I found out six months ago that my grandma has her doctorate.
She was a teacher, and being retired doesn’t really mean her doctorate is unused, but she was so humble that she never even told me. She says, “That old thing?” I don’t really know how things were back then, but she must’ve got it when few women even went to college. She’s really an amazing woman.
My background is in development economics, and I have an MSc. What frustrates me to no end is that 90 percent of international development organizations demand PhDs, otherwise they won’t even look at you. However, outside of research departments, no one I know who works in these places USES their PhDs – they say that a Masters or even a Bachelors could do their jobs. So why does these places ask for PhDs? Because they CAN.
So now I am 32 yo, have reached the glass ceiling in my current job, and must decide whether to remove myself from the workforce for 4-5 years just to get this damn union card…
For Sale (some degrees, some not):
Chemistry/ Biology BS - Unused. Mint Condition.
JD - Used for 6 years. High quality, but no longer needed. Good condition!
IT Consultant/ Project manger (no degree but lots of certifications) - Good working order. Currently in use for last 6 years. Willing to trade for new and exciting opportunties that don’t involve idiots or bureaucracies.
Unused Master of Library Science here. I’ve spent most of my working life as a programmer.
In two respects, though, the degree was useful. First, computers and databases were just coming into widespread use in libraries during the time I was in school. So I got some very rudimentary education in computer and information science. Not much, and certainly not very rigorous, but enough to spark my interest. The other useful feature was that it allows me to put UCLA on my resume, which I think has been very helpful in the past.
Sure, I’d go back if I could find the right kind of job. I’d probably be unemployable as a traditional reference librarian or cataloger, but a job in programming or systems design for library applications might be a different story.
I have a somewhat different perspective. I just graduated with a BA in Anthropology and a BS in Mathematics, and am now looking for a job (ideally for one year until grad school starts). Thus far, I’ve sent out 11 applications (two more for tomorrow), and no one has called for an interview. Seems no one has need of knowedge of ring theory nor late Pleistocene extinctions.
On the otherhand, years ago I filed paper in medical records. In the four years there, I worked with two former college profs. (One Community College, the other University, both with doctorates). They filed paper, doing the same job a fresh-out-of-Highschool kid could do. Not all that encouraging to be sure.
My PhD is in acoustics but I now work in Intellectual Property Law. (Actually, I deal mainly with telecomms patents which require a pretty hefty level of technical expertise, so maybe it’s not precisely “unused”.)
Academia was a very nice place to live, really - yes I would like to return. However, with so many people living there already it is exceptionally difficult to find employment therein which is anywhere near as gainful my current field.
Shame really. The undergrads seemed to like my lectures and demonstrations, such as explaining distortion and harmonics with an extremely loud Van Halen solo.
PhD Metallurgical/Materials Engineering
I am in charge of equipment maintenance. The degree counts for twittle, but the hands-on I gained getting the degee is what I use. Oh, student loan-to-salary rate 2:1