Coming in as a freshman, my parents had always pushed engineering as the path to take. All the research has shown that engineers continue to be in high demand out of college, so the path made sense. However, I really wasn't the biggest fan of engineering, only because I wanted to do computer science and not waste my time in chemistry, physics, and advanced math classes. However, I just stuck with it for a while because any other option seemed like a bigger risk and wouldn't guarantee me a job out of college.
However, eventually, engineering and I just didn't click and I wound up looking elsewhere at the university. Business wouldn't work because applying as a freshman was the way in. I even seriously considered moving colleges last winter because of how my classes turned out. Luckily, all of my schooling didn't go completely to waste and I was able to switch to a major that was more interesting for me and carried less of a burden as far as intrinsic motivation goes. Economics has been a great spot for me. Plus, as I've done research, I see the market need for economics majors is quite competitive with the top majors out of college. So, switching to economics really didn't decrease risk from a starting-out income perspective.
Something I have also always been interested in is sports writing and sports analysis. This is evident in my recent blog posts, but I am currently doing work for a few websites in the sports journalism game. I knew coming to college and pursuing a journalism major would put great risk on income out of college. ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and other companies have laid off workers over the past year which is concerning for people in the field and future employees in the field. I definitely would like to pursue a career in it, but I am not decreasing income risk by pursuing it on the side. If an opportunity opened up, I would be willing to take the risk knowing I have the economics degree in my back pocket should the market take a hit and I would lose my job.
With an economics major, a CS minor, and sports writing on the side, I am setting myself up well and covering many bases. My unique diversity in experience and knowledge certainly will come in handy down the road.
As far as tuition and debt goes, my parents worked extremely hard to be able to pay for my college. However, after four years of payment I am on my own for paying. So, with an extra semester, I will accumulate a small amount of debt. Sticking with the economics major is important because of where I will stand after I graduate. I will likely not pursue something in journalism until that debt is paid off.
Over the past few summers, I worked at a factory near my hometown that made parts for windows and sliding glass doors. This has helped me even though I am not looking to be in a position like that. That job has showed me that working hard and getting a degree that limits income risk is important so that I am not searching for a job for very long after I graduate and I end up working somewhere not related to my major or my interests. I also interned a bit with my dad over this past summer. He is an independent computer consultant who goes to clients all around the country and finds work there. I helped him with lower level coding and SQL over the summer, which only widens my base of knowledge in my computer science minor. Getting hands on experience opens the door for internships in computer science but also for economics in those same organizations due to connections I am lucky to have. Those possible internships could help reduce my income risk right out of college.
Unfortunately, I haven't had a sibling go through what I am going through yet. I am the oldest in the family. However, learning from my parents and their route in college has showed me that practicality in a major will certainly reduce income risk because of the demand for positions in those more practical fields.
My goal going forward is to have an internship for summer of 2018. I am not limiting myself to any single field but will pursue one in all of my interests. Should I intern for a sports journalism company, great. If it's in economics or computer science, even better. Having a lot of bases covered certainly helps my odds and will help in the future.
It seems there are several students in the class who started out in Engineering. I know that Engineering has a pretty high washout rate. I wonder if Economics is a primary destination for those students.
ReplyDeleteI gather from what you wrote that your plan is to graduate in December 2018. As far as I know, the job market still presumes a spring graduation. Some of your classmates in Econ 490 are graduating this December. The market doesn't always give job opportunities after the fall semester, since the bulk of the students graduate in the spring. One part of your income risk management might be in coming up with a contingency plan in case you are in some sort of holding pattern in spring 2019 and then start work for real after that.
I also wonder whether you should consider your sports reporting interest as a hobby rather than as an income generating activity, at least for now. We haven't considered this before, but it seem to me that if your leisure time is very enjoyable then you would be willing to tolerate more stuff at work, as long as the job paid reasonably well, but it was then a means for sustaining your leisure activity. This is a different way to manage the risk than you considered. Further, if you can ultimately save enough, then you'd have a cushion on which to consider the the sportswriting as a career.
I am curious about the CS minor. How does one get into that? I have a student I'm mentoring outside of our course who might be interested in doing that. If you have thoughts on the matter, perhaps you could put them in an email to me.
For now, I would probably consider it a hobby. However, I have made money in certain ventures within sports writing and am launching a new site this fall which will bring in revenue.
DeleteGraduating in December is something to definitely consider, as you stated the job market presumes a spring graduation. It is possible with my CS background to work with my dad and see what opportunities present themselves from there.
I'm sure you know about the website started by Nate Silver, fivethirtyeight. Have you ever thought of making posts like those? Personally I think it would be too much work for these weekly posts, but it sounds like with your current background you might be able to pull it off, and it might be interesting and help with your future endeavors.
ReplyDelete