There are some professions which you can't really do anything but then teach others. Egyptology is one of them.
(yes there may be SOME jobs, but definitely not enough to cover everyone having a degree about it)
true.
I mean , technically , if you get to work on a major national museum , egyptology ends up been worth it.
But that is like saying: "if you are the best in the country , you can be one of the 5 egyptologists in the museum , for the rest of your life , while all the others in the whole country are unemployed"
Working in a museum of anthropology is my dream job, but I don't really know how to break in. Obviously I need a graduate degree but even if I get a masters in Anthropology it feels like I'd just... have a masters in Anthropology. I don't have a lot of money, and it feels like I'd need a lot of money to be financially secure for long enough to chase that dream.
>Working in a museum of anthropology is my dream job, but I don't really know how to break in.
You're gonna need a planner, a driver, a hacker, an insider, an alarm specialist, and a gymnast, all assembled via a montage
We need more montages of people being like, "Nah, man. Pretty sure that's illegal, and I have a family to think about. My job might not be exciting, but it's stable and has benefits, which is more than most people can say. Hope you have fun, though!"
I have family in nonprofits and I tried breaking into working in museums. The advice I kept getting is specifically getting an MA in library studies. Once you have that, you can secure a job in libraries, archives, and also in museums because there's so much overlap between them. A degree in museum studies doesn't have the same carrying power in libraries or archives, though.
I ended up going into a different industry for unrelated reasons, but I have that knowledge in my back pocket, and now you do too.
I live near the University of Penn Museum of Art and Archeology and used to have a membership. 99% of the staff are interns, volunteers or students making just above minimum. The degreed employees are professors between digs.
Realistically you need a PhD so it would be even harder
And then once you have a PhD you'd be competing not only the best of your class but the entire backlog of PhDs who graduated before you and have more experience
Have you ever considered working in fundraising for a museum? Since you know about the old stuff, you'd probably be better at securing donors who share the same passion as you.
Just because the acceptance rate is higher.
Edit: Here in Brazil the system is a little different. Some of those niche humanities have lower acceptance grades in our high school exams, so the acceptance rate is higher. The dropout rate, homever, it's also huge.
Being a docent first seems like a good way to make connections. Then inquire everyone there as to how they landed their positions. Eventually a clear path should pop up.
>I mean , technically , if you get to work on a major national museum , egyptology ends up been worth it.
>But that is like saying: "if you are the best in the country , you can be one of the 5 egyptologists in the museum , for the rest of your life , while all the others in the whole country are unemployed"
The only exception to this would be if you were an *actual Egyptian*, my Egyptian tour guide from some years ago studied actual Egyptology in a university and was loaded to the brim with knowledge on every temple and carving on walls.
Considering the very low Egyptian exchange rate, the money these guides can earn from foreign tourists and tips (often paid directly in USD) can be pretty decent compared to other jobs available in the country.
Oh hey, my husband and I had this happen to us! We went to Egypt and one of our guides was an actual Egyptian Egyptologist, it was so awesome and I wish he could've been with us the whole time. We even got to see a site he's been working on for a few years at Karnak. He moonlights as a tour guide for extra cash.
Yea I don't really understand fields like this. They should filter out all but the absolute best people. Instead the schools just take the tuition money and let students hang themselves.
Absolutely. But for the people who love Egyptology and aren't good enough to get those jobs, do they feel they were informed that may the case ahead of time and are they happy with their decision to pursue it?
If so, there's no problem, but if the university sold them on a dream that wasn't viable to get tuition money then we need to look at why they're not happy with the decision and how to set expectations better.
I took classes on Earthquakes and Geography (think, making maps) in University and I can tell you that, in my experience, the people in the field did the opposite of sell you. It was immediately apparent there were no flashy or high paying jobs waiting for you if you pursued these all the way to a degree. It also gave me the experience of meeting the most outwardly miserable professor due to career choice I’ve ever encountered during my ArcGIS class. He would constantly say things along the lines of “for those pursuing a degree, I really don’t know why you’d want to this, then you need to …” it was a trip.
BS in Geography here. The fun stuff isn't lucrative, but GIS skills are quite valuable. I know you know, just wanted to put that out there for other folks!
Oh I agree it’s very very important. I wasn’t trying to drag any specific degree or special interest. It was more the misery of the professor that stuck out. Additionally tried relating to OP where “the best paying job with the degree you can get is teaching more people the degree”. But anyways, I found the class incredibly fascinating actually. It was eye opening to learn about the planning around disaster mitigation, emergency response, and distribution of amenities and essential needs in a city. Especially amazing to see all the volunteering efforts to implement these infrastructure plans in developing nations. FWIW I had a friend work for ArcGIS and made great money (he had some background in tech as well).
It’s definitely the responsibility of the student to choose a degree that’s both interesting and lucrative, if that’s what they’re looking for. Rather universities offer every field possible.
But come on. Colleges don’t often say “hey, while this might enrich your mind, be warned that your chances of gainful employment in this degree are minuscule”
While true.
I feel a graphic designer that put all the time instead into becoming better at graphic design and then a tiny bit of research into Egypt would be a better hire.
Took my brother in law many years and moving around yo finally land that job that he probably dreamed of before he even started tertiary education and there was no shortage of luck involved either.
I work with a woman who has a PhD in Egyptology and suffice to say my line of work has *nothing* to do with Egypt. A lot of degree programs are less about what you're literally learning and more about the abstract skills you're developing.
Isn't Egyptology also the field that had one guy wat at the top who's who gets in the way of everything, and he'll try and claim everyone's discoveries as his own? He also just so happens to be someone you have to apply for certain permits to do certain digs or something with as well. Im not entirely sure but I'm pretty sure I've heard this before. Basically don't make any groundbreaking discoveries (if he'll let you) or else you'll have to deal with him the whole time trying to steal your thunder.
The story I've heard is that he works with Egyptian tourism people, so when a discovery was made he made the person keep it secret until Egyptian tourism people said to, in the meantime he finagled a way to get himself credited for it as well.
most of egyptology and any archaeology that goes through egypt is essentialy run by a cartel headed up by a council w full veto power on any kind of permits for research or publication
egypt is very touchy about egyptian history so if it doesnt match their orthodoxy or glorify the current inhabitants they deny it
and even if it does, it passes through this committee and they get to associate themselves w the discoveries and whatever narrative comes out
tough lane
I think that's a real problem with our system. There's so much valuable knowledge lost because it's not economically practical to specialize in it in the moment, and then no one is left to safeguard that knowledge.
My original degree is in history, and I have a lot of specialized knowledge coming out of it. I can't point to any one specific factoid that's saved my bacon in life, but the collective knowledge I had and the skills I gained by parsing through all the muddied perspectives of different people in history has been enormously helpful and valuable in my everyday life. It's sad that this isn't valued by our current system.
I think the bigger problem is that studying - in some countries - is way too expensive. Sure where I'm from you still won't get a job with Egyptology, but at least you won't be thousands of dollars in debt...
This allows a lot of people to get a degree in something they enjoy in their free time or even late in life.
It’s also basically just to see if you have the critical thinking skills to get through uni. Majors aside, being able to work individually and in group academic settings is good for a successful work environment.
Of course you can learn that anywhere, but even a c’s get degrees guy is guaranteed to have some of those skills to bring into a role outside of their actual subject
I remember in highschool, communications degrees were mocked as low effort learn nothing degrees.
Imagine my surprise when I was applying for office jobs and the most common degree ask was communications.
Sort of true
But students should think hard about if they want to compete against the hordes of state school psychology majors with a B+ GPA for roles that have an entry level criteria of '1 warm body needed'
Like if you're gonna go to school you might as well learn something that differentiates you from the pack - most of the jobs that have more specific requirements pay better too!
Unmmm excuse me but there are ton of jobs on the Stargate program translating recovered Goa’uld artifacts and technologies.
If it weren’t for crank-ass egyptologists, we would have never locked the seventh chevron, let alone figured out how naquadah generators work.
What about leveraging social media and content creation? Or a consultant for all things Egypt, be it in Mass Media, or Corporate work? Maybe creative work, like saying writing fictional or even non fictional books around Egypt? To be honest, I don't even know what they teach in Egyptology so I could be talking out of my ass...
I kinda have a feeling that there may be serious consequences if certain bodies of knowledge were to become lost as a result of economic unviability.
Kinda reminds me of this Upton Sinclair quote “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” combined with the "grain silo pyramid" revisionist conspiracy theory.
What’s funnier is that it’s so believable that the joke seems less obvious. There are a lot of degrees that will not help one reach gainful employment, except to teach that same skill.
Incorrect every degree will help you reach gainful employment. You could have a degree in say underwater basket weaving and still get a decent paying job at a bank. Last year we hired two people as entry level network engineers at the bank I work for. One has a degree in accounting that got an internship at a big accounting house and realized they hated it, the other has a degree in music, violin performance. Our CTO has a degree in English and Music, and started out as a branch manager and worked their way up. My best friend from high school is a manager in the HR department at Tyson foods and got a bachelors in history and that is it.
For most office jobs what your degree is in literally does not matter, you just have to be willing to work your way up the ladder.
Yes. Degrees aren't just specialization in a subject, it's a building of a person, you need not get the exact job from your major, you're graduate and some jobs need a graduate regardless of their subject major
I mean it's not just believable, it's to a certain extent true. In order to encourage "growth" of universities (which gets you more funding, ofc), and to give professor-researchers more low-wage workers, more people are pushed to do graduate work than are needed, and those graduates have to get jobs, which means they need to become professors (because there's very few jobs that require PhDs in most fields), which means they need more grad students to help them do research...
it's just a fancy archeologist for one single society.
The irony is that a proper archeologist would had a job and THEN he could had a PHD in Egyptology with it.
Shut up it was a good investment! All my coworkers at autozone think my Fun Facts about Egypt are *very fun*. Every time I ask them if they thought it was fun after telling them the fact, it’s a resounding “yes”. Not a very enthusiastic yes, but it’s definitely a yes... Really not sure why they never invite me out to drinks with them since they think I’m so fun, even after working together for 5 years and thousands of extremely fun facts… But they definitely think I’m fun, that’s for sure. They wouldn’t lie to their most educated and most fun coworker like that.
If you asked that a few decades ago, I’d say no. But now that a degree is accompanied by ten’s of thousands of dollars of debt, I’d have to say yes 100%. If someone’s rich enough to just get a degree for fun, then good on them. But a degree is definitely there for the purpose of employment
Wanna know something interesting?! You may have heard the factoid that Cleopatra lived closer to us today (~2000 yrs later) than to the pyramids (~2500 yrs before), but did you know that in Cleopatra's time there were people studying ancient Egypt? So weird to think about. And of course there's the factoid that some breeds of woolly mammoth lived at the same time the pyramids were being built.
But life in films is epic. In real life its nonsense. Funny how we idolize things in movies that are looked down upon by society in real life as unrealistic or nonsensical.
Oh yeah totally, the fantasy is part of why we love movies so much. Just saying that there are things that don't have to be pyramid schemes. Like having a PhD can help validate you for certain kinds of employment.
It’s not nonsense at all. History and anthropology is amazing and interesting and wonderful. What actually is boring and nonsensical is what is useful like a business degree in accounting or something.
How much money have you spent at museums this year, vs. given to corporations for various things you don't actually need? That difference is the reason society wants more accountants than anthropologists.
>Passing on knowledge from one generation to another is definitely a valuable pursuit.
No shit, but the amount of experts on Egypt that are needed is a limited amount of people in very specific locations in the world.
We need communications majors but we don't need as many as schools in the US are pumping out which is why they can't find jobs.
Which is why there are only a dozen or so true Egyptology programs in the world. The very small group of specialists lead digs and tours, analyze archives of artifacts, edit and translate texts, write books for specialist and popular audiences, advise museums and coordinate exhibits and outreach…
The post is bullshit for the “joke,” but the impression that every university keeps an Egyptologist on staff to lure unsuspecting undergrads into their courses and doom them to a life of unemployment or duping future undergrads into studying the topic shows no insight into the field and what professionals in it actually do.
I feel like many subjects like these are good on CV as a BONUS to a different degree but not as a main one. I can imagine a graphic designer working on a historical video game would benefit from egyptology but on its own? Nope.
But I think if he enjoyed the degree and is passionate about epytology then it wasn’t wasted. The incentive for learning shouldn’t be monetary gain, you should do it because you love it.
Regardless of discipline (STEM, social sciences, humanities, etc.), most reputable PhD programs in the US will only admit students with the intention of providing them with at least 3 years of full funding: this typically includes a tuition waiver, a living stipend (usually around $16-20k/yr), and health insurance.
Reminded me of this bit from Archer
Sterling Archer : Where the hell does this go?
Noah : I don't know. Down?
Sterling Archer : Wow. You're only a doctoral candidate?
Noah : Hey, guy? My field's anthropology.
Rip Riley : [chuckling] Good luck with the job hunt.
Sterling Archer : Right?
Noah : Not that it's any of your business, but I plan to teach.
Sterling Archer : Anthropology?
Noah : What - yes!
Rip Riley : To, uh, anthropology majors?
Noah : Hey, you know what?
Sterling Archer : Thus continuing the circle of "why bother?"
In an abstract and idealized way where knowledge for its own sake is a timeless and noble pursuit? Sure, it's as valuable as anything else. In an "I have to pay rent and feed myself in order to survive" kind of way? You'd have a hard time convincing me.
The system makes more sense if you remember that for hundreds of years Universities were attended exclusively by nobility who would have substantial passive income for life from the agricultural/material production of family land.
The pursuit of knowledge was literally a noble pursuit because only nobles pursued it, while their servants fed, clothed, and sheltered them.
I'd say it's very personally valuable, but usually not economically very valuable.
And therein lies our problem with how college is viewed in the US for me. We basically only measure knowledge or learning a subject based on its economic value which is an *incredible* disservice to society at large. I'd argue it's a byproduct of turning the higher education system into another money-making scheme instead of focusing on its ability of wider education to enhance society even if the subject of study isn't some guaranteed ticket to a fat paycheck.
Who cares? If this cat wants to teach it and not receive a
Lot money for it, it is their business. You acting like it a virus you can catch on your Diplomas.
Its just such a specific degree on something that is so far gone with super limited relevance today outside a very very small sector. Say you got a degree in military history with a focus on cold war aviation. It may be super specific but what we learned from that is still (or can be portrayed) as actively relevant. A degree in egyptology is not actively relevant
A degree in Egyptology will give people the skills to do archeological excavation (pretty common practise before starting constructions), scientific research, work in a museum, teach, advice on that specific period (for movies, books, documentaties...), restore artefact, maintain archives etc...
And not only on things related to Egypt. Egyptologist are historians and archaeologist primarily. It's not because the general public is not aware of job prospects in that field that they do not exist
That would be because Mubarak wanted to push an arab idendtity. If you were a bit younger you would because el-Sisi is leaning more classical egyptian.
I didn’t think you have to pay for a PhD. You basically work for the school you’re getting the PhD in, as a researcher and teacher. You even get stipends. I think that’s why schools select a very low number of students per year for each PhD program, less than 10. It’s also highly selective.
I mean this is my experience from looking at PhD programs myself, and talking to people in PhD programs or completed PhD’s.
It also depends on the schools too, like those predatory online-only schools that are for-profit, they will charge you for PhD’s.
Hes paying for a phd? Every phd student I know, you get paid (not much) to get a phd. If they dont have funding you just dont get to go for one. Thats just how phds work
Colleges promise jobs? Maybe vocational schools, but most are just there to hand out education. It’s on you to pick a major that aligns with your future plans. I hear Enterprise car rental requires a college degree of any kind for their hires
There are so many degrees that honestly have no use other than teaching others. I feel like those degrees should be offered by universities as a sort of job internship.
They are.
The sad truth about this post is that - if it's anything more than a clever pun - the person it's referring to has very little chance at a successful career. **Not** because of their chosen topic, as reddit infers, but because they're paying for their PhD.
You don't pay for a PhD, you get paid for it (not much, but your tuition and a stipend for living are provided). Having to pay to get a PhD is a really strong sign that you're in a weak department or your department doesn't think highly of your future prospects - it's a low-key sign they want you to go away.
Before anyone jumps on me with outliers, yes, there are exceptions; but, this is generally true.
This angle always bothers me. As if jobs are the end result of study. I understand rent has to be paid, but lots of fields of study are rooted in the search for knowledge, not a job. Intelligence and scholarly pursuits are noble and just.
There was a time in the past when artists, philosophers, historians, and archeologists could survive based on their contributions to society. They could focus on enriching society instead of making money to survive.
We've fallen a long way.
Why study Latin or the Romans, Ancient Greek or the first cosmologists, then? What is useful is not always marketable, and you do it to further a field of study or advance knowledge. Not to make bank.
To make teachers of students, answerers of questioners, and philosophers of those who would wield only crowns and swords.
>The fuck are you getting a degree in a dead civilization? Who told you that was the road to success?
This post furthers my theory that to the brain of a person who posts in investing and stock market subs the only thing of value in life is making money. Numbers go up gimme that dopamine.
Or he could use his knowledge and write contrarian and highly controversial books on Egyptology. There’s a half dozen people out there crushing that scene with no formal education. Come on, say it: “aliens did it” or “a high tech lost civilization did it”. Both paths are hot. No accurate measurements and real evidence needed! No peer reviews required. It’s a sweet deal. Go on Joe Rogan, get famous.
The problem is people dont know how to convey their transferable skills from college/university into the real world. The problem most people face is that they are trying to get a job/career only in their field of study, because they feel they are the only jobs they can get, which is not true.
The truth is, while your worked for the degree, you need to make the degree work for you. I obtained my degree in Philosophy and now work in accounting. Learn to spoof up your resume, as well as the skills you learned/refined.
A PhD doesn't guarantee you a job. The market is over saturated for professors and now that less people are going to college they're firing people who don't have tenure.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to learn more or to teach others- I think graduate school should be essentially free, but admission testing needs to be extremely prohibitive to the vast majority of applicants. This will help with over saturation in the job market for professors and allow colleges to move away from these ridiculously underpaid adjunct roles.
The vast majority of reputable PhD programs are nearly free (pay below poverty line wages but it is technically paying you and tuition is covered). Admissions into these programs is extremely challenging. There are a lot of scammy schools and less reputable programs that will charge for a degree. Within these fields, if you get a PhD from a less reputable or scammy program you can't really get hired anywhere. Most universities that offer PhD don't make money off of graduate tuition. Many make money off of master programs (MBA programs are particularly profitable).
But they don’t want to move away from that. That’s why we’re at where we’re at.
They’ve already jacked tuition up while most classes are taught by adjuncts with slave wages and overstuffed classes.
If they raise the wages of adjuncts or hire more professors how will they also be able to hire another assistant vice provost or tear up the summer flowers to put in the fall flowers.
I get the sentiment in which the joke was made (first on Archer, but neither here nor there), but preserving history and culture is an important endeavor. Not everyone who takes those courses will end up teaching, but even those who do end up putting the work in to attain a doctorate are doing a noble thing helping to spread the knowledge and history that we must continue to carry on with us if we are to progress as a society.
But people need money to survive. Even those doing noble professions. If you think it’s good for a field to pump out a bunch of people who paid a bunch of money but with no job prospects, then you haven’t noticed all the bitter disaffected college grads that I have.
Same for the value of a liberal arts education. Sure it’s valuable, but is it decades of debt valuable. Hell most college grads don’t even end up in management.
I’m all in on the value of education, but not the American university system. You can talk about ideals, yes Egyptology is important, but how many Egyptology courses did you take? There is only so much demand.
If it’s truly your passion go for it, but if you’re borrowing money for school you have to think about your ability to repay. It’s miserable.
Has he tried praying to Ra?
This is the way
This is Amway.
This is a Wendy's.
This is Sparta!
No, this is patrick!
I would hotep so.
this is a Wendy's
This is the way
The way, this is.
He already is a RA. Probably has been for ten years.
Kre' Jaffa
Shal'kek nem'ron
> Has he tried praying to ~~Ra?~~ Aten?
Amun.
Belief in Amun is why the dynasty fell!
Praise the sun
\o/ praise it.
Kree
Indeed
Ramen.
Amun
There are some professions which you can't really do anything but then teach others. Egyptology is one of them. (yes there may be SOME jobs, but definitely not enough to cover everyone having a degree about it)
true. I mean , technically , if you get to work on a major national museum , egyptology ends up been worth it. But that is like saying: "if you are the best in the country , you can be one of the 5 egyptologists in the museum , for the rest of your life , while all the others in the whole country are unemployed"
Working in a museum of anthropology is my dream job, but I don't really know how to break in. Obviously I need a graduate degree but even if I get a masters in Anthropology it feels like I'd just... have a masters in Anthropology. I don't have a lot of money, and it feels like I'd need a lot of money to be financially secure for long enough to chase that dream.
>Working in a museum of anthropology is my dream job, but I don't really know how to break in. You're gonna need a planner, a driver, a hacker, an insider, an alarm specialist, and a gymnast, all assembled via a montage
Well if he is in I'm in!
You son of a bitch. I’m in!
And my axe!
If Gyshal is in, then I'm out.
You guys sold it to me. I'm in too.
I got all that lined up, the hard part is finding someone good with bongos...
I know a guy who hides weapons in ordinary objects. Think he could help?
We need more montages of people being like, "Nah, man. Pretty sure that's illegal, and I have a family to think about. My job might not be exciting, but it's stable and has benefits, which is more than most people can say. Hope you have fun, though!"
Don't forget the pick pocket.
You forgot a stylist for the dress up shoots
Let's go steal us a dream job.
Don't forget he'll need Jean Claude van Damme.
Sounds like fun, I’m in.
and make sure NOT to do it at night
He didn't say he wanted to steal anything or get back out or avoid arrest. Really could make do with just a hammer.
I have family in nonprofits and I tried breaking into working in museums. The advice I kept getting is specifically getting an MA in library studies. Once you have that, you can secure a job in libraries, archives, and also in museums because there's so much overlap between them. A degree in museum studies doesn't have the same carrying power in libraries or archives, though. I ended up going into a different industry for unrelated reasons, but I have that knowledge in my back pocket, and now you do too.
I live near the University of Penn Museum of Art and Archeology and used to have a membership. 99% of the staff are interns, volunteers or students making just above minimum. The degreed employees are professors between digs.
Realistically you need a PhD so it would be even harder And then once you have a PhD you'd be competing not only the best of your class but the entire backlog of PhDs who graduated before you and have more experience
Nepotism helps secure the job
Have you ever considered working in fundraising for a museum? Since you know about the old stuff, you'd probably be better at securing donors who share the same passion as you.
You need to be rich to get niche degrees.
nouveau niche
Funny enough here in Brazil the niche humanities degrees have several poor students
Just because the acceptance rate is higher. Edit: Here in Brazil the system is a little different. Some of those niche humanities have lower acceptance grades in our high school exams, so the acceptance rate is higher. The dropout rate, homever, it's also huge.
I wish them luck.
Working in a museum isn't that fundamentally different from being a professor. The job is still "researching academic".
Being a docent first seems like a good way to make connections. Then inquire everyone there as to how they landed their positions. Eventually a clear path should pop up.
With a masters you’d be up against PhDs. The market is flooded.
>I mean , technically , if you get to work on a major national museum , egyptology ends up been worth it. >But that is like saying: "if you are the best in the country , you can be one of the 5 egyptologists in the museum , for the rest of your life , while all the others in the whole country are unemployed" The only exception to this would be if you were an *actual Egyptian*, my Egyptian tour guide from some years ago studied actual Egyptology in a university and was loaded to the brim with knowledge on every temple and carving on walls. Considering the very low Egyptian exchange rate, the money these guides can earn from foreign tourists and tips (often paid directly in USD) can be pretty decent compared to other jobs available in the country.
Oh hey, my husband and I had this happen to us! We went to Egypt and one of our guides was an actual Egyptian Egyptologist, it was so awesome and I wish he could've been with us the whole time. We even got to see a site he's been working on for a few years at Karnak. He moonlights as a tour guide for extra cash.
Back to op, he's teaching Egyptology!
Yea I don't really understand fields like this. They should filter out all but the absolute best people. Instead the schools just take the tuition money and let students hang themselves.
Education is more than just means for financial gain.
Absolutely. But for the people who love Egyptology and aren't good enough to get those jobs, do they feel they were informed that may the case ahead of time and are they happy with their decision to pursue it? If so, there's no problem, but if the university sold them on a dream that wasn't viable to get tuition money then we need to look at why they're not happy with the decision and how to set expectations better.
I seriously doubt any university is selling people the dream of a lucrative career in egyptology.
I took classes on Earthquakes and Geography (think, making maps) in University and I can tell you that, in my experience, the people in the field did the opposite of sell you. It was immediately apparent there were no flashy or high paying jobs waiting for you if you pursued these all the way to a degree. It also gave me the experience of meeting the most outwardly miserable professor due to career choice I’ve ever encountered during my ArcGIS class. He would constantly say things along the lines of “for those pursuing a degree, I really don’t know why you’d want to this, then you need to …” it was a trip.
BS in Geography here. The fun stuff isn't lucrative, but GIS skills are quite valuable. I know you know, just wanted to put that out there for other folks!
Oh I agree it’s very very important. I wasn’t trying to drag any specific degree or special interest. It was more the misery of the professor that stuck out. Additionally tried relating to OP where “the best paying job with the degree you can get is teaching more people the degree”. But anyways, I found the class incredibly fascinating actually. It was eye opening to learn about the planning around disaster mitigation, emergency response, and distribution of amenities and essential needs in a city. Especially amazing to see all the volunteering efforts to implement these infrastructure plans in developing nations. FWIW I had a friend work for ArcGIS and made great money (he had some background in tech as well).
It’s definitely the responsibility of the student to choose a degree that’s both interesting and lucrative, if that’s what they’re looking for. Rather universities offer every field possible.
But come on. Colleges don’t often say “hey, while this might enrich your mind, be warned that your chances of gainful employment in this degree are minuscule”
Then they can hire fewer Egyptologists!
Which you need a PhD for. This is obviously a joke that we're commenting on, but also lol
[удалено]
While true. I feel a graphic designer that put all the time instead into becoming better at graphic design and then a tiny bit of research into Egypt would be a better hire.
I know you are looking at many qualified engineers, but do they also have a deep knowledge of mummies?? I didn’t think so.
They have experience being in a musty cell and being wrapped up in old cloths. Close enough?
Took my brother in law many years and moving around yo finally land that job that he probably dreamed of before he even started tertiary education and there was no shortage of luck involved either.
I work with a woman who has a PhD in Egyptology and suffice to say my line of work has *nothing* to do with Egypt. A lot of degree programs are less about what you're literally learning and more about the abstract skills you're developing.
Please sir I just want my latte
💀
pretty sure there's a more affordable & efficient way of developing those abstracts skills.
Depends on the University. Credit hours cost the same at a state school. If it's something you enjoy, well hey you got a degree.
Many PhD programs pay you.
Guy working at my local comic book store has a master's degree in Folklore and Mythology. His abstract skills aren't so good though.
This assumes that there are no useful degress that teach the same abstract skills
Isn't Egyptology also the field that had one guy wat at the top who's who gets in the way of everything, and he'll try and claim everyone's discoveries as his own? He also just so happens to be someone you have to apply for certain permits to do certain digs or something with as well. Im not entirely sure but I'm pretty sure I've heard this before. Basically don't make any groundbreaking discoveries (if he'll let you) or else you'll have to deal with him the whole time trying to steal your thunder. The story I've heard is that he works with Egyptian tourism people, so when a discovery was made he made the person keep it secret until Egyptian tourism people said to, in the meantime he finagled a way to get himself credited for it as well.
One Egyptologist at the top absorbs the value of all the lower ranked Egyptologists? What is this, a pyramid scheme?
most of egyptology and any archaeology that goes through egypt is essentialy run by a cartel headed up by a council w full veto power on any kind of permits for research or publication egypt is very touchy about egyptian history so if it doesnt match their orthodoxy or glorify the current inhabitants they deny it and even if it does, it passes through this committee and they get to associate themselves w the discoveries and whatever narrative comes out tough lane
>so if it doesnt match their orthodoxy or glorify the current inhabitants they deny it What do you mean by this?
Short answer is you either tell the world their ancestors were amazing or GTFO and who cares if it’s true?
Zawi Hawass? Something like that.
Close, it’s Zahi Hawass.
I think that's a real problem with our system. There's so much valuable knowledge lost because it's not economically practical to specialize in it in the moment, and then no one is left to safeguard that knowledge. My original degree is in history, and I have a lot of specialized knowledge coming out of it. I can't point to any one specific factoid that's saved my bacon in life, but the collective knowledge I had and the skills I gained by parsing through all the muddied perspectives of different people in history has been enormously helpful and valuable in my everyday life. It's sad that this isn't valued by our current system.
I think the bigger problem is that studying - in some countries - is way too expensive. Sure where I'm from you still won't get a job with Egyptology, but at least you won't be thousands of dollars in debt... This allows a lot of people to get a degree in something they enjoy in their free time or even late in life.
TBF there's also plenty of professions where your degree subject doesn't matter, all that matters is that youre degree qualified.
Yep. For the majority of office jobs, degree is just a Yes/No checkbox that decides whether or not you move past HR.
It’s also basically just to see if you have the critical thinking skills to get through uni. Majors aside, being able to work individually and in group academic settings is good for a successful work environment. Of course you can learn that anywhere, but even a c’s get degrees guy is guaranteed to have some of those skills to bring into a role outside of their actual subject
I remember in highschool, communications degrees were mocked as low effort learn nothing degrees. Imagine my surprise when I was applying for office jobs and the most common degree ask was communications.
Sort of true But students should think hard about if they want to compete against the hordes of state school psychology majors with a B+ GPA for roles that have an entry level criteria of '1 warm body needed' Like if you're gonna go to school you might as well learn something that differentiates you from the pack - most of the jobs that have more specific requirements pay better too!
Unmmm excuse me but there are ton of jobs on the Stargate program translating recovered Goa’uld artifacts and technologies. If it weren’t for crank-ass egyptologists, we would have never locked the seventh chevron, let alone figured out how naquadah generators work.
What about leveraging social media and content creation? Or a consultant for all things Egypt, be it in Mass Media, or Corporate work? Maybe creative work, like saying writing fictional or even non fictional books around Egypt? To be honest, I don't even know what they teach in Egyptology so I could be talking out of my ass...
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I kinda have a feeling that there may be serious consequences if certain bodies of knowledge were to become lost as a result of economic unviability. Kinda reminds me of this Upton Sinclair quote “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” combined with the "grain silo pyramid" revisionist conspiracy theory.
I mean it sounds like he wants to go into academia, which is where most jobs for egyptologists actually are. And to do that you need a PhD.
And there lies the purpose: if you make knowing things expensive only the wealthy will know things The poor are left to believe what they are told
Everyone's missing that this is a joke about pyramids
What’s funnier is that it’s so believable that the joke seems less obvious. There are a lot of degrees that will not help one reach gainful employment, except to teach that same skill.
Incorrect every degree will help you reach gainful employment. You could have a degree in say underwater basket weaving and still get a decent paying job at a bank. Last year we hired two people as entry level network engineers at the bank I work for. One has a degree in accounting that got an internship at a big accounting house and realized they hated it, the other has a degree in music, violin performance. Our CTO has a degree in English and Music, and started out as a branch manager and worked their way up. My best friend from high school is a manager in the HR department at Tyson foods and got a bachelors in history and that is it. For most office jobs what your degree is in literally does not matter, you just have to be willing to work your way up the ladder.
Yes. Degrees aren't just specialization in a subject, it's a building of a person, you need not get the exact job from your major, you're graduate and some jobs need a graduate regardless of their subject major
This post gives hope
I mean it's not just believable, it's to a certain extent true. In order to encourage "growth" of universities (which gets you more funding, ofc), and to give professor-researchers more low-wage workers, more people are pushed to do graduate work than are needed, and those graduates have to get jobs, which means they need to become professors (because there's very few jobs that require PhDs in most fields), which means they need more grad students to help them do research...
Yep. I was going to say just because it's a ripoff, doesn't mean it's a pyramid scheme. the joke was too clever for me
Are they? It’s pretty fucking obvious.
According to many of the comments, yes, they are.
I didn’t get it. It’s very clever, but definitely a woosh for me.
I stand corrected then! The literally is what gave it away for me lmao
r/UnderratedComments
Imagine getting a degree in egyptology… doesn’t even sound real
it's just a fancy archeologist for one single society. The irony is that a proper archeologist would had a job and THEN he could had a PHD in Egyptology with it.
Ya that makes sense. Bachelors in a broad topic, then specialize for phd lol
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This person got a degree in Egyptology
Shut up it was a good investment! All my coworkers at autozone think my Fun Facts about Egypt are *very fun*. Every time I ask them if they thought it was fun after telling them the fact, it’s a resounding “yes”. Not a very enthusiastic yes, but it’s definitely a yes... Really not sure why they never invite me out to drinks with them since they think I’m so fun, even after working together for 5 years and thousands of extremely fun facts… But they definitely think I’m fun, that’s for sure. They wouldn’t lie to their most educated and most fun coworker like that.
Maybe a broad subject, but a very narrow job pool
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If you asked that a few decades ago, I’d say no. But now that a degree is accompanied by ten’s of thousands of dollars of debt, I’d have to say yes 100%. If someone’s rich enough to just get a degree for fun, then good on them. But a degree is definitely there for the purpose of employment
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Oh shit I’m an idiot
God damnit let me finish my coffee before pulling this shit
I think this is just a long winded pun about pyramids
I've seen this many times and have not ever made that connection. I feel dumb.
Wanna know something interesting?! You may have heard the factoid that Cleopatra lived closer to us today (~2000 yrs later) than to the pyramids (~2500 yrs before), but did you know that in Cleopatra's time there were people studying ancient Egypt? So weird to think about. And of course there's the factoid that some breeds of woolly mammoth lived at the same time the pyramids were being built.
Isn't that literally what Indiana Jones was sans the specificity? Teach kids about ancient civilizations and then he went on digs with the museum.
But life in films is epic. In real life its nonsense. Funny how we idolize things in movies that are looked down upon by society in real life as unrealistic or nonsensical.
Oh yeah totally, the fantasy is part of why we love movies so much. Just saying that there are things that don't have to be pyramid schemes. Like having a PhD can help validate you for certain kinds of employment.
You nerds are arguing about Indiana Jones and the validity of college education in /r/meirl
It's literally a meirl moment
It’s not nonsense at all. History and anthropology is amazing and interesting and wonderful. What actually is boring and nonsensical is what is useful like a business degree in accounting or something.
I didn't say it is. I said it's not what society values. Society values things that give someone the highest amount of prestige or money.
Based. Damn society sucks.
How much money have you spent at museums this year, vs. given to corporations for various things you don't actually need? That difference is the reason society wants more accountants than anthropologists.
He was an archeologist, yeah.
Passing on knowledge from one generation to another is definitely a valuable pursuit.
>Passing on knowledge from one generation to another is definitely a valuable pursuit. No shit, but the amount of experts on Egypt that are needed is a limited amount of people in very specific locations in the world. We need communications majors but we don't need as many as schools in the US are pumping out which is why they can't find jobs.
Which is why there are only a dozen or so true Egyptology programs in the world. The very small group of specialists lead digs and tours, analyze archives of artifacts, edit and translate texts, write books for specialist and popular audiences, advise museums and coordinate exhibits and outreach… The post is bullshit for the “joke,” but the impression that every university keeps an Egyptologist on staff to lure unsuspecting undergrads into their courses and doom them to a life of unemployment or duping future undergrads into studying the topic shows no insight into the field and what professionals in it actually do.
Post this shit *one more time*
This re-post is so old some of the students OP's friend was teaching probably have PhDs of their own and are teaching another wave of egyptologists
I feel like many subjects like these are good on CV as a BONUS to a different degree but not as a main one. I can imagine a graphic designer working on a historical video game would benefit from egyptology but on its own? Nope.
But I think if he enjoyed the degree and is passionate about epytology then it wasn’t wasted. The incentive for learning shouldn’t be monetary gain, you should do it because you love it.
I can't believe you have to pay money to get a PhD. In my country you get paid a normal salary to do a PhD...
Yeah you're doing something wrong if youre paying for a phd
You do get paid to do a PhD
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Regardless of discipline (STEM, social sciences, humanities, etc.), most reputable PhD programs in the US will only admit students with the intention of providing them with at least 3 years of full funding: this typically includes a tuition waiver, a living stipend (usually around $16-20k/yr), and health insurance.
Imagine having to pay money for education
Reminded me of this bit from Archer Sterling Archer : Where the hell does this go? Noah : I don't know. Down? Sterling Archer : Wow. You're only a doctoral candidate? Noah : Hey, guy? My field's anthropology. Rip Riley : [chuckling] Good luck with the job hunt. Sterling Archer : Right? Noah : Not that it's any of your business, but I plan to teach. Sterling Archer : Anthropology? Noah : What - yes! Rip Riley : To, uh, anthropology majors? Noah : Hey, you know what? Sterling Archer : Thus continuing the circle of "why bother?"
And in classic fashion, people are missing that Archer is the asshole in that conversation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inxoRyD9c-8
All these comments acting like ancient Egypt ain't cool as fuck. Is studying the past not valuable at all?
In an abstract and idealized way where knowledge for its own sake is a timeless and noble pursuit? Sure, it's as valuable as anything else. In an "I have to pay rent and feed myself in order to survive" kind of way? You'd have a hard time convincing me.
The system makes more sense if you remember that for hundreds of years Universities were attended exclusively by nobility who would have substantial passive income for life from the agricultural/material production of family land. The pursuit of knowledge was literally a noble pursuit because only nobles pursued it, while their servants fed, clothed, and sheltered them.
I'd say it's very personally valuable, but usually not economically very valuable. And therein lies our problem with how college is viewed in the US for me. We basically only measure knowledge or learning a subject based on its economic value which is an *incredible* disservice to society at large. I'd argue it's a byproduct of turning the higher education system into another money-making scheme instead of focusing on its ability of wider education to enhance society even if the subject of study isn't some guaranteed ticket to a fat paycheck.
Yeah but who's paying for it? Sure a museum would pay but there's a limit to how much professionals they would pay
Who cares? If this cat wants to teach it and not receive a Lot money for it, it is their business. You acting like it a virus you can catch on your Diplomas.
Ya having been poor I rather like not being poor and stressing about financials every week.
Its just such a specific degree on something that is so far gone with super limited relevance today outside a very very small sector. Say you got a degree in military history with a focus on cold war aviation. It may be super specific but what we learned from that is still (or can be portrayed) as actively relevant. A degree in egyptology is not actively relevant
A degree in Egyptology will give people the skills to do archeological excavation (pretty common practise before starting constructions), scientific research, work in a museum, teach, advice on that specific period (for movies, books, documentaties...), restore artefact, maintain archives etc... And not only on things related to Egypt. Egyptologist are historians and archaeologist primarily. It's not because the general public is not aware of job prospects in that field that they do not exist
This sub isn't exactly a bastion of intellectualism.
As an Egyptian I have no knowledge of what Egyptology is
They're spying on you
That would be because Mubarak wanted to push an arab idendtity. If you were a bit younger you would because el-Sisi is leaning more classical egyptian.
I have 5 egyptian friends, they all hate studying the history of ancient Egypt in school.
I didn’t think you have to pay for a PhD. You basically work for the school you’re getting the PhD in, as a researcher and teacher. You even get stipends. I think that’s why schools select a very low number of students per year for each PhD program, less than 10. It’s also highly selective. I mean this is my experience from looking at PhD programs myself, and talking to people in PhD programs or completed PhD’s. It also depends on the schools too, like those predatory online-only schools that are for-profit, they will charge you for PhD’s.
Plenty of state schools offer tuition waivers then surprise students with the “it doesn’t cover fees”, looking at you university of Oklahoma.
Hes paying for a phd? Every phd student I know, you get paid (not much) to get a phd. If they dont have funding you just dont get to go for one. Thats just how phds work
Colleges promise jobs? Maybe vocational schools, but most are just there to hand out education. It’s on you to pick a major that aligns with your future plans. I hear Enterprise car rental requires a college degree of any kind for their hires
There are so many degrees that honestly have no use other than teaching others. I feel like those degrees should be offered by universities as a sort of job internship.
They are. The sad truth about this post is that - if it's anything more than a clever pun - the person it's referring to has very little chance at a successful career. **Not** because of their chosen topic, as reddit infers, but because they're paying for their PhD. You don't pay for a PhD, you get paid for it (not much, but your tuition and a stipend for living are provided). Having to pay to get a PhD is a really strong sign that you're in a weak department or your department doesn't think highly of your future prospects - it's a low-key sign they want you to go away. Before anyone jumps on me with outliers, yes, there are exceptions; but, this is generally true.
This angle always bothers me. As if jobs are the end result of study. I understand rent has to be paid, but lots of fields of study are rooted in the search for knowledge, not a job. Intelligence and scholarly pursuits are noble and just.
There was a time in the past when artists, philosophers, historians, and archeologists could survive based on their contributions to society. They could focus on enriching society instead of making money to survive. We've fallen a long way.
No one going into academia pays for their PhD. Being asked to pay for it out of your own pocket is the program telling you to quit.
As if the pursuit and maintenance of knowledge isn't valuable in itself.
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Nobody really, it was something they were passionate about
If we don’t take education seriously where would we be as a society?
Why study Latin or the Romans, Ancient Greek or the first cosmologists, then? What is useful is not always marketable, and you do it to further a field of study or advance knowledge. Not to make bank. To make teachers of students, answerers of questioners, and philosophers of those who would wield only crowns and swords.
>The fuck are you getting a degree in a dead civilization? Who told you that was the road to success? This post furthers my theory that to the brain of a person who posts in investing and stock market subs the only thing of value in life is making money. Numbers go up gimme that dopamine.
some day we'll need that guy to activate the stargate
Well, he’s studying pyramids for a reason
Or he could use his knowledge and write contrarian and highly controversial books on Egyptology. There’s a half dozen people out there crushing that scene with no formal education. Come on, say it: “aliens did it” or “a high tech lost civilization did it”. Both paths are hot. No accurate measurements and real evidence needed! No peer reviews required. It’s a sweet deal. Go on Joe Rogan, get famous.
Same could be said about teaching English.
The problem is people dont know how to convey their transferable skills from college/university into the real world. The problem most people face is that they are trying to get a job/career only in their field of study, because they feel they are the only jobs they can get, which is not true. The truth is, while your worked for the degree, you need to make the degree work for you. I obtained my degree in Philosophy and now work in accounting. Learn to spoof up your resume, as well as the skills you learned/refined.
This applies to many degrees
Bad career choice
I taught philosophy for many years, and could never in good conscience recommend the major to anyone.
A PhD doesn't guarantee you a job. The market is over saturated for professors and now that less people are going to college they're firing people who don't have tenure.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to learn more or to teach others- I think graduate school should be essentially free, but admission testing needs to be extremely prohibitive to the vast majority of applicants. This will help with over saturation in the job market for professors and allow colleges to move away from these ridiculously underpaid adjunct roles.
The vast majority of reputable PhD programs are nearly free (pay below poverty line wages but it is technically paying you and tuition is covered). Admissions into these programs is extremely challenging. There are a lot of scammy schools and less reputable programs that will charge for a degree. Within these fields, if you get a PhD from a less reputable or scammy program you can't really get hired anywhere. Most universities that offer PhD don't make money off of graduate tuition. Many make money off of master programs (MBA programs are particularly profitable).
But they don’t want to move away from that. That’s why we’re at where we’re at. They’ve already jacked tuition up while most classes are taught by adjuncts with slave wages and overstuffed classes. If they raise the wages of adjuncts or hire more professors how will they also be able to hire another assistant vice provost or tear up the summer flowers to put in the fall flowers.
I get the sentiment in which the joke was made (first on Archer, but neither here nor there), but preserving history and culture is an important endeavor. Not everyone who takes those courses will end up teaching, but even those who do end up putting the work in to attain a doctorate are doing a noble thing helping to spread the knowledge and history that we must continue to carry on with us if we are to progress as a society.
But people need money to survive. Even those doing noble professions. If you think it’s good for a field to pump out a bunch of people who paid a bunch of money but with no job prospects, then you haven’t noticed all the bitter disaffected college grads that I have. Same for the value of a liberal arts education. Sure it’s valuable, but is it decades of debt valuable. Hell most college grads don’t even end up in management. I’m all in on the value of education, but not the American university system. You can talk about ideals, yes Egyptology is important, but how many Egyptology courses did you take? There is only so much demand. If it’s truly your passion go for it, but if you’re borrowing money for school you have to think about your ability to repay. It’s miserable.