How close is your degree/field of study to your actual career?

[sailor]

Mechanical Engineering Degree working as an engineer for a medical device company and looking for a new direction, I am sick of doing what I am told.

[alexstar]

Philosophy, though I knew that it wouldn't directly apply to whatever I ended up doing; instead I wanted to use it as the foundation for critical thought, which I could apply to virtually any field.

I'm also management at an electrical company.

[busdriver1959]

Mine was personnel management. Like Saab, I'm a pilot. Unlike Saab, I don't wonder what I'll be when I grow up because I don't intend to grow up. I'm 51 but I act like 9. Why change what's worked so well for so long?

[Ryun]

Master in Sociology/Statistics; last 15 years in automotive retail.

[false_aesthetic]

BFA - studio art
MFA - photography

I'm not doing what I thought I'd be doing but I'm still completely in the field as a photo instructor.

[ericpmoss]

EE degree long ago -- never got to use it. Sigh. CompSci in 2005. I program now, but given the way my company works, it's like I never get to use it. Sigh.

[Til Dropp]

Studio Art / Consumer Electronics Commerce

Still studio art-ing (it's preoccupation, not a goal); if you can't commit 100% to one, neither is your *day job*.

[lwkwafi]

Media Studes / Political Science degrees in undergrad. 2.5 years in college town at Best buy, Olive Garden, bike shop and scoring standardized tests.
Now in second year of PhD school for Communication (rhetoric), so kinda back on track, but neither degree makes teaching Public Speaking that much easier/better than another degree.
Maybe in two years I will have another non-related job.

[jbartmc]

Political science, then law school for me. No complaints, I have more good days than bad days.

[caleb]

100% match today some 20 years after graduating - I love what I do

Right now I'm also matched 1:1. I love what I do, too.

[Chad]

Psych degree, work in Safety. Still undecided on what I "want" to do, running out of time though...

[fieldrecordings]

BA/MFA in photography but art handle for the Whitney Museum. I haven't strayed too far & I enjoy it often, but like the 99.9% of artmakers with "day jobs" (so many of them art handlers), I'd rather make my own work all day than hang other people's. Until the unlikely appearance of sudden wealth, I'll be making things on evenings & weekends, trying to sell enough to pay the studio rent.

[WadePatton]

for those who've not see the first page of my Smoked Out, I have a political science BA and a law degree-JD.

Never did shit with either, wasted a lot of time and money getting them. NOW that I know what I want to do, I'm struggling getting traction. My "first career" didn't provide me with any "means" of shifting over. So I'm just doing what I can...now I'm farming (f_ar_ming) and picking up odd-jobs. getting some metal together to make some more frames...

I'd like a (day)job with the state forestry, but my "non-verifiable" experience kept me out of the last opening. My lack of a forestry degree will eff me from the rest. Also trying to get on as apprentice machinist anywhere within 20 miles.

Lots of "benefits" to knowing what arcane legal language actually means and how to communicate with the courts, write your own contracts, wills, etc., but I'll never have a job in that field. Makes me nauseous thinking about it.

[sonnybiker]

i ride my bike for a living.

i'd quit in a heartbeat for something more fulfilling, or related to my education. haven't had any luck with jobs after college so i hopped back on my bike.

i've learned not to mix vocations and avocations: it burns me out on both the job and the personal interest.

also, i'm trying to find a job that gives me summers off, and is not teaching.

the bummer is that i pretty much knew before going to college that it wasn't for me.

[Disturbed]

What degree?

I barely graduated high school but I can lift very heavy things.

[ned]

BA in sociology. It took me 6 years of goofing off, traveling, maxing out the ladder in outdoor retail, testing the waters, taking prerequisites, and getting married before going back to school for Physical Therapy. Six years out from that degree and I can't imagine doing anything else.

[Honus]

Went to college but no degree. I started off in aeronautical/mechanical engineering but somehow ended up in the art department after a brief detour in journalism. Worked in bike shops to pay for school. Moved to L.A. to attend Art Center to study industrial/transportation design but that wasn't for me so after working in bike shops I ended up working in R&D in the bike industry designing bike parts. Left the bike industry in the late 90's and became a jeweler. After 13 years at the same shop it's still a great job.

[WadePatton]

What degree?

I barely graduated high school but I can lift very heavy things.

hey yo fatboy, no degree required! that's one of the points that i like to (try to) make. so many folks have be brainwashed into thinking that "college" or a "degree" is _necessary_ to a fulfilling lifetime. it's not. way not.

note-I didn't start the thread to twist the end--BUT I also didn't mean to "exclude" folks who don't have "higher" educationalisms.

learning one's own talents and liabilities and then manipulating them into wages--that's the ticket*. or just show up to the right place and lift the heavy things every time on time without breaking the notsoheavy things. easy--very easy if one doesn't become "rooted" to any location.

*and college/grad/med/law/vet/trade/u of phoenix may be just the ticket for some folks.

[Eddie]

It's dead on, and for me that's the problem.

I'm quickly approaching a watershed moment career-wise and trying to figure out how to apply this cursed J.D. to something productive/constructive/worthwhile.

Yo Alec, I'm only half-kidding when I say dog training is in the cards. You interested in taking on an apprentice? Although, I'm terrified what "shop duties" might entail. It's cool, I can live in a tent out back behind the horse stable and semi trailer.

[EFHeath]

High School diploma, Bachelor's, Master's, +2 more years at another school, +about 9 summers spent in total immersion summer music festivals, all in Viola Performance. This educational history is pretty standard for professional classical musicians, by the way. Have never had a "real" job; not something I'm proud of, by the way. Starting before I got out of school and after, I have played the viola for a living. Teaching about 20%, roughly, like most classical musician-performers, I expect. I do regret now not having gotten a doctorate, as that is required even to apply for university-level teaching/performer residency positions, which I would like to do to have more time for chamber music and solo playing.

There are lots of differences between a classical conservatory training and real life as a working musician, but I guess it might look like the same thing to most people.

I've always thought about doing other things, and have always had other major interests, but have never been able to bring myself to quit music. (So far).