Your Degree Doesn’t Determine Your Career, You Do
By Alvin
In an ideal world, you spend around four years in university studying for a degree. Using your degree, you would find a job related to what you studied for and slowly work your way up the ladder. You would be promoted to management, and after earning in excess of six figures for some time, you would retire to enjoy the remaining years of your life.
Here’s the thing: we don’t live in an ideal world.
You might be doing a degree because your parents forced your hand, or you might realize you’re no longer interested in a career related to your degree. I’m here to tell you it’s okay because you shouldn’t let your degree define your career. Instead, let your interests guide you towards what you want to do next.
Let your interests guide you towards what you want to do next.
Growing up, I always wanted to be a journalist. I still remember looking at the cover of Time Magazine on September 12, 2001, one day after the 9/11 attacks. The shock of seeing the Twin Towers collapse made me wonder how this could have happened.
I spent the next few weeks learning as much as I could about al-Qaeda and terrorism so that I could present my findings to my classmates and teachers. The insatiable desire to find the facts and tell stories began with 9/11, and has never left me.
Despite this, when I was in high school looking at post-secondary programs to enroll in, the only thing that mattered to me was having a stable job with an equally steady source of income after graduation. Journalism, unfortunately, was out of consideration because the industry was experiencing constant layoffs at the time.
As a result, I applied to be a science student in the hopes of getting into medical school down the road. I never really had an interest in biology, chemistry, or physics, which became even more apparent during my first year of post-secondary.
The first-year science classes bored me, and I always begrudgingly showed up to the labs. While the assignments weren’t difficult, it was always a drag to complete them because I wasn’t interested in the material. Some students love learning about DNA replication and the valence bond theory, but I was not one of them.
On the other hand, I excelled in my first-year English classes. I enjoyed writing research papers and loved speaking with my English professors about the stories that were read in class. I thought long and hard about switching to a journalism-related program, but I still couldn’t do it because I was afraid I would not be able to find long-term employment opportunities.
Instead, I transferred into business school. I chose to major in accounting given its employment stability as every business requires an accounting function. The plan was to use this accounting degree as a backup before going off to pursue journalism.
In-between my accounting classes, I became involved with both on-campus and off-campus journalism-related initiatives. I wrote stories for The Gateway, interviewed local entrepreneurs for Enactus University of Alberta, reported and produced shows for Shaw TV Edmonton, and of course, started the Student Spotlight feature right here on this blog.
The more involved I became with journalism, the more I realized you can’t deny yourself the opportunity to pursue your passion. If you are a student whose passion falls outside the boundaries of your degree, I strongly recommend you find extracurricular activities where you can practice your passion.
Your degree is just one step out of the many you will take in your life. The important thing to remember is it doesn’t matter how you get to where you want to be in life, as long as you get there eventually.
Your degree is just one step out of the many you will take in your life.
While I may be graduating with an accounting degree this summer, I will be working in a journalism-related job creating online content, writing press releases, and conducting media training for a local development firm.
There may still be some useful takeaways from your degree even if you don’t end up using it to further your career. With my accounting degree, I can write confidently on the state of the economy and how it affects development. In addition, I can also examine financial statements and find newsworthy items to discuss.
And I couldn’t be happier.
