IV. Post High School Options:

Back to the Table of Content

NOTE: The following applies to anyone, at any age, investigating their career work options.

Having explored Wings, Anchor’s Travel, High school diploma, marriage & children, and investing, WHAT are your post-high school options? What direction can/will you decide to take? Remember ‘your life’ is what we are talking about. No one else's.

CAUTION: If you have the courage or fear enough for your future to read this, please do so with an ‘open mind’ OR else you are wasting your time & mine.    Notice I gain no benefit from your life’s decisions. I won’t even be there. 😂.

OTOH I write all this in hopes your life will be fulfilling & successful, rather than a chain of failures, near misses or mild moves leading nowhere, but to your grave. 😃 Sound dramatic? It is!                                                      It's is your life.

A.  3 career/work categories:

1. Hourly, unskilled work: 

                  Work Type: McDonald’s, construction clean-up, retail clerk, etc.  
                  Requirements: minimal knowledge & skills
                  Your prime Motivation: survival basics: food, clothing & shelter. 
                  Pay Level: minimum wage or less depending on desperation
        Caution: high probability robo/AI will replace

Anecdote: Scott’s donut job: Ironically, while you might THINK you start with no knowledge or skills, that is probably NOT true. Household chores, hobbies, and even sports may teach useful skills. Obviously, English-speaking skills, which you learn automatically & basic math, which you learn in grade school are useful practical tools. Most of our immigrant forefathers gained OJT knowledge & skills without knowing much English.  

Even if you have little knowledge & few skills you may be hired because your intelligence, personality, & motivation are so obvious a business is willing to invest in your OJT training. Remember, all my work experience, white or blue collar, except law, was learned on-the-job (OJT).   Much work experience & skills may be easily taught on the job. (retail sales clerk, landscaping, irrigation maintenance, etc.

Anecdote: UNambitious, then inspired … Michael: was hired by a small RV shop right out of high school because of his good intelligence &  pleasant, comfortable personality, but unfortunately, he proved to have zero enthusiasm or ambition. Occasionally, he asked to be challenged but then sidestepped the challenge when offered.  After four years he was fired.          

I encountered him later in a Home Depot store, & asked how he was doing. With uncharacteristic enthusiasm, he beamed that he had been hired by a commercial electric company. He said "I'm amazed at how much I've learned in the last six months".

Obviously, the electrical company had detected his intelligence appreciated his personality, and somehow divined that he might be inspired to become an electrician. They hired him. I was very pleased for him. Obviously, the stars had aligned.

2. College: Bachelor degree required to get job*

                  Work Type: Range from, unskilled hourly to much more dependent on education level & experience
                  Requirements: minimal knowledge & skills to a high level of ….
                  Your prime Motivation: self-worth, self-esteem, life satisfaction,  quality of life, financial security ...maybe.
                  Pay Level: Usually higher than minimum wage, but industry/locality based, more & more dependent on your performance
                                    productivity & business politics.

   * your actual work may have no relevance to college subjects studied

Quote: “I think colleges are basically for fun and to prove you can do your chores. But, they're not for learning.” Elon

3. The Trades (trade job) : 

                  Work Type: hands-on, possible Certified/ Management functions.                      
                  Requirements: OJT, hands-on training &/or trade school leading thru 3 Cert levels & higher Specialty Certification:
                  Your prime Motivation: financial security, hands-on work, independence, self-worth, life fulfillment & invest opportunity
                  Pay Level: Usually wages, unless independent or owner; increases thru 3+ tiered levels

B. Specious/ questionable Work/Career Distinctions:

 Now with a simple sense of the 3 main career paths, …. let’s disarm society’s misleading, specious portrayals of ‘work’ that have glorified college graduates AND belittled & ignored trade-oriented work.

1. Wording of Career's Definition distinctions:

Oxford Dictionary definition: “A paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training & a formal qualification.” I disagree because some words are overly broad & misleading    word twisting/semantics: 
    a. ‘paid’: if parents homeschool their child can they NOT be professionals? Or, if a licensed engineer designs an orphanage for free, is she no longer a professional?

    b. ‘prolonged’ training: For several decades a college degree has been the mere equivalent of an earlier era’s high school diploma. Its knowledge often irrelevant to the work to be done.

A trade school & OJT’s knowledge & skills may be far more relevant & useful than college info and knowledge & skills acquisition will continue indefinitely for both trade & college based. 

What competent accountants, salespeople or electricians is not constantly learning & training throughout their careers, particularly as new tech emerges?  (Start thinking robotic AI's impact

    c) ‘formal qualification’ (license, diploma, title): Semantically, a doctor’s State’s Medical License, and an electrician’s License are  ‘formal qualifications’? But, does either one reflect the highest standard or a lower minimal standard? I have experienced incompetency in both fields at all levels. 

2. ‘White collar’ vs ‘blue collar’ distinction:

Over my last 6 ½ decades it seems society, specifically parents, corporate business, and educational institutions, have drawn a clear distinction between college & non-college careers usually by 1) glorification of ‘white collar’ work and by 2) unfair denigration & dismissal, of ‘blue collar’ trades.

a. White collar:   clean, intellectual’ work marked by a ‘white shirt & tie.   Initially, promoted by post WWII’s GI bill for under-employed vets & then, in response to America’s post-war II explosive economic growth requiring an effective workforce.

By 1980s corporations required a Bachelor's degree, as evidence of applicant’s minimal extended effort AND as a quick applicant screening device.

OTOH, STEM work's knowledge & skills may be most easily acquired in university (doctor, engineer, software tech, etc.

      ‘white collar' characteristics:
          1. A college degree is required for hiring, but not necessary for job description
          2. Suit & tie persona (except creative types, game software developers)
          3. Tied (enslaved) to corporation
          4. Grinding climb up corporate ladder
          5. Salary, rather than wage
          6. Very ‘political’ 

b. Blue collar:  refers to a tradesperson’s historically rugged, dirt-resistant dark-colored clothing (blue denim) necessitated by the often dirty, hands-on physical work whose earlier era’s typical low wages could not justify frequent washing.

     ‘Blue collar’ characteristics:
          1. Trade school or OJT (on-the-job training) or both (diesel mechanics) 
          2. knowledge & skill certification levels: apprentice, journey, and master
          3. certification level based on skills, time & experience

          4. dark, rugged clothes (denim: don’t show dirt)
          5. hourly wage 
          6. flexibility & independence
          7. Sole proprietor’s management skills & greater profit 

3. Professional  vs ‘Tradesperson’ distinction

This institutional & government's  ‘profession/professional’ label implies another potential false distinction between white-collar & blue-collar work; college vs no-college work. This professional label may also be duplicitous because it implies that a government or institutional authority has impliedly guaranteed a certain minimal level of competency of white-collar workers. OTOH, state & local licensing of tradespersons may do the same.

Yet, such labels may disguise a person’s incompetency & lack of moral commitment to the certification’s alleged societal duties & responsibilities to protect public’s safety. 

a. Public school & collegiate system's destructive fraud:

While I recognize the legitimate hard work required to achieve medical and legal professional status because I've done it (licensed California lawyer), such government or institutional certification may bwe specious (education) intentionally disguising a destructive fraud …. like public high school & collegiate systems. 

Anecdote: My US public High school teaching:  At 52 having taught high school for two years, I was overcome & unable to ignore my daily, ongoing hypocrisy of equating forced memorization and destructive testing with "actual learning".

My lofty teacher goals had always been to:
    1) find a way for students to actually learn, 
    2) enhance student’s life experience after me
    3) perhaps to affect a change on education at large.

During each class lecture my students and I struggled to stay awake knowing that they would be tested at week’s end on the drivel I had spewed. Worse, I was replicating all the classroom dynamics that had bored me to failure during the 1^st 20 years of my life.   Unprofessionally worse, … I, & my fellow teachers, knew we were frauds & hypocrites because we saw its effects each day            

Shame on me for violating that duty.

After my 2^nd year of teaching, I advised my Principal that I ‘literally cried’ at home because my kids were so bored by my lectures & intimidated by test anxiety. I felt useless, destructive & hypocritical because I knew my classic ‘teaching’ was destructive, counterproductive & I was a hypocritical fraud. I was everything BUT a 'professional' teacher.

My Principal calmly looked directly at me, “If you don’t like it, change it.” 

I responded, “Really? He confirmed & …. I did. My Principal had character & courage.

That summer, and every summer, Christmas, and spring break for the next 5-6 years I created & continually refined ‘out-of-my-imagination an entire project-based curriculum for several courses (US History, government, economics, geography, and law).

Thereafter, for eight years until I retired, my curriculum was totally project-based, critical thinking projects, with few tests. My goal was to inspire and motivate and elevate my students' learning experience such that it would hopefully drive & elevate the quality of their life experience.

As a consequence of this epiphany, I realized that probably all of my fellow academic teachers (except shop, Home, radio and TV, etc. art) were guilty of knowing that they were frauds and in effect, hypocritical agents of a fraudulent & destructive public education system, but yet persisted often for decades despite the potential damage to kids and America 

Do not let these suspect distinctions sway you. Look deeper!

b. My definition, of ‘professional‘:

Haunted by this massive hypocrisy, I created my own definition of professional which applies to anyone doing anything for someone else:

Quote: “A professional is obsessed with the pursuit of excellence ….
on behalf of their client."  (Scott). [pplk: Professional def]

This definition is broken into two main chunks, each with their own key elements.   I’ll dissect ......
      1) “A ‘professional’ is obsessed with the pursuit of excellence  .... "
             a) ‘’obsessed’: NOT  “mildly interested’’, but.    " intensely driven, very passionate, etc."

            b) “pursuit of excellence”: NOT  ‘just what’s required’, but aggressively, hunting for anything
                 that will elevate their efforts to an ‘excellence’ level rather than a mediocre commonplace.

      2) “on behalf of their client.".
          a. "on behalf of their client”: every element aspired to in the 1^st part is focused solely & directly
               on providing “maximum benefit’ to the client .....

          b. a ‘client’: is whoever the professional is working for: teacher’s student, parents & taxpayers OR 
              doctor’s patient, lawyer’s client, hairdresser’s patron; gardener’s homeowner, etc ad nauseam.

c. Examples of a 'true' professional:

1) a doctor, whose primary goal is making money, may not be a professional, in spite of their education, training, license & monomial letters.

2) the framing carpenter, whose wall angles are always a perfect 90° is a true professional.

3) my school janitor had no certificate or title, but labored tirelessly from 5am on … to keep our building clean. A true professional.

4) homeschooling parents lacking a college education, certificate or title may still be a more effective ‘professional’ teacher/educator than most public school teachers.

In sum, IMO, the above professional definition is the only valid, honest, definition of a professional,
all else, IMO, is pragmatic window dressing.

4. Purpose of these work/career distinctions.

IMO, the PURPOSE of these above negative, distracting, biased & often false/ work-career distinctions are:
     1) false glorification of white collar as ‘clean & more intellectually demanding & important’ work.

     2) intentional, conscious denigration of blue-collar work as ‘ordinary’ common dirty labor.

     3) provide corporations with an educated, docile technical & upper management workforce with enough personal initiative to at least get through college.

Quote: “I think colleges are basically for fun and to prove you can do your chores.
But, they're not for learning.” Elon Musk

    4) legitimately anticipate an ever-increasing technological world … yet many degrees have little to do with technology or will be dramatically reduced or replaced by technology (AI).

    5) dishonestly promoted university/college system’s financial growth on backs of student-loan burdened.

    6) endorsed & promoted by the government/bank/university cabal

 5. My work experience:

Most of my working life was almost totally without long-term direction or plan. I reacted to the options that ‘popped up’ before me. I never did any broad research.    What additional exciting opportunities might have popped up had I or my educational institutions been proactive. Maybe I might have started foreign travel earlier.

I never thought of the ‘trades’ because my parents, schools & I were totally focused on a college degree-based corporate career which, ironically, we never specifically discussed in any detail. Apparently, JUST a college degree was the magic key to any career direction I might subsequently choose. 

The young woman who knows she wants to be a doctor or a vet is reminded of her long-term ambition each time she visits her doctor or pets her dog.           But I remember neither the concept of a future career or any specific career.

While roughly 50% of my ‘career’ work was college-degree based e.g. ‘white collar’ (sales advertising, lawyer, & teacher), the other 50% was in the construction trades or other hands-on endeavors (antique cars, antique furniture, laundromat.) 

In spite of my white-collar salary that covered my day-to-day survival expenses, most of my life’s net worth was from my ‘self-taught’ trades, real estate & small business management & trial & error investing skills. Ironically, none of my careers that required a college diploma to be hired, (corporate-level sales, advertising account executive, & High school teaching) except law, ACTUALLY NEEDED a college education.

Anecdote: teaching accounting at JH college: 35 years ago I was asked to teach accounting at a small start-up local private college. I knew nothing, but stayed a chapter ahead of the class which contained 2 wives of accountants. Much later, the wives told me that they thought I was an accountant. The best teachers are those who are prepared and can motivate/inspire students to learn. The content is always easily available; the motivation — seldom.

Anecdote: Pete Daily Advertising: starting in the mail room, I asked Pete what night courses I could take that would enhance my success in his advertising agency. He said, "Don't waste your time. You'll learn everything you need to know right here",… and I did.

Anecdote: U of WY: College of Education: Secondary Social Studies Certification required to teach in Wyoming.: IMO opinion, 25 years ago, with a couple of exceptions, it was the easiest thing I have ever done. Except for 1 novel, insightful class, it was a sham. 

I often joked I'd have to attack my teacher to get less than an ‘A’ ; at one point in time I qualified for more than a 100% grade.  I suspect the smoke & mirrors are today only thicker & more numerous —nothing substantive has changed.

In sum, IMO, a life’s successful personal career path results from the
profitable application of your passion-driven knowledge & skills that can directly benefit the needs/wants in your society.

V. How to try to plan your future?

Back to the Table of Content

A. Your challenge: ….

....  is to look into your desired career’s future … and try to discover what education & training qualifications you will need to keep your current job or get the future one you want. 

Don’t trust the traditional or vocational schools that purport to do this. 

,mnb, 

Research these school’s course offerings so you know what you will actually get. How much lecture vs hands-on shop training? Where are their graduates working at these robo/AI advanced jobs?  Contact those company’s human resources directors to confirm.   Don’t be duped by a school’s self-serving hype.

Quote: Excuse my cynicism, but Remember the old adage,
 “Those who can, do;       those who can't, teach.”
                                                (George Bernard Shaw, playwright) 

Note: I taught high school for 10 years for the challenge. Not the money. 😇

If you know what Company you want to work with (Tesla),  contact them find out what qualifications you should have. Some companies may pro-actively train new employees.

Power to Fly: How these 20 companies are preparing for the future of work.
  https://powertofly.com/up/how-these-20-companies-are-preparing-for-the-future-of-work

So with these caveats out-of-the-way, let's realistically investigate your work/career options, regardless

B. Major robotics & AI combo Warning:

Robotics & artificial intelligence (AI) are about to change your current and future employment landscape like an bomb in a China shop. Most seem to think that the robotic AI impact will be slow & gradual having minimal impact until far down the road.  

I disagree. I think the robotic AI revolution will be broad, deep & very fast-changing with profound impacts on everything including jobs.

Artificial intelligence’s vast knowledge base in combination with its rapidly growing supercomputers' fast ‘thinking’ speed will answer questions, solve problems & perform tasks almost instantaneously without error.

Robots technical ability to do much of what human beings physically do will rapidly replace vast swaths of human experience, skills, & their often tedious, repetitious, undesirable &, of course, dangerous human jobs.   Think bookkeeping, flipping hamburgers, assembly lines, bomd disposal, septic tank cleaning, garbage pickup & disposal, etc., etc., etc..

This robo/AI combination will eliminate or dramatically modify today’s ‘work descriptions’ at all levels sharply reducing tedious, repetitive, dangerous human work. Think: bookkeeping, production line, & making fries. Many of today’s career paths may shrink drastically or disappear.  This new AI-driven robotics will work vastly faster, more accurately, with great productivity that will substantially ‘lower costs.
 AI driven robots require no sleep or coffee breaks.

McDonald's:
Industry Leaders: MCDONALDS RUN BY ROBOTS: “FAST” FOOD WITH A TWIST : https://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/a-mcdonalds-run-by-robots-the-start-of-an-automated-future/#:~

Many McD’s already have installed “order kyosks” (robots) to 1) increase order & prep speed & accuracy, 2) fewer employees, 3) sustain profit margins.. McDonald’s franchisee owner, Keith Vanecek, is testing hamburger flipping machines. Totally automated McDonald’s in Texas & Tempe, AZ.     PIK K9 robots

Laugh all you want, but remember the 1st cars rapidly replace the horse.

California’s mandatory minimum $20/hour as of April 1, 2024 has/will either force some franchise businesses to close OR replace many human workers with robots. I sympathize with 'replaced' employees, BUT more importantly, they need to seek retraining to manage the robots.

OTOH, highly modified or brand-new jobs will be created for those who have prepared for the changes.

Anecdote:  Historically, for dental implants, my dentist took X-rays, made a cast of my upper & lower teeth, tweaked them for perfection & sent it to a dental lab that created the crown and shipped them back 3 weeks later.

Today, a digital mouth scanner creates a very accurate 3D digital impression of your mouth & teeth, then electronically sends the digital image to aa on-site milling machine or 3D printing machine to design & create a custom crown for immediate installation while you wait comfortably in your chair. 

This modern crown creation scheme may relies on several different software programs & devices to manage both patient personal & visit info & as well as actual dental treatment. This new advanced Dental treatment CAD/CAM software & equipment requires highly modified or new job descriptions: 
    1) Dental design software (3D modeling software) for crowns, dentures, bridges, and other restorations, 
    2) Dental treatment software simulates step-by-step outcomes of orthodontic corrections 
    3) Dental patient monitoring software &
    4) Dental patient engagement software

The point of this above discussion is the current dental office job descriptions’s duties, knowledge base & skills will be dramatically elevated above current qualifications requiring much more training & education.

C. So, ‘How to ‘discover’ your next career?  

Depending on your age and career status, the above might frighten you. 

Neither high school nor college makes a legitimate attempt to help you wisely choose a career path. Only the orphan vocational courses suggest usefulness or careers: (music, art, shop, home econ, etc) MAY do that.    So you must NOW do it for yourself:

Remember, most people hang onto a career like a life preserver hoping/presuming it's a safety life preserver & securely attached to a Coast Guard rescue boat, not realizing the rope is attached to a shark.

If it sounds like I'm trying to frighten you that's absolutely what I'm trying to do!   fear motivates every protective instinct that humans have and this is a biggy.                                       So get scared … & get busy!

So what must you do to?

How did/will you choose a college major? Or a trade? How will you protect your current investment in your education, training, and experience? How can you tweak or change your career to avoid the shock of Robo AI in your future? Night trade school or college courses?  

Remember, investigating now and choosing your ideal path now may save you the agony & trauma of investigating & changing to a new career and searching for a new one 5 or 10 years down the road.

                                                        Flexjobs: “What Is Your Ideal Career?”
                                                            https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/what-is-your-ideal-career/                  

I looked at several “Career Choice Test sites. Flexjobs, an online jobs board, seemed to have the most straightforward advice. I’ll share their insights rather than reinvent their wheel. 😀 Click their links to go deeper, of course.

1. Career Research Strategies: 

a. Flexjobs 8 suggestions:  which I have expanded a bit are.

1. Define Your Personality Type: personality test free version of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). 
2. Assess your Likes & Dislikes because likely to spend at least 90,000 hours of your life at work, Ideally, you should be passionate about it.                                         … no right or wrong answers,  just your truth

      a. like or good at certain subjects?
      b. like outdoors in any weather or indoors
      c. like technology, solving puzzles or computer games
      d. like working with hands
      e. like working on a computer or your bike
      f. like working with or helping animals or people,
      g. like money & its lifestyle perks  
      h. like peopled-office or remote
      i. etc. etc. etc. 

3. Be Realistic About Your Characteristics that will make you successful—or not.  Compare with 1. above
      a. Outgoing or reclusive.
      b. Solo, self driven or group effort motivates
      c. Confident or not
      d. etc.

NOW look at your career list so far, and ask what industries would benefit from your talent. For example, if you’re great with people, consider a career path in education or elder care. If you prefer healthcare more than teaching, look into a career path for pediatric nurses or doctors.   

4. Build Your Ideal ‘Dream’ Workday:     Imagine the future you want.
      a. Could I operate a dentist’s 3D printer to make dental crowns?
      b. Could I become an archaeologist in a foreign country?
      c. Could I train service animals?
      d. Would a finished carpenter on expensive homes be fun?
      e.  …. to infinitly more ……….

5. Create a Long-Term Plan recognizing multi-careers and your lifestyle vision (family, travel, hobbies).

6. Identify Your Education Needs: more, college, trade or on-the-job training. 

7. Focused your Research on the most appealing; visit someone working in that field, and investigate relevant companies & employees.

8. Make a detailed List of Pro/Cons: also, dive bit deeper with a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis

Remember the above tactics are not for a silly school test on Friday! This a vital exercise that you will constantly go thru as you adjust your desires over many years or decades. (I graduated college: 23, acting school: 29, law school: 39 & teachers college: 49)

b. My Additional Suggestions: Let’s keep digging ——

Notes:
1. Create the following lists on your cell/computer so you can easily add or subtract items on-the-fly in the future as you investigate each one.
2. Record everything you ‘think’ you ‘might’ like or dislike because you can always reject later, but you can't reject or accept what you don't discover & record.

    1. Create your Skills list:   debate, math, sports, cooking etc. I was always amazed at the skills I accumulated by chance that became useful later in my life. Don't be humble & bashful. This is your list only. Take pride in yourself.

    2. Likes/Dislikes list: things that matter most & least to you.

    3. Create a Career list: include all the major career categories & sub-categories etc. that excite the slightest tingle of interest in you UNLESS you know you would absolutely hate a specific career. (embalmer 😃). Attempt to evaluate the education or reeducation, training, or retraining.

Remember, you are researching — not yet deciding

Remember, you are not trying to please me or some professor;  only yourself.  

This is your research for your benefit!

CAUTION: These research steps are NOT like a “one step after another” Ikea furniture assembly or a carburetor rebuild. It is a creative Easter egg hunt involving imaginative research & subjective evaluation of your reactions to what you discover. You will be pursuing all these suggestions at the same time.

4. Suggested List outline structure: Broad career descriptions & their sub–career descriptions.  Some sub–career descriptions are broad including all work description functions (master electrician) while others are very narrow & specific (Dental Office manager vs dental hygienist).

Examples:
I. Construction Trades: (broadest category vs white collar)
A. Electrical: (career)
1. Apprentice (sub-career)
2. Journeymen (sub-career)
3. Master (sub-career)

II: Medical: (broadest category vs white collar)
A. Dentistry: (career)
a. Dentist: (sub-career)
b. Dentists support team:
1. Dental Receptionist (sub-career)
2. Dental Office manager (sub-career)
3. Dental.Assistant (sub-career)
4. Dental Hygienist (sub-career)
5. dental lab  technician (sub-career)
6. Dental marketing (sub-career)

Li Family Dental: “What are the different roles in a dental office:
ifamilydental.ca

Pacific Northwest Dental Assisting School:
"What’s the Difference Between a Dental Tech, Assistant & Hygienist?"
https://www.schoolofdentalassisting-vancouver.com/dental-assistant-hygienist/

Note: I am not pushing dentistry, but with more than $50,000 invested in them, I have an interest.😀

5. A single career path vs a 'relay race':   Usually we think of a 'personal career path' as 1 single path; start to finish e.g. become a lawyer & retire a lawyer. But, why not think of it as a relay race with each lap bringing us closer to our ultimate success? Why not become an electrician, then, a plumber, a carpenter etc. until you can build your own rental apartments and retire financially secure?

Your career's 'relay race' might be broken into several laps only run when you feel like it. Often a top hierarchal career position may intrigue you, but its career path may seem so long & daunting that you are NOT presently willing to invest the time & $s to get its required education & training. Instead, you could pursue a more easily achieved lower echelon sub-career, to see if it inspires you to invest in the higher levels of that career.

Anecdote: Dental Assistant to Dentist: Years ago, my dentist’s young woman Dental Assistant said she began as a Dental Assistant, back to school to become a Denta Assistant, and had just been accepted to dental school. Years later, I learned she had moved to a Colorado ski town to practice dentistry. Yeah!

Anecdote: Police Officers: As a practicing attorney I often met police officers who were simultaneously studying law at night to segue from police work to add their training & experience to lawyering. Very logical.

6. Research strategy: Your initial research goal is to throw your net as widely as you can discovering all possible careers, so you don't miss your ideal. 

But CAUTION, if you've never seriously thought about careers (I didn’t), you may have no idea what careers & their sub-careers might actually interest you.

Remember, AGAIN, you are researching — not yet deciding

You can't accept or reject what you don't discover.
Be careful, “Don't throw out the baby with the bath water.”

1) Review my earlier robo/AI comments to orient your research direction.

2) Google Search enough online basic career-related robotic/artificial intelligence articles until you have a feel for:

    (a) the careers & sub-careers that robo/AI will most likely crush. (make a list)

HYPO: I’m guessing that it would be difficult to replace the empathy of a veterinarian, but robo/AI might well provide additional diagnostic & treatment tools that would have digested the entire knowledge and experience base of all veterinary medicine, which no human doctor is capable of.

   (b) current job description’s education, training, and experience that robo/AI will likely render useless.

   (c) additional robo/AI education, training, and experience that your current job description will likely require.

3. List what you might like and reject only what you are positive you would NOT like (embalmer).   Remember, if you've never seriously thought about careers, sub-careers & job descriptions, you may have no idea what might actually interest you.

4. Keep drilling down into career-related sub-careers,   keeping or rejecting what you choose to, whenever you choose to. The more research you do, the more quickly & easily you will discard the uninteresting and aggressively pursue the interesting.

5. As your research confidence increases, ELIMINATE careers & sub-careers you are positive do not interest you.

6. More pro-active research:
     (a) On-the-job visits: Most working people would be flattered & respectful of your initiative to discuss their career with you. You just have to reach out to them being considerate of their circumstances. e.g. don’t interrupt an attorney during her courtroom opening statement. 😃 

OTOH, visit a construction site and ask the manager if you might hang around someday and observe tradespeople at work. Your initiative may surprise & impress them. 

    (b) Summer break & part-time: most young have summer jobs to make money, but experience may be more valuable. 
        1. mailroom or intern in a corporation, advertising agency engineering firm. 
        2. Residential or commercial construction site cleanup. Note: if you have never been around construction trades, how could you possibly know they might interest you?
        3. US Forest Service intern.

    (c) Classes & trade work simultaneously: Why not pursue several on-the-job research experiences simultaneously? A mix of college classes, night & day, construction site cleanup & tradesman’s assistant after school & during breaks. Superb on-the-job research, acquire new skills & reduce/avoid rapacious student loan debt. [pplk’ Student Loan fraud] 

Anecdote: At same time, ---
1) I worked in an advertising agency mailroom, remodeled my rental unit at night & did handyman work on weekends. 
2) later I managed my rental units, my laundrymat & attended law school.

The skills & experience I acquired supported other businesses & investing I pursued