Twitter Poll: Do You Work in the Same Field as Your Degree?

While I haven’t decided whether I’m making a habit of this, earlier today I asked Twitter users whether their current job is related to the field in which they earned a bachelor’s degree. The unique thing about Twitter is that responses are limited to 280 characters, so it’s a challenge to condense a full thought into one response.

Since I am assuming that those who responded publicly are fine with me posting their answers with attribution, here are some of the responses.

• Mmmeg: LOL! Majors were classical studies (Latin) & Spanish linguistics, minors linguistics & foreign lang. ed. I work at a fashion site.
• frugalbabe: nope. degree in psychology, minors in math and econ… working in the health insurance industry.
• ericyng: No. I work in IT.
• PenelopePince: B.A. in Interdiscplinary Studies: Linguistics, Spanish, French, Madarin & German; Minor in Music. I own a pet clothing business.
• nodebtplan: in Bus. Management — working as a recruiter now… so I’m in the business world. Kind of a broad degree. Working on MBA as well.
• Gingerlatte: BA Criminal Justice Yes. I work with women who are on post release by providing psychotherapy and group counseling.
• TheHappyRock: Yes, Comp Science. Although I do have an MBA now too.
• bripblap: have a BA in math, MBA in accounting and working in accounting – so half and half
• Private: I have a B.A. in Art History. I got an M.A. in the same field, then an MSLS. I’m back to working with art history now, but in a library.
• conedude13: Kind of. have a bs in ee but am programming c++ code but am considered an engineer in my dept. Confusing, but was doin civil eng b4.
• MrsMicah: English a field? i mean, English lit and libraries kinda go together…
• SunFinancial: BS, MS, and PhD all in EE, am working in that field.
• uppervalleymom: BA in Government,MS in Evaluative Clinical Sciences (public health-y)working PT at business school now, but was in nonprofit exec dir
• guppie: B.S. in biology, working in web development
• hank_MiB: BA in studio art. currently IT manager, but still do a bit of art on the side
• BurgBarbL: I majored in history and English and use skills from both of those in my field (publishing), if not in lit or history directly

By my count, there are seven polled whose work does not somewhat relate to their bachelor’s degree while ten who are employed in roughly the same field. There is a lot of pressure for high school juniors and seniors to choose a school and their career path or a “major.” Should there be so much pressure when students are still trying to determine their long-term goals and discover their talents?

I decided my career path early on in high school, without much pressure, but I eventually steered my life in a different direction, like a good portion of the people who responded to the poll. While my major remained constant throughout college, my minor floated from computer science to psychology to music management/music business, but during that time I was interested in at least two others.

This poll will tie into an upcoming article. Thanks to everyone who participated. Follow me on Twitter to participate in future polls.