Reality Check

[Neo Omni]

[Alistair]

Attachment 7921

That can also be applied to Rift:

Hopes:

A whole new different game .

Reality:

WoW Clone.

[BrianMorin]

What happens to Math majors?
Business/MBA?

Also, two of the strongest engineers I've had the pleasure of working with have English degrees...

[Tolmos]

Business/MBA?

Get a CPA either instead of or with the MBA. MBA is usually big money if you can find a job, whereas I've yet to meet an unemployed CPA.

We need one of these for science majors...

[Kerin]

What happens to Math majors?
Business/MBA?

They go to work for investment bankers and nearly bankrupt the entire global economy with their oh-so-clever-and-incomprehensible trading software and clever financial instruments.

[Laeris]

But, more often, math majors are teaching math class somewhere...

And an MBA, last I checked anyway, was the most popular master's degree around.

[Laeris]

But in this economy, a degree is a complete waste of time and money if you don't plan early to get experience. Look carefully at job postings in the field you want to work in. You'll notice most of them will say, "Requires 4 year degree in X,Y,Z, and/or X many years experience." Being a 0 year experience degree holder, in my opinion, is absolutely no different than having a high school diploma. Having a master's degree with 0 years experience is no different than having a high school diploma.

If you want to get a job straight out of college, take maximum advantage of your summer internship programs and other internship offerings or you'll end up like so many that are currently underemployed. The last stat I saw that estimated the number of out of work or underemployed degree holders was something akin to 50%. This doesn't mean you won't find work... it might mean you'll get an MBA but find yourself ringing up break pads at Autozone.

It's a catch 22 thing though. The older you get, the harder it is to find a good career. The longer you spend underemployed, the longer it takes to get a good career because employers look at your work history and go, "If he graduated at the top of his class but couldn't get a job, what's wrong with him?" HR people don't seem to live in the reality of the modern economy at present.

[Eughe]

But, more often, math majors are teaching math class somewhere...

And an MBA, last I checked anyway, was the most popular master's degree around.

Because its not hard to get (no offense to any MBAs out there).


I have a CE and CS degree (double major, which I wouldn't recommend anyone to do, waste of time) and have yet to get anything in the field.
Especially since when I graduated, America was going outta business and the field was saturated, and internships were very competitive.

Ironcially I work in a field i had 0 experience in, working with people who have gone to school and have 10+ years in the field. Whacky world we live in.


Many of those majors in the OP pics are pretty much privileged majors. Only useful if you have something on the back burner (like money) to fall back on, as it's hard to find real dollars and cents within those fields outside of teaching, and unless it's university teaching, it's not really profitable for a very, very long time.

I still say its best to learn a trade or get into nursing, save yourself the heart ache.

[Tolmos]

Being a 0 year experience degree holder, in my opinion, is absolutely no different than having a high school diploma. Having a master's degree with 0 years experience is no different than having a high school diploma.

That's greatly dependent on the degree. For a Software Engineer, for example, someone with 10 years experience and no training < someone with a masters and no professional experience at all. Of course you'll learn how to do stuff on the job, but you also have the possibility of learning how to do many things wrong. You will not be supervised 24/7, and if no one taught you the correct way to do things then you'll basically have spent 10 years reinforcing horrible coding habits. Then some poor master's grad will get hired later to clean up the messy bugs and horrid code.

I know the common misconception for non-degree holders is that a degree is just "a piece of paper", but that's because they forget that piece of paper comes with thousands of hours of training and practice... especially post-grad degrees where mistakes can get you kicked out the entire program with a big, happy F.

That's generally why most companies accept your degree as x amount of years experience. 2 for bachelors + 3 for masters for some, but really it varies per company.

[TroubleMagnet]

The major function of most college degrees is to prove you can put up with 4+ years of bull excrement. Oh, and to get past the HR drones. Some majors teach actual skills and impart useful basic knowledge, if you get the right profs and pay attention. Intern/Co-op experience is pure gold.

[Tolmos]

The major function of most college degrees is to prove you can put up with 4+ years of bull excrement. Oh, and to get past the HR drones. Some majors teach actual skills and impart useful basic knowledge, if you get the right profs and pay attention. Intern/Co-op experience is pure gold.

While I can't say a lot for my time in undergrad, I will say that my master's degree coursework involved some of the most complex problem solving and coding that I have ever experienced professionally or academically, and learned more from it than any professional coding experience I've had. And these days, as I look at code written by others, I can see a massive difference between code written by college/university trained software engineers and those who had to learn on the fly. The code is functional, both serving their purpose... but the difference in efficiency, readability and proper modularity can be absolutely astounding sometimes. I don't really have a big problem with it unless the person is set in their ways, which is why I am against the idea that degrees are just worthless pieces of paper. Someone who never learned to properly write code and spent the past 10 years solidifying themselves into bad programming habits will decide that because they have 10 years experience, what they are doing must be right and refuse to change their way. This means you have someone who not only codes poorly, but is proud of that fact because he won't let some "high falootin' college graduate" telling him that he's been doing it wrong for a decade.

Of course, if people like that didn't exist then we wouldn't need nearly as many software engineers to go back and clean up their code / fix all the bugs they introduced, so I should probably keep my mouth shut before I murder the CS job market =D

That said, I do not believe that every field is like that. Take networking: you can learn a massive amount about it in a classroom setting, but to actually retain that knowledge properly and be able to perform it quickly requires true hands on experience. Unfortunately, many classroom settings fail to do enough hands on to beat having a pro walk you through the ropes and learn as you go.

It really just depends on the degree.

[the_real_seebs]

I have a psych degree. I'm a programmer, and by most accounts a competent one.

[Akerling]

Because its not hard to get (no offense to any MBAs out there).


I have a CE and CS degree (double major, which I wouldn't recommend anyone to do, waste of time) and have yet to get anything in the field.
Especially since when I graduated, America was going outta business and the field was saturated, and internships were very competitive.

Ironcially I work in a field i had 0 experience in, working with people who have gone to school and have 10+ years in the field. Whacky world we live in.


Many of those majors in the OP pics are pretty much privileged majors. Only useful if you have something on the back burner (like money) to fall back on, as it's hard to find real dollars and cents within those fields outside of teaching, and unless it's university teaching, it's not really profitable for a very, very long time.

I still say its best to learn a trade or get into nursing, save yourself the heart ache.

Story seems flawed. Great cover up story, but a brony is not allowed to work. Period

[Eughe]

Story seems flawed. Great cover up story, but a brony is not allowed to work. Period

twilight sparkle will destroy you all.

But video editing wasn't my first choice of career, but, gotta take what yah can get.

[BrianMorin]

And these days, as I look at code written by others, I can see a massive difference between code written by college/university trained software engineers and those who had to learn on the fly.

Have colleges started focusing more on Software Craftsmanship since I graduated in 1998?