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BYU career advisors, former graduate provide insight into career exploration

Declaring a major or an area of study can be a daunting task for students for a handful of reasons. BYU career advisors and a BYU alum offered advice to those exploring different majors and careers.

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Students in the Wilkinson Student Center on the first day of classes. BYU students must declare an area of study, which is often a difficult task. (BYU Photo)

Mitchell Sotto, a BYU alum, works as a software consultant. He studied information systems for five years, obtaining both his bachelor’s and master’s degree through the BYU Marriott School of Business.

However, this was not his original plan.

"I'd never even really touched a computer before," Sotto said.

According to Sotto, his original plan was to study international relations. Still, he chose a different path after taking Career Exploration 117 during his second semester at BYU.

"Some of my traits in some of the personality tests apparently lined up with people who were in technology fields," Sotto said. After getting started in the field, he found that he loved it.

Sotto's professor, T. Alberto Puertas, described Sotto as "a wonderful kid."

Puertas works in the BYU University Advisement Center as an academic, career and international advisor, mentoring students and teaching Career Exploration alongside a few other student development courses.

Puertas has taught Career Exploration for almost two decades and remains fixed on this one key principle: a major is not a career.

"Every student has his or her own concerns, and they're all equating choosing a major to choosing an occupation when it's not correct," Puertas said, "a major is a learning discipline."

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Students in class at Brigham Young University. BYU students learn skills in all of their classes to help them become contributing members of society. (BYU Photo)

Puertas explained that when a student declares a major, they are not confining themselves to a specific area of work. Puertas said that a major is "all about building up skills so you can become more marketable and contribute to society.”

It is normal for students to change their major or area of study, Puertas said, as he has seen it done several times before.

"Decision-making is always correctable," Puertas said.

Puertas encouraged students to remember that their major does not confine them to one line of work, however if they are not enjoying their studies, it is OK to switch. Puertas said he believes that students should study what they love and what they have the skills for.

"Choosing a major is not a proposition for torture," Puertas said, "choosing a major is a proposition to work hard at BYU."

Puertas highlighted that it is "extremely rewarding" for him to see former students in occupations that bring them joy.

Alongside consulting students in major and career exploration, Puertas aims to help students discover what they want out of life and the things that will bless them.

"We value education and choosing learning disciplines from all areas," Puertas said, referring to the totality of a student's experience at BYU as a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Marilyn Richards, BYU career and academic advisor, explained that a student's "experience here at BYU isn't just about classes and getting a major, it's about this total educational experience."

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BYU faculty mentoring a student. Career and Academic Advisors are one among many resources at BYU to help students in their career exploration journey. (BYU Photo)

Richards emphasized the importance of utilizing opportunities and resources — many of which can be found on the University Advisement Center's website — in one's career exploration journey.

Typically, Richards prioritizes students' feedback regarding their interests, skill sets and preferred work environments to initially direct them while they explore various majors and careers.

Mitchell Sotto was a teaching assistant for Puertas’s Career Exploration class after he took the course as a student.

Sotto highlighted that a student's interests play a more significant role than they might expect in their future career or job.

"The biggest thing that students needed to see and learn,” Sotto said, “was that their interests are valid and they can do something with those.”

Even if there is not a specific, titled career that directly applies to one’s interests, Sotto assured that they can still "play a huge role in whatever career that they move on to." Students can use their interests and skills in almost any job they take up in the future.

"It's not the job that you get; it's what you choose to make that job into," Sotto said.

Amy Soto, professor and associate director of the University Advisement Center, taught that self-awareness is a vital factor in career exploration and decision-making.

"The world of work is really dynamic," professor Soto said, "the skills that you learn in a major are transferable."

Both professor Soto and Puertas referenced that because of the constantly evolving world of work, new career opportunities arise every day.

"The only constant for your generation is change," Puertas said, "in the world of work in which we live today, the occupations of today won't be there tomorrow."

Sotto — Puertas's past student and TA — explained the concept of constructionism, the idea that "the world is constantly changing," and because of this, "you have no idea if the career you want is even going to be there in five years." This is one of the ideologies and lessons that Sotto remembers from the class.

"You've got to kind of roll with the punches and expect that change is coming," Sotto said.

Sotto acknowledged that his flexibility in the workplace opened many opportunities for him, enabling him to gain more experience.

"There is no shortage of problems in all spaces that need to be solved," Sotto said. "All they're waiting for is someone who's willing to use their unique abilities and break out of the mold of their position and stretch themselves a little."

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BYU students participate in a lab, practicing skills learned in the classroom. Students are encouraged to develop skills and interests to later apply them to their careers. (BYU Photo)

Sotto encouraged students to continue to develop their interests and make an effort to grow in whatever job they’re in. While it will be hard and take a lot of work, he believes that "opportunity is endless and the world is really, really for the taking."

"Your job is not to find the right job, but it's more to be the right person in whatever job you're in," Sotto said.