Getting a philosophy degree in the Carter years didn’t seem to hurt me much.
Lack of competition?
I had a theory that someone with a new college degree could step into a job that used to be given to someone who had worked his or her way up in the company. Two things happened:
1) The college grads in those positions were younger than those who worked their way up to those positions and stayed in those positions longer, so openings are less frequent.
2) There are more philosophy graduates than there were 30+ years ago.