I got a Film BA in 2008 because in high school I had an interest in filmmaking. I still do to a degree, but it's not what I want to do as a career anymore. Not that I can find any work in the field aside from the occasional wedding. I could probably find work in LA or NY, but me and my wife are in no position to move at the moment.
After spending the better part of 2009 unemployed, I decided it was time to go back to school. I already have student loans out, but I figured it's better to go back to school to get some more specialized skills to be more competitive on the job market. I was recently hired part time at a retail establishment.
A few areas interested me. I was enrolled in a program to get a teacher's certificate on the cheap for people who already have a 4 year degree and didn't study a content area or education. But I dropped that in favor of culinary academy. My wife is a first year teacher and she's been telling me that the job market for teachers is still pretty bleak. Not that it means anything, but the culinary academy I'll be attending is supposed to be prestigious. In 2 years I'll be a certified chef, which is an associate's degree.
I'm wondering if you think it's a good idea. I know it seems like a sudden move and way different from my original career goals, but chef school is something I feel very good about. It falls in line with some alternate career goals that revolve around my expertise in gourmet tea and an interest in specializing in alternative diets like vegan, macrobiotic, etc.
I know that during my time looking for work last year, if I had had any serious culinary training, I could have been hired a hundred times over. Culinary academy is pretty expensive. I'm just hoping it's a good investment.
As a freshman in college, i have noticed a much higher amount of nontraditional students than I expected.
(NOTE: this may also because my school is closest public university to Norfolk Naval Base (largest naval base in the country) and they are GI bill recipients)
I can totally understand where the OP is coming from. I got an Associates Degree at a Community College in 2009, and I wanted to take a break from school and do some work. Trouble is, there was no work. Anywhere. Hard to get your feet wet when the valley is dry, eh?
I figured it was a better idea to go back to school, even though I really want some experience in the workforce. I, too have an affinity for Film, and I was interested in taking my education down that route and seeing where it leads. However, I knew the truth of the matter: Everyone wants to work in the film industry, but few ever get the chance to be more than a bit player. It's hard to get steady work in that industry, even if you live in the right place. To add to it, most of those jobs don't pay nearly as well as some people might think. You're putting your heart and soul into something like that, 10-12 hours a day or more, and getting scraps for it? It was the lack of opportunity and the narrowness of the field's potential opportunities that lead me to come to the conclusion that a career in Film was not for me.
Instead I chose to follow my talents, which lend themselves primarily to writing. It's the only thing I've ever been good at, and it's the only thing I've ever been able to do that doesn't feel like a chore. Imagine a job where you actually enjoy what you're doing, I said. So long as I'm writing, that's where I'll be. I'm going for a BA in English, with a minor in Film Studies. This is a degree that is expandable, and that is why I chose it. If I decide I want to teach, I expand on my BA and get my Masters degree. If I decide I want to teach film, a minor in film studies can't hurt. If I decide I want to write, a thorough education in the arts will help to make my writing even better. Wherever I go from here, it's not a narrow road and it focuses around my greatest talent, and some of my greatest joys.
To me, that's the smart path to take. Don't make your road a conduit to only one limited result. If you do that, you're just doing what you did with your film degree -- limiting your possibilities. If there aren't any jobs left in that field when you get there, it won't matter if you have an education from a prestigious school, that market will have been tapped. Education should be done to expand your horizons, not limit them.
I understand the desire, though. I took a class in Human Geography for my Associates Degree and absolutely fell in love. I never knew Geography could be so complicated and interesting. It's like a form of Anthropology that studies the world. I thought about going into that field, but where does that lead? What jobs are there for that? Engineering?
You know what I always found fishy about Engineering? They're always trying to push it as a possible career, to give people this impression that there's tons of demand for engineers and that it is this limitless field of potential. I really don't know why -- NO CAREER FIELD HAS LIMITLESS POTENTIAL. Half the students I took classes with in Community College were there to become Engineers. There must be plenty of Engineers out there, and by the time you get to the party that well will be dry too!
I ramble, though. The point I'm trying to make is that as long as you're doing what you want to with your life, then it's good and fine. However, if you're just not sure what you want to do with your life and you're fishing around for something that you think might be fun (like most people, sadly), then you're probably on the wrong track. That track doesn't lead to happiness, it leads to hating what you do for a living and questioning why you ever got involved in the field. It happens to so many people that I'm surprised most people haven't caught on. This shouldn't be about making more money or doing whatever "looks fun", it should be about exploring yourself for who you really are to find out what you really enjoy doing, and expanding on your knowledge of whatever that happens to be.
So long as you really want to be a Chef, go for it. But if you're just "looking for something", you aint going to find it by jumping from career to career -- it takes a little perspective, a little self analysis if you will.
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Like yourself, I spent 2009 unemployed. I went back to school and I'm trying to become a teacher. A few more classes and I'll have my teacher's credential. Teaching is ridiculously easy and satisfying. So far I have not had to deal with any jack ass "know-it-all" teenagers yet. :)
I'm also a part of the umemployed in 2009 crowd (I actually worked at Lehman Brothers-- don't worry it was IT work so you can't really blame me for the collapse). I was a student still attempting to finish my degree at the time and i'm still a student today. I've been trying to remain as positive and focused as one can be without having had an income of any kind in over 6 months. I also realize that even when i finally do finish my degree, I'm going to have very little chance of finding a job right away. I don't expect it to pay off immediately but I think of it as a long term investment in myself and hopefully I will eventually have an opportunity to find a job that I love.
sadly i am only a freshmen in highschool.
bizarrorollins:I actually worked at Lehman Brothers-- don't worry it was IT work so you can't really blame me for the collapse
I blame you.
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mafafu: bizarrorollins:I actually worked at Lehman Brothers-- don't worry it was IT work so you can't really blame me for the collapse I blame you.
As do I.
I think going back to school is a great idea. I would hate to have 6 years of degrees to work in a kitchen, though.
I'm torn on this whole 'Go back to school in a recession' movement. Surely for many it's a wise move, but for others I'm unsure. Granted, I have a bit of a bias against college overall, but I'll touch on that later.
A friend of mine that's been going to college most of his post HS life (6ish years now), recently landed a BA in English, with the intention of getting a PHD in it. A series of events made that not come to pass, and now he's stuck with a 4 yr in English. That's about as practical as a four year in History or some other topic; without a teaching portion (and in this day and age that too might not be much help) it's doing him little good and I don't think he's had a degree oriented job yet.
Currently, he's working to get back into school to continue his education before moving on to some other endeavor, but I don't know if that is wise. With the ton of school related debt he has now, is adding more to it during a recession wise? Then again, what other choice does he have?
I myself intended on getting a 6-8 year degree, but ran into a few administrative hurdles along the way so I just hopped out after 2, and it was a wise move. I had nearly a 4.0 (dropped when I started working alongside school) in Accounting and looked promising to make the 'big bux' when I got out, but I'm oh so glad I bailed. Landed two tech jobs in a row not based on my schooling, but based on WHO I knew, not WHAT I knew, and I think that's the biggest thing, recession or otherwise.
Thankfully, people don't stop drinking (possibly just the opposite) during a recession, so I'm pretty secure here, but if I were to get canned, I don't know if running back to college would be my first idea. I think it's viable depending on your situation. If you don't have a mortgage or kids to feed, I'm sure it makes a lot more sense, but I couldn't imagine going into further debt merely hoping for the best.
Best of luck to you OP and any others in this situation; I'm thankful I got settled when I did. Just be sure to pick a practical course of study. Film sounds fine as long as you're in the area for it (as you mentioned), but I'd steer clear of some of the 'topic' related courses unless you intend to teach, and as noted by others, even that's a crapshoot currently.
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GreenManGaming
I went back to school a few years ago - changing from retail management on the district level to education.
Are you going to Le cordon bleu? My buddy just started culinary school in Orlando last week and I'm pretty sure that is where he's going. Apparently he won't be able to cook food or anything for a few weeks since it's his first year.
Cat in the walllll
Bobster823: Are you going to Le cordon bleu? My buddy just started culinary school in Orlando last week and I'm pretty sure that is where he's going. Apparently he won't be able to cook food or anything for a few weeks since it's his first year.
Yeah I'm going to Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando, but I start with the next batch of new recruits in April. It's supposed to be 8th in the top 100 schools on chef2chef.net.
We'll start with the basics like knife cuts and sanitation. Thankfully with my BA, any general education courses I would have taken at Le Cordon Bleu will be covered.
On one hand, I want to tell you to be SURE before throwing away what you have now and basically starting fresh, but at the same time I realize how difficult and confusing it is to really figure out what you want to do.
For some reason we think everyone should KNOW what they really want to do in their heart of hearts with absolute certainty. In my experience, the people that have this particular gift are actual fairly few and far between, and most of them also have the drive to get it done. They are the lucky ones, IMO.
When you get down to it, it's hard to know what you'd both want to do and what you'd be good at. The way our educational system is set up doesn't help matters, either. Education has to be far too generalized as our public schools try to cater to the whole population. There are no real tests we take to find out what our aptitudes are, there are no counselors that can really tell you what YOU would be good at, nothing. We're basically all in a dark room hoping to find a light switch, and once we do we hope it actually frigging works.
I consider myself lucky. It only took me till I was about 26 to realize what I was really good at, which is writing, and I was able to get my English degree from a prestigious University. (Northwestern, in case you are wondering.) The funny thing about an English degree is that its both the most useful and most useless degree you can get. Having the ability to write well is valuable in a huge number of professions, but the degree alone often won't get your foot in the door. I had to go pure entry level in publishing to get going, but now I work as an Editor for a fairly big company, so it all worked out.
Anyhow, good luck with your quest. This might sound a little silly, but I'd literally ask EVERYWHERE for advice. Hell, go see a someone you know who can read the Tarot - anything for a little insight.
Splendorlex:When you get down to it, it's hard to know what you'd both want to do and what you'd be good at. The way our educational system is set up doesn't help matters, either. Education has to be far too generalized as our public schools try to cater to the whole population. There are no real tests we take to find out what our aptitudes are, there are no counselors that can really tell you what YOU would be good at, nothing. We're basically all in a dark room hoping to find a light switch, and once we do we hope it actually frigging works.
I definitely concur with this. While I was top shit at accounting, I couldn't see myself doing that day in and day out for 40+ years, and that conclusion aided my stepping out of the educational system when push came to shove.
I enjoy computer work, but I think I enjoyed it more working with customers instead of corporate. It's not my dream job, but I'm good at it and it's at least marginally enjoyable. Given the problems others are having finding work though, I can't begin to complain.