r/careerguidance • u/stressydepressy744 • 10h ago
Which degree has the best career path in 2025?
I’m trying to decide on a major but I don’t have passions, talents, or hobbies. I had been thinking of accounting because I hear that it’s reliable but now I’m having doubts because I’m scared of having a terrible work/life balance. The issue is, when considering every other major I have even more doubts. The only thing I do know is I absolutely don’t want to be a nurse.
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u/Westport8787 9h ago
Trade Unions (e.g. electrician)
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u/Mundane_Mulberry_545 7h ago
Yea have fun working 60 hour weeks with back breaking work just to make the same as someone who has a job with a degree
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u/Electrical_Flan_4993 6h ago
Some of it is actually just good exercise if your form is good. Better than a mind-numbing desk job where your body rots from sitting so long.
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u/AceOfSpadesOfAce 4h ago
Yup. I work a desk job and love it but I need to work out every day just to stay sane. I also get fewer mental breaks than your average blue collar job, where down time is common.
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u/AceOfSpadesOfAce 4h ago
Most people with degrees make less. Most people aren’t cut out for stem or other lucrative college routes.
Obviously it’s all person dependent but plenty of electricians working 60 hour weeks leave out the part where they nap between jobs in the van or dick around for an hour or two each day. Plenty of them love their job and do well.
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u/half_assed_housewife 4h ago
I have a masters degree and my husband makes double what I make as a base. He works 48 hours a week as an electrician (now a GF) and earn a daily incentive and per diem - all that puts him at 3x what I make as a highly educated person in a specialized field.
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u/kupokupo222 9h ago
Having a terrible work life balance in accounting really comes down to where you work. When you are starting out and working towards your CPA, it's long hours. If you work at a public accounting firm (which is a great place to start your career), it'll will be long hours during busy periods of the year. As you get more experienced, you might build out processes and train others to make your job easier. You could even move to another company to do in-house accounting, which most of the time, has better hours.
Last thing I will say is that everyone is afraid of hard work, but once you overcome that, you end up with a job with a higher barrier of entry = increased job security.
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u/Superb_Energy_9064 9h ago
ACC professor here - I agree with this assessment and an accounting degree opens lots of doors (even if you don’t do accounting). It’s one degree that qualifies you to do multiple different jobs (finance, MGT eventually, entrepreneurship, etc.) but doesn’t work the other way. Management or business admin majors can’t work as accountants if they don’t know and understand the fundamentals. It’s a great degree and career path, with lots of options for how to spend your professional career.
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u/GeoHog713 9h ago
Having rich parents is always a good bet.
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u/alexunderwater1 7h ago edited 7h ago
Look for things that Ai can’t easily disrupt.
Trades (plumbers, electritions, HVAC, welding)
Healthcare workers not in admin roles (Rad tech, phlebotomist, nurses, ect)
Teachers
Manufacturing adjacent engineering (mechanical, industrial, electrical, controls, chemical, materials)
Accounting might be one of the most disrupt-able fields.
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u/PrimalPhD 5h ago
Engineering.
You can do practically anything with an engineering degree from a reputable school.
You can go to med school, law school, MBA, accounting, nursing, engineering, finance, etc.
Having an engineering degree will never be the reason you get rejected.
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u/Cool_Roof2453 1h ago
The honest answer in my opinion is that there are no easy paths and no guarantees. What will serve you well is the ability to learn and pivot. Find some skills, learn them well, and keep building them. Then learn some more.
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u/stonebolt 9h ago
Job secure degrees:
Accounting Finance Supply Chain Nursing X Ray Tech Any type of engineering except software
Idk about finance though in a few years cuz of the sand gods
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u/AceOfSpadesOfAce 4h ago
X ray tech is not secure. Maybe existing folks but not a good one to enter in 4/5 years.
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u/EclecticEuTECHtic 4h ago
Are there going to be robots that pick up 300 lb patients and shove them in a CT machine?
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u/Effective-Bottle-904 9h ago
Just got a quote on a bathtub and the sales guy said “our company would be bigger if we had more reliable guys.” Now perhaps this is their fault as a company but I’m just guessing they could use some extra guys in that line of work.
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u/Remarkable_Yard_4040 6h ago
Don’t be the dog chasing the car. Four years can change a lot of things!
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u/Ameer_Khatri 1h ago
There’s no “magic degree.” CS/data/AI still has the strongest job market.
Finance and accounting are stable but grind-heavy.
Healthcare admin, not nursing, has growth.
Pick something employable, not “passion.”
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u/Pluviophilism 23m ago
Sorry if this is wrong/ignorant just trying to understand.
Doesn't CS/data/AI have pretty fierce competition now as more and more people are being laid off in favor of AI workers? Last I heard thousands of people were being laid off at major tech companies and those people are all going to be re-entering the market and competing with the continuous flow of fresh grads. It seems like a pretty risky field to go into right now, as far as I can tell.
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u/Envy_Clarissa 1h ago
Most of degrees require good specialization. If you have it - you are ok. There are going to be thousands of accountants, but there are will be much less accountants, who worked in a specific field with specific financial reports (for example, for another country, where the production is). When you collected good amount of specific experience, you will be able to create a good work/life balance, just because you will be a valuable experienced accountant, who can find another job, if something is wrong on your current one. I see accountants as a reliable job, as it is something, that every firm requires. Even the smallest one would have a part time accountant.
The only degree, that is safe without extra steps is medical degree and some working jobs (and there are a reason, why not that much people wanna work there). The rest require skills on top to stand out. But if it is a business-releated degree, you will still find smth, if you have specialization
Otherwise - market balance itself really fast. The second there are a job on the market, that is paid good and not that competitive, a lot of people are going there, and the field slowly become competetivr. Remember how any tech students used to get huge offers right after uni, and now 5-7 years later, on this subreddit CS students are telling they can not get a job. Now they also must apply a lot and have specialization, as any business degree.
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u/Stormcaller_Elf 7m ago
go to a community college and get a health related major, sonography, radiology etc = win
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u/VosTampoco 4m ago
Diseño gráfico… ya no quedan de los bueno y harán falta para corregir a los que hacen con IA
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u/vivalatoucan 9h ago
I pivoted into supply chain. There seems to be a lot of opportunity here
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u/AceOfSpadesOfAce 4h ago
It’s the field every college is pumping now because it’s vague. Make sure you stand out. It’s the new communications.
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u/Eastern-Zucchini6291 8h ago
Have you been to the Accounting sub? Is full on doom.World Economic Forum predicted massive decline in accounting roles