I know I don't want a college degree or whatever's considered "a good job" because it'd likely be something "secure" but dull like office work or business.
Somebody mentioned accounting, and that reminded me of a woman who was shopping for neckties when I was working in a department store on a leave from college. She said, "My boyfriend's an accountant. Do you have anything...dull?"
First let me tell you that people who graduate from college are more likely to find their work "very interesting" than people with some college. People with graduate degrees are significantly more likely to find their work "very interesting," according to the same Pew Research poll:
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2011/05/2011-higher-ed-03-04.pngThen let me tell you a bit of my own story.
I took a leave from college because I was on academic probation, my mom hadn't done my financial aid paperwork on time, and I was not really sure I wanted to keep working in college. So I spent a summer and a fall semester waiting tables and selling menswear. At the age of 20, I really needed to see what life outside of school was. I also needed to grow up a bit. By Christmas, I had convinced myself that studying really was the easy way out. I got the paperwork done and came back to school.
When I returned to college, my goals were more about learning as much as I could than making the best grades. I wasn't an honor student, but I did make good enough grades to stay in school.
I graduated into a recession, which isn't the best time to figure out what you want to do by process of elimination. When you're not in school you have to pay for your own existence, and you do what you gotta do. I door-to-door canvassed for an environmental organization. I remember one night in a college town on the night of a basketball game when people wouldn't even come to the door. I numbered pages for a nuclear plant. I ran the cash register at driver's license station, entered data for home health care and manufacturing firms, or for a state agency. I answered phones at the IRS, I worked at Blockbuster Video.
After four years of that kind of job, I was so bored, my friends took up a collection and bought me a one-way bus ticket out of town. I cashed in my retirement and took my first plane rides to Taiwan, where I taught English in a small town for two years. This was my first job that actually required a college degree.
My experience abroad (and GRE scores when I properly prepared for the exam) helped me get a fellowship and a master's degree. My work since then has included some contract research for the CIA, illustrating a college manual, surveying fraternity members about alcohol use, and drawing maps for a major newspaper.
Eventually, though, I became a middle school teacher. I get a little frustrated with students who do not take responsibility for their own learning and can't seem to bring a sharpened pencil to class. But there are always hairy problems to solve, always challenges.
In my own experience, the most interesting jobs I have had--by far--are the ones that require a college degree.
