Does your major in college really matters?

I’m in my last year of college and for some reason, I decided to design my own major, and I feel like I made a mistake, I’m looking at jobs RN and feel like no employer is going to understand it at all. And that I don’t really have much in demand skills? (FYI - it’s a BA in community development, so kinda like urban planning but more expansive, my major Combines Social Work, Business, and Sustainability)

In y’all experience, does a college major matter much in the long run?

Kazumara,

I don’t know, but it kind of feels like they wouldn’t have taken me as a network engineer for a national ISP if I had studied business administration instead of computer science.

Maybe I’m missing the point of the question. Right now the answer just seems to be “obviously yes”

diskmaster23,

So, I got a ba in political science and like two minors. I ended up doing computer repair for a good decade then got into a job doing purchasing then eventually got into IT sourcing/procurement. I wouldn’t be able to do that if I didn’t have some good fundamentals in reading and writing, which the BA provided.
But in the long run, it doesn’t matter once you get work experience. The degree is a check box at some point.

MxRemy,
@MxRemy@lemmy.one avatar

I dunno but… For comparison, I have a B.S. in Computational Mathematics with a minor in Physics, and I have never once actually used it for anything. My current job required a degree but not specifically that degree. It is ostensibly one of the those useful, in-demand majors, but I couldn’t find many job opportunities for it that applied to me, or that I actually wanted… So honestly your path sounds MUCH MUCH better to me, personally. Plus your major sounds way cooler.

Pulptastic,

Some fields require a degree. Some degrees add significant value (you’ll gain more relevant knowledge in 4 years than you would working 4 years).

HobbitFoot,

For some jobs, it is important. However, there are some boring white collar jobs that generally want college graduates for their soft skills.

It sounds like you basically got a BA in business with some specialization, so I would go for jobs like that.

KombatWombat,

I wouldn’t stress over it. Employers look for someone in an umbrella of majors, because every school is going to have its own names and standards for their class templates. If I saw someone list community development as a major, I would think it would overlap a great deal with urban development, with maybe a bit more focus into civil engineering or sustainability. You’ll want to explain how your background is relevant to a position in the interview anyway. I wouldn’t expect it to get you eliminated before then.

Also, it’s a cool opportunity to stand out with how it differs from a more traditional major. People like hearing how you chose to include something that you felt was lacking from the default path because you thought it was important. Choosing to specialize demonstrates thoughtfulness, passion, and mastery. You’ll be fine.

jerebear39,

Thanks that kinda reassuring!

IWantToFuckSpez,

Depends what you want to do. You can always do consultancy work, those consultancy firms usually just want to see that you have a bachelors degree. Since that means you are trainable. They usually train their new recruits internally. You probably not gonna end up at the big firms like EY or BCG, because they only hire people from Ivy leagues or through their own social network. But there are plenty of smaller firms who will hire you.

And you can always just get a bunch of a Salesforce certificates to improve your resume.

jerebear39,

Thanks for the salesforce tip! I saw a listing on LinkedIn for a Community Development Associate for ICF or something and applied anyway despite having a couple more months till I graduate. I have been looking at consultancy firms and engineering services firms as well. I was kinda stuck on working in local government but I have learnt there’s actually alot of options to try for.

Aztechnology,

I’ll chime in that a degree in accounting or finance can get you far… Most here will mention engineering/medical/programming. They also will likely bemoan the finance and accounting folks they work with as useless.

I’ll agree that due to many burrecratic choices c-suite leadership make there are a ton of inefficiencies but there is always a ton of work to be done and the skills can transfer to quite a bit of companies… Even very large corporations just end up having horribly inefficient processes and constant churn in leadership switches it up a lot… So if your someone who knows accounting and finance well and can think learn to bridge the never ending gap in tools and people requesting data you can do well.

SoylentBlake,

The first thing anyone should do if they’re in business for themselves, as soon as the money becomes available, is hire an accountant and a lawyer.

Those are the only two industries who know how society really works

betwixthewires,

No, unless you’re in engineering or medical you’re winding up a barista all the same.

Those counselors who told you you’d be a loser unless you went, go for anything it doesn’t matter all you need is a piece of paper, they lied.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get a job at a nonprofit organization, spending day in and day out trying to justify your paycheck. You’ll get paid pretty good, but it comes at a cost: there will always be an empty hole you can’t fill, one that is there because you’ll never know the deep in your soul joy of delivering anything of value to another person.

Then, maybe one day, you’ll become a manager and get to do some hiring, at which point you’ll haze the potential hires by requiring them to go through the credentialism rigmarole that you went to just to prevent yourself from accepting the fact that you wasted your youth, just to make them do it because you had to. You’ll become a cog in a machine that perpetrates the injustice you’ve suffered, the ridiculous system that requires young people to go into debt and spend their youth pretending to learn just to get a busywork job.

If you’re lucky.

scorpious,

Dude.

idiomaddict,

OP, this is very dependent on your situation. I got a dumb bachelor’s degree, got a job in insurance because I had a degree of any sort, and did interesting work interpreting legacy contracts with a German degree. I was lucky in lots of ways, but most of my friends are in similar situations- the degree got their foot in the door, then they went from there.

Full disclosure, I left and am now getting a master’s degree in German, but at least I’m living here and have a concrete career plan following the completion of my degree now. I did however, make enough money in about 7 years at my company to fully support myself for the three year program, so it was still a help.

Edit: also, what? Nonprofits pay well, but don’t feed the soul? I’ve never heard that, though it describes insurance pretty accurately.

redballooon,

Dude baristas do a very valuable job for society! Everyone enjoys a beautiful coffee. There’s no need for inner void.

empireOfLove,
@empireOfLove@lemmy.one avatar

Outside of the hard sciences where youre there to learn necessary specific foundational knowledge and technical stuff - mech/elec/civil engineering, high level medical, etc - it really doesn’t. The degree is proof that you can put your head down and manage yourself well enough to survive in the white collar world.

SoylentBlake,

And the debt that degree costs will keep you beholden and subservient to the corporate overlords.

They’ve outsourced their own training and shouldered the costs onto teenagers.

There’s a reason it’s called “fuck you” money.

jerebear39,

Yeah student debt is no joke. I was fortunate enough to be in a position where I could commute and had enough student aid and scholarship to go debt free first 2 years and use savings from working part time to pay next 2 years off in (less than 6k each year). But I wish more companies would invest in proper training than push that on students and college to do (poorly imo).

yenahmik,

Can confirm, my undergrad degree has nothing to do with my current career. Employers care much more about experience than your degree. You’ll definitely want to tailor your resume to demonstrate the skills you’ve gained from your degree (Hint: Sustainability is a big deal in a lot of businesses today). If you’ve had any related internships, even better.

Nonameuser678,
@Nonameuser678@aussie.zone avatar

I actually think community based sustainability is going to be a huge in demand area as climate change worsens. Depending on how much you want to sell your soul to the capitalist machine, there will be plenty of work opportunities in helping companies implement sustainability initiatives.

Also, social work and community development are widely applicable across the human services industry. You could get a job in government or not for profit organisations. In order to qualify as a social worker you’d probably have to do a masters, but there’s plenty of community based roles that you can get into with a bachelors.

maltasoron,

Yeah, it sounds like a great starting point if you want to work for a local government.

jerebear39,

I was actually a Sustainability major but switched to Social Services then made my own, because I wanted to focus on stuff I was interested in. But yeah, thinking about it I feel it just depends on how I market it. And I was considering grad school and might get a MSW or MPA.

Nonameuser678,
@Nonameuser678@aussie.zone avatar

I have a MSW and wish I did an MPA instead lol.

jerebear39,

I hear that alot! I feel like for people who are interested in more macro works a MSW has kinda been pigeon holed in micro work sadly. Like I care about social economic policy mostly. I think a MSW is valuable but a MPA might be more so for what I want to do.

rhythmisaprancer,
@rhythmisaprancer@kbin.social avatar

I will put in another vote for urban planning. Pursuing employment with a city you would like to work for, in any department, will help. Thos will likely get you on the ground experience with not only that particular aspect of the city, but also the culture of employment there.

Additionally, there are usually NGOs in urban areas that provide a variety of services, some of which would benefit from what I perceive your education to be in. Or "delay" yourself and look at international outreach programs that are relevant and meaningful.

HobbitFoot,

The problem with going into planning is that there is a professional license for it. The degree may get your foot in the door to local government, but I don’t think it will be in planning.

OceanSoap,

The answer is yes and no.

I worked a lot of different jobs with no degree at all, out earning a friend of mine who got her batchelores in fine art, sculpting specifically, and who also worked a bunch of different jobs (that didn’t gave much to do with her major).

We both went back to college around the same time. She got her masters in interior architecture, and I got my AS in industrial design and drafting for manufacturing.

I got a job first in a civil field that doubled my previous salary. She got a job soon after in an architecture field a dollar less than me per hour.

I got promoted at 8 months with a pay raise of $4. Now I make $5/hr more than she does.

All this to say, it matters what you get your degree in, to an extent. My friend and I both use CAD for our jobs, but her masters hasn’t paid out as much as my Associates has so far.

I think she enjoyed sculpting a lot for her BA degree, but faltered a lot on what to do with it. It’s a degree you have to really figure out how it can become applicable in regular jobs, because “sculpter” jobs are few and far between. She also wasn’t willing to move to places like LA or NY which might have had more opportunities for her skill set.

So yes, in a way it matters, but also not really very much.

It’s cool that you got to create your own major, I would have lived to do something like that.

MarigoldPuppyFlavors,

Depends entirely on what you want to do. For some professional careers, the degree is everything (engineer, lawyer, etc.) For other career paths it may not matter at all.

Could you find something doing “community development” with the degree you have? Almost certainly, since that’s an extremely broad description, as you noted.

Without more information on what you actually want to be/do, it’s tough to give any useful advice.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • uselessserver093
  • Food
  • [email protected]
  • aaaaaaacccccccce
  • test
  • CafeMeta
  • testmag
  • MUD
  • RhythmGameZone
  • RSS
  • dabs
  • oklahoma
  • Socialism
  • KbinCafe
  • TheResearchGuardian
  • SuperSentai
  • feritale
  • KamenRider
  • All magazines
    •