Why you shouldn't let the Internet choose your career...

In high school, when it came time to choose a career, one by one each of my classmates would be sent down to the guidance counsellor's office to do a fancy shmancy test on the computer that would determine what we should do with the rest of our lives. Apparently, by narrowing down your likes and dislikes as well as your strengths and weaknesses, the computer could tell you what you'd be good at.

Unfortunately, for me, the range was very broad, and well not very helpful. Though, apparently, I liked to be helpful, because the list went something like this:


Firefighter
Veterinarian
Daycare worker
Secretary

As for being a firefighter, I don't think I'd be so good with the whole, sitting around for hours waiting for a fire eating chili and looking at porn aspect. Okay maybe it's an urban myth, I don't actually KNOW any firefighters, but it seems pretty accurate.

And a veterinarian... well, I love animals, but let's just say I never even took Biology. Never dissected a frog. Never mixed crazy chemicals. The closest I got was examining a piece of skin from the inside of my mouth under a microscope in 9th grade Science class. So I didn't think saving animals was for me.

And daycare worker? I babysat ONCE. Ever. So how could I possibly be good at taking care of kids?

And then there was Secretary. Do you see the pattern? Helping people in fires, helping animals, helping kids, helping your boss. Unless of course you're my favourite secretary ever: Tess McGill, in which case you use your boss's broken leg to your advantage to get ahead in your career.





If I didn't get to be Tess, then I'd want to be the type of secretary that doesn't actually have any real responsibilities, so that I could write books all day.




So you can see why I'm not very keen on computer programs that help you decide your career path. But still, when I found this quiz, "What Kind of Writer Should you Be?" I couldn't help taking it. It said I should be a Film Writer.

Hmph. I'm not impressed. Mostly because I don't know the first thing about writing for film. Contrary to what the quiz says, that I can see the story playing out like a movie in my mind, I actually can't visualize ANYTHING, so how can I picture where the main character should be standing, or which hand she should use to flip back her hair?

No, I much prefer to be vague and let the reader decide what I mean when I say she was wearing a pink seersucker shirt. Like, "ooh, cute" or "how odd. and ugly."

You Should Be a Film Writer

You don't just create compelling stories, you see them as clearly as a movie in your mind. You have a knack for details and dialogue. You can really make a character come to life. Chances are, you enjoy creating all types of stories. The joy is in the storytelling. And nothing would please you more than millions of people seeing your story on the big screen!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?