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I majored in English, and that led me to becoming a technical writer. I could've become a journalist/blog writer, novelist, advertising copywriter, movie or TV

I majored in English, and that led me to becoming a technical writer. I could've become a journalist/blog writer, novelist, advertising copywriter, movie or TV show writer, academic, etc. I had an aptitude and interest in technology that pushed me to technical writing. After 5 years writing professionally, I was making 80k; last year (my 11th in technical writing) I'm into 6 figures (and in the Southeast US, to boot) including bonuses. Not bad for an English major. And, not at all rare.[1] I knew from the beginning that you can't pick just any major unless you wanted a deep, abiding knowledge of that concentration and/or had a natural inclination or aptitude for it. The "losers" making your coffee as you go to your programming job? They were always going to end up there, just like I read in forums how programmers in flyover states in the US Midwest have been out of work for over 99 weeks or what have you. Ultimately, it matters less what you major in. If you're motivated and talented. you'll find a satisfying, relatively well-paying job; if you were amotivated and/or did poorly in college, wake up and make them lattes. Sure, even the mediocre computer science major can get work, but you think they'd survive in Silicon Valley? Just like you can't write off every English major as a coffee whipper-upper, you can't automatically say a computer science degree is a path to a six-figure salary. [1]http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=Senior+Technical+Writer&l1=san+jose%2C+ca http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=Senior+Technical+Writer&...

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irahul 15y ago
> I could've become a journalist/blog writer, novelist, advertising copywriter, movie or TV show writer, academic, etc. That's what I am trying to say in another thread here. You picked a major, now pick a job which is backed up by it, or augment your education on your own and grab the job you want. One can't just claim "education is more than training for jobs", "I am well rounded" and grab a totally unrelated job.
- mbreese 15y ago
  There are lots of jobs (good ones) whose job description is little more than "don't be an idiot". I'd go so far as to say that for most non-technical jobs, it doesn't matter what your degree was in. If you need a programmer, you'll look for someone with some experience or training in programming, but for most jobs, the major just isn't as important. HN in general is a pretty specialized group of people that skews heavily towards engineering and technical jobs. And those aren't the other jobs out there. Just as the GP could have been a journalist, copywriter, etc... they just as easily could have been a doctor, or a lawyer, or gotten an MBA.
  - potatolicious 15y ago
    > "they just as easily could have been a doctor, or a lawyer" No, he/she really couldn't have. You just listed two heavily regulated professions where not having the right degree means complete disqualification from holding a job. There is no way for GP to be a doctor or a lawyer without going to medical school, or law school, respectively. At least here in the tech industry you're not legally mandated to have the right degree for the job. This seems to support the notion that one ought to look at a degree's employment ramifications before jumping into one.
    - mbreese 15y ago
      Sorry, I thought it was implicit in my comment that they'd have to go to medical/law school. My point is that the undergraduate degree matters less.
FreakLegion 15y ago
My path was similar, although I didn't move to technical writing until two literature MAs and the first half of a PhD burned me out on academia. Technical writing pays well, particularly if you're a coder and can document APIs, write examples, etc. It's also worth noting that technical subjects are every bit as easy as the arts to learn from the library and Wikipedia. Easier, in fact. So really there's no degree that isn't a waste of time unless your job specifically requires it.
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irahul 15y ago

> I could've become a journalist/blog writer, novelist, advertising copywriter, movie or TV show writer, academic, etc. That's what I am trying to say in another thread here. You picked a major, now pick a job which is backed up by it, or augment your education on your own and grab the job you want. One can't just claim "education is more than training for jobs", "I am well rounded" and grab a totally unrelated job.

mbreese 15y ago
There are lots of jobs (good ones) whose job description is little more than "don't be an idiot". I'd go so far as to say that for most non-technical jobs, it doesn't matter what your degree was in. If you need a programmer, you'll look for someone with some experience or training in programming, but for most jobs, the major just isn't as important. HN in general is a pretty specialized group of people that skews heavily towards engineering and technical jobs. And those aren't the other jobs out there. Just as the GP could have been a journalist, copywriter, etc... they just as easily could have been a doctor, or a lawyer, or gotten an MBA.
- potatolicious 15y ago
  > "they just as easily could have been a doctor, or a lawyer" No, he/she really couldn't have. You just listed two heavily regulated professions where not having the right degree means complete disqualification from holding a job. There is no way for GP to be a doctor or a lawyer without going to medical school, or law school, respectively. At least here in the tech industry you're not legally mandated to have the right degree for the job. This seems to support the notion that one ought to look at a degree's employment ramifications before jumping into one.
  - mbreese 15y ago
    Sorry, I thought it was implicit in my comment that they'd have to go to medical/law school. My point is that the undergraduate degree matters less.

FreakLegion 15y ago

My path was similar, although I didn't move to technical writing until two literature MAs and the first half of a PhD burned me out on academia. Technical writing pays well, particularly if you're a coder and can document APIs, write examples, etc. It's also worth noting that technical subjects are every bit as easy as the arts to learn from the library and Wikipedia. Easier, in fact. So really there's no degree that isn't a waste of time unless your job specifically requires it.

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