1) you thought you wouldn't need a useful degree to get a good job, so you studied a subject you love instead of a practical one.
2) you got a degree you thought would be useful, only to find out later that in fact it wasn't.
3) you're an offspring of wealthy parents and the whole "need to get a job so you can support yourself" thing never quite registered.
(captcha-word: "luter". Amusing, since "music" is one degree I'd think would land firmly in the "not useful" column for most people, yet there are a lot of music majors out there.)
I originally majored in (and got a degree in) Economics and History. After seeing what the job prospects were in those fields, I went back in Electrical Engineering.
I love history, and linke Economics, but realize that there's not a living to be had there - at least the living that my lovely bride and two kids are interested in.
Are you questioning the need for university professors who can completely describe the Peloponnesian wars in exhaustive detail or who are able to converse in Sanskrit?
Remember: these folks are NECESSARY to the university system. Otherwise... well... universities would have to eliminate professorships, reduce their tuition rates, and teach RELEVANT studies!
I got my degree in Anthropology and went to work in photographic services, then as a Scenic Artist in Theater becoming a stage designer - before getting (and gettign laid-off) a job in University Development (fundraising). Then I went to work in computer animation, then in Graphics and Engineering-graphics - meanwhile doing a side-stint as a commercially unsuccessful photographer and editorial cartoonist - then got into doing the look-and-feel aspect of User Interface design, to doing the whole Interaction System design - before finally getting laid-off working in electronic book publishing. I'm a Math'tard so doing number-related stuff is not really an option, it's a kind of numerical dyslexia where the featured graphic symbols don't have any real meaning, structure or known organization. My best bet now is probably in retail, "Welcome to Wal Mart!" except retail (and Capitalism) is foundering and The Brave New Socialism means it's all gonna be free cotton-candy from here on out... So now I'm a Blogger - which is just a misspelling of booger.
I can think of at least three possible reasons:
ReplyDelete1) you thought you wouldn't need a useful degree to get a good job, so you studied a subject you love instead of a practical one.
2) you got a degree you thought would be useful, only to find out later that in fact it wasn't.
3) you're an offspring of wealthy parents and the whole "need to get a job so you can support yourself" thing never quite registered.
(captcha-word: "luter". Amusing, since "music" is one degree I'd think would land firmly in the "not useful" column for most people, yet there are a lot of music majors out there.)
Wolfwalker, I have to confess to a white lie.
ReplyDeleteI originally majored in (and got a degree in) Economics and History. After seeing what the job prospects were in those fields, I went back in Electrical Engineering.
I love history, and linke Economics, but realize that there's not a living to be had there - at least the living that my lovely bride and two kids are interested in.
Are you questioning the need for university professors who can completely describe the Peloponnesian wars in exhaustive detail or who are able to converse in Sanskrit?
ReplyDeleteRemember: these folks are NECESSARY to the university system. Otherwise... well... universities would have to eliminate professorships, reduce their tuition rates, and teach RELEVANT studies!
I am with you Bore Patch, I got a degree in Psych then went back for my Eng degree. . . .
ReplyDeleteI have degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Computer science, and I work in IT; and neither degree has been particularly useful to me.
ReplyDeleteActually, I wrote about that, and about what WAS useful, a few weeks ago.
A Little Career Advice"
I got my degree in Anthropology and went to work in photographic services, then as a Scenic Artist in Theater becoming a stage designer - before getting (and gettign laid-off) a job in University Development (fundraising). Then I went to work in computer animation, then in Graphics and Engineering-graphics - meanwhile doing a side-stint as a commercially unsuccessful photographer and editorial cartoonist - then got into doing the look-and-feel aspect of User Interface design, to doing the whole Interaction System design - before finally getting laid-off working in electronic book publishing.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Math'tard so doing number-related stuff is not really an option, it's a kind of numerical dyslexia where the featured graphic symbols don't have any real meaning, structure or known organization. My best bet now is probably in retail, "Welcome to Wal Mart!" except retail (and Capitalism) is foundering and The Brave New Socialism means it's all gonna be free cotton-candy from here on out...
So now I'm a Blogger - which is just a misspelling of booger.