Blog

Alumni Career Advice

Staying True to Your Interests

By Mari German ’19

April 28, 2023

Tags Education & Nonprofit

From a young age, we are encouraged to choose a career. At first, the choice is influenced by day dreams and fantasies and then by parents and family, or the experience of the people we look up to and appreciate. Once you choose a career, the pressure to stay on the path can overshadow the fact that it is not truly the right choice for you. It’s not what you expected or hoped — simply you do not like it. The truth is that when you choose a career without your own experiences to help guide you, you’re taking a shot in the dark. 

There are very limited opportunities to help you make informed decisions, even more so when there is limited access to resources. Stay true to what you enjoy and your interests. You have to create your path as much as you can, and leave behind what does not serve you. Most importantly, know that the path does not have to be linear. Your choice of career should be dependent only on your experiences and interests — nothing or anyone else. 

My career path has been far from linear. I was torn between what I thought was right and what I felt was right. I entered Hamilton as a prospective economics major because I thought it would get me a "good" job, but would it be a job I enjoyed? I enjoyed the Africana and Hispanic studies courses but the majors didn't (seemingly) translate to a career. They only met my interests. I did not care to study supply and demand graphs or figure out Stata software. I did however care about addressing structural inequalities within society in my Africana studies classes and cultural differences and similarities within Spanish speaking countries that bring them together while also keeping them worlds apart. At the time, what I thought was right would have trumped what I felt was right. But fortunately, Hamilton’s open curriculum did not force me to choose. 

Every semester my courses were some combination of economics, Africana, and Hispanic studies. I did research, interned for investment companies and nonprofits, and studied abroad. I stayed the course for three majors until I made the choice to go for what made me happy, what felt right. I did not know exactly what my career would be but I am glad I didn’t. Because just like with my majors, if I had chosen and stuck with one path —  I would have missed out on amazing opportunities. By taking many wrong paths, I was able to find the right one. During this journey, it was equally as important to know what I did not like as it was to figure out what I did. It was easier to know what I was looking for when I knew what I was avoiding. I learned something from every class, every internship, and every job leading me closer to my goal, my mission. This is what truly mattered at the end of the day. In order to choose my career, I had to build experience from not just one path but from a few and not be afraid of the unknown. When you allow yourself to venture into the options, you allow yourself to make the right choice. How would you know if you don’t try?