So right now i am studying for archeology. I’m 19 and am contemplating moving to Japan sometime in the far future (20-25 years). I just want some feedback on the Job opportunity there. It’s hard to predict the future job market, but are there any relevant jobs i can take with a university degree that mostly focuses on Iron age Northern Europe? I take it i have to find a job related to my own field, and actually find an employer that can vouch for me beforehand?
What are your thoughts? I’m not new to moving location, am currently living in Norway, come from Iceland, Have lived for several years in Africa as well
3 comments
Any reason you plan to stop at a master’s? Acheology/history are not fields where a master’s is particularly useful over a bachelor’s. If you’re that passionate about the subject, you may want to rethink stopping at the master’s and continue to a PhD. Honestly, though, at 19 it is impossible to plan 20 years in the future. You may decide you hate school after your undergrad and not even do that master’s. There is not really a huge demand in Japan for specialists in Northern European Ice Age. What kind of work do you want to do in the future?
I have to second /u/NanpaGrandpa’s comment about “Why stop at a masters?”
One of my sisters is a working archaeologist, and she’s on her second PhD. There’s work (in *general*, not in Japan) for BS/MS grads, but it’s grunt work. Surveys. Cleaning. Shovel work. The same is generally true for historians. A masters is *not* considered a high level degree in the deep academic fields.
Also… Why would there be any demand for Iron age Northern Europe specialists… In Japan? If you’re going to specialize in Iron age Northern Europe as an archaeologist, you’ll need to work in Northern Europe. I guess there *might* be some demand for European history folks, but A) It’s not going to be a high demand, and B) A master’s isn’t going to cut it.
If you are not deep into your program I would beg you to change your major. School will always be there but you will never get the years back. I don’t want you to be 30 years old with a useless phd and unsatisfied with life because it didn’t get you to where you wanted to be. Military can open up a lot of doors to different career paths for you to try. Maybe even take you abroad. I would personally recommend getting an IT degree. Make some money for a few years and even then you would be in your mid twenties, a bit older and wiser about what you want to do as well as have money to do it. Then you may still want to get that phd but atleast you will have money as well as a degree with job experience in a great field to fall back to.