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To: proxy_user

I know a guy who has a doctorate in philosophy who is a top stock analyst for a brokerage house.

I myself studied Latin and Greek, and ended up in IT as a C++ programmer.


Then I would ask how you and others get such good jobs which have nothing to do with your college education fields of study. Did you work your way up in these fields, after starting at the bottom? Did your college experiences do anything to assist you in the professional careers in which you found success??


18 posted on 02/27/2015 8:08:19 AM PST by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Started at the bottom, programmer trainee, $12K a year, 1979.

If you can handle Latin and Greek, programming should be pretty easy. The main problem is to get a foothold. I used influence to get the job, but after a year I could have gotten plenty of jobs on my own.


42 posted on 02/27/2015 8:30:00 AM PST by proxy_user
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To: Dilbert San Diego
Then I would ask how you and others get such good jobs which have nothing to do with your college education fields of study.

As a guy with a lowly and undistinguished BS in Information Systems who ended up as a Vice President of IT with MBA's and CPA's working for him, I will tell you there are three critical success factors required:

1) Gain perfect command of written and spoken English.

2) Have no ego (1 and 2 eliminate about 95% of US IT workers).

3) Always be good enough in your current role to impress a mentor with the ability to advocate for you and help you move up.

That's it. Do those three things and it doesn't matter if you start as an assistant janitor with a degree in Abnormal Turnip Psychology - you will end up in a job far above what your degree "entitles" you to.

62 posted on 02/27/2015 9:00:29 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves (Heteropatriarchal Capitalist)
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