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good careers for an artisan?

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 4:05 pm
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My younger daughter has decided that a business degree is not for her. What it boils down to is that she wants her career to consist of making something herself, and being able to hold it in her hands afterwards and admire it before passing it on to the consumer.

She loves cooking and is thinking of pursuing a culinary degree. She also loves making pottery and jewelry. She also likes making enough money to support herself. I'm trying to help her think of semi-lucrative careers that involve making things. If her college offered a culinary arts degree, it would be a simple thing for her to switch to that, but it doesn't. The closest they have is a Hotel and Restaurant management degree, and she doesn't want to do management. She wants to be the one making things.

Now, we are talking about a young woman with above average intelligence. She could do just about anything she puts her mind to. Math and science are easy for her. She's pretty and an extrovert. Can anyone think of good career that emphasizes hands on work that also requires brains? And doesn't involve blood or needles? I'm coming up blank.

I suppose she could go for the Hotel & Restaurant Management degree and focus on the restaurant aspect, and just get a job as a chef afterwards. Or she could go out of state to a culinary school and lose her state scholarships and pay out of state tuition and get the career she's considering. More expensive, but doable.

But I'm wondering if there are any other possibilities out there we aren't considering. Something in science- or agriculture- or even metallurgy that might use both her brains and her love of hands on- plus the extroversion.

Any ideas? Her temperment type is "Artisan", so of course she wants to make things. I'm just wondering if there is something technical enough to pay well?

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Jude
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 4:10 pm
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Does she have to stay in the same college? If being a chef is what she really wants to do, why not transfer to a Cordon Bleu school or something similar?

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 4:16 pm
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No, she doesn't have to... but it would be easier- and she wouldn't lose the scholarship the state gave her as long as she goes to a university in Missouri. Plus, out of state tuition is significantly higher than in state. And there aren't any culinary schools in Missouri that I've been able to find.

I'd hate for her to rack up humungous student loans to get a culinary degree, and then only be able to get a job as a line cook and not be able to make the loan payments. Or to become bored with doing the same thing over and over and come to hate the job.

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Riverthalos
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 4:30 pm
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MariaHobbit wrote:
Any ideas? Her temperment type is "Artisan", so of course she wants to make things. I'm just wondering if there is something technical enough to pay well?
Engineering. Engineers, even engineers with doctorates, don't have to sit in front of computers all day. S sure doesn't. Or experimental science - she probably won't be happy doing theory. But experimental work is completely hands on and extroverts do survive. You just have to suffer through all the classroom bits of being an undergrad, though she can also get internships and the like. Engineering students get to start designing and building right in school so she may gravitate in that direction.

Or she can look at careers in design. I have no idea what that career path is like, other than they do make stuff.

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 4:39 pm
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I just found that the university she's going to offers a "food science" degree. And one of the career paths is "food engineer". A quick google showed the average salary for a food engineer in Pittsburgh is $70,000. :shock: That's a possibility. There's a lot of science involved in that degree. She might like it, and not get bored.

Other engineering degrees are a possibility, too. I'll remind her of that.

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vison
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 4:44 pm
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MariaHobbit wrote:
I just found that the university she's going to offers a "food science" degree. And one of the career paths is "food engineer". A quick google showed the average salary for a food engineer in Pittsburgh is $70,000. :shock: That's a possibility. There's a lot of science involved in that degree. She might like it, and not get bored.

Other engineering degrees are a possibility, too. I'll remind her of that.
The food engineer or food science degree sounds interesting. I would guess it is meant to lead to a career with Kraft Foods or something of that nature - but it doesn't have to. If she took that degree and then decided she wanted to be an actual cook, she could deal with it then. Don't overthink it.

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 4:54 pm
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You're right, of course. :)

That degree is in the Agricultural college of the university. :scratch: I've never even thought about what degrees were in that section. :oops: I just thought it involved breeding new forms of living things and creating agriculture teachers. I shouldn't be so surprised that it also encompases using & preserving the products of agriculture. :doh1:

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ToshoftheWuffingas
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 5:07 pm
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The clever trick is making things that people want to buy. The advantage of catering is that people eat every day. It is also a very portable skill if she wants to travel.

You mentioned needles. Fashion design? The trouble is that clothes are so cheap from Third World factories that she would be fighting cheaper alternatives all the time.
The same problem with pottery; if a pottery mug made in a factory is a few cents she cannot compete in price. One of my friends makes bonsai pots for a living and takes them round Europe to sell but he charges £30 to £120 per pot. (That's why I make my own!!) But that is a very niche market.
Painting portraits?

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 5:16 pm
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Architect? Landscape design?

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Ara-anna
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 7:47 pm
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digital arts major is what my daughter is going for, so she can support her artist side doing something she likes. And by the gross Avatar is making, I suspect digital art is going to be a very busy field. :shrug: She can either work in advertising, movies, or other graphic design work to support herself, her perfered media is acrylics and oils, but neither of those pay that well to begin with.

Anyway just an idea.

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 9:49 pm
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I suggested digital arts to her, Ara, and that wasn't *real* enough for her, I guess. She'd probably have the same issue with any kind of design work- unless she actually gets to make the thing in question, too.

I mentioned needles as in *no* needles, Tosh! :P She faints at the sight of a needle piercing her (or anyone else's) skin. I figure most medical professions will be out for that reason alone. She can sew, but hasn't shown any interest in that since we made costumes back in 2003 when she was 12. Not something to base a career on, even if competition wasn't so stiff from overseas.

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nienna
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 9:53 pm
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Maria, thinking along the culinery line, how about catering, or even what I think is called "party planning"?? She could be very much hands-on with the catering and room decor, etc... :shrug:

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MaidenOfTheShieldarm
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Thu 28 Jan , 2010 5:11 am
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Excuse me while I lobby for my own, but theater has a lot to offer in that respect. Technical direction was what first came to mind requires math and engineering skills but in the end you also end up with a beautiful set that you've built -- brains and building. It is somewhat managerial as it usually involves running a shop, but you're very involved in the building. Props mistressing might also be good -- lots of creativity and artistry, and you get to find and build all kinds of things, everything from carpentry to pottery to painting to upholstering. There are a lot of summer internships out there, too, if she wanted to try one out before jumping in.

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Thu 28 Jan , 2010 2:37 pm
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(That sounds like fun to me!)

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Axordil
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Thu 28 Jan , 2010 7:38 pm
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Food engineering can also lead to work at breweries, wineries, distilleries and the like.

I used to know a guy who did his own props, costumes and SFX stuff as a hobby for local SF conventions. Then he started going to the big national ones. Then he got a job making the gadgets for the "Home Improvement" TV series. Not sure what happened to him, but he had a fascinating career arc...not a very stable one, but fascinating...

I also know people who make a living selling their art. I don't say support themselves, because they don't: they're married to someone else with a steady job, as a rule. But they do what they love and they make enough money at it that they have to keep the IRS informed.

The high-end building trades can be good--think inlaid tile floors or custom cabinetry.

Mossy--
The only people I've known in backstage theater arts who made a living at it were attached to college drama departments, and taught as well as doing what you describe. What is the market like otherwise?

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Thu 28 Jan , 2010 9:45 pm
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I actually suggested laying tile or some sort of carpentry to her earlier. She wasn't interested. When she dropped by today we talked some more about the chef option and she started enthusing about this restaurant: http://www.alinea-restaurant.com/pages/ ... y_top.html Click the word "cuisine" to see pics of their extravagant creations and use the slide bar underneath to see them all. Apparently one pays $200 for a 45 course meal where each course consists of about a bite of food. Food that has had silly things done to it.....

Anyway, I'm sure she realizes that very few people end up working in high end establishments like that.

As long as she's happy, I don't really care much what she does. I just cant help wondering if there's some job out there building fiber optic/electronic widgets that she'd love doing but has never heard of.

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Axordil
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Thu 28 Jan , 2010 9:56 pm
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Maybe she should make those steampunk computers...:D

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MaidenOfTheShieldarm
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Fri 29 Jan , 2010 6:06 am
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Quote:
Apparently one pays $200 for a 45 course meal where each course consists of about a bite of food.
I think my face actually just did this: :Q

And stage electricians get to play with all kinds of funky things like star curtains! Steampunk computers do sound pretty nifty, though.

Ax -- teaching is definitely one of the most stable routes, but there are other ways. A lot of it depends where you end up. If you can get a gig at a company like the Atlantic in NY or the American Repertory in Boston you're pretty well off. As far as I know all or almost all theaters have house staff -- house electricians, house props people, lighting, sound, and spotlight operators, etc. Designers tend to be much more freelance because the gig ends with the show. (That's what I want to do, and I'm having a very hard time finding anything at all at the moment. The one job I got ended a month after it started.) They do tend to end up attached to school departments much more than stagehands. It also depends on what level you're working at and where. For example, my aunt is a freelance union stagehand/electrician in NY doing mostly TV and Broadway. There are parts of the year when she's turning down work and times when she goes on unemployment because there's just nothing to do. At the same time, though, there are theaters that will regularly call her when they need people and she's called regularly on Project Runway. That's my impression of things, but like I said, there are so many variables.

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Fri 29 Jan , 2010 4:15 pm
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MaidenOfTheShieldarm wrote:
I think my face actually just did this: :Q
Mine did too!

Wow, Ax, I didn't know there actually were steampunk computers out there. Weird!

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Lily Rose
Post subject: Re: good careers for an artisan?
Posted: Sun 31 Jan , 2010 5:09 pm
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What about interior design? The options and potential for creativity are endless.

If she's into new age philosophy, then astrology is an up and coming profession.

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