Hey everyone, as mentioned in a post I made under the college advice tag, I’m in the process of preparing to go back to school.1 Given that I only have one semester worth of credit in my major (philosophy), as well as how much my views on career planning have changed in the past year or so, I’ve been investigating potential long term career paths to help me to decide on what my major should be going forward. I’ve done as much research on my own as I feel is appropriate, so now I’m looking to interview people with experience in the lines of work I’m interested in.2
Here’s the problem: I don’t actually know how to get in touch with people in any of those areas. I’ve talked to someone working in and studying computer science (at an undergraduate level) as well as someone working in applied chemistry, but that’s about it.
For context, while I went to college for two years I didn’t really make any connections while there, so my network is extremely limited. Also note that I may study in Germany where there is less flexibility in terms of changing between STEM and social science majors when entering grad school.3 4 Any advice?
1 See the post I mentioned for more information on this topic.
2 The fields I’m interested in are welfare biology research, chemistry research (primarily in developing more humane insecticides and similar innovations), AI safety research, and policy (primarily in animal welfare and AI safety.
3 I’m not going to pretend to understand the rules fully. My friends that study there were all under the impression that you had to study the subject you got your bachelor’s degree in, but a quick internet search proved that idea to be mistaken. Unfortunately, the information I found online was rather fuzzy on the details.
4 See my other post for a longer discussion on the possibility of me studying in Germany.
