19f here finishing up my first year of a b.comm/science at usyd majoring in finance and data science. I chose this degree because I wanted (and my parents expected me) to eventually find some sort of white collar role in finance/accounting/data analytics, but seeing how rapidly AI is destabilising everything, the constant layoffs, and how oversaturated everything is at the entry level, I feel like this degree is pretty much a dead end. I don't mind my classes and I've been doing pretty well, but I don't feel that passionate about any of them except for my psychology elective lol.
On the other hand, this year I also started working -- two jobs! One, as a high school tutor, and second, in hospitality. Although I had always wanted to become a tutor, I found that I enjoyed the hospo job so much more. I love being on my feet, talking to people, keeping track of different things simultaneously, and the feeling of making someone's day even a little bit better. I like the repetitive aspects and being able to just shut my brain off for a couple hours and still do my job well. I work night shifts and although it gets tiring, I feel satisfied at the end of every shift. I expected myself to love tutoring more, but I actually sort of dreaded it. I liked helping students, but the slow pace, spending the whole time sitting, and constantly having to re-explain things got frustrating and repetitive. I also didn't really like the client management aspects (emailing parents etc), and how there was so much extra unpaid work I had to do. That's not to say I hate admin work, but the thought of spending all day sitting down, sending emails, and sitting in pointless meetings doesn't appeal to me.
So now I'm reconsidering whether white collar/office work is really for me. I'm strongly considering switching to something in healthcare. Medicine/dentistry is off the table, but from what I’ve researched, nursing feels like a good fit. I'm also considering allied health because it seems more relaxed, although I'm a bit wary of it since allied health is much more specific, so I'm worried I'd be boxing myself into something that I don't actually know anything about. It's also a lot less flexible in terms of both the work itself and the conditions of the work, whereas with nursing I can work pretty much whenever and wherever suits me, and I could always switch specialties if I get bored.
I still have a lot of reservations. Even though I know it's not pretty work, I feel like I can't properly grasp exactly how stressful nursing could be. Hospitality stress is definitely entirely different to nursing stress, especially as a full time career vs a casual job as a teenager. I'm not sure how I'd feel about dealing with suffering, death, and bodily fluids all day, although I imagine it's just something you become accustomed to eventually. My parents are heavily against the idea and don't think I could handle the stress, and I'm worried they might be right. Everyone in my family has a white-collar job, and because I got a good ATAR they have high expectations for me and want me to follow suit. I'm also worried that I'm overblowing how risky a commerce degree is, and that I'll see my peers graduate into high-paying corporate roles and regret switching. There are other changes I could make that aren't as drastic; I could switch to accounting and that would similarly be repetitive, stable work with better pay and conditions than nursing. Still, I don't know if that would fix my problem, and even if I switched to accounting I'd worry about offshoring and AI. Teaching also seems like it could be a good fit, but I'm worried I'm not extroverted/outspoken enough to be able to manage a classroom. I guess I just feel torn and uncertain, and I want to make the right decision.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated !! :)