I wouldn't turn my back on Science... keep at it mate, and you will find what you want. Besides, there are plenty of accountants out there, and lets face it; at least with science you can probably make a little bit more of a difference. I do multimedia design for one of the world's largest accounting firms (actually I think it is THE largest): PricewaterhouseCoopers... and let me tell you it's like watching a bunch of penguins being marched to their doom every morning. Whilst I agree with Jim that is is a good career with stable and plentiful opportunity, but I would not be giving up a promising career in science for it.Matthew Buckstein wrote:I got my science degree in biology several years ago. I applied to veterinary college, but I unfortunately didn't get in. I've gone back to get a certificate in accounting. It's a lot different, but I'm enjoying it, and it will open up a whole bunch of new careers that a science degree just can't get me.
-Cub. =o)
Oh boy, Price Waterhouse...I come from a business uni, and Price was one of the top 4 to be hired by, until you actually were and either fit in the mold like a washed out robot or wanted to shoot yourself in the head. The tax months have got to be the biggest joke, with their 15-hour work days and the sleep-ins to finish on time an impossible workload that simply cannot be finished. Reminds me of G Man offering you a "battle you have no chance of winning" at the the end of Half Life. To top it off, it doesn't even get better with time. Even as a senior you're still treated like dirt, with the mirage of ever being promoted an associate if you do things just so, even though it never really happens.
On the other hand, there are very good times to be had in accounting with smaller offices or even your own. My grandpa loved his work, my cousin who's a senior audit is living on clouds after leaving Deloitte&Touche, one of the top 4 she absolutely dreaded.
As for biology, don't know if you've ever considered the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency. I know it's not groundbreaking work in the first few years, and you have to spend a good 2-3 years on the ground floor with the chickens and the pigs, but the opportunities are really good. A good friend of mine with a degree in Microbiology was hired less than two years ago and is already a grade 3 inspector and just passed his test to be grade 4. He's just one job opening away from his office downtown Montreal and a seriously fun job. The greatest thing, to me anyway, about this job is after you've been an inspector for 2-3 years, you can apply for an inspector job in any federal agency in the country regardless of field. Knowing how much a 15 year junior makes at Price, I can guarantee the federal agencies pay better money, give much better conditions and an unbeatable pension plan.
And now I feel like I'm preaching. Can you tell I'm federal?
Of course, if that has nothing to do with why you went into biology in the first place, disregard this ridiculously long rambling!
On the other hand, there are very good times to be had in accounting with smaller offices or even your own. My grandpa loved his work, my cousin who's a senior audit is living on clouds after leaving Deloitte&Touche, one of the top 4 she absolutely dreaded.
As for biology, don't know if you've ever considered the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency. I know it's not groundbreaking work in the first few years, and you have to spend a good 2-3 years on the ground floor with the chickens and the pigs, but the opportunities are really good. A good friend of mine with a degree in Microbiology was hired less than two years ago and is already a grade 3 inspector and just passed his test to be grade 4. He's just one job opening away from his office downtown Montreal and a seriously fun job. The greatest thing, to me anyway, about this job is after you've been an inspector for 2-3 years, you can apply for an inspector job in any federal agency in the country regardless of field. Knowing how much a 15 year junior makes at Price, I can guarantee the federal agencies pay better money, give much better conditions and an unbeatable pension plan.
And now I feel like I'm preaching. Can you tell I'm federal?
Of course, if that has nothing to do with why you went into biology in the first place, disregard this ridiculously long rambling!Part-Time Nomad
Aahh yeah - the good old days when I was also a part of the PricewaterhouseCoopers company ... Damn, that must be like 8 years ago now ... Oh, how time flies by 
Although I was one of those dull accounting guys back when I was there, I didn't experience a lot of stressful activity like what you describe, Frank ... but then again I was only a trainee in a smaller department, so they might not have had a whole lot to do back then
Although I was one of those dull accounting guys back when I was there, I didn't experience a lot of stressful activity like what you describe, Frank ... but then again I was only a trainee in a smaller department, so they might not have had a whole lot to do back then
.
This is my ultimate goal at the moment. I've always wanted to work for a smaller company or run my own, which was also one of the appealing things about veterinary medicine. I never really considered getting into food inspection, but I'll keep it in mind if something happens.Frank wrote: On the other hand, there are very good times to be had in accounting with smaller offices or even your own. My grandpa loved his work, my cousin who's a senior audit is living on clouds after leaving Deloitte&Touche, one of the top 4 she absolutely dreaded.
That's it. I'm pulling in my contacts in the Canadian government on you Frank! Go sit in your own bedroom at night until you come home so you can scare your own socks off!
I'm sure there's a logical flaw in that sentence somewhere, but my tired mind has jagged pieces of information running through it at the moment, so I cannot find it. Not unlike the feeling you would have had if your poop had steel barbs. But in your head.
It's called a hangover, children.
-Fred
I'm sure there's a logical flaw in that sentence somewhere, but my tired mind has jagged pieces of information running through it at the moment, so I cannot find it. Not unlike the feeling you would have had if your poop had steel barbs. But in your head.
It's called a hangover, children.
-Fred
Pirates, vampires, zombies, ninjas, ghouls, aliens, goblins, monsters, robots, sorcerers, undead, werewolves, demons, mutated dinosaur-cyborgs and those pesky phone salesmen! The shotgun is a one-size-fits-all solution!
Sounds like an episode of Twilight Zone I once saw. Or something else similarly weird. Like Outer Limits.
-Fred
-Fred
Pirates, vampires, zombies, ninjas, ghouls, aliens, goblins, monsters, robots, sorcerers, undead, werewolves, demons, mutated dinosaur-cyborgs and those pesky phone salesmen! The shotgun is a one-size-fits-all solution!