How TV and Movies Influenced My Career Choice

Growing up in the days of modern media it’s hard to not be influenced by what you see on TV. I grew up watching movies and tv shows that got me interested in certain careers. I think it’s funny how I remember what I wanted to be when I grew up based on the TV show I was into during that period of time. I’m going to take you through some of the phases I went through when trying to decide what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. 

Teacher

Mr. Feeney from Boy Meets World is the first person I think of when I hear someone wants to be a teacher. He was an incredible teacher and every night at 11:11 I would wish for him to be my teacher. I loved how every lesson was both an academic one and also a life lesson. He was incredibly inspirational and such a big influence on his students. Watching Boy Meets World made me want to be a teacher so I could influence my future students the same way he did.

Nurse/Doctor

There are a lot of medical shows out there. Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Doctor, New Amsterdam, Chicago Med, and the list goes on and on. I’ve never met someone who watched these shows religiously and didn’t go through a phase of wanting to be a doctor. While these shows aren’t always super realistic, you can learn a lot from them. A lot of people want to help people and these shows portray the medical field as really rewarding, which it totally is because you have the opportunity to help people almost daily. 

Lawyer

Drop Dead Diva, Law and Order, Legally Blonde, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder. I loved watching these bada** characters prove everyone wrong. Not going to lie, I love being right. Again, I think it goes right along with being able to help people. Most, if not all, of the cases we see on tv show the lawyer proving the innocence of someone who truly is innocent. You also get to see how much research and passion goes into these cases, and how rewarding it is to figure out what happened. I also loved watching how confident these characters always are. Their confidence was truly the most inspiring.

Police Officer/Detective

Shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, and NCIS are all so interesting. Shows like these have given me an insight into what goes on behind the scenes. I love seeing how someone takes individual clues and pieces them together to get the full story. I think I liked this so much because I don’t like the unknown and I always felt like a detective is the only one who really gets the full story.

Journalist

I think this is the one that influenced my career choice the most. I have always wanted to work at a big fashion magazine. Not even fashion necessarily, but I have always loved writing and the idea of writing for an audience was so cool! My favorite journalism shows/movies are The Bold Type, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, 13 Going on 30, and Supergirl. All of these have strong female leads and they are all writing about things that matter to them. The Bold Type is my newest addiction. They cover topics everywhere from fun and lighthearted, to deep and personal. I have always loved the idea of being able to inspire and reach people with my words and stories. Also, these characters always seem to have the best outfits and I don’t know why, but I just feel like if I had their job I would just obtain an amazing closet.

I really enjoyed how these tv shows and movies portrayed these careers, however, after doing research and taking a few classes, I decided a few of them just weren’t for me. I’m not the most science-y person, and a medical degree requires a lot of science classes. I don’t want to defend a bad guy and lawyers don’t always get to decide who they represent. I would love journalism, but it’s not a reasonable career where I want to live. I love the representation we get to see when it comes to careers. Yes, some of them weren’t for me, but I was exposed to these worlds and I am so thankful for that. A lot of the older generations picked careers based on what was familiar to them. Media today allows us to get out of the cycle and explore things that you may have thought weren’t possible.

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