/biz/ - Business & Finance

[Anonymous No.1116950]

>parents: "just follow your passion!"
>elementary school teacher: "just follow your passion!"
>middle school teacher: "just follow your passion!"
>high school teacher: "just follow your passion!"
>every single movie, commercial, TV show, motivational speech ever: "just follow your passion!"
>passion happened to be in medieval history
>finally get PhD in history
>can't get any professorships or tenure track positions
>jobless and unemployable
>only openings are for adjunct faculty positions paying less than minimum wage

Should I just kill myself at this point?

[Anonymous No.1116956]

>>1116950
>Should I just kill myself at this point?
You should follow your passion.

[Anonymous No.1116958]

>>1116956
haha /thread

[Anonymous No.1116962]

Why would you study history? Aren't you smart enough to see there's no future in it?

[Anonymous No.1116964]

>>1116950
>Should I just kill myself at this point?
No, because that wouldn't align with following your passion.

All jokes aside, though, have you considered other niches within your field? It sounds like you're too fixated within the white tower of academia, and maybe you should consider some field work.

This is purely anecdotal, but a friend of mine studied Paleontology. He didn't get too far within his academic field, since he was relegated to measly TA roles. At that point, he started applying to paleo expeditions (apparently there are job boards for this kind of thing). He was accepted into one prestigious dino bone digging crew and from there he started his field paleontology career. He made a transition from behind-the-books academia into field work.

I know nothing of your field, OP, but have you looked into field work? Archaeology or whatever you nerds call it? Surely there's got to be some job that involves digging holes in Europe.

[Anonymous No.1116966]

>>1116962
>Why would you study history? Aren't you smart enough to see there's no future in it?
Dude, that's deep . . . history having no future. Holy shit, man. I need to sit down right now.

[Anonymous No.1116968]

just go full neet on your parents while you apply for your high end job.
When their stupid mouths even start mentioning shit like "just accept x low paid job", make sure that they feel the blame of giving you bad advice.

There is nothing more I hate in this society than older boomers who stopped thinking about society.

[Anonymous No.1116970]

>>1116964

You know OP jokes aside this is good advice.

I got my Bachelor's Degree in Business and I couldn't find any work either. Mother fucking Business!!

After about 6 months of unemployment, I took a job with an Accounting temp agency. I created a thread on /biz/ asking if the temp agency was solid, and the general consensus was "only if you're absolutely desperate."

When I showed up for the interview, they were interviewing other candidates as well. Most of them were niggers with no education or background in accounting, but were only applying so they could show they were actively job searching on their Welfare forms.

After a few months of that, I applied for a bookkeeper position and got hired ONLY because I had experience at the temp agency. Then after working as a bookkeeper for a year, I found my current job, as a staff accountant for a company with about $250million/year in revenue. I make about $45k/year. Sure not an impressive salary, but I'm only 25. Once I get my MBA and pass the CPA exam, I'll leave here and find a better job.

I know you were lied to, and led to believe you could get a PhD and have endless opportunities and job offers, but the reality is, you need pertinent experience and you will need to consider taking a job below your worth in order to kickstart the ascent into your career.

[Anonymous No.1116975]

your passion a shit

[Anonymous No.1116977]

>>1116975
Shut up, I love medieval history just like OP

[Anonymous No.1116981]

>>1116950

IKTB.

Went all the way through a masters degree "following my passion". The degree is useless, I have $50k in debt, and I'm doing something totally different.

But at the time I just didn't know any better.

I wish I had been told: "Find something that makes money that is somewhat enjoyable and not sucky, where you have control over yourself and your own destiny".

^ That was what I needed to hear.

[Anonymous No.1116983]

>>1116950

furthermore

> people think college proffesors make money

they dont make shit. They offered me 2 adjunct courses per semester each paying $3 grand. On this track I would have made like $18k a year. What a fucking joke.

Yeah you can do decent at assitant professor or full professor, but it takes years for them to give you a spot.

[Anonymous No.1116984]

Another anecdote that's relevant. . .
>know a guy who sells high end produce to 5 star restaurants in the northeast
>we're not talking iceburg lettuce, we're talking morel fucking mushrooms or weird vegetables that have French names
>this is the best of the batch stuff that comes from specialty farms
>and he sells this stuff at a premium to fancy restaurants

Now is this man passionate about vegetables? No. Does he dream about rutabagas the way Jiro dreams of sushi? Of course not! But he does care about vegetables much more than the average person because it makes him money.

>he's actually passionate about art, painting in particular
>his job is already stressful, where he works long hours to maintain and push dat dere leafy greens
>but he manages to produce beautiful paintings in his spare time, it's his "decompression time"
>he paints pet portraits on commission and he has a small following
>some of his work has ended up in prominent NY art galleries
>he's actually able to make a good supplemental income with painting!

What's the moral of the story? It's that following your passion is meaningless popular psychobabble. Some people will have the sense to pick up a career that will make ends meet, and they will use their passion to make their lives so much more wholesome. See how it works?

[Anonymous No.1116988]

>>1116950
you should have been learning horseback riding and get a sweet gig at Medieval Times.

[Anonymous No.1117012]

>following your passion is going to school to be lectured to about something you could have read about on the internet

:^)

[Anonymous No.1117018]

>>1116950
You need to follow your passion to the end. Lead a crusade on those who have shamed you and brought this blight upon your people.

OR:

>get involved somehow in historical reenactments
>renaissance fairs
>tour guide to medieval places
> archeology? dig up armor and shit
> museum jobs, or curator positions
> write the next game of thrones
IDK man, you'll get there. At least you have a penis

[Anonymous No.1117021]

>He unironically listened to his parents and other unsuccessful people

LITERALLY WHY.

Come on man. If you're over the age of 16 when you made this decision(you were) then you should have been smart enough to foresee this.

[Anonymous No.1117022]

>>1116984
Reminds me of another guy I know. Kind of rough around the edges, asian waifu, two daughters.

>he bottles his own organic baby food on his farm
>makes 6 figures in 3 months
>holy shit the fucking dream
>literally a genius at farming
>his whole house was philosophy books and farming manuals

there's a lot of ways to reach your dream OP. if you fail, the kneepads will always be there to catch you

[Anonymous No.1117025]

>>1117018
This also.

Fucking make it with what you have. Grind that shit out, leverage it.

Become the best at whatever it is, it's not a matter of ability OP. It's a matter of perseverance and sweat equity.

>You have a shitty degree in geology and archeology
you become a fucking world-renowned archaeologist, spend 90% of your freetime working towards it. Go to digsites, meet with top people in the field, read books about it, start a blog about it, become a fucking authority on all things geology and archeology.

>You have a shitty Psychology degree
Learn everything there is to learn about psychology, do the aforementioned things(where applicable ofc, instead of a digsite go to psychology conferences or whatever the fuck)

Just do it man. Stop bitching, stop whining on the Internet posting frogs. Decide what you want to be and go do it. ----- Hey man if it doesn't work out in the end? Who cares, you gave it your all and you tried your best, nothing to be ashamed or discouraged about.

A worse pain, nay, the WORST pain is knowing you'll be 80 years old someday and realizing you had the potential and ability but did nothing about it and are now rotting away due to old age-related illness.

[Anonymous No.1117028]

>>1116966
It's like a Lil Wayne lyric or something

[Anonymous No.1117033]

>>1116956
Kek

[Anonymous No.1117067]

>>1116984

the problem with passion is that once you start doing that shit for a living you usually end up despising it

[Anonymous No.1117071]

>>1116962

That's not really true,

A lot of the older guys I talk to have classic majors, like English and History. A lot of the History majors ended up in business.

I would pursue a career track in business, History can actually help you out there.

[Anonymous No.1117108]

>>1116962
10/10, posting this on /his/

[Anonymous No.1117122]

>>1117067
I think he's saying that you should keep your passion at a sideline. If you keep there at periphery, you'll enjoy a more wholesome life. That's what I do.

I'm all for following my dreams, but they take second priority to my skills.

[Anonymous No.1117154]

>>1116950
You need to follow your passion but tweak it to pursue an in-demand, high paying niche role.

I wanted to be a math teacher because I loved tutoring and math, but I ended up modifying that to become an actuary and I'm making 5x more money than i would have if I pursued teaching. I still love what I do, I just have fantastic pay and job security to go along with it.

[Anonymous No.1117192]

>>1116958
Hey, somebody calling /thread on somebody else. Thanks for using the meme right.

[Anonymous No.1117475]

>>1116956
hahahah

[Anonymous No.1117476]

>>1117025
>TFW no one appreciates ur post

[Anonymous No.1117594]

>>1117071
he was making a pun you autist

[Anonymous No.1117717]

>>1116950
Hello William Stoner, aren't you supposed to work in the university as a professor?

[Anonymous No.1117725]

>>1117025
good post

btw why is psychology a poor choice? dont those guys make loads

[Anonymous No.1117731]

OP, read Cal Newport's book "Be So Good They Can't Ignore You".

He completely debunks the passion mindset.

[Anonymous No.1117733]

>>1117725
Nope.

Unless you get a doctorate it's pretty much useless.

[Anonymous No.1117739]

>>1116950
Fucking hell you retard. Make yourself a success and stop blaming others. Write a book,make online courses, start a business

[Anonymous No.1117766]

>>1116950
There are more applications for your passion than just getting a job.

[Anonymous No.1117786]

>>1116950
You're missing the point of education.

It's for two often contradictory reasons:
ROI or usefulness in the market.
Passion and personal development.

The reason you follow your passions is so that it's not laborious (should even be fun or enjoyable) to spend years on a degree or PhD.

It seems you've been taking the good advice (in terms of living an enjoyable, fulfilling life) for the wrong reasons.

I love philosophy and it's changed me profoundly but i'm not taking it past bachelors (joint) because it will cost a lot with little benefit financially and personally all I could learn from the course I could get mostly from online.

They've gave you good advice but your inordinate desire for money and preferences (money>life enjoyment/education) like most on this board ("Why will I only believe i'm happy if I have money") means that you're not satisfied with the outcome.

If all you cared about was money then you should have majored in something which is clearly employable.

>Should I just kill myself at this point?

No. You need to realize that what you've done was based upon false reasons (or not valuable to you) and adapt. If you still only want money, then take faculty placements until you have enough experience to get them higher positions. There's lots of competition for it though, as many people, like you, want to do their passion and make lots of money (very difficult in our economy) therefore the supply of professors is extremely competitive.

[Anonymous No.1117794]

>implying that utility is the ultimate goal of life

This has been debunked over and over again

Anyway, OP, the only thing that's really important in a job is variation. If you job has a lot of variation, and you can live off of it (even if it's around minimum wage), it usually doesn't really matter if it's a 'shitty' job.

I hate that term by the way, what even is a 'shitty' job at this point? To me, working 100 hours a week doing something you don't like at all for usually an above average pay is pretty shitty to me. Also, being rich usually found it not having many desires, not in being able to buy anything you want

[Anonymous No.1117800]

>>1116950
The guy who wrote The Martian was a lowly AOL Programmer with a passion for space exploration.

You could be the next GRRM.

Just follow your passion.

[Anonymous No.1117844]

Do you live in the US? Write a funny book for history nerds and sell it. Make a funny history webcomic & put ads on the site+add merch (this one will take a while).

It sounds like you've accepted that Making money might require you to be untrue to your passion. But you still have niche knowledge. Embrace capitalism!

[Anonymous No.1117900]

>>1117800
And for every Andy Weir, there are 99 equally lowly nobodies who spend months/years writing a book only for it to never get any sales past family/friends and who have their dreams crushed, when they could have used that time to advance their careers or, if they majored in something stupid like OP, take community college courses to get into a field that actually provides value to society.

Get your welding or Cisco certifications, OP. Both are jobs that won't leave you destitute while still being relatively cheap to obtain.

[Anonymous No.1117926]

>>1117900

And this is why you spread your risks. You don't focus on one goal, you focus on a set of potential goals

[Anonymous No.1117977]

>>1117794
Pretty sure one's ultimate goal in life is entirely subjective, so it's not really something that can be proven or debunked.

>>1117926
However, I agree with you completely on this. Build towards a set of goals, then go after the ones that the random chaos of life gives you the opportunity to pursue.

[Anonymous No.1118010]

>>1116950
You really shouldnt follow your passion. Its a meme. Your passion will be what you are good in.

[Anonymous No.1118170]

>>1116983
Pretty sure Salary as a professor ascends with time. A couple of my professors make well over 100k an.

[Anonymous No.1118399]

Look on the bright side OP. Someone screencapped your thread and it has 3500 upvotes on reddit now :^)

[Anonymous No.1118421]

>>1118399

Oh God fuck this shit. I'm out

[Anonymous No.1118456]

>>1116950
It's like this for most graduates today, Anon. Even in STEM fields. At least you had fun in school instead of killing yourself with work from your classes. You got the same result as everyone else.

Just bide your time until the revolution

[Anonymous No.1118458]

>>1116950
Bet it all on the markets before you kill yourself, you might get lucky.

[Anonymous No.1118464]

>>1117071
How will history help you in business when you're competing with business majors and people with sales experience.

He could sort mail but that's all he's going to do unless goes into sales first.

[Anonymous No.1118469]

>>1117025
not op but thanks man, it feels wrong to let mere words be so motivating but yours really are, i messed up my highschool education and have little future prospects in zookeeping that i picked after becoming clinically depressed and quitting economy, it was really dumb but atleast im still young and can change my path, just gotta carry on.

[Anonymous No.1118483]

>parents: doctor, laywer, engineer
>school: follow your dreams
>PARENT: DON'T LISTEN TO STUPID WHITE PEOPLE

Now I'm in med school with a bachelor's in engineering

[Anonymous No.1118489]

>>1118483

[Anonymous No.1118490]

make a video game with your knowledge of history. fagget.

[Anonymous No.1118492]

Why do people think following your passion means you'll have an easy and successful life?

Newsflash, following your passion doesn't mean you'll be rich in 2 years. Shit ton of people who followed their passion took decades till they became successful.

Wanna follow your passion? Be ready to suffer for it, or stop trying and get a normal job and be boring like everyone else.

[Anonymous No.1118506]

>>1118170
What people don't understand is for a lot of fields, being a professor is a chore the university throws at you since your research work isn't guaranteed to be profitable. A professor that makes over 100k has 1. proven that they can do decent research (from the fact that they even have tenure), 2. likely done work that's resulted in patents that make a decent amount for the university.

Some researchers can even transcend professorhood if there work is important enough that the university feels they don't need to work off their salary teaching.

[Anonymous No.1118511]

>>1116970
by your age alexander the great had conquered the western world

[Anonymous No.1118513]

>>1118511
>conquered a bunch of deserts

ftfy

he was also born a richfag, a son of a King and basically never had to work hard in his life

[Anonymous No.1118514]

>>1116950
Sounds like you weren't passionate enough about your literal only interest in life.

So if you're not completely braindead, this is where you do odd jobs while following your passion in your spare time. I don't see anything to complain about here. It doesn't take 10+ years to figure out if you're good enough for what you want to do for a living. With history in mind, there are countless ways to use those skills and context for valuable work. At least you followed what you liked all those years instead of finding out not only that you're a fucking moron but that all the youth you spent being miserable was also a waste.

[Anonymous No.1118516]

>>1117071
That's because back in the day employers would get on their knees for you if you had literally any degree.

History major? Here's a job offer in the aerospace industry.

[Anonymous No.1118525]

>>1118170

thats prob after being with that university for 10+ years though.

[Anonymous No.1118527]

op confuses passion and interest. /sci/ ponders his experience instead of discarding it.

[Anonymous No.1118547]

>>1118421
That's just low.

[Anonymous No.1119050]

>>1118511

that would be age 30 bro

btw caesar said the same thing to himself when he was 30

[Anonymous No.1119056]

>>1118421
>>1118547
>MFW normies literally will spend hours scouring 4chan for content to repost for upvotes

Jesus christ.

[Anonymous No.1119060]

SPOILER: The OP hasn't even been to college. Please continue your regular arguing and posturing.

[Anonymous No.1119068]

>>1116970
>and led to believe you could get a PhD and have endless opportunities and job offers
he would have to be an absolute retard to believe that. a phd closes more doors than it opens.

[Anonymous No.1119069]

>>1119056
Is there a way to monetize this?

[Anonymous No.1119070]

>>1119069
Not when people are doing it for free.

[Anonymous No.1119071]

>>1119069
no, but you can include nigger in every post you make so the retards can't monetize it themselves.

[Anonymous No.1119093]

>>1119071

I see why you faggots say it often

[Anonymous No.1119131]

>>1116950
Kek, I could learn everything you did for less than 200 dollars. Why in the fuck would you major in history?

[Anonymous No.1119646]

>>1116950
One of our history professors at my college is retiring this year. He just so happens to specialize in medieval Europe.

Maybe you can replace him, anon.

[Anonymous No.1119671]

>tfw 22 and making 60k a year

Thanks for the laff op

[Anonymous No.1119678]

>>1116970
Business is a meme degree. Just learn business on your own? What did college give you that market watch or investopedia couldn't?

[Anonymous No.1120376]

>>1116950
You don't understand OP

They tell you to follow your passion because they want people with passions not valued by society to suffer

The system works

[Anonymous No.1120410]

>>1116950
Maybe you can take a short course in touring and ask some medieval tour businesses for a place there.

My m8 worked as a tour guide in central Australia and he had no qualifications for it at all, he made some good money.

[Anonymous No.1120542]

>>1119671
What's your job?

[Anonymous No.1120579]

Just find a sales job that will pay middle class salary. You can't go back to school and learn a new trade because you have no experience. You took a risk and lost. Just own up to it.

[Anonymous No.1120596]

OP google this Pharmaceutical Sales Representative. This will save you.

[Anonymous No.1121136]

>>1116950
>Follow your passion
>lied to self that passion is in history
>Mad when it's not making money
Obviously your passion is in Being a jew.

[Anonymous No.1121973]

>>1120542
Business Systems Analyst in California.

I live with family tho. Gotta save those shekels right goyim.