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Sometimes college degrees don't work out for you. I read in the Chicago Tribune about a homeless man, - and he had a Mechanical Engineering degree! I ran into 2 Mechanical Engineers at a job session for Alumni and they didn't get an ME job 2 to 5 years after college! - At that point, your career is really suffering and you look less employable! If you don't work your degree after 5 years - it seems hopeless and looks like you gotta do anything else to get by! I was unemployed 1 year after college, Gen X era 1993... Career got started by a 7 month "internship" of ISO 9000 documentation. My career is a long story but one job led to another, but I have never been employed longer than 1 year 1 month! I'd say my career sucks but when employers call me for an interview they say I have a great resume - so I wonder how bad everyone else's is! I graduated from the 6th best college in the nation for Mech Eng and I expected better of my career!
How about you? Did your college degree pan out to a great career, or has it been ho hum like mine, or worse - never got off ground?
For me, it would have been worse to go back to school and get a Master's as that would overqualify me for the many Technical Writer, Drafter, Designer Detailer, and "BSME enough" engineering jobs! I was rejected for a $68,000 / yr Proe Designer job because my BSME overqualified me!
But some people work out eventually. I had a neighbor who had a useless Psychology BA and he did real estate good enough to get himself a Porsche.
2 degrees here and still 'no career'...my education degree was useless due to the lack of teaching jobs in my area when I got my MS. I went into the only area I could teach in (preschool) hoping to get experience with a steady (if very low) paycheck. It was nice but the pay was horrible and the conditions not very good (I worked at 3 different preschools and it was all the same..sorry we can't pay more....right...)
I've moved several times and thought about taking it up but I only have 'lifetime' certification in my home state and don't want to retake tests after 20 years...just tired of paying out---
The jobs that 'were supposed to' open up (retire already!) didn't. After a few years I went back to business work, had a child, stayed home as a mom and there we are...
My English degree (something I wanted to do) will always serve me in my future as a writer...
6 years here. My BS has gotten me nowhere. I've actually considered leaving it off my resume for all the good it does me.
Even I have to admit that some of the things I learned on there are obsolete now. Mine was in the science field, and many of the methods and tech they used then are no longer used now.
It is true that a college degree doesn't always pay off. That's why you've really got to research the market beforehand.
I got a nursing degree and it has paid off very well. The reason I knew it would was because of aging baby boomers driving up the demand for nursing services.
It is true that a college degree doesn't always pay off. That's why you've really got to research the market beforehand.
I got a nursing degree and it has paid off very well. The reason I knew it would was because of aging baby boomers driving up the demand for nursing services.
Agreed! Don't just go after a topic you happen to like. Study a topic thats going to get you a career in a field you are interested in or can at least live with, otherwise its alot of wasted time and money and a useless peice of paper that doesn't impress anyone but your mom and dad.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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My degree is in business admin with a concentration in accounting--one of the best things I ever did. I've never had trouble finding a well-paying job with that degree.
BA in Public Relations and have worked nine years in social work because I was working fast food the first two years after college. Now I'm burnt out on social work and have no clue what I will do next. It's been very hard to get interviews in my area and really wished I wouldn't have went to college and learned a trade instead.
Working in the HR sector, I can say that it's not always the college degree that will get someone hired, or allow them to stay on the job. Our recruiters have declined candidates with degrees for various reasons, but one of the biggest is the candidate's attitude.
We had a degreed engineer who was terminated because he was not a team player and was consistently rude and demeaning to coworkers. They tried to work with him to correct his attitude (with warnings about termination); but he was never able to work well with other people, and chose to continue belittling people.
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