Blogs: Richard's job log: 12

Richard currently works in a Birmingham law firm, after a contemporary history degree. He’s thinking about a paralegal career, but also has media ambitions.

I’ll be honest. I’m a bit of a dork. I regularly watch Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica is one of my favourite TV shows of all time and I own at least two Star Wars t-shirts (they are both Empire Strikes Back shirts though so it’s fine). As such, I am fully prepared to admit that I rank quite poorly on the cool scale.

Yet somehow I have convinced an actual woman to marry me, for real and everything. In a little under four months I am going to be a married man and while I cannot wait for our big day I am also quietly terrified.

You see, in many, many ways I still feel like a child - one with his own home, but a child nonetheless. I still play football with my mates every weekend, I have a healthy stock of computer games strewn about the house and I have a small but burgeoning collection of comic books. The same goes for my job. While I am very grateful to be employed at the moment, something in my head suggests that I really ought to have nailed down a serious, pursuable career by the time I am married.

By contrast, my wife-to-be is a teacher. A legitimate, honest-to-goodness profession. She is set in her career path and is progressing nicely. She is achieving something meaningful on a daily basis with the kids in her class and it is clearly incredibly rewarding. Seeing her eyes light up because one of her kids has made genuine progress is something that I will never get tired of seeing.

Though the long hours and paperwork are clearly a huge negative when it comes to teaching there is still the chance to make a difference with children who perhaps haven’t had the best start in life or who find things more difficult than others. I have other friends who are scientists, writers, policemen. All noble professions which add to society. These people make a difference.

While I don’t kid myself that any career path that I take from now on will have these kinds of rewards, it would still be nice to feel like I have contributed something as a fully functioning member of society. Sadly, ‘stop gap’ positions are unlikely to fulfil this desire any time soon. In ten years' time people are unlikely to be sitting and reminiscing about great admin staff that they used to know and the impact they made on their lives. Teachers however, leave a lasting impression on the children that pass through their classrooms.

It is gradually beginning to dawn on me that retraining might be the way forward. The dream jobs that I would love to do all require additional qualifications and there is seemingly no way around this. So to paraphrase a certain fictional princess, ‘help me centres of adult learning. You’re my only hope.’

Told you I’m a nerd.