# Any NT economist here?



## noname42 (Mar 8, 2013)

I graduated a year ago with a bachelor's degree in Economics and minoring in political economy.

I really like the subject (although I graduated with a low GPA) and think that its really suitable for an INTP and NTs in general. 

Problem here is that after a year working in a bank, I have discovered that economists have a low market value, and almost no opportunities except in the government (which is hard to get in). Most economics graduates I know either join the corporate world, with jobs not related to their field or try to make graduate studies (and don't know what to do with it)

So any of you economics graduates, who stayed in the field:

What's your job ? 

How its related to economics? 

What advice and tips you could give to someone who wants to enter the field ? 

Why did you choose economics in the first place?


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## nO_d3N1AL (Apr 25, 2014)

I'm studying Economics at the moment but have no interest in a career involving it. I actually want to be a software developer, but the theoretical aspect of economics interests me.


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## noname42 (Mar 8, 2013)

nO_d3N1AL said:


> I'm studying Economics at the moment but have no interest in a career involving it. I actually want to be a software developer, but the theoretical aspect of economics interests me.


Hmm, that's a very inspiring start to this thread.

Funny,Im also considering becoming a software developer so I can design applications that is both related to economics and finance.

So, what made you loose interest in Economics so fast


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## nO_d3N1AL (Apr 25, 2014)

I haven't lost interest. I have always been interested in computing and technology, but for academia i prefer Economics. Software development is much more practical - something you can learn in your own time.


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## somnuvore (Sep 27, 2013)

I mentioned this in another thread; our economy is moving towards "what you can do", rather than "what you know", due to an influx of college graduates and a mass unavailability of jobs, most of which are taken by previous generations who have no intention of letting up in light of rising inflation (i.e. "quantitative easing": greater prices, reduced savings = less wealth for retirement) and not-so-rising wages; you will need to figure out how you can apply your knowledge of economics into some kind of service.

What I mean is, you will need to focus on job creation, not job ascertainment; you simply cannot get by anymore on simply having a degree, you gotta do something, have some marketable skill; to be frank, I have a strong feeling economics is only going to be supportive of whatever that skill will be, but if you can figure a way to make money off it by itself, you should go for it. Most economists I can think of either write books or articles on sites, so if you're offering some economic knowledge that the other economists aren't already talking about (e.g. you studied something that wasn't related to Keynesian economics), you might be able to capitalize on that.

I recommend becoming adept at a hard marketable skill, e.g. programming, logistics, writing, talents people more directly need than economic advice, and to use your economic knowledge as a support for that.


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## nO_d3N1AL (Apr 25, 2014)

My thoughts exactly


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

I have a B.A in Computer Science and an MBA, if that's useful for this line of inquiry.


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## noname42 (Mar 8, 2013)

Unfortunately, lately Im becoming more realistic, and Im starting to abandon the idea of having a career in Economics.

Im currently having a very bad experience in my job. Im taking a shitty salary, my boss is one crazy motherfucker, and Im not actually benefiting from it. The job is so unrelated to what I've learned or what I want to be. 

I have considered the idea of quitting but Im afraid it will, haunt me down the road. I don't have time to actually study anything concrete. After work, I will be either very tired or very streessed out.

Im thinking of running the extra mile, and make a CFA and something related to programing (which till now I don't know what it is).

Although the market may be saturated with CFA holders but I think its still an asset.Or Im considering to go deep into the IT world.


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## tangosthenes (Oct 29, 2011)

I have a bachelors in economics, and yes it's pretty useless


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## knife (Jul 10, 2013)

somnuvore said:


> I recommend becoming adept at a hard marketable skill, e.g. programming, logistics, writing, talents people more directly need than economic advice, and to use your economic knowledge as a support for that.


This is good advice, and why I'm pursuing an engineering discipline. Math-intensive disciplines seem to have a major leg up at the moment, as most of the ones reliant on design skills or argumentation etc. seem to have become saturated, even as our society has an anti-intellectual, anti-_mathematical_ bias yet continues to require applied mathematicians and will do so for the foreseeable future.

PS. No. Writing has long since ceased to be a marketable skill.


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## Garee (May 2, 2012)

I have a degree in Economics, it's useless right now. I'm thinking of pursuing another passion of mines, linguistics or languages. I've already speak four, so why don't I just make use of it with a linguistics degree or something.


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

Part of the problem with economics is that you've gotten a lot of more "practically directed" economics in accounting, business and finance, which means that where you'd hire an economist 50 years ago, you now hire a CPA, MBA or CFA. 

It's a shame really because I think economics is one of the most interesting fields in existence, but it loses a lot with the mix of partisanship and lack of specialization.


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

somnuvore said:


> I mentioned this in another thread; our economy is moving towards "what you can do", rather than "what you know", due to an influx of college graduates and a mass unavailability of jobs, most of which are taken by previous generations who have no intention of letting up in light of rising inflation (i.e. "quantitative easing": greater prices, reduced savings = less wealth for retirement) and not-so-rising wages; you will need to figure out how you can apply your knowledge of economics into some kind of service.
> 
> What I mean is, you will need to focus on job creation, not job ascertainment; you simply cannot get by anymore on simply having a degree, you gotta do something, have some marketable skill; to be frank, I have a strong feeling economics is only going to be supportive of whatever that skill will be, but if you can figure a way to make money off it by itself, you should go for it. Most economists I can think of either write books or articles on sites, so if you're offering some economic knowledge that the other economists aren't already talking about (e.g. you studied something that wasn't related to Keynesian economics), you might be able to capitalize on that.
> 
> I recommend becoming adept at a hard marketable skill, e.g. programming, logistics, writing, talents people more directly need than economic advice, and to use your economic knowledge as a support for that.


Even if you studied something related to Keynesian economics, Paul Krugman is enough of a socialist and has enough of a temper to blow up if someone challenges it on strong enough grounds, which would be a nice marketing ploy to go into writing articles, books and doing speaking tours.


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## noname42 (Mar 8, 2013)

Its unfair to say the economics is USELESS, its definitely not. There are just a few jobs that needs economists in the private sector. Econometrics, is very desirable in some major firms etc.

Problem here is, exactly what @Scelerat said, we have an idea about accounting and finance but we are not really competent at it. Since both discipline concepts are the most used in the corporate world, why not hire someone with a finance or an accounting major. Another problem is that its very hard to apply economic applications in the corporate world. But still economics is value added.

It seems that I will take a CFA, and probably some programming( any ideas)


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