# Need advice on university subject and career path



## Nont (24 Mar 2022)

Hi everyone,

I’m homeschooled and is now taking a gap year. Most of my time had been spent with my hobbies including Keeping plants, keeping insect pets, keeping ducks, taxidermy, skeletonize and fishkeeping. My dream is to have aquatic plants or an insect store (like this one) and wanted to study in business. Since I’m talking to loads of adults lately, most of them found my ideas to be ridiculous and I should just keep it as hobbies and study something else.
My dream is now gone and now I need help choosing what I should study and choosing career path.

Thanks for any help you guys can offer.


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## Tyko_N (24 Mar 2022)

My advice would be to do what you enjoy. I have been a biologist at heart my whole life, and chosen my own path accordingly. You get to hear plenty of comments like "there are no jobs in biology" or "you are a bit crazy", but just shrug them off, I think you would find it worth all that. Let's take an example; one of my friends from back in primary school is just wrapping up his masters degree after some struggle and an extra year. I finished mine earlier this year, half a year early, and have enjoyed all of it. Learning and getting good grades is so much easier when you are studying something that actually interests you.

I'm now looking for what to do next, with a number of interesting options, since it turns out that there is plenty of jobs in biology after all. During my studies I have also been offered, and done, some fieldwork, thanks to my enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. If you like what you do you will become good at it, and if you are good at it then there is probably an available job for you somewhere.


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## erwin123 (24 Mar 2022)

Environmental Engineering / Environmental science are related fields but more applied, with a mix of life sciences and physics topics (eg: hydraulics, flow analysis) that are quite relevant to aquariums  😅


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## Hanuman (24 Mar 2022)

Natthanon said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I’m homeschooled and is now taking a gap year. Most of my time had been spent with my hobbies including Keeping plants, keeping insect pets, keeping ducks, taxidermy, skeletonize and fishkeeping. My dream is to have aquatic plants or an insect store (like this one) and wanted to study in business. Since I’m talking to loads of adults lately, most of them found my ideas to be ridiculous and I should just keep it as hobbies and study something else.
> My dream is now gone and now I need help choosing what I should study and choosing career path.
> ...


Follow what you like and work hard for it. That means studying. I am not sure how old you are but if you are still at university it's now that you make the choices that will start drawing your future so chose wisely and don't let others bring you down. It's your life not theirs.


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## ScareCrow (24 Mar 2022)

When I was at uni I worked part time in a LFS. While it was very interesting and I learnt a lot, about the industry there were a few things I didn't like:
. Doing tank maintenance is a chore at the best of times but coming home after cleaning 60 or more tanks at work to do it on your own tank is even less fun. 
. Although I've been passionate about this hobby for >20yrs I'm no sells person. People often treat fish as an ornament with little regard for care or how they interact with other species and this didn't sit well with me.
 . I see on a lot of forums people blaming LFS for selling them fish that aren't suitable. While the fish shop should be able to give advice about the suitability of fish it's also on the buyer to do research as they're going to be providing the long term care. 
. You'd be surprised at the number of times people will lie to try and get you to sell them something that isn't suitable for their setup.

These things put me off the hobby for a while.

At uni I studied environmental science. While I can't say I love my job. My take on it is work to live, not live to work. I work less hours and get paid better now, than I did working in a fish shop. So I'm able to enjoy the hobby and I'm not so restricted by time or financial pressure.

After all that I don't know what to suggest for a specific course but I'd at least try getting a job in a fish/insect shop if you've not already, before deciding you want to open one.


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## castle (24 Mar 2022)

Hey, I'll be honest;  if you're wanting to go to uni do a _good_ subject, the debt is real, and it's heavy. Try and get into the best uni you can. I'd suggest you pick a STEM subject, they're just really dependable, wanted skillsets. Nothing wrong with other degrees, and if you're passionate etc, but from the UK at least there is clear evidence that some degrees are better than others. I know people who did "business" at uni, and they struggled for a bit, whereas friends who did engineering, medicine, programming are doing very well for themselves. 

Once you've got a dependable skill/expertise, you can afford to start that business later in life when you've got a skill to fall back to. 

Of course, I could be wrong! it's your choice and really, it's about your learning anyway, do what you like the look of but don't do it blindly beware of the risks and challenges, have a plan!


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## Andy Pierce (24 Mar 2022)

Natthanon said:


> Thanks for any help you guys can offer.


Your location is listed as Thailand.  If you go to university, does it matter to you where that university is located?


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## shangman (24 Mar 2022)

Studying something like biology or in natural sciences sounds like it would be great for you considering your interests, there many jobs and directions you could take it in. Life is short you might as well study what you want and pursue what you enjoy.

Remember that your job/work doesn't have to be your life, it doesn't have to define who you are, or be the only thing you do. Most jobs when it comes down to it are pretty boring, and I can tell you from starting my own business that most of that is boring and stressful too. I am much more fulfilled from my aquarium hobby than having my business tbh. 

Something to look into at your potential future universities are graduate entrepreneur business courses, which are often free (in the UK at least). Universities want to brag about all the amazing successful businesses their graduates started, so they offer these courses to make it more likely. So you could study something you enjoy, and then do one of these business courses after. Usually they like you to stay with a business idea, so you learn practically as you start it up. 

Remember that you don't need to set up a business immediately as well, you can start it at any point in your life, and it's much more likely to be successful when you've got experience in your field, a bit of cash saved up and good contacts too. You can start it as a small thing and see how it goes and slowly expand.


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## adriancarr (25 Mar 2022)

I'll just echo the advice others have offered with my own career path.

I grew up wanting to be a marine biologist from a young age. My father was a keen aquarists and we had dozens of aquaria, both tropical freshwater and cold-water marine (UK). I learn't to scuba dive at 14 and at 15 started working every weekend at a tropical fish, pond, reptile shop. At 18 I was still committed to being a marine biologist and considered doing a specialist marine biology or fish biology course at university, but ultimately decided to be a bit less specialist and go to  Edinburgh University (Scotland) to study zoology.

For the first 3 years at Edinburgh the course was modular, and you could pick any modules within biological science (not just zoology). I studied animal biology, some marine biology, ecology, plant biology, along side courses on genetics, cell biology, molecular biology, developmental biology, biochemistry. After the first year I realised the areas that interested me most were genetics, cell biology and developmental biology, so I moved away from  zoology towards those subjects. There are lots of areas of biology and all other subjects that you don't get exposed to until you go to university. You won't know where your interests lie until you spend some time studying them. Your interests will also change and evolve as you get older. Things you think you will enjoy aren't always as fun in reality, and things you currently enjoy may not interest you in the future.

I went on to do a PhD in developmental neurobiology in fruit flies at Cambridge University. This gave me lots of skills in various areas of biology and other sciences. I was lucky enough use those skills to work on a whole range of topics, including marine biology, where I've worked on some coral and fish research projects. So it sort of came full circle. These days I work on human biology, primarily oncology and immunology projects, but I still get to pursue my interests by keeping fish and plants as a hobby.

Have you worked in an aquatic plants or an insect store? If you haven't, it would be worth getting a part time job to see if you enjoy it.  Maintaining dozens of tanks/species is a different experience from keeping a few tanks at home. Interacting with customers is both challenging and rewarding; it's worth getting some first hand experience to see if you enjoy it.

TLDR:
Gets some work experience in a plant/fish/reptile/insect store, and see if you enjoy it.
Do a general rather than a specialised degree, whether it be in biology or in business. It will give you more freedom to choose your career, and change direction as your interests evolve.


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## Nont (25 Mar 2022)

Thanks for the encouragement and advices everyone. 


I am not sure how old you are but if you are still at university it's now that you make the choices that will start drawing your future so chose wisely and don't let others bring you down. It's your life not theirs.
I’m 17, currently taking a gap year to find what I really like.


adriancarr said:


> Have you worked in an aquatic plants or an insect store? If you haven't, it would be worth getting a part time job to see if you enjoy it. Maintaining dozens of tanks/species is a different experience from keeping a few tanks at home. Interacting with customers is both challenging and rewarding; it's worth getting some first hand experience to see if you enjoy it.





ScareCrow said:


> After all that I don't know what to suggest for a specific course but I'd at least try getting a job in a fish/insect shop if you've not already, before deciding you want to open one.


Will try to get a part time job and see if I’m going change my mind or not.


Andy Pierce said:


> Your location is listed as Thailand.  If you go to university, does it matter to you where that university is located?


Yes, It has to be in Thailand.

I’m going to see what other subject suits me better, reading you guys story give me hope


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## swyftfeet (25 Mar 2022)

Do you have the ability to take an aptitude test?    One of the things I learned is, although I like a subject, I may be terrible at the skill set required to actually proficient in it.

For me the easiest example is woodworking,  I love working with tools, I love furniture (as wierd as that is) but I have pretty severe undiagnosed ADHD (they didn't know what it was back when I was young, they just called me a space cadet)  mixed in with dysgraphia (my handwriting is worse than bad, doing anythign with fine motor skills might as well be running a marathon with a 70lb rucksack).   I would be a terrible fine furniture maker,   It would take me 4x longer to make something, I'd loose half my tools in the process( never leaving the room)  and it still wouldn't be right,none of the angles would meet properly.

Im fairly decent at math, love science, but terrible with memorization( cancels biology and chemisty right out) l learn very quickly visually and sometimes struggle learning things from a book.

I ended up in a quasi-mix of electrical engineering and computer science.    I do high speed embedded vision systems.   I occasionally get to use tools and play around with electronics, but a lot of the really fine motor skill stuff is eliminated, I'm not actually soldering anything.  CAD is easy for me, and it completely eliminates my weak-points.  I also get to exercise my brain pretty well doing a mix of basic algebra, computer programming, and some physics.   Ive only ever had to break out the calculus a few times to solve some pretty weird problems.

Its a very lucky fit for me.


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## dean (27 Mar 2022)

Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Nont (1 Apr 2022)

swyftfeet said:


> Im fairly decent at math, love science, but terrible with memorization( cancels biology and chemisty right out) l learn very quickly visually and sometimes struggle learning things from a book.


I’m terrible at understanding biology, chemistry, physics and math, I’m still confused with square roots and passing the test was pure luck. (Also reason I’m trying to avoid thinking about Ei dosing)


dean said:


> Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life


Thanks for the encouragement.


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## Tim Harrison (1 Apr 2022)

Study something you love and can get enthusiastic about. University will become a slog otherwise.
Same with life in general, it's too short and precious to spend doing something you're indifferent to.

Is it too late to study Business, if that is what you really want to do ?


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## seedoubleyou (1 Apr 2022)

Forget what anyone else says mate. If it’s a passion and you want to make a life out of it then go for it.
It won’t matter how well it does because you’ll be enjoying it anyway.


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## Simon Cole (2 Apr 2022)

I graduated in environmental science and went on to study environmental management. I became chartered as a water and environmental manager, got an MBA and had a few interesting roles. But I would not do it again. The employment market has really dried up in environmental sectors. A few years ago there were only a few universities that had a decent spread or research schools and field centres and you would get interviews and job offers everywhere. But now there must be 20 times as many courses and 50 times as many graduates, many of whom will compete by getting a PhD. I cannot recommend doing something you love on the hope it will pay your bills. Do something that people are willing to pay money for. Then use that money to do what you want in life. Some specialisms will barely pay your bills, others will save you enough money to take numerous degrees, get a mortgage, start a business and travel the world. It's dumb logic to assume that career progression follows every discipline. There will always be somebody from a wealthier background who is buying every course going and has all the right family connections to give them a massive advantage if you pick an employment market that is saturated.   

A good way to find out is to take free MOOC courses and see whether you actually enjoy the subjects. I did the Open University: _effect of pollutants on the aquatic environment_ and the _understanding water quality_ courses last year. I also tried out a few industry courses in:  quality management, health and safety, nuclear environmental reporting, carbon footprinting, environmental legislation, energy management, and information security management... just to name a few . All in the last year. I would not dream of starting a three-year degree without trying at least 4 or 5 different courses beforehand. And I would also register as a student or affiliate in the closest professional body to network with people actually doing these roles. 

This is what everyone gets wrong. They rush out the door to escape their parents on the hope of having a fantastic time, only to find that they are up against people with 20 years industry experience and a doctorate, they end up waiting endlessly for a job, only to find that nobody cares what they think and that most roles are actually very unstimulating. Environmental Impact Assessment is a prime example, sounds great, but is totally boring because you have to word-match every report, that nobody wants anyway, and it's like following a script. I know an ecologist who is told exactly how many photographs to take, what lens angle, and the precise information that had to be filled in.  For Network Rail we were filling in a spreadsheet and ticking boxes to ensure that the assessments were confined, and that was working for a Fortune 100 civil engineering company. They didn't even want site walkovers. The data was so confidential that you didn't even know who the project manager was or what they were building. If your role does not add any value and you end up getting bored mindless, then you can have the most interesting subject in the world, but you'll never do anything except read about the subject and recite rhetoric.  

If I was you I would come up with a list of actual jobs, and then work backwards to the degree choice. Then try to pick one that is readily available. If you want a shop, then the place to start is by reading some proper MBA textbooks and finding a niche or formulating a strategy for what you are going to do to compete. The people that work at my local fish shop have at least two degrees in fish biology or marine science. When you chat to them, you find out how hard they have worked to get a job that pays little more than most shop workers get. It's sad, but it's true. And there is an endless list of people trying to get the roles or who have the cash to start a business tomorrow.  What would a business degree actually teach you. If you can see value in becoming a ichthyologist or a hydroponics expert then go ahead. But the value lies in finding something somebody actually wants. If they need a store manager, then yes a business degree would help, but they are going to need leadership and management skills, order processing skills, financial planning skills, marketing skills and a wide variety of training and experience that you need to develop alongside doing a bachelors degree. Do you want to run an aquatic shop or work in a zoo? Will you be the owner? The manager? The advisor? That is the way to look at it. Contact the big companies and ask to volunteer. Find out what people actually do in the industry. Then come back and choose your university route.


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## Tim Harrison (2 Apr 2022)

Crikey, that's some seriously practical careers advice @Simon Cole, that anyone starting out, or thinking about changing career  would do well to follow. Interestingly enough my background isn't that dissimilar to yours. Although I took the scenic route to get there.

And you’re right environmental type careers are far and few between, hideously over subscribed, pay a pittance, and are invariably nothing to write home about. But I think it’s perhaps worth considering pursuing your dream first and seeing where it takes you, before settling for something that just pays the bills etc.


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## shangman (2 Apr 2022)

Natthanon said:


> I’m terrible at understanding biology, chemistry, physics and math, I’m still confused with square roots and passing the test was pure luck. (Also reason I’m trying to avoid thinking about Ei dosing)
> 
> Thanks for the encouragement.


Scratch all that biology stuff then! 😂 I had the same problem, I love nature but I just am not good at the sciences, I ended up studying art & design, and just draw nature and put it in all my designs instead. I did find business very interesting and useful to study too, I feel like when I'm ready I can start a business professionally and efficiently now with a really good chance of success, though part of what the course taught me was that I'm not ready to do it  yet and want a few more years of employment under my belt first.

It is a good idea to look for the kind of jobs you'd be interested in doing and working backwards, I think you are already doing that with your business idea. Maybe try to come up with 5 different jobs you could see yourself doing and work backwards, finding the connections between these and studying something that is relevant to several. You want to find the sweet spot between what you are into and what will pay in the future!

Many people study all sorts at uni, one of the most important things is contacts and keeping your eyes and ears out for interesting opportunities, take all of them that you can. The majority of my friends have ended up switching careers and industries to find a job that suits them, the pathway to good employment is often a winding one! Most courses will teach you transferable skills for all sorts of jobs, which is where finding that intersection between everything you're interested in comes in. Unless you come from a well off well connected family, nothing is really garunteed. 

 Whether you make it a business or not, it's great that you love nature and enjoy it so much, I know some people who have never  found a career or a hobby they are passionate about. Your connection with nature will really enrich your life no matter what your job ends up being. Even though aquariums isn't my job, it gives me so much joy, relaxation, loads of friends, sometimes stress - I find so much meaning in it.


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## Nont (26 Jul 2022)

Hi guys, just to give some updates on this.

I thought I’m going to study and get the job I like. I am lost once again and what happen was very incredibly stressed and  traumatic.

In mid of april I saw this very interesting subject in the university.
It was an E-sport subject that teach you to be professional MOBA gamer (I’m already good at it as I’ve used to play
Moba and mmo games for 5 years before left to give more time for aquascaping)
I returned to that play that game once again with team of friends and reached the highest rank once again. At first
 I‘m happy that this is going to be my career, hovever, I ended up getting bullied by the team and found out that theres teen trafficking and the entire underground of illegal stuff inside the community and that game company seems to support it. I left and feel guilty that I used to support this company by buying their merchandise.


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## Simon Cole (26 Jul 2022)

I think we would all feel that way if we were in your shoes, so don't worry about it. I am positively happy to walk away from bad companies, poor teamwork, and unpleasant individuals. Try to remember that companies are just groups of people. Brilliant people only work with other brilliant people, nice people will only work with other nice people. Hence why some companies are really nice and exclusive places to work. I had a friend who worked for 20 companies before he found one that he liked and stuck with. Interviews are just as much about finding out why you might not want to work for a company, so don't be afraid to turn things down.

I did a bit of research for you and found this rather interesting free course that could help you to determine your career path in the E-sports industry:

Collegiate Esports and Career Planning (University of California)
There are also quite a few free courses that you might look into after completing it:

Esports (University of California)
Esports Teams and Professional Players (University of California)
Game Developers and Esports Organizations (University of California)
How to Start an E-sports Club <Udemy>
Data Analytics in Sports Law and Team Management (State University of New York)
JHI The E-sports industry <free course>

I had a rather interesting interview with GLI earlier this month. They help to achieve regulation and industry conformity in the gaming sector, and have a rather interesting set of <services> that they offer to E-sports clients. Obviously this is just one example of an industry sector that has grown-up around E-sports, but it is worth mentioning, because although you may become a professional player, there are actually a very wide range of interesting and fulfilling roles across this industry that you could develop alongside your career ambition. Noting that the average career does not last that long for a player, it would be useful to have something as a back-up.

You could also put together an article on dysfunctional E-sports teams based upon your own experiences and share that on Linked-in, then add that to your CV and talk about it with potential colleges and future employers. So do not look at these events as anything negative, you can actually use these experiences to your advantage and demonstrate a heightened awareness of team work. I would even be tempted to submit such an article to magazines, and create a YouTube video showing that you are helping other people to overcome the same challenges, and that you advocate good teamwork. Companies love to see where you have overcome difficulties in the past anyway.


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## Nont (28 Jul 2022)

Hi, Simon, thanks again for taking the time to gave advices.


Simon Cole said:


> I think we would all feel that way if we were in your shoes, so don't worry about it. I am positively happy to walk away from bad companies, poor teamwork, and unpleasant individuals. Try to remember that companies are just groups of people. Brilliant people only work with other brilliant people, nice people will only work with other nice people. Hence why some companies are really nice and exclusive places to work.


Though, I don’t think I will be in this going back in the communities again anytime soon. 
Yesterday, I talked to a friend of a friend (who did a recearch on this topic) yesterday and she saids that the company engages in partnership of every e-sport game to made in available in my country, and a hive mind of shady business. I also had called 3 universities that teaches e-sport. From the informations I gathered, all of them hire staffs from that company.

I will keep looking for a subjects that suits me and I’ll update again next time.


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