Live Nerd Girls

[lilmissnever]

There comes a time when a girl can no longer be paid (or loaned money) to read books and then write clever papers about them. Presumably this is because the girl has read enough books and written enough papers that an institution of higher learning has handed her a piece of paper signifying that they are finished with her. No employer will ever

Comments

[slurketta]

I have a friend who finished her PHD at Berkeley and immediately- like instantly- got a job teaching "Feminist Archeology" at Stanford. They pretty much dovetailed the professorship to her skills. If there's a job like that out there for her, there's a job out there doing exactly what you just finished studying. Or you can always sell out to skillset-specific evil, like an old boyfriend of mine who did "Peace Studies' at Santa Cruz and then became a defense analyst for a weapons tech company.

[threadwalker]

It's true. There are so many programs, schools, grants, etc. out there. ALL OVER. You can find the one for you.

What do you do with a BA in English?

[lilmissnever]

Looking for a job with a degree in the social sciences is very different from looking for a job in the tech industry (which constitutes pretty much all of my work experience). In the tech industry, if you know UNIX, you look for UNIX admin jobs. If you know networking, you look for networking jobs. If you can program in Foo language, you look for Foo development work.

I have just spent the last several years aquiring a set of skills and knowledges so open-ended that they could be applied to just about anything. As a result, I feel that they apply to nothing. The world is vast and full of opportunity - I'm just not certain what those opportunities are right now.

Re: What do you do with a BA in English?

[ammonoid]

Welcome to the liberal arts degree.

However you managed to graduate with some actual skills, like speaking Chinese.

Re: What do you do with a BA in English?

[lilmissnever]

Presumably, I will have two degrees in the social sciences. Strangely enough, I cannot tell the difference on the job market between Political Science/International Relations and a BA in English.

Whatever I wind up doing this summer, I would like to take some classes at the Confucian Institute so that my Chinese doesn't atrophy from disuse. Unfortunately, that brings me back to the need to make money that I can exchange for goods and services.

Re: What do you do with a BA in English?

[threadwalker]

Oh I know... I'm more familiar with what's out there for social sciences than other stuff. But just to give you an example. Mom: PhD in cultural anthropology. Later becomes Dean of Public Health (???), then Pres of a University. She just started that, and she'd 60. For a while she was a proff at UCLA in anthro while being associate dean of Public Health there. My Grandmother was also anthro, but ended up studying the radiation effects on genetic mutations in fruitflys

Re: What do you do with a BA in English?

[threadwalker]

And there's also the whole thing of going for a Masters. Sadly, it seems like the Masters in the new BA.

Re: What do you do with a BA in English?

[lilmissnever]

I'm afraid it's much worse than that. I'm going to law school.

In the meantime, however, I need to pay some rent.

Re: What do you do with a BA in English?

[threadwalker]

Okay, I thought I remembered that. (hence the law stuffs).

I'm not very good with the rent thing- I have generally squeezed by on 2-5 random skills. Freelance web design pays decently well and is flexible hours from home if you can get the gigs. Advertise on Craigslist or something?