I have two bachelor's degrees, one in Linguistics, and the other in English. I tacked on the second degree because as I started preparing for graduation, I realized I had more than enough credits for two degrees. I just needed to satisfy a couple of requirements and finish out a focus in Creative Writing, which only added a semester to my stint at UK.
I minored in Japan Studies, and I also earned a Certificate in Applied Linguistics for Teaching English as a Second Language.
Though I talked with my professors about what a person with a linguistics degree might do in the "real world", I never got a clear idea of what I would do after graduation. The only thing I did know was that I was moving to a new city and getting married, so I focused my attention on graduating and planning the wedding.
Now I'm a Web Producer and freelance designer. I manage content and design graphics, web pages, and print materials. I find design work challenging and fun. Content management appeases my obsessive-compulsive need to organize things. I'm also interested in advertising and the sheer creativity required, and business, largely due to growing up working in a small business and then befriending a local businessman here in Augusta and acting as a sounding board for his ideas.
I didn't go to school for any of that.
This is not rare in today's society. However, it does present me with an interesting question.
Is what I'm doing now what I want to be doing long-term? Because if it is, I should really go back to school, or find some other way to fill the gaps in my knowledge.
I truly enjoy design. I love having different projects to work on, rather than doing the same thing every day. I don't prefer one medium--print or Web--over the other. I'd actually rather not be exclusive. But if I want to commit to doing Web design at least part of the time, professionally, there are quite a few things I need to learn more about.
For example, I was reading a very exciting-sounding job description for a Regional Web Manager. This person would coordinate content for several websites, including working with sales departments to develop advertising, and would train local Web Coordinators on design software. I don't know that I necessarily want to do something like this, but I find the idea of managing and designing for multiple websites, and having subordinates, appealing.
The point is that the job requires proficiency in Photoshop, ImageReady, Flash, Dreamweaver, HTML, and XML. I have used all of those save Flash, and I'll start teaching myself Flash here pretty soon. However, I'm not sure I can argue that I am proficient in any of them. There are plenty of things I haven't done with Photoshop, and pretty much all I know how to do in ImageReady is create an animated gif from frames created elsewhere. My HTML is pretty solid (and as compliant as I can make it), but there are tags I don't know, and while I understand XML, I've never actually written any.
The list of required technologies seems short. I guess that's why it makes me feel so inadequate.
I don't want to downplay my success up to this point. I have done well in teaching myself all this stuff. I'm also self-taught in PHP and CSS. But I know my knowledge could be far more complete.
So I just need to decide if this is really what I want to do. And if it is, I need to take the necessary steps.
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10 comments:
This is all stuff you can learn on the job or in your own time. College is more suited to academic than vocational training and I'm not sure it's the best environment to learn Flash.
Learning technologies like Flash I view as a transient skill set. Something will come along that will replace them. Your Linguistics and English course will have taught you criticial thinking and writing skills that will serve you for the rest of your working life. If there's anything you really should get out of college, it's those meta-skills, not the history of Olde English or the differences between languages.
If you're concerned about proficiency, there are a couple of ways you can address that. First of all, see if Adobe has some certification in those that you can obtain. Secondly, take a look at some of the kinds of Flash in use and see if you can work out how you can implement those in Flash, then do. I'd say although there is some skill in using the tool, to be effective, most of the skill is in design, content, and particularly information and interaction design
Yeah, I don't think I have a problem with the design part (not to be immodest or anything ;P). It's just that I don't know everything the software can do, so I can't do everything I could be doing.
I agree that these sorts of skills are transient. I don't think getting another degree would do anything for me, but a course here and there might help. Or at least a reference manual.
The certification thing is a good idea.
I am going to be learning Flash on the job. And up until now I've learned everything on my own time. It just feels piecemeal to me.
AP English my senior year of high school honed my writing skills more than five and half years of college ever did. I buy the meta-skills argument in theory, but in practice I'm not sure I learned any meta-skills in college. To be honest, I see college, or at least undergraduate degrees, as being more proof that you can stick to a big, confusing project until it's completed than anything else.
However! While most if not all of the knowledge I gained in college could have been learned independently through reading, I think there is something to be said for a group-learning atmosphere, and outside structure. If nothing else, it helps you learn more faster, because you have outside motivation.
Your thoughts RE "meta-skills" notwithstanding, Heather, I think David is pretty much right on the money. Or, at least as far as my thinking goes, he and I agree.
As an example, law school for me was more about learning to think differently and exposure. I figured I was a pretty smart guy in the beginning, not having to work too hard in high school and college but still doing well, or at least well enough. Law school shattered that self-image and I spent the rest of the three years picking up and rearranging the pieces.
In the end, I got it. I wish I would have gotten it a little sooner, but I got it nonetheless.
Exposure came in the form of the different required classes: contracts, tors, property, civil procuedure, etc. The core building blocks of a legal education has been decreed to include certain and specific classes.
But, in the end, law school does not prepare you for taking the bar exam. Or if it does, the quantity of preparation is somewhere in the 20%-27% range. The vast majority of the prep comes from bar-prep classes (BAR/BRI and PMBR).
Then, when you pass, the bar exam does not prepare you for becoming a lawyer and practicing law. Most of what I know now as a practicing attorney I learned from doing. As the old saw goes, "that's why they call it the 'practice' of law."
So, a typical long-winded response from this ESQ, when distilled amounts to this: you do not need a degree in the areas you currently are contemplating. On-the-job training and self-teaching will suffice. I do agree, though, that certification is a good idea, and for the obvious reasons.
I have found that degrees are typically the keys you need to open certain doors. But what you do once you get inside is up to you and is not so directly dependent upon the degrees you hold.
Turning to the other issue of "is this going to be what I do for life," the short answer is no, it's not. At least, it does not have to be. Most people now change careers at least once, but usually two or three times. You do not have to feel as though you are locking yourself into one career path with no hope of escape.
So, in conclusion, David is right. You won't be trapped. Have fun.
--Ross T.
Thanks, Ross :)
You know...sometimes I wonder if I'll ever "get it" :>
By the way, Sean is going back to school. He's thinking about law. Any suggestions?
I've read your blog and come to this inescapable conclusion: You're not just smart, you're scary smart. Smart in the way some people build brains for fun. There isn't anything in the world you could possibly fail, save for being bulletproof, and I am reasonably sure you'd find a solution to that given enough time. You may be wondering about your future, but I'm not. You're a success at heart, and are destined to succeed at anything you choose. That's what scary smart people do.
Just my two Lincolns...
Wow.
What can a person say to that?
I am, of course, highly flattered. My ego has blasted off on a trip to the moon, but not without first gloating over new outside evidence of my greatness for my biographers.
But I don't really believe you.
I don't understand why you'd think that, from my blog of all things, when I haven't accomplished anything.
I want to believe you--my ego surely does. I want to think that I'm a candidate for MENSA, or that if I really wanted to I could go back and become a rocket scientist.
I do believe I'm smart. I just don't think I'm that smart.
I will find something that's for me. Maybe design is it. Maybe nothing is really it--maybe "it" for me is bouncing around doing different things.
I am confident in my ability to do most, if not all, of the things I'm really interested in. I just worry sometimes about whether or not I'm doing enough. Do I have enough goals? Have I planned well enough? What do I need to do to get to where I feel like I can do whatever I want?
If I had answers for those questions, I might be closer to believing you :)
Maybe you shouldn't feel so pressured by needing "answers for those questions," but instead, rely on the fact that you are smart enough, and resourceful enough, to handle those questions as they come. Plan as well as you can for the unknown, but don't forget to enjoy the life you have at current. Try 12 different careers in a year if you like, or stay with one for the rest of your life, and don't sweat that if it's "right" for you, even if it seems that "everyone else" is running off and trying a new thing every week. Do what's right for you, what you like, and what you know you can do.
I totally agree with the certifications idea (and NOT just because it was my brilliant fiance' who suggested it :D) and I can see where they'd have more impact in some fields than others, but, in my personal experience thus far in life, it's been my own intellect and personal abilities that have garnered me certain job offers. My degree(s) are really little more than personal "I DID IT!"'s for me.
Oh, you needn't worry that I base any of this on what other people are doing. I am egotistical enough to believe that my, shall we say, perennial ennui is special.
I'm still trying to "get it" and haven't gotten there yet. So don't sweat it.
As for Sean, if he's considering law, I would ask if he has a technical undergraduate degree, a B.S. in anything, but particularly in a field he likes. If yes, then I highly recommend intellectual property law, especially patent law. You have to have a B.S. undergrad to take the Patent Bar and patent prosecution attorneys are (1) highly sought after and (2) very well paid ($100k+ to start).
If no tech degree, then it's a matter of contemplating what he wants to do with a law degree. Litigation or transactional? Civil or criminal? Can't decide? Etc.
Then, look for schools. There are books out there that talk about the different law schools, weigh them against one another based upon a variety of factors and all that.
Consider the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Every year, law school deans from schools that did not place well decry the ratings, and the magazine does have a questionable methodology in places, but the fact remains that it is a fairly accurate reflection of a school's perceived reputation. And reputation gets your foot in the door more often than it should. Alas, this is the world in which we live.
After selecting a group of schools--"dream" schools, "safe bets," and everything in between--then study and prepare for the LSAT. I emphasize the "study" and "prepare" portions of that statement because a lot of the LSAT is not necessarily intuitive, which requires studying to fully understand, and it is very much a standardized test with all of the pros and cons associated therewith, which necessitates the preparation part. I strongly suggest a course like Kaplan and lots of discipline in keeping up with the assignments. It's drudgery most of the time, but the more that goes in, the more that comes out.
The results of the LSAT will help to determine where he can apply, especially the "dream" schools. If he has a high GPA, then a lower LSAT score will be off-set and vice versa. Potential problems exist for mid-range GPA (3.0-3.5) and mid-range LSAT (155-160). Most likely this will result in a mid-range school (2nd or 3rd tier). If grades and LSAT are not really high (3.75+, 163+), the top tier schools are pretty much out. It's not necessarily right, but it's reality.
Something to keep in mind: a lot of local law firms fill their rolls with regional and local schools. They are typically more interested in your practical skills and interview than say your GPA and law school graduation percentile. The law school name becomes more and more important the bigger and more prominent the firm.
Of course, going the patent prosecution attorney short-cuts a lot of this because of the demand and shortage of qualified applicants.
Hope this helps, and sorry if this clogs up your comment page.
Not to worry; there's still plenty of scroll left! ;)
Thanks for all the great info. I will forward it to Sean :)
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