isn’t good? Can I really remember to bring my own lunch? What about dinner?
I haven’t done phones in years
People yell at you in customer service. I shake and get upset and don’t deal when people yell. I’m always afraid I’ll yell back
May not pay as well as current job
Job title only slightly less embarrassing than data entry
I may never get a raise or more responsibility
Something breaks down when I sense I won’t like the job and I have to pretend to love it more than my own life to get hired. Maybe that will burn me when I look for that sort of job
Music and books store customer service
Pros
I love music and books
I understand that I’m supposed to help customers, not just read or gab about music
I’m helpful and courteous
I love giving recommendations
Good opportunity to practice active listening
Cons
Too bad something I love doesn’t pay well
Customers could be jerks
I could become like that Jack Black character in High Fidelity, and that is not my goal in life
In retail, people are disposable
Paralegal
Pros
I enjoy doing research
I am OK with taking everything literally
Hey, take out!
Learn new information about the law
Computer skills might be useful on the job
Might make decent money
Can lighten mood when needed
Good research for writing some fictional characters, two probate lawyers and a paralegal
With all the yakking about probate I did when I was still in writer’s group, maybe that experience will help
Have document typing, editing, and formatting experience
I’m pretty good at summarizing past findings and extrapolating from them
Cons
However, the research is being outsourced overseas, so who knows what work I’m getting?
Will be forced to make coffee
May be made to feel stupid
Lawyers have a superiority complex
Long hours, and money may be affected by it
Not sure if I can get more responsibility and pay
Don’t know what past work I can connect to the position
May require expensive training
May not be ‘professional-looking’ (thin) enough for them
Production assistant
Pros
Might be an interesting way to finance a vacation in New York and LA
I might even be able to do it in another country
I am helpful, considerate, observant, and detail-conscious
I like to solve problems
I try to treat anyone as I want to be treated
Might meet interesting people
Might have interesting stories of what goes on behind a movie set
I have no illusions of stardom. I just want to help people, make money, and come home with stories
Helping with independent movies would be cool
I will be part of a collaborative creative endeavor
I could meet new people
Cons
They want experienced PAs. What have I done that counts as experience?
I am an emotional wreck under stress, and there is lots of stress on a movie set
I may depress myself with the thought that this will be the closest I will ever get to fame (unless I get sued for the real person slash, have a resident poet at some small college read my work and say it’s ‘OK’, get spotted as ‘Drunken Westerner #5’ in a subtitled Egyptian movie, or get photographed at a Scientology protest)
They require that you have a driver’s license and a car
Indie movies do not pay anything
I am not the sort of person who wanks on about arc lights, John Woo, or the auteur theory. Therefore, I will be an alien there
I don’t know if I will be required to stay on the set
I will get no respect. My part in this ‘creative endeavor’ is coffee delivery
I could be the set scapegoat
I have no direct production assistant experience
I will need to move to New York or Los Angeles if I even consider this a job.
Masters in Library Science
Pros
Arranging information and classifying it does have some connection to linguistics
Can get a job at publishing, at companies specializing in finding and classifying information, not just libraries
Can learn how to preserve information
Human-computer interaction is one aspect of it, albeit in the sense of understanding how they look for information.
Cons
Getting one is expensive
I worry that any employers do not immediately see the connection between their requirements and my education
My grades were mediocre
Not sure if I will learn how to arrange a research project as well as classify
Technical writing
Pros
I like explaining things
I understand that it is different from novel writing, and I’m OK with that
Potential for good pay
Can learn a lot about different subjects
Already have a portfolio
Can learn software like PageMaker fast enough
Have used RoboHelp
Cons
Hard to get an assignment if not an expert
Techies might think I’m an idiot (remember Tina the tech writer and her new title of ‘SCC’ (second class citizen)?)
Not sure if portfolio demonstrates the skill that employers look for
Increasingly, companies are cutting back and seem to be hiring programmers to write documentation. However, that rarely turns out well (‘engineer’s disease’)
Technical support
Pros
Have done it before
Decent pay
Technical support are seen as knowledgeable
Has potential for more technical jobs
Being a good listener helps
I get asked to explain how to do something even when I am not working as technical support.
People have thanked me for explaining something after they got the runaround.
Pretty job market for network administration and understanding human factors than programming, and this is one step toward that
Cons
A+ certification is being increasingly asked for in those jobs. I took the preparation courses. However, I fail practice tests. I was told that a lot of the test is brute force rote memorization. This may require more time to study than I have.
My experience is more a fellow user helping other users. I’ve never been an expert type or a network administrator
I have gaps in technical knowledge, and I’m afraid to ask others for fear I’m over my head (“What are you doing in this class, you know nothing”—some Algorithms and Data Structures lab mate)
I get frustrated when people cannot help me or if they ask for information already given.
I also get frustrated when I get vague and confusing answers to questions I ask to solve the problem
I shake like a leaf when people yell at me
Non-profits
Pros
Being around ethical people
Do something other than bitch about the state of the world
I like to write proposals. No really. Grant proposals sounds like something I could learn and write easily.
Researching to help solve the world’s problems appeals to me
I have a genuine interest in cross-cultural communication, technology, and community self-sufficiency, with language issues thrown in
Would be good practice for Peace Corps or teaching English abroad
I may make new friends outside of my usual social circles.
I work better when I think people I like are counting on me.
Cons
Paperwork, bureaucratic runaround, and incompetence seem pandemic
Volunteering seems to be the way in, but I’m often too tired from work and the commute and too caught up in other projects to even think of it
Frankly, I’m scared of caring about an issue and watching it all turn to defeat
Nice people can also be horrid backstabbers
Pay is not that great either. While I have a low rent, I worry I won’t be able to live on it
From what I heard from ex-volunteers, non-profits treat people poorly. There is no incentive to change, since there are always enough idealistic kids to take the complainer’s place
I hate fund-raising. I hate calling people to beg for money. I hate the idea that if I screw up, they yell at me
Logical place to start would be my own backyard, in the news for the wrong reasons. What does a pasty schnook (with little free time and energy) know about rampant violence anyway?
Hospitals
Pros
Have medical coding experience and can type fast
I’m interested in the state of medical research
Good benefits
I live almost next door to some teaching hospitals
My aunt is head of gifts in Children’s Hospital, so I may have an in.
I’m discreet
They need technical people too
Hospital food is tolerable, cheap, and filling
Cons
I bagged volunteering at Spaulding because 1) I was working late hours and my stupid then-boss would not give me set full time hours and 2) when I called to let them know I was back in Boston, no one called back. I feel any attempt to get a job in a hospital is tainted by my irresponsibility.
I suspect my aunt thinks I’m a child myself
My friend was driven crazy by coworkers at her ER receptionist job. They claimed she didn’t shower and she smelled bad. She broke down several times because of that job. I have the same tendency to take things personally as she does. I don’t know if I have the fortitude to deal
Hospitals are dreary and where people die
I would become very disgusted with HMOs and health care gaps, and I am already bothered by it
Lots of angry and scared people, and I’m expected to reassure them. I don’t know if I can even do it
Is that ‘god complex myth’ really a myth? Because I don’t want someone to think I was inferior because I’m not an MD
Customer service phone near where I live
Pros
I'll cut down on commuting
I'll pay less for cabs if I’m running late
I'll run late less
I’ve done customer service
May pay better than current job
I'm not far from the financial district
I like solving problems
Bonding over difficult customers is a nice experience
Customers have thanked me for explaining things they didn’t understand
I won a t-shirt for 'best complete call' in fundraising, meaning that I asked for the appropriate information, explained why I was calling, and followed procedures when the customer responds.
Good opportunity to practice active listening
Cons
Who is hiring in Dorchester, anyway?
What if the food around there isn’t good? Can I really remember to bring my own lunch? What about dinner?
I haven’t done phones in years
People yell at you in customer service. I shake and get upset and don’t deal when people yell. I’m always afraid I’ll yell back
May not pay as well as current job
Job title only slightly less embarrassing than data entry
I may never get a raise or more responsibility
Something breaks down when I sense I won’t like the job and I have to pretend to love it more than my own life to get hired. Maybe that will burn me when I look for that sort of job
Music and books store customer service
Pros
I love music and books
I understand that I’m supposed to help customers, not just read or gab about music
I’m helpful and courteous
I love giving recommendations
Good opportunity to practice active listening
Cons
Too bad something I love doesn’t pay well
Customers could be jerks
I could become like that Jack Black character in High Fidelity, and that is not my goal in life
In retail, people are disposable
Paralegal
Pros
I enjoy doing research
I am OK with taking everything literally
Hey, take out!
Learn new information about the law
Computer skills might be useful on the job
Might make decent money
Can lighten mood when needed
Good research for writing some fictional characters, two probate lawyers and a paralegal
With all the yakking about probate I did when I was still in writer’s group, maybe that experience will help
Have document typing, editing, and formatting experience
I’m pretty good at summarizing past findings and extrapolating from them
Cons
However, the research is being outsourced overseas, so who knows what work I’m getting?
Will be forced to make coffee
May be made to feel stupid
Lawyers have a superiority complex
Long hours, and money may be affected by it
Not sure if I can get more responsibility and pay
Don’t know what past work I can connect to the position
May require expensive training
May not be ‘professional-looking’ (thin) enough for them
Production assistant
Pros
Might be an interesting way to finance a vacation in New York and LA
I might even be able to do it in another country
I am helpful, considerate, observant, and detail-conscious
I like to solve problems
I try to treat anyone as I want to be treated
Might meet interesting people
Might have interesting stories of what goes on behind a movie set
I have no illusions of stardom. I just want to help people, make money, and come home with stories
Helping with independent movies would be cool
I will be part of a collaborative creative endeavor
I could meet new people
Cons
They want experienced PAs. What have I done that counts as experience?
I am an emotional wreck under stress, and there is lots of stress on a movie set
I may depress myself with the thought that this will be the closest I will ever get to fame (unless I get sued for the real person slash, have a resident poet at some small college read my work and say it’s ‘OK’, get spotted as ‘Drunken Westerner #5’ in a subtitled Egyptian movie, or get photographed at a Scientology protest)
They require that you have a driver’s license and a car
Indie movies do not pay anything
I am not the sort of person who wanks on about arc lights, John Woo, or the auteur theory. Therefore, I will be an alien there
I don’t know if I will be required to stay on the set
I will get no respect. My part in this ‘creative endeavor’ is coffee delivery
I could be the set scapegoat
I have no direct production assistant experience
I will need to move to New York or Los Angeles if I even consider this a job.
Masters in Library Science
Pros
Arranging information and classifying it does have some connection to linguistics
Can get a job at publishing, at companies specializing in finding and classifying information, not just libraries
Can learn how to preserve information
Human-computer interaction is one aspect of it, albeit in the sense of understanding how they look for information.
Cons
Getting one is expensive
I worry that any employers do not immediately see the connection between their requirements and my education
My grades were mediocre
Not sure if I will learn how to arrange a research project as well as classify
