Introduction

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a question we’ve all probably heard before. When you are a kid, you are given license to dream big.  The sky is the limit. Of course, at that age the question is just for laughs. No one actually expects you to become a firefighter, astronaut, artist or dog trainer. But as you get older, the question becomes more serious. Now, your wild ambitions are grounded by the cynicism, or the realism, as the case may be, of the adult asking the question. You start to worry that there may be such a thing as the wrong answer. An artist? How do you plan on making money that way? Suddenly, you need to think of a realistic answer. But how are you supposed to know what you want to be if all your life you  have been only a student?

“I feel like there’s always that uncertainty of choosing the wrong thing. We’re [at] such a young age that we don’t really know what we want for the rest of our lives,” sophomore Daisy Duarte Lopez said.

Although learning about these job options isn’t the same as trying them out, hopefully, this article will make it a little easier to answer that question next time.

Interior Designer

A common misconception is that an interior designer has the same job as an interior decorator, which is not true. While an interior decorator does what it sounds, decorates a space to a client’s liking, an interior designer does all that and more.

“For [an] interior project, I would do everything from the floor plan to [the] selection of all the materials to the decor,” interior designer Inga Kharik said. “In Europe, it’s called interior architecture, which I think describes things much [better] because as interior designers, we learn how to plan the space, everything from the walls to even the plumbing.”

As an interior designer, your primary job is to keep the client happy. “As interior designers, we discuss the exact way that the space is going to be used by the client, all the pain points that the client has, and all the wishes that they want to incorporate into the space,” Kharik said. “Based on that, we create the ideal space plan.”

However, becoming an interior designer is a difficult process. In order to become a certified interior designer, one must have a minimum of six years of interior design education and pass the IDEX California exam, a complicated test that consists of both legal and practical design questions. Most people study from six months to a year.

“It’s much more difficult

to actually get the degree and become licensed than anyone thinks,” Kharik said. “We had an attrition rate (number of people leaving) of 80% in my class.”

While you don’t have to be a good artist to become an interior designer, you do need to have a passion for it, as well as determination.

“You have to understand that it’s a science as much as it is an art, which is what I love about it. That’s the most interesting part, that it’s a combination of two.” Kharik said. “I like to use my brain but I also really like to be creative. If that’s something that appeals to you, then that’s an important factor.”

Supply Chain Manager

Are you a detail-oriented person who enjoys analyzing statistics and is good at thinking on the fly? If so, a supply chain manager might be the job for you.

A supply chain manager is the person who keeps track of how much of something goes to a certain place or company. For Christopher Caton, Sequoia social studies teacher and past Regional Supply Chain Performance Manager, he managed the surgical supplies that were used for wound closure.

“I had to go into hospitals and analyze the amount of cases that they do on a weekly basis, look at trends of what kind of things they were scheduling, which doctors were there, which doctors did what,” Caton said. “We had to go in andfigure out what their average caseload was and then give him a little bit more just in case of emergencies.”

Caton’s job was to manage hospitals’ purchasing and inventory, which means he visited a lot of hospitals.

“A lot of the times, I had to be in the hospitals before surgery started so I could meet with doctors before they were busy or later after surgeries were over,” Caton said.

Seeing as he was a supply chain manager in the medical field, Caton had to learn about the hospital environment.  Sometimes, he had to teach the doctors how to use the new supplies.

“When it was new stuff I had to go and show them how to set up for the actual surgery, which means I had to learn all about sterilization zones, […] blood borne pathogens, and how to be in an operating room.”

While being in the operating room wasn’t Caton’s favorite part of the job, he really enjoyed talking to the people there.

“A lot of times, the peoplewho are in the care side of the hospitals like the nurses, the surgical techs, [and] materials managers […] were all really cool. […] It was neat to know that they’re in a business where they’re saving people’s lives.”

Digital Marketing Manager

A big appeal to being a digital marketing manager is that you can work from virtually anywhere, seeing as the job pertains to all things digital.

  “I create demand through online channels, so I make sure that people know who we are, what we do, and how we can benefit them,” Jennifer Berry, local Digital Marketing Manager for cyber security company Valence Security, said.

Berry doesn’t work with in person advertising.

“What I wouldn’t do is set up an event. Say we’re hosting a meeting with a speaker, I wouldn’t do that because that’s not online, it’s in person,” Berry said. “What I may do for that is create an email to invite people. And I may do an ad on LinkedIn to the specific target group that we want to invite to that event. Anything that happens online visually, is what I’m responsible for.”

Berry enjoys many aspects of her job.

“I like to learn about new kinds of advertising channels, and how those work. I like to brainstorm creative things to say to get people interested in my company. And I like to make our website look appealing. So when somebody comes to our website, not only [is it] attractive, […] but also they can find the information that they want quickly.”

There are some important characteristics that someone who wants to be a digital marketing manager needs.

“[Digital marketing managers] need to be patient, […] organized, […] creative and [good at] problem solving. And they need to be able to work with all different kinds of personalities,” Berry said.