The Story:
This issue has been plaguing me for weeks now, and I’ve finally decided to write about it. I kept putting this post off because of a number of school-related issues (like a paper I had to write, and another one I should be writing right now), which is ironic given the subject matter:
I don’t think I should be in school full-time.
Don’t get me wrong here: I love learning. If I didn’t have new facts, strategies, and insights to ponder over every day, I would be ashamed of myself. But the fact that a Bachelor’s Degree has turned into the new High School Diploma just plain bugs me.
A High School Diploma was about proving competencies. It showed whether or not you had the brains to read, write, and do arithmetic at a standard level expected of functional members of society. But now, employers want people with Undergraduate Degrees (at least).
But that’s not what higher education is about: higher education is about the pursuit of knowledge. Funny then, that I see “2 or 3 years experience preferred” when I look at jobs that I want to hold when I’m done my Bachelor’s. No mention of knowledge requirements… and I’m sure that those would be easier to write off if the right candidate came along.
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The Plan:
Come January, unless someone can talk me out of it in the comments section, I’m reducing my courseload drastically and finding myself a 20-hours-a-week “job” (or starting one of my own). Then, if I’m even slightly successful, I’m going to go for at least 30… maybe even 35.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not abandoning my degree… I really enjoy learning about Psychology and Cinema. I’m just planning to put it on the backburner, instead of my career.
I don’t get why there’s such a negative reaction — at least in my social circles — to people putting their time and effort into a career instead of a degree.
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The Help:
If you know anybody looking for a young and ambitious employee in Toronto, let me know. I’ve got plenty of experience in a bunch of different fields, but I’m really looking to get into marketing and management.
My ideal job would be to intern at a marketing firm or a division of a major corporation for about a month to learn the ropes, then to take the lead on a small contract/product or two.
Any help would be much appreciated!
October 21, 2008 at 8:44 pm |
Aidan,
I feel your pain hombre. The difference in me and you is that I didn’t really “get it” until graduate school. In undergrad I played ball and I made my grades – that was pretty much it. I dabbled in the “how to make money online” niche.
When I got to graduate school, I realized all the other things I wanted to accomplish. My grades aren’t quite as good as some of my peers, but now I have unique experience, tools and insight into things they don’t. Basically, the likelihood of me being a Marketing Manager for a retail company isn’t very high and that’s what most of them will be doing, which is fine, but that’s just not my ambition.
Anyway, I was able to do it taking 12 hours of graduate of school so I’m pretty confident you could do 20+ hours and still take a full load, but by all means, I think you should do what your passionate about. Get the 2-3 years experience while finishing up the degree. And call me when you start your own creative firm in the Dirty South … Toronto is too cold and I’m not an Alanis Morrisette or Shania Twain fan (and *gasp* I think hockey is awful).
October 21, 2008 at 9:17 pm |
I can completely empathize with this, man. Degrees, sadly, are becoming commodities. You won’t hear any “DON’T DO IT, TURN BACK” comments from me.
BUT I would like to add that marketing agencies are overrated. They’re stuck in an outdated model. Therefore, my one suggestion is to explore other marketing jobs (outside of the firms).
October 21, 2008 at 9:30 pm |
@Ryan — I know that I *could* do 20+ hours and a full courseload… I did it in first year. My issue with that is that, after working at the place for almost a year, I asked the owner what my situation would look like for the following year. His response was that I would be doing the same thing, since I wasn’t around the office enough to take on full-time responsibilities.
Also, I don’t necessarily want to be a Marketing Manager for life… I just feel like that’s a position where I can flourish, for the time being. I know that I can add value while learning loads about myself and how I work, which is the underlying experience I’m gunning for. Well, that, and getting my foot in the door.
And I dislike Alanis/Shania/Brian Adams as much as the next guy, but seriously, what’s with the hockey hate?
@Charlie — Some are, some aren’t. Have you heard of Twist Image? They’re doing some pretty cool stuff. And, either way, I feel that I could either learn firsthand how things are broken, or have enough freedom to fix my immediate surroundings.
October 22, 2008 at 8:57 am |
Best of luck, Aidan. Best not to despair, though: better to keep playing the game, if only part time, as a Bachelor degree has at least *some* value. Or so I’m told. I’m 5/6ths of the way through mine.
October 22, 2008 at 7:34 pm |
Hmm… totally understand.
A lot.
I think you need to spend more time defining your specific problem.
Working full/mostly full-time at a single place teaches different things than working small projects for a number of super-accomplished people (ala Charlie & myself).
The more complex the problem, the simpler the solution (hat tip: Eliyahu Goldratt)
Keep clarifying what you want.
(BTW, I didn’t know what I wanted, so I looked for bird’s eye view places w/o commitment–now I’m interning for three months @ TechCrunch)
November 15, 2008 at 3:24 pm |
You do have a part time job!
You are a blogger. You have good advice and a niche fairly established.
Do what you need to do to have a newsletter and monetize your blog and expertise. There are good people teaching this, I know because I am learning to use the web for my art and new e book.
In another blog, that comes later, you actually helped me identify a better way to go with the e book as I have been so happy with my solution, I have not been making the problem as real as I could.
Companies today will be happy to have you if you have web marketing experience and savvy. You will be able to show your stats for traffic and income.
Judt a suggestion and, whatever, keep blogging — I find it useful to read you!