Career System

Updated: May 2011
My sims can advance in their careers based on their education level. This system is totally monitored by me since the game checks their own qualifications and advances them if the meet those qualifications (be sure to grab the cool mod by Cyjon that allows you to control job promotions).  I never thought it made sense that a sim can enter the Medical and Science careers without going to Uni but can’t enter Art or Show Business without having a Uni degree. And yes, I know people can get degrees in Art and Performing Arts (I do work at a college, by the way) but they don’t have to go in order to advance in those careers, though it betters their chances. But how many doctors became doctors without going to medical school?

There are 4 careers that I’ve set to not require a degree at all and those are: Criminal, Entertainment, Paranormal and Slacker. Sims who want to be in any of these careers will not need to go to college and can advance to the top. All other careers can be entered wth any or none of the following degrees. Breakdowns on the different degree levels listed below.

Associate's Degree (2-year degree)
Careers requiring (at least) an associate's degree --
  • Architecture (can advance up to level 4)
  • Business (can advance up to level 5)
  • Culinary (Levels 6-10)
  • Education (can advance up to level 3)
  • Intelligence (can advance up to level 4)
  • Journalism (can advance up to 7)
  • Law (can advance up to level 4)
  • Law Enforcement (can advance up to 5)
  • Medicine (can advance up to level 3)
  • Military (can advance up to level 4)
  • Natural Science (can advance up to level 4)
  • Science (can advance up to level 3)
Custom Careers:
  • Nursing (can advance up to level 3) download at MTS

Bachelor's degree (4-year degree)
Careers requiring (at least) a bachelor’s degree --
  • Architecture (can advance up to level 7)
  • Business (can advance up to level 7)
  • Education (can advance up to level 7)
  • Gamer (Levels 7-10 --I have an edited Gamer career)
  • Intelligence (can advance up to level 7)
  • Journalism
  • Law (can advance up to level 7)
  • Law Enforcement
  • Medicine (can advance up to level 5)
  • Military
  • Natural Science (can advance up to level 7)
  • Oceanography (can advance up to level 7)
  • Politics (can advance up to level 5)
  • Science (can advance up to level 6)
Custom Careers:
  • Counseling Psychology – (can advance up to 6) download at Pine Hollow
  • Nursing

Advanced Degree (Master's or Doctorate)
Careers requiring an advanced degree --
  • Architecture (Levels 8-10)
  • Business (Levels 8-10)
  • Education (Levels 8-10)
  • Intelligence (Levels 8-10)
  • Law (Levels 8-10)
  • Medicine (Levels 6-10)
  • Natural Science (Levels 8-10)
  • Oceanography (Levels 8-10)
  • Politics (Levels 6-10)
  • Science (Levels 7-10)
Custom Careers:
Counseling Psychology – (Levels 7-10)
--Coming soon: Details on requirements to obtain an Advanced Degree

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Here is a screen cap of the database I created to keep track of all careers (click to enlarge):
I may edit it later to add salary for each level since I’m thinking about giving those who went to the UCC a pay bump compared to those who went to CCA for the same career. You may not recognize Culinary Literature as a major because I downloaded some additional majors along with some replacements to existing ones so that they made more sense to me. I never understood why they have sims major in Drama in order to excel in Athletics or Politics (you should study Political Science for Politics, no? Though I can understand their thinking on having future Politicians study drama).

I usually try to pick a sim’s career path when they’re a toddler or child by basing it on their personality. If the sim is very active and outgoing, I’ll try to decide whether I want them to be in the following careers: Adventurer, Athletic, Dance, Entertainment, or Military. Then, depending on the aspiration they roll and their Lifetime Want when they age to teen, I’ll be able to narrow it down more. And lastly, their career is chosen depending on how well they do in high school, if they qualify to get into college, and how many other sims are in that same career. I don’t want an overflow of too many careers.

And lastly, for those sims who don’t have the personality or the grades to get into any of these careers, there are always business-owned jobs they can apply for. They can get training at The Creek Technical Institute for the badge(s) they desire and work for any business that is in need of that particular skill-set. More information about the Technical Institute is on the Higher Education Requirements page.

4 comments:

  1. Wow, you are organised! If my Sims don't have a career-based LTW, I often don't pick their job until they graduate college! I'm trying to get a little better with that though.

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  2. Hehehe I'm a dork for databases. I did have all this in a spreadsheet but the tabs of all the sheets started to annoy me since I had a bunch.

    Even though I try to figure out their future jobs ahead of time, there are still a bunch of sims who are kind of in the middle of the road and don't really fit into any specific job well. Like Cancers, they usually only have 4-6 points in each personality trait. So they're not very outgoing or very shy, they're just kind of there. Maybe I'll randomly roll a career for them but I don't know yet.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, that's a neat program you have to keep track of your career requirements-I just use Excel. I'm like Carla, my sims often don't pick their careers (unless it's a LTW) until after graduation...or even later. I've had many sims simply float through life without a clue of what they wanted to do besides throw parties or spend money(I'm looking at you Sandy).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for checking out my blog, Apple Valley! I got a TON of inspiration from your Behind the Scenes of Apple Valley, so I just want to say thanks for all those posts you did explaining your systems! They really helped me.

    I was using Excel at first but I switched to Acess because I like using the forms and reports aspects of the program. But I do use Excel to keep track of other things.

    I still have a few sims who I'm at a loss for since they won't be going to college and don't really fit into some other careers. But they'll find something to do with their life until they find their life's passion... or not. I'm pretty sure at least one of them will be like your Sandy lol.

    ReplyDelete

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