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The call of your Calling


towerjunkie

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Okay so I assume most of you are very happy people working on a career that you love right? Well, to those of you who work, what made you decide on the specific career you have now? When did you realize working in a certain field was your future? In other words, when did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life? 

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Print journalism was one of my possible routes.  

 

I remember one fine day in college, as a stringer on the local daily for a medium sized city (a low bucks job I really loved), walking to the parking lot with the Managing Editor, and seeing that my college crapmobile disposacar purchased with my very own cash money (a not very gracefully aging '72 Pinto wagon, IIRC) was both newer and nicer than his car.  And no, he did not have any particular eccentricities that would explain having a rusty 11 year old Fairlane as some sort of statement.

 

That's when the pendulum swung to law school - a very good (though fortuitous) decision, seeing what's happened with the interwebs and The Fall Of The Daily Fishwrap (motto:  Yesterday's News Tomorrow!!!) and all that.  Not to mention that I happen to really like what I do.

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The Williams Tower (Formally the Transco Tower). This was the building that inspired me to get into architecture at an early age. It's also why I have a soft spot for Phillip Johnson :P

 

It was also fun whenever I was with family and we would pass Downtown. All the tall buildings fascinated me as a child and day, every time I pass by or drive through downtown, I'm always gazing up admiring the way they soar into the sky.

 

Then you account for the fact that my favorite toys growing up were Lego's, Lincoln Logs, K'nex, Erector Sets, etc...

 

It also helps that my grandfather was a Carpenter, my uncle is a Construction Manager, and my dad worked for home builders and for a time was a home inspector.

 

The defining moment or moments for me were when I was finally accepted into the College of Architecture at A&M and spent a full summer taking studio classes. Those summer classes were absolutely brutal. I remember for one studio at the end of it everyone, including myself, had to pull 4 all nighters in a row just to finish our projects because everything was condensed into a summer class in what would have been more than enough time in a regular class. I myself stayed up a full 72hrs straight at one point! But it was crazy because...I loved it. I loved every moment of it. It's no secret that Architects are masochists to a small degree where we will physically punish ourselves to get a project done. The other moment during those studios was my professor for my second studio that summer. If you could think of the prototypical look for an architect, he was it. It was pretty awesome lol. He was the prof who kinda sent me over the edge to the point where I finally told myself, I want to do this for the rest of my life. That studio we studied Case Study houses, did diagrams, worked with different computer programs.....anyway it was fun. There have been other moments as well like study abroad, and one particular prof I had for my last studio, but those moments in summer studio set me on my path to what I'm doing now.

 

Today I'm incredibly happy about my career. Architecture is my life. It's a long mountain to climb to officially become an "architect", but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

 

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I never specifically decided on a career as what I do now.  After a number of job changes I ended up doing something totally different from where I started.  I think it works out that way a lot. 

 

No kidding.  I tried to strike out in a different direction and still ended up with post #4.

 

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For me, the video game Oregon Trail got me interested in programming. I wanted to major in music, though, and my dad shut that idea down thankfully. Went the computer science route as option #2 because pay is good for only a four year degree, and work is like solving puzzles.

That said, I think that too much emphasis is placed on finding your dream career. There are a lot of crappy jobs in this world that have to be done, and there's no shame doing something you don't love for a paycheck to support your family. I'm actually finding people like that more admirable as I work longer.

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I never specifically decided on a career as what I do now.  After a number of job changes I ended up doing something totally different from where I started.  I think it works out that way a lot. 

 

As someone who's followed a similar path, I've long held that the litmus test for like-minded souls is whether one views "career" as a verb as opposed to a noun.  :)

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As someone who's followed a similar path, I've long held that the litmus test for like-minded souls is whether one views "career" as a verb as opposed to a noun.  :)

 

Who sez it can't be both?  :ph34r:

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When I first heard of Anna Nicole Smith's story, I knew that was the right job for me.

 

Edit: I don't know what my calling is. I guess maybe being the conductor/engineer (driver) of light or high speed rail in Europe. I would like to thank obsessively watching Thomas the Tank Engine when I was younger.

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