More or less. The major (undergrad) degree is in Mechanical Engineering, and indeed, my cards read “Senior Mechanical Design Engineer.” Duties included under that aegis apparently include sysoping Unix/Linux servers and Beowulf clusters, installing and maintaining software (most of it not the codes I use), arranging for and overseeing training for the department, tech writing and editing the writing of other, less…uh…literate engineers, and general jack-off-all-trades with regard to CADD modeling, structural analysis, and trying to stay awake through pointless telecons. Actually, I’ve ended up doing little-to-no mechanical design work in the last few years; so much for my alleged expertise with machine elements and linkages.
My minor degrees are in math and physics, and except for the occasional bungled attempt to explain relativistic time dilation and QM to non-physicists, I can’t say I’ve gotten much play out of that. But I did impress the kids a couple jobs ago with what little I know about modeling strange attractors in Mathematica.
I’ve found no practical application for my knowledge of Shakespeare or my ability to quote “The Raven” from memory, but then, that’s just extracurricular bibliogeekic hobbywork, not academic training.
Not even close, on the surface. I have a BFA in Acting, and I’m project manager of a textbook publisher’s online essay scoring program.
But then, the skills I learned in acting classes are probably the underlying reason I ever got any job at all - especially improv class, most especially the “Yes! And” game. That game goes like this: everyone stands in a circle, and one person makes some proposal like maybe “Let’s build a rocketship out of peppermint chewing gum!” and the next person responds, starting with “Yes! And…”; for instance, maybe “Yes! And let’s use all the gum wrappers to burn for rocket fuel!” the goal being to a) support and expand the last suggestion made, and b) self-edit as little as possible. It takes a surprising amount of work to let go of needing to sound clever every time you open your mouth. I can only imagine how (much more) obnoxious I’d be today if I’d never learned that. :eek:
Heh, once upon a time I worked for Matthew Bender. I see they’ve been swallowed up by LexisNexis since.
I have a PhD in geology and work as a research scientist in a related field. I also use my BA in communications on a regular basis, in that the skills I learned are useful for my professional writing.
Sorta. My degree is in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. I’m working as a Mechanical Engineer doing analysis for the Navy. I did work as an aerospace structural engineer doing design work before moving from Florida to Maryland. So I have used my specific degree, but I’ve also held positions where I just had to be a degreed engineer.
Well, I’m not finished with my degree yet, so I’ll answer for my girlfriend.
She finished a degree in advertising in '96. She worked as an html coder for - hmm - almost eight years after that, if I recall correctly. I suppose she wrote a good bit of copy while she was there, so you could twist an arm to say she used her degree, but she did almost none of the design work.
For about a year and a half she’s been pursuing a master’s degree in social work, with the desire to become a therapist. I can’t see how advertising will come into play for that!
I’m getting a degree in mathematics with the intent of becoming an actuary. Supposing I pass the first few exams and get a job … then, yes, I’ll be using my degree, if only to pass the examinations. Otherwise I guess most of the math I’ll be doing will involve calculating how fast I should drive pizzas to people’s houses for maximum tippage.
I don’t, and she’ll give me a very annoyed look if she reads this - she’s fast approaching 3-0 and I think the thought of being 32 would do her heart no good. She finished her degree in '98, which would have made her an HTML coder for six years.
Yup, AB and PhD in math and spent my entire career as a math prof (now retired, but still doing research).
My wife has a bachelor’s in French and two master’s in teaching (French and Russian). Although she did teach them for a few years, she then raised children and is now a free-lance translator (French to English only).
My daughter did a double major in Biology and English. She then got a master’s in biochem discovering, like Voyager’s wife, that lab work was not for her. Since then she has been a scientific editor, thus combining her interests.
One son has a bachelor’s in CS and has been working as a programmer for most of the time since (the rest of the time he was voluntarily retired, living off options, but now he is back with MS).
The other son has a bachelor’s and master’s in civ. eng. specializing in transportation and has been working in transportation ever since. He is now a transportation coordinator for the city of New York.
So, probably to an extraordinary extent, all five of us are working in the areas that our degrees might be said to have prepared us for, although for my wife that is a bit of a stretch.
Yes, My degrees are in economics/political science. I work in standardized testing and there a 4 year degree is required for employment. I don’t work exclusively in Social Studies, but the degrees have helped.
I never did work in the ‘field’ of my undergraduate degree - history. After graduation I ended up working in corporate finance until I dropped that and went back to school for my master’s in library science. I am working in that field, and using my business background on a regular basis.
I’m working on it. I received a BS in Zoology in 1997, but I’ve spent the past 7 years working for an ISP doing mostly Abuse and Fraud investigations, with the past year and a half as a Product Manager for some protection software.
But…my master plan is slowly starting to take shape.
I’ve just recently taken another job back in Fraud, which will (fingers crossed) give me a more predicatable “9-5” workday which will allow me to do a volunteer zookeeper internship at the Atlanta Zoo for 20 hours a week. Once I have a few internships under my belt, I will have met the general requirements for a paid zookeeper position.
