What do you do and what was/is your major?

2/3/2007 8:28:39 PM

My major was English with my teacher's certification attached.

A local teaching job did not immediately fall into my lap and the summer was just long enough for my husband to get use to having me at home. He makes good money and he's a wonderful guy, but he's an absolute workaholic: he forgets to eat, sleep, clean, pay bills, etc. So, I spend a lot of time looking after all the mundane details of our daily lives. Since we don't have kids (yet) and this isn't quite a full time job, I went out to see what I could find part time with my qualifications.

I ended up finding a great job working in the mornings as a nanny for a family where the mother only works part time. Through this job, I ended up accidentally networking with other moms and built myself a decent babysitting business on the side. I guess there aren't a lot of degree holding adults who babysit and parents in Cary just eat it up.

Now, I don't make as much as I would teaching, but I don't work any more than 30 hours a week and I love being around kids on a daily basis without having to bring home all the work.

During my brief period out there looking for a job with an English degree, I did find that your degree is only going to be as valuable as the experiences that you've had to go along with it.

2/3/2007 10:00:53 PM

Live at home with parents.

Communication and psychology double-major.

2/3/2007 10:18:12 PM

I was making under $30k with my degree in criminology. Focused on juvie corrections. I started working in construction after I got burned out with those jobs. I was making more starting out in construction with NO EXPERIENCE than I was getting from jobs that required a bachelor's degree in human service field. Now I'm thinking of going back to school for accounting... who knows where I'll end up.

2/3/2007 11:12:34 PM

I'm a tv producer! I get paid in sunshine and fun!

English degree from NCSU. Thank GAWD for sugah daddies.

I got a job offer last summer for 18k per year. Full-time producer position. I thought the woman was joking. But no, that is the reality of tv production. You get paid in the idea that "ooh, my work is being seen by many!" Ha!

[Edited on February 4, 2007 at 12:07 AM. Reason : bling!]

2/4/2007 12:04:10 AM

grad student

2/5/2007 1:15:28 AM

Computer Tech with 0 years of experience in a state job = little under 30k for the first couple years.

2/5/2007 7:44:26 AM

civil engineering

Working half time for the state until grad school. It's amazing how little money you need if you are living single.

2/5/2007 10:08:54 AM

Started out with ALMOST 30k, with 1.5 years on the job and few raises later I am near the 40k mark.

Degree - Microbiology, but I work in the nutrition and molecular biology. To get a job in most life science fields that pay a lot, unless you have a grad degree, will almost always require 1 or 2 (or more) years of specialized experience, which is very hard to come across.

2/5/2007 11:04:31 AM

grad student

2/5/2007 4:40:23 PM

made just over 30 a year as a loss prevention specialist at a retail store

said "fuck it" and came to law school.


B.A. Communication - Media

2/5/2007 5:29:21 PM

Quote :

"made just over 30 a year as a loss prevention specialist at a retail store"

You mean security guard?

2/6/2007 11:00:22 PM

nah he's that old man at walmart with the happy face stickers

2/7/2007 8:26:42 AM

ahha nah it's far from a greeter or a security guard. basically i worked in operations trying to control the overall shrink number of the store, working the numbers on an inventory-to-inventory basis, and planning staff meetings where we went over the numbers to figure out where we're leaking money, and what we can do to fix it. Now, some of that was watching for shoplifters, but a great deal more of it (80%, in fact) was in going through receiving paperwork to audit the numbers - making sure what we got was what they said we got - and working internal cases of pass-offs and other types of employee theft. it was mostly investigations.

2/7/2007 9:50:18 AM

Professional ice hockey linesman....only because I quit my real job and am awaiting an offer for another. I have one offer and am hoping for an even better one, both as a financial advisor.

Business Management: Finance Concentration....when I told the guy I interviewed with that I would be content with 40k he laughed at me and told me to expect to make a lot more than that my first year (with the company I really want to work for that I am interviewing with again on Thursday)

2/7/2007 10:33:52 AM

my "content" salary is now 45k

2/7/2007 7:56:41 PM

teaching elementary school

2/10/2007 12:55:44 PM

20k
English degree
College Staff
(stepping stone job)

2/13/2007 8:20:06 PM

I made under 30k when I started my job, and then the state put in that 5% raise and I got slightly over 30k.

Research tech at UNC
Biochemistry and Biology.

2/14/2007 11:08:43 AM

I doubled PSY and SOC

I'm currently living off my boyfriend and student loans... going back to NCSU to get my teaching certification

2/17/2007 12:15:42 AM

god, i got paid more than that during an internship

and it's not like it was some hard internship to get

all you needed was a 3.0 gpa

2/19/2007 8:47:45 AM

2/19/2007 9:36:51 AM

I'm a fucking student, STILL

2/19/2007 11:53:56 PM

woot! made about 15k last year working for my family business (of which i'll inherit) so basically i get paid enough to pay for my house and whatnot

3/2/2007 8:14:55 PM

lets see...i worked for two years with Eckerd as an At-Risk youth counselor, which i LOVED and brought in a good ol' $26,600/yr + room and board. Now i'm back home in WA working as a teachers aid in a behavior management class at a local HS while i go back to school for my Masters in Teaching Spec. ED. I have two teaching offers for the fall and thank GOD because my takehome right now is $850 a month...and i hate living at home after being in my own place for the last seven years!

3/6/2007 1:13:16 PM

850 a month, ouch. kinda funny that a consultant is easily paid that in a day.

3/6/2007 1:53:34 PM

Quote :

"You mean security guard?"

ha

i love it when someone is trying to be a total cunt and they come out looking like a moron

3/10/2007 7:04:39 PM

english/history - Intern, but it's the stepping stone to better things.

3/15/2007 5:54:10 PM

I have a degree in Materials Engineering. I graduated last May. Right now I have no job, am living upon money from my parents every month, and am decidedly back in school going for a Masters in comp sci. Actually, I'm primarily back in school to get any internships and stuff, basically anything that will help me get hired. If somebody wants to make me an offer before I get my Masters, I'll go ahead and leave school. I'm not back in school for the sake of gaining knowledge, I'm back to get whatever it takes to get a job. It'd be nice to get a Masters, but getting a job is first priority as far as I'm concerned, and once that's done....well, mission accomplished.

In a couple of other threads I've said I couldn't find a job, but that's not entirely true. Last October I did manage to get hired as a lab technician by this company that manufactures catalytic logs (for converting gaseous pollutants from coal and gas power plants to less harmful stuff). I was making slightly over $30k, not real great considering I have an engineering degree (albeit no prior experience), but it's more than enough for one person to get by. I really liked the job, and I was doing my best to learn all the ropes. But I just couldn't keep up with their level of expectations, I kept making the stupidest errors, and all around I basically kept screwing up all the important tests they entrusted me with. They let me go just slightly after two months.

To this day I still don't know how or why I messed up so bad. The job wasn't all that hard, and I kinda liked the work, yet no matter how hard I tried I wound up spinning my wheels without actually getting anything productive done. Needless to say, getting fired from a relatively easy job after such a small time span has done nothing for my ego and self-confidence.

3/15/2007 8:34:02 PM

Work in a restaurant for three years, then we'll talk about self confidence.

4/5/2007 11:23:03 PM

^^Glad I didnt continue down the materials path.

4/6/2007 3:14:42 PM

yo whats a prt major with a business minor get now a days?

4/7/2007 3:30:58 AM

Quote :

"Professional ice hockey linesman"

you play for the NHL? and you dont make 45K/year?

4/7/2007 4:33:28 AM

^he is probably minor league, but says "professional" to make it seem like it is the real deal.....it is probably like NFL Europe but worse


5^

wow, you got fired from a easy job, maybe you are lifer as a stocker?

4/7/2007 12:36:38 PM

^, and ^^

you two should probably look up the definition of linesman

4/7/2007 12:48:43 PM

dnl, coach for T-ball

4/7/2007 3:19:52 PM

o wait. i get it. linesmans a referee, right?.

well i see why they get such shitty calls all the time. apparently they hire any college kid for $20/hr.

4/7/2007 6:00:32 PM

^^fuck that...kids are too dumb and anoying plus i hate baseball

ok the prt is a concentration in tourism...so tourism and business minor...ok what u got fo me tww

4/7/2007 7:19:21 PM

my old old old roommate got that degree, he is director of some small cities recreational facilities...he loves it though.


You can be a manager of a hotel or motel(some of them make bank)

4/7/2007 7:30:11 PM

if i'm not making at least 50K at graduation i will not be a happy camper

4/7/2007 11:02:41 PM

I'm an art teacher, and my major was art with a minor in Psych. Woo hoo for those high paying education jobs! lol

6/24/2007 11:19:48 PM

Quote :

"I have a degree in Materials Engineering. I.....................blah...blah!"

You have a degree in one of the most important and interesting branches of engineering.....you need some confidence in yourself!

6/25/2007 6:21:06 PM

sometimes i wish i made less than 30k again

6/25/2007 8:10:42 PM

Im a cook/caterer with a culinary degree. Cooks dont make shit the first few years of their career. The money comes eventually though

7/1/2007 11:44:43 PM

Quote :

"woot! made about 15k last year working"

same here.

7/2/2007 1:04:07 AM

Quote :

"sometimes i wish i made less than 30k again "

+1

was happier at 23k/yr than I am now in 6figs....

guess the " > $ " advice was true ... 2L8

7/28/2007 5:39:42 PM

+2 Money isnt everything. Although being broke isnt great either.

7/29/2007 3:56:52 PM

ill take a happy medium. then again i make much more than 30k and am still happy (no six figures though...that'd be nice). these things arent mutually exclusive.

7/29/2007 4:39:07 PM

Quote :

"was happier at 23k/yr than I am now in 6figs...."

this says to me there is something else that has changed in your life

i know if I made 6 figs, a lot of my current money problems would have solutions

7/30/2007 1:27:48 PM

^true

- I realized that making a lot more money doesn't give me any more time for family/friends/hobbies

money is great, not worrying about it is great ... but I'd take more vacation time > more money in a second if the option were offered.

Time....

tick tock tick tock, that sound wasn't so loud 10 or 15 years ago ... I try not to bother giving advice (anymore), but fwiw thats been my experience having now achieved a salary I never expected to achieve in my profession. Find a balance and I'm sure it's all good, if you can find the balance

7/30/2007 9:26:57 PM