Do technical degrees limit you?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I have heard that liberal arts degrees give you flexibility in the job market and having higher income potentials than technical degrees (i.e. accounting, engineering, nursing...)</p>

<p>Is it true that technical degrees limit you job-market wise? If someone were to get a degree in Accounting, does that make that person less flexible than say, an English major? Do technical degrees really have lower ceiling caps than liberal arts degrees?</p>

<p>ETA: I worry that if I major in Nursing, that I might have limited job opportunities than I do if I majored in the Humanities.</p>

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<p>A technical major can get any job that a liberal arts major can. The opposite isn’t true.</p>

<p>Major in nursing: it’s a great field.</p>

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<p>^ True that! </p>

<p>My friend at Columbia said he was worreid about finding a job, since he was Econ/French double major. I’m an Engineer at my state school. He admitted that he felt the only degree (at Columbia)that made you job worthy was the engineering degree. </p>

<p>An engineering degree, you can do business, but not vice versa.</p>

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<p>I believe it would be the reverse.</p>

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<p>A technical major qualifies you for everything that a liberal arts major can do, plus a whole array of technical careers. A liberal arts major is much more restrictive career-wise.</p>

<p>If you choose to stay in nursing for the rest of your life, your maximum expected income will likely be less than that of some liberal arts majors. Liberal arts majors have the “advantage” of not feeling bound to stay in any particular field - they are more likely to change careers as new opportunities open up.</p>

<p>But you have those same options with a nursing degree. I am attending a liberal arts college and most of my non-science classmates who enter the workforce (vs attending graduate school) have a first job that requires little if any training: they are secretaries, assistants, sales clerks, substitute teachers, etc. Most will eventually acquire additional qualifications (either through formal education or self-initiative) to advance their careers. You can go through the extra hassle of more career-building as a nursing major as well, but you won’t need to in order to have a stable income.</p>

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<p>“they are secretaries, assistants, sales clerks”</p>

<p>wow those thousands of dollars in tuition sure paid off :rolleyes:</p>

<p>it’s sad when you need a degree to be a ****ing secretary</p>

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<p>You have it entirely backwards. There are very, VERY few jobs that a liberal arts major can get that an engineer can’t. There are NO engineering jobs that a liberal arts major can get. There aren’t really even that many “humanities” jobs that you (wouldn’t) be locking yourself out of. An engineer has the flexibility to flip burgers at McDonalds or Wendys just like a liberal arts major, but they can also get jobs that don’t suck.</p>

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<p>Well, if this Liberal Arts major is Actuarial Science, an Engineering can’t get that job. If that Liberal Arts major goes on to get a PHD, there are jobs (outside of the obvious academia) that they can get that an Engineer (even with a PHD) can’t get. Other than that I can’t think of much.</p>

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<p>

True that. Careers of liberal arts majors are almost always built on extra credentials (advanced degrees, trainee programs, internships, extra-curricular involvement or connections) that are independent of the academic training. I am excluding science and quantitative liberal arts majors here. When people say, “liberal arts majors can do anything they want”, they really mean “liberal arts majors can acquire the additional qualifications they need to do whatever they want”, which really doesn’t require the degree in the first place ;)</p>

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<p>I actually don’t agree with the sentiment that Engineers can do anything that Liberal Arts majors can.</p>

<p>The problem is that most technical programs really don’t provide a broad education. They often don’t even give you enough space in your schedule to seek out breadth on your own. As a result, graduates in technical majors often lack skills that a liberal arts education provides. For example, I constantly deal with computer professionals who lack the ability to communicate and write effectively.</p>

<p>The liberal arts provide a skillset which is adaptable to a wide range of tasks. Technical majors are much less applicable to other fields.</p>

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<p>Truly, your degree doesn’t matter much. Most of the time you won’t enter your “dream” field after college, people our age will change careers 8 times in our lifetime, and our future jobs don’t even exist yet. How is a technical degree supposed to help you do something that DOESN’T EXIST?</p>

<p>Thats why I believe the point of college isn’t to gain a particular skill, but to “learn how to learn.” You do this by getting a wide and varied education (GE).</p>

<p>Honestly, talk to older people who have been on the job market for ages. They will tell you your degree doesn’t matter after a certain point, you just need “a degree.” The real skill lies in being able to adapt to the job market.</p>

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<p>I’m not sure if AS is like business where Engineers are hired preferentially over business majors, but Engineers can get Actuarial Science jobs.</p>

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<p>I see the point in the “future jobs” argument.</p>

<p>An engineer can only get an engineering job in the future (a job not yet invented presently), if he keeps updating his skillset and building on/modifying what he learnt in engineering college.</p>

<p>A liberal arts grad can never get an engineering job. Ever.</p>

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<p>Engineers can ‘get’ those liberal arts jobs, but;</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Most wouldn’t want to. Only those who regret engineering, for some reason randomly majored in engineering not intending to go into such a field, changed their minds about their career, or simply weren’t competitive enough to get an engineering job (aka the bottom 20-30% of engineers in a class).</p></li>
<li><p>Only the elite engineers can make something out of it - don’t forget a very large percentage of engineers are just tools/robots with no cultural/social/writing/thinking skills at all [yes, a very large percentage have those skills and you can develop them, but a very large percentage literally can’t write or think about non-scientific issues and don’t really have the motivation to - it would be like telling an English major to train himself in engineering]. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>When you have an engineer unable to develop the necessary skills that many liberal arts majors have, it totally limits their ability to rise in non-technical fields, and even in technical fields once you hit the managerial level. Many jobs for liberal arts degrees that are beyond simply physical labor are based around writing skills and social interaction skills. </p>

<p>In one of my business classes we studied career advancement and the relation of skills, and although technical skills were generally those needed for low-level positions and lower-mid level positions, once you reach the top, no one cares how good you are at the technical things if you have at least a tad of basic understanding. </p>

<p>Many colleges push engineers to develop those skills through courses in writing and communication, but many engineers despise those courses, don’t do well in them, and generally don’t gain the benefit intended from them. Those classes should be taken extremely seriously by engineers, as they will set up the base for career advancement and, if they want to, non-engineering jobs.</p>

<p>===</p>

<p>After that long post, let me sum it up by this:</p>

<p>Say I’m Vice President of a division in an investment bank. I’m about to promote one of the analysts up to a managerial position in the company. Will I chose the engineer, who is good as an analyst and works hard but who has no social, relationship or writing skills, or the English/Economics double major who is extremely social and builds rapport with people and writes concisely and wonderfully?</p>

<p>So, engineers, remember - if you want to advance beyond being stuck in a low/mid-low level engineering position all your life, focus on the technical skills to get your foot in the door and build up those ‘soft’ liberal arts skills to advance up.</p>

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<p>A technical degree such as engineering can get you ANY job a liberal arts degree can. </p>

<p>Don’t be foolish and listen to the liberal arts kool aid drinkers, they are full of it. As a person who is in the workforce it is 100% better to get a job with a skill set, not some general liberal arts degree.</p>

<p>Nursing is a wonderful field that will allow you to walk out of college and into a job, with no down time. Plus you will start with a good salary, so while the liberal arts majors are working low paying jobs for the next 5-10 years, you will be making better money - that goes alot further for earning potential, especially when you look at what it does for your 401K and other investments.</p>

<p>Engineers, accountants, and IT consultants all can move into management and make upward movement, no different than liberal arts majors.</p>

<p>As I stated in a previous thread, my wife is nurse, graduated at 22, and has been making $60,000 since the day she graduated, including two separate sign on bonuses, her first for $10,000, and her second for $15,000. She works 3 days a week (3x12) and her hospital is for her tuition to become an anesthesiologist, which will earn her an easy $100,000 per year. And she will do this all before she turns 30 years old.</p>

<p>Also, add in the fact of job security. As a nurse, she enjoys nearly 100% job security, and if her hospital did shut down, she’d be able to find a new job within a week making the same money. At a look at other careers now, like sales. You might be able to make decent money, but you could lose your job at any time. Do you know what that does to your earning potential? Being laid off for 6 months or more? Some people ever recover from it - EVER. Your credit goes down the crapper, you have to dip into your savings just to cover living expenses and after draining your savings, you still might not have enough to cover your bills. Take a look around, foreclosures are at an all time high and home values are dropping. Having an unstable career is a major gamble, in the long run, your earning potential will be great due to never having to deal with lay offs and downsizing.</p>

<p>So yes, a technical degree does limit you - it limits your into having a good career.</p>

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<p>btw, even low-mid level engineerings jobs pay pretty well.</p>

<p>A mid level engineering job can still get you $65,000 per year.</p>

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<p>Directly out of college, it is much easier to get a job with a technical degree than with a liberal arts degree. I have worked in a technical field for 25 years and over the long term, however, it seems like the technical people who are most successful are the people who not only know the technology, but can also write, analyze, and communicate most effectively and who have broader knowledge of the world in general (the “do they have anything interesting to say over lunch?” test). </p>

<p>I have had more than one engineer tell me that they wished they had paid more attention to their liberal arts courses, especially the writing courses. As others have pointed out, the technology changes constantly and what you’re learning in school in technical courses today might be totally obsolete in a few years. The more general skills you learn in liberal arts courses last forever. I think the best plan would be to get the technical degree, but make sure you include as many liberal arts courses as possible, especially courses that hone your writing skills.</p>

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<p>I think Kierans hit the nail on the head.</p>

<p>However, to MoneyKing:</p>

<p>Your statement that “only the elit engineers make it”, is blatantly incorrect.</p>

<p>The deman for engineers is huge right now, and you don’t have to be “elite”, you just need to do well in school.</p>

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<p>There is an assumption that Liberal Arts majors are better read, more culturally aware, and more social than engineers. In some cases, this might be true. If I was hiring a new grad who had completed Columbia University’s Core Curriculum, I’d be comfortable with the knowledge that he/she would be familiar with major works of literature, art, and music and would likely not embarrass himself/herself in a conversation with a more senior client who tossed out a reference to Shakespeare or impressionism. In short, a solid liberal arts undergrad degree should theoretically confer a good level of cultural literacy. (Many liberal arts degrees don’t, of course - either the programs lack rigor or they don’t impose sufficient core requirements.)</p>

<p>It is true that most liberal arts majors will have to do significantly more reading and writing than an engineering major. In business, reading, analyzing, and communicating in writing are all important skills.</p>

<p>Having said that, I feel that there’s a higher level of academic rigor in most engineering programs. One can’t bluff one’s way through differential equations or organic chemistry. Conversely, we all know students who aced a literature test after reading Cliff’s Notes or even watched a movie version of a classic. It is quite possible to receive failing grades in engineering classes, while showing up and making an effort in a typical liberal arts class will likely result in a passing grade. As a hiring manager, I’d give some extra weight to a candidate who excelled in a demonstrably challenging major.</p>

<p>In addition, an engineering major does not make a student illiterate or unable to communicate effectively. Many engineering students can write as well as any liberal arts major.</p>

<p>To sum up, any degree can suffice for success in business, and the specific degree will mean less and less with each year of experience. (Of course, if one wants to be an English professor or a mechanical engineer, choosing the right undergrad major is very important.)</p>

<p>One solution to boost employment prospects out of school: choose a very different minor. A chemical engineer who minors in philosophy or a history major who minors in neuroscience will show a diversity of skills and interests and avoid the stereotypical pigeonhole.</p>

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<p>Yes, I agree with Roger_Dooley.</p>

<p>I know engineers that are delight to be around, communicate well both verbally and in writing, and have no social handicaps.</p>

<p>On the other side, I know plenty of liberal arts majors who are socially bankrupt. </p>

<p>For the most part, communication skills (especially oral) are learned through real life experiences, not school. I personally don’t think a liberal arts major can communicate anymore effectively, at least not in my experience. Their writing skills are probably better, but are they SO GOOD that it makes a major difference? Not really.</p>

<p>I was a Poli Sci major, I did TONS of writing. Research papers ranging from Homeland Security isssues, Policy Analysis, Political Theory, ect. When I got my first job, I didn’t do any of that sort of writing. It’s mostly emails, memos and reports that are templated and standardized. In my current job, I do alot more technical writing, lots of it without template or standard language, however my job is unique. 90% of jobs don’t require heavy writing skills. As long as you can type emails, business letters, and learn your companies report system (standard language, templates, structure), you will be fine. Of course, it goes without saying that you also need to know the basic concepts of grammar, punctuation and spelling.</p>

<p>If I want a piece of intensive writing done, such as a RFP or grant proposal I will give that sort of work to someone properly trained or even hire the knowledge out. This sort of stuff is more for professional writers, not every day folks at the office.</p>

<p>It’s very hard to sell communication skills to an employer. This is a soft skill that can be found almost anywhere and in most people. A soft skill like this should not be your main selling point when looking for jobs. Your main selling point should be a hard skill (like engineering) and back it up with soft skills like communication, interpersonal skills, ect.</p>