this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
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College Degree (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by diffaldo to c/[email protected]
 
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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (19 children)

Everyone's experience is different, and things ARE absolutely more difficult in recent decades than many decades ago.

That said, I remember around the time I was graduating and how it felt like the vast majority of everyone I knew was baffled by my willingness to move far away (for the job), and how many of them refused to move away from home (where there weren't many job options for degrees).

There's also choices to make to do projects or a thesis around real productive ideas to build something to show off to employers. There's opportunities to practice interviewing, shadow careers, and make yourself presentable and stand out for your field, and again I just remember very few who actually put in the effort and wanted to appear well-rounded amd with a portfolio of sorts to distinguish themselves. Most of my classmates seemed to just want to check boxes and expect a career to happen.

Some people in my personal experience seem unwilling to do what's necessary to make their degree worthwhile.

Yeah you may be able to get [insert degree] at [random local college], but a lot of the good careers are not going to be where you got the degree, amd you really have to find ways to convince employers why you're different.

Then on top of all of that, there's just some luck as well. And I know in some ways I also just got lucky in landing a job.

Meanwhile, ever since I moved and started a career, I have been surrounded by incredible degree-wielding people from all over the world. So clearly lots of people do find success and they are doing great jobs.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago (18 children)

Great jobs? Doing what? Licking boots?

Uprooting your entire life, saying goodbye to all of your friends, family, community, home, all for the pursuit of some dollars, that's insanity. Only in a sick world where money is our master is that viewed otherwise.

Uprooting for adventure is one thing, uprooting for work is not the same.

Your comment sounds like some AI generated LinkedIn status and it makes me feel sick.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Learning to live as a stranger and reintegrate into a community is a fun experience for many of us though. When we have the flexibility to travel to work we gain a huge competitive advantage. I think OP brings up the most important point though, many people are too lazy or on cruise control to make themselves interesting.

Doing things slightly outside your comfort zone and outside your expertise makes you standout. Employers want to hire interesting people as well. It's not "boot licking" to create a diverse portfolio of skills.

I picked up Portuguese as a hobby, then later in life my job had a business partner in Brazil, so they paid for me to take classes on company time, sent me to Brazil, then let me act as our liaison with them.

I didn't do anything to hunt down money. I traveled for work and have never stopped learning. I never wanted to stay in my small town. This allowed me to create an interesting story and I rarely open at an interview with my qualifications, but they always remember who I am.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"I never wanted to stay in my small town"

"Uprooting for adventure is one thing"

Y'alls reading comprehension is pish.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

And bitching about a lack of opportunities in your hometown ignores thousands of years of human evolution. When resources became sparse we migrated, evolved, or died.

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