kangaeru

In terms of being successful post college, do you all feel that having a second language is a major selling point for would be employers, or is it just icing on the cake?

I ask this because I'm a student at UMass, Amherst double majoring in Japanese and Economics. I've actually been in Japan since New Years studying abroad I will return home at the end of April. My thoughts are that, especially with business, someone who has shown they can master the challenge of a foreign language (especially a difficult one, like Japanese), and has another widely applicable major (Economics) under their belt would be very employable. I don't know what I want to do exactly, but I know I want to make good money and have my options open.

As of now, I'm very good with computers. I could probably get Microsoft 200X and Cisco networking certs with perhaps a month of studying. I've done consulting for homes, small business, and small to medium sized law firms. Everything from setting up exchange servers, windows 2000 domains, PC trouble shooting...I've pretty much seen it all. I am always wondering how that could play into accenting what I'm majoring. I was thinking maybe working for a large IT solutions company, maybe cisco or something, selling their hardware to Japanese companies. Many people have the idea in their heads that Japan is technology advaced compared to the United States...that's only when it comes to cell phones and console gaming. Their business infrastructure outside of Tokyo is mostly unorganized, unsecured, and many large domestic companies still don't have a computer for all of their full time employees. Forget about exchange servers, networks, data back up, etc. I'm 20, I've got another 3 years left in college so it's not like this needs to be decided right away but those are the most recent thoughts im kicking around.

I realize that got kind of off topic in the second part of my post, my apologies in advance.

Any advice/suggestions appreciated.