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Help/Support ► Advise about switching majors from IT to History



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impart

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So Ive been thinking allot lately about Switching my major...
Im about a year away from finishing my General ed and getting an AS in community college.
I originally wanted to go into Information technology, I got certified after High school and went into community college for more training because I couldn't get a job with my cert. After starting school I got really discouraged, I really don't think I can do well under the stress and competition of the IT industry and I realize as a women my career would not be the same as my husbands, who is in the field too. Im more likely to be put on tech support because if my voice, and as I plan to have children getting back into the industry after I take a few years off to raise them (maybe 5) It might prove to be more difficult then the degree is worth.

I like to fix computers, but my interest pretty much stops there. They don't offer a BS in IT, Only in programming, engineering or Business administration(with a focus on CIS) (Business does not interest me at all) I don't prefer to do more advanced math so the business degree is all I could really get on the Bachelors level.

Im thinking about switching to History or Art History, (Studying European history) but I don't know if I would be going into an even more hopeless or difficult industry. Any history majors have any warnings or advise, will I be able to find a job in the field with just a BA while I work on my Masters? I want a good idea of what the industry is like before I decide to switch officially

Im very very worried about this, I don't want to make a mistake ill regret of go into debt for a degree that wont help me.

I live in California to put this into perspective, and im 23

-Thanks to anyone who read this
 

Nostalgia

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If you're interested in IT, don't put it to the side thinking that you won't be able to get a good job because you're female. The IT industry wants to hire more women anyway. With History, you can teach, but that's about it as far as I know.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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History and Art History degrees are honestly fields of love and require just as much dedication to learning as they do any other field.

What Can You Do with a Degree in Art History? - Long Island University

Those are jobs you can get, but they are EXTREMELY hard to get, and both those and the more interesting jobs in general require a masters at the very least.

You really need to be dedicated and have a passion for it. Do you like History or Art History enough to want a career in it?

If you want to pursue IT, do it. Don't let the stigma over women keep you from it. Seek out schools that have degrees in it. IT needs more women in it and the field is actively hiring women because there is a definite lack of them.

(Also, might I ask you about your certifications? How did you go about getting it and how long did it take?
 

A

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I would seriously advise getting an engineering or computer science degree, and in the event you do make sure you do an internship or coop every summer atleast.

can't mention how many 3.something gpas can't find a job after they graduate just for the mere fact they don't have any co-op/internship experience, shit is sad.
 
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You generally don't really *need* a BA to work in IT. There are a lot of jobs out there for people with certificates. The entry level one is the CompTIA A+:
CompTIA A+ Certification
And there are many more depending on what your job requires but the A+ is a good one to get started on.

Just something to look into.
 

Moonlight Aqua

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If IT is your passion, do it.

I understand what you are coming from, I like fixing computers as well, but for me it's a hobby (Or a secret talent that I will only show once in a while to surprise people.) when I ultimately decided into the Health Profession career, my family was a bit mad at me for not choosing what I'm good at or following my father.

But what I told them is that there's a difference between passionate and good at, while you may be good at something, if it's something that doesn't make you passionate about, why do it? You won't like it, and you'll hate your job. I'll give my father as an example, he loves his job. He's passionate because even if his coworkers are asses, he still loves to go do his job each day. He talks about it so much, he speaks in an excited voice about what he's done at his job and shows off his machines (He's a machinist.).

And I told them, I want the same type of passion he has from his job. It took me a while to see that what I love to do the most is to help others, and feel needed. Not only that, I always loved the medical field, so why not? Anatomy and Physiology called my attention as a child and I loved it. I can tell from what I'm doing now is that this is really something I want to do and I know I'll be passionate about because this program I'm in is such a pain in the ass, it's so much stress and it's gotten me to tears in these past semesters, but damn it, I want to do it and finish it. I want to be this profession because I know I'll do well.

So if you know you'll love this job no matter the hardships you have to encounter to get to this job, do it. Don't worry about gender barriers or anything else, if it's something you know you will love, do it.
 

Relix

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I recently graduated with a BS in CIS and am currently working in the IT industry. I can definitely vouch in saying that the industry is in more need of women and I have witnessed plenty of corporate environments meeting that need. If you want a career in IT you can definitely do it. As you know there is definitely more to the field than just a degree but certs are important to have as well (I'd focus on the certs geared towards what you want to do like VOIP, Networking (CCNA), or MCP even). It is a flexible yet complex field admittedly but I've seen women and men alike of plenty of ages find their way in this field. I don't know too much about California and how easy/difficult it is to work there or the salary ranges idk.

As far as majoring in History and making a living, I couldn't tell ya. From what little I know there aren't many positions that are easy to access. I've thought of pursuing a similar field but the only practical job I could see me doing was being a professor which wasn't all that bad but I talked it over with a professor of the same field and he sorta talked me out of it lol I would look up positions you could see yourself doing as an Art Historian/Historian and figure out the academic and social way of achieving that.
 

Dogenzaka

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You don't need a bachelor's to do IT.

Who's paying for your degree? If you're paying for your degree, you need to consider the ROI of the degree. You don't want to spend more than it will give back to you and end up in crippling debt because of a naive decision.

Humanities and arts degrees are great. They're integral to certain jobs and society as a whole. But if you do Art History or History I can almost guarantee you you will need a terminal degree (MFA or PhD) to make more money than you would have had you not even gone for the degree (fyi: my art history professor with a PhD makes 25% less money than my starting salary with my bachelor's degree. You will not be living in the lap of luxury unless you score a job curating/planning/designing for the highest echelon of artistry in a city like NYC or LA), and even then, you need to evaluate if 6-8 years of being a student is worth the lost income you could have gained if you had done a trade or just done an Associate's. There's also the factor of you being married and you planning to have children; how do these costs interact with those obligations? Stuff to think about.

I have a friend going for her Master's in History. She had a short-term position as a research assistant in her department, but it didn't pay well ($9/hr) and she was let go after 6 months because there's not much job security in those departments (very little funding, lots of competition) so she's been working at Starbucks to pay for her Master's degree slowly.

The fields are very competitive because it's saturated with more people than there are jobs available. To succeed, you have to be extremely ambitious and excellent at what you do, and have a great personality. If you think you can do that, and you can finance your degrees, it might be worth targeting that career for you and your family. But if you need to prioritize other things, like family, you should probably reconsider it more.
 
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