<p>College is NOT a technical school. There is no law that says you have to work in a field DIRECTLY related to your major. The economy is struggling. Tell him to get up and go look for a job…and start working. Doors open up as you work up the ladder and meet people. </p>
<p>90% of people are NOT working in a field remotely related to their college undergrad major.</p>
<p>And he should look NATIONALLY, not just locally. Get into sales: pharmaceuticals, tools, anything. He may even find “stories” he can write about and freelance for magazines.</p>
<p>It will get better. But he has to get up and get cracking. </p>
<p>DONT GO BACK TO SCHOOL. Big mistake. Get working first.</p>
<p>If he really wants to work in the IT field (business applications) he doesn’t need another degree at all. He could take about 4, 5 courses at the CC or at a trade school and then apply for an entry level programming position. Particularly, he needs an intro course and then two data structure courses. After that he needs to take one or two language specific course(s) (probably C#, dot net and Java). That’s all it takes to be a business programmer, since he already has a BA. I’ve seen a number of liberal arts grads taking this route and having a very successful career in IT. </p>
<p>Back in 98-99, we hired just about any major if the person is willing to learn programming. Such a wonderful time!</p>
<p>If he wants to work in software engineering, the above suggestion won’t work, however.</p>
<p>The census suggestion is a good one, and yes, I recently heard on the radio that they are hiring for the census in California</p>
<p>…In the 70’s, my brother graduated from UC Berkeley in psychology. While he was deciding whether to go on to graduate school (law? psychology?) he took just about any job. One of them was working for the census bureau. Just last week, he and I were talking and he was telling me what a great job it was. He would interview the people who had already not responded to a census taker. After that job, he volunteered to work on a student film, which has led to a 30+ year career in the film industry.</p>
<p>To the OP, it sounds like your son has done some pretty darn interesting things, but perhaps not found his passion. Well, he can join most of the rest of us who are in the same boat. As a computer geek, if he is genuinely interested in computers and/or enjoys the work, then welcome to the club. If he is doing this for other reasons ($$, his mother wants him to, etc.), then I suggest he should seriously rethink his next steps and at least go into them with some understanding of what he is trying to accomplish. If he hasn’t already, ‘What Color is Your Parachute’ has continued to be updated over the years and is still a good resource</p>
<p>In the defense contracting world, government contracts provide for a broad array of staff, ranging from the least experienced to senior scientists. So, contract work is not totally out of the question. Consulting firms may be what you’re thinking of…they only take the most experienced, because in essence they are hired guns, out to do a job quickly and efficiently.</p>
<p>Hi peewee55,
I live in suburban Washington, D.C. not in journalism, but it seems there are lots of jobs here, esp. with the new administration coming in things are in pretty good shape. I am assuming journalism is not the most highly paid profession but sometimes you have to do what you want in life even though you are not going to make the same money as a plastic surgeon. Tell your son to check [craigslist</a> classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums](<a href=“http://www.craigslist.com%5Dcraigslist”>http://www.craigslist.com) in the Washingtonm, D.C. area. lots of internships, lots of non-profits lots of media here, incl. foreign journalists and papers, bloggers, etc. It is not cheap to live here but I would assume he could fine a place with roomates (also check Craigslist). Good luck! Go for it!</p>
<p>I know many individuals with graduate CS degrees from Stanford, MIT and Berkeley, and none of them did CS as an undergrad. Many CS graduate programs prefer a math or physics undergrad degree; Stanford’s application specifically states an undergrad CS major is not required and asks how many undergrad math course an appplicant completed (you can check online.) The vast majority on MS in CS programs are unfunded, so admission to MS in CS programs is easier than to PhD in CS programs. For top schools, high GRE scores on the CS subject exam are crucial. An applicant must also do well on the GRE general exam and with your son’s writing background that shouldn’t be an issue. If your son can swing the cost, a MS in CS would likely offer more employment options than his undergrad journalism degree.</p>
<p>I think the OP’s son will have a good chance to have a master degree in computer science. The positve things are:</p>
<p>1) 3.8 GPA
2) Took many math and physics classes
3) Can write (hence can read - a must for CS major)
4) Want CS because of money (this is not a negative. I think almost everyone majors in CS because of money besides the interest in software work).</p>
<p>He should look at all CS graduate programs that do not require a BS degree in the CSU and UC or private colleges. There are some good ones out there.</p>
<p>I would not recommend taking CS classes at community colleges because they are too weak to prepare for graduate school. I would take regular CS classes in the strong UC, CSU or private colleges through the university extension programs (you have to pay high tuition though. But only about 5 or 7 classes are needed).</p>
<p>I read up on background checks for defense contractors and found that they can take from six to twelve months to finish. So that’s a consideration when applying for jobs. They might provide an unclassified job for a period of time while waiting for the background check.</p>
<p>Community College CS courses can be used to get a job as a technician or programmer but they are usually very light on theory. That’s okay if someone wants to get into the workforce quickly. The theory will give you far more flexibility and growth potential down the road.</p>
<p>There are plenty of evening college (undergrad or grad) CS programs around that are more geared to skills that can be used immediately and these are an option. There are so many options in CS, IT and IS that it can be pretty confusing as to what to do.</p>
<p>I would strongly suggest that you and your son spend some time in the Engineering Majors forum, where academics and careers in CS are discussed, among other things.</p>
<p>There are some schools that will admit a student to an MSCS program, but they will probably require that the student fulfill at least the upper division requirements for a BSCS.</p>
<p>Perhaps the pay for an entry level computer professional is better than that for an entry level journalist, but the outlook for computer professionals in the US is cloudy, thanks to the dismal economy, offshoring, outsourcing, etc. There is a lot of competition for jobs from new grads, people from outside the US, people who’ve been in the field for years, etc. Your son will be coming into the field without much experience going up against people who hack on open-source software from scratch, who’ve built entire companies from scratch, etc.</p>
<p>Perhaps another approach would be for your son to start blogging (if he hasn’t already). Some people (even in the computer field) have made decent livings from their web sites. It can lead to a job with a newspaper, magazine, or some other media outlet. But there is a lot of competition there as well.</p>
<p>Starting to blog is a fine idea if you’ve got nothing but time. But it’s really difficult to monetize it. You have to be really compelling to get a big enough reader base that either A. you make enough from Google ads to make it worth your time or B. some media company decides it wants your traffic and offers you a job.</p>
<p>But it’s not a bad idea if he has nothing better to do, because blogging and social media skills are really critical for future journalism jobs. I’ve started Twittering to start building that skillset.</p>
<p>Right now is a really, really terrible time to be a journalism graduate. I’m a current journalism student, and I am not really looking forward to graduating… thankfully I’m not doing it until 2010. I empathize with your son.</p>
<p>What clips/tapes does your son have? Having the degree piece of paper is really not enough - he needs some solid evidence of quality practical work done while he was in college. Doing journalism in college is as much, if not more, about the on-the-job experience at student media as it is about the classes.</p>
<p>Look for internship opportunities. No, the pay won’t be great. But it’ll be better than zero.</p>
<p>Putting aside the fact that the economy is terrible right now, and no one is really hiring (we’re not even interviewing), find a way to get any kind of experience. My personal recommendation is not to go back to school until he has a better idea of what he wants to do. </p>
<p>One of the things I see in a lot of young people (including my own, which I try to disabuse them of) is an unrealistic set of workplace expectations. In some senses, it is an entitlement mindset; it might also simply be the fact that success to this point in their life has basically meant working hard. In most organizations (business, government, non-profits), that is a given - every new hire is expected to have this quality. And we hiring managers expect smart (= high GPA) candidates. But basically the HR department screens out anyone who doesn’t have these qualities - so a high GPA by itself doesn’t stand out.</p>
<p>What we really need though is someone we know who can get things done. And that has to show through in about the first 5 minutes of the interview. If the candidate can’t convince me (based on resume, presence and, yes, professional appearance (attire, grooming, posture, etc.) that they are going to help me accomplish my objectives, the interview is basically over (though out of politeness it’ll continue for the full 30 minutes). The ability to get good grades (basically individual achievement) doesn’t equate to an ability to accomplish something in an organization - experience does (and the more the better, even in menial jobs). And if the person has no emotional intelligence, forget it. </p>
<p>No one is going to give your child a job - he has to convince someone that he is deserving of the chance. (Note: I was a dual journalism / lit major, I joined the Peace Corps, then decided to get an MBA - took me til my late 20s to settle on a career, but it was based on workplace reality, not academic aspirations).</p>
<p>The son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt and who went to Yale. And still couldn’t land a decent job until he went out and free-lanced at great personal risk in regions of the third world like Burma, Vietnam, Bosnia, Rwanda and Somalia. </p>
<p>I would classify his life in the “don’t try this at home” category.</p>
take another a computer science class of interest at a cc after this intersession one - just keep taking classes
continue to apply for writing jobs - technical writing, journalism - full time or part time - get his foot in the door somewhere.
If the comp sci class is a day class and he gets a writing job he could drop it if it’s in conflict.
If the comp sci class is a night class and he gets a writing job he should keep it up - the more you know, the better, right?
If he does not find a writing job at least he is doing something productive with the computer class, and this might help him think about what he likes to do.</p>
<p>If he really likes writing in general, it seems too early in his life to give up on the idea of a writing career. It’s not as if he has a family to support. It is possible to make a good living as a writer, but probably not as a young fresh out of school writer. We are all agreeing - starting salaries will be fairly low. As the cliche’ says, “You have to start somewhere.”</p>
<p>CTDad2010–I am going to memorize your spiel and then nonchalantly spout it off like it were my own, LOL. Even though this is basically what I have been trying to ingrain into my kids for the last few years!
MidwestMom- Yes, I agree that he plugs away at some CS classes while still pursuing writing opportunities.
I have read and re-read all your generous comments; I really appreciate this kindness of strangers!
Son had a recent temporary job testing a new generation of video games, he got paid well and enjoyed it, of course . He is also investigating UCSC’s new-ish video game design program . The combo of programming and intricate story telling intrigues him.
I did omit a major factor that has made this process so tortuous—son was diagnosed with severe depression in September. It was a shock to us all (he had been in Japan all summer.) He is getting back on the right track with frequent therapy. It is hard to know if he got depressed after futile job seeking or if his depression is preventing him from being hired (as in he may not appear to be an enthusiastic candidate.) It’s a conundrum that we are trying to unravel. It just compounds all the anxiety over an uncertain future and his angst has affected our whole family.</p>
<p>It is hard not to take rejection personally, but I hope your S realizes that this economy has so many companies feeling unsettled that they have instituted hiring freezes until the new year (at least). 20 years from now when he is comfortably settled in his career, this time will seem like a little blip in the past. Right now, it seems like a HUGE deal.</p>
<p>For entry into any graduate school, the undergraduate major is not the determining factor. Rather look at the completed coursework required for entry into each graduate program. It will vary school by school. If a few additional courses are required, these can frequently be taken at local college state (without enrolling full time) or community colleges. </p>
<p>That said, be careful about entering a graduate program in an area that one doesn’t really enjoy. All employment areas are very competitive in this economy and starting positions are rarely high paying</p>