I am an Idealist... and if you've ever taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®), and were lucky enough to have the letters N (for iNtuition) and F (for Feeling) in your four-letter type, then you, like me, are a fellow Idealist! We Idealists are a tricky bunch, full of ideas and ambitions that seem to grow and change as we do—but which are sometimes misunderstood by those around us. While it’s great to be full of passion for a multitude of subjects and causes, this desire to try everything can sometimes lead to challenges.

How is an Idealist supposed to decide on one career path, when he or she is constantly wondering if the grass is greener as a writer, or a dental hygienist, or a teacher, or an accountant? This grass-is-greener-syndrome, along with a tendency for Idealists to have incredibly high expectations for our future careers, is a common trait of our type. When the reality of our chosen profession doesn’t live up to the image we had of it in our inexperienced minds, we sometimes get discouraged and start wondering if we might be better pursuing something else.... I can say, without a doubt, that this is the story of my life.

Fortunately, there is hope! While I think it might take some of us longer to figure out what it is we want to do, we can eventually get there. Life is a journey, and every experience we have helps to narrow down our choices and guide us into a job that is just as ideal as we’ve imagined. I’d like to share my career story with you thus far, and hopefully I can provide some helpful advice along the way. This post isn’t just for Idealists either—any type might be interested to read about my experience and insights.

I am a twenty-something-year-old INFX. “X” is for undecided—I score J (judging) on the MBTI, but align well with the P (perceiving) type. I would say I am a typical Idealist (NF). As a high school student, my career ambitions were what others might consider a little… ummmm… unrealistic. I wanted to be either a famous actress, or a weather girl, or some sort of world traveller who immersed herself in other cultures and learned their ways—and somehow got paid for it at the same time. Needless to say I became none of those, but that isn’t so bad. Now, I would never want to be a famous actress, nor a weather girl, and while I haven’t exactly gotten paid to travel, I have been able to do a lot of it through other means.

Taking a gap year post high school to work in Mexico for a few months, I then began my studies at the University of Western Ontario (now just Western University). True to the nature of an Idealist, I switched majors twice in my four years, starting out in International and Comparative Studies, moving to a half college/half university program in Media, Theory and Production, and finally graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Media, Information and Technoculture (MIT).

After graduating from Western, I felt like a huge burden had been lifted off of my shoulders, and like my life was finally about to begin. Although I didn’t enjoy “the Western experience” as much as some alumni, I would say that graduating provided me with a huge sense of accomplishment and a lot of newfound self-confidence. It also provided me with the qualification to teach English abroad! So off I went to South Korea to teach English, and as a one year contract came to an end, and another began, I thanked my past self for sticking out my Bachelor’s degree. The two years that I spent in South Korea were as different as night and day to my four years at Western. If anyone reading this is considering teaching English abroad, I encourage you to get out there and do it! It is one of the best experiences you will ever have! Living in a foreign country is so exciting, and so profoundly different from living in Canada. You will be changed forever from the experience in a way that is so, so good. There are a lot of books and blogs about teaching ESL abroad, so I won’t go into much detail here, but if you would like more information from me, please feel free to contact me by sending a message through this site's contact form.

As great as it was living abroad, I did start to miss Canada. So after two years in Korea, I started looking for what to do next. I kind of randomly decided that I would like to be a Librarian, and after getting accepted into the Master of Library and Information Studies program at McGill, I decided that would be my next move. When starting the Library program I had a lot of people ask me, “Why do you need a master's degree to shelve books?” I agree...

it does seem like a lot of education: four years of undergrad, plus a one- or two-year master’s degree, depending on which school you attend. However, a Master of Library Studies is not intended to teach you to shelve books. The people who hold this degree are trained Information Professionals. You will not see them checking out books for you at your public library, as they are more behind the scenes, making the executive decisions and doing the brain work for whatever organization they work at.

There are a number of career routes one can take with a Master of Library and Information Science degree (see the long list of example job titles below). You can go the academic library route, and work in a university or college library, helping students and professors with research, overseeing collection development, giving seminars to students on how to perform research, and managing the day-to-day operations of the library. I found that most of the students in my program were interested in getting a job in an academic setting after graduation.

Another option is to work in a Special Library. Special Libraries are typically libraries owned by private companies or organizations, that house resources on topics that support the work of the organization. For instance, many law firms, government bodies and huge corporations have their own libraries, and hire professional Librarians to work in them, doing research and organizing company resources. Companies also hire professionals in Library and Information Science to work for their Competitive Intelligence departments as well. Competitive Intelligence basically involves managing, organizing, and finding ways to use company information to generate profits for the organization. A person with a Master of Library and Information Science degree can expect a high position, potentially running his or her department and managing employees as well.

Yet another place some graduates work is in the public library. Individuals with master’s degrees are the people who run the library. They might be in charge of the library’s finances, human resources, and making executive decisions for the library, like implementing new technologies and other big changes. They are also the ones who decide upon the library programming. This could involve bringing guest speakers to the library, children’s programming and other events for the general public, like seminars or adult education classes.

Some final places where graduates typically find work are in museums, archives and Records Management. Museums hire Information Professionals for research and management positions, as well as to be in charge of the preservation of old artifacts and documents. Records Management is a form of archiving that most companies and big organizations use. This department is responsible for managing the lifecycle of a company’s records. They must store and organize every record that the company generates, and determine when a record is no longer needed by the company.

There are eight universities in Canada that offer the Master of Library and Information Studies (LIS) program (sometimes just called Master of Information Studies). They are:

• University of British Columbia
  

• University of Alberta
  

• Western University
  

• University of Toronto
  

• University of Ottawa
  

• McGill University
  

• University of Montreal (in French)
  

• Dalhousie University

If you are interested in learning more about a Master’s degree in Library or Information Science, I encourage you to take a look at the above links. I am not finished my degree yet, as I’ve had a bit of a change of heart after a summer internship in the field. The main thing that changed my mind about continuing the degree, which I did not realize before starting it, is that it will lead to a job that works more with information and data rather than people. This is perfectly suited for some, but I think my INFX personality craves human interaction and connection in my career, and so I am still searching!

If you have any more questions about graduate school or the library industry, please feel free to contact me for more information. And good luck on your professional journey!

why choose a career in nursing?
Now is the perfect time to become a registered nurse (RN) in Canada. There are many career opportunities in hospitals, homes and even in the classroom. Every Canadian at some point in their life will require the services of a nurse. Currently Canada is facing a shortage of registered nurses, as many RNs are retiring and others will soon retire. Canada needs dedicated people to choose nursing as a career. Nursing offers men and women alike a wide range of opportunities for career challenges, travel, professional development, competitive wages (click here) and the personal satisfaction of working in a caring profession that helps people to get well or stay healthy.

what to expect as a registered nurse
Becoming a nurse opens you up to a lot of possibilities as nurses in Canada work in a variety of positions. RNs support people to attain, maintain and regain health across their lifespan. Nurses practice in five major areas of responsibility: education, administration, research, policy and direct care. Education and administration are fairly self-explanatory, nurses who work in education can either work at high-schools in specialized programs for nursing or at nursing colleges; nurses working in administration can work at long-term care homes, hospitals and other locations where nursing services are available; and nurses in policy advocate, critique and advise on health-care issues; and direct care nurses work directly with their patients. 

There are other options to becoming a nurse if you are interested in diirect care, from home care aide to nursing assistant to direct support professional, personal care attendant, and more. Although they work in different settings, they all provide hands-on care to people who need long-term supports and services. Examples of direct care work range from working as a nurse's aide in a hospice providing comfort to patients and families to providing support for people with severe illnesses in their homes and helping them with the activities of daily living. 

how to become a registered nurse
To work as a nurse in Canada you require a bachelor's degree in nursing (BN or BScN) or you must be in the process of obtaining this educational requirement. Many Canadian universities, and colleges in combination with universities, offer degrees in nursing (click here for a listing). A typical bachelor's degree will take approximately 4 years and you are eligible for some clinical work while in the process of obtaining your degree. Along with a bachelor's degree you must write the Canadian Registered Nurse Examination as part of the registration or licensure process. At present, this exam can only be written in Canada on the
recommendation of a provincial or a territorial nurses association.

Video games are modern phenomena that have existed and persisted over the last 40 years. In a typical game development firm you have a lead designer who is in contact with the publishers and leads the team through the journey of designing and developing a game. The lead designer manages the game designers, the art lead, tech lead and audio designers. For larger studios there may be other positions such as writers and voice-actors.

what does a game designer do? 
A video game starts as an idea and moves on to become a concept. After this a proposal is written up and drafted by a team of designers who deal with the most pressing issues (age of the target audience, deadlines, budgets, number of staff, requirements, etc). The designers come up with ideas and solutions to many problems they may encounter in the process of game development. These solutions are then enacted by the technical members of the team like the audio designers, artists and programmers. Therefore, in a sense, the game designers can be seen as managers or even directors.  

Game designers have many responsibilities beyond designing the characters, plot, maps and other aspects of the game; in fact, concepts and ideas are a very small portion of the work a game designer does. These other responsibilities include meeting deadlines, play-testing the game for bugs and difficulty and communicating with different leads. If you’re interested in pursuing a career in game design, you’ll need some very specific skills including knowledge of programming languages, coding, problem solving and critical thinking, sketching and drawing skills, communication skills and knowledge of video and audio equipment.

other positions in a studio
audio designer - These guys work with the sound engineering in video games, as well as how to appropriately add sound to the game. They are often in charge of developing sound effects and linking them to actions that the programmers write out.

programmer - Programmers are the backbone of many game studios; they provide the framework the game is built on, the code that runs the game and the interactions between all the different objects, the animations of models and sprites, the control interface that the user would need to interact with the game world and much more.

artists - The artists are in charge of designing sprites, textures for models and terrain, concept art, cover art, environments and much more. In general they design any graphics-related content that would be required in the game development process.

how to become a video game designer
The video game industry is extremely fast moving and competitive. With the recent advent of indie gaming there are more possibilities available but they are often low paying with extremely high workloads. This is not to say that the majority of the industry doesn’t suffer from both of these problems. To become a video game designer you could choose to get a college degree in video game design, computer science or a similar related field. Most designers start off as interns in large companies as QA testers and work their way up. Many designers also start off as artists, web designers or programmers who want more say in what happens in the game. 

education - There are many colleges and universities that offer programs specifically in game design; in Southern Ontario this includes Sheridan, Algonquin, George Brown, Seneca and Carlton, Brock and Laurier. Beyond this, you can also find diplomas degrees in information technology, animation and digital design, which are all wider in scope allowing you to have more prospects in your future.

If you plan on becoming a video game designer, then you should develop - and keep developing - a portfolio to show companies. This portfolio should include any design work or games that you have created. Examples include mods to existing games using development tools such as the creation kit in Skyrim. You can also use tools like Unity 3D or Gamemaker to develop and publish games independently. Gamedev.net is a popular resource that offers free tutorials, paid work and hobbyist projects for future and current game developers and designers. To really shoehorn your way into the industry you will need to take initiative and complete your own projects.

An alternative to getting a degree or diploma in game development is to get a bachelor's degree in programming and then find work in the game industry, or you can also get a degree in art/design and also try to find a position in a studio. These are the more common ways to get into game development since programs that are purely meant for game design are relatively new.

work environment
There are many misconceptions of the gaming industry; many people wish to pursue a career in the gaming industry due to stereotypes of relaxed atmospheres, a lack of hierarchies and casual or ’fun’ work (doing what you enjoy) - but this is fairly distant from the truth. Large companies such as EA, Ubisoft, Valve and Paradox have very different and unique work environments which can range from what was described above to working 70 hours a week with very heavy workloads.

According to the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the average game designer is 31 years old with a salary of $51,375—this is an increase of of $1,950 from the year before. The salary for a game designer can vary heavily within the industry. For example, at Electronic Arts a designer can expect a salary of $71,500, while those employed at Gameloft can expect $48,667.

While the industry is very competitive, it also has room for advancement. In choosing a career in game design, you will be required to work in audio/fx design, graphics/art or programming for a long time before becoming a full-fledged game designer, and you will still have to work with these areas afterwards - so make sure that you have a large and vested interest in becoming a game designer!