[Marketing professionals] How did you get started in the industry?

Alas, my degree is in Marketing Logistics and I ended up in Telecommunications. Several papers submitted as coursework mysteriously became products shortly after we submitted them, but probably coincidence. Of course that was 25 years ago.

Thats terrible. They do that sort of stuff here all the time. We do up marketing plans for real life company for prizes (say 500 bucks) and they get a real life marketing plan worth thousands! And we’re paying them for the privilege

Sorry to derail. But my friend was a CS major focusing on databases. They were tasked with writing software for a video rental place. A imaginary video store. Turns out that video store wasn’t imaginary. The instructor got hired for the job and the best work his students turned in was sold under his name.

I started out as an apartment manager.

I just started, and it was mostly by coincidence. I just graduated a few months ago and majored in journalism and film. I did some outside work in design, in advertising, and pseudo-marketing, along with video production, reporting, and arts writing freelance, and I ended up with a job that combines all of those. I’m quite lucky and I really value/enjoy this position and the variety it provides me with.

In high technology, many marketing professionals start off as Product Managers.

Here is an entry level marketing posting for Cisco as an example.

Good luck.