Posted on 04/22/2012 12:31:28 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work.
A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don't fully use their skills and knowledge.
Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs — waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example — and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans....
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Today even accounting is contracting.
And you don't need to be ON IT by the time you are 30.
Over my career I watched middle-managment DISAPPEAR. There were so many baby-boomers around with 'raw management talent" you could hire half a dozen of them as "project managers" and avoid hiring on the VP who'd cost you much more and was not as easy to outsource later on.
What you see today in terms of management structure is an echo of what there used to be! Technology has taken down those jobs first ~ much to the surprise of folks who thought they could move up into them.
You want to be a boss get your own company ~ and BTW, don't hire too many managers ~
Mathematics is part of Liberal Arts. So ~ what was it you said?
>What programming languages are most in demand? As I stated, I know some SAS but otherwise haven’t had the time nor inclination to learn computer programming.
>
>Any suggestions?
While not in-demand*, I would suggest learning Ada first.
This in order to impress upon you good programming skills / habits / ideas. An Ada compiler is very ‘picky’ about rejecting programs with detectable errors, and so when you get it to compile correctly you can be very confident that any bugs are logical: the exact sort that you need to be concentrated on the problem at-hand, rather than language-traps like pointers in C/C++.
After that, I’d go with a .NET language (C#, likely) for the “marketability” attribute.
* To say it’s not in-demand is a lie; it is in demand in the Aerospace, real-time system, and the high-integrity systems. The hard thing is finding the “entry level” jobs (most I’ve seen) they are looking for 5+/10+ years of experience [and maybe a security-clearance].
Intriguingly the folks who deride "art" are probably totally unaware of how that field is flipping over to computer based pixelation faster than you can shake a stick. There you really do need to learn to use 3D animation just to talk to the big boys.
No guarantees on employment but that stuff starts at the top for talent.
In Leonardo DaVinci's day the best engineers were first and foremost "artists" because that's where the big bucks were ~ same thing today.
>Just curious — is Eclipse free? — and is it based on Windows or UNIX?
Yes. ;)
(You can get builds for Windows and for Linux; it is also free.)
>>I’ve been asked questions like “what is the general structure of an if-statement.”
>
>I have a degree in EE and was asked what is Ohm’s Law? I got up and left, I was totally rude but I was pissed off. I just stormed out of the place without saying a word. For all I know the dufus thought I was a fraud and knew nothing about EE. But clearly my resume said BSEE on it so it is all retarded in the end....
>
>For Freepers who can’t understand this it would be like interviewing a Physician an asking him/her “So do you know what blood is?”
You know EXACTLY what I’m talking about then.
There's always plenty of "anything" going around! Lots of competition for it too.
That's a test to see if you have any idea what you are getting into. If you don't you'll storm off in a huff having instantaneously deselected yourself for that particular environment.
>”Executive Assistant to the Associate Deputy Director”
So, basically “secretary,” no?
I totally relate to your frustration and I remember feeling the same way right out of school. It was very hard even getting an interview at the entry level. BUT - You just have to keep on making calls and talking to people. Stay on friendly terms with all the recruiters and managers you can and when things break open hopefully they will call you before posting ads for job openings. The market has been tight for a while now, longer than normal and I expect it to open up before too much longer. You just need to stay on top of your game, and have a certain amount of flexibility in jumping over whatever stepping stones you need to jump over while continuously re-evaluating what steps you need to take to reach your goal. Smile & keep a positive can do attitude, that impresses managers. Your situation is not unique and many of your peers are in the same boat.
Also - I don't think your goal in unrealistic at all, and I suspect you will achieve it, or something close to it as long as you keep fighting the good fight. But what might surprise you is 5 years down the road you might get sick of all the politics and BS you will have to put up with at a major financial. But regardless, it will still enhance your career having seen what they are like from the inside. BTW: You really are more valuable with the degree, even if it doesn't feel that way right this minute.
Not in todays Universities it isn’t. Liberal Arts majors don’t have to take ANY math. I know because before I was Econ I spent 2 years as Poli-sci with plans on Law School. Even in a math school, no math was required for the arts.
Remember, the federal government hasn't done any serious expanding since 1960 ~ so there was no growth commensurate with an ever greater population ~ and simultaneously electronics displaced most traditional government work. That made having a long title a highly desirable ambition for a certain type of person.
The fellow you want to stand up and salute in any federal agency is the one who can sign "final agency decision". All those other people are just supernumeraries.
There's a structure to all academic disciplines dating back to the Middle Ages. Stick with it.
I know you want to deride "the Arts" as consisting of little more than Art History and Wymyn's studies, but they are actually in a new creation called - Education.
Even Art ~ the real thing ~ is in Liberal Arts, but some aspects of Art show up in Architecture, and Design is one of those aborning studies that is managed out of several different disciplines.
The primary characteristic of a degree from the College of Arts and Sciences is that you met a foreign language requirement ~ either through study, or by testing. If you didn't take a foreign language, or pass a test, you don't have a degree in the Liberal Arts ~ you have something from the School of Business, or the School of Education, or maybe Engineering. My degree is in Latin ~ 'cause I can read it even if others can't!
I got out and started my own business (retail). That didn’t work out so I got a gig as a prison warden. Now I’m working in radiation effects testing.
With a Phil degree, you can pretty much BS your way into anyting.
Older graduates can’t find work either - my wife went back to school ad got her early childhood ed degree in December but cannot find a job.
The formal and I’d say outdated definition is what you state. However, my University specifically lists those courses under “Liberal Arts”.
I agree with your definition however that isn’t how Universities are run anymore. Stupid, really.
I’m a former career counselor and recruiter. FReepmail me her resume and I’ll see what I can do.
I’m sorry Black_Shark
I wish you the best!
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