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My question to the OP is what degree aside from engineering, IT, and accounting is a terminal UG where the UG degree is the only necessary pre-req to have a lucrative and successful career?
In most instances a masters is becoming the pre-req into upper management so I don't see psych/sociology degrees to be much different than Business, Marketing, Management, Philosophy, etc. at the BA level.
Well, my bachelors degree is a "Bachelor of General Studies" -- with focus on three cores: IT, business administration, and psych/sociology. Talk about a worthless major, but I had reached a point where I just needed to graduate and start working.
I started my job search in tech industry in 2009, very specifically to work with Linux/UNIX and to have an employer that did full tuition reimbursement for future schooling (mostly to trump my crap major). Over a two month period, I had about 30 apps out, did about 9 interviews.
90% of the jobs I app'd for were an "entry level" or junior UNIX/Linux Systems Administrator position. The job search was national, and companies included Mozilla, UTC, Lockheed, Oak Ridge National Labs, Sony, etc. I took the first offer I received that met my criteria.
First job out of school with the crap degree was as a UNIX admin managing mission-critical systems for a global conglomerate in the aerospace/defense industry. Pay was pretty bad given the job responsibilities and title, even for a very low cost of living area (high 30s), but it did pay for grad school and it did launch my career.
So, at least in my situation in the tech field, the major didn't really mean a thing.
I can understand your degree, but NJBest saying people with psych degrees are very much in demand in the tech industry is confusing me. Like dazeddude, I am wondering how they get into technology without any experience in it.
Interesting...I have a psych degree (from 1991) and I've never had trouble securing employment. Then again, I was a double-major and also have a communications degree. I originally chose psych because I planned to earn a PhD and have a career as a practicing psychologist, but I changed my plans in my senior year. I've been gainfully employed in a variety of positions over the past 23 years. I don't remember my psych degree ever being discussed in an interview, except perhaps early on when I worked for trade associations serving mental health professionals.
That makes sense. In speaking of a degree in only psychology, without majoring or minoring in something else, that is what seems to make it tough to get a job.
Why would a Bachelor's in Psychology be in high demand for the tech industry?
In my personal experience, if you go into Sociology you need to get a Master's to have a shot in hell at being hired as a social worker or finding employment with a social service agency or in the healthcare field. Same with Psych. Unless you go for the PhD, your options are pretty limited. Depending on where you live and your area's job market, it may differ. I'm only speaking from my experience.
Why would a Bachelor's in Psychology be in high demand for the tech industry?
In my personal experience, if you go into Sociology you need to get a Master's to have a shot in hell at being hired as a social worker or finding employment with a social service agency or in the healthcare field. Same with Psych. Unless you go for the PhD, your options are pretty limited. Depending on where you live and your area's job market, it may differ. I'm only speaking from my experience.
advanced psych degrees actually are. I'm not sure about BAs and BSs though. They help balance the efficiencies of the engineers with the realities of the user. The military started this dance back around WWII when they found engineers were building landing gear on planes in a way that was most efficient for them, but what they found was it was actually difficult for the pilot to reach it and resulted in several crashes.
Also there are more areas of psychology than Clinical. an MS in I/O psychology for example will get you about 55-65k starting out right now and the BLS data suggests I/O psychology will be the largest growing field in the next decade.
Why would a Bachelor's in Psychology be in high demand for the tech industry?
Well the UI for starters. If it wasn't for those that want to design we'd be stuck at the command line. GUI's came out and then apps came out. We have to reach more people to expand a user base so that means translation and interpreting what is being performed.
I remember one place I worked at where the call volume for order dropped 10% due to a simple update on the website. Hardly any cost and saved us a fair amount.
In my personal experience, if you go into Sociology you need to get a Master's to have a shot in hell at being hired as a social worker or finding employment with a social service agency or in the healthcare field. Same with Psych. Unless you go for the PhD, your options are pretty limited. Depending on where you live and your area's job market, it may differ. I'm only speaking from my experience.
And social worker jobs pay really low. I interviewed for a social worker job once, but found out I could earn more money as an admin assistant somewhere else. So I started working as an admin assistant.
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