When I was very young my dad worked as a college professor teaching sociology. Most of his career he worked for the government. He approved grants to universities primarily for research in the psychology field. It entailed reviewing and scrutinizing the proposed research with peers in the field to ensure it was a valid experiment. He worked with psychiatrists all over the country who were considered top in their field. An example of the research might be for instance cognitive behavioral therapy vs. psychoanalysis for depression. Or, it could even be a study of psychiatric drugs and their efficacy.
After he retired from the government he started a book business buying and selling used books. He still does it today.
My dad has a PhD in sociology. He went to college immediately after high school finishing his bachelors in four years. He finished his PhD around age 30 while teaching college.
My mom stayed home to raise us until my younger sister started school. Although, during that time when we were very little she did do Welcome Wagon for a short time, but that might have been volunteer, I don’t know. Once we kids were both in school my mom did work part time doing administrative stuff at the Epilepsy Foundation.
Later, when I was around 10 years old, she started working full time in percurement at the National Cancer Institute at NIH, she was there for many years. She basically ordered the materials needed by researchers for cancer research. Her boss studied the “female” cancers. Later she worked for the FDA. I don’t know her whole jobs there, primarily it was administrative. Initially she worked in medical devices. I know she sat in on meetings when they reviewed medical devices being tested for market. Also, she was either in meetings or saw documents looking at medical devices under scrutiny for adverse effects that were already on the market. Later she worked in vaccinations, or maybe she did both at once, I am not sure. Part of her job there was recording adverse side effects of vaccinations.
My mom has a BA in History and just a few credits short of a major in Sociology. She went to college immediately after high school.