For those with a useless college degree

In My Humble Opinion
21

I went to a small church-related college in San Diego where I majored in History and more-or-less minored in Computer Programming. I have worked as a Systems Analyst for nearly 30 years.

On the surface, my History degree would seem to be “useless” since I haven’t really “used it” for anything. However, the History professors taught me how to write and communicate effectively with any type of audience.

In my work as a Systems Analyst, the bulk of my job is communicating with others. I have written program specifications (design specs, functional specs, testing documents, etc.), proposals, grants, and finally, software. Yes, even in writing software applications, I have learned to keep my audience (and users) in the forefront.

The History professors also taught me how to conduct research, how to dig for answers in a pile of data, how to separate the relevant facts from the chaff, and how to find a tangible solution in an intangible environment. Interestingly enough, I need to do all of this on a daily basis when I am debugging code, or trying to figure out why a problem may have happened in a complex system.

My love for history and for ancient things has also combined with my eye for tiny details (which has been honed while tracing and debugging someone else’s code) and I have found a hobby in writing. I have already published one novel, set around 1000 BCE, and am working on others.

I truly don’t think my History degree has gotten me any jobs, except for getting past the gatekeepers who checked to make sure I fulfilled the “College Graduate” requirement. Whenever I have interviewed, the interviewers have always cared more about my experience than my degree.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that what I learned from my History professors is just part of my bag o’ tricks.

22

I have a BA in Polital Science with a minor in Anthropology. I joined the Foreign Service which has been a great career. Before getting in, I kicked around in a bunch of crap jobs, mostly administrative.

23

Workin’ on the visa line,
Goin’ downdowndown,
Workin’ on the visa line,
Woops! About to slip down. :smiley:

Are you actually a Political Officer, or did they shuffle you into some other career line? An FSO can have a pretty nice career as long as he/she doesn’t piss off an ambassador who has clout and is a vindictive asshole. We weren’t so lucky. My wife stood her ground on some illegal expenditures made by a political appointee ::cue taps, mournfully played:: and it followed us through the next three years. We ended up resigning out of frustration and disgust. It was a good six years in the respect that we were able to pay off all our debts and bank some money, however.

24

I started off doing temp work, then got a job as an administrative assistant in human resources. Didn’t like that much. Tried a couple more increasingly responsible jobs with no specific skill set other than “can do research and provide meaningful information to whoever it is who wants it.” Decided I just don’t like working in a corporate environment, so I went back to school. Now I’m about to finish my Ph.D. I’m on the job market for the first time in, uh, a really long time. It’s even scarier now that I have real skills, but but I’m competing for a really small number of jobs.

Hubby had a similar degree. He started off doing admin type work and now earns a good income in sales.

25

[QUOTE=Chefguy;12960922Are you actually a Political Officer, or did they shuffle you into some other career line? [/QUOTE]

Nope, I’m a management officer - by choice. I’ve done a couple of Pol tours as well as a couple of Consular tours. It’s frustrating at times but where else are you going to get a pension these days and free housing when overseas?

That said, only 6.2 years to retirement… :smiley:

26

I don’t think there’s any such thing as a “useless degree”. If nothing else, having one opens doors which would otherwise be closed to you in ANY area and there are benefits in their own right, imo, to the experience of earning any degree.

The employment situation right now is dire, so don’t assume that it is your degree that is the sole problem with finding a decent job.

I am currently working on my second degree, in Film, and some might consider that a useless degree (I do not, since in my area there is actually quite a lot of opportunity to work in that field AND it is something I am very interested in AND even if I end up going back to work in an office somewhere in an unrelated area, I will still have a higher education level which will give me something of a leg up.)

Think about what your ideal work would be. Consider ways you can break into that area in other ways than getting that dream job from the get-go (lower level position and gaining experience and CONNECTIONS along the way). Consider also pursuing more specialized education part time if needed (it CAN be done…I worked full time and went to college part time for my first degree and this time around, when I found myself chronically unemployed due to the economy about 2.5 yrs ago, I decided to take lemons and make lemonade and go back to school in the meantime…beats the hell out of searching for non-existant jobs and collecting unemployment. I had wanted to for a while but kept telling myself it wasn’t do-able, but turns out it WAS. :))

And btw, yes, I have government subsidized student loans (which I will pay back regardless of whether I find work in my specific area or elsewhere) AND Pell grants…the very idea that the government should decide which degrees are worthwhile or not is idiotic, imo. People don’t, as a general rule, just waste their time for 4 yrs. just because they are saving a few percentage points on the interest. :dubious: They choose a course of study out of their interests, talents and goals and/or what jobs are available in their area. We can’t ALL be engineers or doctors. :rolleyes: Choosing a degree based on expected income or societal needs is foolhardy; not only can/will those things change by the time you graduate in many cases, life is too damn short to do work you hate or have no particular affinity for. We are not ants.

27

go to usajobs.com and look for a job with the feds

28

First of all you must realize this is the worst recession since the Great Depression. So you’d be screwed pretty much wherever.

Here’s the thing, it’s always easier to get a job when you have one. Christmas is coming up, get part time work. Just tell them you need extra money for Christmas. You will face the issue of being overqualified, this is what is happening to me a lot.

Second of all, look at your degree and see what companies you’d LIKE to work at. Not you CAN get a job, but you’d LIKE TO get a job at.

If there are any in your area, then try to get into those companies as an admin or low level employee. Go to a temp agency and say you’re looking for temp work to earn a bit more money and see if they can help you in.

Once you’re in a company the chances of getting a better job in that company go up 100%. Almost no one likes to look elsewhere if there’s a qualified person inside.

And so what if you’re in debt? They can’t put you in jail for that. All they can do is hound you for their money. And you know what? If you ain’t got it, you ain’t got it.

You should spend about 4 to 5 hours a day on job search activities. Don’t forget networking. Are there any groups in your area? If not go to meetup.com and see about starting one. Find people with jobs, and go there and meet them

This is what I mean by job search activities. It doesn’t mean just filling in applications

29

Yeah, that was a biggie for me. I have a BA in music and was laboring away in my college town, Boulder, CO, got tired of that and went to NYC, where I stayed with my sister for a while, got a temp job at the cancer hospital she worked at, then got a staff job in the Clinical trials office, and now I’m doing fairly well-paid clinical data management work for a Swiss pharmaceutical. I don’t have a biology or public health degree or any kind of technical degree. I just have a knack and my BA in music. Of course I have to explain this in every interview.

30

Please try not to get discouraged. I understand that right now your degree may seem useless and I sympathize with you over the debt issue. Many people do not end up working in the fields they majored in. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to use my undergraduate degree. However, I discovered I had learned important skills in analyzing information (BS detection, etc.), researching subjects, and organizing material and ideas that were invaluable to me in everything I have done since then.

31

[quote=“Surly_Chick, post:25, topic:555177”]

Management officer? I’m not familiar with that classification. Are you support staff, like finance or facilities? Not prying, just wondering. My wife and I were both support types, rather than “reporting” officers.

32

No, I’m a generalist, not a specialist. There are five cones now for FSOs - Management, Consular, Political, Econ and Public Diplomacy. You can do a tour in any cone these days. Specialists (GSO, FMO, Facilities, Information Management) are pretty much stuck in their area of expertise. That said, they get overtime and I don’t!

(Sorry for the hijack!)

33

Anthropology degree 1997 – clerk in toy store – temp – pre-press technician – customer service rep – Public relations assistant – editorial assistant – email newsletter editor – lead content editor for all genre fiction for a major international bookseller – barn manager/horseback riding instructor – law school 2009 – government attorney.

“Fortune favors the prepared mind” – Louis Pasteur

34

I double majored in Political Science and French Language and Literature (each degree more useless than the last!). Luckily, I went to super cheap NC State and gradauted in the early 90s, debt free (I really don’t understand paying exhorbitant tuition).

I bummed around for 5 years - working in a book store, waiting tables. Went back to school, got my K-12 teaching certificate. Hated teaching. Bummed around for another year, managed to get a job at a big time defense contractor as a tiny cog in a big SAP training team. Did that for 2 years and landed a great job designing/developing/delivering call center training for a big software company.

Now, I’m a training manager for eTraining for a big consumer electronics company.

My advice would be to look at call center work. I used to do a lot of training at call centers in the US - they were ALWAYS hiring and it was hard to find good people. If someone was smart, could write and would stick around, they would quickly rise through the ranks. I would train a sharp new hire, the next time they would be a team lead, then a supervisor, then a manager.

I’m biased, I would further my recommendation to get in a call center, then work your way into some type of training job. Knowing how to develop/deliver training really opens doors!

35

Graduation --> Working at a Japanese restaurant —> Teaching English in Japan. I got a few years to plan my next move.

36

Teaching english as a second language seems to be a good option for people with ‘useless’ degrees. I have a friend with a theater degree who’s making good money in South Korea.

37

Wow. Thank you all very much for that. Solid words of advice and uplifting too

38

Well…** first answer this: ** What do you want to be when you grow up little Scotty?

39

Bravo. Your next assignment is to create peace in the middle east, and after that a cure for cancer [/sarcasm]

That doesn’t help the OP one bit - he asked for advice on how to get out of his current less than ideal position.

Kid - it’s not just you, it’s also the times. People who worked steadily for 20 or 30 years in solid fields are now out of work and can’t find another job. First step: hunker down. Things will not get better for a couple years. That’s not fair to you. You still have to deal with it.

I think you did a smart thing by moving back in with your parents. Yes, I know you didn’t want to do that. I’m in my 40’s - one of those people I mentioned in the last paragraph - and had to ask my dad to pay my rent for a couple months last winter because I had NO income whatsoever. It sucks being dependent on your parents when you’re an adult. However, right now, it was almost certainly your best fiscal move.

Right now, work any job you can. This past year I worked for the Census, built a garage, painted a house, mowed lawns, cut down trees, picked up trash, gathered metal scrap to take to the recycling yard, repaired a roof and am currently repairing drywall in a private residence. Oh, and submitted writing for publication. Sold books and other items on Ebay. And planted a garden that supplies most of our vegetables right now, and right now we’re almost vegetarians 'cause meat ain’t cheap. Maybe did some other stuff but I worked hard today and I’m pretty darn tired right now.

The point is, times are hard. Right now, do what it takes to survive. I’m assuming you’re young an healthy and thus ABLE to do most work. Keep looking. Help mom and dad around the house, especially if they aren’t charging you rent. Try to pay off those loans.

Don’t worry about working a series of small jobs - keep making connections. The more people who know you as a good worker the quicker you’ll get a permanent job.

Be ready to seize an opportunity if it comes your way.

Eventually, you will find something, but it will take longer than it did last generation.

40

When I find it I’ll let you know. Same story here.

Put me down for B.S. in Psychology. I deal blackjack. Problem is, in the past it’s been just boring enough to hate my job but just lucrative enough to keep me apathetic about pursuing other gainful employment.

I have an opportunity right now for a possible interview for something I could turn into a career, but I’ve been down this road before and it’s fallen through, so I’m trying not to get my hopes up.