I'm not 100% sure what exactly you're looking for in this question.

Are you asking what sort of careers you'll be able to pursue with a degree in history (BA)? History is a broad generalist degree, so you'll be able to do pretty much anything that doesn't require specialised vocational training (e.g. engineering, nursing etc.). However, history grads tend to veer more towards jobs which utilise their writing and analytical skills - law, government jobs, education/teaching, advertising/marketing, publishing/editing etc.

Or are you asking what it's like to be a professional historian? These are much rarer and require grad school and a PhD. Most professional historians work as professors in universities and colleges, but there are growing numbers who work for government agencies, think-tanks and heritage organisations, often as public historians. (A very large number of history PhDs transition out of the academic world entirely, and end up in similar careers to those who have history BAs). Professional historians spend a lot of time reading and writing, usually with the aim of producing and publishing research. They also do a lot of work teaching others about history, either in class as profs or as part of the outreach work of public historians.

Hope that answers your question, but if you have more detailed questions about either one of these paths, feel free to ask!

I am currently a masters student in history at an American University so I can shine some light onto what I do day to day. My focus area is Environmental history of the American West. My course load is pretty straight forward, three classes for a total of nine credits per semester allows me to qualify as a full time student and get the financial assistance my school offers for teacher's assistants. The courses I take are not all related to my field in particular at all but that is usually just how it is as it is challenging to find a University that teaches specific things to your field constantly, at least at the masters level (during a doctoral degree its quite a bit more focused). Essentially, you just take whatever is being offered by the professors that semester. I do enjoy this though, it is a great opportunity to see other historical methods and teaching strategies that I hope to apply when pursing a PhD. For my courses I tend to read about two to three books per week, generally one or two for classes and then a third for personal research working towards my thesis. Because I am at a smaller university my stipend does not automatically cover my tuition so outside of school I work another job at a local museum to help balance the costs. On any given day I go into a shared office space with other TAs in history and have office hours where students of intro level histories can come in and discuss their work and ask questions. It's pretty straight forward and easy to manage that in all honesty. However, once my office hours are over I spend the remainder of the day (approx. noon - 7pm) either reading, researching, and writing. Some of the other masters students in my program are not planning on going forward to get a PhD and thus don't work on a thesis, instead they do exam prep. In reality, it does not matter a whole lot whether you produce a master's thesis or do the examination route in the long run. A thesis can just serve as your spring board for your dissertation. All in all, I love it. I enjoy stifiling through pile after pile of documents in search of new information that changes how I understand something. The shift from an undergraduate student of history to the graduate level is a big one. No longer do you get lectured at, instead its heavily seminar based and student driven discussion where the professor chimes in occasionally and helps to guide interpretation. I have no idea if this is what you're looking for or if it helps at all but this is at least my experience as a graduate student for history.

TLDR: A degree in History has helped me learn skills and adapt to new situations more quickly than if I had another type of degree. It has helped me conduct quick and effective research so that I can better understand a problem and what I need to do to resolve the issue in a timely manner. I plan on using my education to further my own knowledge on a variety of interests where I hope to build a career as an educator/archivist in a museum or other educational institution while continuing to conduct my own research on personal interest subjects. The methods I have learned from a History degree have been applicable in more than just history-based settings, including corporate work, project presentations, and much more.

I have a BA in History with a Minor in Social Science Education and have just been accepted to a dual degree Masters program in Library Sciences/History (different college and state with a three year gap from my undergrad). I initially picked up History because I did not do well in my first two studies at university; I tried Computer Science and Animation and they were not my forte. I have always had a passion for learning the how and why of events so I figured I would start a track in History in order to learn how to "learn better." I did not know exactly what I wanted to do once I finished with a History degree, but it was through out the courses that I found a calling.

I would often get into discussions with my roommates and friends about the world as we saw it, covering political, religious, and social topics; and it was these discussions which inspired me to want to be an educator. Not an educator in the traditional sense of a school teacher, but rather work in a museum and share the collective knowledge of the exhibits it housed. During my last year as an undergrad, I participated in an internship at a local museum and learned about their educational practices, how they developed lesson plans, and gave small tours to school children.

Upon graduation, I moved from my home state to where I currently reside and have embraced the wealth of opportunity in this city. I found it next to impossible to find a job in an established museum (I think because I was so green and had no connections in the area) but I took a variety of odd jobs that gave me increasingly unique experiences. Working in a bookstore gave me the opportunity to read and learn for a fraction of what it would normally cost, which led me to understanding finer details of Excel programming. Taking that knowledge, I moved through the ranks of a merchandising company where I became the Director of Operations simply because I had the technical knowhow (later experienced burn out due to job demands but I gained valuable insight on company management). I took those management skills to a new company and worked as a Facilities Manager organizing rentals of studio spaces/prop equipment where I learned standards of a completely different industry, yet my previous knowledge and talents were still applicable. After a company restructure eliminated my position (a week before my wedding...) I went on to finally find a job at an established museum.

This museum is not particularly big and as such, does not have the need for full time docents. I currently fill the position of admissions/gift shop attendant/question answerer and I love it. We have an archivist who is by default much more knowledgable about the exhibits on display, but I have learned a good deal of facts and information from listening to conversations and doing my own personal research. I can answer most of the questions that come up and if we are not too busy, I am able to conduct small tours for those who are interested. This position has inspired me so much since I began (January 2017), that I have applied for the Masters program and am getting ready to go back to school.

Within this Masters program I will be learning how to preserve and present special collections of museums and libraries as well as how to better sort through historical data and generate an interpretation that can be understood by others. I hope to graduate in three years and continue my career goal of working as a museum educator, whether it is with my current museum or somewhere else down the road. But I could not have found this happiness (for myself, for others it may be different) without a degree in History. It has taught me how to research a new topic, glean the important material, and then carry that to my next stage in life. If there is something I do not know, which I need to know for whatever reason, I can take the skills I have acquired from a History degree and apply them to my current situation. More often than not, I can find the resolution I am looking for in a matter of hours rather than days. This applies to more than just my current job; I have found these skills useful in my hobbies, home maintenance, and many other facets of my life. For me, a degree in History has been about self-improvement; whether it is physical, mental, or philosophical I believe I have bettered myself through a collective understanding of humanity.