What degrees are most useful nowadays? (employment, job openings, 401k, average)
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What degrees are most useful in today's job market?
Which are the most versatile?
What degrees and/or skills are most needed?
I don't know how to get more specific than that.
Some good ones are business/accounting/economics/finance/nursing/HR professional schools (not JD).
Some bad ones
BA esoteric subjects
Science Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry companies prefer to use third world slaves or permatemps for their science.
Law (glutted)
Criminal Justice (don't really need a specific degree to be a cop).
Specifically you want to look at the Fire Protection Systems Designer:
Quote:
Fire Protection Systems Designer: prepares designs and layout drawings of new detection and suppression systems for commercial, residential, and industrial applications.
Small classes but in my opinion comes with good Graduate Success (http://www.nwtc.edu/academics/degrees/Documents/Graduate%20Followup%20pdfs/Fire%20Protection%20Engineering%20Technology.pdf - broken link) See the salaries and job titles for recent graduates of this program.
The class of 2003 reports wages ranging from $33,999 to $72,543. I am in the industry and most jobs would come with a salary of $60,000 in Flyover country.
Another is Bates College in Olympia, Washington which offers a two year degree course in inspections. This area is highly regulated and there are twice as many job openings as there are qualified applicants even now. Pay isn't as high as a designer ($20 to $30/hr is standard with higher cost of living areas paying more) but the kicker on this is a job search would literally take one or two hours in today's economic climate. With this if you walked in cold with the certification I can guarantee they will not flake you off... they will talk to you.
In this field getting a job is easy, talked to a friend who administers one of the schools and he told me last year 100% of the graduates had jobs lined up prior to graduation with an average entry level wage of $33,000.
With five years experience $60k to $70k (I have seen some as high as $110k in areas like Connecticut) is pretty much standard. More than 90% of employers offer full benefits that include medical, dental and 401k.
Most companies are union and while these positions are considered management companies closely match union benefits.
I know there are "better degrees" but I'm sick and tired of hearing about "but if you go to Harvard and get an MBA you can start at $250k, fly around in Gulf Stream Jets and date super models" but how many here can actually DO that? Right, and you can do even better if you go to Harvard Medical and become a brain surgeon but how many here have what that takes?
The areas I outlined a good 30 to 40% of the population could succeed in with dedication and hard work. That and is $70k with full benefits in Omaha, Nebraska really all that bad when you consider you can enjoy a higher standard of living in Omaha on $70k than $120k in the San Francisco bay area?
But what I enjoy most about being in this industry is job availability. Being 64 years old I am no spring chicken but if I did get laid off (that would be impossible) I know I would have a job in less than two weeks.
Job Requirements
Education, training, experience:
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- a minimum of 2 years of fire inspection field experience
- the ability to travel Monday-Friday
- Licensed in sprinkler and alarm inspection a plus
- Must have NICET II certification in testing & inspections of water-based systems.
I checked the registry and there are only 53 people who meet the minimum requirements in the entire state of Illinois. This is why employers will talk to you if you have the certification.
Some good ones are business/accounting/economics/finance/nursing/HR professional schools (not JD).
Some bad ones
BA esoteric subjects
Science Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry companies prefer to use third world slaves or permatemps for their science.
Law (glutted)
Criminal Justice (don't really need a specific degree to be a cop).
Around here to get a job as a police in one of the larger cities with better pay, they won't even look at you without a BA degree in criminal justice. The best that the votech 2 year program CJ get are community service officers and possibly a small town officer job.
What degrees are most useful in today's job market?
Which are the most versatile?
What degrees and/or skills are most needed?
I don't know how to get more specific than that.
Around here to get a job as a police in one of the larger cities with better pay, they won't even look at you without a BA degree in criminal justice. The best that the votech 2 year program CJ get are community service officers and possibly a small town officer job.
Maybe that's true for where you live, but I have only seen one law enforcement job that required a degree in CJ and that was only if you didn't have law enforcement or correctional experience. I actually was told I qualified for the job with a degree in social science, but skipped the physical because the job was too far. Some law enforcement agencies are so oversaturated with CJ majors, they start throwing away their applications. Parole and probation officer jobs usually require a degree in CJ, psychology, sociology, counseling, or social work; but never only a degree in CJ. As for other jobs that required a degree in CJ such as those in courthouses, I still got interviews for them with a degree in social science. Not that I would recommend getting one, but my degree in social science has turned out to be quite flexible. I get to skip the substance abuse education and practicum requirements for registering as a licensed chemical dependency counselor intern. After two years of supervised experience and passing the exams, I could be a full LCDC.
I was going to get an MBA because of its flexibility, but business bores me. I decided to get a master's degree in something I would enjoy. I'm completing a national security studies degree, but I would have been just as happy in a political science or international relations program. Pairing that with learning a critical needs language, I would be highly qualified for high paying intelligence analyst and foreign affairs jobs. My only concern is that many of these jobs could go away as the government cuts defense spending, but I would still be highly qualified for federal law enforcement. Everyone is rushing toward accounting and nursing and many of these people are going to be miserable. Who wants a miserable nurse caring for them? These jobs aren't for everyone.
depends on what you want to do. If someone said psychology, would you do psychology even if you had no interest in it? that doesn't sound very useful to me. use goes both ways, you shouldn't only focus on how useful it will be to your employer, you should do it for yourself as well.
depends on what you want to do. If someone said psychology, would you do psychology even if you had no interest in it? that doesn't sound very useful to me. use goes both ways, you shouldn't only focus on how useful it will be to your employer, you should do it for yourself as well.
That is true; one can strike a balance between their interests and a degree's utility. For example, if you have an interest in psychology, but are worried about competition in the counseling field and pay, you can study industrial organizational psychology, which is applicable in the fast growing and high paying human resources field. If you have an interest in philosophy, you might want to look into economics, public policy, or political science (which does lead to employment contrary to popular belief). Have an interest in criminal justice? You might want to look at homeland security and emergency management degrees (those two subjects are often together in one program), which have more flexibility if you can't get into a law enforcement agency.
What degrees are most useful in today's job market?
Which are the most versatile?
What degrees and/or skills are most needed?
I don't know how to get more specific than that.
Welding, plumbing, auto repair, farm equipment repair, medical equipment specialist, anything with real hands on skills. The days of sitting in a cubicle forwarding email jokes for a paycheck are over.
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