Wedding Woes

Do you think she *really* loves her job or is afraid of failure in the field she studied?

Dear Prudence, 
Like a lot of young adults, I’m a twentysomething woman with a pretty high student loan debt. I graduated from high school at a time when we were being told by everyone that any loans we took out for our educations we would be able to pay back right away. Now I know better. When I graduated university, I had trouble finding a job and ended up as a cashier in a large retail company. I kept the position while going to graduate school and working two other jobs. Three years after starting at the company I have a masters degree and some good experience in my field. I also have been promoted twice at my store, and broken into management. I love my job now. I’ve found it to be fast-paced, interesting, and a great use of my skills. This company has helped me grow personally and professionally, and I am so proud of what I’m accomplishing as a manager. I want to stay and continue to climb the ladder. Right now it doesn’t pay as much as I could get if I went on to the field I have a degree in, but I see so much more potential for growth than I did in my graduate assistantship. Lately I have been getting a lot of questions about when I plan to start my career and some condescending comments about how unimportant my job is. I’m also not sure if I’m making the wrong choice, and setting myself up for a life of debt. What do you think?

—On the Ladder

Re: Do you think she *really* loves her job or is afraid of failure in the field she studied?

  • Does anyone keep the same career their entire lives anymore? Like, maybe in the same field, but not at the same place, right? 

    So at some point, she will be changing jobs. Why doesn't she just wait till she hits a wall at this place, or the politics become not to her liking, or whatever? She has the degrees in her pocket, and now she has work experience, too. I don't see why it has to be either-or. 
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  • I don't know, in this economy, if I were on a path that seemed stable and I was finding even moderate success, I'd probably ride that horse 'til it dropped.  But I'm also slightly risk-averse, so take that for what it's worth. 

    I ended up in a field that was pretty different from my undergrad major, but I waited to do grad school, so that degree is more relevant.  If I had done both back-to-back, I'd probably have two degrees that are barely relevant.  :)
  • I guess I don't know why she took the time to get a Master's in a field that she doesn't seem like she's going to enter. I could go get a Master's in my field (which I lol about) but I've contemplated a career change so why bother?
  • I'm i2i with @PMeg819 - seems like a total waste to get the masters and then not work in the field - especially if she was taking out loans for grad school. I'm not saying she should just drop her management position that she enjoys and has growth potential - just that I think she made a stupid choice to continue her education in grad school if she wasn't planning to use the advanced degree to increase her career prospects. 

    (IMHO, i'd discourage my kid from going to grad school -unless it was required like law/medical - until she had worked in the field for a few years and could get her employer to pay for the degree or to understand if it would be beneficial to her career path. I've been looking at getting an MBA, but in talking with some of my mentors, it's not really necessary to advance in my career - however, there are certifications or classes where I could get additional experiences that would provide for much more growth opportunity. I'm working on one of these instead.)
  • I have an MFA. It's the terminal degree in the art field. My goal was to work as a college professor, or a teacher at a private school. These jobs are hard to come by, and college teaching positions pay peanuts for years. I landed a stable job about a month after graduating with an apparel company. I'm their "art and communications associate." Despite the title having the word "art" in it, it isn't really related to what I wanted to do, or why I got a masters degree. But I'm sticking with this. I have friends from undergrad  (a top 25 school) that have been out of work for months and months. I am not going to drop my job even though it's not really what I wanted. It's a stable job-- that's really rare these days. I totally see her point of view.
  • She hasn't even tested the waters out to really know.  She's got the advanced degree to say she's trainable - but for what.  Stable job in this economy is hard to come by.  There's a reason that so many are now "underemployed" - but also if she's not willing to take the risks to get a job in her trained profession and toss the degree in the toilet tank, that's her ultimate choice.  Master's or not, use it or lose it.  Getting in the field is a lot harder after one has been out of it for a while and her education won't be up to date.  It's just the realities of modern society.  Sounds to me like she already flushed $100K down the drain... 
  • MesmrEwe said:
    She hasn't even tested the waters out to really know.  She's got the advanced degree to say she's trainable - but for what.  Stable job in this economy is hard to come by.  There's a reason that so many are now "underemployed" - but also if she's not willing to take the risks to get a job in her trained profession and toss the degree in the toilet tank, that's her ultimate choice.  Master's or not, use it or lose it.  Getting in the field is a lot harder after one has been out of it for a while and her education won't be up to date.  It's just the realities of modern society.  Sounds to me like she already flushed $100K down the drain... 
    This is very possibly true, but there are definitely some fields where this is not the case. In my situation, an MFA is an MFA. It doesn't lose it's value, the field doesn't change all that much. The most important thing for getting a job teaching at a college is to show that you've been showcasing your work, so not working as a professor doesn't necesarily mean it will be harder to get a teaching position later. This could be the case with her degree as well?
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