Choosing a career!!!

[rockinfreak09]

my mom wants me to be an educated lawyer and my dad wants me to be an accountant.

I say screw that Im going to be a musician for my career! Or else a TEACHER!

Am I wrong and should I be a lawyer /accountant. I wouldnt mind persuing music and living in a small quiet apartment for my whole life.....

I have my university funds and college **** to get me into a good education.....I would be getting a degree on teaching and fine arts.....although Id rather be a musician. If being a musician dont work than Ill be a teacher and make some $$ and just do guitar for spare time things....Id rather make Guitar my full time job!

What should I do?!

[Incidents Happen]

if you got the funds, might as well go to college to be a teacher, then after college just be a musician, if it doesnt work out for you, you always have that college degree.

[Christoph]

Go for the gusto, dude. Screw that lawyer/accountant crap. Sure, you can make a lot of money, but what's the point if you hate what you're doing??? Lawyers are leeches, leeching off other people's misfortune. And accountants . . . well, pushing little meaningless numbers around is a fate worse that death. So grab that ax, and rock on!

(disclaimer: I accept no responsibility for your actions concerning these comments, and these comments/opinions do not necessarily reflect those of guitartricks.com.)

[PonyOne]

Your parents have no say in what you do with your life. Neither does anyone for that matter.

Do what you feel you've got to do and should do.

[rockinfreak09]

ALRIGHT

music it is than!

[iiholly]

Teaching doesn't pay much, if you were getting that idea. You could probably work the night shift at home depot, and get paid more. Not that money is everything, but those are my thoughts. The only teaching job that pay is to be a profesor, and thats just because you'll end up writing expensive ass text books which aren't worth the paper they are written on. Stupid opinionated bastards.
Also, I don't think any of us need to tell you that it doesn't amount to **** what your parents want you to do... unless they're affluently supplying you funds.
Now you all can tell me that I am wrong, and that would be the typical way things work. I will now go do my english homework about a LAWYER name Aticus... even though a non-fiction character... ya now I'm babbling read to kill a mocking bird and you migh change your preception of lawyers. We are all leeches do not fool (I almost put full ha)yourself.

[Incidents Happen]

haha, you are well misinformed. Where i live, Wisconsin, just about any teacher over the age of 25 or 26 gets $40,000 to $50,000 dollars annually, as well as 3 months off during the summer, full state pension, an awesome insurance package, and when they retire they get 10 years full life/medical insurance. Bottom line? Teachers have it made.

[iiholly]

I'm not misinformed... 40 to 50 isn't **** if you have a family. In Virginia it's from 20-40. Lawyers have it made, doctors have it made, accountants have it made, a lot of people have it made but not teachers. No one who teaches does it for the money.

[Incidents Happen]

who says he has/wants a family? if your pulling down $50,000 and you are a single guy, i'd say your livin pretty nicely (considering your not living in L.A or new york).
Yeah, I expected to hear that, most southern states cost of living is crap, and therefore wages are crap.

[rockinfreak09]

thats right I plan on having no wife or GF until I atleast get my own apartment. Having GF will REALLY slow me down and Im sure many people will agree. And I want money for myself and not a family

40 000- 50 000$$ a year is great money and since your in the states and Im in canada that like 70 000$$ canadain.

Incidents Happen has a good point....why would I be a lawyer if I hate what Im doing. I dont wanna sit in an air tight office being stressed and yelling all the time. I dont wanna be docter cause I dont wanna kill things and I dont wanna be sitting in a stuffy room pushing buttons and screwing with math. Id rather be jamming at night with my friends and just partying and doing pot. I dont wanna be a dad cause Id rather be lonely and just Guitaring all day than having to watch over a kid and get stressed out all the time.

There isnt much point being something I dont wanna be I wanna be a musician and be poor but its what I wanna do. Besides being a docter, lawyer, or accountant will take up WAYYYYYYYY to much time and I cant do much gigs or play guitar often.

I never knew that teachers made that much!

[Edited by rockinfreak09 on 10-02-2002 at 10:49 PM]

[rockinfreak09]

money and videogames is a second worry....I dont need money I just need a job that I like. When your a musician you blow ALL your money on guitars, drum sets, and pianos!

Musician quote:
Music and enjoyment live first, money is second

[trendkillah]

I'd say(if you have a brain, and can make a well thought-through decision), do whatever you damn well please! ;)

Seriously though, you have to do what's most important to you. If you think you can pull off being a professional musician, go for it!

[dot-dot-dot]

Well... do what you want, of course, but...

Being a lawyer doesn't have to mean being the spawn of Satan. Pick an area of law where you're going to spend the majority of your time helping people. In the UK, when you buy a house you need a solicitor to do the "conveyancing". It's pretty simple stuff; checking contracts, doing registry searches and so on, but it pays well and you're actually providing a useful service.

I would imagine that there's something similar in most countries; law that helps people. No litigation, no criminal cases, just procedural things. Worth a look.

I'm an AV engineer; I work on huge video conference and presentation systems for big internationals. It's hardly a shildhood dream job, but:

a) It pays nicely.
b) I start at 8.30 and finish at 5, every day.
c) I have plenty of free time at work, when I can do (within reason) what I want.

That's not a bad job for someone who wants to play guitar a lot. I have evenings and weekends, and I can spend them playing - or shopping for all the new gear I can afford.

Why not consider music your career, but also have a job that pays ok, doesn't suck up all your time and keeps your brain working?

[pstring]

Just tell Mom and Dad that you can't make up your mind between being a teacher or a musican and that you would like their advice, I'm sure they'll do whatever they can to help you get that teaching degree. Your parents want the best for you, but your education is an investment in your future, and it should prepare you for something you can see yourself doing, hopefully something you have a passion to do, and if teaching doesn't work out for you, you can still become a big superstar musican like Sting, I still want to be a cowboy when I grow up...............

[Bardsley]

Well, most people try to go into law because they are passionate about it and because they want to help... well a lot do anyway. The legal system may be screwed, but a world in which there aren't trained people to represent you in a court would suck. It's already pretty bad, because the big companies can afford better lawyers who know the loopholes better than those who act for the little guys. Oh well. Teaching is not something you should do for the money. Too many **** teachers make being a student seem **** without adding one more. If you care about teaching, and you like the idea of helping others learn, then go for it.
Of course, you do realise that the middle ground is quite good. That is, teach music! I reckon the best thing an aspiring musician can do is to study to become a good music teacher, cause that's the best way of earning an income a lot of the time from music, and if you want to teach, what better than to teach what you love?

[Christoph]

Originally posted by rockinfreak09
Incidents Happen has a good point....why would I be a lawyer if I hate what Im doing.

Heh . . . I said that first. When your life bombs out and you're living in a crappy one room apartment, working at Home Depot to pay the rent, I at least want to have credit. :D

By the way, lawyers are indeed leeches. Whenever you have a problem they come swooping in with their briefcases to help defend you in court . . . from some other sap who's lawyer convinced him to sue you. See a pattern here?

[PonyOne]

There are some lawyers who are in it for the good of humanity. They don't get jobs.

Incidents, my dad is the head of the english department of one of the most wealthy school districts in the US, and he makes $50,000. Not bad if you're single. But to get a job like that, you've got to go to school quite a bit. So my dad has bills from Yale, Harvard, the University of Washington and Seattle University to pay off, plus my mom's Seattle U bills, and teachers get the WORST benefiets package in the career field, meaning that every year they pay for at least half to 3/4 of their medical per year out of their own pocket. If teaching was such a great profession, a lot of the bad stuff that happened to me throughout my life wouldn't have happened. And have you ever stepped into a public school?

Wisconsin??? Yippie skippy, I'm going to pack my bags and run off to the cheese capital of the US... i can't contain my excitement.... BLLLLAR!!!!! Oh man, I just wet my pants.....

I think of myself as a musician first and foremost and I've dedicated my life to mastering my instrument. But I'm going to college for intereor design next semester. I love drawing, and I also love workin gon homes, and have a great eye for color and space. You know how much a bad intereor designer who just tells people what to buy and where to put it makes a year? Over $50,000 (US). You know how much good intereor designers make a year? More than most touring musicians. And drawing & design is so simple to me that I can hammer out a plan for a house plus a motif and have time to rock out and recor dand have time to pleasure the missus.

Have you thought about going to a musician's trade college? Doing prodution, mixing, instruction, etc? It will help you out immensely in gettin gout there, and it pays well, too.

[Christoph]

"They don't get jobs . . ." LOL.


Interior design, huh? . . . maybe you can go on that show Trading Spaces.

[PonyOne]

You'll be able to recognize me as the one that never says things are"marvy," stares at that blond lady's boobies and puts everything into a heavily art nouveau/deco/venitian revival spin.

Voice Over w/funny bassline behind it: "Today on trading spaces, Tristan asserts his control over the Swansons."

Wife: "But, Freda said that she didn't want anything too dark, and she also doesn't like mosiac tile floors... and what's with this music you have on this boombox? it's giving me a headache."

Me: "Okay my bosomy little curmudgeon, you agreed when you signed up for the show that we could do whatever, so take this mini-roller and get it cracking on the mouldings... and knock Failure again, and i'll mosiac a huge pig on the floor."

Husband: "Can I use my power saw?"

Insert funny sounding bassline.

[Incidents Happen]

Originally posted by PonyOne


Incidents, my dad is the head of the english department of one of the most wealthy school districts in the US, and he makes $50,000. Not bad if you're single. But to get a job like that, you've got to go to school quite a bit. So my dad has bills from Yale, Harvard, the University of Washington and Seattle University to pay off, plus my mom's Seattle U bills, and teachers get the WORST benefiets package in the career field, meaning that every year they pay for at least half to 3/4 of their medical per year out of their own pocket. If teaching was such a great profession, a lot of the bad stuff that happened to me throughout my life wouldn't have happened. And have you ever stepped into a public school?

Wisconsin??? Yippie skippy, I'm going to pack my bags and run off to the cheese capital of the US... i can't contain my excitement.... BLLLLAR!!!!! Oh man, I just wet my pants.....


every ****ing thing i say, you tear it apart. its like you can't take any legitimicy in any of my posts. sheesh.

[rockinfreak09]

Originally posted by Bardsley
If you care about teaching, and you like the idea of helping others learn, then go for it.
Of course, you do realise that the middle ground is quite good. That is, teach music

Id love to do that but the only instrument I can do is Guitar and a touch of Electric bass. For that teaching you probably might wanna learn piano or clarinet. But a Guitar teacher is fine.

To Christoph: Sorry about that I got a little confused!

To PonyOne: I thought you just needed a University or College degree in teaching :P and the teachers get 3 months off work per year thats pretty great. Remember! Money is a second chore.....I mean Im probably going to be renting an apartment for my whole life so why bother with $$

[iiholly]

Hmm... don't dis home depot man *blinks*. What am I talking about I hate that store witha passion. I like the music teacher idea, but I don't see how you get paid much for that unless you charge a lot and give many lessons. Maybe I should do the math, and not make an uneducated guess. Maybe pony will "tear up this post"... maybe no one will pay attention.

[Christoph]

Heh . . . when Pony is on the warpath, anyone is game. IH just happened to be in the way.

[PonyOne]

I don't like it when people post stuff they have almost no idea about like it's gospel. There's a vast netwerk of information at the tip of your fingers, for chrissake...

[chris mood]

To become a teacher in the public school system all you need is a b.a. If you have a masters or doctorate you will get paid more. Teachers who had doctorate degrees in the school district I used to work in were making $90,000 plus a year. The health benefits and retirement plans are excellent, you get all holidays off and the summer too. Starting salaries range from $40,000 - $60, 000, a lot less for inner city schools.
The only problem I had with trying to balance teaching with a musical career was that I had to be up at 5:30 am during the week to make it in to school, not very pleasant if you were out gigging the night before and you didn't make it home until 3:30am.
As for lawyers vrs teachers, the law feild is so overpoppulated that most lawyers are starting out making $30,000 and working 8o hr weeks, you have to graduate in the top 5% of your class from a top law school to get that plush job from a big firm these days.

[Incidents Happen]

Originally posted by chris mood
To become a teacher in the public school system all you need is a b.a. If you have a masters or doctorate you will get paid more. Teachers who had doctorate degrees in the school district I used to work in were making $90,000 plus a year. The health benefits and retirement plans are excellent, you get all holidays off and the summer too. Starting salaries range from $40,000 - $60, 000, a lot less for inner city schools.


pony, chris mood just confirmed everything i just said. i have 3 aunts that are teachers, all making $60,000 a year +, plus 3 months off in the summer. why dont you rip out chris mood, if you feel that he's wrong too?

[Zeppelin]

woo wooo woo
don't fight kids
who cares how much money a teacher gets?
the point is: NEVER base your life on fake belive youll have career in music buisness because 99.9% of us wont.
thats why im going to learn computers engineering when im out of the IDF

[Lordathestrings]

When I was 18, my latest band broke up. I had to choose whether was going to get a day job, or risk starving for the sake of my music. I got a day job. I still jam a bit, and I may get into a band that does the ocaisional weekend gig. I don't feel like I chickened out. Like the man says, 99.9% of don't have the drive, or the luck, to make it. I made my choice almost 32 years ago, (I turn 50 today). Looking back, it was the right choice for me. Only you can make that decision for you.

[Christoph]

Happy 50th Birthday!!!!

[Incidents Happen]

happy b-day! :D

[Zeppelin]

happy birthday man :)

[educatedfilm]

Happy birthday Lord!

Zep: personally, I think that law would be a great feild to go into... admitidly it is screwy, but no where near as screw as poeple here think it is... Plus, there's no reason why you shouldn't do the whole music thing with yer course... (plus law students are hotties, ;)... well the ones living in my hall are anyway..ahem)...
Teaching would be very cool, but you've not specified what subject / level you want to teach at... I dont know about isreal, but over here, if you wanna teach at high school level or above, you need a degree in yer subject, and then do a two year course in teaching...

Acountancy: personally, the thought of being at a desk 9 to 5 doing sums, scares the bejesus out of me...

I definetly say go to uni... Socially, it's the best thing that can happen to you... it's fun (ok, ok, I admit my course gives us alot more work, while Geography students get drunk, but that's life)... Also trying to make it the world with out much qulifications is bloody well difficult, and it can be pretty bleak... I know, i'm seeing it my freinds who left school 3 or 4 years ago...

Music wise, Uni is great... there's soooo many poeple around, your bound to meet some one with similar ideas and intrests sooner or later (in most cases, it'll be like in the first week... or so i've found)...

Oh yeah, I have made freinds with a living ledgend... He's a guy in my hall, who can handle his drink like no-one i've ever seen before... He came and chatted to me at about 2 am last, and he seemed much more chatty than usual, and I could smell alcohol on his breath, but he wasn't slurrin ghis words, and he was moving about like he was stone cold sober... I nearly crapped my self, when i found out that he'd just had 15 PINTS!!!!! I dont drink at all, but even i know that's a hellova lot...

On the whole, I STRONGLY recommend uni... but all three courses sound pretty good...
Good Luck

[PonyOne]

Happy birthday, dude...

Well maybe the two states my dad has taught in (Washington and Massachusetts) are the exception, not the norm. Why won't I tear into him? Because he doesn't come on like he's something he's not. End of story.

[Edited by PonyOne on 10-04-2002 at 05:13 PM]

[Incidents Happen]

and how would you know what i am and what im not, never seeing me before in your entire life?

[PonyOne]

I'm not going to get into this. This board has gone long enough without flaming and I don't want to be one of the two involved in bringing it back.

[PonyOne]

Oh, and on lawyers... I thought I'd share this story, I think I posted it up to vent after it happened...

i was crossing the street in downtown Boston about a year ago, and this guy flew left through a yellow light, straight toward us. We were about ten feet back from the crosswalk, as in Boston there is no jaywalking clause so you can cross wherever you want. The guy saw us and instead of stoppin ghe just started yelling and sped up.
I shoved my girlfriend out of the way and jumped after her; the car was right on me and in manic desperation, I spun around and thrust out my left foot, probably hoping to push myself away (i don't really remember), and he hit it.
I righted myself, and the guy pulled over about twenty feet up. My girlfriend and I just started walking, but he actually chased me up the block screaming "Hey Asshole!" and then grabbed me around the collar. What he said was great, and the cops loved it too: "You f-ing idiot asshole, I'm a lawyer and my brother's a cop, I'll f-ing kill you and get away with it!" He kept screaming that he was a lawyer and alternating between killing me and suing me blind. I shived him off of me and he kept grabbing at me after I told him to stop, so I ran into a bar with him chasing me saying "get back here or i'll f-ing kill you." The guy was Arabic, and the bar was Irish, and I'm Swedish & German, which people in Boston assume is Irish. All these guys were saying they'd f-him up, and were like "hey Sully's brother is a lawyer" and all this, it was really quite funny...

It turned out he lost his liscence a week earlier for a similar happening, and the cops were quite happy to be able to slap him with a hefty fine. I think he got jail time too, not sure though, as basically, legally, it was like he nailed me in a crosswalk then threatened to kill me for it. He also got disbarred for threatening to use his position as an officer of the courts and his brother's as a lawman to get me to incriminate himself.

Heheheh.... I love that story....

[Incidents Happen]

yeah i agree with ya, most lawyers are dirt...love the story btw.

[Polera]

first and foremost, when you plan to have a fall back option you usually fall back on that option. I m gonna be a doctor and yet not a day goes by when i wish i was playing professional hockey. My point is do what you want cuz money is everything, if ur gonna do, dont back down till your dead or youve got what you want!

[educatedfilm]

LOL, ponyone... the story is funny, but what has it got to do with lawyers being parasites/ dirt? That man's just a c-nt, nothing to do with being a lawyer...
I dont know... maybe because in the US things are much more commercially driven (and the frightning ability to sue someone just for looking at you cross eyed).. but over here lawyers are ok.. ofcourse they want to make money, but they do also have some principles...
We can thank lawyers for a lot laws defending our pay/ work hours/ the need for concent from doctors etc etc...