College graduates: Did you end up doing something other than what you studied for?

Am currently in a office planning IT/Facilities job, and am doing whatever I can to get another engin/tech job.

It's been the most frustrating thing in my life. And I have two degrees in engineering.

Problems often occur when those with a specific degree set themselves up to not be satisfied until they work in "their field".

Guess what I'm still doing...

Also, Jody Beth Rosen, if you're reading this- what is it that you're doing? Planning or something similar? How is that?

right now? couple of things... (a) pestering local legislators on behalf of a well-known disaster relief organization, (b) researchy community-development stuff for a nonprofit.

Planning or something similar? How is that?

going for my MUP in the fall... very much looking forward to it.

that actually happened because i couldn't afford to do a masters in psych after my first undergrad, and a masters is something of a pre-req to working in clin psych here too - so i just looked for work in the government and this is where i ended up. after a couple of years of doing what i'm doing, i lost interest in the masters and now i have almost finished an llb. i started the llb part time with the intention of giving legislative policy advice; but i enjoyed it so much i returned to fulltime study with a view to going into practice. i'm doing my honours in environmental law this year and that's where i hope to end up... but previous experience shows that you often don't end up where you plan once you get out into the workforce.

Pretty close I guess.

Not related in the slightest.

Had planned to go to to grad school or law school, but I rather enjoy not being constantly broke.

I now see my BA as just a necessary step on the way to my masters.

Oh so right.

Next month I make my final student loan repayment. I'm 28.

I spent more energy/time in college doing lit mags, zines, campus newspaper/magazine writing/editing than I spent actually doing course work, the whole time being a fulltime journo was the goal ¡V was even gonna go to grad school for it. But at the last minute I just decided I wanted to go out and start working ¡V at the end of college the routine of study and stress and hatred of other students and the knowledge that I already was waist deep in loans won out. In a way it was the right decision because as I discovered upon working for actual papers a LOT of what one does out there is stuff one could avoid when commandeering college features sections ¡V the feature stories and reviews are a tiny fraction of what editors want every week, i.e. political mudracking, coverage of city/country/zoning meetings and car crashes and etc. And being a shy dude doesn¡¦t help any. So I eventually bailed and came upon my present job, which happily required almost zero interaction with people I don¡¦t want to talk to

At the same time I wish I¡¦d gone to grad school because I could command a higher salary ¡V my parents both went and were trying to get me to do the same...but as is I¡¦ll have my BA loans paid off in 5 years (I¡¦m 29) and if I¡¦d gone to grad I¡¦d be paying forever.

by plan going in:
degree-->job, better job.

My plan was just to get a degree in business to 1)show that I was capable of earning a degree and 2)prove some level of business competence. I grow with my profession and take jobs in fields that interest me. No one as of yet has give a shit *what* my degree is - only that I can check that box on an application.

Started out in an entry-level phototypesetting job —> better typesetting job + rudiments of electronic prepress —> useful sideways shift: 4-year stint as creative & technical supervisor for a daily university newspaper —> bigger and better printing company, rocket sled straight up the learning curve re: prepress (if not in design skillz) —> bailed out on dying printing company, whose biggest client left to keep me as designer. (Boy did I get some dirty looks.) 15 years from 1st typesetting job to hanging out freelance shingle.

this happened to me too. first with pysch and then with eng lit/history. i was all mad by 2nd year because i thought i was pushed into starting a degree right after high school when i didnt know what i really wanted to do, but i was talking to a childhood friend on the phone the other day and realised one or two years off wouldnt have made any difference because im now 33 and i still dont know what i want to be when i grow up.

also, unless youre doing a career related degree - law, med, journalism etc its really pointless to think of college as a preparation for a job. if youre going there to get a job, youre better off at job corp.

also(2), i think careers are really overrated. i cant imagine why anyone would want one. waste years of their life climbing ladders and impressing people. work should merely a means to get money for the real part of your life.

i kinda agree, but (a) some people do it for the benefits/occasional payraises (b) some lucky people end up making good money in a field they really like

hahaha, that belief would mark you as the antichrist to my 2nd boss, who owns five or six businesses and moves like she would die if she ever stopped moving. She's a classic workaholic, and her boyfriend when I worked for her was a recovering alcoholic. One Xmas he gave her her first laptop computer and she was so excited because she could get more work done away from the office. I didn't win any friends when I quietly pointed out that it was just like if she had given him a bottle of Chivas for Christmas.

hahaha - thats gold

xxxpost to JBR
i get what youre saying JBR, but I still think you can lodge yrself in a large corporation and the payrises/benefits come automatically. doing what you enjoy is a difficult thing but great, im sure.

soon enough i suspect.
m.

After six months at the Alloa Advertiser I knew I didn't want to be a reporter. The human interest and cultural stuff was fine, but court reporting/crime/council politics arrgghh!
Still proud of the time I got a full page preview of an experimental music festival in Stirling into the freesheet. Doubt the readers had ever heard of Borbetomagus before. Crazy!

Anyone in sales? The pay seems pretty good from my research.

unless you want to work in IT.

Oh, yeah, met my husband on my postgrad course --> it had an immeasurable impact on my life. Bugger all use otherwise, but it was still worth it for that :-)

The history of Macbeth?

Italian + film -----> TV & film agent, so yes for minor but definitely no for major (I speak Italian maybe half a dozen times a year, usually to help out colleagues who need to get something from an Italian contact).

Go figure.

i think careers are really overrated.

Indeed, I think I rather oversimplified it last time out. My career path since leaving Uni has been as follows
English BA--> Roofer--> Marketing--> Maker of concrete garden ornaments (including gnomes for LIBERACE)--> Roofing again --> Site joiner --> Bricklayer --> Civil Servant (Employment Service) --> Barman --> Bar Manager --> Restaurant Manager --> English lecturer (I need to insert a couple of cheffing stints in there as well)

i think the lesson here is to not major in english.

Are you kidding? I've had a whale of a time. Though I am curious to see which job I end up doing next.