# What's a young person to do? (College and Careers) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 25, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158 "2013-08-25T21:59:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mathematics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@Mathematics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathematics)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/21 "2013-08-26T00:59:13Z")
I have to admit, I haven’t. It does make sense though. I will definitely check into that, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/22 "2013-08-26T01:03:30Z")
Take an intro programming class. Bioinformatics is hot right now, and it has good prospects for the foreseeable future. If you like programming, that’s a path that could work out well for you. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/23 "2013-08-26T01:03:38Z")
By the way, what might help you is deciding how you like to work For instance…(and this is an example, not me). I’m a take charge person. I like to lead a team. I don’t mind making hard decisions. I like to spend time around people. (When I was an audit manager, I spent a lot of time in meetings, had to lead a team, and had to make decisions - hard ones. A lot of my time as a project manager and program manager was like this.) Or I’m analytical. I’m happiest with a pen and paper or spreadsheet in front of me. I’d rather work alone. (When I did Six Sigma Blackbelt work I spent most of my time “deep and dirty in the data.”) Or I like to do one thing at a time. I’d like to leave me work at my work each day. (When I was a systems administrator, each task came over my desk, I did it, and moved on to the next task.) ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/24 "2013-08-26T01:17:49Z")
> [@Mathematics](#): > > I really don’t know. It’s so hard to get unbiased accounts of what it’s like. > > Are you a professor or something like that? How would you suggest someone decide if it’s right for them? > > I love teaching, research, writing, and arguing. So maybe it would be good for me. I guess my main concern is that I couldn’t do it and that I’d waste time or money. > > I read the account of a failed Ph.D candidate on Something Awful one time and it still haunts my nightmares. But maybe that wouldn’t happen to me; it’s so hard to say. I am a professor, so I’ll field that one. At least in the humanities, it’s a tough, high-risk path, it doesn’t pay particularly well, and there are a lot more PhDs than there are jobs. I love my career, but I would never recommend it to someone whose primary goal is getting out of poverty. It’s pretty much the same sort of gamble as trying to have a career in the arts. People who feel drawn to that sort of work wouldn’t trade it for anything, but it means a LOT of financial sacrifice and you absolutely do need a Plan B if it doesn’t work out. ---
**Author:** ![Mathematics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@Mathematics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathematics)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/25 "2013-08-26T01:28:17Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Take an intro programming class. Bioinformatics is hot right now, and it has good prospects for the foreseeable future. If you like programming, that’s a path that could work out well for you. I will give it a go. I might do a course from Coursera or something, since I’m not really concerned about credits at this moment. Thanks for the tip. Dangerosa - That’s true. I think that sounds helpful. I need to be realistic about my own personality. For example, I definitely would not make a good business major. I am pretty shy and passive. I will think about it more. Fretful Porpentine - Yeah, that’s basically what I’ve heard. Can I ask, what was your plan B? And why did you decide to become a professor? Were you aware of the risks before you decided on that path? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/26 "2013-08-26T01:45:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Were you aware of the risks before you decided on that path? Oh yes, absolutely – my mom was a PhD in English who never got a tenure-track job, so I knew what I was getting into. (On the other hand, she went into technical writing and makes far, far more than I ever will.) I’m not sure I really had a practical, long-term Plan B – I was thinking seriously about teaching English abroad if the academic job market didn’t work out, but that would have been more of a short-term, let’s-see-where-it-takes-me stopgap. If I had an advisee at my university who told me everything you’ve just posted here, I’d probably steer them toward majoring in either English or biology with a secondary-ed teaching certificate. Yes, there are unemployed high school teachers, but the odds are far better than they are in higher ed, and there’s no such thing as a zero-risk career path. Anyway, it sounds like teaching is something you’d genuinely like to do, and your salary expectations are fairly modest, so why not? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/27 "2013-08-26T01:52:20Z")
I don’t think pubic school teaching jobs are as hard to find as you make them sound provided you are 1) willing to move 2) willing to teach in non-suburban districts 3) open to the idea of teaching things like ESL. I work in a large urban district. Even now, with school starting in less than twelve hours, we have hundreds more vacancies than we can fill. We hire TONS of new teachers every year, fresh out of college or from an alternative certification program. We start our first year teachers at $46K, which is certainly a living wage in this part of the country. The salary schedule is depressingly flat after that, but there are paths to higher wages–administration being the most obvious. If someone lives in suburb A, and is willing to work there or in suburb B,C, or D only, won’t move, is only certified in a very narrow field, and doesn’t want to teach ninth graders, it can be hard to find a job. But if you’re willing to come to the big city and teach in a rough area, or willing to move out to the country and teach in a very poor area, or even just commute to either, you will not have a problem finding a job teaching. If you want to make SURE you won’t have a problem, get certified in math or science, and don’t decide you only really want to teach aquatic chemistry to red-headed left handing midgets. ---
**Author:** ![Mathematics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@Mathematics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathematics)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/28 "2013-08-26T02:00:43Z")
Thanks for the thoughts on teaching, Manda JO. Do you know anything about teaching adults . . . ? My ideal would be to teach adults ESL. I have a frail yet ravenous ego so I’m not entirely sure I could cope with teaching high school students. They are pretty cruel. I’m also not great with little kids. I mean, I think it could possibly work, but it’s not ideal. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe teaching adults would be a good area to research in general. What the students I tutor have told me is that I am patient and they like how I don’t judge anyone for what they don’t know. I think those are good qualities for teaching adults ESL. Or even possibly something like GED classes. I will look into it. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/29 "2013-08-26T02:37:43Z")
As for not ending up a broke 21 year old with a crappy job…good luck with that. Unless you do something directly vocational (think dental hygienist) or land a job in one of the hotshot consulting-type careers, you are probably going to spend some time finding your way and paying you dues. You will most likely spend some time working crappy jobs, temping, living with roommates, eating ramen and scraping by. Asking for 50 or even 40k out of undergrad is a nice goal, but unless you really plan your life with that in mind, it may not be a reality for a while. It won’t be much fun, but it won’t kill you, and as long as you work hard, stay nimble, don’t lose hope and move forward, you’ll break out of it eventually. So I wouldn’t put much stock in career advice from people in their early 20s. Look towards people in their mid-20s, who have gotten over the initial hurtles and started to figure out their path. Most people’s prospects look dim and depressing right out of college, but what’s really important is if they can get their act together by the time they are ready to start settling down and being responsible. My career path was a film major from a state university, a few years working terrible service jobs, a secretary job at a startup, a whole bunch of Peace Corps, grad school in international relations, and finally a really decent job at an NGO. It’s been a long winding path with some mis-steps in between, but again what is important is that it works out in the end. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/30 "2013-08-26T03:13:28Z")
If you love microbiology, you could consider becoming a laboratory technician with a specialization in microbiology. ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/31 "2013-08-26T08:23:29Z")
> [@Mathematics](#): > > I fear you’re right about that second point. > > The sad part is I really can’t think of anything I want to do in particular. ☹ > Accounting, nursing, engineering, physical therapy, bleh. I guess I’ll keep looking into it and see if there’s anything specific I want to do. > > One thing I forgot to mention is that I used to tutor ESL (English as a second language) and I absolutely loved that. But again, whenever people talk about being a teacher, it seems like they only have negative things to say. And a lot of people who try to go into teaching are chronically unemployed. > > So . . . > > Well, I am encouraged a bit by the third point, though. I am pretty open-minded and, being from a very poor family, I’m able to deal with situations that don’t turn out how I expected them to. > So if I end up getting my heart set on a particular field and it doesn’t work out, I doubt I will be crushed. I’m sure I could adapt. > > Well, thanks for posting, **Sattua**. I’ll think about your advice more. If you’d like to travel, nursing is a great way to see the world. Because nursing is such a crap job, there are vacancies easily available in most western countries. All that is essential though, is to be able to suck in vast amounts of abuse and put up with bullying superiors. I was able to do that, and worked in a few countries around the world for over 15 years. It’s not a job for the fragile or faint hearted though. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/32 "2013-08-26T09:10:05Z")
> [@Mathematics](#): > > I have, but the problem is that there are a lot of people who have two native languages, essentially. > > Their families are Chinese but they were raised in an English speaking country. > > It’s very difficult to compete with those people. And frankly, it makes sense. A native speaker knows so much more than a learner ever will about the nuances of a language. Only, most translation agencies don’t accept the notion that someone can have two native languages; also, having grown with a language as a home language and another one outside the home does not make one fully bilingual - it makes one have different languages for different subjects, and some subjects (but not all) about which they really are bilingual. As a friend of mine likes to say (switching accents as he says it): “if someone wants a translation to Galego, I’m Galego; if they want one to Spanish, I’m a Spaniard; if they want one to Dutch, my mother tongue is Dutch.” He’s Galego and his mother is Dutch. Our Spanish to English teacher spent the first half of the course saying that “one must always translate to one’s native language” and that “a foreigner will never be able to translate as well as a native”. She almost died when she found out that, for the first exam, the highest grades were all from Spaniards, then she had two Brits, and then the Cypriot (working between two non-native languages, no less), with the other ten Brits holding the lowest grades. For the second exam, she included a shibboleth and it worked - but seriously, taking out half the grade for failing the shibboleth while other people with more problems got full grade? That doesn’t mean the Brits were better translators than us foreigners, it means the bitch cheats! ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/33 "2013-08-26T09:57:14Z")
> [@Mathematics](#): > > Thanks for the thoughts on teaching, Manda JO. > > Do you know anything about teaching adults . . . ? My ideal would be to teach adults ESL. There are certainly jobs like that. I have no idea what they pay. A great deal of ESL work in this country is done by volunteers in church basements. But I really don’t know. > [@](#): > > I have a frail yet ravenous ego so I’m not entirely sure I could cope with teaching high school students. They are pretty cruel. I’m also not great with little kids. I mean, I think it could possibly work, but it’s not ideal. You know yourself better than I do, of course, but I think you might be surprised. High school is entirely different from the other side of the desk. All the shitty cruelness from kids really doesn’t matter anymore when they are just some dumb kid, instead of a peer. And it’s countered by all these really fantastic kids that inspire you and admire you. Many confidence issues melt away because you are The Teacher: that role is really comforting. ---
**Author:** ![mnuelreyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed655f/32.png) [@mnuelreyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnuelreyes)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/34 "2013-08-26T11:07:01Z")
Tough situation, but every student has to face this at one point of their life. So, don’t be depressed. Your reading and writing abilities are good so you can start online [individualized tutoring](https://plus.google.com/113469682309822408235) classes while studying in college and after completion of your college you can make a career in teaching. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/35 "2013-08-26T11:49:36Z")
Did your CC offer an Associates in Science for the microbiology? Did you take other science classes? Econ? Engineering? It sounded like you were leaning towards the microbio but now the conversation is steering towards English and teaching. Biomed is a huge, encompassing industry. Someone mentioned technical writing. You could also do journalism and write about the field you’re interested in. You could get a science degree and then onto law school to practice law for the scientific field. The possibilities stretch onwards but I would suggest the technical degree vs the English degree if all things are equal. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/36 "2013-08-26T12:06:37Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > As for not ending up a broke 21 year old with a crappy job…good luck with that. > > Unless you do something directly vocational (think dental hygienist) or land a job in one of the hotshot consulting-type careers, you are probably going to spend some time finding your way and paying you dues. You will most likely spend some time working crappy jobs, temping, living with roommates, eating ramen and scraping by. Asking for 50 or even 40k out of undergrad is a nice goal, but unless you really plan your life with that in mind, it may not be a reality for a while. It won’t be much fun, but it won’t kill you, and as long as you work hard, stay nimble, don’t lose hope and move forward, you’ll break out of it eventually. > > So I wouldn’t put much stock in career advice from people in their early 20s. Look towards people in their mid-20s, who have gotten over the initial hurtles and started to figure out their path. Most people’s prospects look dim and depressing right out of college, but what’s really important is if they can get their act together by the time they are ready to start settling down and being responsible. > > My career path was a film major from a state university, a few years working terrible service jobs, a secretary job at a startup, a whole bunch of Peace Corps, grad school in international relations, and finally a really decent job at an NGO. It’s been a long winding path with some mis-steps in between, but again what is important is that it works out in the end. This. Almost everyone struggles out of college. It is another one of those great myths that you go into a recruiting fair and come out with a decent job. Most people get out and work their crappy service job while trying to find a “real” job, maybe do some temping or some freelance work and eventually fall into something that leads to something else that puts them on a career path that they really didn’t envision. If you want immediate employment and a fairly good salary, nursing, engineering, teaching or a good business degree (accounting, not marketing) would be a fairly good choice. If you like microbiology, how about biomed engineering? Have you thought about teaching Science? There are often plenty of English teachers and far fewer Science and Math teachers. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/37 "2013-08-26T13:05:42Z")
Are you really unsuited to a trade such as welding or electrician? Those are the sorts of jobs that will help you pay your way through university. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/38 "2013-08-26T14:47:12Z")
Anthropology degree here. Minor in theater. Graduated, did this n’ that for a few months. Typical retail & temping. Got a FT job with benefits doing online customer service for a major retailer. Became a trainer, then a PR rep then an editorial assistant, then a content editor. Eventually I was the lead marketing copywriter for two national bookstore chains in the areas of SF/fantasy, mystery, romance and anime/manga. The job became extremely horrible after my wonderful boss left (company later folded, but this was the beginning of the end) so in 2004 I quit and managed my friends horse farm for two years. Then I went to law school (at a lower-ranked school that offered an 80% tuition waiver) and graduated with honors into the shitiest legal employment environment ever in 2009. My plan to graduate with low debt looked pretty smart in 2006, but in 2009 I looked like a freakin genius. After 4-5 months of looking, I got a job working for the municipality (btw in order to get this job I beat other applicants on a writing test). Paid off all my student loans 2 years after graduating, and will vest my pension in another year. I’m 38 and things are looking pretty solid. I’ve done a lot of different work in my day; I’ve usually had 2-3 jobs (1FT, 1-2 part time) at any given time to support my hobbies and interests. For a government form I had to list every job I’ve had since age 18; there were 27 entries. What does any of this have to do with anthropology? Nothing, really. It developed my writing and analytical skills, which held me in excellent stead as long as I continued to refine and develop them past undergrad. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/39 "2013-08-26T15:02:40Z")
> [@artemis](#): > > If you love microbiology, you could consider becoming a laboratory technician with a specialization in microbiology. I’m seconding this path. I was a micro major in college and my program offered a med tech option (which I did not take). All the people in the med tech program were offered jobs upon graduation. It’s not a low stress job. I just went straight micro and got a job in a research lab at a university. I’ve been doing that for the past 15 yrs. I’m in a biotech heavy city with a lot of universities with good research programs, so when I got out of school it was easy to get a job. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158/40 "2013-08-26T16:15:54Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > I’d add that writing well is a relatively rare skill, and you shouldn’t underestimate its value in the workplace. I’ll second this. While I wouldn’t describe it as “relatively rare,” there are plenty of people in office jobs who _can’t_ write clearly, and being able to do so will give you a nontrivial edge once you have found yourself the beginnings of a career. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-young-person-to-do-college-and-careers/667158.md?page=3)