Does methodology courses matter post-university?

[u/MaesterHannibal]

I go to a university that places great emphasis on methodology courses - over my polsci bachelor, I’ll end up doing 6 courses, each 5 ECTS, in different methodologies - an overall on, a qualitative, a quantitative, philosophy of science, advanced social sciences analysis methods (2 of these).

This is all very boring, and something that’s shocked me is that while I’ve been looking at unis to do exchange semesters at, none of them have nearly as many methodology courses - indeed it’s been difficult to find unis to which I can match my home uni’s courses, due to the lack of such courses.

So my question is: how important are these courses later on? Do you get better career oppurtunities if you’ve had an abundance of methodology courses like I have, or is it irrelevant?

[u/code_blooded_bytch]

I think it matters a really significant amount. The hard skills you gain in these classes are invaluable. Being able to appropriately collect and analyze data is an extremely transferable skill, even if you try to go into an unrelated field. If you want to go to grad school, having a solid methods base is a massive benefit. If you want to go into things like polling, nonprofit research, etc, having this sort of background will be a real help. I encourage all undergrads to take all the methods courses they can. It can really open doors.

[u/Thick_Secretary_1528]

Skills you accumulate in those courses are likely the most “employable” skills.

[u/notnijiatall]

Yes that’s literally one of the most important skill sets to have in the job market