EVE New Citizens Q&A

I'm brand new, just started last night and I like it a lot so far. One thing I've really enjoyed was seeing the different stations, the ships (using "look at"), and the space itself. I tried to think of a "job" I could do in a corp that would allow me to see more.

Ive read a lot about hauling on the eve-u wiki and a few other articles and I think I'd actually really like to do that first off. Once I finish the tutorials I plan on training the support skills needed to captain a iteron or a prowler maybe, and hope that I can find work hauling for a small corp that doesn't use freighters.

Is that a reasonable goal? As a new person will I be able to find hauling work for small corps using the standard industrial ships?

I've read a lot about the CODE people and stuff, and I realize that I may get blown up along the way, but is it still possible to haul through high sec for small corps for a low-skilled industrial captain?

This doesn't address your specific question, but: don't think of corporations in EVE like real life corporations. They're clans, guilds, whatever you want to call it. There aren't really "jobs" in a corporation in the RL sense. It's not a super important thing, but it can adversely affect how you approach the game.

I don't want to pigeon hole myself, but at the same time I feel like I need to build some sort of useful skillset to be of use to a corporation before I expand outside of that into other things. Is that not the case? Will a corp take in a new player that is all over the place skill-wise?

Thanks for the tips, everyone!

generally, yes ... but look to be (somewhat) specialized in something.

This is ages old advice I got when I started, but it still (mostly) holds true today.

"You can do whatever you want, but don't let that detract from at least some basic PVP skills. Train up at least to fly frigates really well (L4 skills across the board for tank, gunnery/missiles, etc), because PVP will find you, even if you don't want it."

I suppose I'll disagree with what's been presented so far: small-industrial hauling isn't really that viable as a specialization. One reason for this is that it's highly accessible - anyone can do it easily, and usually can fly one or two factions decently. So a pvp-oriented pilot will often tend to have one of the industrials trained up to 3, via a few hours training outside their normal PVP queue. You would, however, save the customer time, but the process of enabling you to save their time is itself a bit of a comparative sink for the customer, mitigating the service value. So from their perspective, you wouldn't offer an appreciably improved service or value-add. It's kinda like applying to a job on the basis that you can brew the boss a decent cup of coffee.

The reason contract hauling works for larger ships, however, is because the maximum hold of a Bestower or Iteron is entirely insufficient for logistical means. A t1 indy holds something like 10% of what freighter would hold. The efficiency gains from outsourcing your hauling to a freighter-sized hold is multiplied many times over, such that it becomes a good deal. But 1/10th the hold means its better to just haul for one's self.

One more reason why I don't think T1 Indy hauling as a business is a good idea is safety. Those ships are remarkably easy and economical to pop, and are also easy to catch. One random pilot, upon seeing you travelling through space, very likely has both the means and a decent incentive to down you in one to three volleys. Meanwhile, with your small hold size, it's guaranteed that you'll be doing repetitious hauls, casually... It's unlikely that you'll be doing it very carefully. Should you lose your ship full of someone else's assets, you'll be in some trouble.

So by all means, you should train one faction of industrial up to 3 or 4, and eventually 5(not now, though). Gallente tends to be the most useful at the moment. But as a manner of space-job, you'll be relegated to scouting for contracts on the market that you can fit in your hold, for a measley isk per time ratio. It'll be measley because your competition - freighters - can casually pick up a bunch, gaining the benefit of multiple payouts per leg of their journey, whereas you're likely going roundtrip for that one reward.

As an alternative, I'd suggest training toward the exploration area - It's easy access, allows independent earning, comes packaged with an extra layer of security(the cloaking device), and it dovetails well with other excellent areas of training(any/all frigate skills are highly useful).

As people ahead have stated your idea isn't silly on it self it just wont be profitable in the long run.

In the long run it's better to focus on other aspects of the game such as missions running which still include courier missions.
courier missions don't net a whole lot of isk or LP but they do give you an idea of what it's like to haul stuff from place to place albeit those aren't player owned stuff.

Personally i believe that once you have seen space long enough you start consider your career options, if PvP isn't your thing then I suggest you take look at trading, industry or manufacturing.
however remember that just because you like hauling/mining/making/selling stuff doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to shoot back, so don't forget to train those PvP skills because sooner or later you need those skills.