Get a degree they said, it would be helpful they said

One nice thing about a trade is that, if you're not a retard, you're going to be working your way into a management position eventually. Most competent people make it up to some sort of lower management by the end of their first ten years, and by the time your age is an issue you're usually sitting behind a desk.

 

I got a STEM degree and remain in the field today. It pays well and is exciting. Unfortunately it is stressful. I'm 34 and just got put on blood pressure meds. I am working on getting out of my field and starting my own thing.

I will echo what has been said already, this is now a 'skills' based economy. Some of the most successful people I know don't have a college degree. I feel as though a college degree based job ( the ones people can find) puts people in places where they are too comfortable and complacent. You won't get rich showing up and working 9 to 5. For instance: I have a friend who did 10 years in the Navy working on turbine engines. He retired and 2 years out he was making $800 a day installing turbines. 6 years after that, he was managing projects making over $1500 a day.

 

I think you mean earn.


I love how trade jobs sometimes get shit on, I deal with it sometimes, not saying Wexton is shitting on trade jobs but there are people who do.

I make good money compared to what most people do, and most people still equal my job to what a "monkey could do". Fine, I just don't see a whole lot of monkeys doing it.

Sorry that 4 years and 80k worth of debt got you jack shit but looking down on me because I earn a living with my hands doesn't make you a better person.

 

Yea, it is really funny people still think you are dumb if you have a trade, but i think that is changing well at least outside any major city, because they are the ones with all the good jobs. Even a regular auto mechanic at a dealer ship is making 30+ an hour now in most places. Nothing against auto mechanics they were generally one of the least paid trade jobs.

 

I'm going to school for the millwright/industrial mechanic trade right now, hoping for a new manufacturing boom and to try and ride the wave of baby boomers who are retiring left and right. You have to be careful choosing a trade to go after up here right now, for instance Tool & Die is becoming more and more useless to have since it's skills are being syphoned off into other trades like mold making and millwrights. Plus, they want you duo-skilled as well, which means even if you get your Red Seal for one trade, they'll send you right back into night school to get a second degree, the largest secondary demands being for industrial electrician or welders (in this area). They want everyone to be electricians, I don't get it. I hear this left and right.

I probably will end up changing towns some day because this city is simply allergic to bringing in new work development. This clueless town just opened a frozen pizza factory for 75 temp jobs and they practically threw a fucking ticker-tape parade. But like mentioned before small towns who depend on big factories always are doing well, and paying well. I'm not a huge fan of living in a smaller town, but for bigger money that would compensate. Eventually shit will get better like it always does and I hope to at least have a huge advantage with a trade when that happens. It is by no means a dream career, but more of a sound investment considering how much employment sucks around here.

Oh and I have a technical arts degree. My diploma was printed on flash paper soaked in kerosine.

 

Welder here, didn't go to college. The guys working down in South Texas on the rigs and up North on the pipelines are pulling in good money, but they are earning every damn bit of it.

 

I have a chemistry degree and use it, but in a graduating class of twenty (not a lot of people take chemistry), only three people are using their degrees. I'm in regulatory affairs, and two others are doing great R&D for the pharmaceutical industry. A selection of the other jobs held by my fellow grads include: truck driver, three primary school teachers, two baristas, one bylaw officer, one sign maker, four stay at home moms...

I guess I was lucky getting a job in my field right out of school. As bad as the stats from my chemistry class are, the biology stats are worse. There were 300 bio grads and I'm sure most of them are selling cell phone plans now.

 

I have my high school diploma, I went to college for 1 semester and decided it wasn't for me. Now I do emergency tire repair on transport trucks and farm machinery. I am also on call evenings driving a tow truck. I don't make a ton of money, but I love my job and can take care of my family, that's all that really matters to me.

 

It's good money, but for a lot of those jobs a significant portion of what you're being paid for is:

1) The risk you're taking doing a dangerous job
2) Living in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.

Focus: My degree was in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Energy and Power Systems, and I am currently employed as a mobile games developer. Being perfectly honest, I could have gone straight from high school to this job without the learning curve being any more difficult than it was coming out of college, but I'm guessing my degree is what got me in the door.

 

First time around, I got a shit degree (sociology). I was initially pre-med at a darn good school and couldn't keep up at that point in my life. I had to work in college so didn't have the skills to balance work, school, social life. I worked for a few years doing various things in the corporate world while I sorted out what I really wanted to be when I grew up. Ended up going back to nursing school to get a BSN. I worked a couple of years as RN in a critical care unit at a hospital. Went back to school to get my MSN and am now working as a Nurse Practitioner. It's a pretty good gig.

So, yes, I got a job pertaining to my degree. But it is one of the few jobs where a certain level of schooling is absolutely mandatory to work in that field. I shake my head that I didn't do it right the first time around, but deep down I know I wouldn't have been as committed or successful had I started on this path at age 18. The college I work for has a 6 year Medical School program, so the students apply in high school and go straight into medical school. I can't even tell you how immature most are. I just shake my head and wonder if they truly are capable of making such a big decision at such a young age.

 

I do not have a degree...and may not ever have one. The idea of going into debt to have a piece of paper that may or may not relate to what I wind up doing is somewhat daunting.

My daughter graduates HS in two weeks...She got accepted into a college whose tuition was 46k a year. Given that I'm not made of money and she hasn't qualified for enough scholarships to pay for that - I didn't support the idea of her attending the school. 22 years old and nearly 200k in debt is ridiculous, especially given what she was wanting for a career field. (I'm not going to throw my kid under the bus here, but it wasn't something that would exactly bring in lots of dollars.)

I'm all for learning a trade. Learn to DO SOMETHING...anything...that you can produce and DO so you can make money.

 

UT Austin is a good school, and from my understanding an intelligent kid from a Texas school can get in without much difficulty. Is there a reason it isn't a viable alternative?

 

She lives with my parents and goes to school in Texas, so I wouldn't know why not. Not being there face to face means I don't know what or how she reached the decisions she reached, except that when she told me about the other school, I told her she was out of her damn mind.

She's got other options, that won't end her up a bagillionty dollars in debt, that we hope to exercise. Traveling, specifically.



Also, I think UT's admissions may be a bit stringent for the main campus, though one of the branches (UTA or UTD for example) are probably easier to get into, and likely less expensive.

 

I don't have a huge amount of experience with state schools, because UMass accepted me despite the fact that I didn't even apply. It's not the best state for public universities (although probably the best for private). I had a few friends who went to UT either for undergrad or for their PhD, including two women whose intellectual and academic accomplishments I have tremendous respect for.

The main campus may be more stringent than the others, but I can't imagine a public university in Texas of that size is going to be absurdly restrictive.

 

Ironically (or not) there's a rich history of men going off into the wilderness for hard labor, and the prostitutes and strippers following them for their cold hard cash. So you may end up in those non-friendly environments anyway.

 

Focus: I have a B.S. in Criminal Justice with a Poli-Sci minor and a J.D. For the last year and change I've been working as a financial adviser. My undergrad degree has never been relevant, though to be fair I went to law school directly after college. The J.D. let me practice law for 4-5 years, but rarely in a fulfilling way. It got me the interview at my current company though and has been helpful in understanding the contracts and products here, but is not really necessary. So it relates and is useful, but not 6 figures worth.

Alt. Focus: I think they can be useful as long as you are smart about financing them. State schools, residential tuition programs, scholarships, grants, etc. Keep the costs, and thus debt, low and I think they're still worthwhile. But without that kind of planning, the debt will crush your ability to progress in life later on.

Alt. Alt. Focus: I'd major in economics or finance and start my career at 22 instead of 33.

 

Up here its known as a "Fort McMurray".

 

If Bewildered could cook, she'd have a man already.