What would life be like if you had not got into IT?

VAHokie56

Someone elses post made me think of this, thought it would be interesting to see what other paths people where following...


I would most likely still be working as superintendent on a golf course since my actual degree is in turf grass. Have to say its not a bad gig getting off every day at 2:30 ( start at 6am) and playing 9 holes with minimal stress. I would not have half the cool toys I have now, sick car and new house I just bought because my salary would be far less. I love what I do now because I nerd out on Cisco and my job challenges me. So where would you be if you had said " nah IT is for geeks" and did something else?

lsud00d

Possibly Pharm sales...I'd be a lot richer at this point

vanquish23

Still bagging groceries for 7 bucks an hour.

Qord

Who knows, something manual-labor-ish for me. Either scaffolding, truck driving/heavy equipment, maybe even enlisted Navy again.

Asif Dasl

Pole dancer..

Iristheangel

World domination... I'd be bored and that would seem like a good use of my time.

networker050184

I probably would have stayed in the military and made a career out of it.

coffeeluvr

I would still be a bean counter....doing taxes, reconciling accounts...all the fun stuff Accountants do. Actually, it was not all bad....got to travel a lot, which is fun when you are young and single.

eansdad

networker050184 wrote: »

I probably would have stayed in the military and made a career out of it.

Yup...Same here...

Anonymouse

vanquish23 wrote: »

Still bagging groceries for 7 bucks an hour.

I'm with this guy.

blueberries

<<< Male Sex Symbol. Possibly the next Justin Bieber.

blargoe

If I had given up on college altogether, I'd probabaly be in retail management by now, since I was already on track to be in a management training program when I quit my retail job.

Otherwise, probably pharmacy, since that is where I was leaning before I got into computer science.

glenn_33

I'd probably still be rolling burritos...

redz

My other option was a math scholarship. I don't know what people who major in math do. I assume I would be adding numbers to other numbers in arbitrary fashion while someone paid me.

kiki162

Landscape Architect and on the side... professional drinker

Couldn't see how I could be making money with either. But that's where I was headed 10-15 yrs ago.

Now if I got a salary to be "mommy" plus my job I have now... that would be all I would ever need

kanecain

I ran a strip club called "The Glitter Factory" where we specialized in Japanese midgets.

DevilWAH

Scientists, either continued in Zoology or maybe retrained as a Physicists.

blueberries

DevilWAH wrote: »

Scientists, either continued in Zoology or maybe retrained as a Physicists.

Its terrible that anyone in the STEM range is financially discouraged from proceeding with their studies, but I do know guys with Master's in Biology and Physics who are working in IT because natural sciences don't pay.

binarysoul

I would have been 'free' from learning over and over again things that I don't need to learn, but must because some naive HR/manager says so

pitviper

Structural Engineer – which is the path I started down in college. I’d probably be making more money, and dealing with fewer morons on a daily basis.

DevilWAH

blueberries wrote: »

Its terrible that anyone in the STEM range is financially discouraged from proceeding with their studies, but I do know guys with Master's in Biology and Physics who are working in IT because natural sciences don't pay.

I work in IT because I love IT, nothing to do with no money in science. I still work in a science research institute, and its will not be the last I work in. And the pay i get working for a public funded institute if less than half I was offered to stay in the commercial service management world. The great thing about working in science is that the people doing it do it for the job not for the money and it means is a great family atmosphere.

There is plenty of money in science to survive and the feeling of achievement and being the first to work on and discover new ideas more than makes up for the drop in pay. Only reason I moved to IT is I am a much better network engineer than I ever was a Zoologist, and I would rather sit in the wings watching the scientists deliver there discoveries knowing that my work has help them. then in a 9-5 grind getting paid the earth.

If you work in a private Science research there is plenty of money around, mega bucks, but science is one field that takes over your life and mostly the best scientists are the ones who would not have a clue whats on they paycheck, because all they care about is the research and pushing the boundaries.

Sadly I think IT is one of the fields that even with out being a good engineer you can end up getting paid lots, and this draws people to it for the money rather than the job. So I get to deal with a lot of meodica engineers who get paid enough and have got stagnate and lazy.

binarysoul

pitviper wrote: »

Structural Engineer – which is the path I started down in college. I’d probably be making more money, and dealing with fewer morons on a daily basis.

Liked the part about "dealing with fewer morons on a daily basis"

kohr-ah

Originally tested to be a fighter-pilot. Would of pursued that.
Otherwise being a pharmacist always interested me.

VAHokie56

Good responses...I was interested to see how many peoples responses had options, like they did not really need to switch fields for money but where just generally interested in IT.

I am also all for dealing with less morons AKA project managers

MSP-IT

I would still be a drug pusher.

And by drugs, I mean caffeine. I was a Barista at the 'bucks.

About7Narwhal

Rebar Fabrication.. or disability. The big drive for me to chase my IT dream was a spinal injury. I can't do the manual labor stuff anymore. Even now though, I am considering school for Biology and Psychology. Always loved the topics in school.