Career Crossroad

"What do you see yourself doing X years from now?"
(Let X be a positive integer greater than 3)

If there was one favourite question among job interviewers, that would be it. Be it for the position of a product specialist, research officer, marketing executive or a clinical facilitator.

And most unfortunately, that would also be the question that I never fail to be stumped, regardless how much I've prepared beforehand.

It is sorely apparent that I have yet to convince myself what I really want to be, not least to talk about career goals.

To me, that question is just a fanciful or sophisticated paraphrase of that childhood question, "What do you want to do when you grow up?"

Amidst the blur of short term ambitions of astronauts and pilots, the strongest inkling of what I desired to be was a bedroom trance DJ during my JC days (no thanks to Sasha's Expander).


But like most fantasies, they quickly fade. Only to be replaced by an enigmatic abyss of confusion which I have not been able to explicate as of late.

What could I do?

1. Further your studies.
This arguably could be described as the most stable path after graduation. Absolutely recession-proof, and culminates with a orgasmic Permanent Head Damage well-respected "Doctor" prefix to your last name.

Yet, past experience has repeatedly pointed to my lack of passion in research, as evidenced by the fatality of scientific journals on me by the Zzz monster.

2. Follow your passion.
Oooo.

The word "passion" not only sounds fruity to me, but it conjures out the image of flames bursting from void.

Ok, drama aside. My lackadaisical and fickle nature has resulted in me getting interested in numerous things, but not beyond the threshold of passion.

Some have suggested to take stock of the amount of time I invest in a certain activity, and it might give me a clue on where my passion lies.

Well, going along that line of thought, coming in first in place would be... ...

1. PIANO
LOL.
Of course that would siphon off the most amount of time since I have been preparing for my Grade 8 examinations the end of this year.

AND YES, considering I will be a quarter-centurion old when I take the examinations, I might be in the 99th percentile in terms of age.

You might call me pessimistic, but I would describe myself as realistic not to even flirt the thought of music as a career.

2. BADMINTON
ROFL.

Playing it two times a week doesn't make me a professional. It's simply for fun and maybe for health. DUH.

3. WRITING
Actually, that doesn't really qualify since I've almost halted writing thousand word essays or articles this year.

Even then, writing is a form of art which I appreciate more than I practice.

I enjoy reading commentaries and reviews (particularly those related to current affairs and politics), then debating with myself (Ok, I know I'm weird but it's done in my head!) about the issues at hand.

But when it comes to translating down my thoughts to words, I never fail to encounter an invisible inertia which seeks to expunge every plausible word I would want to write about.

On one end of the spectrum, there lies the prolific writers who can churn out essays and articles like a production factory on hyperdrive. On the other end lies Kelvin, the infertile writer.

4. Wei Qi
The only board game I play which I am not good at, though it makes me look relatively intellectual (at least to the layman). HAHA.

5. Wines
I'm just stating this so to let you know that this is always welcomed whenever you meet me. *hint*

So you see, none of my so-called passions have remotely anything to do with my BioEngineering background.

3. Enter your related Industry
Easier said than done.

With a rather obscure specialized Engineering major, I realized there is only limited number of jobs that can be construed as a good fit to my BioEngineering degree. And too many of them either had to do with research or sales, of which I'm ain't too keen.

Also, most of these jobs seem to require me to undergo substantial training before I can actually contribute back meaningfully to the company.

Which brings me to the question, what is the bloody use of my degree then?!

Agad.

So what now after almost 3 to 4 weeks of job hunting?

My gut feeling is that I am approaching a crossroad soon. And the available options don't look too pretty.

Someway or the other, sacrifices and compromises would have to be made. And I remain torn as ever.

Double-agad. Monday better not come.