Sociology undergrad, can't make ends meet

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How do you get paid for your sociological imagination in 2024?

You don't. You get paid for the other things you can do that came along with the Sociological imagination.

This varies by program but when you finish, most programs have also taught you some survey science, focus group basics, interview/ ethnography practices, a solid statistical basis, disparate parts of grant writing requirements (human subjects work, methods procedures, abstracts, etc ), and how big institutions/ social structures work. Most places value this kind of stuff very highly, they just don't know what a sociology degree does. Don't try and make the degree sell your skills, you have to sell them yourself.

With a sociology degree you're part business management, part economics, part statistics, part marketing, part communications, part industrial organizational psych /HR, and part politics.

I got a BA in Sociology, graduated in 2020. It took me 6 months, applying to between 300-500 jobs before I got an interview. I now do sales admin stuff for a large medical device company, about 52,000 a year. I found I had better luck when I just went through a recruiter.

I would try to look at government jobs: Federal, state, county, and local. Many government jobs only require you to have a bachelor's in any field. I graduated with a BA in Sociology and ended up getting a job with the state as an OSHA inspector.

Luck does play a role, I accepted a job at 45k that alot of people apparently passed over and then 2 years later I got lucky again when a coworker quit and I was able to get promoted into their position so now I'm up to 70k.

My experience tells me to go where the money is. It’s why my husband and I are going to be moving in February.

Our rural college town has next to no jobs, and the ones that are open are going to go to the people who are less disabled and have better work history than I. A larger city will have more job openings per capita than small towns, so it’ll be easier to find a job.

I, too, have had many jobs. There’s barely a field out there that I haven’t dabbled in. From fast food to government work, masonry to auto mechanics, data science to B2B sales, healthcare to teaching, I’ve done it all. Except driving jobs, I still haven’t been taught how to drive.

The issue is I’ve rarely been in a job longer than 5-10 months either because of communication problems, mental illness, getting sick, etc. A couple of times I just couldn’t handle the work environment so I left, and twice I’ve been fired for undisclosed reasons about which I can only give an educated guess.

I have great skills, an agile mind, but my work history tells a story of an inability to stay in a job for very long. Not to mention I’m overweight, physically disabled, and have a mental health history that spans the DSM.

For these reasons I will have to move to a larger market to find work. I thought I could rely on my network and community to help me find work, but unfortunately that didn’t work out.

So my advice to you is: find somewhere that has a large job market and be flexible with what you’re applying to and be careful which job you accept.

It should be somewhere you can build work history for over a year before transitioning into more lucrative and interesting work. Work environment is almost everything in my book; a good environment can make even the worst job great, or at least tolerable.

My friend, from what I walk away with, it doesn't seem like this is an issue about sociology. I don't want to suggest you should not have posted here since you are a sociologisr through and through but I would guess that you might have similar problems if you were an English major, a psychology major, or to a lesser extent a biology major.

I'm trying to say that you are right, there are probably other bigger picture stuff happening than just your BA in sociology.

So if I were talking to you in person I would ask:

1. What job and careers resources have you used so far?

2. What are your goals?

3. What are people in your networks doing?

My sociology BA was heavily focused on quantitative research methods and data analysis. In an interview, except for school agencies I rarely talked about anything particularly “sociological” but about learning about the processes and systems for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data, and my ability to follow, develop, and maintain those systems (technical and administratively).

I also had a fairly strong work history in the field (IT) that I’d done as a student worker and some freelance basic computer repair/network cabling/web development from the classified ads, so I had an idea what business/business owners cared about (and didn’t). That may be harder today. I cannot discount that. If you can get some stable work history in the industry you might like to work in, it can help a lot.

Most of my career (now retired, early/medically) was for state (mostly universities and community colleges) or local government. I was never going to be able to get into big tech, but government work met my needs well—usually middle class for the areas I worked, though wages/rents now are far more out of sync than when I started, especially in some markets.

As an aside, it also met my needs well because no man in my family has ever lived old enough to college social security (medical issues), so state employment means a state pension that can be withdrew in cash (with penalty) if I left employment and easier to get disability pension approval than SS, or as a last resort take off to pay out debts and rely on third party disability insurance which I had very good reason to believe I’d utilize (but nothing pre-existing at the time I could be disqualified for).

The downside is that government jobs outside of basic services any employer has (HR/fiscal, etc.) are many are often program based, so if the program is underfunded or halted by the legislature, or grant funded (possibly only being a set number of years) it can be uncertain.

This is a very tough question as it cuts to the problems with the Sociology major for securing a well paying career - namely, it requires some imagination on the part of the employer which is something pretty severely lacking in our society.

I'm curious what type of sales and outreach work you were doing, and why you stopped?

At a certain point - you need to find something you can at least stomach doing to a basic level. I would guess that the sales route is the most 'traditional' of the jobs you listed which could help stabalize into a career, but I'm also curious if you absolutely hated it (I really couldn't do those types of role to be honest).

In my experience the number one thing was to just focus on getting work - pretty much any work - in an office / corporate environment. Or one that can play one on paper (my first real job was a privately owned silicon valley startup type place - totally bonkers from a standpoint of professionalism but to anyone looking in it was a company with a normal structure and job titles that translated to their environment).

From there it sucks as it's a combo of hard work, getting exploited in the way we all recognize with our current system, and then getting lucky in the sense that I had managers who did need people to grow into new positions. Once you've shown some history and pick your buzz words to begin marketing into that field you should at least have a shot to transition to something better (if you aren't being internally advanced).

At 39 it will for sure be tough as most people will wonder why the spotty track record. But the best I can offer is - step 1 - which of those things do you or did you most enjoy doing (or suffer the least while doing). Step 2 - look at how people grow their earning potential in those things. And in your position I would think if there are any white collar industries locally you could also look at job postings there and see what they're asking for vs. what you can maybe bs out of your past experience.

If you are in the US, please look into State and Federal employment, especially if you have data skills. Your sociology degree is useful. It's all about how you sell it (and yourself) to hiring managers.

I lean heavily on the data skills and sprinkle in sociological skills in my resume or vice versa depending on job announcement (which I tailor my resume to). Combine that with experience, and people are interested in what you bring to the table.

It may not be what you had in mind when you got your degree but the IRS, VA,DHA and DoD are all on hiring sprees for program analysis. It may take some time to onboard, but it's worth it, especially for benefits.

Was an anthro grad and I struggled to start my career too. Mainly because there was a lot of competition from other fields for user research/usability-study positions; often those individuals had masters degrees. I had to go back and pivot to get into a more secure line of work (went into health, speech-therapy). Honestly, just keep applying, keep looking, and don't stop hustling. Consider a masters; it doesn't need to be strictly sociology, do the thing that will secure your future.

If you are looking for stability, I suggest looking into local/state government jobs. Even if your experience isn’t a good match, your degree could help you get in the door at, say, the county social services agency or HR department. These jobs won’t likely pay great to start, but the benefits will be good and the work is stable. Many government jobs are looking for any BA/BS so your major may be irrelevant. I have a lot of tips I could offer, but it sounds to me like your most urgent need is to address your life circumstances more holistically. Perhaps some therapy/counseling to explore options and decide how you would like to move forward could help? Hoping you get some rest and relief.

Ultimately, no matter what your major is you have to learn how to navigate the job market and become 'well adjusted' enough. If you had an accounting major you may have more immediately marketable skills, but the people who don't know how to play the job seeking game still fail to launch even with that leg up. Start making it a side gig to learn what you don't understand. Get your library card and check out books on resumes, interviewing, and networking. Google local career organizations in your area. Go to professional meet ups that interest you and swallow the urge to vent, but just share that you wanted to learn more. Start asking other people around you what you can do differently, but be discerning in who you are relying on for information because you probably have people in your personal network who have overcome similar battles, but many people are listening to advice from the wrong people. Yes, a lot of time it comes down to luck but it is always where luck meets preparation. No amount of luck in the world will help if you don't know how to appropriately present yourself when the next opportunity shows up, and while opportunitu doesn't show up very day its more common than you think when you are hunting it the right way.

I work in consulting, I really do get paid for my sociological imagination. It took me 8 months to find this job; during those months I was learning a lot about how to land a job from linked in posts, so I recommend that.

Also, something I have seen from my peers is that when asked about their salary expectations they say a number that is incredibly low, that needs to stop!!!! Stop selling sociology short!!

I don't know your specific details about your job history or what you currently do, so I will just tell you a little bit about how other in this field "make it".

Like others have said, sociology is a broad field and you need to become sort of specialized in a sub-field. I understand not everybody in the field gets to do that but I have noticed that specialization in one area or theme will open more doors because no sociologist can be good at all subfields within the discipline. Mine for instance is education, and the second subfield is international development. So I have devoted a lot of time to know these fields and stablish the specific sub-themes I am interested in or good at.

What would be that sub-field you're most knowledgeable or good at?

Then you go into the market and communicate that to potential employers... you make yourself attractive by telling employers that you know your subject well and you can do that job as good or better than anybody else.

There are also the side skills that strengthen a sociologist's overall value in the market. Stats and data science are probably the most sought after skills. There is so much free info on the internet about stats and data analysis that you can get free training from basic to advanced in any of those topics. As a sociologist, you are trained to look at social trends and pick up an early signal of where the market is going.

We don't sell that we bring to the table the sociological imagination; but we use the sociological imagination all the time. We sell that we bring a unique set of analytical tools that help us see what others don't. Sociology is about identifying the hidden structural mechanisms that make contemporary life be what it is.

Finally, I suggest looking into the industries in which a social science/sociology degree is appealing, such as policy research/analysis, international development (NGOs and donor agencies), UX market research, etc.

Your chances will also depend on where you live and how dynamic is the job market for sociologists. I am not in the US but I know the market a little bit and I would say sociologists are in demand in large cities where you have lots of nonprofit, UN agencies, donor agencies, etc.

Hope you can make a few adjustments and move forward in your career.

If you're considering lying, just do it, there's no shame in trying to stay afloat. Every single business major already does it to your face, every recruiter lies to your face, so why care about you being truthful?

Also, don't get bogged down by what degree you got, your degree really is irrelevant out there (speaking as someone holding a STEM degree). Once you get your first job, it doesn't really matter more than just a bullet point outline and maybe a minor topic of opening discussion at interviews.

Invest time into how you market yourself, how you speak about your experience, overplay what importance you have in past roles and build some charisma around your speech patterns. Recruiters don't know what they're looking for, so look at how to maximize the odds that they'll think you are what they're looking for.

As for looking at jobs, the question is: "what interests you?"

Once you know what interests you, then we can talk about what skills you need and finally how to acquire those if at all.

The sad truth is, you constantly should be working on yourself and making sure you're not about to be automated away/replaced by a machine or lower income worker. Free time as an adult is time you should consider investing in learning a new skill or scoping out future career paths.

BA Sociology here. I make around 60k in data analytics after two years of work experience.

But the thing is that I've never once looked for or applied to a job listing for a sociologist, because such a thing makes no sense outside of academia. I found my niche and made myself valuable.

Selling yourself is a huge skill on its own. You need to be able to make people excited about the stuff you work on. I've had a portfolio of freelance work that I could always go back to, show stuff from and prove my skill with to interviewers.

Think about why you studied social sciences? What is something you learned that you find really really interesting? How has it changed your view on things? E.g. I am fascinated by relational Sociology, social networks (meaning networks of people, not social media), I love to gather data and to test and verify my hypotheses (I even measure and analyze my coffee recipes). I can talk hours about these things. Talking about this, sharing your interests, in turn makes you interesting. And it's all there within you already. Show them what interests you and your fascination will hook them.

Truth be told, people with university degrees are not employed for what they know, but for their ability to teach themselves things they don't know.

Regarding your other question: You can (probably even 'should') lie on your resume. Straighten everything out. Everyone does it, even the other side; Job listings and interviewers are also full of lies about the work, the benefits and their work culture. The only thing that you can count on is, what is written in your contract at the end of the day.

As a sidenote: B2B pays better than B2C. Those businesses that serve other businesses are generally the better employers.

Become as good looking as you possibly can be. No one gives a shit about anything but appearance. Buy expensive clothes, or expensive looking clothes. Look rich. Lie about everything. There is no "honest work" left. Everything is a scam. If you can't lie, then you're no good to anyone. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Focus on your appearance. Do as little as possible. Shift the blame to everyone else. Always, always, always be looking for a better job. Be loyal to no one, ever. Don't let anyone into your personal life. Answer no questions, if possible. Less Sociology, More Socio(path)ology. It's your "path" to happiness!

I’m very sorry to hear about your situation. I’m not comfortable giving any specific advice, because I feel we don’t know enough details about your situation (and also I’m not from the US). But a general comment.

How do you get paid for your sociological imagination in 2024?

Statistically speaking, you don’t. Not much any way. Quick search around the internet suggests that people with sociology BA in the US earn between 40k and 60k per year, depending on where you look. People with higher salaries are exceptions, not the rule. The reason why you see them so much here is because this subreddit is for fans of sociology - people are much more likely to share and upvote posts that paint the field in positive light.

The harsh truth is that a degree in sociology isn’t very valuable, job-wise speaking (and that’s doubly true if you only have BA), simply because the content of most sociology programs is too broad. The broadness is nice, because it allows you to explore many topics in short amount of time, but it also means you won’t be prepared for any specific job particularly well. It is therefore unfortunately up to every student to think proactively about their future.

I teach at university + work part time in nonprofit sector and from my experience (and experience of graduates I’m in contact with), the only real trick for making sociology degree work is to pair it up with more focused/"valuable" skill set. By far the most the most popular, as well as safest, options are statistics or programming (ideally both), but I’ve also seen people making their career work by combining sociology with social work, marketing or communication. You "just" need to have a clear idea what job you want to do.

In undergrad I originally wanted a marketing degree because I wanted to work in marketing. But when people came to speak in our marketing courses about their profession, they all had psyc degrees. That threw a switch for me. Plus I couldn't pass any of the accounting courses required for even a business minor.

I don't have a Sociology major, but I have soci & psyc minors with a leadership studies major. All heavy in social science, and generally no very hirable undergrad degrees.

I got my first "real" job while I was in school doing price negotiations for hospital equipment. Then I got a job at a small marketing agency. I worked to much, I didn't get paid much, and the work was often punishing and sometimes delt with clients that had questionable ethics.

But I worked my way up. Then I moved to a tech company. Then to a larger company that was tech and audio. Then to an even larger commercial real estate company. At this stage in my career I make as much or more than many friends with MBAs, and I'm at one of the country's largest financial companies.

What's the difference here? Once I decided it was time to look at my career, I knew that being a cook, retail worker, etc wasn't going to fit in my career path. So I held one of those jobs until I got an office job to get some real experience. Then I performed. And even when it was miserable, I stayed until I found a higher paying job. And then I performed. You get the pattern.

So my advice to you - get that first job. You have a major advantage right now of a $35k baseline. I'm aware that it's not really enough to live off. But you need experience. And LOADS of people will not accept $35K for any job. Doesn't matter if you get a job at a front desk. Just get in the door, get some experience, and once you've hit a ceiling, start looking to take your experience elsewhere. A year of semi-relevant experience will be a much faster stepping stone to a job that offers $40K than 20 years of job hopping with totally irrelevant jobs. Put all of your excess time and energy into finding that one job to get started. Then perform. Then move if you need to and you have a better offer.

Edit - relevant to add: M/38.

It can be hard to make a living on sociology. You may have to step out of your comfort zone, and try something else. Years ago, I worked as a paralegal with a BA in sociology. Law firms pay great, so I can recommend that for you, at least until you plot your next move.

Holy crap 35k a year sounds absolutely amazing and completely unattainable for me. (No sociology or any other degree so disregard)

Embrace the low wage, become a punk, write a book, start a podcast, steal from whole foods, pinch your pennies, do things that make you happy and able to enjoy your life that don’t involve money, fall in love with someone. Go fishing? Make an old family recipe and try sell it yourself. Start a club night and book bands or DJ’s. Love your life.

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Your last paragraph sums up why no one would want to hire you.

Sociology is an academic career.... You can use it in conjunction with criminology however the aspects you would learn in a sociological degree would help in every day life. Good luck OP, I wish you all the best.

Read the book so good they can't ignore you by Cal Newport. Read Never Split the Difference by Chris Vos

Learn how to excel at resumes.

Some jobs require a degree but a degree won't get you a job.

You have gained experience and skills but you have to use them to find that better job.

r/findapath and r/careerguidance can help

Have You alredy tried teaching in sociology? I know that teaching is never valued enough, but up to this point it is the only thing that comes to mind, and it does not necessarily have to be sociology, it can be a close area

I had a somewhat similar experience with a degree in "behavioral science" from a liberal arts program decades ago. I went back to school, got a masters in social work and eventually a Ph.D., and have done well. So one possibility might be a professional masters, MBA, MPH, MSW, and so on.

Another possibility is a computer programming bootcamp.

If neither of these appeals to you, you'll do better in interviews if you're not depressed. If you don't have the money for therapy, the Berkeley Greater Good Science Center offers about a zillion self-help techniques:
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/

Good luck!

Get into HR or in a university/state job

Have you tried the field of market research? Emphasize your research skills and knowledge of American culture/society. There are similar entry level jobs in advertising agencies. Also check nonprofits and usajobs.gov. Good luck!

It’s ok to go into a higher paying field! Many of my students feel that if they pursue more “corporate” jobs that these are somehow morally inferior. I’ve been in the social sciences/academia for decades, and this is something I hear, and mostly from my first-gen and/or women students.

There are many ways to give back and tackle injustices. These fields aren’t any less toxic than any other-they just pay less.

You learn qualitative research skills from soc. Use these skills to find research positions at companies. You could also likely get into UX.

Please forgive me if I am overstepping here. As a professor, I want to see you be able to live and to eat.

I realized early 1990s that I wouldn’t be working in Sociology. I was looking at career guides and Bureau of Labor Statistics write-ups. The job prospects were similar to other liberal arts majors. The pay didn’t seem to be much.

I knew I wanted to be able to earn and save money and later support a family, and that is what I did. A sociology degree by itself, didn’t seem to offer a career in sociology, and getting an advanced degree would mean spending my prime years in poverty and borrowing in hopes of competing against many others for few jobs.

Luckily, I was able to pick up Business and Accounting classes, and I graduated with a double major in Sociology and in Business/Accounting.

I had done a lot of public speaking and debate competition while in high school, to go along with a lot of research and essay-writing skills. I picked up a certificate in technical writing.

I was also an experienced computer lab technician (what would be HelpDesk or Computer Lab Tech today) Lab in high school (unpaid) and college (paid). I had also spent time employed by the university as a web designer and website administrator. So IT was open as a field to me as well.

I ended up working in IT and accounting. I did a lot of research and troubleshooting, wrote a lot of articles, taught classes and did in-person and live and recorded presentations - all corporate, nothing in a college setting.

I’ve always loved sociology, social psychology, history (almost enough for a minor), current events and economic and political issues, but I’ve kept these social science and humanities interests as a hobby, rather than tried it as a vocation.

Find enormous entities and go through their direct hiring site -- MIT, Hilton, BCBS. Example, Mayo Clinic employs 63,000 people, many who have nothing to do with health and work remotely. They post all jobs on their own job board.

I left sociology and became an electrician.

In NY there is a MASSIVE demand for disability services so there’s a lot of jobs with that. Community habilitation and home workers get paid above minimum, but not a ton. However it doesn’t take long to work ur way up in that field as there is a deficit of experienced employees. Having a soc degree would help immensely with that kind of work. These jobs are easy to work up in too. Better paying jobs include self hires (same as community habilitation but you get chosen by a client and their guardian makes up ur pay based on the client’s budget), home managers, case managers, and most of the people who make up a “team” (group of people who assist the same person with disability).

If a lot of this makes zero sense I’m sorry it’s a bit jargony. But if u look up community habilitation, home workers, or disability service jobs in a state like NY, u will find people desperate to hire and wanting to give higher positions fast. Many of the higher positions can make about 30 an hour. I’ve only been in the field for 2 years and make nearly 30 an hour doing self hire community habilitation for a relative and work another job doing general community habilitation that makes about 17.50 an hour. The hours per week are between u and the client for community habilitation, u can work everyday or once a week. You could even not have a schedule and go week by week. As for just how desperate places are for disability service workers, I literally don’t even have my degree yet, they are really desperate. Ofc social work and therapy work is draining, but tbh it’s nothing u probably haven’t already experienced.

Also I realized I mentioned my job a lot in this and not everyone may know what it is. So community habilitation is generally going out in the community with people who have disabilities and working on goals with them, but it’s different depending on the needs of the client. So it could also be working with them at home, it could also literally just be sitting and talking with them for an hour or two about their interests, or just doing a specific club with them. Community habilitation can be very fun but can also be very hard depending on the client or even just the clients mood. All around tho it’s a rewarding and generally decent paying job that u can work up in with experience and connections.

Go get an MBA and concentrate on organizational behavior. Sadly, it ridiculously expensive. All the best.

I know someone who got a sociology degree after they got out of the military- he was on GI bill and basically just wanted to party in college because the degree is completely useless.

Once he graduated he went to the police academy & is a cop. It all panned out for him. He’s been a cop for a while now. Makes decent money, etc…

Hes not a brilliant guy or anything but he understood college for what it was, didn’t go into debt for it & understood that his degree was not going to do much for him.

Work on your basic office skills--typing speed, Word Office, Adobe, editing, writing, research. Look about picking up a minor or two, adding them to your current degree program--linguistics, graphics, analytics, etc.. Try sites like: www.dumpyourdegree.com, wwwdegreeforum.net, www.myplan.com, www.sfu.ca--editing certificate, Study the industries that parallel sociology. Join professional/trade societies, associations related to your degree. connect to your alma mater, alumni association, career center, departments outside of your major--you will find answers. What sectors and verticals are you tying your degree program to?

Sorry you’re going through this. Have you tried going to a recruiting agency? You may be surprised what they can do for you.

I got a B.S. in Sociology in 2016. I worked for a year at a non-profit serving immigrant youth and made $35,000/year. I then joined the Peace Corps and served in Thailand for 2 years. I came back and got a job as a case manager at a psychiatric facility for children, and I was bumped up slightly to like $40,000/year. After a year of working there, I went back and got my Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy, and now I'm an associate therapist making like $58,000/year. The thing about having a Sociology background is this - You have to find a niche that you're passionate about and built on that. It's such a broad degree that you have to KNOW what you want to do with it and market yourself big time.

Hi friend, I'm sorry you're in that situation. As others have said, food bank/food pantry in your area can be excellent. If you feel wierd about accepting it, offer to also do some work for them to build your skill set... offer to help write a grant, to do some research for them, or to write and distribute a survey for thier recipients

If you're interested in doing or dealing with research at all, I think social science people should consider looking up "market research" "customer experience researxh" "customer experience management" and "market research analyst" "postings. I know we're encouraged to do more social work/nonprofit/greater good and marketing can be stigmatized and/or problematic, but remembering that people come first and working for businesses that want that perspective can help mitigate things.

Many of those jobs are remote or hybrid, ir have work travel. Some are 9-5, and some are projects dependent and can be chaotic. I didn't choose chaos for once, but if I were younger I may have. I made a career switch at 40 after a long hiatus for school, and these terms helped me find what I was looking for in my day-to-day. Having had lots of shit work experiences previously, the management or ethical red flags that the hiring companies may have presented were fairly obvious to spot. I think the pay can vary widely - honestly, I don't make that much - but I love my job and it's pretty stable and steady, grows my skills that I can use anywhere else if it ever needed to come to that, and many people I've met who do it don't have advanced degrees. If I had any desire to do the almost requisite thing to make more $ by switching up employers every few years, I think it would be possible to make a pretty decent amount.

Go into health care.

I'm not going to pretend to be even remotely as intelligent as a lot of people who post here but ny experience with my Sociology degree has been it taught me a lot about critical thinking and how to navigate problems and thats how I have used it in my work life. The main jobs I have held since graduating 10 years ago have been in operations management for a couple companies and I was thriving. I would still be with the last one as general manager if Covid hadn't killed the business. Im obviously biased but I feel like you can do almost anything with a Sociology degree. Its just how you utilize the things you learn ultimately.

The citizens don't serve the environment as beneficiaries. I'm alien too. I have an exaggerated sarcastic rejection alienist attribut to communication (talking)... you had questions. I don't diminish that. One Love. Throw your system down.

We live in a society where the study of said society is not profitable. This is likely for two reasons:

a. high supply of Sociology degree holding applicants creates a low demand and therefore a low price

b. Society is functioning in a way that is exploitative but also in a way that will be perpetuated if intelligent degree holding sociologist have to waste their skills in menial labor rather than writing their sociology magnum opus or creating policy for a more equitable society.

I do not have a degree though beyond high school, sociology or otherwise, so I am just hypothesizing.

I should add to this.

First of all, thank you to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. Secondly, to answer some of your questions, I am most interested in and passionate about the following activities (none of which are marketable commodities): surfing, spearfishing, hiking, camping, hunting, BJJ and MMA, kettlebells, rock climbing, growing cannabis. I am good at all these things, knowledgeable but also not quick to sell myself as such because i know how much I don't know. No one is going to pay me to do any of the things I mentioned, except for maybe grow cannabis. But I live in a red state where they only have one grow and I've been trying to get in with no luck. I even had someone who knows the owners put in a good word for me, but nothing.

I would MUCH rather work outdoors than in an office. Data and quantitative science bore me to death, and I am borderline retarded when it comes to math. I'm great with kids, animals, plants, and fungi. Less good with adult humans. In fact, I hate most humans, especially in large numbers. Individually they can be ok, it's once they get into groups, I start to want to be somewhere without them. I can see myself working in a grow op, but from what I can tell and the people I've talked to, there isn't much room for growth in said industry and the money isn't great compared to the repetitive labor, which I can't do because of the nerve injuries to be elbows from repetitive labor.

Higher education jobs in a blue state might be a good career switch.

Someone here mentioned government work...also look into working for government contractors. Many federal agencies have contractors for admin, consulting, and technical work.

learn how to weld. or do plumbing. or any blue collar job for that matter. 6 figures easy and in 10 years you’ll be the oldest guy in the field. went to college for two years decided it wasnt worth it. im happy. i work hard. i feel i have a purpose and i am needed for what i know how to do. plus i get to buy whatever i want live how i lile and am guaranteed a job for pretty much the rest of my life. soon(5 years) i will start my own company and from my research and conversations ive had with bosses, financial advisors and family. i will be a multimillionaire for sure.

If you wanna make decent money within the field you studied, you need to get into academia. Become a researcher/professor. Thats the only feasible way to put good food on the table without worrying about rent and CoL