Did you utilize your college degree (if you had one)?

Well no and yes.... I was into auto mechanics, graduated high school with a double major in auto mechanics, went into the army for mechanics, got out and works in several jack of all trades till I fell into taking a college course for Paramedic and worked for 36 years and a pension...

When I met DW, she was living in a JV home as a troubled teen, and vowed to dedicate her life to helping kids, Spent several years taking her classes while working and raising a family to get her degrees and retires next Oct with her pension.

Our Daughter followed in Mama's footsteps and has her Masters in Criminal Justice and works as a Supervisor for the state Juvenal Justices system, over 1/3 of the way to her pension at 56.

Our son...... well 3 out of 4 ain't bad, we managed to get him to graduate HS....
 
mountainsoft said:
Our daughter got a bachelors degree in English. She now works as a receptionist at an assisted living facility.

One nephew studied agriculture in college. He now sells real estate.

One niece studied music in college. She has had a few different jobs since then, none of which involved music.

Another niece studied zoology. She became a stay-at-home mom.
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One of these reasons the folks with these majors work in areas other than their area of study is due to the lack of business that are willing to pay a living wage for their services. Additionally, if one doesn't get a job within their field relatively quickly it is virtually impossible to market yourself for a career in the field later. I have seen many kids go back to school to "refresh" their credentials to get back into their field of study, even when jobs exist (e.g engineering).
 
Mark1 said:
One of these reasons the folks with these majors work in areas other than their area of study is due to the lack of business that are willing to pay a living wage for their services.
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Keep in mind that a degree is like any commodity - pay is based on supply and demand. DIL whines that she can't get a good paying j*b in her degree field of Art. Surprise, surprise. Too many Art degrees and too little actual available w*rk in the "field" of Art. Thus, low wages. Of course, a lucky few do find high paying Art oriented j*obs, but most do not. Outstanding talent and luck go a long way in such fields (kinda like music).
 
Yes, for me and yes, for my wife.

I had 2 degrees, one in Computer Science and one in Management. I was either a programmer or a manager at all times during my career.

My wife was a Mechanical Engineer and did work for a small company in the oil and gas industry her whole career.
 
I got a degree in chemical engineering, and my first position was with DuPont overseeing a distillation operation. Later jobs were in sales where it did not apply, but then after that back to technical.
 
Yes for my wife and I. My degree was in Applied Math and Computer Science (at at time when there were relatively few majors in the Comp Sci field). It got me my summer internship at Megacorp, and then my 39 year career at Megacorp in technical and technical management roles. But in truth, since I was also very good at writing in my English and History classes, and had to present in front of the faculty my senior project, those additional skills really sustained my career.

DW's undergraduate degree is History (Western Civilization) and her graduate degree is East Asian studies. She also became fluent in French and Chinese. In the years she was not a SAHM, she taught subjects in those areas at the high school and college levels in the U.S. and in Taiwan. But even as a SAHM, she published booksin those areas and taught our kids so that they all gained a love of reading, global travel, other languages, and other cultures.

Our parents were big on getting "practical" degrees. They were immigrants and saw gaining and applying education as the great equalizer in America. I am the "underachiever" among my siblings as I am the only one without a graduate degree. I was focused on work, and my Megacorp career advancement did not depend on a graduate degree. I did take 2 graduate level courses in programs Megacorp provided, and did well in them, but was not inspired to do further. My siblings degrees all related to their fields (Finance, College Administration, Lawyer, Doctor, Information Technology, Information Technology/K-12 Education). Only my brother who started working in college administration wandered from that - he went into banking, then real estate, then house flipping/renovation. But that ended up being his downfall. Fortunately he recovered by going back into teaching and college administration).

Among our kids, nieces, and nephews it is mixed, but one would expect that among 30+ people :) .
 
Yes. BSEE and went straight into the semiconductor industry, first with an extremely short stint as a test engineer, then quickly into chip design and, later, into the management ranks.

DW has a BS in Computer Science. Also in the semiconductor industry as a CAD engineer, writing tools for the designers. Worked for about 15 years or so until our daughter was born.

Daughter has a BS in International Business, with a German language minor. Works at S&P Global.

Cheers.
 
Like jollystomper, my parents were big on practical degrees. They put all 5 of us through college and I suspect they would not have paid for a degree in Art History. Mine was Math, 2 brothers in Accounting, sister in Med Tech and eventually got her MD. Also like jollystomper, I write and present well despite taking only two quarters of English in college. I placed into an advanced track based on my SAT score. That skill did serve me well- "boardroom presence" is sometimes hard to find among actuaries.

I could not have gotten into an entry-level position without a Math or related degree. We got a few engineers when demand for engineers was slow- one had a degree in Electrical Engineering and said she got tired of plugging circuit boards together. You need the math for the exams and to understand the workings and the results of computer models. The only math I remember form those times is compound interest. :)
 
Koolau said:
Keep in mind that a degree is like any commodity - pay is based on supply and demand. DIL whines that she can't get a good paying j*b in her degree field of Art. Surprise, surprise. Too many Art degrees and too little actual available w*rk in the "field" of Art. Thus, low wages. Of course, a lucky few do find high paying Art oriented j*obs, but most do not. Outstanding talent and luck go a long way in such fields (kinda like music).
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My sister obtained an edu degree after obtaining her fine arts degree.

She spent two years subbing in high schools and then many years as a fine arts senior high teacher. Plus the occasional pieces of private endeavours.

Sometimes it is not just the degree but also how you complement it or how you apply it.
 
I have an odd one: Degree in Avionics. Just before graduation, a small but growing tech company put an ad out for a technician with "aircraft experience".

Turns out the HR lady who posted, misunderstood the requirement because the project was just code-named for an aircraft but had nothing to do with flight.

Jobs were tight so I took the job. Thirty four years later, (involuntarily) REd as Senior Vice President. My only exposure to flight was logging 4 million air miles in a passenger seat.
 
mountainsoft said:
I'm curious how many folks here actually used the college degree they went to school for. Obviously, you need a degree to be a doctor or lawyer, but I know so many people who spent years going to college (at significant financial cost) and went in a completely different direction for work. In many cases, it seems like a college degree is a "made up" requirement to get a job these days. For instance, my wife never went to college and had a great career. But anyone new coming in her same position (or most lower positions) has to have a college degree to qualify. And yet, my wife said all the new people coming in with the degrees still had no clue what they were doing. The degree didn't translate into actual work knowledge. At a time when student debt is out of control, it seems a college degree is often just a box you're supposed to check off and not something you actually need to do the work.

I went to a community college to study electronics. I was just one physics class (that never had openings) away from receiving my associates degree. The closest I came to using that was fixing microwave ovens for several years. There was nothing in that position that required a college education. I eventually quit that and started a computer software business, something which I had no training for other than a couple computer classes in college. Like who uses COBOL or FORTRAN these days? :)

Our daughter got a bachelors degree in English. She now works as a receptionist at an assisted living facility.

One nephew studied agriculture in college. He now sells real estate.

One niece studied music in college. She has had a few different jobs since then, none of which involved music.

Another niece studied zoology. She became a stay-at-home mom.

There are many more examples, but I can't think of a single person I know who is actually doing the job they went to college for.
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Indeed for me. I studied speech and hearing science/pathology and speech and theatre. My career after student teaching and my internship was Special Instruments to the ENT and Audiology associated fields.-from sales, presentations, design, install and maintenance...37 years
 
Absolutely! BSME, spent my entire career in manufacturing, though management & financial skills dwarfed engineering needs for more than half my career.
 
dickoncapecod said:
I maintained friendships with several of my college professors for many years. We all had a good laugh when I pointed out that my undergrad dual major --- Philosophy (Logic) and Drama were PERFECT preparation for a Wall Street bond trader.
Regards, Dick
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We had a friend who had a philosophy degree. He was the head of HR for a major insurance company. Was he working in his field? Maybe he was.
 
Some of them . . .
 
My degree was in biochemistry which gave me every premed course I needed to get into my #1 medical school choice, UCLA. So yes. Retired after 31 years of both office and hospital pediatrics. DH would have been a struggling musician if I hadn't made this choice-he majored in music performance. He's still a musician, not struggling. Very much in demand, and has been publishing some of his arrangements. One of DS's degrees is in music, the other is media arts and design. He also is an in-demand musician, teaches private lessons, and is working at a variety of enjoyable jobs and learning investment principles from mom while living at home. His NW is $250K despite no full time job.

We all play a lot of music. DH's and DS's degrees did not build a career, but it has built a life-high level performance and many friendships. And DS's college experience opened him to a wider world. He tends to be rather concrete, with his learning disability.
 
disneysteve said:
We had a friend who had a philosophy degree. He was the head of HR for a major insurance company. Was he working in his field? Maybe he was.
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Reminds me a joke I heard back in college in the 1980s. It might have been a Jackie Mason joke.

"Philosophy majors can't get jobs after college.............but at least they know WHY!"
 
My masters in experimental psychology included 8 classes in statistics and experimental methodology and required original research and a thesis. I never really used my 'specialty' of social psych but every position I had used my knowledge of statistics and how to set up rigorous tests to evaluate either government programs, marketing campaigns, or commercial websites (both in terms of usability and marketing).

When I started out a masters wasn't really required but definitely helped set me apart. Thirty years later a masters would be considered an entry level requirement with more and more of the hires having PhDs. I think I got in and got out at just the right time!
 
Not for me. I was already working in the trades when I started college. I had plans of getting a civil engineering degree but did not pull the trigger after getting a 5 year AA.
That was how long it took, getting a few classes each winter when my trade is slow.
I had so much fun as an adult that I will look into classes in our new location as a retiree.
 
In our house we are 2 for 2 in utilizing our degrees. DW earned masters in Education and was an educator and I used my degree in Aeronautics to work for airlines and airports till RE.

Also worked in a small hardware store in high school and college and learned so much about property maintenance; a great education used for life.
 
It's great to hear so many have made use of their college degrees. It's interesting how many here are in upper level careers. Engineers, Finance, Computer Science, etc.
 
A degree in engineering and a difficult test is required to get a state issued engineering license. As a licensed engineer my stamp is on lots of engineering documents and plan sets. Without a license you are limited to technician level job.

Also have an MBA. Used finance education and knowledge to develop cash flows, predict project cost of capital and to acquire bond financing on mega-projects.
 
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