What is/was your college major?
- Thread starter gingerbabe
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txsqlchick
New member
Conkel, I work in I.T. and a graduate degree is superfluous to requirements for the vast majority of I.T. jobs that I've seen. There's one guy on my team with a Ph.D. and he makes the same amount of money as the rest of us with lowly bachelor's degrees (none of them in comp sci, either).
What would be your end goal in obtaining a graduate degree? Would it be in I.T. or would you be going for an MBA or something?
i'm about to finish up an Associates in Business Mgmt and then one after in Finance and then I'm going to wrap up a Bach in Forensic Accounting. This is just dispensing with the formalities since I'm in my late 30's and worked for many years as a risk manager and registered broker for a brokerage. I prefer to be figuring things out though so it seemed more apt to move more into analysis and fraud detection type of stuff.
To balance this out, I paint and draw and actually was being wooed by an art school in NY when I was a teenager, but that got derailed by bad family dynamics and supporting myself. It's for the best though imo how things worked out.
Well, that's all. Good luck to everyone with your continued ventures in whatever field they may be in.
To balance this out, I paint and draw and actually was being wooed by an art school in NY when I was a teenager, but that got derailed by bad family dynamics and supporting myself. It's for the best though imo how things worked out.
Well, that's all. Good luck to everyone with your continued ventures in whatever field they may be in.
Mamaz2ndbaby
New member
I have an undergrad degree in Psychology (business mgt minor) I wanted to go into human resources but 'found my purpose' so got a master's degree is rehabilitaiton counseling with a concentration in chemical addictions.
I would be looking to get a graduate degree in software engineering. I've heard some people say don't do it and others will tell me I'm stupid not to. I really haven't decided for sure what I'd like to end up doing yet but I'd tend to lean towards me going for it in the end. I'll see what happens
Were you a comp sci major?
txsqlchick
New member
Nope, I did a French applied linguistics degree. It's very useful in I.T.
Personally I don't think that a graduate degree is necessary for most jobs in I.T. Jobs that are heavy on research may sometimes require an advanced degree; my ex-husband has a master's in comp sci but he works in grid computing and biometrics. The vast majority of us are simply code monkeys and will never work on anything so advanced. Ultimately, whether you need the graduate degree is dictated by what you plan to do in the field. If you plan to bang out C# or VB.NET code all day on a piece of software most of us will never see, don't waste your money at grad school.
Nope, I did a French applied linguistics degree. It's very useful in I.T.
Personally I don't think that a graduate degree is necessary for most jobs in I.T. Jobs that are heavy on research may sometimes require an advanced degree; my ex-husband has a master's in comp sci but he works in grid computing and biometrics. The vast majority of us are simply code monkeys and will never work on anything so advanced. Ultimately, whether you need the graduate degree is dictated by what you plan to do in the field. If you plan to bang out C# or VB.NET code all day on a piece of software most of us will never see, don't waste your money at grad school.
Thanks for the advice, I've been trying to find people who have already gone through this to give me some tips and this certainly is some useful information. I have about a year and a half until I actually graduate, and I'm definitely not going to grad-school right out of college so I have a few years at least to think about it.
txsqlchick
New member
No problem...grad school is an attractive haven from an ugly job market but it's also extremely expensive and not always beneficial. I know a couple of people who sometimes leave grad school and their master's degree off their resumes because they get dismissed as "overqualified" otherwise. Sad but true.
However, don't just take my word for it; ask anyone and everyone you meet in the industry about master's degrees. Better yet, contact some companies in your local area that do the kind of work you're interested in and ask them what level of education they expect of prospective hires, talk to a recruiter who sources applicants for positions that sound good to you, or read want ads on computerjobs.com or monster.com for the types of positions you ultimately want once you graduate. If none of them are asking for a grad degree, that's a pretty good clue that it's not necessary. If a good percentage of them are, though...that's also a clue!
Good luck.
Internships and real world experience will benefit much more than a piece of paper...
olgappetra1
New member
Planned to go into Physiological Psychology--I loved doing surgery on rat's brains--after I got a BS in Experimental Psychology w/Concentrations (1 or 2 classes away from a Minor) in Biology, Music, Speech & Philosophy (couldn't decide, wanted them all, then had to graduate w/only a BS because I ran out of money)
After realizing I wasn't good enough in Chemistry, didn't have the money needed to go for my PhD & then doing some volunteer work in Art Therapy, I did Grad work in Music Therapy & Rehab Counseling, then was hired doing that (had to call it Therapy w/ Music for legal reasons tho) along w/ the other things I did professionally for 10 years & never finished my Masters even though I thought I was going to when I dropped out. (Worked in the field of serious mental illness, substance abuse & homelessness so was NEVER bored!)
Did get a Master's Certification in NeuroLinguistic Programming, (NLP) later, however. Had planned to go back to school & get a MSW so I could create my own *shop* after moving to be able to bill insurance companies & have credibility for my experience, & my life changed in an instant (all over again) so those plans got dropped & I went into even another field! Real Estate, but am not doing that anymore, thank goodness.
After realizing I wasn't good enough in Chemistry, didn't have the money needed to go for my PhD & then doing some volunteer work in Art Therapy, I did Grad work in Music Therapy & Rehab Counseling, then was hired doing that (had to call it Therapy w/ Music for legal reasons tho) along w/ the other things I did professionally for 10 years & never finished my Masters even though I thought I was going to when I dropped out. (Worked in the field of serious mental illness, substance abuse & homelessness so was NEVER bored!)
Did get a Master's Certification in NeuroLinguistic Programming, (NLP) later, however. Had planned to go back to school & get a MSW so I could create my own *shop* after moving to be able to bill insurance companies & have credibility for my experience, & my life changed in an instant (all over again) so those plans got dropped & I went into even another field! Real Estate, but am not doing that anymore, thank goodness.
Poisonhearts
New member
Police Studies 
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