Your Job(s) vs. Your Degree

[shanksalot]

Never went to college, back when I started working degrees were not that important. First job was working for a company that did sub contract work for IBM. The guy working sales asked me if I wanted to move upstate and start a company doing that kind of work. I was doing all the work initially until we started getting contracts. During the next ten years I was managing the production area, estimating jobs, doing inventory control and purchasing. I left there to move to California. Became production manager of a company building large main frame computers.Later for the same company I was in charge of Production control. Moved to San Diego and managed the Manufacturing area of a company building Large main frame Scientific computers It was a start up company that after a half dozen years lost its startup capital and closed. Great product but poor marketing. At that point I called it quits and retired at age 47 and moved to Oregon. 

Edited December 7, 2016 by shanksalot

[Patch]

Not counting my military stuff, I have only worked 2 jobs in my life time.

My degrees are in Geology, and Business Administration. My Geology one was for when I thought I wanted to get into the oil business. That did not pan out.

My Business one is the one that came in most handy when I owned my own Construction EPA Compliance business. 

Now that I am retired, my Geology stuff is coming in handy with us doing volunteer stuff for the National Park Service. Lots of rocks where I am right now. lol

I also have a few other college classes under my belt that allowed me to get different business licenses. 

[jsgolfer]

I have an A.S Construction Management, a B.S. and M.S Civil Engineering, with a specialization in water quality and treatment.  My current job is a Construction Manager for Water Infrastructure Projects.  I manage our day to day construction projects, we do somewhere around 50 million dollars worth of work per year.  It's right in line with my degree(s).  I used to do design of water and wastewater projects, now I review designs from other Engineer's.  

 I also worked for two different State Water primacy agencies, along with a short stint working for the EPA, also worked for one of the largest General Contractors in the world, as well as one of the largest Construction Management Firms in the US.  Plus I was in the military, I've had a few jobs over my career.

[Jeremie Boop]

Associates in both E-Commerce *degree was renamed from Computer Business Applications* and Digital Multimedia. Also had classes in network administration but no degree in that. My current job title is "Technology Coordinator" but in reality my position is as a Network/Computer Systems Administrator. About half of my jobs have been computer related so it's pretty close to what I've training in. I even use my DMM stuff to a small extent with editing photos and videos for different things work related.

[Gunther]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

My specialization is more related to Traffic Engineering. My job duties as a Traffic Engineer was more inline with only 1-2 courses I took in college. Mostly with traffic timing. Other than that it was on the job learning.

This sounds fascinating.  Had an opportunity to visit my hometown traffic center at city hall once and it completely amazed me.  Every traffic light in the city was monitored with gauges everywhere.  

Quite a few lights in town really suck and make no sense and I think I could figure it all out just from my driving experience in the town alone but I'm sure there's a helluva lot more to it than I could surmise.

[Hatchman]

Non degreed 40 year technical turd progressed from machine technology (high school and jc machinist) to naval arch tech to training spec to odd job man.

* w/ private and government certifications.

Currently mentoring the CHENG's (chief engineer) planning and waterfront engineering support departments.  Glad he's a golfer. 

[saevel25]

22 minutes ago, Gunther said:

Quite a few lights in town really suck and make no sense and I think I could figure it all out just from my driving experience in the town alone but I'm sure there's a helluva lot more to it than I could surmise.

It always sucks if you are not on the primary road or if you get stuck going the opposite direction of a green progression. Either way, a lot of traffic concepts are based around giving priority to the highest volume of movement. Example, a peak hour volume moving away from a central business district. If you are on local roads going into a CBD at 5pm, expect not to hit many greens lights in a row.

Also, the longer the cycle length the more you have the wait, but the shorter the cycle length the odds are higher you might not make the green light if you are far enough back in the queue. It's a balance traffic engineers try to make. In the end, someone always gets pissed.

[jkelley9]

28 minutes ago, Gunther said:

This sounds fascinating.  Had an opportunity to visit my hometown traffic center at city hall once and it completely amazed me.  Every traffic light in the city was monitored with gauges everywhere.  

Quite a few lights in town really suck and make no sense and I think I could figure it all out just from my driving experience in the town alone but I'm sure there's a helluva lot more to it than I could surmise.

Agreed. This is really intriguing. I'm frequently finding myself trying to figure out HOW and WHO does the traffic timing. I knew there had to be some type of complicated algorithm but I really still don't know how it's managed. I would love to check out my local traffic center to see how it works. I'm going to put that one on my todo list.

5 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

It always sucks if you are not on the primary road or if you get stuck going the opposite direction of a green progression. Either way, a lot of traffic concepts are based around giving priority to the highest volume of movement. Example, a peak hour volume moving away from a central business district. If you are on local roads going into a CBD at 5pm, expect not to hit many greens lights in a row.

Also, the longer the cycle length the more you have the wait, but the shorter the cycle length the odds are higher you might not make the green light if you are far enough back in the queue. It's a balance traffic engineers try to make. In the end, someone always gets pissed.

Do you also account for things like a minimum acceptable range for certain sets of turns? For example, I've seen where things likes a bridge overpass the light will back up through the next light and then when they let the off-ramp line onto the bridge they have no space, then it's just a cluster for several minutes and everything backs up. Of course, it usually starts from someone blocking the intersection and not just waiting... sigh

[saevel25]

4 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

Do you also account for things like a minimum acceptable range for certain sets of turns? 

The only way to do that would be to have a cop out there overriding the controller with a switch on the cabinet that forces green for the direction they want. You can not program it to skip a side street at certain times or volumes. You can change the cycle lengths and the allocation of time to each phase though. Each approach has a min and max. Lets say the cycle length is 240 seconds (stupidly long). If the ramps are programmed to have a minimum of 60 seconds then the main road will time out at 180 seconds no matter what. The side streets are required to hit their minimum. 

In free operation you can have the main street on a constant green till a car trips a loop on the side street. In your example this wouldn't skip or add time to the main street to clear. 

In the end, if you have high volumes in all approaches you are SOL.

[Golfingdad]

Yes.  Degree is civil engineering and I am a civil engineer.  Although I specialized in structural in school and yet do almost nothing structurally related at my job.

I put 3-5 jobs on the poll, however, all of the jobs except my current one were before I graduated college.

3 hours ago, saevel25 said:

... at The Ohio State University.

I just threw up in my mouth a little.  Just curious, do they threaten to take away your degree or something if you don't say that?  Like, what would the repercussions be if you said something like:

"Both jobs incorporate different areas of study with in Civil Engineering, at least what they teach at Ohio State?"

[BamaWade]

Degree:  Psychology

Career:  IT Director

For a while I was pursuing a double-major in ComputerScience/Math, but switched.  When I saw the job/salary prospects upon graduation (intro research/counseling salaries were averaging ~21k annually in 1997), I opted to take an offer in IT and have never looked back.  Have had positions in 3 companies in those ~20 years, but all in the same general IT/data/network realm.

I'm still a Psychology nut, though...fascinated by, still, how little we know about the brain/neurology.  I think that's about to explode...just hope I see some cool advances in my lifetime.  Still avidly study neurology & social/behavioral psych.

BamaWade

[JonMA1]

Never finished my degree in Fine Art.

I really like College. Took it seriously and kept a high GPA for the 3 semesters I attended. Tuition was something $14 a credit hour back then, but because I believed it would never be necessary, I switched to a vocational school that was cheaper. Will probably always regret it to some small degree (pun intended).

Have worked for numerous companies but all in the graphic design, printing, and pre-press fields. Will never get rich, but I really enjoy the work.

Times have changed. I'm the only one in my department without a degree. Will occasionally help those others convert simple ratios . I don't believe HR will even consider an applicant without a BA these days.

I succeed vicariously through my two boys who both finished school (Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering degrees). Both have good jobs.

Edited December 7, 2016 by JonMA1

[Hardspoon]

I have undergraduate degrees in History & Policy (at my school, this was a technical track, so very statistics and analysis-based...in the vein of the Freakonomics stuff) and in Architecture. I have a masters degree in Historic Preservation. 

I've been an architect for the past 12 years, focused mostly on historic buildings, so...a resounding "yes" on the second question.

I did work as a conservator (actually doing hands-on work restoring historic structures) for a couple years before my first real architecture job.

I'm not counting my stint as a grocery clerk in high school, or my short-lived career working in the college library (I believe I was fired in my second week for sneaking off to the stacks to read while I was supposed to be shelving books). I worked in IT for most of college, so I'll call that #3!

[jbishop15]

I got my B.A. in English–Creative Writing from Georgia State University, where I also Minored in Film. I went to college planning on getting my Poli Sci degree and going to law school, but I abandoned that pretty quickly. 

I voted no, but it's more of a 'sort of'. I work in construction and as a crossing guard, but also as a freelance writer/reporter. I want to be a full-time writer, but the majority of my income comes from those two jobs. 

[dennyjones]

4 hours ago, jsgolfer said:

I have an A.S Construction Management, a B.S. and M.S Civil Engineering, with a specialization in water quality and treatment.  My current job is a Construction Manager for Water Infrastructure Projects.  I manage our day to day construction projects, we do somewhere around 50 million dollars worth of work per year.  It's right in line with my degree(s).  I used to do design of water and wastewater projects, now I review designs from other Engineer's.  

 I also worked for two different State Water primacy agencies, along with a short stint working for the EPA, also worked for one of the largest General Contractors in the world, as well as one of the largest Construction Management Firms in the US.  Plus I was in the military, I've had a few jobs over my career.

Flint, Michigan could use your help!

[No Mulligans]

I have an economics B.S. and accounting B.S.  Worked (if you can call it that) as a musician for a couple years in college and then two years after college, maybe about 5 bands.  After that worked in degree related jobs for about 32 years.

I've worked as a musician for say 5 bands and an accountant in a CPA firm and then three different businesses.   Two occupations, nine jobs... I answered 9+

[jsgolfer]

1 hour ago, dennyjones said:

Flint, Michigan could use your help!

Flint could use a lot of help.  ?

[boogielicious]

14 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

Yes.  Degree is civil engineering and I am a civil engineer.  Although I specialized in structural in school and yet do almost nothing structurally related at my job.

I put 3-5 jobs on the poll, however, all of the jobs except my current one were before I graduated college.

I just threw up in my mouth a little.  Just curious, do they threaten to take away your degree or something if you don't say that?  Like, what would the repercussions be if you said something like:

"Both jobs incorporate different areas of study with in Civil Engineering, at least what they teach at Ohio State?"

Well it is on their website, so it think it is a requirement.

https://www.osu.edu/