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Career Paths

It is time for AsianWeek’s annual career round-up, and from the looks of things, it couldn’t have come at a better time. After all the hoopla, stock options and raised caps for incoming workers — the dot-com shakeout proved that the industry was still in its fickle adolescence. There were some 34,000 high tech jobs expunged in the first quarter of 2001 alone. But the lay-offs have slowed down, and we all know that technology is here to stay. In fact, the top five fastest growing jobs as predicted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics have to do with computers.

In the meantime, as the industry readjusts, here in San Francisco the office rents are dropping and apartment prices are finally becoming just really expensive, as opposed to impossibly unmanageable. On any given day, you will see U-hauls carting a number of unemployed cubicle surfers and their IKEA furnishings off to distant lands. In fact, the Peace Corps reported that their applications in the Bay Area went up by a significant percent in the last year.

And perhaps that is a great idea. What a great opportunity for these once dot-communists to go down an entirely different road, to give back to the community. Think about what you could teach a fifth grade class, how you could help organize an under-staffed nonprofit or how fun it would be to do conservation work in the national parks.

If you really stop to think about it, there are so many jobs out there to be had. We spoke to Asian Americans who were robotics engineers, private detectives, sex educators and labor organizers — to name a few. In the new millennium, as Asian Americans destroy the model minority stereotype with their diverse endeavors, they can no longer be classified only as doctors or engineers. There are Asian Americans making a mark in every single field you could think of.

Here at AsianWeek, we took a moment to dream up our own fantasy careers: Ji would be the host of her own travel television show, Eunice would be an urban anthropologist, Ian would be a professional pianist, Neela would be a boxer, Joyce would be a ballerina and Yvonne would be a sailor. What would you be?