The real world is a harsh place and we don't learn that soon enough.
When we're younger we believe everything is possible and whatever it is we want to do for a living is going to be a success. So we head off to school to procure that dream and in school we learn all we can and the dream grows bigger.
Then a little while after graduation, many people realize the dream is a fantasy and the major they chose may be more problematic than bountiful.
Not many companies are looking for experts in socioeconomic post revolution Russian literature.
Redditor Mahimahasked:
"College grads who discovered too late that your major is useless in the real world, what do you do now?"
Hospitality Days
Working in a job I could've done with my high school degree and that I hate. 💔
diner dancing GIF by Justin TimberlakeGiphyI feel that. I was doing restaurant work for a long time, then went to college, and then went back to restaurant work. I'm now back in college for another roll of the dice.
And given the state of the economy right now, I will probably go back to waiting tables once again.
Head Games
Not exactly realized it was useless, just realized I couldn't do it. I was in Psychology. I went back to work for a while then ended up taking Computer Engineering and I'm now a software developer. I went back to school. The went back to work thing means in between I wasn't in school and was just working
I should add that job is what made me realize I should take Comp Eng.
I did a site visit to a custom fabrication shop and they had a team of devs to program the machines for custom orders. I was fascinated, did some research, and here I am. I do make software for manufacturing even, just not doing that specific thing that got me interested.
The Writer
I write emails for the functionally illiterate. I'm actually a personal assistant which is all you need to know. The only reason they'd pay me is the college degree and its name. I literally do get paid minimum wage but it's in a place where I can make that work with roommates. I don't know what else to say except I'm in the same place as so many! So don't be impressed. :)
The Spotlight People....
Studied performing arts (film, tv and theatre) at a decent university.
Was working in theatre until Covid hit.
Now I make youtube videos about MMO games and twitch stream Runescape.
I actually manage to survive doing this.
acting jon lovitz GIFGiphyP & P
Degree in psychology with a minor in philosophy. Realized I hated research 4th year in but grinded through and finished it. Currently in management in manufacturing. Wouldn't say the degree was useless as it helps me in my interactions with my workers and building a good culture. Don't ever think a degree is useless just because you don't get a job in your field. You build learning habits and study methods which can be applied to anything in the future so just keep that in mind and be positive!
LIT....
English Lit Major.
I'm a gate attendant. Graveyard shift.
Have you considered writing content for websites? You know, the web pages that are really ads disguised as actual content that made the Internet a worse place. I hear the pay is OK, I would guess probably better than a gate attendants pay.
No Regrets....
I have a sociology degree! I don't think it's useless but many people do. I don't regret it. There's a decent amount of socially relevant marketable knowledge and skills.
I'm a healthcare worker and I love it.
I am also very good at it, and would not be if I didn't have my degree to inform my practice.
I plan on getting my masters or going to law school at some point because I'd like more prospects for upward mobility and I genuinely love school but I also do really love my job now.
Crap Start....
Psychology major, got jobs in my field right out of school, but pay was pretty crap and no real room to move up without more school.
Went back and got my RN, made six figures straight out the door.
Episode 4 Hbo GIF by Curb Your EnthusiasmGiphy3rd shift in....
Got an English/Film Studies degree, now I work 3rd shift as a deli stocker at a local supermarket chain.
I have the same degree. I'm a buyer and customer assistant for an independent hardware store.
When I was at school I wrote about film quite frequently. My English teacher told me I should pursue it as a career.
I had zero interest in going to university but I was told it was the easiest way to make connections in the industry.
Throughout Uni I attended every networking event I could, took unpaid writing gigs, and showed my portfolio to as many people as possible. As I approached graduation I still had no job lined up despite submitting countless applications.
After graduating I took a full time job unrelated to my degree while working part time as an unpaid writer. I eventually burnt out.
There was no point in doing the work if I wasn't being paid, and none of the paid opportunities I had dangled in front of my face ever materialised. I didn't see the point in trying anymore if the only thing I got out of it was disappointment.
I stopped writing. I stopped poring over media job sites. I took down my online portfolio. I bristle whenever someone asks me what I have a degree in because it's not hard to tell they're thinking "oh, you got one of those useless degrees." Yeah, mate. I know that now.
Teachers deserve more....
I was originally majoring in earth and space science with a minor in education.
walton goggins hbo GIF by Vice Principals GiphyThe goal was to teach secondary school earth science. That degree only lets you teach those subjects from an education stand point as for other jobs it qualified me for a tour guide or a museum worker. Changed majors to education which set me back about 3 semesters of course work. Now i manage at the local big box retailer for almost 15k more than the starting wage of a teacher.
Trade
Get into a trade. Only high school education required and you can get in as someone who's only job is to sit on a bucket and make sure the welders don't catch crap of fire starting out at 18/hr. After that the next position can be anywhere from 18-20/hr as a helper and perdiem comes in. An extra 70-100 a day tax free for your hotel and stuff. I've been in construction for 4 years and I average 28/hr and 100 a day perdiem. Average weekly check of 1500+ and only a high school education baby.
PhD
Serious answer: I have a bachelor of science in psychology. It is truly useless as a lot of bachelor of science degrees are if you're not going for a Masters or PhD. I interned in a medical lab and got a technical degree, MLT, which I think nowadays technical degrees are 150% more valuable than a non-technical 4 year degree. I'm working on turning my MLS at the moment.
Next Year it is....
So not me, but my husband. His first bachelor's is in entertainment engineering and design and he worked for a minute in his industry.
Pop Tv GIF by Schitt's CreekGiphyHe was getting to the highest position he could with that degree before COVID and got furloughed and then laid off. He's going back to school now for electrical engineering and will graduate next year hopefully.
Find Friends
I have a BA in political science. I run a data science and analytics team. Didn't figure out what I liked until I was 28 and 6 years out of college. The library and community colleges are your friend.
It's all a mess...
I work in my dad's business and live with my parents. In my culture is not that unusual to live with your parents in your 20's but it still sucks. The money they pay me is not nearly enough to be independent either, but at least I'm not homeless and try to take care of them. The future is uncertain. I couldn't get a job in my former career before the pandemic, and now the job market and the economy are totally messed in my country.
educators...
Not me, but my brother has a history degree and couldn't get a job in his field. So he went back to school to become a teacher and now he's teaching history at the university he got his history degree at. He hates teaching.
Season 3 Running GIF by The SimpsonsGiphyBest of Luck...
I did my major in mathematics, and without much of a plan going forward, other than one very specific idea that ended up falling through. I did temp work for a little while and ended up doing some self-taught programming to improve the efficiency of my work there. That led to me getting noticed and promoted by the IT team leader, and now (years later) I'm in a leading software developer position. So it all worked out in the end, mostly through sheer luck.
Choices
Work in a grocery store and languish in my poor choices.
But for real though, I wouldn't trade the experience I got in college for anything. I got a Bachelor of Arts in Interactive Media Design. I've been working on small projects off and on since graduation but the actual industry, if you don't want to try cutting your teeth as an indie dev, is a meat grinder. There's a lot of uncertainty in employment, exploitation, false expectations of advancement.
You're either a dynamo and get hired into a good position/get noticed or you slog through QA with a minuscule chance of getting promoted. Turns out the industry has a crappy life/work balance and I refuse to deal with that.
Research the Plan
If you're in a country with strong unions, do consider vocational roles like a plumber or electrician. Some of them do pay well.
If you're ok with it, joining the army is ok as well.
Alternatively, upskill through online courses.
Anthro...
Anthropology degree. I do IT Helpdesk at a University. Anthro helped give me a good understanding of different people and cultures. Made my customer service skills waaaaay better knowing that people can see things so differently.
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When giving a speech and making an argument, the most effective way to reach other people or get your point across is to speak with conviction.
However, speaking with conviction doesn't always mean people are speaking the truth... or even coherently.
Redditor MonkeyGentleman420 was curious to hear more stories of ludicrous things people said with unwavering conviction, leading them to ask:
"What is the stupidest thing someone has told you with complete conviction?"
We Know How Often Birds Check Clocks...
'That we set the clocks forwards and backwards so the birds don’t get confused with their migration patterns."- alliecita410
Speaking From Experience?
"'Two people can breathe underwater forever if they have a hose'."
"The first person breathes in while the second breathes out, then the first person breathes out and the second person breathes in etc'."- PahoojyMan
Dream On...
"She said:'
"'If you are dream about falling and you hit the ground in your sleep you'll actually die'."
"'It's been proven'."
"I said 'If you die in your sleep, how can anyone know what you were dreaming?'"
"Ruined a favorite story of hers."
"Sorry."- FrankieMint
falling GIFGiphyBecause ALL Cops Ask For Your SSN Before Cuffing You...
"From a coworker: 'If you don't have a social security number then the government can't do anything to you'."
"I asked if that meant, if I didn't have an SSN then I could just go kill someone on the street and the government couldn't arrest me."
"'Yep', he said, 'if you don't have an SSN then they can't enforce any laws on you'."- AllAboutThePotatoes
Keep Them Away From Needles...
"A former coworker insisted that the body believes the ears are injuries, and we are all constantly trying to heal our own ears closed."
"The only thing keeping them open, you ask?"
"Ear wax."
"We worked in healthcare."- Reflection_Secure
Credit To the Visual Effects Designer
"A girl I worked with was convinced that every single mythological creature was real."
"I’ll never forget one of her claims."
“Think about it, every movie you done seen all those creatures and aliens and sh*t, all that’s real."
"Someone has to have actually seen it to come up with that!”
"Apparently there’s no such thing as the human imagination to her."
"So yes, transformers are real, Godzilla is real, Independence Day is real."
"This was a 20-year-old that said all of this."- Dragonborn83196
Unicorn GIF by MOODMANGiphyIn Theory... Still Wrong!
"That the speed of light wasn’t like an actual number, it was just a figure of speech."- sunbearimon·
Check The Date...
"Sunburn is not caused by the sun, it is actually caused by sunblock."
"If you don't use sunblock then you will never be burned."
"Sunburn was created by the sun cream industry to sell their products."
"Seems easily testable, why not lie on the beach all day in one position with no sun block and see what happens?"
"Make sure you fall asleep for maximum effect."
"You go bright red and then blister to the point that you get taken to hospital for a combination of sunstroke and the beginning of shock then spend the rest of the holiday indoors face down with regular application of creams and replacement paraffin patches on the burns."
"It puts a bit of a dampener on your 2 week break."
"Sunburn is mentioned in Livy's history of the second Punic war and others over 2000 years ago which is solid proof that the 'Big Sunscreen' claim is ridiculous."
"However it would be hand-waved away by a True Believer of big Sunscreen."- Magnus_40
Sonne Sunburn GIF by Mitteldeutscher RundfunkGiphyIgnorance Is Not Always Bliss...
"A distant relative, recently retired, once told me that he was going to hire a gardener and a housekeeper because 'the government will give you a grant to pay for them now'."
"This was a few minutes after a lengthy rant about how the welfare state should be scrapped because only lazy people lose their jobs and need to claim benefits."
"The same relative, some years ago, also announced with absolute conviction that he was going to hire a neighbor as a cleaner because 'she won't have anything to do now her kids are grown up'."- Plantagenesta
The Price Of Never Looking Up!
"Pineapples aren't real."
"They're entirely manmade and do not exist in nature."- tricksterloki
ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR!!!
"My dad was experiencing end stage renal failure (was on dialysis at the time and has since had a transplant)."
"My best friend's boyfriend at the time looked at me dead in the eye and said he could reverse his condition with a vegan diet and that the only important organ in the body was the skin, so as long as you take good care of your skin, your other organs will function properly."
"Mind you, by the time my dad got on dialysis his kidneys were functioning at 11% and his SKIN WAS JUST FINE."- lyingintheleaves
But What Causes Cavities?
"I'm a dental hygienist."
"We had a patient come in with terrible teeth."
"They thought toothpaste caused cancer."- dilapidatedfungus
If Only...
"That women don't burp or fart, because only men have (the ability to pass) gas."
"Spoiler alert: he was horrified when I burped in front of him."- sequoia_summers
Guilt Is Easier When You Know It's Coming.
"First girlfriend was religious, and apparently it was okay that we had sex 'as long as she feels bad about it after'."
"Pre-planning regret was her loophole to do what she wanted."- Lone_Buck
season 2 famalam GIF by BBC ThreeGiphyWhen people do speak with conviction, more often than not they firmly believed what they say.
So much so, that they have trouble believing the person brave enough to correct them.
In spite of the concrete evidence thrown in front of them...