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MATH: Career Exploration

Step One

Open Noodletools - create a project.

Think about a possible career (don't worry, we're not going to hold you to it!).  Then think of all the titles that job could have.

Example: you want to be a school librarian - we're also known as library media specialists or librarians or teacher librarians or just teachers (depends on what state or district we're in).

Write down all those possible titles.

Step Two

Go to Indeed.com and look for those titles (you might get lucky on your first try!).

Write down the median salary for that job.  NOTE: This salary is for jobs close to Milton MA!

Step Three

Open the Bureau of Labor Statistics' historical information:

2001

2011

Find your job (remember - job titles may have changed, or your job may not have been created yet due to changes in technology!)

Write down the median salary for your job in those two years.

NOTE: If you think you'd like to leave Milton for, say, California or Minnesota, use the Compare and Contrast calculator to find out what that salary would be in that place.  It's not going to be accurate for the historical data, but that's fine for this exercize.

Step Four

Using those three numbers, plot your graph showing the historical data and then project what your salary might be in 2031.

Step Five

Now go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Outlook site - look up your job and see what the government thinks your salary might be.  

Does it match what your graph projection showed?  Why or why not?

This is where you get to think creatively!