Something on YouTube: Interpreting young people's career dreams

Even though the chances of a child achieving social media stardom when they grow up are slim, parents are best off trying to understand what exactly their child wants and then trying to find suitable training. — dpa

In the past many adolescents answered the question as to what they wanted to do professionally one day with "something to do with the media". Now they're more likely to say "Something to do with YouTube". After all, that's where today's digital natives grow up.

Many parents will shake their heads. But even though the chances of social media stardom are slim, parents are best off trying to understand what exactly their child wants and then trying to find suitable training, advises Andreas Pieper from Germany's Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training.

The job range in the IT sector is wide, from technician to software developer to online retailer. If a teen is interested in software and games, a computer science degree with an application development component is a good start. "It's a profession that's booming," Pieper says.

For YouTube fans, training as a media creator would make sense. Or, given the popularity of make-up tutorials on the video sharing site, perhaps as a beautician? — dpa