A career in history

by fatguyallen

Hi, I've been a long time lurker of this subreddit and have always read it with a lot of interest. Hopefully my question is in the right place.

I am at a crossroads.

I am 34 years old, working at the moment as a software architect in IT, but I am thinking of branching out of it - I guess it is related to burnout and not really enjoying my work as much right now. Though during my time I've found a lot of passions, most of them have been short lived, except for history and PC gaming (sic!).

My main questions are related to:

  1. How hard would it be to make the switch to an actual serious career path in history? Is it too late for me? Would it be hard because of my age? How much do academical degrees help and how much of the knowledge gained in self taught? I am asking since in IT, while degrees like a PhD matter, most of the things can be self taught.
  2. What are the career paths that I can work towards in history? Is it mainly academia, or are there other opportunities available? Maybe anything in which my programming skills would help me? In other words, are there fields in which you can apply historical knowledge in a more "hands-on" approach to the present and / or future ?
  3. Is lack of language knowledge an important barrier? Say I want to get into ancient Greek history - would a lack of understanding of old Greek be a major hindrance to me?
  4. This might be a heavy handed statement, but I am assuming that working in this field involves lots of research and reading sources. Is that accurate?

Sorry, I know that my question is quite vague and probably more details are needed from my part - and might even be stupidly formulated - , but I am interested at least in some general pointers on how historians are involved with today's society.

Thank you.

crrpit

  1. Hard. Most career routes in history-related fields require relevant qualifications, often postgraduate degrees. It's very hard to skip them, as they aren't just about the specific knowledge, but the experience and quality control - a postgraduate degree in history, for instance, tells an employer that you can put together, manage and complete and independent research project, that met both the university's and external standards. You can absolutely build equivalent levels of knowledge of a given subject independently, but aside from the training in analytical techniques, getting this experience recognised is not at all.straightforward. This doesn't just go for academic careers, but also areas such as museums and heritage - typically, it takes qualifications combined with experience and connections to get into these areas. While age isn't necessarily a barrier per se, the time and resources needed to make yourself employable might be. Even if you do everything right, there's no guarantee it will work - there is simply a surplus of overqualified candidates for every role. This goes as much or more for an academic career.

  2. Experience on the software end probably offers the most realistic path forward. "Digital humanities" is a growing field - historians and others seeking to use data and digital tools to create new ways of doing history. It's not impossible that there's a demand for consultants or other forms of digital expertise in this area - but how much, and what the barriers would be, is not something I'm well-placed to answer. As with anything, experience and a portfolio of work would likely help - it may be worth seeing if there are projects you could volunteer for (not least to see if you actually like it).

  3. It depends on what you want to do. If independent historical research is the goal, then yes, you need at least some knowledge of the relevant languages.

  4. Again, it depends on what you want. Any research-related field will involve research, by definition. It's hard to see how any career meaningfully involved in the creation, communication or preservation of historical knowledge wouldn't require considerable reading. But it's rarely the whole job description - any or all of teaching, writing, communication or administration would likely form more of the daily job.