Future proof career paths.

[Harrison]

My son Tom has just started his final year in primary school. We are currently visiting secondary schools to find the best one, which we think we did yesterday. A really nice college not too far from home with a huge range of resources in all subjects to give him the maximum opportunity in any subject. And a really nice friendly atmosphere and staff.

But I wanted to ask? That career paths would you all consider the safest for him to consider for his future job security?

At the moment he's interested in Maths, Art, IT and has directly mentioned coding, loved Reading (but not English), and he is interested a bit in History. Not sure about languages yet. Sciences he's bit really experienced enough yet until secondary school.

But it won't really be until he's in Secondary school and he's had the chance to try and experience everything that he will really know But looking around the school yesterday I'm realky excited for him.

I can see renewable energy and the environment continuing to become a bigger industry as we move forward, so that's another idea if he's interested in subjects that lean in that direction.

He is interested in art and photography but that's probably because both my wife and I have art and design degrees and do a lot both professionally and at home.

Any ideas?

[Tiago]

I dont have kids, so i never had to do any like that.
But i always think that before 14 we should let them play the maximum they can. If bellow 14 he wants to do something more then play then yes try to show him a bit of everything but more then once. Show him coding, painting, manual stuff, brain stuff etc... But repeat the process, early ages they dont like something at first look, but after a while...

[Harrison]

I agree, and UK schools do follow that idea because when they start secondary school they have classes in every subject for the first 3 years to the age of 13/14. So they get to experience everything available. They then get to pick the subjects they want to study in the final 2 years for exams. The problem is many students leave school still completely unsure what direction they are going or what they want to do. The ideal thing is to know the direction they want to go when they pick their GCSE subjects as those aid them in getting into college for further education.

When I was at school I really wasn't sure and just picked all the subjects I liked. And the same with A-Levels. The problem is that after that I had decided what I wanted to do but hadn't taken the subject I needed in Art so had to do a further art and drsign foundation course. I actually think it was worth it, but I could have gone to university 2 years earlier had I studied art A-level.

[Demon Cleaner]

I'm so glad everything changed so much, I remember when I went to secondary school we had to chose after 3 years which section we wanted to go, and we had 3 options, biology, economy or electronics. All my friends went to electronics, so I joined them. I was also a bit easy I have to mention, I was drawing quite well and always wanted to be an architect, but for that section I had to leave my school from 6km away and go study to Luxembourg city, which is btw only 25km, but in the late 80s seemed far away as our country is small and you're not used to travel longer distances.

I would not feed him too much information, just the basics and see in which direction HE rather develops, still too young to tell. But it seems that he's already interested in many things which is very positive.

[Harrison]

That is true. People do need to find their own way, rather then being funneled down a direction. It's just as a parent we always worry about their future and if they will be safe in a secure job and career.

I hope that by the 3rd year of secondary school he will have become interested in specific areas of study for a clearer direction. The main thing he keeps mentioning at the moment is wanting to learn computer coding. I told him he needs a good understanding of maths for that, which he hasn't realised. That put him off a bit, but maths is one of his strong subjects.

[Kin Hell]

As a species, we vary hugely in ability....

Just encourage kids as much as you can & support them realistically where you can. - They will do the rest.

Above all, do not mollycoddle them.

[J T]

Is any job, or field truly future proof?

Other than undertakers, I suppose.

From where I sit, luxury of a nice stable job in a field I've known for quite a long time, I feel that an adaptable skillset may be more useful than anything - I worry that job security (at a per-job) level is likely to get less stable, and a good skill set can allow for easier hopping or transitioning until things settle (or he finds a place he loves).

[Harrison]

There is still job security in trade jobs, such as building, plumbing and electricians. They are always in high demand and well paid. But I think you would really need to be very interested in a trade to enjoy doing it full time.

I have rewired my whole house myself and upgraded it, chasing out walls for new sockets, relocating old skirting mounted sockets into walls, running new sockets and lighting. Adding ethernet wall sockets etc. Really enjoyed doing it, but I bet it would get annoying on many jobs. And not as fun when it isn't your own house.

But I think with trade jobs you need to be a soecific type of person. More hands on than intellectual. Preferring to go into an apprentaship, rather then further education.

There definitely are not the number or type of jobs that offer security any more. Especially in lower working class professions. But in higher up jobs there still, but you need to be good at sorcific subjectd to get anywhere. And I think the best to help Tom is to see what he exceeds at in thr next 3 years. He does like Maths and IT, so that's one direction he might go. But he might equally start enjoying other subjects once he reaches secindary school. Only time will tell.