what to do after arts degree?

how are you?

im in my final year of arts in ucd.im studying politics and geography as my two majors.the problem i have is their is no direct career route afterwards.woderin if anyone here has done arts and if so what dd they do afterwards.peopel ho have done geography and politics would be ideal.

the whole thing is wrecking my head as i dont know where i am goona go in my career.

thanks!

Feelgood

how are you? wrote: »

im in my final year of arts in ucd.im studying politics and geography as my two majors.the problem i have is their is no direct career route afterwards.woderin if anyone here has done arts and if so what dd they do afterwards.peopel ho have done geography and politics would be ideal.

the whole thing is wrecking my head as i dont know where i am goona go in my career.

thanks!

Girlfriend did a post grad and went on to be a primary school teacher after arts at UCD????

Might I add its probably the best job in the world 9am - 3pm each day, 3 months hols paid....

Tom Dunne

Feelgood wrote: »

Might I add its probably the best job in the world 9am - 3pm each day, 3 months hols paid....

Not as good as lecturing - 18 hours a week, 24 weeks a year.

OP: If you are interested in teaching, there's a load of teachers over on the teaching forum. I believe a number of them have done Arts degrees.

Dudess

I did geography and sociology (both of which comprised several politics modules) in UCC and did a masters in journalism afterwards (DCU). Unfortunately I learned that journalism is not for me (great to study - absolutely loved the course, but the reality of working in it couldn't be more different). Now I'm exploring how to go down the publicity/communications route.
What are you interested in?

padser

how are you? wrote: »

what to do after arts degree?

I think you're in the wrong forum, would this be more appropriate?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=861

Ideo

padser wrote: »

I think you're in the wrong forum, would this be more appropriate?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=861

Harsh!



but true

Dudess

Tee hee!:D

skelliser

padser wrote: »

I think you're in the wrong forum, would this be more appropriate?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=861

lol!! agreed tho

dole or teaching for you im afraid

kmart6

Wipe your a$$?!

Agent Smith

MacDonalds hiring?

Glacier

What do you do when you drop out of Arts?

nesf

This isn't the humour forum lads...

easyontheeye

do a masters in something useful?

the_syco

OP, aside from teaching, the best thing to do would be to ask your college's career guidance person. Unsure about politics, but I know some who did geography and ended up doing stuff with maps, GPS, etc. Maybe something to look into?

oglaigh

Forget all those Mcdonalds jokes.
I did arts in ucd and got a job with a well known investment bank earning far more than my friends who did business/commerce/engineering/science. A large number of other people here have arts degrees too.

the_syco

oglaigh wrote: »

Forget all those Mcdonalds jokes.
I did arts in ucd and got a job with a well known investment bank earning far more than my friends who did business/commerce/engineering/science. A large number of other people here have arts degrees too.

But what was the arts degree in? That's the NB part.

oglaigh

the_syco wrote: »

But what was the arts degree in? That's the NB part.

Well not entirely. We`ve people with english, geography, politics degrees. By far the most important thing from college for the company I`m with is the persons involvement in societies(and being in a position of responsiblity with it) and any projects you did that involved a team.

Jonny Arson

how are you? wrote: »

im in my final year of arts in ucd.im studying politics and geography as my two majors.the problem i have is their is no direct career route afterwards.woderin if anyone here has done arts and if so what dd they do afterwards.peopel ho have done geography and politics would be ideal.

the whole thing is wrecking my head as i dont know where i am goona go in my career.

thanks!

as another final year Arts student trust me you are far from the only one!

i am in the same scenario, i really don't know exactly i want to do after May. i have ideas about what i would like to end up in and ideas about doing postgraduate study but i am uncertain. i'm leaning towards putting career aspirations on ice for 12 months after this May so i can reflect on exactly what i want to do. there is no point in leaping into a career area or a masters course without giving it serious thought.

if i'm being honest Geography and Politics would be two of the better Arts subjects to have in comparison to some other subjects in Arts. Civil service, local government, urban planning, tourism would be a few areas that spring to mind but I know people working in banks, insurance, finance with Arts degrees too so you really can end up anywhere (McDonalds included)! looking at statistics from the ucd careers office for the class of 2005, only 1.5% of Arts graduates were seeking employment and the rest were mainly in employment or doing further study which isn't as bad as one would expect with some of the stereotyping made in this thread! that's not to say it will be easy to stroll into that dream job, i think most Arts students realise that finding the right job or career will be a bit of slog and will require patience, especially as our economy will begin to decline in 2008.

i plan to make an appointment with the UCD careers early in the new year as MA deadlines loom, afaik someone can sit down with you and brainstorm ideas and they have plenty of material regarding career paths for all disciplines. also it would do you no harm asking the Geography department or lecturers for advice or information about careers in Geography or postgrad courses, they're really sound and generally really helpful.

last point is a bit clichéd, but the best thing we can all do is just knuckle down really hard in semester 2 because the difference between a pass degree and a solid honours is huge and you will at least have those postgraduate options if you can't find a job that suits you.

pow wow

I'm final year History & Politics and did the 'smart' thing by going to the careers office....lovely girl but zero help. Aside from trying over and over to push me into schoolteaching (no way, ever, not for all the paid holidays going ) she had no info for me. Everyone always assumes with Arts that you want to be a teacher....so good luck with the careers people as you'll probably need it.

Civil service might be a good route, I am applying for postgrad and in the meantime hoping that they start recruiting for Junior Diplomat positions between now and then.

AARRRGH

There won't be a problem getting a job... but it might not be doing something you love. I know a few Arts folk who did a post grad in IT and now work as programmers.

There are loads of IT jobs.

Programmers get (on average) about 70k per year after 4 or 5 years experience.

You could also do a HR post grad and go work in that area...

dazberry

dublindude wrote: »

Programmers get (on average) about 70k per year after 4 or 5 years experience.

On average - in that case I don't know anyone dragging up that average as a programmer? Pray tell where are these gold covered jewel encrusted jobs

D.

barclay2

how are you? wrote: »

im in my final year of arts in ucd.im studying politics and geography as my two majors.the problem i have is their is no direct career route afterwards.woderin if anyone here has done arts and if so what dd they do afterwards.peopel ho have done geography and politics would be ideal.

the whole thing is wrecking my head as i dont know where i am goona go in my career.

thanks!

I wouldnt worry about it too much. I did economics and politics and finished in 2005.

My advice for now would be to get any decent paying job, work at it for a while and then maybe get some travelling in. A year or two after college, in the real world so to speak, you'll have a better idea of what you want to do.

Incidentally, so far ive worked in a call centre, gone travelling for four months, did a masters in international politics in edinburgh and now.....im working in a finanical institution doing nothing related to what i studied at either undergrad or postgrad level. A lot of my other friends who did arts are now studing law.

Enjoy yourself for now, i dont think you need to worry about a career just yet (im guessing you're around 22).

acorntoast

dazberry wrote: »

On average - in that case I don't know anyone dragging up that average as a programmer? Pray tell where are these gold covered jewel encrusted jobs

D.

The company I work in for starters

the_syco

acorntoast wrote: »

The company I work in for starters

What language(s) do you use?

AARRRGH

the_syco wrote: »

What language(s) do you use?

It's the "old" languages and technology where the money is, e.g. languages like Delphi.

It's easy enough to get Java and .NET programmers...

nesf

dublindude wrote: »

It's the "old" languages and technology where the money is, e.g. languages like Delphi.

It's easy enough to get Java and .NET programmers...

Yeah I've heard of silly money being offered for Delphi programmers. Decent ones aren't exactly being produced by the colleges in their hundreds.

Do IT grads even see much Pascal anymore?

remus808

Moments like these when I'm glad my BA is in Computer Science... History was so tempting..

Dudess

Oh rub it in why don't you! You're good at sums and nerdy stuff - humanities graduates aren't. Big deal!

dazberry

dublindude wrote: »

It's the "old" languages and technology where the money is, e.g. languages like Delphi.

As a long time Delphi developer who would be expert in most things Delphi - I can tell you hand on heart there is very little demand for anything Delphi and where there is - the money is on the bad side of crazy.

Simple fact is that there is no churm in the Delphi market - so the top end people like myself are stuck because there's no other jobs at our levels/salaries, people aren't coming in at the lower levels (and why would they?) - and there's a huge gap in between. When you do venture out to these jobs you find that salary is so far off that its not worth following.

So the few of us (that are good) that are left are trying to move into Java or C#/dotNet because we don't have any other choice, and at that our Delphi doesn't really count for much either. Its heartbreaking at this stage.

D.

nesf

Weren't Sage offering good money for Delphi developers a while back? I think it was them anyway.

John_flood73

my advice: do a masters in something your interested in. if your interested in it, your more likely to be good at it and then the money should follow

AARRRGH

dazberry wrote: »

As a long time Delphi developer who would be expert in most things Delphi - I can tell you hand on heart there is very little demand for anything Delphi and where there is - the money is on the bad side of crazy.

I know a lot of Irish Delphi developers on 100k+ per year. They'd be late 20's, early 30's.

A friend of mine does mainframe stuff (don't know the details) but it's very old school stuff. He was on 50k after two years.

Even some of the "new" stuff like Java - another friend of mine is on over 100k per year - again, two years experience.

Maybe it just depends on the company?

dazberry

nesf wrote: »

Weren't Sage offering good money for Delphi developers a while back? I think it was them anyway.

Nope. They were advertising average/reasonable money, what they offered was a completely different story. I only dealt with the crowd in Ballsbridge - complete chancers.

dublindude wrote:

I know a lot of Irish Delphi developers on 100k+ per year. They'd be late 20's, early 30's.

No offence but having worked in the Delphi market for the last 11 years - I actually don't believe you - unless you are talking about actuaries that happen to also code some Delphi from time to time - which isn't quite the same thing. But I'd be very happy to be proven wrong if you could tell me who I should be talking too

D.

nesf

dazberry wrote: »

Nope. They were advertising average/reasonable money, what they offered was a completely different story. I only dealt with the crowd in Ballsbridge - complete chancers.

Fair enough.

homeOwner

dublindude wrote: »

There won't be a problem getting a job... but it might not be doing something you love. I know a few Arts folk who did a post grad in IT and now work as programmers.

There are loads of IT jobs.

Programmers get (on average) about 70k per year after 4 or 5 years experience.

You could also do a HR post grad and go work in that area...

:rolleyes:
IT careers are not a dumping ground for everyone who doesnt know what they want to do in life. It is a serious career and there is no point in going into it unless you have a genuine interest and talent.

Crania

Just on this point, I'm wondering would anyone have any advice for me. I love History, Politics and Economics and therefoe I would love to do a degree in any combination of those in either Trinity or UCD. However I'm afraid of doing an Arts subject and not being employed after it. Therefore I'm also considering Psychology(kinda Arts/Science) as I do think I would really enjoy it(not as much as something like History but enjoy nonetheless), but the major thing would be that its a more career focused degree and would open up many opportunities for me career wise that something like History probably wouldn't.

Just wondering, has anyone been in a situation like this and what advice would thay have for me. Thanks.

Dudess

Well Ciaran, if you haven't even done the leaving yet, you should definitely just go for the subjects you want to do. You're far too young to be worried about your career. Third level education shouldn't just be about your career (although obviously that's part of it) but learning as in end in itself is also beneficial, college life, the clubs and societies you can join, making lifelong friends, learning to budget (ish!), living away from home - these are all fantastic in terms of your development as an individual. And a career in psychology - from what I know of it having two mates who have chosen this career path - is a very, very long, hard road. And I don't think the Irish qualifications in it are even recognised internationally.
My advice would be to just go for the subjects you love and are passionate about. My older brother has the exact same interests as you and wanted to study history and economics in UCC, but he also had the same concerns as you about his career ultimately, so he went for law instead. By second year, he was on the verge of dropping out and doing arts, but he decided against it. When he started his first job, he was on the verge once again of giving it up and going back to do an arts degree. He stuck things out though as he's one of these people who believes in doing that no matter how miserable you are (whereas I'm the opposite. If I'm unhappy with something I'll just give it up, and my brother actually admires that in me, rather than viewing it as a weakness. But I admire him for his determination to stick things through...)
Anyway though, sorry for sidetracking. Do those subjects in Dublin (or UCC? Actually UL has fabulous courses of that type). When the time comes to worry about a career, go for a postgrad. I did a masters in journalism - might be worth checking out since your interests correlate with current affairs and business journalism. I'm only interested in the arts (music, film, literature, theatre) so I've found it extremely hard to get journalistic work, but those who have an interest in current affairs/business have no probs getting jobs!

Best of luck with it. And enjoy!

newestUser

CoolCiaran wrote: »

Just on this point, I'm wondering would anyone have any advice for me. I love History, Politics and Economics and therefoe I would love to do a degree in any combination of those in either Trinity or UCD. However I'm afraid of doing an Arts subject and not being employed after it. Therefore I'm also considering Psychology(kinda Arts/Science) as I do think I would really enjoy it(not as much as something like History but enjoy nonetheless), but the major thing would be that its a more career focused degree and would open up many opportunities for me career wise that something like History probably wouldn't.

Just wondering, has anyone been in a situation like this and what advice would thay have for me. Thanks.

Although I'm not sure how applicable this is to Arts, investigate PLCs and diplomas if you're unsure about what you want to do. If you do a 3/4 year arts degree, down the road if you set your heart on doing something that requires you to complete a completely different undergrad degree, those fees are gonna hurt. Don't casually use up the one free go on the university system the government gives you.

And IMO, there's no point in giving much consideration to what career you'd like to go down at your age. Get internships, part-time jobs, volunteer etc in order to see how you like/dislike various workplaces/work cultures. You're in no position to make an informed decision about your career at this stage of your life.

AARRRGH

homeOwner wrote: »

:rolleyes:
IT careers are not a dumping ground for everyone who doesnt know what they want to do in life. It is a serious career and there is no point in going into it unless you have a genuine interest and talent.

I disagree. The reality is it IS a dumping ground for people who have no idea what they want to do. Most people working in IT do not have IT qualifications.

AARRRGH

CoolCiaran wrote: »

However I'm afraid of doing an Arts subject and not being employed after it. Therefore I'm also considering Psychology

Most people with Psychology degrees can't get employment either

Owen

dublindude wrote: »

Most people with Psychology degrees can't get employment either

Amen to that. Herself has a Masters in Psychology, and is now almost finished her HR degree due to Psych jobs not being all they've cracked up to be.

newestUser

dublindude wrote: »

I disagree. The reality is it IS a dumping ground for people who have no idea what they want to do. Most people working in IT do not have IT qualifications.

Oh gaaaaawd, stop with the generalisations, it's making my head hurt...

AARRRGH

newestUser wrote: »

Oh gaaaaawd, stop with the generalisations, it's making my head hurt...

It's not a generalisation. I work in recruitment.

MajorMax

my Girlfriend did History and geography at UCD and is an Hotel manager now, and she can't read a map either

catyb20

I finished my arts degree last may, graduated in september and i cannot get a job! I got an honours in geography (single honours) but have no intention on pursuing a career in it or teaching!

Any jobs i have applied for have told me i need experience, but how am i supposed to get the experience without the job!!!!!! :mad:

It is extremely frustrating! Anyone with any info on decent jobs with chances for promotions in them, please let me know because i cannot get a job for love or money!

damnyanks

You should be applying for graduate jobs. In your CV you should be displaying how your skills overall are transferable.

Nothing wrong with an arts degree. It's usually people who did **** all in college while studying for their arts degree's get screwed.

(i.e didn't get involved in any activities, travel enough or try to get any meaningful summer work)

catyb20

damnyanks wrote: »

You should be applying for graduate jobs. In your CV you should be displaying how your skills overall are transferable.

Nothing wrong with an arts degree. It's usually people who did **** all in college while studying for their arts degree's get screwed.

(i.e didn't get involved in any activities, travel enough or try to get any meaningful summer work)

Cheers damnyanks, have applied for a few grad positions but no luck so far! Would love to get into retail management but its not looking likely!