Can't find a fucking job

[Maverick Vile]

Now I have a job in a completely different field than what I graduated with. Im considering if I should just lean into the field im working in and get a masters for that so I can build a career.

I can't tell you a lot of what does work in the job market, but the value of college degrees are completely tapped out. Credentialism is at an all-time low. Do not put yourself out more money for a nebulous-at-best return on a masters degree.

Im considering getting a masters in accounting since I'll have more work experience in that field than I ever did with CS. It helps that my boss likes me doing data analytics on the side sometimes. However, If I get that masters in accounting, I probably wont be able to get a CPA unless I spend more money and I really dont want to throw myself back into college for several more years.

I have seen people command a higher salary getting a CPA, and it's entirely merit-based because it's generated yearly by a board of accountants, so it's probably a better indicator of how you stack up in the field than a masters; however, I have met many accountants, and only 1 of them managed to pass the test in one go. It is intentionally crafted to weed out most of the applicants, so expect to have to pay to take the test more than once. If you are already in with a firm, though, talk to your managers. It is not uncommon for accounting firms to pay for you to take the test because the more CPAs they have on payroll, the larger a fee they can command from clients. Even if you have to take it multiple times out of pocket, a CPA is significantly cheaper than going to college.

EDIT: Also, if you really want to make more money in accounting, aside from getting the CPA, you're gonna have to make connections, because the people who make the most in accounting are partners in firms, and those decisions are rarely based on capability or credentials. Many firms could be cynically written off as boys clubs, but more charitably, partners are selected based on trust, and if the partners like you and feel you'll uphold the traditions and structures they've put into place at the firm, you'll be selected for partnership, or at the very least given preference on salary negotiations.

 

[Manimal House]

Honestly, if anyone of you guys have any advice, I would really appreciate it if you would share them with me.

I knew a few CPAs and was pretty close with one. The most successful was like you in that they actually, weirdly, enjoyed the work of going through the number crunching and evaluating finances.

I can tell you this: when it comes to tax season, don't expect to have a life whatsoever. 80 hour workweeks for months. Not many can put up with that but that's why they get paid so much. On top of that, there seems to be a lot of nepotism, especially with the asians. I know someone who got an interview call at a firm that went well just because him and the interviewer were both filipino. If you keep good connections and make work easy for others and build up a good repoire, it goes a long way. From what I heard, a lot of places hired real fucking idiots just because they were referred there by someone else, but then again that's pretty much everywhere.

Ask yourself if you enjoy doing it enough to where you'd be alright with sacrificing a lot of time and dedication to put into it. If yes, go for it. Has its perks too because when it's NOT tax season, you have a bunch of time and money to go on a decent vacation if that's your thing.

 

[RatCake]

I knew a few CPAs and was pretty close with one. The most successful was like you in that they actually, weirdly, enjoyed the work of going through the number crunching and evaluating finances.

I can tell you this: when it comes to tax season, don't expect to have a life whatsoever. 80 hour workweeks for months. Not many can put up with that but that's why they get paid so much. On top of that, there seems to be a lot of nepotism, especially with the asians. I know someone who got an interview call at a firm that went well just because him and the interviewer were both filipino. If you keep good connections and make work easy for others and build up a good repoire, it goes a long way. From what I heard, a lot of places hired real fucking idiots just because they were referred there by someone else, but then again that's pretty much everywhere.

Ask yourself if you enjoy doing it enough to where you'd be alright with sacrificing a lot of time and dedication to put into it. If yes, go for it. Has its perks too because when it's NOT tax season, you have a bunch of time and money to go on a decent vacation if that's your thing.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try to work for a few more months and then see where I stand but at the moment, Im fine with sacrificing a lot of time and energy if it can help me form a stable future. In some regards, Im actually very blessed to have a job while a lot of my computer science peers have been searching for 1 to 2 years now at this point. I recently thought long and hard about what I should do and I decided that if I genuinely like this profession, I'll go back and get a bachelor's again than chase a Masters... but that being said, life has been real strange for me the past few years so who knows what the future might entail. Furthermore, I do have quite a few close friends who either work for accouting at the big 4 or other friends who work at notable companies in business or finance positions. In fact, they helped me get my current job through referral alone.

 

[MisterListerTheBlister]

Alright, are there ANY remote work skills that can't just be taken by an indian? Or I guess more specifically, Mr. Shekelstein can't just cheap out and get his H1Bs going?

 

[Maverick Vile]

Alright, are there ANY remote work skills that can't just be taken by an indian? Or I guess more specifically, Mr. Shekelstein can't just cheap out and get his H1Bs going?

No, remote work has entirely been shot in the back of the head because it's a healthy alternative to commuting (which means Americans aren't allowed to have it), so you have to come into the office, but Ramdheep Dikshit has 12 of these jobs and he's phoning all of the deliverables in with AI.

By the way, still trying to swing a trade apprenticeship and getting nowhere. I'm convinced "tEh tRAdEs" is the new "learn to code." So far my only offer has been a shady as fuck contractor who mostly bitched about the spics making contracts scarce because everyone goes cheap before saying he wanted to pay me $16/hr (roofing, by the way) as a 1099 so he "wouldn't have to do tax paperwork," a thinly-veiled, "I don't want to provide benefits" if I ever saw one. Naw, dickhead, keep bitching about the spics, I'm sure I won't be expected to climb a 30 ft extension ladder with barely any rubber on the feet because you haven't replaced it in 30 years, I'm literally making more money than that with benefits working retail.

 

[YHWH's Strongest Soldier]

I'm convinced "tEh tRAdEs" is the new "learn to code."

It's a meme to devalue trade career paths. Learn to code directly preceded the ongoing devaluation of data and computer science career paths as they became flooded with the desperates. The people who recommend to go into trades either aren't tradesmen themselves or they are looking for cheap labor to exploit.