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Alright, so I've had some introspection lately towards what I'm gonna do after I graduate from University here.
So the big question! "What does one do after they finish their undergraduate degree?" Should he or she go straight to Master's degree school? Or should they rather go to work first?
TL;DR once I finish my undergraduate degree, what should I do? The only real "professional" line of work that I've known is teaching English as a Second language. That much, with an undergraduate degree in far East Asia, will earn any one job security as an English teacher. My ideal grad school is one of these three institutes in Hong Kong: UHK, CityUHK, or CUHK. And I've been struggling with what discipline to choose.
Longer, more complicated Story
+ Show Spoiler +I'm studying for a bachelor's in Arts in Chinese Language and Literature. I refuse to teach Chinese to American high school students (after all, who actually wants to be in high school in America?). So, I'm thinking one day maybe I should elect to be a translator somewhere. Maybe here in America if I should ever come back, which brings me to this point...
Once I get my undergrad, I'm either a) Going straight back to Taiwan for work or b) Going to Hong Kong to study for my master's degree and then going to Taiwan. Ideally, I would live, work and retire in Taiwan. My whole life would be spent there if I had to choose now. I think I would even have a job in the esports community if I were to work there.
What is the problem with this? It seems like some places don't care about your education level (if you're in my shoes, for example.), and I know that the English teaching market there can pay anywhere from 30,000 (If you are just a total idiot) to 80,000 NT monthly (Working a for an extremely professional school that has good business and location). Basically, that's anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500 USD each month. degrees / education level almost make no difference.
If I were to study my master's degree
+ Show Spoiler +If I were to choose from a major, I think it would be a Master's Degree in Translation (best place to study Chinese translation on the planet is Hong Kong). But I've pondered other majors as well. To give you some perspective, if there was a master's degree available for International Security Studies (which is my currently minor), available for me to elect from in Hong Kong, then I would probably go for it. Also, my spoken Chinese is very defficient in some ways, but I can understand almost everything that people communicate with me.
Other thoughts / Complications
* In Taiwan, it's illegal to work and study at the same time for foreigners unless they are married to a Taiwanese person. I might have read the laws wrong, but I never bothered to check up to begin with. I know that a foreigner can work at university facilities for Taiwanese minimum wage if they have studied at a university there for more than one year (or at least that was the policy at National Taiwan University).
* In HK, I heard I can work and study legally at the same time through the grapevine. A Singaporean friend of mine told me this.
* The master's degree program in translation that I wanted to do requires one year of time as a full-time student, or two years as a part-time student.
* I don't know if I really want to study translation. I don't know where my work niche is (I've never worked in a business environment, nor a government office, nor any other sort of "professional" environment).
Final thoughts- I've only been to Hong Kong once in my life, and I was there for less than 20 hours. It was just enough time to get a visa to Mainland China and that's it. I'd like to see the place one more time. On the other hand, vacations there can be expensive, and I'd rather do something productive, rather than spend money on myself and see no pragmatic return. Maybe this way I can get the best of both worlds?
 
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I have heard that at least South Korea pays English teachers more if they have masters degrees (maybe someone can verify this). But I don't believe getting a masters in most fields makes you significantly more marketable unless you have poor grades in your undergrad or go to a significantly better university for your masters, and smash through your masters program with superb marks and make contacts for letters of recommendation. One exception is that getting a masters degree in a different country will help you get a job in that country.
That said, if you really have no idea what you want to do, don't waste your time and money on it. Masters programs are not designed to help you explore and find your passion; that's what undergrad was for. Go get some experience and find your niche, and then if you feel a masters will benefit you in the long run go for it.
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28085 Posts
On December 10 2012 15:29 AcrossFiveJulys wrote:
I have heard that at least South Korea pays English teachers more if they have masters degrees (maybe someone can verify this). But I don't believe getting a masters in most fields makes you significantly more marketable unless you have poor grades in your undergrad or go to a significantly better university for your masters, and smash through your masters program with superb marks and make contacts for letters of recommendation. One exception is that getting a masters degree in a different country will help you get a job in that country.
That said, if you really have no idea what you want to do, don't waste your time and money on it. Masters programs are not designed to help you explore and find your passion; that's what undergrad was for. Go get some experience and find your niche, and then if you feel a masters will benefit you in the long run go for it.
Yeah, sk english teachers do make more with a masters, mainly because they can actually land jobs at a university teaching university courses.
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One of my friends here (latino guy) is studying for some sort of MBA at night, and teaching/tutoring English and Spanish during the day. Might be illegal, but it seems to be ok.
From what I've seen here:
-teaching English is ok, but mostly if you have other passions in life (like hiking all over Taiwan, eventually starting a restaurant, etc). 100% English teaching here looks depressing after a few years (haha I don't like the expat community that much)
-getting a master degree, if properly chosen, could lead to more interesting jobs (just my opinion): business, import/export, etc. My friends who went for the "MBA" (or related) way seemed to have no problem finding a job in a sector they liked after (clothing, food, building, airlines, whatever), by using the 3 or 4 languages spoken.
ps: I'm not at all in business myself, and I would personally find it boring. I just don't think going for English teaching/translation jobs here is a good long term idea.
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On December 10 2012 15:29 AcrossFiveJulys wrote:
I have heard that at least South Korea pays English teachers more if they have masters degrees (maybe someone can verify this). But I don't believe getting a masters in most fields makes you significantly more marketable unless you have poor grades in your undergrad or go to a significantly better university for your masters, and smash through your masters program with superb marks and make contacts for letters of recommendation. One exception is that getting a masters degree in a different country will help you get a job in that country.
That said, if you really have no idea what you want to do, don't waste your time and money on it. Masters programs are not designed to help you explore and find your passion; that's what undergrad was for. Go get some experience and find your niche, and then if you feel a masters will benefit you in the long run go for it.
basically this
SK will pay you more if you have a Master's Degree, but it's not really THAT much.
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I think you really need to calm down a little bit. You gained a lot of traction as a caster because you're white, not because your Chinese is good. I can bareeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeely understand your Chinese and it screeches like nail on chalkboard to my ears.
I suggest you do your full time study in hongkong for another few years before really going into the job market as a translator/teacher.
Not to be a party pooper, but I've tried to listen to your casts before to follow the Taiwanese scene, but everytime I've had to mute you.
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don't go HK, they care about your education level a lot and it's super stressful and competitive, while getting low paid, living a high costing life style.
the market also isn't so big for other industries other than finance/banking. education system in hk generally sucks and local school is slowly dying because parents are sending children to go oversea to study (and learn english).
Unless you can somehow manage to teach in an international school or become a private tutor in those tutor company, it's not likely you will have a good life ahead.
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A degree is one thing, having a couple of years work experience prior to that degree is also valuable (at least where ive lived.) Somebody mentioned your Chinese was shit (although he just sounds like a hating douche i could be wrong but...) working would help you to tighten your grasp on the language as you would be using it everyday and learning how to properly speak it (im not talking grammatical errors or such, i mean the sound of your speech, accents etc)
I'd suggest working for a year or two to gain experience and knowledge (while tightening your chinese up) and then doing your masters. If your work is related to your masters degree, it will only help you when the time comes anyway, experience > books.
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On December 10 2012 17:54 Jombozeus wrote:
I think you really need to calm down a little bit. You gained a lot of traction as a caster because you're white, not because your Chinese is good. I can bareeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeely understand your Chinese and it screeches like nail on chalkboard to my ears.
I suggest you do your full time study in hongkong for another few years before really going into the job market as a translator/teacher.
Not to be a party pooper, but I've tried to listen to your casts before to follow the Taiwanese scene, but everytime I've had to mute you.
I am calm. I don't see what bringing up me as a caster has to do with this. I specifically left gaming out of the blog for a reason. I only mentioned esports in the slightest, because as a line of work, I could work in marketing / for hardware and other peripherals, and esports community management. If I were to really be so bold, maybe I would ask Blizzard if they needed someone with my skillset. They have offices in Taiwan, most likely around Nangang exhibition center where Nvidia and Thermaltake were located when I was there.
I donno how much translation in TW would pay, but I would imagine for me to actually get a job in it, I would have to do something unique like translating from Chinese to Dutch or Chinese to Portuguese because Chinese to English is already far too mainstream.
On December 10 2012 18:07 B.I.G. wrote:
How old are you?
23. 24 When I graduate.
What set me back education-wise just a bit was I wasted a year of my life straight after high school by teaching English in Kunming and Shenzhen back in 2008-2009.
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Most of the English teachers I know in China don't have a degree. They only got that 100 hour TEFL certification and that's all the schools are asking. Salary is decent in Shanghai.
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Don't worry so much about it. It's easy to waste too much time overthinking things. Look at your options and make a decision, then try to keep your decision. If I'm lucky, I'll be 27 when I graduate with an engineering degree. First, I lost my free ride's worth of scholarships. Next, I wasted two years not going to class and switching majors and not going to class, thereby accruing two years worth of student loan debt for no visible progress towards the degree. Now I'm paying off debt and trying to get back in school. The best part? I don't really care how long it has taken me to get to this point. I'm confident once I get back in school I'll graduate this time. No sense worrying about wasted time.
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28085 Posts
On December 10 2012 17:53 Chaggi wrote:Show nested quote +On December 10 2012 15:29 AcrossFiveJulys wrote:
I have heard that at least South Korea pays English teachers more if they have masters degrees (maybe someone can verify this). But I don't believe getting a masters in most fields makes you significantly more marketable unless you have poor grades in your undergrad or go to a significantly better university for your masters, and smash through your masters program with superb marks and make contacts for letters of recommendation. One exception is that getting a masters degree in a different country will help you get a job in that country.
That said, if you really have no idea what you want to do, don't waste your time and money on it. Masters programs are not designed to help you explore and find your passion; that's what undergrad was for. Go get some experience and find your niche, and then if you feel a masters will benefit you in the long run go for it. basically this SK will pay you more if you have a Master's Degree, but it's not really THAT much.
Well, as I said, the Masters degree can get you a teaching job for university students. Although it only pays a bit more, it is nice to work with students who are actually legitimately studying English, and are mature,etc. And the university atmosphere would be kind of cool to work in imo.
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I read your post Ender but I really did not get the impression of a person who knows what type of career he is after so I certainly wouldn't advise you to continue studying.
Unless it's required* (As in every man and his dog has a post grad degree in your industry), you want to get out of study and get into a job ASAP, once you are in, you will meet and associated yourself with likeminded individuals, then the options are really opening to you, you will also learn from first hand experiences which post grad major is good, which is useless etc...
End of the day, you need to know why you are doing a degree, is it required to get that dream job? is it required to be promoted? Are you not competitive enough with your current credentials? You are not going to answer these questions studying.
All the best.
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On December 12 2012 14:01 haduken wrote:
I read your post Ender but I really did not get the impression of a person who knows what type of career he is after so I certainly wouldn't advise you to continue studying.
Unless it's required* (As in every man and his dog has a post grad degree in your industry), you want to get out of study and get into a job ASAP, once you are in, you will meet and associated yourself with likeminded individuals, then the options are really opening to you, you will also learn from first hand experiences which post grad major is good, which is useless etc...
End of the day, you need to know why you are doing a degree, is it required to get that dream job? is it required to be promoted? Are you not competitive enough with your current credentials? You are not going to answer these questions studying.
All the best.
Thanks for the feedback, guys. In hindsite, I'm thinking that a master's degree in Hong Kong would be overpriced considering I don't know for sure if it will or will not earn me job security (UHK's worldwide rankings are just below Berkley), or at least a higher salary.
As for working in Hong Kong, I can see it helping, but as far as esports and Hong Kong are concerned, I have only one contact who is there right now, although I know of a handful of Hong Kong pro gamers.
I can't say I know of any esports events hosted there either, but I won't let that discourage me...
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EPT
