What was your major in college and was it easy to get employment? (transfer, private school)

[Sauz]

Hello everyone,

Well, as the title states: What was your major in college and was it easy to get employment? I'm currently a community college student (and am applying to transfer) and I was planning on majoring in Computer Science but am having second thoughts. With all the outsourcing that goes on, I'm terrified of graduating and not getting employment. I know Lockheed Martin is in the area, but how difficult is it to get a job with them? I just want to know what other majors would be good options. Thanks a lot. (:

[Kembek]

I majored in English. Turns out I was a perfect candidate for a computer programming internship. I spent 32 years as a programmer/web developer before retiring last year.

[Caladium]

I don't know if my experience will be helpful to you, since my job is not the primary source of income for our household (I'm a parent and work part time). However, FWIW, I was an English major. I got my job due to networking. Before we moved here I contacted people I knew in Nova and asked if they had any suggestions. A friend I had known back when she lived in California happened to need an assistant and hired me. I just happened to ask at the right moment, so it was mostly a matter of luck.

[hilsmom]

I was a Politics major. It was easy to get a job...in 1998. I have no idea what it would be like at this point, although I would imagine jobs on the Hill are still available.

[ghett61]

Computer Science major and graduated in 2008. My advise is to get in an internship program ASAP. Myself along with a lot of my friends did this with different companies and we all got job offers from our companies upon graduation.

[tsuric]

Originally Posted by Sauz

Hello everyone,

Well, as the title states: What was your major in college and was it easy to get employment? I'm currently a community college student (and am applying to transfer) and I was planning on majoring in Computer Science but am having second thoughts. With all the outsourcing that goes on, I'm terrified of graduating and not getting employment. I know Lockheed Martin is in the area, but how difficult is it to get a job with them? I just want to know what other majors would be good options. Thanks a lot. (:

I wouldn't worry about the outsourcing. From all my research and what I've seen from my peers, I have concluded that it was way overblown. Countless numbers of companies are regretting outsourcing because software development is not some mechanical task that you can easily give to someone and forget. Management of software was a major issue and it turned out to be a mess.

I'm a software engineer myself (majored in computer science in community college and transferred to software engineering in the 4 year) and none of my peers had any trouble finding jobs all over the country. This was in 2009 too during the worst part of the recession. I personally had a very easy time finding work as it only took me three weeks to secure a job in DC after I got laid off from upstate NY (major project got cancelled). Also, all of my peers ranging from ages 25-55 found software jobs in three months or less.

DC is one of the top three areas in my opinion to find a software engineer job.

I do have a recommendation for you though. If you do pursue this degree, get an internship over the summer.

[finini01]

I just graduated with a degree in Economics from Gettysburg College in December. I currently have a full-time internship with a think tank in DC as a policy analyst. It doesn't pay that well.

I've applied at a lot of places and been rejected - they all want experience that I don't have yet. For certain industries (what I'm trying to get into, especially - consulting, think tanks), you need internships and relevant experience to even be considered for entry level positions. However, having a BA/BS will get you an internship pretty much anywhere.

Luckily, I'm supported by my wife, who landed a sweet job as a teacher (her degree is Spanish/French) at a private school. She applied for zillions of jobs in other fields and heard little back.

A lot of it is the economy right now (trust me, I'm an economist, LOL). Firms don't want to take risks in hiring new people, and there are costs involved in hiring - namely, it takes time and effort during a time when they are already downsizing and trying to be more productive/boost profits. Thus, only the standouts of the standouts who are recent grads get hired, even though the firms may have many positions open. In the 90s, it was an employee's market - you chose where you applied and probably got the job if you were qualified. Now, it is employer's - they sift through 100s of resumes to find exactly what they're looking for. This is currently pretty consistent for all majors/entry level jobs.

[CarolVa1977]

Electrical Engineering. I am in Business Law now, getting an MBA. It was easy to get employment BUT I had to keep going back to school for multiple certifications

[oneasterisk]

I'm probably your typical statistical anomaly. I'm a college dropout that has been a government contractor for the past 10yrs. Now I'm a Federal employee with an official title of Senior Systems Engineer.

I've always done well in school, but really wasn't in the mood to attend college. I tried NVCC right out of high school and found that it felt like I was right back in high school! I dropped out after 1 semester and started working at a small computer shop. I was actually going to major in Computer Science interestingly enough. Anyways I used that small computer shop as a jumping off point. Got my A+ certification and started working with a contracting company working on government contracts. I steadily progressed in duties/responsibilities while gaining real world experience and backing it up with certifications from Microsoft, Comptia, and VMware. I've contracted/subcontracted with Dyncorp, CSC, Lockheed and other smaller contracting companies throughout my career. Since I started working in 1999, I've only been unemployed about 3 months total.

[CaliTerp07]

I double majored in Operations Management and Information Systems at UMD. IS was a gold mine of a degree. I had a job by October of my senior year working for one of the major consulting companies. I graduated May 2007.

I've actually done recruiting visits since then, and found out that the campus recruiters (at this company at least) are given quotas: They must hire xx IS majors, xx engineering majors, etc. Their quota for IS was more than half the number of IS majors the year I was conducting interviews. (They wanted to hire 10 IS majors from Maryland, and only 16 were graduating).

IS is a great mix between business and computer science. It's something that can't be outsourced, since it's as much about relationships and program management as it is coding (though it was a little of that too).

I wouldn't worry too much about outsourcing though--as long as you're willing to stay current on your certifications and/or languages, you should have no trouble finding a position here.