u/riotgrrrlsummer

TLDR: Accepted into CompLing MSc in Stuttgart uni (Germany), no prior education/work background in the field as of yet. Employment prospects down the line?

Hi, asking for advice here! I got accepted into the Computational Linguistics Master's at Stuttgart University, which looks like a very solid programme with a practical edge to it. I have a BA in linguistics, so I know it'll be an intense journey, and I am bracing myself (but also super excited!). However, I'm starting to second-guess the choice: would it be worth it eventually?..

The general consensus online appears to be that the field still offers some job prospects, but is, of course, rapidly shifting, with LLMs and such. Obviously, we can't fully predict what it will look like in 5-10 years' time, but do you suppose there would still be a sufficient number of jobs? I guess I just don't want to go through the stress of mastering this curriculum, only to find myself with little employment prospects long-term. I also got accepted into another programme, which is a L2 teaching degree (MA): something relatively simple for someone with my background -- albeit, admittedly, less exciting.

And, more precisely, my concern is about having to compete with people who did both their degrees in CS/CompLing, and/or already have practical experience. Given that there are fewer and fewer entry level jobs nowadays, I imagine getting a job post-graduation could become a challenge. Am I being too pessimistic? Does it all come down to a strong GitHub portfolio?

Lastly, do you have any insights as to which particular domain of computational linguistics looks more future-proof from where we are today? Hopefully, this isn't a stupid question to ask.

Anyway, I would love to hear from industry professionals, and/or specifically fresh graduates. Especially those coming from a Linguistics background. Thanks a lot!

I'm here to get some advice! I specifically turn to this community because I'd rather hear from strangers than from people who know me. They say all sorts of things. And I am confused as hell being at a major crossroads in life!

Me (34) a non EU immigrant currently living in Europe, and this year I've decided to get back to full-time studies. It is something I'm doing to get my foot in the door of the society(so far I've lived here with a remote job - so zero integration), but equally to get a more secure residency status. I've got accepted into two uni programmes, one in Belgium, which will lead to a MA degree in a field that is rather useless outside of the academia (or can be good for working in just any field) - which I don't mind, I guess. The school itself is located in a city I happen to like a lot (been there plenty of times, even made some acquaintances). Don't know how to explain it but I just feel good there. I guess I actually chose the city, not the school. The other option is an MSc degree in Germany, to which I applied with my humanities Bachelors without even hoping to get accepted — but, oops, I did. It is a highly competitive programme, and the education is good and may lead to better career prospects and better money down the road. I'm genuinely curious about the field, not very intimidated by all the tech stuff it entails (although not entirely sure I'll be super excited about it). But the problem is I am not enthusiastic either about Germany not about the particular city. Another layer to this, is that I have already been living in a city I dislike and feel no connection to whatsoever — after moving here to follow my then boyfriend. I literally vowed to never move to a place I don't like. And here we go again, I am faced with this dilemma. I will surely visit that other city very soon before making the decision, but so far it looks like a stale industrial city.

I don't think I'm especially crazy about carrer at all. I just want a simple life, where I have enough money, some stability, good people around me and a life partner (none of it I have right now). But I feel that immigrants like myself have to either become successful or perish: this is the natural selection we have to go through.

What would you do? Basically a choice between following my heart and making a proper grownup rational choice. Maybe I just need to vent!

UPD: There's additional level of drama — I've met someone from Belgium, and have been seeing him, and we are currently busy falling in love. He doesn't know any of this, I only told him I'm moving to his country - which was the initial plan in reality. Since we've been seeing each other only for a month, of course this wouldn't influence my decision, but imagine how it's fuelling the turmoil!