People with "useless" majors and degrees, what do you do now and do you regret it?

I'm a military officer and have no regrets.

History major wrote:

I'm a military officer and have no regrets.

My only regret is not going OCS. I have a degree, went enlisted. Plan was to do a couple years then drop an OCS packet...but then they dropped the age limit with no waivers (enlisted at 32). Weighing my options ..stay enlisted, try to go warrant in a few years (CBRN), or try green to gold active duty option.

Alan

Mechanical engineer, all along everyone was like "don't do it! That's a one way ticket to poverty!", but I persevered. Today, I'm an optical-mechanical engineer at a fortune 500 company. Take that, doubters!

Clearly someone has a small di-k. The equation is for every word of bs it gets smaller amd smaller.

BA in communication. Early 1990s

I have always worked in Silicon Valley in the semiconductor business. Make near $150k/yr.... But that is just scraping by in San Jose (hard to believe, but true!)

RacistX wrote:

My experience is that you're wrong here. I am an engineer in Silicon Valley (for the past 30 years) and I would guess that 80-90% of the engineers I've been associated with have either libertarian or conservative leanings.

are you a software engineer, or an actual engineer with a professional certificate ?

software engineers aren't really engineers.. I speak as one.

Lots of libertarian software guys in SV, but they are mostly just over-privileged guys who haven't thought much about anything other than code, so not a good guide to anything other than code..

Art degree.

I struggled for a while in soul crushing administrative/ office jobs and quickly ran like hell. I thought for just a second that a comfy house in the burbs with a nice lawn was the future I wanted. After I left I cut down my expenses and became that person working in a coffee shop with a degree for not much money. But I could still work 25-30 hrs a week and spend my time running more than when I was in college. I continue like this traveling, having fun, but instead of running my time is spent with creative projects. My soul is filled. Remember life is about the experience. Theres no need to give in.

I'll bite and give op the response he wants instead of the lies half of letsrunners tell. I have a BA and MA in history. I got licensed to teach all social studies courses while getting my BA, but decided I'd like 2 more years of school to use up a last year of eligibility, maybe meet someone, maybe have the option of teaching dual enrollment and AP if I didn't like grad school. I ended up hating the circle jerk in my grad school program and only stuck it out until I got a masters, plus I had no more eligibility at the time, so sticking around school seemed kind of pointless. Anyways, I've had no idea what to do with these degrees. I found out the hard way that history and social studies teaching positions (psych, govt, econ, geo, sociology, etc) are only given out through nepotism or to alumni in the state I'm licensed to teach in, or it sure seems that way. Since graduating I've been substitute teaching for below a living wage (but it pays more than sbux), working odd jobs at summer camps and state parks during the summer, and applying for every history opening at public and private schools within 6 hours of me to no avail. I've also tried getting a govt job as an archivist, historian, researcher, or a living wage job through the national park service, department of forestry, army corps of engineering all to no avail. I've been told that all these jobs go to veterans. I've been told that I must be doing something wrong. I've had my cover letters and resumes evaluated by people seemingly in the know, who've said they're excellent. I've been told I must interview bad. I've practiced interviewing and prepped for interviews with successful people, who've been confident that I'd get hired. All to no avail. I still run on my own, no team, and dream about finding a way out of my situation. I've started going back to school to do a STEM subject, but with no prereqs and being someone who struggles at math and sciences, its likely to take 2-3 years as I work part time and go to school part time.

What I regret is not going to a top school out of hs. I had the grades and sat scores, despite my disabilities in math and science to go a much better institution, but I didn't really know how to research prospective schools. Besides the ones instate and the ivies, I'd never heard of Rhodes, Haverford, Tufts, Emory, NYU, etc.

Things that matter about undergrad to employers, in order:

1) Where you went to school

2) How well you did (i.e. GPA)

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3) What you majored in

Of course there are exceptions for jobs that require learned skills (accounting, coding, etc.), but for the majority of "business" jobs, all that matters academically is where you went & how well you did. Those 2 things will matter a lot until you're a few levels past entry-level (say, 5+ years out of school) -- even then, where you went still matters (and kind of a lot).

Someone with a 3.5+ in English from Cornell is a heck of a lot better off than someone with a 3.2 in Business from [INSERT ANY NON-ELITE INSTITUTION].

Nasty_Nadz wrote:

I'm scared

I have a useless degree from a mediocre institution. It doesn't matter, I got a job out of college and worked my way into a new field by getting involved in side projects within my department. Once I had a few years of experience, I jumped ship to a better spot. In business, no one cares what your degree is in as long as you can check the box that you have one, they care about your experience and what you can produce.

Honestly, I swing my off the wall major as a benefit. I am in supply chain / statistics and often claim that learning it based on need rather than through schooling gives me a unique perspective. I don't have canned responses for solutions so sometimes I see things that these kids who studied it wouldn't come up with.

I will likely go back to school and get a masters in a semi-related field, but it really doesn't matter what it's in. Again just checking the box helps you move up.

oh brother wrote:

Things that matter about undergrad to employers, in order:

1) Where you went to school

2) How well you did (i.e. GPA)

...

...

...

...

...

3) What you majored in

Of course there are exceptions for jobs that require learned skills (accounting, coding, etc.), but for the majority of "business" jobs, all that matters academically is where you went & how well you did. Those 2 things will matter a lot until you're a few levels past entry-level (say, 5+ years out of school) -- even then, where you went still matters (and kind of a lot).

Someone with a 3.5+ in English from Cornell is a heck of a lot better off than someone with a 3.2 in Business from [INSERT ANY NON-ELITE INSTITUTION].

I'd say that who you know trumps a lot of that.

Jeff Wigand wrote:

oh brother wrote:

Things that matter about undergrad to employers, in order:

1) Where you went to school

2) How well you did (i.e. GPA)

...

...

...

...

...

3) What you majored in

Of course there are exceptions for jobs that require learned skills (accounting, coding, etc.), but for the majority of "business" jobs, all that matters academically is where you went & how well you did. Those 2 things will matter a lot until you're a few levels past entry-level (say, 5+ years out of school) -- even then, where you went still matters (and kind of a lot).

Someone with a 3.5+ in English from Cornell is a heck of a lot better off than someone with a 3.2 in Business from [INSERT ANY NON-ELITE INSTITUTION].

I'd say that who you know trumps a lot of that.

who you know is everything. Unless you have some unique skills, your job won't be related to your major.

Jeff Wigand wrote:

I'd say that who you know trumps a lot of that.

No doubt. Let me rephrase:

Things employers care about regarding undergrad, in order:

1) Did you make a rich & powerful contact at our company?

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2) What school did you go to?

3) What was your GPA?

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4) What did you major in?

old and in the way wrote:

RacistX wrote:

My experience is that you're wrong here. I am an engineer in Silicon Valley (for the past 30 years) and I would guess that 80-90% of the engineers I've been associated with have either libertarian or conservative leanings.

are you a software engineer, or an actual engineer with a professional certificate ?

software engineers aren't really engineers.. I speak as one.

Lots of libertarian software guys in SV, but they are mostly just over-privileged guys who haven't thought much about anything other than code, so not a good guide to anything other than code..

I'm in the Boston area and would have guessed that the west coast was even more liberal than the folks here, but I could certainly be wrong.

50 year old guy wrote:

No degree is useless if you know how to use it. I'm a college drop out who never made it out of community college. I was bored in school so I quit. I went into sales and I make about $130,000 a year. However if I had my degree I'd have been offered a management position. Quit apologizing for the type of degree you have. Don't be afraid to hustle.

I would agree with the above. A degree isn't a 'ticket' to some level of financial success. At my business we hire and compensate people who are eager to bust their ass; whatever happened in school is long in the past.

I graduated from state universities with a BS and MS in math. I couldn't find work in business in the field. It's not a useless major , but a graduate needs to be from a top school to get in the business world. Only 1000 or so math jobs each year to be filled. I have a nephew that graduated from a top school and he does well. I can't find anyone from my schools on Linkedin. I wanted to know what they did with their lives after being math majors.

I also pursued certificates in trades. I was too old by the time I did that in my mid thirties. I was offered $7 to start when I graduated from HVAC school where I'd have to pay for my uniform too. Perhaps I should have taken that job.. I took a job for $13 in an office and pretty much remain there.

I still like to learn new things even if I don't need them at work.

oh brother wrote:

Things that matter about undergrad to employers, in order:

1) Where you went to school

2) How well you did (i.e. GPA)

...

...

3) What you majored in

N].

Really? I just figure that means your daddy has a lot of money. I don't put a ton of stock in what school your dad paid to get you in, more about what you can actually DO.

Pretty much all the top finance jobs going to people straight out of undergrad go to liberal arts majors from elite colleges and universities. They go on to run the country.

Philosophy b.a.

Stock trading at top tier firms.

Invested in a start up.

Now $20-30mm in equity based on latest round.