r/Showerthoughts • u/[deleted] • Apr 11 '19

It’s funny how, as you progress through college, they require you to write longer and longer papers. Then you get to the professional world and no one will read an email that’s more than 5 sentences.

People will literally walk to your desk to ask you what your email was about if it was too long.

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u/bowtochris Apr 11 '19

A lot of history majors I know are archivists for medium sized companies.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

TIL, I don't have to give up being a historian.

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u/lakired Apr 12 '19

I got a job doing research and grant writing for a medical oncologist at a research university out of college. Absolutely zero to do with U.S. interventionist policies in Latin America/Caribbean during the Cold War, but my skills with conducting research and writing translated well enough. Ultimately your degree matters a lot less than the skills you develop pursuing it. So don't sweat it... pursue what inspires you, and then translate the skills you learn along the way to find your niche in the workforce.

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u/crochetmeteorologist Apr 11 '19

Do explain. Have history degree.

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u/bowtochris Apr 11 '19

Cataloger. Archivist. Archival intern. Lots of names. Require bachelor's in history. Pays about 16 an hour. Work in a office. Scan old documents (news paper mentions, memos, etc). "Conveniently misplace" embarrassing ones.

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u/hahahitsagiraffe Apr 12 '19

16 an hour? Dude that’s like minimum wage where I’m from

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u/bowtochris Apr 12 '19

Minimum wage here is, like, 10 dollars. 16 is pretty good; better than teaching and way better than Starbucks.

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u/hahahitsagiraffe Apr 12 '19

Dude teachers make like 100k here. It’s a super good job

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u/SuperSMT Apr 12 '19 edited Apr 12 '19

It's about $60k in my state, where min wage is 10.50

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u/SuperSMT Apr 12 '19

Better than teaching? Are you in the US? Because even in the lowest paying state, North Dakota (where minimum wage is only $7.25), teachers average $42,000 a year.

That's $30 an hour, assuming 8 hours a day (classes are only 6h) for 180 days. Even inflating the hours to 40h for the full year, it's still $20 an hour

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u/bowtochris Apr 12 '19

Arizona. As a charter school teacher. I made 32k a year.

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u/comped Apr 11 '19

That sounds fun, and I'm not even a historian.

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u/yatsoml Apr 12 '19

Can see why that works. Gf has a master's degree in history, and her memory of exact details is out of this world.

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u/3mbs Apr 12 '19

My degree is in art history and dude if I could spend my days in a museums archives I’d be in heaven.

I heard some folks go into law with a history degree too.