21 year old not sure what to do

Don't rush this decision, put a lot of time and effort into making a choice. I've heard people say "don't worry about it, you're young, you can afford to change careers a few times" but changing careers really sucks, you don't want to do it. You lose a ton of time and money starting over. You want to be at the bottom of an industry, and get the shitty apprentice/grunt work out of the way when you're young. It's no fun being 30 or 40 yrs old and doing a trades apprenticeship.

No test or career counselor is going to give you an answer to what you should do, you need to do the research yourself. Start at the top of the list of trades courses, and work down the list. Does the work sound at all appealing, how hard is the course, how much do you make as an apprentice and as a journeyperson, check craigslist and government websites to see how in-demand journeypersons are and what the wages are, what sort of work do they do - are they outside working in freezing winter weather, do you have to relocate up north or do you have a choice of where you want to work, check govt websites that list the career outlook - how strong is your industry going to be in ten years... etc.

When you narrow it down to three or four choices, say one of them is plumbing, call around and see if you can drop by to talk to someone for ten minutes. Write down a list of a few questions. Most places will be happy to give you a tour and an idea of what a real day in the life of a plumber is like. Talk to at least a few people at different shops, find out what it's like for the first few years, is it even possible to get hired as an apprentice without a few years of experience? How do you get the first few years of experience without knowing someone or having a relative to get your foot in the door?

Try to find something you enjoy doing, but don't get caught up in the idea that "you need to find work that you love doing". For most people, that's just not going to happen. And keep in mind that the business world has changed drastically in the last ten years, people saying "when I started it was easy, you just do this and instantly made $30/hr.." have no clue what's happening now.

You should spend at least a few months deciding. good luck man,

/r/vancouver Thread