Want change gears. Looking for your advise and assistance.

[Canadian Mind]

Hey all. Was going to post this in the Canada section, but I feel a bit more familiar with you folks than the whole of the Canada section, and the questions are asked with Metro Vancouver in mind anyways. Don't wanna be a city planner in Toronto or Montreal... Anyways, if you feel it should be moved anyways, feel free. I know this isn't a free-for-all section. Originally I asked a similar question to these about three years ago, but I'll be damned if I can find the thread it was in with this slow as molassis Afghan internet connection.

For those of you who know me or care to keep track of where I'm at, I'm approximately halfway through my overseas deployment, and doing just fine. Due to the nature of what I do out here, I have plenty of time on my hands to think about where I want to go with my life after tour.

Originally my intentions when I first joined were to do a three year stint, including a tour, evaluate how much I liked the military, and if I wanted to stay in, or pursue other opportunities. The option that was my biggest consideration outside staying in the military was architecture, and my original question revolved around where to go to school to become one. In the three years since, my interests have grown slightly beyond that, namely politics & city planning.

So, my questions are; if I wanted to get into city planning or related fields (like being one of the guys who runs translink, plans projects, etc.), what exactly are all the different jobs that one can get in those fields, and what do each do? Further, what education does one require to qualify for these various positions? I'm also wondering, if I am from a community outside Vancouver but have a vested interest in Vancouver, is it possible or can I reasonably expect to be able to initially find employment working for the city of Vancouver, a surrounding comminuty, the metro, or Translink? Or should I expect to only be able to work closer to what I originally called home, and move on to bigger and better things later?

Lastly, my last year in highschool I didn't do so spectacular, and would like to upgrade my mediocre marks (I blame my time on SSP). What is the simplest way to go about doing this, while still maintaining my current job?

This isn't me saying I want out of the military. The job pays great; 20 years old making 44K a year, with an extra 2K a month in bonuses (plus the income tax exemption) while I'm on tour. It's alot of dough, but after 3 years of it, and now halfway done the tour, I'm thinking it's not right for me. Atleast my current trade is not. If I can find a trade in the military I like better than being a tank driver/armoured recconasaince, I will stick with it. I love the job and love the experiance, but all the same, I'm left feeling like I can do more with my life than be a grunt collecting my paycheck for the next 25 years, then live till I die on my pension. Basically I want to leave my mark on this rock by the time I'm gone.

And forgive me for asking so much. I feel that the majority of this I should be researching on my own, but a limited internet connection once every ten days just doesn't do my curiosity justice. It could wait until the end of tour, but as I said earlier, I have plenty of free time to think about where my life is going and what I want to do right now (gotta love OP routine ). I'd rather not waste it while I have it.

My mid-tour leave is coming up reasonably soon, and based on the responses I hope to do some in-depth research for myself and collect as much information as possible prior to returning to the sandbox and actually continuing my soul-searching. But even then, it's only 18 days, and I'd like to spend as much time with family and freinds while I am home, not on the computer 24/7, so the more I can simply copy-paste onto my laptop the better, and the more appreciated.

Again, asking for this I feel like a lazy bastard; so as a sign of appreciation, first round of beers on me when I get back home if we can ever organise another SSP-Vancouver meet.

[bulliver]

Very reasoned, and well thought out questions, sorry you haven't had a better response.

I can't really answer your questions but perhaps I can give you some ideas. As far as upgrading your education while working, I would say correspondence is the way to go. For some reason they call this 'distance learning' now. Years ago I took a few courses from Open University out of Burnaby. It seems they have been swallowed by Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, however, physical location doesn't really matter. TRU has adult basic education courses, with which you could presumably 'redo' the HS courses whose marks you wish to improve. There are probably many more across Canada that you could choose from. Athabasca University in Alberta has a comprehensive distance learning calendar as well. Which ever you choose, just make sure they are fully accredited or your choice of college/university will not consider the grades for their entry requirements. Stay away from shady 'Academy of Learning' type places, they are garbage, and just out to make a buck.

As for deciding which specific courses/programs to take leading to a career in planning, I don't know, but a quick google of "urban planning university course" lists many Canadian universities with such programs.

Also, search for the job title for which you eventually seek, and find some employment listing for it. Probably doesn't really matter if they are Canadian or American. Pay attention to the qualifications they ask for....and that will give you some idea on where to focus your education.

Good luck...

[flight_from_kamakura]

hm, you might look into what canadian forces programs exist in relevant related domains and then look at transfer credit/course exemptions, admissions preferences for military, etc. bad grades will hurt you, but the military ought to help. that said, as far as i know, there aren't any b.a. planning programs in canada and anyway, there are so many m.u.p.s out there that even if you could find such a program, you'd still be swimming upstream. so unless you decide to do the b.arch or b.a. and then hit planning school, my guess is that your best option would be to move to something relevant in the military and then try to segue over to the trades. and the distance education idea could help you out there. voilà.

[cc85]

If you want a bachelor in planning try UNBC, Ryerson, or Waterloo.

Then again, there is no point in getting a bachelor in planning if you want to work in planning; you need a masters to go anywhere.

[Alex Mackinnon]

The concept of teaching planning in a city like Prince George kind of makes me chuckle.

If you want to know the in sides and outs you could always go at it from the technical angle and take engineering. The grades to get in really aren't that hard to get if you polish up your high school science and math credits, then a lot of people switch into things like architecture or planning if they don't like the work when they get there.

That's kind of what I'm thinking of doing, but I just graduated and am finding the techie work pretty fun.