College Degrees & Job Security

hard2heart2heart

hard2heart2heart

True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Aug 22, 2014
I didn't see a topic about this, but at the moment I'm at a crossroads degree wise. and figure there might be some helpful advice for myself and others out there.

In my specific case, I'm finished with General Education, and a ways into a mathematics bachelors degree. I was planning on going to grad school for a Masters degree, but I started looking at the possibility of double majoring in computer science. From what I'm gathering computer science with a background in mathematics would probably offer more job security than pursuing a Master's degree in mathematics.

I'm not sure about other college bound, currently enrolled, or post graduate Kiwis out there, but I'm sure most of you have some advice or first hand experiences as to which degrees have more/less job security. Finding out your going into debt for a potentially useless degree is pretty nerve-wracking. Any advice from those who have been down that path?
 
I'd say Compsci with Math. Unless you really really like working with numbers constantly. From what I gather, if you go further down the path in mathematics, you'll be doing that a lot. Compsci seems a lot more practical.
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Wet and hard2heart2heart
Anathe said:
I'd say Compsci with Math. Unless you really really like working with numbers constantly. From what I gather, if you go further down the path in mathematics, you'll be doing that a lot. Compsci seems a lot more practical.
Click to expand...

I work as a software developer, it seems most HR managers are more interested in certifications and experience than people having a CS degree. At least where I live.

Don't get me wrong though, a CS degree can certainly be very helpful especially when applying for higher paying jobs, but I dropped out and still landed a gig I've been working at for 3 years.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Marvin, Grand Number of Pounds and hard2heart2heart
STEMM is the path to job security.

Minor in English and take lots of composition classes. Clear and concise language is important in the workplace.

No degree is "useless" -but many degrees are superfluous. We have more than enough Lit majors, that sort of thing.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: hard2heart2heart
Without giving too much personal details, I'm finishing up my 'final' semester for a useless degree and considering a trade.
 
Thought biology was a good bachelors. WRONG! Probably get my masters in micro and see what happens
 
STEM majors are oversold. This article and this one emphasize that point, and here's one that plays both sides. Don't get me wrong, succeeding in a STEM career can be very lucrative. But it is more important to decide what you want to do and get the degree that leads there. Let me also suggest that STEM skills don't have any relevance to anything in any other field, whereas social sciences, literature, and humanities could be a path to anything in business, law, or politics. They actually make you a smarter person, more aware member of society, all that good shit. Many employers are looking for liberal arts majors because they have no use for STEM but want smart people with soft skills (ie they aren't STEM spergs).
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: Retarded Forever and Saul Goodman
WanderingVagabond said:
Without giving too much personal details, I'm finishing up my 'final' semester for a useless degree and considering a trade.
Click to expand...
WanderingVagabond said:
I just have to get better at interviews and I'm set.
Click to expand...
It's all about spin. You can make pretty much anything look good if you use the right words on the right person.

a0CEczv.jpg
 
I AM STRAIGHT!!!! said:
Let me also suggest that STEM skills don't have any relevance to anything in any other field, whereas social sciences, literature, and humanities could be a path to anything in business, law, or politics. They actually make you a smarter person, more aware member of society, all that good shit.
Click to expand...
This isn't true. STEM skills involve problem solving in very broad ways.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Saul Goodman
I AM STRAIGHT!!!! said:
Let me also suggest that STEM skills don't have any relevance to anything in any other field, whereas social sciences, literature, and humanities could be a path to anything in business, law, or politics.
Click to expand...

In my experience, the logical (if highly autist) patterns of thinking/problem solving that people develop in STEM serve them *very* well elsewhere. Anecdotally, I went to a highly competitive law school and former math/econ/physics/engineering majors made up about a third of the school. And, if memory serves, an outright majority of the order of the coif (top 10% of the graduating class).

Moral of the story: If you're smart enough to succeed in STEM, you'll have options. Just don't be dumb enough to let law be one of them. ;)
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Reactions: AnOminous, I AM STRAIGHT!!!! and Marvin
In my experience;
First of all you should have really clear what you want to do, if you are aiming for a MSc, you could apply to academia (working as a researcher or teacher) or focused to industry (be employed by Oracle, Google, Microsoft, etc).
You said you're aiming for computer science focused to math, saddly that one is most useful in academia than industry soooo if you wanted to be part of the Google team, you might not find it easy... tip, while you're in your masters, you will have to choose a specific topic for research which will define what you actually do, you can't simply say "I do math", you will say "unorthodox algebraic approach in parallel systems".
To my knowledge, companies are most of the time searching for people with general knowledge in networks and more advanced stuff in A.I. or even neural networks, so if you are going with math, I'd recommend you focus your research on A.I, it is more likely to catch something.
As for recruitment, that's the tricky part, while getting your masters some employers will tempt you with offers that are quite good (these offers will keep comming all the time though) but they will ask you to start working immediately and hence interfering with your degree, they do this because they know you are good BUT don't want you to get your degree because it's easier to hire a cheap engineer than a cheap MSc... my recommendation is to search for offers slightly before you finish so you can get your degree and get a job.
How easy to find or secure is the job you can get?, that depends entirely on you, if your research is good and your subject of research is what companies are searching for right now, you'll find them easily and it's a really secure job as long as you are not a sloth.
If I wasn't clear or you want to ask me questions, don't hesitate.
 
I'm going to graduate as an Environmental Studies BS and I need to find an internship after graduating soon...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back