How many of y'all are doing what you went to school for?

[knight_shadow]

Marketing degree

Marketing Manager

Go me

[PersistentDST]

Originally Posted by LAblondeGPhi

Can I get a little ranty for a moment? All of these comments just remind me how strongly I feel that more universities need to incorporate career guidance programming into their curriculum. I'm talking a semester-long program where students explore different job functions and understand the degree, skills, and networking requirements for each. I see too many young people graduate with degrees from great institutions, and then have no idea what to do with them.

Or, I see liberal arts majors graduate with a great foundation, but without specific employer-desired skill sets. Fields like computer science and engineering produce graduates with skills that allow them to command much higher salary upon graduation. I love my liberal arts degree, but I was a bit of a blank canvas coming out of school, employment-wise.

The bolded is my life right now. My Senior Seminar English professor told us, "You guys better be looking at graduate schools, because you won't find too many jobs with your BA in English." You could imagine how deflated I was! My Pan-African Studies degree (also under liberal arts) has actually given me more opportunities than my English degree. My master degree program is in Cultural Foundations, which has already given me more future job options because it's under the field of Education.

[Phrozen Sands]

I was a business major. I work as a Senior Center Manager.

[xibair]

I have a BS in Accounting (not a CPA). I have been working in corporate accounting for 15 years. Yes I am using my degree.

[PrettyBoy]

Originally Posted by IrishLake

I always forget you have Ohio ties, PB. I was in Xenia the last 2 weekends.

Small world. I was just in Xenia/Wilberforce last weekend for homecoming weekend.

Originally Posted by Mizeree I2K

This is mad interesting, PrettyBoy. For real. I didn't know you went to Central, though. That's Alpha Mu for my frat. I know a lot of frat from there. They used to come up to my school to kick it with Beta Mu, and vice versa.

When I was there, I didn't know very many Iotas. I only knew them in passing. For the very few I knew by name, I only knew them on a first name basis. I've always been bad with names, though.

Originally Posted by Mizeree I2K

I peeped that video in your siggy. That's the design school you went to? .

Yup.

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

I am.

Me too.

[KillarneyRose]

My undergrad degree is in journalism, which I parlayed into a career in public relations. I was a stay at home mom for several years but still did freelance work. When I decided to go back to work, I took a high level marketing job in a hospital system but I decided that it wasn't something I wanted to continue doing.

I went back to school and got a masters in Health Information Management and am currently using it and am enjoying it very much

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by PersistentDST

The bolded is my life right now. My Senior Seminar English professor told us, "You guys better be looking at graduate schools, because you won't find too many jobs with your BA in English." You could imagine how deflated I was! My Pan-African Studies degree (also under liberal arts) has actually given me more opportunities than my English degree. My master degree program is in Cultural Foundations, which has already given me more future job options because it's under the field of Education.

There are two ways to look at a college degree. Some degrees give you specific skills to do one career. Other ones give you more general skills but without the skills to do one particular thing. Both have advantages and disadvantages. I did the first one and ended up having to take more classes to change careers because that was all I knew how to do. Additionally, "they" say that 80% of today's kindergartners will have a job that doesn't even exist yet. Think about that. In 20 years, 80% will have a job that doesn't even exist yet.

Focus on your skill set- think about how you could use it. Be creative with it.

I can totally say that my current career (Information Security) did not exist when I was in college. There was nothing to secure computers from- the Internet didn't exist. You don't know what the future will bring, but I can say that excellent writing skills can take you a long way in a lot of industries.

[PersistentDST]

Originally Posted by AGDee

There are two ways to look at a college degree. Some degrees give you specific skills to do one career. Other ones give you more general skills but without the skills to do one particular thing. Both have advantages and disadvantages. I did the first one and ended up having to take more classes to change careers because that was all I knew how to do. Additionally, "they" say that 80% of today's kindergartners will have a job that doesn't even exist yet. Think about that. In 20 years, 80% will have a job that doesn't even exist yet.

Focus on your skill set- think about how you could use it. Be creative with it.

I can totally say that my current career (Information Security) did not exist when I was in college. There was nothing to secure computers from- the Internet didn't exist. You don't know what the future will bring, but I can say that excellent writing skills can take you a long way in a lot of industries.

I'm just on my Debbie Downer about my job lately, but it pays for school. While it is a HUGE blessing (and temporary) it's just a job. I'll have my degree next December, so I just have to stay the course. My skill set is all over the place. I love writing poems/stories/scripts (something I do on the side, but it doesn't pay the bills), I make pretty cool Greek gifts for people (also not enough to pay the bills). I have narrowed down my interests to higher education (to pay the bills). I actually have a Soror that works in campus life and her degree path has been similar to mine. I'm going to ask if I can shadow her during my free time, as she already has her Ph.D.

[als463]

I have six degrees and I'm working on my 7th. All of my degrees are pretty relevant to what I am doing because they give me more relevant examples to use when teaching classes at a university. My undergraduate degrees led to my first job out of college as I worked on my first master's degree. Doing well in my first master's degree led to my second master's degree that contributed to what I was doing in my field. I'm licensed and credentialed which led to me getting accepted into a doctoral program to teach others what I have done in my particular field.

So, I would say that, "Yes," I am doing something related to my degrees. I'm also very happy to have these opportunities and I believe a big part of getting the chance to further my education is also based on where I attended school and how involved I have been with my alma maters after graduation.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by PrettyBoy

In my family, I was somewhat of the oddball, I guess. I have an older brother (also a Nupe ) who majored in biology (Central State University) and went on to study dentistry at Meharry. He's now a dentist. I have an older sister who was a math major (University of Chicago) and now works in Human Resources. My mom (education major, Prairie View A&M) retired as an adult education teacher. My dad was a business major, same college as my mom (retired business owner and director).

Me? I majored in art (the oddball of the family).

Long story short. I went to CSU as an art major. From there, I received my degree in art. After leaving CSU, I applied and submitted my portfolio to CCS in Detroit. I competed for Trans (Transportation Design) my second year, now Auto Design. At the time, only second year students could compete for Trans (You have to compete, because too many ID students want auto). After my review, I was one of 17 students who made it into Trans. After my second year there, I took a summer contract job at Chrysler. During that time, I just kept adding to my portfolio and building on it.

When I returned to school for my 3rd year, AIAS sponsored the student show that semester. A designer from the company I currently work for came out to look at the student work, and he liked my ideations and clay model. He gave me his card, and told me to give him a call. After that semester ended, I sent them my resume with my portfolio, and they soon offered me a permanent position as an auto designer. I accepted, and never went back to CCS (as a student) since I already had a bachelors. I didn't need a second one. However, two days out of the week I do teach Viscom, design theory, mini-trans, auto, and senior auto there, depending on the year.

I didn't have a Plan B. I majored in art, because I was either going to be an auto designer or be an unhappy man. I've been with the same company since 2008, and I enjoy every bit of what I do for a living.

That's really interesting. Any specific cars you've worked on?

On a different note, I just went to my first LA alum meeting. It was interesting meeting sisters in this market and the variety of career choices that they made. I love to explore how people arrived at their major/career decisions since my parents (well really mom) was very adamant that we have a practical major, ie. nursing, medicine, teaching, law. That's it, and the whole time I was in school my mom bugged me to go to nursing school to have something to "fall back on" if med school didn't work out. I was amazed in college that others had viable majors not on the "approved" list and they turned out just fine. The LA career scene was even more innovative and interesting. My mom's head would have exploded.

[KAPPAcino]

Originally Posted by PrettyBoy

In my family, I was somewhat of the oddball, I guess. I have an older brother (also a Nupe ) who majored in biology (Central State University) and went on to study dentistry at Meharry. He's now a dentist. I have an older sister who was a math major (University of Chicago) and now works in Human Resources. My mom (education major, Prairie View A&M) retired as an adult education teacher. My dad was a business major, same college as my mom (retired business owner and director).

Me? I majored in art (the oddball of the family).

Long story short. I went to CSU as an art major. From there, I received my degree in art. After leaving CSU, I applied and submitted my portfolio to CCS in Detroit. I competed for Trans (Transportation Design) my second year, now Auto Design. At the time, only second year students could compete for Trans (You have to compete, because too many ID students want auto). After my review, I was one of 17 students who made it into Trans. After my second year there, I took a summer contract job at Chrysler. During that time, I just kept adding to my portfolio and building on it.

When I returned to school for my 3rd year, AIAS sponsored the student show that semester. A designer from the company I currently work for came out to look at the student work, and he liked my ideations and clay model. He gave me his card, and told me to give him a call. After that semester ended, I sent them my resume with my portfolio, and they soon offered me a permanent position as an auto designer. I accepted, and never went back to CCS (as a student) since I already had a bachelors. I didn't need a second one. However, two days out of the week I do teach Viscom, design theory, mini-trans, auto, and senior auto there, depending on the year.

I didn't have a Plan B. I majored in art, because I was either going to be an auto designer or be an unhappy man. I've been with the same company since 2008, and I enjoy every bit of what I do for a living.

Another NUPE doing what we do best. Achieving. This is good stuff, Phi. There proabably aren't very many black car designers, are there? I remember you saying you had a brother who was also a bruh. At the time, I was about to ask you where he pledged. Who was a bruh first, you or him or were y'all on line together?

I started off as a political science major, but I changed it to business. I'm a franchise owner, now. I never wanted to be in the food industry, but here I am, and it's not that bad. I actually like it. But it can be stressful at times.

[AOIILisa]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I love to explore how people arrived at their major/career decisions since my parents (well really mom) was very adamant that we have a practical major, ie. nursing, medicine, teaching, law. That's it, and the whole time I was in school my mom bugged me to go to nursing school to have something to "fall back on" if med school didn't work out. I was amazed in college that others had viable majors not on the "approved" list and they turned out just fine. The LA career scene was even more innovative and interesting. My mom's head would have exploded.

I think we had the same parents. I was pre-med my freshman year but I just couldn't hack the zoology lab - had to cut the still beating heart out of a (supposedly) brain dead frog and hook it up to a machine. The poor creature was pushing the scalpel away as I was trying to cut into it and that was it for me. I walked out of that lab and over to my counselor to see what major I might be able to switch to. My parents were upset but "approved" my switch to Finance. Luckily it worked out well for me but I know a lot of people would rather be waterboarded than have to deal with numbers and accounting!

[Munchkin03]

Good writing is underrated and good writers are hard to find. Don't underestimate that BA in English just yet! In the technical fields, it's really difficult to find someone who can write clearly.

While I majored in Architecture, and went to get an MS in Historic Preservation, and I happen to be an architect who specializes in historic restoration, it's not "what I went to school for." Part of college, at least at the liberal arts level, is about having a well-rounded education. I didn't take just architecture classes--I took history, poli sci, urban affairs, and Italian classes. It's the education I have that allows me to be able to talk to most people about anything. If I needed to, I have an educational and (now) professional background to go into many different things.

In my group of friends (late 20s to mid 30s) it's a real mix. I'd say about half are using their undergrad degree every day. Of the other half, they're doing what they went to grad school for, and there are maybe 25% of us who had such vague degrees that anything they do could apply. Granted, we're still relatively young and weren't hit that hard by the recession--so YMMV.

[PrettyBoy]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

That's really interesting. Any specific cars you've worked on?

I've worked on several vehicles. But, out of those designs of different cars and trucks, I've shortlisted on four. The Lexus LF-LC being one of those shortlisted concept cars I worked on with a team of other designers, and the one I'm most proud of. http://youtu.be/QxhYPtzU0gA

Originally Posted by KAPPAcino

Another NUPE doing what we do best. Achieving. This is good stuff, Phi. There proabably aren't very many black car designers, are there?

I'm not sure about product designers, but with auto, the numbers are relatively small when compared to other professions. The numbers are somewhat small, but there are quite a few black auto designers in high positions.

Originally Posted by KAPPAcino

I remember you saying you had a brother who was also a bruh. At the time, I was about to ask you where he pledged. Who was a bruh first, you or him or were y'all on line together?

Nope. We weren't on the same line, but we pledged the same year. He pledged and crossed at Meharry (Kappa Chapter). He crossed two months before I did, and then he came down with one of his Sands and they saw me while my line was still pledging. It was a very interesting experience LOL.