Re: Job, jobby job

1

I scored highest on "Realistic":

People with Realistic interests like work that includes practical, hands-on problems and answers. Often people with Realistic interests do not like careers that involve paperwork or working closely with others. They like:
- Working with plants and animals,
- Real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery,
- Outside work

Sounds great!


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 7:14 AM
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Didn't work for me the first time. I got Middle School teacher.

I think that because I'm a clutz, I put down that I wouldn't like to do biology and that would hurt me. (I would drop things.) I also have a hard time looking through a microscope, because my binocular vision is so bad.

The 2nd time I modified my answers, and I got

Realistic: 0
Investigative: 24
Artistic: 14
Social: 15
Enterprising: 9
Conventional: 6


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 7:25 AM
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3

Realistic: 0
Investigative: 24

Cryptozoologist.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 7:27 AM
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I didn't get any zeros, but I got a one for social.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 7:27 AM
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Huh. It gave me a long list of professions, all of which were variants of doctor. Being a doctor doesn't sound appealing at all.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 7:28 AM
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It told me I should be a lawyer or a librarian.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 7:29 AM
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It told me to keep doing exactly what I'm doing. Either I should be very happy and fulfilled right now or I should be depressed at my interminable gloomy future.
I think part of the problem was I did answer based on whether I thought I could do something- would I want to play jazz? No because I suck at music and haven't played an instrument in 10 years. But I liked being in a jazz band back when I was good enough.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 7:31 AM
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Didn't do the quiz but appreciate the shout out to the greatest American, two beers inflatable slide airline guy.


Posted by: Tim "R" O | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 8:31 AM
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I was interested in this because I'm just now getting to face the academic job market and the thought of skipping that and working in some other context was, well, not unappealing. My top results were pretty much all academic stuff. Oh good!


Posted by: MHPH | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 8:31 AM
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If heebie wants to try out some of the hands on stuff, I can provide links to patterns on how to make your own sleeping bag/tent/stove/etc.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 8:39 AM
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Apparently I should be a scientist. Maybe an archaeologist. Barring that, an architect.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 8:44 AM
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12

It said I'm really good at sabbatical.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 8:45 AM
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My best fit on high job preparation was fish and game warden. Awesome.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 8:45 AM
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Landscaping, continuous mining machine tending, or rough carpentry.


Posted by: Cosma Shalizi | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 9:01 AM
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I've done rough carpentry for summer work when I was in college. It wasn't bad. I was getting $7/hour back when the minimum wage was half that. The only part I didn't like was the fact that roofs are inherently far from the ground.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 9:09 AM
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I should have checked my low preparation options -- snobbishly, I only looked at the high-prep choices.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 9:09 AM
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I have very fond memories of my one experience demolishing plaster walls, and then putting in insulation and drywall. Surprisingly low-skill for something that ends up looking like a real room people could live in. (Which they did.)


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 9:11 AM
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I was good enough that they hired my brother sight unseen after I'd been there a month. This meant that I showed up every day, even on Mondays when we had been paid the previous Friday, and that I could add multiples of 16 in my head without trouble.

The boss had very few teeth and would smoke unfiltered cigarettes while holding them in his gums when he had to talk.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 9:12 AM
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16 -- I only looked at low prep -- I mean who wants to waste time now getting a new gig -- and I'm set for waiting tables.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 9:38 AM
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I should be a poet, but the earnings outlook is not good. Or a music therapist.


Posted by: mcmc | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:10 AM
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16 -- I only looked at low prep -- I mean who wants to waste time now getting a new gig -- and I'm set for waiting tables.

Maybe wait until you've fully recovered


Posted by: Turgid Jacobian | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:11 AM
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Or a music therapist.

First you get the musical ability. Then you get the empathy. Then you get the money.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:12 AM
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I lack all three.


Posted by: mcmc | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:17 AM
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24

C.R.E.A.M.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:21 AM
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NMM to Leonard Nimoy, by the way.


Posted by: MHPH | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:23 AM
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The quiz crashed on me so no results but the questions really bring home the drudgery of office work. Is there anyone anywhere who clicks "strongly like" to sorting and filing mail or entering things on spreadsheets?


Posted by: Tim "Ripper" Owens | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:31 AM
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Yeah, there were a couple of questions that had me going "Really? Anyone likes that?"


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:36 AM
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I sort of enjoy idly filing things. Organization under clear, well-understood parameters. I think I may have put "neutral" but I might have put "like". But not strongly.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:38 AM
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29

Using a calculator?


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:40 AM
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Neutral.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:44 AM
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28: so you definitely wouldn't work as a fetish researcher for porn.


Posted by: dalriata | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:45 AM
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Either this exact test or one incredibly similar was featured on the blog years ago. I didn't even complete the test because, like all of these tests, my reaction to almost every question is "there are some things about that I would like and some things I wouldn't like" or "this seems like fun when I've done it as a novelty but would I like doing it if I were doing it 40 hours a week?", leaving me wanting to mark "I don't know" as the answer to almost every question.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:52 AM
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33

What do they give you if you mark "unsure" for each question? My guess is law school.


Posted by: MHPH | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:53 AM
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34

While laughing horribly.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:55 AM
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NMM to Leonard Nimoy, by the way.

Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human.


Posted by: MAE | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 10:56 AM
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I am taking this quiz and feeling apprehensive about what it will tell me. The more jobs I know about the more I want to win the lottery.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:01 AM
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It says I should be an aerospace engineer, which, hey, you know what they say about aerospace engineers.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:05 AM
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27: when I worked as a student usher at concerts in college (free admission!) I really liked taking tickets, because I got into a great rhythm of taking them, tearing them and depositing half into the ticket-half-holding-bin, and handing them back.

The corollary here was of course that I really didn't like patrons who messed up my flow.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:16 AM
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Is it supposeable that Nimoy, like Charles Bronson, might have had some Tatar ancestry? Or is my image of him too colored by the Spock role?

I note that his parents, Ukrainian Jews, were from Iziaslav in Western Ukraine - not only within the boundaries of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the stomping ground of the Lipkas, but also a city that existed at that time. Also, irrelevant but amusing, the NYT obituary mentions a 1967 Star Trek episode in which he plays against Jill Ireland as a romantic interest, and Ireland married Charles Bronson the next year.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:23 AM
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Like urple, I found these questions almost impossible to answer. Would I like laying bricks? That sounds like it would be super fun for about five minutes. Would I enjoy managing a department in a large company? I have no idea what that means. Would I enjoy representing a client in a lawsuit? I've done that lots of times before, and sometimes it was awesome and sometimes it made me want to kill myself.

Anyway, the test told me I should be a multimedia artist or a music therapist. I'm pretty sure I'm better off staying in my current job.


Posted by: jms | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:23 AM
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39: It sounds like you would enjoy working on an assembly line.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:27 AM
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I was hoping it would tell me I should sit my ass in a chair on the dock and sip gin and tonic for the remainder of my career.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:30 AM
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34: I'm trying that. It seems to just list all possible jobs in each category, but not mark any of them as good fits. Which seems fair, in a garbage-in, garbage-out kind of way.


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:32 AM
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I'll have what you're having, Spike.


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:38 AM
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What they should have done is said something like:
What proportion of your week would you be okay spending doing the following activities?
A) Large parts of every day
B) Daily
C) A few times a month
D) A few times a year
E) Never

That's how I interpret Dislike Strongly - Like Strongly in this context.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:40 AM
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With my quick lazy picking of interests, and high preparation, I basically should end up in post-secondary ed (and given my dislike of paperwork, should probably let other people be department chair.)


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 11:57 AM
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Did anyone else take those job capability tests in high school? There were things like mathematical ability or spatial reasoning but also simple things like how many of the correct bubble can you fill in if we just tell you "fill in C" "fill in B" etc., to measure manual dexterity. I guess that's to identify the assembly line workers/ticket takers.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 12:00 PM
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With high prep, I get lawyer or judge.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 12:04 PM
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The things I "Strongly Like" are not necessarily the things I have any aptitude for. "Write books or plays" is much higher on the Like scale than "Lay brick or tile", but my ability to do a good job laying brick probably exceeds my ability to write books.


Posted by: MAE | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 12:05 PM
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Have you tried laying books?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 12:07 PM
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I'm very good at completely covering flat surfaces with books and other book-like objects.

Also, I'm probably more suited to chartered accountancy than to being a lion tamer.


Posted by: MAE | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 12:11 PM
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Headsets make conference calls much nicer. I can pace. Or at least fidget with less restriction.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 12:18 PM
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51: Or playwrights?


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 12:37 PM
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"Write books or plays"

Another one I have no idea at all how to answer. How much do I think I would enjoy having my only job be to write books or plays, essentially at my leisure? That sounds great. Or, wait, do I have to churn out x-hundred words per day on a fixed deadline? That sounds terrible. Unless it's something that comes easily to me, like stream of consciousness blog comments. Then that sounds great. But we're talking about writing something that presumably someone would want to pay to read. And all of that is entirely aside from how on earth I'm supposed to separate how much I think I would "like" this from my own perceived aptitude for it. Honestly, if I could have a successful career as a novelist, I think I'd love that. But imaginging myself actually trying to make a career as a novelist? (I don't mean financially, I mean struggling to come up with something to write, and then struggling to turn that idea into something that someone might want to read, neither of which do have any aptitude for.) That sounds terrible. So how am I supposed to rate this?

Some variation of this is basically my reaction to 90% of the questions.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 12:41 PM
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54 - I once had a date scheduled with Samuel Beckett, but he never showed up.


Posted by: MAE | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 12:44 PM
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It told me, no joke, that I should be a historian. Thanks, quiz thingy.

(I scored highest on investigative.)


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 1:41 PM
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Is there anyone anywhere who clicks "strongly like" to sorting and filing mail or entering things on spreadsheets?

I think I clicked strongly like on at least one of the categories like this. I really enjoy busy work. (Thanks, 1980/90s California public school education.)


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 1:44 PM
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I think my problem is that I genuinely seem to enjoy doing just about anything, as long as it's not whatever I'm supposed to be doing at the moment. And I haven't yet found any activity (that anyone would pay for) that I enjoy doing day-in and day-out enough to be able to think "I've got a giant pile of [x] I've got to get done over the next two weeks. Hooray."


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 1:55 PM
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Like, would I enjoy shoveling shit? Well, probably no, not as a full time job. But if someone asked me right now if I'd like to go shovel some shit instead of writing any more of this memo I'm supposed to be writing (which I'm not actually writing)? Sure. Why not. Sounds interesting.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 2:02 PM
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Hey, petroleum engineer was one of mine. I'm gonna be rich!


Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 6:32 PM
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"Mary Kay Ash and Pearl S. Buck were legends in their time."

Opening line of a facebook post on my feed


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 7:21 PM
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Hey, petroleum engineer was one of mine. I'm gonna be rich!

Don't be so sure. Have you not seen the price of petroleum lately?


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 02-27-15 7:52 PM
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