The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: thundley4 on March 20, 2010, 07:22:42 PM
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Liberal_in_LA (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-20-10 07:23 PM
Original message
Poll question: Which college degree is most valuable in the new economy?
What degree would you advise a new or returning student to get given the crappy economy?
Poll result (25 votes)
BA/BS (1 votes, 4%) Vote
MBA (3 votes, 12%) Vote
MD (8 votes, 32%) Vote
DDS (1 votes, 4%) Vote
JD (1 votes, 4%) Vote
MSN (nursing) (6 votes, 24%) Vote
Vocational (1 votes, 4%) Vote
EDD (0 votes, 0%) Vote
Other (4 votes, 16%) Vote
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7966416
I would have agreed with the majority about nursing or medicine, but with 0BamaCare a possibility? Not a chance in Hades of those being worthwhile.
jody (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-20-10 07:25 PM
Response to Original message
1. Not everyone is qualified for each of those degrees. n/t
Don't worry, your Women studies degree is good enough for McDonalds.
Liberal_in_LA (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-20-10 07:27 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. This is theoretical question. What would you advise the average person...
jody (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-20-10 07:29 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. The average person is not qualified for medical or law school. n/t
God, jody, stop being an obtuse dickhead.
Political Heretic (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-20-10 07:26 PM
Response to Original message
4. Other: MSW
Under 0Bama, there will be many opening for social workers to handle new welfare cases.
rucky (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-20-10 07:28 PM
Response to Original message
7. Engineering
the only "good" jobs left are with Defense contractors.
KittyWampus (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-20-10 08:06 PM
Response to Original message
16. If you have a knack for foreign language- study Chinese and Arabic and Spanish.
Translating Business, Medical and Science documents will probably be a good bet.
Bow to our new overlords that Lord Zero has sold us out to?
Personally, I'm not certain that a degree would be worth the trouble of getting for someone just starting out right now. The way Lord Zero is ruining this country, the big job openings will be at the cemeteries for grave diggers to bury all those treated under 0BamaCare.
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Anyone who knows how to grow their own food and defend it from zombies.
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Only one for lawyer? I guess no honor among thieves.
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Personally, I'm not certain that a degree would be worth the trouble of getting for someone just starting out right now. The way Lord Zero is ruining this country, the big job openings will be at the cemeteries for grave diggers to bury all those treated under 0BamaCare.
Judging by what I heard during the campaign, if you're out of a job, you'd better be happy lifting a shovel and filling potholes because that's the only job you're going to get under this President.
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Interesting that they lump BA and BS together.......there is a hell of a difference in earning power between a BA, and a BS.......
BA = McDonalds
BS = You've got a shot at something
doc
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Judging by what I heard during the campaign, if you're out of a job, you'd better be happy lifting a shovel and filling potholes because that's the only job you're going to get under this President.
If you depend on private sector jobs created by the government, that's the only kind of job you would ever have. "Make-work" jobs are not a good career choice.
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Many of the DUmmy's choose a career path that requires a degree that takes 30 years to earn. Look at Grey Warrior. Almost 60 years old and still pursuing her degree. I believe that she is carrying a full load as well. She gets Gov't assistance/student loans.
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Interesting that they lump BA and BS together.......there is a hell of a difference in earning power between a BA, and a BS.......
BA = McDonalds
BS = You've got a shot at something
doc
I was thinking more along the lines of:
BA = welfare leech
BS = politics
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I would have agreed with the majority about nursing or medicine, but with 0BamaCare a possibility? Not a chance in Hades of those being worthwhile.
I disagree. Doctors will be punished and punished hard. We will see a large portion of doctors from over seas third world nations coming to service our third world citizens. Now nurses are unionized (IIRC SEIU is big in the nursing) and they will be favored with higher wages and less work creating an even greater need for..... more unionized nurses.
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Who says a college degree is a necessity in today's world.
How about a decent work ethic? That seems to have opened more doors for me than any piece of paper I have (and yes, I have a BS degree.)
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I would say the best degree to have with Obama in charge would be something that you can work at the IRS with. I would assume something in accounting or maybe criminal justice.
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Interesting that they lump BA and BS together.......there is a hell of a difference in earning power between a BA, and a BS.......
BA = McDonalds
BS = You've got a shot at something
Yeah, you're right on that, sir.
franksolich, BA.
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Yeah, you're right on that, sir.
franksolich, BA.
Sorry about that Frank, nothing personal intended.......in today's environment, however, most BA's have difficulty finding good jobs, where there is a severe shortage of those in the science disciplines.....
Before I retired last spring, I had two openings for engineers under my supervision that had been open for over two years, and remained unfilled (starting salary $85k, full benefits, 2 yrs experience req'd).......the company still has not found a replacement for my position......
doc
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Sorry about that Frank, nothing personal intended.......in today's environment, however, most BA's have difficulty finding good jobs, where there is a severe shortage of those in the science disciplines.....
Before I retired last spring, I had two openings for engineers under my supervision that had been open for over two years, and remained unfilled (starting salary $85k, full benefits, 2 yrs experience req'd).......the company still has not found a replacement for my position......
doc
I'll go even further. The position in which I work "requires" a two-year degree, or suitable experience. But being a small field, companies these days are not at all inclined to develop talent internally, instead content to operate under the assumption that the talent pool will always be sufficient, or at worst case, contractors can be brought in to do the work.
Which leads to a couple of problems. 1--even taking a kid with a Bachelor's, they don't necessarily have the EXPERIENCE in the field, and fewer still want to sit in a substation or switchyard in -40 wind chill or 115 degree heat, or deal with REAL voltages that will make you REAL DEAD if you screw up. Which leads to problem 2--Better to sit on a computer and crunch numbers in a nice comfy office all day, then ship the numbers out to the poor schlubs in the field (me) to play trained monkey and just do as they say. Only problem is, it doesn't quite work that way. Many's the time I've seen relay settings that didn't look right, and surely enough, testing them shows that they weren't right.
But of course, don't tell them that, they're engineers, dammit. Which means you have to have THEIR level of theoretical knowledge in order to show them the error or their ways, coupled along with real-world field experience, whether you have the sheepskin or not. At least the smart engineers are willing to admit they are capable of mistakes, as evidenced by the red/green markups on prints I submitted at the end of each job.
Which brings me to my last employer. My manager thought I was little more than a trained monkey, and didn't bother to find out otherwise. (He was generally regarded as an ass, but I digress.) He thought he could get anyone to do what I did. Turns out that after I left, he had to hire THREE college kids to replace me, and none of them lasted more than a year because they didn't have the rapport or field experience I did. Sadly, his attitude is pretty prevalent in a lot of fields these days.
We had four relay techs at my current employer. One got fed up with the company taking so long to get him classed over and necessary schooling, he went back to being a senior electrician. One is currently off work without pay, pending a court case which, if found guilty, will see him go bye-bye. The other is retiring in a year. That leaves me. Does HR or management think they can just pick a kid off the street and shove him into a relay room, and expect him to know everything in a year? I'm here to tell you, that ain't gonna happen. I've been with my current employer nearly FOUR years and am just getting comfortable with all the processes and procedures I'm expected to handle.
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I'll go even further. The position in which I work "requires" a two-year degree, or suitable experience. But being a small field, companies these days are not at all inclined to develop talent internally, instead content to operate under the assumption that the talent pool will always be sufficient, or at worst case, contractors can be brought in to do the work.
Well.....most of my work involved designing and building television transmitting facilities, towers,antennas, and associated support and supply hardware, and I'll say, without equivocation.......that in twelve years, and over sixty facilities, I never had ONE set of my prints that didn't have at least one error or problem......most more....
Which was why, when the construction started, I was on the job site every day, with the crews, to fix those unforeseen things that develop on every job.......after a while, I used the same group of contractors (when possible) on every job, so a relationship developed where stuff just got done.......and it happened because I listened to the guys that did the work......
When a guy is two thousand feet up on a tower candelabra, telling me that the 26-ton antenna that I designed (which is swinging from a Jen pole in a 40-knot wind) has all of the mounting holes 1/4 inch out of alignment, and the bolts won't fit.....I can't be sitting in an office somewhere telling him that he didn't assemble the fittings right......
Which is probably why I could never find good engineers......most wanted to sit in an office, and our work actually involved getting one's hands dirty on occasion.....
doc