/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Enjoy your no job once you finish

What classes did you take first year?

Heh, I got that degree and I'm unemployed now!

My first year I was taking as an IT major, but since I have to get basic courses out of the way ("We're ganna steal some more money by giving classes you'll never need."), I've only actually taken Programming 1.

I'm not particularly good at programming, nor motivated in continuing the path of an IT. It'd give jobs, but I don't think I'd be motivated enough to concentrate and actually do well in IT. In other words, I'd most likely fail along the lines and end up wasting money.

At the same time, I don't want to waste money by taking courses for a degree that won't even get me anything.

I feel both paths will just lead to debts that I'd be unable to pay off. Not to mention the fact that my mother is paying a vast majority of my tuition herself, and I'd feel guilty wasting that much money. At least if I'm just leeching off her, she's not investing huge sums of money with the hope that I'd make use of her sacrifice. She'd pay my living expenses either way, and I'm very low maintenance.

1 meal a day, don't need new clothes, I just hog electricity.

God, actually...
I'm sorry /jp/, I've just been feeling kinda down and confused these past few months. This is a pretty shitty thread. I needed to let out the bottled thoughts I've had somewhere. I'm too timid to even bring this up with my mother. I've no idea how she'd react to the thought of me wanting to drop out of IT and go into Japanese instead.

The downside is the fact that you'll have very few job prospects, and you'll have to face the shame of telling people you majored in Japanese when they ask about your education. If you actually want to get a job in Japan, you're actually better off majoring in something more relevant to a certain field and getting a JLPT cert, which is what most employers actually care about.

Even for foreign language degrees, a majority of your credit is going to come from liberal arts.

>>5255507
This. What you're doing will basically amount to keeping your mom from bitching at you by putting a lot of money into a useless degree.

I was in a similar position, no job, stopped going to school because I had no motivation to continue. My parents aren't the type who accept a 22 year old NEET, so my ass joined the Air Force. I figure sacrificing 4 years of my life to go back to being a hikki afterward is a decent deal.

cool story bro

Take up jogging or biking.
It does wonders for your self-esteem.

Don't bother going to school if you aren't motivated, you'll end up dropping out and costing yourself a lot of time and money.
Taking a break was smart, I wish I'd done that instead of just going hikki.

Either do the Japanese degree or don't do anything.

>>5255622
Thanks. This came up later than I expected, actually.

>>5255622
Go back to school, Sion!

>>5255621
I realize a lot of /jp/ers join the Air Force...I'm actually kinda interested as to why. I've never looked into it, but I always see people posting about it. Isn't that balls-breaking-difficulty?


>>5255619
Hmmm....So, if I DID want to actually get into Japanese, I'd be better off just self studying and taking the JLPT?

>>5255621
Should have joined the Army

Ride a helicopter, dodge a few sandniggers. Come back home and claim you have mental instabilities. Live off of govt. for the rest of your life.

Reported.

>>5255668
You join either the Navy or the Air Force because neither of those see any actual combat. The Air Force at least seems more appealing because a very small margin of those enlisted actually become pilots, most get shafted into doing maintenance and repairs.

>>5255669

>>5255668
It's just viral marketing with recruiters trying to tap into the NEET market.

>>5255668
Air Force? Basic training disciplines you and whatever comes after is easier than the other military branches.

Dude, if it's a choice between a degree in Japanese and none at all just study what you want to study. Maybe minor in Education just to keep a couple options open.

I will warn you that, although a degree in ANYTHING will help you out in terms of prospective employment, your choices may run slim. You may find yourself having to apply for positions FAR OUTSIDE your field of study after you graduate. That's why I would highly recommend pursuing Higher Ed as well. At least then you could get a position as a professor which isn't so bad.

>>5255669
Fuck that, this Chair Force job I have lined up is fucking cushy as hell, plus I get Top Secret clearance and a Security Plus certificate. That equates to fucking Department of Defense level jobs in the normal world.

>>5255668
/jp/ does the AF over the other services because it's the "intellectual" branch, and even then it's pretty low tier. The real benefit is the free college tuition, and GI Bills. You join the Army/Marines to make a career out of it, you join the Air Force to siphon the benefits for your term of enlistment, and then go back to your life.

>>5255685
Not OP, but interested as to why everyone talks about the Air Force here.

So, you go to the Air Force for 4 years, get shafted...then what exactly do you do? Government pays you for being a pretty cool dude? That's what I got from some posts I've seen. You just get Govt. paychecks after going through their training?

>>5255698
What about the Navy?

>>5255705
Then the government pays your way through college and you become a normal.

My friend was an asian studies major and is going to be in japan translating for some JET corporate thing or another (not the teach in japan thing) next year. He has studied abroad for a couple of semesters and seems to be pretty happy with his life in japan. I heard that he fit in pretty well there despite being a gaijin and is planning on staying in japan forever or at least until his contract runs out (5 years?).

Anyway, tldr, he's gotten a respectable japanese job with an asian studies major (really a japanese major) and is enjoying himself. He had to work his ass off to get there though (4.0 gpa etc etc) though so... just to warn you, the going might be tough.

>>5255705
The point is the get a job that actually translates into a normal job in the civilian world, which is where the Army and shit falls short. What good is a fucking missile armament specialist in the real world? What can a tank driver do?

With the AF, you aim for a job that has a normal life counterpart, do your four years, then cross over into that civilian job, which typically pays better if you play your cards right.

>>5255497
Just drop out

No point in wasting your time and money doing something that won't do shit for you. I say either join the airforce or move to japan and become a baka gajin

>>5255711
I don't know much about the Navy, it's about as good as the Air Force in terms of benefits, and staying away from the frontline, though.

Plus, we've been beefing up our pacific defenses, meaning you have a good chance of being stationed in Japan, Hawaii, Guam, or Korea. Hell, with the Air Force, you're given a "dream sheet" of bases you wish to go to. If you choose Korea, it's almost guaranteed you're spending a year in Osan.

>>5255619

This anon speaks truth. It is wise to study Japanese via self study/JLPT and do something useful in college. Unfortunately in the current market, and its probably not gonna change, you will need to make yourself marketable and useful. Japanese itself is not entirely useful, but its not entirely without use either. As mentioned earlier, having a degree is much more powerful than not having one, it at least shows that you went through the BS and finished something.

I suggest you choose a self study japanese site like YesJapan, or the TaeKim guide, other internet resources, then study something that you would enjoy and be useful in college.

>>5255797

OP, if you'd like some assistance in this matter, please email me. I have gone through a similar process as you are considering.....

>>5255497

I'm a CS grad, JLPT 2 certified, lived in Japan for a while teaching English.

Majoring in Japanese is a terrible idea in general, unless you really want to become a translator. If you want to translate, Japanese <-> English is actually a very strong language pair and probably a good career path. On the other hand, completing a Japanese major and then getting certified as a translator is fucking hard, and it doesn't really give you many good career prospects besides translating.

If you're thinking about doing this because you want to live in Japan or whatever, forget that. The vast majority of foreigners working in Japan are involved in education, IT, or the entertainment industry, and you don't really need to be fluent in Japanese for any of those.

That said, if you really want to pursue it and it motivates you, go for it. How many people end up working in industries related to their degree any way, like less than a third? A degree is just a piece of paper that helps you get a better job, and most people graduate college and still don't know what the fuck they want out life anyway.

For the record, my Japanese study has all been either self-study or immersion learning (when I was living there) and that's been more than enough to get me to JLPT2, which is the level needed to get a job many places in Japan. If you really want to learn and you have good motivation, you'll get there with or without an expensive college degree.

>>5255797
Ah, yeah. I've completed the grammar guide, and I'm currently building vocab and kanji. Problem would be telling my mother that I'm going to continue my self studies until I'm ready for the exam.

>>5255861
Why is Suika in a cunt?

Get a CS degree. Move to NYC. Get a six-figure salary. Buy figures of your waifu.

>>5255861

Most valid points here, I think.... But... if OP is deciding to actually go and live in Japan, a degree will be a requirement for getting a work visa, UNLESS marriage happens, which I don't suggest. You will be tied to something that may not be so awesome in the end. The degree method of work visa is probably the most safe and flexible in terms of work ability.

>>5255861
If you have a CS degree, why would you teach English?

My company has an impossible time hiring programmers, all we get are Indian retards with H1-Bs. Anyone with half a brain could beat them out, and make a lot more than you ever could in Japan.

You are just a little depressed. Get some therapy and you will have motivation enough to concentrate on other things. But change your college's course if you don't like IT.

/jp/ will hate this post and think it's a bad idea.

>>5255880
I live in NYC, actually...But I suck in math, so I went IT instead of CS since there's less math involved...still an assload of math though... Not looking forward to doing that at all.

>>5255861
Thanks for your input, man.

I don't plan on moving to Japan or anything. I would actually like to continue self study since I've made it so far on my own already. I'm just bugged by my mother to get into college again, and she doesn't know I've been studying this whole time...

Actually, I was studying Japanese before college. I go at my own pace though, so I'm not exactly at the point most people would be after all the time I've spent studying, but it's the only thing I've actually been interested enough in to study every day and enjoy learning.

Might try immersion to boost my learning a bit. Not sure if my mother would agree on that or not, but worth suggesting.

>>5255894

It was a lifestyle over career choice. I had an awesome time in Japan, learned the language, enjoyed the delicious food, traveled all over the country, met some great people, and learned to think outside of the American cultural box that I was raised with. I don't regret having done it at all.

>>5255888

Sure, you still need at least some kind of degree. It doesn't have to be a Japanese degree though; in fact, it's probably better if it isn't.

This thread isn't shitty - you're shitty.

How does it feel to be a complete cliché? .

>>5255908
I've gone to therapy. Multiple times in my life actually. Never worked for me. I'm too timid to actually talk to them anyway, so they try to get me to open up and I end up making a lie that'd end the conversation without even knowing.

>>5255933
Oh. Well at least the thread isn't shitty. That's a plus, I guess.

>>5255919
In NYC, it is almost impossible to hire qualified programmers. Just being able to speak english and remain awake will get you a job in the financial industry. We barely managed to fill 2 of 3 positions, then had to fire one of them because it was an Indian guy who fell asleep on the job repeatedly.

>>5255919
lol, u pregnant OP?

Fun fact: most companies don't give a shit what you majored in, they only want to see that 4 year degree.

>>5255940
Then get some anti-depressants. Anything, really. Just do something about it.

It would be wonderful to learn Japanese at home, then get a job translating, but that won't really happen if you're even a little depressed. I know from personal experience. Not saying you want that, of course.

Just don't choose any path until you deal with the depression. Some paths may look very attractive, but they will fail (too) if you don't deal with the issues you currently have.

>>5255942
shit really?

I'm in california fighting tooth and nail for ~50k jobs against people with 2-4 years of experience in the industry.
I think I need to move... its been 6mo and 90% of employers are just passing over me to hire people with 2+ years of experience for the same price.

>>5255973
That's what you get for living in a shitty state.

>>5255956
Oh, took me a while to get. Op has been posting images of that girl as a representation of himself. Didn't make that connection until your post had me double checking.

getting a degree in a foreign language isn't the worst idea you could have. it's not the best idea, but it's better than nothing, my friend actually majored in shakespeare, and swedish and was able to get a job working for valve for a few months translating there website to swedish.

>>5255973
Yes. Anything in NYC will pay a minimum of 100k for experience. Most of what you'll be competing against will be Indians with fake degrees claiming to have 20 years of .NET experience. Seriously, don't sound like a fuckhead, and you'll get a job. Lying is mandatory though.

/jp/ related: Nomura is hiring right now in fixed income technologies

Get a shitty 9-5 job and rot out your existence like everyone else.

>>5256003
Hey a cubicle is not that bad of a place to rot for the remainder of your life.

>>5255973
God damn, I know how you feel. It's worst in San Francisco, where in addition to having a fuckass time trying to hold a good job, the cost of living is horribly high too.

>>5255997
seems like lying is pretty much mandatory. I've hardly even used .net and went into an interview for a job that required 2-3 years of experience in it.
For the 'code test' I figured out the c# junk from what I know in java and passed. told me they eventually hired a person with 4 year experience and a masters for 60k over me though.

>>5255919
math is just a few classes. I hope you at least picked up the business + it route instead of the pure it route with database and network theory bs.
seriously... what did you have to take? calc line + linear algebra + stats + graph theory + computation theory + numerical analysis?

If you don't like problem solving I have to agree CS is a shitty major. I should have gone comp E or chem E, but too late now.

>>5256039
could be worse. I would rather do a 9-5 office job with some laid back work than a 7-5 hard labor job for half the pay.

>>5255497
as for the OP, I would recommend against a Japanese major because I have seen far too many people come back to school for a 2nd degree after they were jobless for the majority of a year (I live in narutard central, san jose CA).
If you do something like international business+Japanese, applied econ+Japanese, or a science+Japanese you can make it work. If you really want to take classes at university, take a minor in Japanese so you get to skip some of the major overlap of asian studies, and just focus on the base language classes + a few speaking ones that interest you and supplement with self study while going for jlpt1/2.

>>5256044
yep, san jose here. I live in palo alto so my rent is cheaper ($1500 for a 2 br) but I've had to commute to the city for contract based work.

I'm still wondering why you people even bother with degrees and college when you can be like me, start your own business and earn REAL HARD CASH! CONSUMABLES, CONSUMABLES, CONSUMABLES!!! I've been telling it for a long time... Stick to consumables... Goods that people will buy regardless of season... like printer inks...

All you need is one month of feasibility study + guts to make that first loan.