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What have you studied?

I have 2 degrees, BA and MA. I prefer not to give the exact titles, but basically, a foreign language (German) plus international relations/politics. I also have a TESOL certificate (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).

It wasn't easy. I had a lot of problems, no so much academic, more social, including mental health problems - and I nearly quit half way through, it was only my own stubborness that kept me going. Failing, dropping out was never an option - it was my parents who wanted me to quit, not me. I don't accept failure easily.

I also kept developing other obsessive interests unrelated to my studies, which then made it hard to stay focussed on what I was supposed to be studying, and this meant that I kept changing direction and have two unrelated degrees. In the middle of studying German, I suddenly wanted to learn Greek! I also had some problems because I insisted on using my own material on things/angles that interested me, and not what my tutors advised me to cover. This meant that I got lower grades than I could have got, but it was ok, I still passed and graduated.
 
First a one year business college degree that my Dad wanted me to get.
I didn't enjoy it, yet graduated 3rd for that year with 3.8 grade ave.

Then I went to University for a BS in fine arts and medicine.
On weekends I completed a teaching degree in modeling for Barbizon and
went on to teach that in Kansas City.
After the University which took 5 yrs to complete I started working for a pharmaceutical company.
Then much later in life I got an Associates in Metaphysical Arts. Just because it was a special interest
and I taught afterwards for three years in the same school I got the degree in.

Problems were anxiety which I've had since age 13, panic attacks, and physical health conditions.
Now I am retired and just study on my own what I find interesting.
 
So interesting to read these stories. There are alot of things I can easily relate to!

Hardly ever studied, just skimmed notes before a test.
This was possible at high and art school but in my master’s studies I have found that I need to actually study. The courses require so much academic writing that it is just not possible to pass if the groundwork has not been properly done.

until I was unable to find work due to age discrimination.
How old you were at that time?

8 years of madness!
:O know the game. My 4,5 years was utter madness too. I have wondered many times how my ex wanted to be with me. I owe her so much from keeping me out of the troubless...

Now things are calm.
That is great to hear! <3

I also kept developing other obsessive interests unrelated to my studies, which then made it hard to stay focussed on what I was supposed to be studying,
Hahaha... I have this same problem. During the past few months I have started to study also coding (Python), Russian language, retargeting (marketing) and Artificial Intelligence/machine learning... I keep it quite likely that I also have some ADD traits.

After the University which took 5 yrs to complete I started working for a pharmaceutical company.
How was it? Did it pay well? I have understood that pharmaceutical industry is very profitable business?
 
BSc Environmental Management, took 3 years, got a First (Summa Cum Laude to Americans). MSc Environmental Science, took 1 year, got a Distinction. Currently about half way through a part time PhD, 2 years done. Not sure if a PhD counts as "studying" though.
 
BA Honours in English Literature and Creative Writing. It took me a while to realise I don't actually care about the subject. Oops
:D I know how that feels. I have studied, and even teached quite alot of storytelling... but am more of a list guy. Sure I can come up with a script or skilled story, but that is not my passion.
 
BSc Environmental Management, took 3 years, got a First (Summa Cum Laude to Americans). MSc Environmental Science, took 1 year, got a Distinction. Currently about half way through a part time PhD, 2 years done. Not sure if a PhD counts as "studying" though.
Nice! What you concretely do?
 
I studied performing arts, and also did the Prince's Trust in 2005. A long time ago now! :)
How did it go? I once tried to get in acting school when I was 19y old BUT luckily got rejected. It would have killed me because of the stress it would have caused.
 
Hm, alot of people here with alot of college stuff.

Not really like that myself. I do have a degree, associates in computer science, but the whole thing was an utter waste of time. The idea at the time was to get me into a career in computer stuff, with the eventual goal of doing game development, a long-time dream of mine. But no employer cares one bit about a mere associates degree. And on top of that, those years in college taught me... nothing. Nothing at all. I already knew all that crap.

And not from being taught in school. I do best learning on my own, but I dont study traditionally. Like, back when I was a kid, I learned to use computers. This was back in the DOS era... the idea of a "user friendly" interface was non-existent. Nobody instructed me on how to do it, I simply figured it all out on my own. It wasnt long before I was considered the tech-savvy one in the family, despite still being a kid. I learned Basic programming and other stuff.

School, on the other hand, didnt really do anything. My grades were awful, and remained awful until graduation. I remember, I always used to argue with my parents about it... my view was that none of what they were teaching would ACTUALLY be necessary for me, or even remotely useful. Years later, I turned out to be correct... mostly. The ONE thing I learned from my school days was how to type on a keyboard. For that alone... I am grateful. But other than that? School was mostly teachers trying to jam things I didnt care about into my head. Homework was usually forgotten and schoolbooks were mostly unused. Rarely paid attention in class.

Now, the one problem with the "learn on my own" technique is that, while I know alot of stuff, my knowledge tends to be filled with random holes. Like, fixing computer problems for instance. If you take a messed up PC to a professional, you get an efficient, elegant solution. If you take it to me, you get the equivalent of duct-taping a car back together. Good example: A friend of mine was once having major problems with their PC, a few years ago. These werent easily defeated problems. It required going deep. Had to enter the BIOS and do all sorts of funky things and go even deeper than that. It was complicated. Afterwards, I got lots of praise for fixing it. But in reality, I'd never seen any of those bits before. I confusedly smashed my way through various parts of the internal stuff, and simply did whatever seemed like a good, logical idea at the time. I sure as hell never let my friends know that, though. Made sure to look like I'd done it before. And you know what? It really did work. Which is how it usually goes. My fixes are screwy... but they do the job.

This kept up constantly. While I never got a career as a game developer... and in fact, do not work actual "jobs" anymore (havent done that in like 10 years), a couple of years ago I was offered a development contract by an indie dev that I'd gotten to know. In THAT case, I did make sure to warn him about my various problems, and the bizarre way I was likely to approach any content I decided to add. Not only was he fine with that, but I was given alot of authority over the project. Working with an indie dev isnt the same as working for a professional company. They cared only about the results... they didnt care how I got those results. And indeed, the stuff I made was all sorts of weird, when it came to the underlying code. There's one particular boss fight where I completely made it from scratch, and afterwards... had no bloody clue how it worked. Oh, it DOES work. But I dont know how. I could stare at that twisted mass of code all day and not figure it out. That happens for me sometimes. In the end, the whole project came out very well. The whole time though, I kept thinking "I'm going to screw this up, arent I".

So yeah, that's how I learn and "study", and the sorts of often-funky results it produces. I know ALOT of stuff from learning on my own, but I'm not "professional' at all in the results of putting that knowledge to use. What does make it really work is that I'm really good at logic, and *really* good at extrapolation. It makes up for that lack of professional efficiency and keeps that duct tape from falling off.

And really I'm totally fine with that. I *hated* school, and hated every job I ever had. And with what the gaming industry has become.... working for a big company making games would have been the worst of all. I feel like I dodged a bullet there. No... a hailstorm of cannonballs. It's THAT bad. I'm so, SO glad I didnt end up doing that.


There, I'm done ranting. Sorry, I always make long annoying posts. It's what I do.
 
But no employer cares one bit about a mere associates degree.

Thank you from your rant. It was very intresting to read. There are many things I can relate to!

I actually studied and worked in game industry for few months. It was also indie company, only around 10 people studio. I got in because there was this training program where our goverment pays nearly all of the expences for the company and for the student to help game industry get more workforce.

It however did not work for me as the game turned to be massive flop and one by one we needed to seek new places to work in after a few months. With that experience I was also able to say that I was not too intrested about developing games. The best places were for coders and I was just a storyteller and marketer. Later I did learn to do 3D modeling and animation by my own and got some offers from game companies but at that point had already decided to focus more on marketing and sales.

The part where I can relate you very well Misery is that I also have the tendency to learn myself things. Like the 3D mentioned above. And I also have these blind spots. I guess this is why I went to study Master's degree in communications. To know all the boring stuff. But oh boy it has been boring to study all that. :D

P.s. I have worked atleast in 15-20 professions in my life due to my ability to work my way around fast with things (technical and creative). I am not that good in anything I suppose but know abit about shitloads of things.
 
How was it? Did it pay well? I have understood that pharmaceutical industry is very profitable business?
The profitable part of pharmaceuticals is Big Pharma.
The drug companies themselves. Always inventing some new medicine with a list of side effects that
if you can survive them you might be helped. Always getting approval from the FDA through lobbying.

What I did would be middle class profitable.
I filled scripts, packaged medicine in blister packs, worked in the sterile room packing medical equipment
where you had to dress up in what looked like a space suit.
I also had delivery routes to institutions such as jails and nursing homes.
Bring in the new orders, take back the old unused orders so I had a panel van for that.
I also did order checks and placement of the orders into the correct routes.
So I had various duties. All of which did not involve working with the public.
It was a large wholesale company. Partly owned by Mauch Care pharmacies and
the sterile packing part was for Johnson and Johnson.

I liked it since I did not have to deal with the public and much of the work was on my own in my
space of the building. It could be very tiring on the weekends I was on call though.
Might not get any sleep for two days depending on how many emergency orders were needed.
 

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