I was always fascinated by technology (even as a kid) and despite the English educational system, became an engineer. Although this menat I was always working on something that I found interesting, I was always paid a lot less than idiots in management with lower qualifications.

Maybe I should be a nuclear physicist? I flunked Physics History (the 1st 9 weeks), but was way ahead of everyone else after that. Why did I major in Accounting to become a Systems Analyst?

(Spoken in Vincini's voice from Princess bride, all due respect to the following)

Einstein? Stephen Hawkings? Morons.

Who was Luca Pacioli and who was he friends with?

i think most politicians have worked out what they're bad at.

doesn't stop them though.

In my teenage years I knew I had talent for playing electric guitar and programming, the two things seemed totally unrelated though. Time to choose my carrer - went for the safest thing... enrolling in Electrical Engineering and become another Dilbert. After a few years of frustrating and boring jobs I took a sabbatical to study some audio related dsp, and then I was very lucky to land a job as a programmer of musical software... software simulators of real electric guitar amplifiers, to be precise.

So I guess I ended up doing the thing that was exactly meant for me... but I still doubt wether I could have become a successful musician if I pursued the guitar exclusively. But I reckon that the inverse transition (from failed guitarist to successful musical dsp engineer) would have been impossible to do.

Great post, Scott!

Sometimes you have to take a stab at things that you think "might" mean something to you or you will always be stuck in that miserable job you ended up in because ... well... it was what was open at the time.. or what you fell into after school. Then you are unhappy and unfulfilled.

"never trust your own opinions and the majority's opinions"

This is a good recipe for keeping your delusions intact.

Or any other job you're miserable in....

I say do what you love to do and be good at it....beats the cubicle.

Your blog is a perfect add for Johnson O'Connor.

http://www.jocrf.org/

I am awfully good at whining (I know I am not alone), and even occasionally enjoy it. I don't think it will ever pay the bills though. Probably capitalism is a good thing, certainly in this case.

Other talents I have: sleeping, eating, watching TV, going on vacation, building sand castles, writing nonsense blog comments, etc., etc. :-)

Can you think of anything worse than knowing exactly what your "aptitude" is, but not being able to get a career in that field because others don't believe you and think that they know better (say at a job interview)?

I can't!

A lot of things in life that you could be good at, you never discover because the opportunity is not there. Much of opportunity is who your parents are, where you live, what sort of schools you go to, etc.

I'm in the position of having spent a lot of time on something I kinda like (software design). I sort of feel like my talents in that area have been explored and I've found my limits.

Mr. Teeth (Tony Robbins) likes to tell people to find their passion. That's been my problem. I've got a peripatetic interest in just about everything - interest in many things, but only to a certain depth. It's not ADD or ADHD - Lord knows, spending thousands of hours debugging software suggests otherwise.

It's just that I'm interested in most things. Technology. History. Architecture. Engineering. Archaeology. Languages. Biology (until it bogs down in biochemistry). Statistics. Mathematics. Urban Planning. Cooking. Brewing. Distilling. Blacksmithing. Armouring. Military Science. Foreign Policy. Economics (although this one is a deep pool). Space Science. Writing. Science Fiction. Realistic art. Trance Music. Celtic Music. Japanese History. Aikido. Miniature casting. Fine cabinetry and furniture making. Bagpipes.

That sounds just like a random list of things... I could claim some as hobbies, others as interests. Bookstores are dangerous places since in almost any section I can find something to draw my interest.

But none of it is that 'lifelong, single, driving passion' one may find to unite ones life and propel one to great heights. I *like* a lot of things. I'm not monomaniacal about any of them. I can talk philosophy and metaphysics for hours or over a period of weeks, but probably wouldn't want to work in the field for 4 years.

So how do I translate that into work? The closest I can think of is systems engineer and even that is technology focused. I think R.A. Heinlein described the sort of job I really always wanted which I don't think we've fully realized yet - synthesist. The Synthesist needed a moderate to deep understanding of a number of fields and would use interdisciplinary knowledge to develop useful insights and developments. We've got a bit of this, but it isn't as developed yet as it will be in the future I believe.

And its a helluva thing to work your way into....

My kids have all taken multiple aptitude tests in school. The idea is good in theory - but the list of recommended careers is pretty silly. Better to give info on what they are good at and then let them figure out how to apply the knowledge.

Most useful test I ever took simply told me that I was neither right, nor left brained - but a fairly even mix of logic/creativity. This is unusual - and it explained a lot. I can explain technical concepts to marketing people and (perhaps even more amazing) explain marketing to engineers. I am corporate gold (or so I plan to assert in my next job interview). What I can't do is make decisions. I see too many sides to every issue. I have been able to get marketing and engineering to move past seemingly insurmountable hurdles - to the enormous benefit of my employer - but I still can't make decisions.

Hi Scott.. I logged in on your homepage.. read your comic.. clicked on BLOG.. read some comments.. added my own comment.. clicked submit.. and I got a screen saying I needed to login again. Why?

I lost my original comment in which I had explained, in sufficient detail, how to develop a number of future technologies today.. including wireless power transmission, anti-gravity, powerless propulsion, and several others. All that was in line with thinking outside the box (what I do best) and how that is a difficult path to follow and not easily tested for. Now I'm too mad to rewrite that comment. (Your web page designer might be better suited playing an instrument...lol.)

I do like the new format here, much cleaner.. but it needs some debugging.
Best wishes Scott from Dave :^)

It's still an imperfect world... Even if there were some magical way of finding out that you'd make an outstanding brain surgeon (and that you'd enjoy that line of work), there's a whole world of other silly topics that you have to be pretty good at (math, reading/writing the local language (and English?), etc.) before the world will let you fill the niche where you can excel. Not to mention in infinite number of distractions (e.g. drug addiction, raising a family).

I heard on the radio the other day that the small city of Lake Placid has sent a competitor to every winter Olympics there has ever been. Quite a small group of people ever get to find out if they have a particular talent at biathlon or luge, for example, and anyone who lives in Lake Placid does find out.

Perhaps I would have been the best bobsleigh driver ever (or perhaps the best person who sits in the third seat). Alas, we'll never known.

Knowledge of what you're good at doesn't cut it, you want knowledge of what you're *talented* at. Like, I might be potentially a great artist or dancer or musician, but nobody is actually *good at* things without some practice. If I knew my talents I could exercise them, but as it is I only know my talent levels at things I've tried a few times, eg. I'm a good programmer, bad singer, decent rock-climber, terrible ice-skater, worse skier, decent boardgame-designer, decent writer...