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How long after you graduated college did you still work at a shit job?
- Thread starter BarryAllen
- Start date
OP
OP
0 went straight from college to my first professional job at Motorola as a programmer on F22s, never looked back.
Basically my thoughts exactly lol
What's worse is I was going to get a supervising job thanks to my father's old work buddy, but the place couldn't pay their rent and they went under 3 weeks before I was going to start. In a way, I was lucky that I didn't get into that situation, but it still sucks.
I never worked a job before graduating college. I did have some awful freelance projects before and after, but fortunately I've worked at a good job the past 3 years.
I decided about a third of the way through I wanted to look at the creative side of advertising, I found that at least what I saw is I needed something in marketing or specifically advertising. My degree was great for theoretical knowledge of the media in general, geared towards actual academics, so I don't regret what I've learnt. I just needed a degree with more pracitcal knowledge and work to show for it that I couldn't bring into graduate jobs.
Don't get me wrong though it's not some dead end, I just realised I didn't make enough of myself and now I need to adapt to something else. What you mentioned seems great though, if you're committed enough you'll always find a way in. I'm just jaded haha. Btw I'm in Australia though so the market for this sort of thing might be a bit different.
I didn't get to go to college but I managed to slither my way into a mail room at 19 and have worked my way into a department head position at a medical office. Took about 6 years to get to where my job wasn't pure crap.
About a year. I worked in food service at a supermarket very briefly and it was the grossest shit. Emptying the chicken grease from the frying machine and scraping chicken skin that got stuck to the bottom of the machine off. Maaaan. I got transferred to frozen foods pretty quickly, though. That was... ok, but... it was also very cold in the freezer.
Then I went to grad school. Finished that and am now gainfully employed. It is contractual, though, so I will need to job search again in a year or three...
Then I went to grad school. Finished that and am now gainfully employed. It is contractual, though, so I will need to job search again in a year or three...
I feel like I'm kind of working my way up still...
Graduated with a Computer Science degree in May of this year. In Arizona.
I was hoping I'd be making atleast $60K/year with a CS degree. I think I can get there within a year or two. After a couple of years of experience as an engineer combined with my Computer Science degree I feel I will be very marketable and will be able to more easily demand higher salaries.
I have alot of friends that haven't made much of their degrees and I think the biggest factor to success is having held a job or internship in your field while you were in college - it puts you ahead of most grads who have absolutely no relevant experience whatsoever.
Graduated with a Computer Science degree in May of this year. In Arizona.
I was hoping I'd be making atleast $60K/year with a CS degree. I think I can get there within a year or two. After a couple of years of experience as an engineer combined with my Computer Science degree I feel I will be very marketable and will be able to more easily demand higher salaries.
I have alot of friends that haven't made much of their degrees and I think the biggest factor to success is having held a job or internship in your field while you were in college - it puts you ahead of most grads who have absolutely no relevant experience whatsoever.
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I lucked out so hard.
Worked full time through college and got my first real "career" job during the last week of school. I started the week after I finished classes. It was a technical editor position for a small digital security firm, and I was somehow granted the job despite being a journalist who really liked computers. It sucked. Then we got bought by a huge accounting firm in San Francisco and I got promoted after 9 months. I now am working in a lead security program position. It's pretty cool, but I do want to pivot to work in video someday.
Worked full time through college and got my first real "career" job during the last week of school. I started the week after I finished classes. It was a technical editor position for a small digital security firm, and I was somehow granted the job despite being a journalist who really liked computers. It sucked. Then we got bought by a huge accounting firm in San Francisco and I got promoted after 9 months. I now am working in a lead security program position. It's pretty cool, but I do want to pivot to work in video someday.
8 months after leaving high school, applied for Army, turned down for being too fresh, worked at a plant nursery and also delivered pizzas for Dominos, it was a long 8 months, don't know how you all do it.
I don't mean to hijack the thread, but can I ask a question related to this? What would those of you that have gotten out recommend for those of us stuck in this situation? Those of us who have a degree that just isn't in demand, or those of us that have a degree in a field that they aren't enjoying? I know my path out (I REALLY need to convince myself to take the MCAT), but if that doesn't work out, I suppose I take the GRE and try to get a masters in something.
Is self-learning coding and getting certified in it a solid start towards something? Is it possible to get certified without a computer science degree? Or, in general, can you get certified in almost anything without a college degree in said area? These are questions I honestly don't know the answer to, and figured some other may not either.
Is self-learning coding and getting certified in it a solid start towards something? Is it possible to get certified without a computer science degree? Or, in general, can you get certified in almost anything without a college degree in said area? These are questions I honestly don't know the answer to, and figured some other may not either.
1 year and 10 months before I landed a full-time job, and it was still shit jobs for a couple more years before I found a better, yet still dead-end non-career path job. Not close to having a career yet.
Had 2 nice jobs before I even left my undergrad which led to competing offers after graduation.
Choosing an in-demand degree and positioning yourself well with internships works wonders for an early career.
Choosing an in-demand degree and positioning yourself well with internships works wonders for an early career.
I can't stress enough to people I know still in school: GET A COOP/INTERNSHIP in your field. If you come out of college with nothing but your degree you're gonna have a bad time. No one cares what clubs or extra curriculars you have.
I was pretty lucky, 3 weeks.
I graduated May 13 or so, and thankfully had my first "decent" job June 1st, but I didn't get officially hired until like May 25 or so. It was a "career" type job, but looking back on it... $27,500 was pretty unbelievable. I know there are people out there making less, but I remember getting my first monthly paycheck of $1376 or something and being like "HOLY SHIT I'M RICH." But, I was lucky... I graduated at a good time, 2006, when the job market was hot and new grads could get hired in industries that they didn't have much real experience in.
I graduated May 13 or so, and thankfully had my first "decent" job June 1st, but I didn't get officially hired until like May 25 or so. It was a "career" type job, but looking back on it... $27,500 was pretty unbelievable. I know there are people out there making less, but I remember getting my first monthly paycheck of $1376 or something and being like "HOLY SHIT I'M RICH." But, I was lucky... I graduated at a good time, 2006, when the job market was hot and new grads could get hired in industries that they didn't have much real experience in.
I graduated in 2007.
I still work a shit job.
Being an English major basically means my career options are all garbage, especially as marketing automation gains strength.
I still work a shit job.
Being an English major basically means my career options are all garbage, especially as marketing automation gains strength.
Technically not at all. But I had long bouts of unemployment, before I moved to Toronto I was only able to find temporary contract work. Also, my previous job, while it was definitely in my field, was for a sketchy startup. It started off as exactly the kind of job I was looking for and then turned into a shitshow of bounced paychecks.
Also I didn't go to college straight out of high school, I had no money and no support from parents. I worked as a janitor for about 3-4 years to save up. At the college I ended up going to, oddly enough.
Also I didn't go to college straight out of high school, I had no money and no support from parents. I worked as a janitor for about 3-4 years to save up. At the college I ended up going to, oddly enough.
Not a shit job, but rather a huge mistake. First job right out of college. Answered a blind ad in the local newspaper and ended up at Acclaim/LJN Entertainment working with Nintendo games in the early 90s.
Apparently I didn't realize that working for a video game company that had just gone public was a dream job. Especially for a kid with no experience and a shitty college. So I quit Acclaim to go to Law School and had a ton of shit jobs until I finally got lucky with my current job 12 years later.
Apparently I didn't realize that working for a video game company that had just gone public was a dream job. Especially for a kid with no experience and a shitty college. So I quit Acclaim to go to Law School and had a ton of shit jobs until I finally got lucky with my current job 12 years later.
A year and a half. Now I work at a great job with shitty entry pay but with awesome benefits and upward potential.
About 9 months. I graduated in 2008 when the recession hit, so I worked at a tech support call center for a while. I was the only one there with a degree.
Pretty much right there with you, though I majored in Political Science. It really blows to still be working a shit job.
Never did. I had a decent enough job (which I could have lived off of if I really wanted to) that I worked full-time through college before taking my current job.
I was almost a polisci major too, because I wanted to run for Congress. I was told in no uncertain terms by several people that being a loud and very unashamed atheist running for a government role in New England was a doomed prospect and I bailed.
Somehow, after a decade of garbage office work, I think a doomed political career would've been way better for me.
I accepted my first 'career' job a month after I graduated and started a month after that. I worked there for almost two years before going on to the next one.
I'm working at a pretty successful start-up now, for about a year, but before that I was mostly working in fine dining restaurants.
Started in customer service/account relations. Handled the roll-out of our HelpDesk platform and integrating it with our systems. Became The Product Operations Manager now I'm pivoting to starting a Consumer Outreach/Analytics Department.
All in all the past year has been good, but the amount of hours I work kills me sometimes. I've also built a ton of valuable relationships with my CEO, COO, VPs et al.
What I learned is working at smaller start-ups is great if you are going to recognize something that needs to be done, kill it, and then leverage from there.
Started in customer service/account relations. Handled the roll-out of our HelpDesk platform and integrating it with our systems. Became The Product Operations Manager now I'm pivoting to starting a Consumer Outreach/Analytics Department.
All in all the past year has been good, but the amount of hours I work kills me sometimes. I've also built a ton of valuable relationships with my CEO, COO, VPs et al.
What I learned is working at smaller start-ups is great if you are going to recognize something that needs to be done, kill it, and then leverage from there.
Let's all have a drink for those of us who were unfortunate enough to graduate right around the time the market crashed.
Bonus for those of us who had degrees in History.
Studied IT
Graduated in July 2015
Got my IT job November 2016
Prior to that worked with At&t between feb 2014 till Nov 2015.
Decided to take a long vacation in India to cool off and all lol
Came back to the US in April 2016 - 2 weeks after getting married and got myself a new job at a web hosting company as a temp to hire, got fully hired in September of that year before I quit and started my new IT job on November 2016.
1 year work anniversary this month ;)
Graduated in July 2015
Got my IT job November 2016
Prior to that worked with At&t between feb 2014 till Nov 2015.
Decided to take a long vacation in India to cool off and all lol
Came back to the US in April 2016 - 2 weeks after getting married and got myself a new job at a web hosting company as a temp to hire, got fully hired in September of that year before I quit and started my new IT job on November 2016.
1 year work anniversary this month ;)
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Don't know about the specifics of coding, but my life lessons about jobs in general is just take whatever you can get that is remotely tied to the field or industry you want. That low level shitty job is a stepping stone to get experience.
Your plan isn't to stay in that job, it is to get as much experience as you can to leverage it into a better job somewhere else. Sometimes it takes multiple jumps until you are even on the right path.
Sorry to say if you want an office job, don't stay at Rite Aid (except to pay bills until you can land an entry level position). And don't ever settle or get comfortable if you are looking to advance your career. Very few employers want to invest time and money into you. They want the benefit of your past experience and will pay for it.
If I may ask, what is your job now, and why didn't you work as an English teacher after you graduated?
Unemployed for a couple months before landing my first engineering job. No student loans fortunately as I was able to pay for university using internship income (I did six 4-month internship semesters during my program). I think that helped me find a job after graduating since I already had industry experience.
Studied Business Informatics. Graduated in April 2017, moved back in to my parents and chilled for a few months.
Took me around 2+ months of applications/ interviews get a job at a small IT company where I started working as a programmer now.
I work a 40h week, have weekends off, and have pretty much no stress at work so far. Payment is a bit less than big companies would pay,
but they also expect more. So I'm glad I got a foot in at all at a decent company where I am pretty much paid to learn to code, so I'm pretty happy with the situation right now.
What needs to be said is that I moved away from my home town to a bigger city, and demand is pretty high here for IT people.
Took me around 2+ months of applications/ interviews get a job at a small IT company where I started working as a programmer now.
I work a 40h week, have weekends off, and have pretty much no stress at work so far. Payment is a bit less than big companies would pay,
but they also expect more. So I'm glad I got a foot in at all at a decent company where I am pretty much paid to learn to code, so I'm pretty happy with the situation right now.
What needs to be said is that I moved away from my home town to a bigger city, and demand is pretty high here for IT people.
man...... you can get there now. idk how things are in arizona but i started making more than that with next to no experience right after graduation.
Let's see... Around nine months doing temp work, then 18 months working at the IRS and then call center work for another year or so. So three years total.