Macro Economics

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Last night I was talking to this guy at the church dinner. He was a mortgage broker. We talked for a while and he said I should either study philosophy or economics. I know this is the work forum, not the college forum but I'm more concerned about which job I end up in, what I study is merely a means to an end so I thought the work forum was more appropriate.

Anyway, I dismissed his suggestion that I study philosophy because I don't think they're exactly hiring a lot of philosophers at the moment. I wasn't so keen on economics either at first. I said I didn't want to spend my career doing tax returns but he said there's a lot more to economics than just accounting. He mentioned something vague about "macro economics" and something even vaguer about politics.

So what was he getting at? If I study economics, what else can I do besides just accounting? What kind of work is this "macro economics"? Is it better to study economics than IT or some other field?

Macroeconomics is like studying the whole forest instead of studying an individual tree (microeconomics)

OK so that's what I'd study but what would I actually be doing on the job? What would my job title be? The mortgage broker made it sound compelling but he didn't actually go into any detail about what the job or jobs would entail.

When I took economics back in uni, much more of a fascinating class than I thought it would be, my professor said most econ professors only teach part time and have other jobs in the industry, but, he was lucky he was a kept man and could just teach.

Anyway, there are a lot of government jobs that would use the economists skills, forecasting and analysis of the economic climate. I think also big companies would have jobs like that, so, you'd be working in jobs where someone might have an econ degree and another would have a business degree, both is analyzing factors in the environment and reporting them to the company's decision makers. Analysis is a word that came up a lot, iirc.

I like macroeconomics--but people, at times, rely too much on it, without taking into account individual situations (i.e., microeconomics) in the formation of their world perspective:
The "forest for the trees" analogy mentioned previously in this post is most apt in this instance.

If this is really a "special interest" of yours, RetroGamer, I would say you would be a useful member of a "think tank."

Philosophy's all well and good--but there aren't any "philosophers" listed in the want ads. Wouldn't it be nice if such a job existed, with one of the perks being one's own (computer-equipped) cave in the mountains?

Immersion in philosophy, I believe, could lead to a dogmatic viewpoint, owing to its strong "logic" component.

It sounds like you're really seeking a way out of the morass of your life, RetroGamer--most commendable!

I hope this will inspire me to do the same.

Yes, that reminds me of what Randy Cassingham said about how rules need to be tailored to the situation.I didn't even think it was that much of a special interest but after the mortgage broker listened to my views on what was wrong with the world he said some of that was philosophical but much of it pertained macro economics.

I mean, sure, might be able succeed in some economic field but the trouble is that's not the only thing I might be able to succeed in. Instead of having one career path I'm sure of I have four or five that I that each have a partial chance of success.

I might do better in IT. If I amend my failed maths in school I might to better in some field of engineering (That could work, hopefully I'm smarter now than I was when I was 15). I might enjoy writing but many writer doesn't guarantee a regular paycheck (then again money isn't my motive for getting a career in the first place). Writing has to be one of the must fun jobs though. Sometimes I even have wild notions of studying music. In recent years my piano skills have atrophied but sometimes I wonder if I could compose film scores or something (though I imagine that's really hard to get into)

It would be easier if I had one obsession. If I had to measure them by number of hours spent on them computers would win out. I could study IT but my uncle put me off a bit when he said how much maths he uses in programming and microelectronics engineering (I like maths but maths doesn't like me).

As for interesting in economics, it's not the first time I've considered but most recently it started when I was explaining to the mortgage broker how irrational the world is and how I'd fix it. That was what made him suggest macro economics. I'm not sure if I'd actually get to put any of my ideas into practice.

He also suggested politics but I don't think I'm insane enough to succeed as a politician. One of my suggestions was to abolish democracy because it's a waste of money and leads to bipartisan bickering, makes long term projects almost impossible and leads to politicians making insignificant but highly visible gestures to public good. I'd make a good emperor but a poor politician.Yeah, I know I can't work as a philosopher. It would be nice but why the cave? That sounds like it would be too isolating.Yes, guilt is an excellent motivator. I used to have problems with laziness (caused by bad experiences in school that made me think doing nothing was a pretty neat idea and I was very comfortable in my rut for a few years). Now I just have too work to overcome my fear of it. I spent too much time imagining scenarios in which it could go wrong. I could fail the degree, I could get graduate and not get hired (I know a few people like that), I could get the job but hate it (but also become financially dependent on it). If most job are gained through networking not submitting applications then I might not know the right people. There's the fear that maybe all this career thinking is just a manifestation of low self-esteem and if I get a career just to keep up appearences that would make my like Hyacinth Bucket. Worst of all is the fear that I'm too old, that after a few years in uni I'll be 30 and would they be willing to hire a 30 year old with a gap decade?

Still, I feel like I can't go back to my life of leisure. Lately I feel like I'm always in a hurry, even when I have nothing to do. I've actually been fairly busy with extra-work projects. Things I used to enjoy make me feel kind of impatient. There may be more to life than collecting old Nintendo games. They say people don't get mentally mature until they reach 25 and then they expect people to plan out their lives when they're about 15.

The employment agent wants to get me into a part time job that would be better than the one I've got now and I think I'll go along with it for a while. I could build up my anemic resume and maybe do some light explorative study at the same time.

If I get too comfortable in my new job I might end up stuck in it but I can't help but think that working part time is nearly the same as being unemployed. Money's not the issue, it's more about self-actualization (also it might be nice to earn all of the money I spend instead of some of it).

I think I've improved a lot lately, got a new apartment last week, lost 100 pounds in least year but I can't shake that feeling that nothing I ever do is ever good enough or that someone else did the same thing at a younger age. I know depression isn't healthy but if not for depression I'd still be content to sit in my Mum's house watching Star Trek and reading webcomics.

Anyway, some knowledge of macro-economics would really help me in my long term goal of world conquest. Being the emperor of the world might be just enough to shake those feelings of inadequacy. Or maybe it still won't be enough.

University is about learning and knowing humanity broadly, not training to be a capitalist lap dog. That said, philosophy is far more interesting than learning how to calculate sums for one's prospective paymaster, but with the neoliberal stance on education and the state's role in the financing thereof, I cannot blame you for being wary. America is trapped in a survivalist, dog-eat-dog period of flat job growth, and American college debt can be a crushing, life-long burden.

The Boomers organized and protested over Vietnam. Now it is our turn to protest the raw deal they've handed down to us Millennials and demand a new Deal. Short of that, you at least owe it to yourself to study some philosophy on your own time or take it as an elective.

Maybe. But doesn't having a broad education mean more work? As opposed to an efficient skill based one? I know being a coorporate lapdog doesn't sound like fun but that's one of the excuses I used to justify semi-unemployment for a long time.

I believe in a broadened education.

I believe, even more, in an education which will lead to a secure career.

Why does everyone keep thinking I live in America?

Sounds good but how do I ensure the skills I learn are still relevant in 50 years?

Americans are like that. My husband is from South London and most Americans think he's Australian. ~smh~

Anywho, there's not many career fields that would go unchanging for 50 years. The initial education is just the first stop in lifelong learning. The ability to continue learning and to adapt is what keeps one relevant.

Once you find a job that would be secure for at least 5 years, you work in it and you find things you're especially good at, then keep buffing up on those skills. If you keep your eyes open to things you can trasition to down the road, you'll start seeing them.

I started working as a drafter. Pay wasn't that great, but, got on with a company with job security. A few folks in the industry were being phased out from their jobs because they couldn't transition from paper to CAD (mostly 2d). Then, a few years later, BIM (mostly 3d & data-heavy) comes along... same old stubborn mindset that what they're doing now works and they don't see value in learning anything new. I only got a bit into BIM, learned enough, my job would take at least 15years to transition to it and I knew I wouldn't be there that long. *I* started specializing in databases and programming. Made my job easier at the time, but, then I realized I could translate it into a couple different jobs.
The traditional career path would've had me becoming an engineer or an architect, but, I didn't want the project schedules and budget pressures, and licensing hassles. I ended up becoming a system administrator (tried to become a data analyst, but, don't have enough experience yet).
After this? I'll probably go straight programming or as a DBA. I think my boss would like to see a manager out of me in 5-7 years, but, I doubt I want the task of overseeing people directly.

We hired a secretary a few years ago. She was a quick study and began helping everyone with loads of tasks. She got promoted to office coordinator after a couple of years. Now, since she's gotten pretty adept at contract reviews and running a couple of small projects, she's getting a business degree with a double minor in contract management and project management. She'll graduate in December and I think she won't have a problem transferring her brushed up skills to another role.

My husband started out as a structural designer, and, after we got married and the construction industry took a nosedive, he parlayed his experiences building computers (for project offices) and maintaining websites (for a professional organization) to do some freelance IT work. Now he's got a steady client where he manages their email list and does their targeted emailing. HTML was easy after what he did, although, I did have to teach him to use excel to query large datasets. Point is, he was willing to learn a bit more to keep himself relevant.

Find an industry with a good outlook for the next five years, and spend those five years finding your strong suits and improving upon them.
Constant learning is the only way to be able to adapt over 50 years of working life, especially at the rate things have changed in the past decades.

Like Miss Dorkness says, and I should have said:

You just have to keep evolving, and adapting with the times.

I admire your brevity.

That would be the logical way to do it, I'm just not good at doing things on impulse. One habit that I must break is that I way overthink things. I tend to be indecisive and take too long to come to a decision.

Also I should speak to someone at the local uni. I tend to be quite rigid in my thinking so just the idea of combing subjects from different topics seems fairly radical to me. There was none of that during my brief spell at the community college.

The traditional career path is something I need to stop thinking about. Its not the 50s anymore. Its just that I find it hard to plan for things that are unpredictable. I haven't even picked a field. It could be economics or IT or something else. My interests are too broad and they don't offer a bachelor of everything.

I asked on Yahoo Answers which major I should pick. Poor choice of words? They said I don't pick a major 'till my sophomore year. Than what do freshmen do? Maybe it's different in Australian unis. For one thing our years are numbered, not named. What else? I can't say. Though I live in Australia I have little knowledge of Australian unis. I'd best have a talk with them.

It just seems like I'm always busy. Maybe if I was doing stuff I'd have less time for other stuff so I'd break even. I don't just play games or stuff but my other activities somehow find a way to expand and fill the vacuum.

So come up with a short term plan. Got it.

They'll have to run out of things to invent sooner or later, right?

They'll never run out of things to invent

Also: Yes, it's not the 50's---but one still has to determine a tangible career for one's self. Once the person determines the tangible career, then the person could pursue things on the side which could, or could not, be related to the main career.

I know that feeling, trust me.
It seems like students are in such a poor position to select their careers. I never could've even heard of my current job and my last job in school, let alone determined the necessary skills for them.

I actually wanted to be a marine biologist when I was in jr high, loved science. But, I couldn't pass chemistry in high school (kept failing the barrier test where we had to regurgitate the elements and their atomic numbers), so gave up on science past that point. Except physics in college, now THOSE were fascinating classes, but, required for the engineering degree I was working on. I also liked the writing classes. And surveying, that was fun. Always wanted to take more applied classes like home ec and shop, but, couldn't afford the additional fees. EVERYTHING was fascinating if I sat down and read about it for a bit.