6 answers
2
Questions
Updated
534 views
What did you study in college to prepare you for your current career/business?
I'm looking to learn the steps to prepare myself for college.
Login to comment
6 answers
Updated
Eric’s Answer
There are two main types of skills that you could develop/learn in college: soft and hard skills. Soft skills are things like public speaking, presentation skills, people skills, etc. while hard skills are things like technical knowledge, coding knowledge, financial modelling, etc.
Depending on what you want to do in the future (you don't need to know what you want to do, you have all of college to explore and figure it out), a combination of these two types of skills would be a great foundation for your career. For careers such as Software Engineering, it's really important to have strong coding (hard) skills as that's what most of your job will be. For careers such as consulting (certain types of consulting), there's a huge person-to-person aspect that would require soft skills such as presentation skills.
Depending on what you want to do in the future (you don't need to know what you want to do, you have all of college to explore and figure it out), a combination of these two types of skills would be a great foundation for your career. For careers such as Software Engineering, it's really important to have strong coding (hard) skills as that's what most of your job will be. For careers such as consulting (certain types of consulting), there's a huge person-to-person aspect that would require soft skills such as presentation skills.
Updated
Heather’s Answer
That's a great question! The possibilities are endless to determine what you might want to do at such a young age. I remember thinking it was a daunting task and didn't know where to begin.
I wasn't sure what my career would turn out to be; however, I always did well with math in school. I liked numbers and figuring out what a solution to a problem could be. I actually had a good conversations with my parents and they suggested looking into engineering. Engineer is a degree that ranges from building roads, to designing code to creating robots. I chose Electrical Engineering.
In the end, this helped me by being able to investigate issues, gather data and understand how to troubleshoot and implement a plan. It's not always just about the classes themselves - like being able to write code to program a device - but it's also about training your mind on how to start a project and what steps to take to come to a conclusion. Deadlines and projects also helped keep me accountable for my work and working within that type of structured environment. It showed me how I learned new/difficult information. It was also a learning experience working in teams and with partners and how to collaborate with others with similar and differing ideas and processes.
In the end, the classes were great to open me up to identify what opportunities were out there.
I wasn't sure what my career would turn out to be; however, I always did well with math in school. I liked numbers and figuring out what a solution to a problem could be. I actually had a good conversations with my parents and they suggested looking into engineering. Engineer is a degree that ranges from building roads, to designing code to creating robots. I chose Electrical Engineering.
In the end, this helped me by being able to investigate issues, gather data and understand how to troubleshoot and implement a plan. It's not always just about the classes themselves - like being able to write code to program a device - but it's also about training your mind on how to start a project and what steps to take to come to a conclusion. Deadlines and projects also helped keep me accountable for my work and working within that type of structured environment. It showed me how I learned new/difficult information. It was also a learning experience working in teams and with partners and how to collaborate with others with similar and differing ideas and processes.
In the end, the classes were great to open me up to identify what opportunities were out there.
Updated
Archana’s Answer
Hi Jaidan,
Thank you for your question! I actually studied Psychology in college and did not end up in a career in Psychology, however, a lot of the concepts I've learned in psychology has helped me in my career even today. It is okay if you decide to pivot in your career or deviate away from your degree to find a career path that you love or essentially makes you excited to wake up every morning! You will spend 8 or more hours of your day at work so you should try to find something that really engages you.
Hope this helps!
Thank you for your question! I actually studied Psychology in college and did not end up in a career in Psychology, however, a lot of the concepts I've learned in psychology has helped me in my career even today. It is okay if you decide to pivot in your career or deviate away from your degree to find a career path that you love or essentially makes you excited to wake up every morning! You will spend 8 or more hours of your day at work so you should try to find something that really engages you.
Hope this helps!
Updated
Waleska’s Answer
I studied Business Admin in college and I have been using that in my career. The major is broad enough that it has helped me to use the skills in a variety of jobs I have held in my company. I would highly suggest getting into an intern program while in High School or College to see if that field is what you are looking to get into. Ask your High School counselor for any internship programs available in the field you are interested in or look at an employer and reach out to see if they have an internship program available for you. Stay focused and good luck!
Updated
Justin’s Answer
Public speaking and interpersonal and organizational communication. Understanding and having a foundation of the concepts and how to conduct effective speaking and communicating in an organization or team are beneficial in any career. You can be an exceptional Engineer or Doctor but if you can't speak well and communicate well within your organization that may pose barriers to your success and advancement. These soft skills will greatly enhance your career and give you an advantage over others who don't have them.
Updated
Megan’s Answer
Great question! I studied Accounting in college so that I could get my CPA license and then find success in work in public accounting at a big four firm. I did this by thinking about what type of job and salary I wanted and then working backwards and choosing a major in college.