Decided on my Career

[Osmo]

Well I was going to do a Psychology or sociology degree but they are the most unemployable degrees by fact, So I decided social work as a degree.

I'm going to be a social worker yeah!1

[kurandoinu]

Where you gonna do your degree then?

[Osmo]

In the Uk, London or Birmingham

[kurandoinu]

No idea what uni then? I'm at Lincoln university in my second year doing Graphic Design

[Osmo]

No idea what uni then? I'm at Lincoln university in my second year doing Graphic Design

Was thinking Kingston Uni or Birmingham city university.

I'm thinking bham though

Graphic design sounds like something I would like to have done to express my creativity, but I kinda lost my zest somewhere and now I'm just worried about job security, so eayh there's always social worker jobs.

[pyro-manic]

Doing a degree in something you're not 100% into is a really bad idea, IMO. The level of intensity of a degree means that you will basically be living and breathing the subject for three years (or more if you're doing a Master's), and if you don't love it you'll end up hating it. Then there's tuition fees and student loans - do you want to run up ~£20,000 of debt on something you don't want to do?

Just my thoughts.

[Deucal]

A lot of people have jobs that has nothing to do with their degrees. But having a degree/education is a good thing, it's a always a fall back position .

[Neco]

Yeah, and most people end up changing their major several times from what I hear..

I got a friend who went to college forever, not sure what degree he ended up with or anything, but he first signed up for  computer science,  and ended up hating it by the time he was almost done with it.  I know his general likes of  PC's and games and things have changed over the years too but not sure if it was a result of the hating it,  or the cause because his views on life just changed.

My sister always talked about being a Marine Biologist and whatever she started going to school for didn't last long,  a year or two ago she just up and changed her mind and started taking  Interior Design  courses.


An ex who ditched me with some of the reason being my  making excuses for myself (my health problems, fear of driving etc) and not wanting to "Grow up" or whatever,  is around 100k (Canadian I guess? dunno)  in debt now  because apparently she is the biggest hypocrite in the world and has done everything possible to avoid leaving University and entering the real world.   Was gonna be a doctor, then changed to law school,  and just kept getting student loans, and then getting government aid which required a certain amount of debt to qualify for,  and just kept repeating the debt cycle for the government aid.

But hey, you reap what you sow I guess.

[harpy]

have to agree to pyro-manic[edit] and Neco and Deucal [/edit], don't do something you don't feel like doing. I did that and left it after 2 years, now I'm studying philosophy, em, doing my master degree now, and I am feeling quite happy about it, thou I do know that It will not be something I will feed myself with.

Beside - I don't know how it is in other countries, but here employer do not look at your eduction, they even dislike if you have education in field you are supposed to work in(not always of course, mostly its not like that in field of IT, basic are basics), because most of the stuff that is done is not done my book, but as it is done in practice, that might resemble what is in the book, but not always and it is hard to re-educate a person. Not to even talk how wast laws are changing and so on and so on. So - here employers look for persons with work experience and brain, and don't look at education as strictly.

Beside - when you look at statistics you should consider that others do the same and after 3 years it will be completely different.

Beside - mostly we(not only here, em, in Europe, as a EU project manager who happened to talk to whole bunch of people all around EU in past 3 years) lack workers in professional field, not paper pushers. These days most of people want to be paper pushers.

[sanguis]

Psychology/Sociology is a pretty blunderbuss degree, it's only once you start going into the higher level degrees that it starts to become "worth it", my dad has a psych degree never ever ever used it; really liked it and really wants to do more - spent the last 20 years in I.T. ....

I would have to agree with pyro-manic above, degrees aren't cheap and it really isn't worth an arm and a leg for a "give it a shot" degree

Having said that i'm probably going to try for a psych degree too next year, either Bach. of Science (psychology) or Bach. of Arts double major of Psychology and Writing ('cause, ya'know... I hate myself!)

But my brother finished his Bach. of Communication (minor of Game design) and has a vaguely successful film career.


Degrees are those weird things, those who have the passion for a subject tend to do the degree either as an afterthought or for promotion, where as those of us (most of us) who tend to wonder through life we expect getting a degree to solve everything.

anyway that's my AUD$0.02

[harpy]

Psychology/Sociology is a pretty blunderbuss degree, it's only once you start going into the higher level degrees that it starts to become "worth it", my dad has a psych degree never ever ever used it; really liked it and really wants to do more - spent the last 20 years in I.T. ....

well that's a trick degree in fact, you do not actually think that you are using it, but in fact you are using it, maybe..most likely, not for working, but in simple everyday situations.
It's something similar to my philosophy - I do not feel like I am using it, but people who know we and so on say that I do, even the way I speak and compose my sentences, speech, arguments and so on(in my native language of course) are totally changed(<-that have nothing to do with me growing up, as I was quite grown up around time when I ended up in philosophy) and they say that my view at the world has changed(<-might do something with the maturing, but most likely philosophy just have given me a way how to hate society in verbal way. People do tend to hate more things they can talk about, rather then things they can not express in words)

Uni degree should be something that helps you grown, something that makes you feel passionate not something you want your to improve your material existence.

[sanguis]

I do not feel like I am using it, but people who know me and so on say that I do, even the way I speak and compose my sentences, speech, arguments and so on(in my native language of course) are totally changed

I wouldn't say that that was a direct result of getting a philosophy degree, but as a result of simply getting a degree.

Because you are in a formal environment for so long you adapt to the formal culture, using long coherent sentences is the norm in higher educational culture so you adopt that behaviour and it seeps into your everyday life, but I do agree that by completing a degree you gain knowledge over and above the knowledge contained in the degree itself.

[erious]

I had a short one semester adventure with studying architecture - it wasn't something I wanted to do, but it was only art related thing on a technical university my parents were pushing me to. Leaving before getting entangled further is one of the best decisions I did in my life so far. One of the things that helped me make the decision to leave was talking with other people taking the same course - a lot of them weren't really thinking about pursuing careers in the field, but just wanted a good looking degree. I decided against wasting a few years of my life there, and just didn't show up at exams one day.
Having some kind of higher education is important - but getting stuck for the rest of your life doing something you don't enjoy just because it pays well is neither smart nor mature decision. And hey, you can make a living even in the most unprofitable fields - you just have to be damn good at what you do.

[kurandoinu]

We got told last week that our degree will mean shit all in the real world, but the stuff we learn now and the contacts we make are what will get us our jobs.

[scotsman]

read first seven post, ran into a wall of text, skipped to comment.
At least you know what your doing now, I got no clue what I want to do and almost no interests.

[harpy]

I do not feel like I am using it, but people who know me and so on say that I do, even the way I speak and compose my sentences, speech, arguments and so on(in my native language of course) are totally changed

I wouldn't say that that was a direct result of getting a philosophy degree, but as a result of simply getting a degree.

Because you are in a formal environment for so long you adapt to the formal culture, using long coherent sentences is the norm in higher educational culture so you adopt that behaviour and it seeps into your everyday life, but I do agree that by completing a degree you gain knowledge over and above the knowledge contained in the degree itself.

Well as I did spend most of my youth and teens reading books(its does broaden your vocabulary and understanding, yes in a childish and teen way, but still) and writing literal stuff(not just to satisfy my need to write something as I do it now) and as I did spend some time in this society choked by bureaucracy and double-faced flattery before I entered uni, so for me its not quite the same as just getting a degree. Right now in my uni it all feels like child play.
Maybe the thing I meant was that I actually understand and know the meaning of terms/ideas people misuse and I do use them in correct context and with correct meaning. There is nothing more frustrating then seeing grown human beans using difficult and "smart" terms just to make them seem smarter and more intelligent if they misuse these words. And the bast part about it is - there always are words you can use that are simpler and so on. I mean if it is not a academic level.

But yeah, can not deny that finishing/or not finishing degree educates you much wider then just in field you study. It teaches you how rotten human society is again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again...but most of work places does the same
And yes, people without higher education does sometimes feel like imbeciles, but there are as much imbaciles with higher education as without it - it depends on person most of the time, not on education.

Having some kind of higher education is important - but getting stuck for the rest of your life doing something you don't enjoy just because it pays well is neither smart nor mature decision. And hey, you can make a living even in the most unprofitable fields - you just have to be damn good at what you do.

In now day society it is a mature decision to choose education that will feed you, not the one that will fulfill your intellectual needs and cravings.

[kurandoinu]

If that educations does both then all the better!

[Osmo]

Thanks for the responses.

As much as I love the idea of going into something that I "think" I would love; like gaming, movies, music, philosophy, arts, this is where my brain is, I don't know exactly what degree I want to do, at the same time I get bored very easily, I've never been the type to sit in class and copy work, I literally has zero concentration, so education has always been hard for me, my attention span is like zero, trust me.

So social work is more personal to me because I have personally been in social care myself as a life experience, I admire social workers, this is my basis on working in it, plus I feel I want to give back to society in a way, through the kids, the course itself probably be boring, but education isn't supposed to be fun or enjoyable, its to learn i suppose, there's always the partying, on top of that I'm doing it for the job, and there's job security in this field.

Sometimes people love studying a subject, but hate the work, I might be vice versa, it will defo bring the money in. Besides alot of people do something they enjoy for awhile then can't even get a job afterwards.

There is no perfect degree for everyone, select a few people that have been conditioned into it from a young age and got no distractions about where they want to be, I am nothing like that, as much as I want to be, I am scatter brained, I have lost my touch with my natural talents, my biggest interest now is to pull chicks and make money and what I wrote before. As long as I get alot of money, I can buy what I want, and get the women I want I can have a detestable short term happiness.


and yes picking a course that will feed you, when I get money, alot of it, I can do the things I want to do, most of the things I've learnt is from books I brought out of personal interest and interacting with people in a social or work enviroment

[harpy]

If that educations does both then all the better!

usually it does not

..
So social work is more personal to me because I have personally been in social care myself as a life experience, I admire social workers, this is my basis on working in it, plus I feel I want to give back to society in a way, through the kids, the course itself probably be boring, but education isn't supposed to be fun or enjoyable, its to learn i suppose, there's always the partying, on top of that I'm doing it for the job, and there's job security in this field.
..

I hope you understand that most likely you will need to study bunch of unusable theories and other unusable things to get a degree....

[Osmo]

If that educations does both then all the better!

usually it does not

..
So social work is more personal to me because I have personally been in social care myself as a life experience, I admire social workers, this is my basis on working in it, plus I feel I want to give back to society in a way, through the kids, the course itself probably be boring, but education isn't supposed to be fun or enjoyable, its to learn i suppose, there's always the partying, on top of that I'm doing it for the job, and there's job security in this field.
..

I hope you understand that most likely you will need to study bunch of unusable theories and other unusable things to get a degree....

You mentioned something about people learning new definitions or words with the mentality that they are smarter, I see that as true, been there done that, now I see it as like....just putting more information into your head, most definitions leave me trapped, fixed and stuck, 90% of theories are bullshit, there's only 10% that will truly help you and you need to know...I've filled my head with so many theories thinking I need to learn this, this and this, to only come to the realization that most of it's bullshit, most people bullshit. They add extra crap to the original idea complicating it more and more.....urgh /rant off.

To what you were saying about the degree I agree, I spoke to quite a few people that told me something like, what they learnt, they straight away forgot about it after they did the tests and passed, they never needed to to remember it again, what does that tell you about education, theories and definitions?