Degree vs. Employment
Wednesday, May 11th, 2005 - 1:28pm
Inspired by another thread.
Do you work in the same field that your degree is in? Obviously this does not apply to those who didn't feel like blowing 4+ years of their lives and thousands of dollars on a college education to work in a career that has nothing to do with what they just blew away that time and money for.
(but I'm not bitter)
Me? I have a Bachelor's of Science in Criminal Justice and I work as a Technology Consultant. I spent all of two years in law enforcement and none of it as a licensed peace officer.
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Yes re: graduate, no re: undergrad. Are you attempting to distinguish?
Not really. Seems like to me that if you go to grad school you would count the higher degree. It seems weigh more on interviews and qualifications.
After all, if you have a law degree, does it matter if your bachelor''s was in basket-weaving?
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Only if your specialty is basket-weaving copyright law.
Pirated basket patterns have become a real problem on the internet as of late.
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If you read the student handbook of my liberal arts college, you would see that they quite distinctly did not want you to learn anything practical from their school. I''m not kidding-- they actually say that, and actively pursued that goal, including killing a course that would help someone become a licensed teacher. So, my degree has nothing to do with my work, but I can''t say that I''m surprised...
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LobsterMobster wrote:
I have 2 degrees.
I got an Arts degree which looked really nice above the chicken fryer at the Happy Mart where I worked.
This eventually prompted me to get the second degree at a local college in Computer Systems Technology. I am working in my field for my second degree for several times the wage of any previous job.
I'm still right here
Giving blood, keeping faith
I voted no, then realized the people that did not go to college should vote the slacker option. Sorry!
Slacker.
My college degree has never had anything to do with any job I''ve had, ever. Of course, if I didn''t have a college degree of some sort I wouldn''t have been able to get 2 of the 3 jobs I''ve had since college. Undergraduate degrees for the most part seem fairly useless, unless you happened to pick one of the good ones (I sure didn''t!).
Graktar, Orc Hunter
Not really. I have an associates degree in Computer Systems Technology which is computer programming basically. I am a computer technician doing strictly hardware related things and no programming at all.
My days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.
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College is for slackers.
Homeschooled -> 6 month MCSE cert course (age 17) -> started career as Server Tech (1 day after 18th bday) -> now Server Project Manager at a Gov datacenter.
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first degree or second degree, because my first degree is a combined honours in English Literature and American History. My second degree is in computer programming.
I work as a programmer now.
"My motto is, if it's not strong enough to release bowel control, it's not strong enough!"
Morrolan
I had the pleasure of getting my BS in Aerospace Engineering just as the cold war was ending (and all the defense stuff was drying up), so there weren''t a lot of jobs to be had when I graduated. But I now have the dubious distinction of always being the staff ''rocket scientist''.
Joedeth
Ironjoe
I have a BA in English and a master''s in Outdoor Education... so naturally, I work in a medical laboratory.
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College taught me that being fat drunk and stupid was no way to go through life..
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College taught me that being fat drunk and stupid would be a great way to go through life, if only it could be financed somehow
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Heh, I almost replied with, ''Yes, I would like fries with that.'' Congrats on getting something that at least sounds interesting.
BS in Computer and Information Science. Code Monkey and Sys Admin for a software research company. Pretty much right where I expected to be and enjoying it.
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Mixol on XBL, couldn't recover my old account, sorry!
Computer Engineering degree (From UofA == Electrical Engineering degree w/ 3 software classes... BLAH!).
Current Job == Senior R&D Engineer
Hired Job == Software Engineer
So I work on computers... but I don''t do any electrical THANK GOD. Do I use forurier complex transforms, laplace transforms, 3phase power computations... NO, THANK GOD AND PRAISE GOD CAN YOU SAY THANK YA LORD!
Hehe
But mostly I just post on GWJs
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For all who live in such times, it is not for them to decide. All we get to decide is what to do with the time given to us
Actually... I''m going to school now after I''ve already embarked on my career. Majoring in IT and I work as a Sysadmin. Easy A''s abound
The question isn't "Who is going to let me?" It's "Who is going to stop me?"
But it is the way to go through college.
For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance. ~Ron Shelton, Bull Durham, 1988
I''ve dropped out of one college in 1995 and out of another in 1999, after attending both for one semester and being forced to learn several subjects only one of which was computer science and at that it was terribly outdated. Having decided that writing assembly code for a microprocessor that existed in the 70''s and having a professor explain C on the blackboard with ridiculous examples, I bailed.
Since then I had 3 ""major"" jobs and I have been employed at the last one for nearly 3 years now. First there was automated QA (I''ll hang myself if I have to do QA again), and there is what I do now, as in, automate and release binary builds and IP packaging for multi-platform products.
No degree and working as a lead software developer... having a degree would''ve probably made finding a job after getting laid off during the bubble burst a bit easier...
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I''ve got a Business Information Systems degree....and I work as an Application Support analyst. Finishing my MBA in IT Management...looking for something non-techy to do in the future.
I.T. pays great, but can get old.
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This is your brain on IT:
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Mixol on XBL, couldn't recover my old account, sorry!
With a BS in Zoology and a Genetics/Fisheries emphasis in grad school, I currently work as an Elearning Developer for a telecom company. And as far as I''m concerned, my education was worth every dime it took to make 12 years of student loan payments.
I''m always surprised how many people have this attitude and assume that I wasted my time in college. Sure, I learned a lot of facts about biology, biochemistry, and damn slimy fish that don''t have any practical use on a daily basis. But I learned a ton of beneficial stuff in college, grad school in particular, that I''ve used to make a success out of multiple careers and multiple industries.
Stuff like:
- Public speaking
- Project management
- Budgeting
- Organizational skills
- Attention to detail
- Technical writing
- Leadership skills
- Teaching & coaching
- Dealing with office politics
- Statistical analysis
Things like that payoff no matter what you end up doing.
But then I was also a cheerleader and an art major for a short time, so what do I know.
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One of my friends is a bill collector and has a degree in Zoology. I have a degree in Psychology and was a manager of McDonalds and then a bill collector as well. Now in finance so I went back and got a Business degree. For the most part, my degree has had one effect:
My resume gets higher on the sort pile.
Gotham City is in trouble, so I put on a rubber suit and go save innocents from psychotic men in stage makeup. It's more straightforward than you might think. - Sanjuro
BS in aerospace engineering.
Spacecraft engineer... with a mixture of flight software and systems work...
Pretty happy where I''m at, although whole ""rocket scientist"" thing gets old quick.
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Mixol on XBL, couldn't recover my old account, sorry!
Be careful what you wish for, Mixolyde. I didn''t say I was an attractive cheerleader and art major.
WoW Baelgun: Omusa, Spits
5 years of various colleges, courses of study, no degree. I''m working as a ""Senior Software Engineer"" at a data management company. I can honestly say that the ""on the job"" education that I got from working with really smart people was much better than anything in a classroom. The classroom stuff is what I''ve been able to teach myself.
It''s amazing how much knowledge 50 bucks can buy you at the Barnes & Nobel if you visit the programming section. The key is to have the discipline to fully grok it all. I may not have a degree, but I have a tech library that I estimate is probably worth 4-5 grand. Almost as much as my game library:)
I really don''t believe that I''d be ""further"" along in my career if I had the degree. My feeling is that the two really don''t go hand-in-hand. You''ll move along at a good clip if you are good at what you do regardless of the degree status. It may get you in the door, but it''s not going to get you up the ladder.
-Fan
edit: added last paragraph