Have you ever heard someone say, “I hope I can get a job with my major?” I’m sure you have; you may have even said it yourself ”” I know I have.

It is one of those perennial ideas with which college students always concern themselves. And I’m telling you that it is one of the most idiotic questions you should never ever ask.

My college career has been a serpentine mess. I consider it a miracle that I am graduating only 2 ½ years late. The cause of that mess is, well, a myriad of reasons, but among them was that I asked “that question” about a half dozen times.

I’ve flirted with the nursing program, computer science, computer engineering, English, pre-law, multimedia production, and then English again. You’re in college to find a high-paying career, right?

That was my idea, and that was why I initially chose the “safe” STEM majors. But my heart wasn’t in it. Despite that, “that question” kept looming in my head.

So, why is it an idiotic question, then? Well, in switching my major so many times, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a diverse swath of people. Each major attracts a certain kind of personality ”” it’s kind of amazing, really.

I’m going to be judgmental right now, so bear with me. In every single major I’ve been in, there are “winners” and there are “losers.” The ‘winners’ are ambitious, diligent and their own harshest critic.

Conversely, the “losers” are satisfied with their own mediocrity, complacent and eager to blame the universe for their own issues.

These two kinds of people exist, with varying degrees, in every classroom.

So, perhaps this is me being callow and idyllic ”” I really don’t know. But would a “loser” with an engineering degree be more successful than a “winner” with an English degree? I would like to think not.

My point is that your success is dictated by what kind of person you are. You getting a decent job is not predicated on what degree you have. A major is just a word; a degree is just a plaque. Companies don’t hire those things; they hire people. Leaders, warriors and “winners” are always in demand.

American author Henry David Thoreau was a fervent pragmatist, and his philosophy is something to which I subscribe. One anecdote that resonated with me was Thoreau’s refusal to pay the $5 fee for his Harvard diploma.

He gained the skills and knowledge for which he attended Harvard, and he refused to pay another cent for the piece of paper that ostensibly validated the degree.

He thought it unnecessary when he can prove his knowledge by his own hand. And I love that.

I believe Thoreau would tell people who ask “that question” that you attend university to gain knowledge, not a degree. And that your success is derived from whom you are as a person, and what you strive to be in your life. So, who are you?

Julian Paredes is a video producer, writer, photographer, and a multimedia journalist. He’s a voracious reader, as well as a lover of basketball and boxing.­