# Point me in the direction of careers that merely require a nebulous bachelor's degree. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 9, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768 "2017-03-09T14:36:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/21 "2017-03-11T00:31:42Z")
I am a senior systems engineer presently (I.T. infrastructure stuff), and if all goes as I expect, I should be in a new position as a Infrastructure V.P\*\*. in a month or so\*. I don’t have a degree. On the infrastructure side of I.T. you can do fine without a degree or a degree in an unrelated field. I started in tech support way back in the day and liked it so I kept on going. Slee - I got a call from an old co-worker a couple weeks ago. The business he and I used to work for got sold to another owner for ~400 million. He got another gig going, building a new business with the same group of folks who sold the last business. He called me up and offered a position, 33% increase in pay, better vacation, etc and a better title and an interest in the company. Plus I get to be boss. It is still a bit up in the air but I ought to know in about two weeks. If I get it, there is a decent chance I will be able to retire in 5 or 7 years quite loaded. \*\* If it does happen, I get to create my own title. I am thinking “King Boss of All He Surveys”. Or KBAHS for short. I may work on this a bit… ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/22 "2017-03-11T15:19:39Z")
Airline pilot, with some exceptions. Most of the “majors” (United, Delta and a few others) require a four-year degree in… anything. Doesn’t matter what subject. But without it you won’t be hired, no matter your qualifications (again, some exceptions). Some of the lower tier airlines also have this requirement, but many don’t. I fly for a living and neither of my degrees have anything to do with aviation. When I was at a regional airline I worked with some excellent captains who did not have college degrees. I’ve advanced faster in the industry despite not being as good as many of them merely because I have a degree. A lot of those guys went to airlines like Alleg\*\*nt that don’t have that requirement. In other industries I can see requiring a degree, any degree, as evidence that you are able to stick with something. But I think it’s silly in aviation. Before you can be even a first officer at any airline you need to amass several levels of pilot licenses, take numerous tests and jump through a lot of hoops. By simply navigating that process I think you’ve proved you can persevere. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/23 "2017-03-11T15:39:16Z")
> [@ckalli1998](#): > > Honestly, bro, the fact that you weren’t able to make it in academia was probably best for you–the Ivory Tower isn’t all that’s it’s cooked up to be, it’s not that great. > > It is (mostly) a liberal enclave, although the professors are friendly and don’t try to indoctrinate people Translation “they prefer to teach ‘science’ over the word of Jesus and you may have to interact with women, negros and fags, some of who might be in positions of authority…bro” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/24 "2017-03-11T15:49:36Z")
> [@2ManyTacos Point](#): > > That said, everybody says that the bachelor’s degree is the new equivalent to the high school diploma My bachelor degree is in engineering…so no, it’s not. For degrees in political science and journalism, other than applying to law or business school your best bet is to look at companies you think you might be interested in, go on LinkedIn and see if any of your school alumni work there, and then try to network into positions that are not particularly technical. In terms of corporate functional areas, marketing, sales, project and program management, HR, and weird, nebulous roles like “strategy” or “organizational behavior” would be a better fit than accounting, IT, or more technical roles that require actual expertise and detailed knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![ckalli1998](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ckalli1998](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ckalli1998)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/25 "2017-03-11T16:04:12Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Translation “they prefer to teach ‘science’ over the word of Jesus and you may have to interact with women, negros and fags, some of who might be in positions of authority…bro” That’s not what I meant at all, and you know it (I’m black, by the way). I specifically said they don’t try to indoctrinate ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/26 "2017-03-11T17:43:53Z")
> [@2ManyTacos](#): > > My bold dreams of acquiring a PhD and securing a life in academe [went up in flames](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=817016) a few days ago. While I still may go to grad school _eventually,_ it won’t be for a few years from now, after I’ve made far more money than I’ve _been_ making and have reassessed whether entering the professoriate is what I really want to do with my life. > > That said, everybody says that the bachelor’s degree is the new equivalent to the high school diploma, and that people cannot hope to secure lucrative careers without a four-year degree. I graduate with my bachelor’s degree in under three weeks - major in Communication, minor in Political Science - and though I’m aware that my major _tends_ to prepare people for careers in media/journalism, I really want to cast a wider net than that. > > So help me out, SDMB. What are some careers that simply require _any_ bachelor’s degree (i.e., the actual _major_ is irrelevant) as a requirement for entry? If you’re interested in broadening your horizons a bit, you could try teaching English abroad. A bachelor’s degree in just about anything is often the requirement for a proper work permit in your host country, although I can tell you in Thailand at least, you have to have a bachelor’s in one of a handful of subjects, and I’m not sure Communication is on the list. But even then, schools will often take you. Myself, I never taught but knew quite a few native speakers spending a year or two doing just that, and the connections they made proved invaluable for the future. If you’re wondering how exactly to go about that, just show up in Bangkok and start leaving your resume with the plethora of language schools. I’d be surprised if you weren’t hired somewhere before the week was out, let alone the same day. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/27 "2017-03-11T21:06:28Z")
My BA was in History, and I made a pretty good living as the IT infrastructure director at a small company. I ended up getting an MS-BA with a focus on IT management, and (after a one year misstep) I’m managing cloud operations at a much larger company. My current company hires herds of new Communications / Business / Marketing grads every year for junior Business Analyst roles. We do enterprise marketing technology stuff. You can make decent money taking the specs from the customers to the engineers. It helps if you’re a people person. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/28 "2017-03-12T00:08:59Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > When you say “Pharmaceutical Sales”… Legit drug sales to doctors offices. They hire lots of cheerleader/sorority girl types cause it gives the boy doctors a little tingle in the undies and makes them buy more product. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/29 "2017-03-12T00:32:33Z")
I sent you a PM. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/30 "2017-03-12T06:53:47Z")
Diplomatic Corps seems to always be in need of Poli Sci majors. But i don’t know if there’s a hiring freeze on over there. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/31 "2017-03-12T14:09:12Z")
A bachelor’s degree is one of the prereq’s for being an officer in the US military. Your major doesn’t much matter. And they have all sorts of white and semi-blue collar jobs, the vast majority of which don’t include being muddy or getting shot at. The pay and bennies are not super-duper. Though fully on par or better than many of the suggestions up-thread. One can make a decent living at it for a few years and gain lots of practical experience in whatever. Whether that’s IT, medical stuff, administration, HR, maintenance, or actual ship/plane/army gear operations. The full 20 year career also comes with (at least today) extensive retirement benefits worth more than your earnings during the career itself. Note I’m talking officer. The pay and benefits for enlisted are significantly less. So if you do any Googling or talking to recruiters, don’t get that confused. Being an officer is more than a job. It really is a way of life. Many people come into it looking for the way of life. Others enter just looking for a job. Either way can work if you let it. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/32 "2017-03-12T14:37:40Z")
I once got a job as a Senior Engineer at an aerospace company. At first glance, it would seem my BA in music theory wouldn’t be so great a qualification, but it set my salary higher than lesser education would have. Besides, the boss recruited _me,_ since he knew I could do the job in advance, and didn’t much care what degree I did or did not have. I know at least one co-worker in a similar job with little formal education beyond high school. He was rejected for an entry-level job, possibly for that reason, then recruited by the same company about 4 years later. This time his fee/salary was about 5 times higher, as a free-lance consultant. The company missed the boat on that one. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/33 "2017-03-12T15:07:05Z")
What do you WANT to do? Even if you don’t have a specific job title or field in mind, it’d help if you give hints about what you value in a job. Do you want to live in a certain area of the country? Travel? Telework? Is income or job stability more important to you? Would you be open to grad school in the future? Do you prefer teams or independent work? Does being management sound fun or horrible? Do you prefer a challenge or do you want something you could do in your sleep? Do you view work as a chance to make the world a better place? Are you a lifelong learner type or do you live for the weekends? Do you prefer project based work or processes? In other words, it helps if you really think through what a “good job” means to you, because it really is different for everyone. And there really are so many paths open to you that you will be much better off targeting something you’d enjoy and excel at rather than aimlessly trying to game the odds. Close your eyes and imagine where you’d like to be in 10 years. Are you in the suburbs with a family? Backpacking through Peru? Wearing a suit and boarding a plane to Shanghai? Something else? All of these are possible, but you need to know which one you want to work toward. And that will help us give useful advice. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/34 "2017-03-12T15:30:32Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > … > In other words, it helps if you really think through what a “good job” means to you, because it really is different for everyone. And there really are so many paths open to you that you will be much better off targeting something you’d enjoy and excel at rather than aimlessly trying to game the odds. > … This is truly sage advice. All of it, but the snippet especially. The world is full of well-paid miserable people who chose a career direction based on whatever paid the most at the time. Here’s a piece of advice I trot out in many of life’s transitions, not just job hunts. It probably applies to the OP. Always move \*towards \*a better situation. Never move \*away \*from a bad situation. When you’re in a bad situation, any move in any direction seems better. But of the 360 different directions you can run away, only a handful are actually better in the longer term. So pick some of them out and then run towards. Never run away. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/35 "2017-03-12T15:43:55Z")
As for practical advice-- Get thee to your career center. There are opportunities open to you as a recent grad that will never be open to you again, and these will be your best bet for getting a career off the ground. Get a career counselor to walk you through what companies hire through your school, whether you are eligible for any government or corporate new-hire programs, paid (or even unpaid) internships that are likely to lead to a job, etc. You have options now that you won’t have a year or two from now, and you need someone experienced to help you understand what those are. Most people work several careers in their lifetime. That’s fine, but it’s smart to have a few consistent threads. Every time you interview for a job or write a resume, you are telling a story, and you want to have a story that makes sense. Always be planning the next chapter in your story, get to know the common “stories” in the field you are targeting, and choose your options with the story you are trying to tell in mind. Once you know where you want to go, you’ll start to understand the paths that lead there and can work toward getting on that path. And there may be times when you do need to take risks (like getting a grad degree) to get to where you want to be. That’s ok, as long as you understand 100% where you are heading and how that degree or unpaid internship or whatever will help you get there. Communications is actually pretty practical- everything from NGOs to huge corporations need Comms people to write brochures and manage social media and the like. It’s a good way to get a foot-in-the-door, either into an aspirational field you would like to enter or a practical field that will open up more options. I’d use my early career to do a little of both, picking three or so threads to move between, with one of them being fully practical (working around IT will always serve you well, for example) and one being your “dream” field. Think about the long game, not the short game. Today’s hot job is tomorrow’s outsourced or automated job, and the only way to avoid that is to be nimble, always be learning and growing, and to think hard about where you have a competitive advantage. Worry less about gaming the odds now, and worry more about setting yourself up for a career that can weather shifts and changes. Finally, while you are young it’s probably smart to get some international experience. Globalization isn’t going away, and if you don’t know how to work across cultures and speak at least one other language, you’ll always be less competitive. Often jobs overseas will give you more responsibilities and opportunities than you’d get at home. You can join the Peace Corps, do an overseas internship, apply for a Fulbright, go somewhere cool as a freelance English teacher, attend a year of language school or whatever. But try to find a way to get some substantial time living and working (not just traveling) overseas. It’s harder to do the older you get, so do it now. And again, don’t try to game the system too much- you don’t need to go to today’s “rising star” county. Choose a country that genuinely interests you, with a language your genuinely like to learn, and it’ll serve you well. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/36 "2017-03-12T20:03:46Z")
Perhaps they just weren’t very good where I’m from, but I found career centers to be next to useless. It couldn’t hurt to check with one, but don’t expect miracles. There could even be a great one where the OP is, you never know. ---
**Author:** ![elninost0rm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768/37 "2017-03-13T14:02:44Z")
BA in political science, currently working for the federal government, so I’ll echo government as being pretty lenient on what BA you possess. Federal employment is probably a pipe dream right now, especially with the hiring freeze, so I wouldn’t consider it in the immediate future. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-in-the-direction-of-careers-that-merely-require-a-nebulous-bachelors-degree/781768.md?page=1)