The purpose of my interview was to find out the interests of youth and their exposure to varying subjects and potential careers. I wanted to see if their interests and hobbies linked to potential career options that they would consider for themselves. I then discussed careers, opportunities, and mentors to see how much thought kids put into their futures and the influences that play into what they consider possible career options.
From my interviews, it is now clear to me that early exposure to possible careers and participating in activities that could be developed into jobs is vital for youth finding careers that they are passionate about.
Introduction
- Find out and confirm age and grade, demographics
- My first interview was with an 8 year old male in 3rd grade, located in New Zealand
- My second interview was was with a 10 year old female in 6th grade, located in New Zealand
Interest
- What do you do on a typical day at school? Can you walk me through it?
- During the day his school would cover the following subjects: math, reading, sports, writing, history/inquiry. He would also get time for lunch and recess, during which he enjoyed climbing on the playground and climbing trees.
- During the day her school would cover the following subjects: math, Chinese, performing arts, writing, literacy, library, sports, history/inquiry. She also had morning tea/snack time and lunch.
- What is your favorite part of your school day? Least favorite?
- His favorite part of school was math because he was good at it and got to work at the highest level. He also enjoyed working in groups with his friends and helping out his peers when they were struggling.
- Her favorite part is writing because she enjoys creating stories. Her least favorite is performing arts because she finds it boring. She enjoys working in groups to get new ideas and different inputs and perspectives.
- Do you like going to school? Why or why not?
- Enjoys going to school to learn new things
- My note: very inquisitive and well informed
- She enjoys learning and working with other people.
- If you could be a teacher in your school for a day, what would you want to teach? Any subject.
- Math (refer to previous question); he liked it because he was good at it
- Math, because she likes learning about graphs and analyzing data, and writing
- If you could learn about anything you wanted to in school, what would it be? Why?
- He wanted to learn programming (mentioned later on) as it is something he does outside of school and enjoys and wants to get better at.
- She would want to learn about more unusual and unique sports and how to play them.
- What do you do when you get home from school?
- On MWF, he does gymnastics; his favorite part is learning new skills and using the rings. On Thursdays, he does programming after school with a teacher online, during which he learns Java. In the past he has programmed robots using javascript and python.
- Gymnastics- her favorite is doing dance and floor routines. She also does web design and is learning javascript and HTML, and her favorite part is figuring out layouts and design.
- What do you like to do for fun?
- He enjoys playing Minecraft online with his cousin and friends, and really likes the mini games.
- She enjoys reading, coloring, and playing with her kitten Astro.
- What do you do when you want to relax?
- (Follows through with enjoyment of Minecraft) He likes to watch You-tubers play Minecraft.
- She likes coloring, and playing with her kitten Astro.
- If you were told that you could do anything you wanted for an entire day, can you walk me through what your day would look like?
- His favorite parts of his days are gymnastics and programming.
- My note: surprised that Minecraft was not mentioned
- She would want to play with Astro, go to a trampoline park, and read.
- My note: trampoline park relates to gymnastics
Career/Future
- Who is someone in your life that you look up to? They can be a friend, a teacher, a coach, family, anyone.
- He looks up to his grandfather because he is smart and does important work for the government.
- My note: he did not know further details but clearly admired his grandfather’s intellect and dedication to his career
- She looks up to her mom because she is a hard worker
- My note: did not know about her career or how to describe that she is a hard working
- Can you tell me 5 different career options that you know about?
- Scientist (like his grandfather and parents), Programmer (his aunt), Game developer, Government worker (grandfather), Teacher, and Police officer.
- Teacher, salesman, police officer, doctor, bus driver
- If you could be anything in the world, what would you be? Why?
- He wanted to be a game developer (specifically a Mojang developer) because he really enjoyed playing games like Minecraft.
- My note: I feel like most kids that like games would want to be a professional game player or test games, so it was interesting when he said he wanted to make them. It does make sense, though, because it combined his love for game playing and programming.
- She wants to be a web designer because she enjoys design and thinks it would be a fun and interesting job
- Can you tell me some jobs that you would not want to do? Why?
- n/a - all jobs are interesting
- She wouldn’t want to be a police officer because she didn’t want to work in danger with criminals (“naughty people” as she called them)
- Are there any jobs that you think that you can’t do or shouldn’t do? Why?
- He thought that it would be too difficult to be a firefighter because of the sleep schedule
- “Might become nocturnal because you have to stay up all night for night shifts”
- “You wouldn’t see anyone because you’re up all night and sleeping at daytime”
- My note: I thought his response was interesting because he didn’t feel limited by society, capability, or societal pressures. He simply wouldn't want to give up his sleep and social schedule. I’m not sure if this is because of how/where/by whom he was raised, or if he just isn’t old enough to understand the roles that society places on us and the class system that is used to place importance on certain jobs while deeming others non-respectable and not “glamorous.”
- No answer
- My note: I appreciate that she doesn’t feel limited because of her gender, and this is hopefully a progression of society to play less into gender roles and stereotypes.
- Would you want to be famous? Why or why not?
- He only would want to be famous if it was for something good and if he intended for it (this was an interesting insight). He explained he’d want to become famous for creating a game, then said he’d want it to be related to Minecraft but “not too close to Minecraft that [he’d] get copyrighted.”
- My note: I thought that it was interesting that he had already thought about the concerns of copyright and brought it up – not something I would expect from someone so young
- Unsure, doesn’t have anything she would want to be famous for yet.
- If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Why?
- At first, he wanted the ability to have all superpowers, but then changed his mind, stating “some superpowers are bad”. He then decided on telekinesis because it would enable him to easily get objects, and he liked the idea of moving things with his mind.
- She would want the ability to fly and get places faster.
- My note: This question was meant to be a fun closing question, as well as see if any of their answers matched with their interests or linked to their previous answers.
Reflection: My interviews took place through Facetime and lasted 28 minutes for Interviewee A and 36 minutes for Interviewee B. Doing the interview virtually was a good idea because they were able to be in their own familiar, comfortable environment and I was able to hold a good conversation without them feeling uncomfortable. In my interview guide, I added in a few “easy” questions that just required recollection, some more questions that required some thinking and reflection, and a few fun questions to balance out the interview and keep the interviewees engaged. This worked well and neither one seemed bored or unwilling to participate. Something I would change about my interview is possibly asking more questions about gender expectations and inequality in careers and salary. However, I’m not sure how I would go about that; if they aren’t aware of the difficulties and injustice, I wouldn’t want to instill that though accidentally and make it seem common and acceptable. I also may want to interview an older group of high school/ college students to see how they reflect on their experiences and dream careers as children, versus what they are pursuing currently.
My interviews went very well and I was able to learn a lot about the difference between the way I had been raised and the way kids are being raised today. I found Interviewee A was very inquisitive and well informed about society and academic knowledge. I thought it was interesting that both subjects were exposed to programming, engineering, and design at such a young age, since that was something that was not as common when I was their age.
I found that their hobbies did link to their career interests, and that they both had very realistic options. I thought it was interesting that they did not know many career options that would be more common knowledge, but knew of many science and math based careers. Society still has many social expectations, norms, and stereotypes surrounding many careers, so I was pleased to find that neither felt limited in what they could do in terms of careers by their identity, gender, etc. I am unsure if this is a progression of society or the way and location that my interviewees were raised in, so I may want to do more interviews and research to get a broader understanding of the current situation.
Kids don’t always understand that anything can be a job and turned into a career. From my interviews, it is now clear to me that early exposure to possible careers and participating in activities that could be developed into jobs is vital for youth finding careers that they are passionate about.