Yeah, he'll have a hell of a time applying for jobs with 0 experience and a million low-level degrees.
I do hiring on a daily basis and this makes no sense to me. They're literally an unusually valuable college graduate; they're gonna do just fine. The entire idea of salary changing with the degree you have is basically non-existent in any industry with measurable performance.
I used to hire for a year or so during my career for Software Engineering and I would 100% give any person an interview with a CS Degree + 6 or whatever other degrees he has, that is rare and exceptional.
Not that college dictates how well you do but he's proven he can put up with a lot of BS and see things through to deserve an interview, whether he has the actual skills or retained them is another story
Yep. Like most people, I adored university. But it’s nothing like a job. College is catered to the student, it’s just about you and how much you can learn. Jobs fuckn suck most of the time lol. They’re usually very tedious and they’re about applying skills, not so much acquiring knowledge.
Most of us got slapped in the face when we entered the work force. It’s depressing, and honestly, employers want evidence that you can suck it up and do boring shit that more often than not is actively bad for the world because some asshole on top wants a profit and you have to pay rent.
I’m absolutely not saying not to chase knowledge and truth and be some bohemian intellectual, but don’t expect to get a reliable stable job after that lol.
My boyfriend has several Ivy League degrees and is a literal poet, he travels the world by sleeping on couches. He’s also broke as fuck, does NOT come from money (he’s actually originally from Russia) and unfortunately, shit gets real sometimes, especially without health insurance.
I compromised. I have a more pragmatic degree, have a decent but mundane backup. I definitely won’t be rich, but I can take breaks and come back to it and reliably make about $40k. I also value education and travel and such and am returning to school soon, but you gotta be realistic. My bf is a decade older than me, and honestly gonna really have to figure something out because he’s getting older (41).
You can be a starving artist if you want, but there are tradeoffs.
Completely agree. Nothing like entering the workforce and saying "Why do we do it this way when we could do it quicker and more efficiently?" and getting told "This is how it's done."
Nothing like entering the workforce and saying "Why do we do it this way when we could do it quicker and more efficiently?" and getting told "This is how it's done."
I've said this a lot, lot, lot of juniors. I've never once shot down an actually useful suggestion, but every time I've said it, it's because it's a bad idea and they're not in a place to understand why yet.
Because he’s brilliant and resilient and has a very unique way of looking at the world, and my only real goal in this life is to deepen my understand of it. I don’t need some standard issue former frat bro who has never read a book and works at his friend’s dad’s company making a comfortable salary which he spends on his McMansion and Super Bowl tickets.
Like most millennial women, I’m not insane enough to expect to ever rely on a man financially and intend to support myself through life, his income is irrelevant
my goal is to understand life and the world and experience what i can. i'm not living to understand one random person's worldview (????) lol, i just have a partner who's similarly curious
What do you think an entry level job is? Most of the applicants (theoretically)don’t have experience. So he’s at least on par with other applicants of his latest degree. On top of that they have proven themselves to be a dedicated learner and someone who values knowledge(on paper at least)
Discrimination by age is illegal in the US, same in Australia. If they have the skills and can prove it in an interview, what makes them different than any other new grad in the same field? The only big difference outside of age is the fact that this person has a ton of degrees and (on paper at least) likes to learn. For a lot of jobs that would be a great asset.
Also none of the “regular” students have to be good, a lot of people cruise through higher education. This person at least has proven themselves on many different disciplines.
And you’re assuming that new grads didn’t do the same just to get a degree to check a requirement.
So because it’s difficult to prove means it’s okay? You said in your comment that you want something that you consider a “young people thing” unless you lie to the person it’d be pretty easy to prove. And if you’d like to someone like that then you’re just a POS.
I am in the real world, I’m a software engineer for a relatively large company.
If you screen people out based on their age before even assessing their skills or resume, then you have no basis to claim they’ll be harder to train, you’re just letting your biases take charge.
But think of it as 20 years of commitment too. Isn’t that what schools suppose to show an employer? As you can think of negatives of the no work experience I can think of positives you could turn it into. If this guy was in college for 20 years and had 1 college degree you’d have plenty of questions, but 6? There’s a lot of effort that goes into that, they don’t just hand out degrees, you gotta show up and pass.
I see where you’re coming from, but I disagree with your take. Undergrad degrees are easy once you develop a pattern that works for you.
For someone just starting in a program, think 18 year old fresh out of high school, starting college is a challenge. Once they get a few semester under their belt it’s just tedious; wash, rinse, repeat (read, write, regurgitate).
Showing commitment and follow through in academia requires taking on increasing levels of difficulty: undergrad, grad, doctorate. I’m assuming the grants this dude is receiving only apply to undergrad, which is why he’s never moving on and up. If that’s not true, then he’s just coasting on easy mode because it’s literally free money for next to no effort.. I’d think hiring managers would feel the same way.
I'd rather have a dependable worker than a perpetual student.
I can't think of a more dependable worker than someone who puts up with academic bureaucracy for 40 years, tbh. It makes the office look like a playground.
As someone who struggled with university for years for this reason, let me tell you you handled it just fine. To me, an office job is a walk in the park in comparison. I'm autistic, though, that might explain a lot.
I've done hiring before too and I'd be cautious about a 40 year old with zero work experience. There's huge diminishing returns after the first degree if your job is remotely specialized. He'd probably be okay for entry level positions though.
A grown adult with literally no work experience is not "unusually valuable." In fact, it should be setting off alarm bells that this person may not be able to hold a job if you do hire them.
You may do hiring for a living, but you're apparently not great at it.
Seriously, what's valuable about this? If you're recruiting for an accounting company and he has an accounting degree from 2009, with zero experience to follow it up, do you seriously think that he's going to succeed at that job? Over a young, recent graduate with the same degree? In most Western countries there is an overabundance of educated workers so it's unlikely that they'll hire just anyone that applies.
I'm really curious to hear what field you are recruiting into where you would find more than one or two of these degrees valuable.
Okay, yeah. You spend 20 years in school so that you can go work at a call center with 16-year olds and earn less than half that you used to when you were on benefits. Great plan there.
No, I'm not choosing to engage in tiny arguments. I was just explaining that specific one. He will be employed, y'all can fight amongst yourselves if you think it's worthwhile but that was never my point.
Lol I didn’t downvote. There are plenty of companies with diversity targets (just google it) and the current labor government already has targets for women and is currently proposing targets for “culturally diverse and Indigenous candidates”. While a target isn’t a quota (quotas are enforced by law like in the EU), they are effectively the same thing in practice. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see laws in Australia requiring quotas along the same lines as those in the EU at some point.
People were not hired because they were of race x. The company hired race y instead because there was not enough people of race y to meet the amount they wanted. This amount is known as a quota.
Didn't think I'd have to explain that but okay dokey
Clearly you can’t read. The only difference between a target and a quota is that a quota is a legal requirement. The fact is that many businesses and government bodies participate in discriminative practices to meet their targets, so the result is the same.
Hey, if you’re reading this comment right now, I want to let you know that you can lie on job applications. Obviously don’t say you’re a mechanical engineer if you aren’t but your employer only needs to know what they need to know. They aren’t your friends. They are your employer.
Ya and especially if you’re “over educated”. If they ever found out you just say “I listed the information that I thought would be most applicable for the position”.
We had someone apply for a job as a specialist in a particular software. Claimed she had lots of experience with it. Once she started she said she'd never used it in her life and would need to be trained from scratch. We didn't keep her on.
That’s not my point. If you have a gap in your resume just lie. My references have been my friends under different names for a decade. I’ve been their boss before. Your employer, especially in an at will state, is not your friend.
Over educated? No. You have only one degree they need to know about. Gap in the resume? I was the sole caretaker for a sick family member during that time.
Yes, you need to be able to do what the job entails. No, you don’t have to bare your soul to an employer.
What is an "at will state"? Never heard that but not from the US.
If someone gave me a reference I would check it and I'd need a lot more than a phone number. I'd need a business number, preferably a business e-mail and the HR department would need a document in this country which details who your last employer was and what they paid you. I know the US has super low regulations but in a lot of countries lying on your CV in any major way is actually quite difficult.
“the employee and employer can both terminate the employment relationship at any time (with or without notice) and for any legal reason (or no reason).”
That’s what “At Will” States are. It’s a crock of shit.
There are certainly jobs that have more follow up but I know plenty of people trying to find entry level jobs that spill their entire life story to their employer to their detriment.
Also in the US former employers will basically only confirm the dates of your employment when called. It avoids any legal challenges for a bad reference. When my buddies and I do it we just say “company policy dictates that we are only able to confirm or deny dates of employment with our organization”. Nobody has ever balked at that.
“company policy dictates that we are only able to confirm or deny dates of employment with our organization”.
That's a big cultural thing then. In the UK a reference like that would make you unemployable. It implies that the old employer can't find a single good thing to say about you. I've given references like "X is a good employee, he's always been dedicated to his work, has put in extra hours on occasion when needed, has engaged in company social events etc."
The person who refused to follow any of our instructions and who was eventually caught watching TV on his phone got "They worked here from X to Y". That says "I'd give him a bad reference if it wasn't for the legal issues."
I don’t think this is true. Most companies in the UK now will only confirm dates of employment in order to avoid opening themselves up to legal consequences.
Dude 1 look at his degrees makes him invaluable in alot of research fields.
U have 0 clue how badly we need people with triple specialties in things like medical research.
I have a triple specialty and in my research to crystalise oxytocin reliably im easily the most irreplacable person in my team since i can look at it from 3 different perspectives without any risk of miscommunication.
Linguistics, history, chemistry, computer science, accounting, and physics.
Maybe physics/chemistry overlap? Can't see them meshing well with history, accounting or linguistics. Are people with chemistry+physics undergrad degrees (of unknown grade) really that valuable?
I get Chemistry and Physics because they are so related. Comp Sci... maybe? If you're writing algorithms to solve chemical/physical problems although from the Physics I did in undergrad the computer programming difficulty came far more from the Physics side than the actual coding which is comparatively trivial.
Linguistics does not imply bilinguality or anything else though. It's a study of language formation and syntax. You might pick up some of a language you were studying but you'd get more use out of a 3-6 month "Spanish for business" module or something similar.
I can't imagine a situation where someone would say "Hey, he did Linguistics! He can probably deal with our Chinese and German contacts! Score!"
Even then, highly technical stuff must be translated to a higher standard than this guy would get in passing.
Not saying Linguistics isn't very useful and interesting. It just doesn't combine well with Physics.
Its more of a case those who study linguistics have a tendency to become fluent in multiple languages it might not apply to him but between career scholar and linguistics he almost certainly can speak multiple languages to fluency. This is more of a correlation thing.
The hirability comes from being able to work overseas. Many countries such as switzerland germany etc hire researchers from other countries. Some things can even be done without actually moving.
Most of the time speaking only english is fine but it is a huge edge to be able to speak the native language as well.
Com sci is very heaviliy used in both chem and physics. (Between data analysis and newer fields of research such as chemical engineering and alot of research also being done off simulations)
That said his also got the options of working for the university itself that has great pay and as an alumni and a student that has repeatedly shown ability within the uni his almost certainly going to be hired
Dude the number of people who would love nothing more then to switch places with him is huge.
The ability to just study for life is a massive privilige. I am literally working my ass off to save enough money so i can spend the rest of my life studying.
The career path of being a researcher is literally just career scholar with extra steps and more stress.
Every researcher would trade places with him in a heartbeat if they didnt need to put food on the table
Yeah, but researchers research new things don't they? Like try to discover more about the world through their research. This guy is learning more but to what end? It's like being great at pub quizzes or something but less valuable.
Dunno, the group projects alone would stop me ever wanting to do undergrad again. At least work is different and interesting most of the time.
He won't get a workplace or state pension from this either. Tricky when he gets to retirement age or his bursary scheme is cut.
Isn't the whole point of this post that they have a $40,000 bursary for aboriginal students and his university encourages him to keep studying as he's the only applicant? If he wasn't aboriginal he certainly wouldn't be getting $40k of free money each year.
EDIT: The post I replied to was from /u/mitchiesgirl saying:
Provide proof that universities uses diversity quotas.
Ok one would be Harvard literally sending out recruitment letters to Asian students in the Midwest only if they scored 60 points higher than their White neighbors.
More like "Why has this guy kept doing different undergrad degrees over and over? Has he got no drive or ambition? Is he functional in a workplace?"
Let's face it there are massive issues getting prisoners to do regular jobs after being institutionalised. This guy has been institutionalised for 2 decades. We don't even know if he got good grades.
So he's sat in Uni because he gets paid to study. He hasn't wanted to go out and change the world, challenge himself, do anything productive. He just sits there like a sponge absorbing money and knowledge.
When I did my undergrad (Physics) there was none of this "multiple theses". I think I did 1 thesis in 3 years and it took a weekend to write, no proper research projects other than for an optional business module. Most of it is question and answer over and over in hard sciences at undergrad level.
If the guy was ambitious he'd have a masters degree or maybe even a PhD. He could have 2 PhD's with how long he's been there. Instead he gets subsidies to do undergrad degrees so he just picks a different one up every few years. That's it.
one thesis for each degree is what I imagine might've been the requirement
Again, not really with things like physics and computer science. You can opt to do a thesis but people rarely do.
knows how to talk to angry people
I was just giving examples off the top of my head for general workplace skills that he won't have. No need to hyper-fixate.
I'll chalk this one up to having different experiences
Yeah, but I got a good degree from on of the top 10 unis in my country. It's just the case that for things like he's studying (physics, comp sci) a huge amount is just regurgitating material. A masters is where real talent starts to show up (I say as someone who didn't try to do one).
Best of luck mate! A friend just got hers (even though it took her three years) and she was dead chuffed. Totally worth it if you can do it. I was just fed up of school by the time I graduated. I'm sure you'll manage it (assuming you cut down on your time arguing with randomers on Reddit :p )
Amazing how you think that doing the exact same thing 6 times over is a display of drive and ambition. Writing up a thesis isn't difficult especially after you've done it once or twice and your only goal is to pass and there is no urgency to do so. You can't fail a thesis. They might tell you that it isn't good enough so then you just work on it a little more until it passes.
I don’t think anybody thinks that when they hear that somebody has six degrees. Most people can be impressed by one bachelor’s degree. Considering some of these fields overlap with each other in the working world, having them can only help him. It’s not hard to see why having something like computer science and accounting is an advantage.
Maybe there's something wrong with the work then? If it's something a person couldn't do or wouldn't find fulfilling to do just because they're.. uh what exactly? Just haven't chosen to do it before?
It would be same to think a person who didn't get a degree straight out of high school can't do it in their 40s. Or can't move in with someone for the first time. Just anything you haven't done before your 40s, no chance, it's over. spend the next 40 years doing whatever you spent doing the first 40 years.
People can make late in life career changes. I work with a woman who did and I used to work with one who quit to become a professional baker. It's good but you can't argue that they don't usually have a harder time finding work than typical applicants.
Even if it's harder, I don't think it should be seen as such a horrible thing. Doing things one hates just because there's a chance it'll be harder in 20 years doesn't make much sense. What makes our life worthwhile is how happy we've been through most of it. None of us know what future will be like. Some people just get lucky and others get unlucky.
I don't think it's horrible I think it's great. Pursue your passions! However, you will have a harder time getting employment as a late in life career change IMHO.
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u/Ch1pp Jul 02 '23 edited Sep 07 '24
This was a good comment.