# Looking for some job ideas



## Yag-Kosha (Sep 8, 2016)

Thought I'd post this here but would love if women would weigh in as well.

I am in my late twenties now and still searching for a job/career that I'd enjoy waking up to and doing every day. The problem is, I've always been a recluse/introvert and it's only gotten worse with age. I just don't feel comfortable around other people for extended periods of time. I could never work at a desk or in an office environment. I'd rather shoot myself out of a cannon. I have continually tried to work jobs and do activities that include other people but it never works out long term. I feel much more comfortable being alone and find it very exhausting being in an environment with lots of other people. At its worst, I physically get anxious and have to get out. Feels like I can't breathed. I have been diagnosed with depression but decided not go on medication. I feel in-part at least, part of my depression stems from not finding a place where I feel I can consistently contribute to society and to my own well being.

I was wondering if you guys had any ideas on what sort of work makes sense for me. I do love the outdoors, especially the cold. I live in southern Ontario. I did go college. I took cooking because I absolutely love food. I am back in college taking digital photography which I really enjoy. 

I just feel like I keep trying to fight against this monster that I can't win. I keep trying to integrate someway into jobs/areas with other people, thinking I am not trying hard enough but maybe I am thinking about this all wrong? Maybe some people just aren't meant to work/congregate with others? I just don't know. 

Anyways. I am mainly asking if any of you know of any type of jobs that make sense for me. Something I haven't considered. After I am done my photography course, I was thinking of going into food/product photography because of my background with food. But that's still a ways off. I am neither in any sort of relationships or have tiny ones running around. 

Thank you for reading. 

And Merry Christmas. :grin2:


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## Emerging Buddhist (Apr 7, 2016)

Merry Christmas @Yag-Kosha!

You've shared a little about yourself... perhaps take the 16 Personalities and let us know where you fit on the scale and if you feel it's accurate for yourself?

It would sure help us understand where you "stand"... :smile2:

https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test


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## Andy1001 (Jun 29, 2016)

Building or land surveyor springs to mind and your photography experience will be a big plus.


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## Yag-Kosha (Sep 8, 2016)

Emerging Buddhist said:


> Merry Christmas @Yag-Kosha!
> 
> You've shared a little about yourself... perhaps take the 16 Personalities and let us know where you fit on the scale and if you feel it's accurate for yourself?
> 
> ...


Hmm. I took the test. It says Logician (INTP-T). With a 95% introversion score in the Mind category. 

I've come across this test before and didn't finish. I am naturally skeptical of such things.

"The one thing that really holds Logicians back is their restless and pervasive fear of failure. Logician personalities are so prone to reassessing their own thoughts and theories, worrying that they’ve missed some critical piece of the puzzle, that they can stagnate, lost in an intangible world where their thoughts are never truly applied."

This really rings true for me.

I'd never label myself as a 'Logician' in any shape way or form. To me, it seems like a PC friendly way of describing this type of individual.




Andy1001 said:


> Building or land surveyor springs to mind and your photography experience will be a big plus.


Thanks. I will look into that.


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## Emerging Buddhist (Apr 7, 2016)

Perhaps something here?

Career Opportunities Through Natural Resources Canada | Natural Resources Canada


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## RideofmyLife (Dec 18, 2015)

I'm going to school for Court Reporting/CART/Captioning. If you're a hermit, it's great because not only can you learn the skill online
at home (no degree required, just a certification in SOME states) but you can also work at home if you go into remote CART or if you 
do closed captioning for TV shows/News, etc...

You can learn the stenographic method, which utilizes a steno machine, like what you see most court reporters doing, or you can become
a voice writer, which uses voice recognition technology. Voice writers are limited as to what states they can be court reporters in, however.

So, court reporters work not only in the courts, but they can freelance and go to depositions or business meetings. 
CART stands for computer aided realtime translation and is used for the hard-of-hearing and deaf. You can provide 
CART for a deaf student on site in a classroom setting, or you can provide this service remotely from your home. You can do church services, 
conferences, doctors visits... Really the list is endless. Wherever a deaf or hard-of-hearing person could use the service, basically. 

Captioning is, of course, the captions you see on TV. You can do live stuff where you're captioning for live shows,
which requires a high degree of accuracy, or you can caption prerecorded shows. The pay is less for prerecorded. 

This field is great to go into because there's a huge demand for competent CRs, CART providers, and broadcast 
captioners. It's like learning a new language, so depending on your hunger, you could graduate within a couple of
years (especially if you do voice writing), or take many more. Be sure you want to go into it though, because the 
drop out rate is huge. It's a difficult skill. The money is great, though. You can make over 100K in any of these branches of stenography, 
depending on what state you're in and how hard you work. 

Good luck!


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## ScrambledEggs (Jan 14, 2014)

Work that can be automated, is being automated. Most jobs that will resist automation have some social component to them so you are going to have to overcome this to some extent no matter what you do.

Jobs that resist automation usually have a creative component, a social component, or are executed in a high order of complexity and experience--or some combination of all 3. If you have absolute raw talent (think Mozart or Picasso), then the world might work around your eccentricity. If you are like most of us, you have to interact with people a lot to find your way. 

Of the jobs mentioned:

Photography-- You have to interact and connect with people to sell them your service. Employment just taking pictures almost does not exist outside of small business. It is usually something people do as part of their main job.

Building/land surveyor. My picture of this job is someone that works closely with constructions crews to make sure buildings and infrastructure are put down. This might be done by painting sidewalks, putting down stakes, and making drawings. I have a friend who does this and thrives this field by virtue of his personal contacts in the business. 

Court reporting/transcribing? That job will be fully automated in 5-10 years if not sooner. My iPhone can transcribe every word out of mouth already. I would not recommend investing yourself in this sort of work. This is even an area where computers will overtake voice talent soon in audiobooks.​
Intoversion might be about enjoying or being energized by time being alone, but functionally impairing discomfort around other people is something else entirely, You should consider seeing a therapist about it and not settle for a life and career burdened by it. Maybe you won't ever like being around people all that much, but then every job has a part that kind of sucks and coping with that is just part of being an adult. 

You are still young, but that fades fast. You will wake up one day in 16 short years and wonder how the hell you got to your mid-forties so quickly. Get busy.


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## Hellomynameis (Dec 16, 2016)

Park ranger/park management? 

You sound a lot like me, if I could avoid most people outside my own small circle of family and friends I would do so happily. I have often wished I had gone to college to become a NYS park ranger nowadays it's the one job outside the house that I think I would actually enjoy. Unfortunately they don't accept applicants over 35 and I'm pushing 50... But I definitely understand where you are coming from. My last job was so emotionally draining and demanding as to be almost abusive and it's left me with anxiety so severe I can barely leave my house now.

If you are interested in that sort of career, Syracuse NY isn't that far from Ontario if you wanted to drive down and check it out, and they have one of the best environmental science and forestry programs in the country.


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## ScrambledEggs (Jan 14, 2014)

Most people in the Parks department work in an office environment. Those that work in that field still have a desk somewhere at the HQ and are constantly interacting with campers, sportsman, researchers, your boss, and in the West, ranchers and industry.


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## RideofmyLife (Dec 18, 2015)

ScrambledEggs said:


> Court reporting/transcribing? That job will be fully automated in 5-10 years if not sooner. My iPhone can transcribe every word out of mouth already. I would not recommend investing yourself in this sort of work. This is even an area where computers will overtake voice talent


I respectfully disagree. Yes, VR has come a long way, but VR systems have difficulty understanding thick accents, cross talk from multiple people, and they can't tell people to stop mumbling or repeat what they've said. The courts that have switched over to VR and audio are sometimes dealing with pretty indecipherable transcripts and outright failures, and many are going back to traditional court reporters.


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## ScrambledEggs (Jan 14, 2014)

RideofmyLife said:


> I respectfully disagree. Yes, VR has come a long way, but VR systems have difficulty understanding thick accents, cross talk from multiple people, and they can't tell people to stop mumbling or repeat what they've said. The courts that have switched over to VR and audio are sometimes dealing with pretty indecipherable transcripts and outright failures, and many are going back to traditional court reporters.





RideofmyLife said:


> I respectfully disagree. Yes, VR has come a long way, but VR systems have difficulty understanding thick accents, cross talk from multiple people, and they can't tell people to stop mumbling or repeat what they've said. The courts that have switched over to VR and audio are sometimes dealing with pretty indecipherable transcripts and outright failures, and many are going back to traditional court reporters.


No disrespect taken, or intended. 

How about calibrating each speaker before a statement to the court and giving every speaker a separate mic on a separate channel? Feed them all into TWO independent automate transcription systems, perhaps with slightly different calibration, that must be agree or the system prompts the speaker to repeat until they do?

I don't really know squat about court reporting but I have been doing systems automation for 15 years.

I am not surprised to hear there are issues with existing systems, but what about in 5-10 years after 2-3 more generations of cognitive computing and VR software development? 10 court reporters will set the court back at least $1M a year in wages and benefits. A leveraged automation system will run 2-10% of that. The economic pressure to adapt will be massive. 

I'd say it is not a good risk if your career has more than 10 years left to it. The wildcard being governments quirkiness in adopting something like this. But good luck to you and always have an exit plan.


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## Yag-Kosha (Sep 8, 2016)

Hey, again guys and thank you for all the responses. I really appreciate it. 

While I still plan to finish photography school and see where that leads, I can't say stenography doesn't interest me. I never gave any thought to what those courts reporters did or how they did it. They just sat their all boring looking haha. But upon looking into it a little bit, it's actually quite interesting. I tend to have good muscle memory and a mechanical brain. This is something I want to look into a little bit more. 

Do you have any recommended readings for beginners, RideofmyLife? I just want to get more of an understanding of what it's all about.


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## john117 (May 20, 2013)

Photography is not the easiest field to make money. A classmate of DD1 got a degree and full ride from the top college to get a 4 year degree. Astonishing talent (I've known the kid since middle school). He's in the entertainment business but not a lot of photography. I know a colleague who's also a pro photographer and he's pretty good and shoots state level sports and senior pictures and all that year round, but not quite a full time position.

You can pursue both fields and see how it goes.


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## PhillyGuy13 (Nov 29, 2013)

We have a couple of friends who are part time photographers. One is a full time chemical engineer and one is in accounting. On the side they are professional photographers. One works a lot of weddings, kids/family photo sessions. The other does more city-scape/landscape/ nature pics that he often sells to local papers. 

They don't make enough to live off of on the photography but on top of their full time jobs it supplements their incomes and it's something they enjoy.

So stick with it!


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## Yag-Kosha (Sep 8, 2016)

Thank you, both. 

If it comes down to it, I'll just leak some of the my nude selfies online and become famous!


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## SimplyAmorous (Nov 25, 2009)

Andy1001 said:


> Building or *land surveyor* springs to mind and your photography experience will be a big plus.


Darn you beat me to it !.. I was actually going to suggest a Land Surveyor.. we had one at our house about 6 months ago.. I struck up a conversation with him as we walked our property.. he was a young guy in his 20's.... he was a wealth of information...though I can't remember it all now.. what I got from the conversation was... there will be a shortage of Surveyors in upcoming years.. he had me stoked about this as a possible career path for one of our introverted sons in the future... 

After he felt.. I jumped on the net.. started reading all about it.. so yeah.. this should be right up your alley !


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## Andy1001 (Jun 29, 2016)

SimplyAmorous said:


> Darn you beat me to it !.. I was actually going to suggest a Land Surveyor.. we had one at our house about 6 months ago.. I struck up a conversation with him as we walked our property.. he was a young guy in his 20's.... he was a wealth of information...though I can't remember it all now.. what I got from the conversation was... there will be a shortage of Surveyors in upcoming years.. he had me stoked about this as a possible career path for one of our introverted sons in the future...
> 
> After he felt.. I jumped on the net.. started reading all about it.. so yeah.. this should be right up your alley !


Without giving too much information away, road building involves my business to a certain extent.I see these surveyors often enough and they are always alone and miles from anywhere so for someone who wants to work alone it sounds like the perfect job.


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## ChipperE (Nov 16, 2016)

What about accounting? Do you like numbers? 

You could do photography but maybe something more routine, like business photography. Real Estate photography/ staging, internet sales photography (ebay), ect might be a good fit since it requires less interaction with people. Sports photography is another thing that would allow you to sit back and observe. (I am a freelance photographer and have done all these things to make money)

Another idea might be to enroll in some professional development courses on communication or join some professional organizations to meet others. Just because you are a natural introvert doesn't mean that you shouldn't work on developing your people skills. Just enhancing those skills and getting comfortable with working with others will open doors in your career. 

You can do anything you want to put the work in to! Good luck to you!!


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