Older people - what career would you have pursued, if you had support, money and resources?

I couldn't pass a GCSE at level C even with extra teaching when I did my access course, one of my biggest stumbling blocks with tech is that I can see the screen flicker, when I'm in a room with flourescent lights which most class rooms seem to be. Being told to sit by the window, feels extremely patronising, I get terrible migraines from using screens in these environments, which can last for days.

I dont' think anyone would be able to help me with art, when I say I can only draw a bath, I really mean it, people just don't understand that I really can't draw at all and it's not for want of trying, I used to have a huge collection of art books and materials, I gave them all away in the end as I just didn't get any better.

I do wonder if I would of ended up with a singing career though, if just how good my voice was had been picked up in childhood? I was in a singalong with a guy who's been a monastic choir master and he couldn't believe how good my voice was and said I had an operatic range and he couldn't find a note I couldn't sing.

IDK if I count as an “older person,” but if I had more support, money, and resources I probably would have stayed as a music professor. One of my biggest reasons for leaving that occupation was the fact that I was being paid too little and it wasn’t sustainable. That wasn’t the only reason, as students were harder to teach post-COVID and I have idealogical differences with my alma mater, but that was a significant factor.

TheCatWoman said:

I think I would still be in a similar situation due to my inability to do maths, tech and art

I would hope that your difficulties with maths, tech and art would be recognised and that you would be supported to achieve your personal goals. 

I thought that about maths because although I have always been good at mental arithmetic, I failed ‘O’ level Maths at school,  a U (ungraded). Years later, I came across a GCSE Maths text book which had instructions and examples of everything needed to attain a GCSE. I understood what was required because the instructions and examples were clear and I could work it out in my own time. Around the same time, I wanted to be a teacher but I needed a GCSE in maths for that. I worked my way through the GCSE maths book, got a bit of help from a maths teacher, sat the exam and passed. 

When I first started using a computer in the 80s, I messed it up and it needed to be reset, and it happened again, and again. I couldn’t remember everything I had been told and the instructions didn’t reflect anything showing on the computer screen. I asked the trainer if she could give me enough time to allow me to write down each action required. She issued the instructions one by one, pausing between each action while I wrote down what to click, press and everything else. This enabled be to operate the computer on my own and eventually the actions became second nature.

Art is a different story. I enjoy messing about with a paint brush but I can’t draw people, animals, objects or anything else. My efforts look like a 5 year old’s, despite having taken lessons as an adult.

The point of this is that I need step by step instructions (with accurate images where appropriate) to do certain things like maths and tech, otherwise I can’t retain the information. 

I think I would still be in a similar situation due to my inability to do maths, tech and art. Back in the day you needed an art O level to do hairdressing, a maths O level to work in a shop as you had to add everything up in your head before ringing it into the till. 

ArchaeC said:

We can change only how we are in the present (positive message to self).

This is what I am working with my local council to raise awareness of.

I didn't get a lot of help from people when I was younger (I don't mean my direct family / I mean everyone else). Groups of friends, teachers, career guidance.  I still think I am often being misled when I listen to others opinions for too long. 

I am the wrong side of 45, I have a few missing pension years but I also had a lot of employers taking me for a ride. I would have liked someone when I was younger to explain to me why exactly we go to work, what a pension is for how ni works. I observe the world no frills in mechanical form, I can tell you that at the end of the 20th Century and still a lot of employers and employed teams are and have been breakign the law.  

I trained to work in museums, I am have a masters qualification in that I love collections and dinosaurs and facts. Every day could become numbing if the pain of what you didn't do eats you up. So youv'e just got to keep doing what you can.

The problem now is that everyone is hustling, in the workplace, public everywhere, using force. For sensitive thoughtful or older more tolerant people how are they supposed to cope with that? 

In my case it was lack of understanding of autism and likely ADHD that held me back. Although I also received daily misogynistic messages that usually contained a “women are useless “ comment in them somewhere. Being told you are lazy and that a parent is “slaving away to keep me … “ didn’t help. Perhaps I would have been a late developer anyway, who knows? We can change only how we are in the present (positive message to self).

I wonder how many of us were unsupported and never knew what options were available?

I think for many of us older people we were held back by gender and class.

I LOVE weeding! I'm particularly keen on using the handy tool that gets the moss out of bricks when laid flat. 

I’m glad you had the opportunity to volunteer at digs as a child. Community archaeology has become much more of a thing since that time. If you are in England, there is certainly plenty of Roman archaeology around.

I was always digging things up in our garden when I was a child but I had no concept of archaeology and imagined I was an explorer. Being a late developer I had different jobs and an undergraduate degree before I finally completed my Masters in Archaeology in my 40s. 

My interest is in Material Culture in the Levant but I used to volunteer at a yearly dig season at Pompeii. It was incredible to be among all that archaeology in its vastness and to have played a very tiny part in revealing the past for all to see. 

Mads said:

id never get bored moving the figure 1mm at a time for years on end

I like repetitive things too - even cleaning and weeding!

ArchaeC said:

I would likely have completed an archaeology degree

I would have loved that. But as a child I volunteered at digs - medieval and Roman.

1. I wish I had always known what I know now, so with support and money, I would likely have completed an archaeology degree earlier in life and gone onto research at an early age.

 Or

2.  Primatologist researching mountain gorillas. I would have attempted to complete a zoology degree (I have an aversion to some aspects of zoology) allowing me to pursue a career as a primatologist. 

As I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up I still don't know how to answer this question.

A midwife maybe?

An academic?

Proof reader, or architect - although I'd need a driver to get to site appointments as I don't drive.

Great sub question Marianne72 .

I was about to go off on a positive about how my previous jobs have helped me. What I realise is that all jobs, people I met, and connections built were masked - so was any of it truly authentic?

Study....I would liked to have done an MSc and or PhD in a science subject, but on the other hand philosophy always intrigued me which is the exact polar opposite!

Job.....I always wanted to work in quality control, editing or proof reading. I've just booked assessments for dyslexia and dyscalculia so the above is probably unattainable lol

Maybe working 20+yrs ago for Aardman Animations on something like Wallace & Gromit (id never get bored moving the figure 1mm at a time for years on end)