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For quick money, wait tables. Start applying at the most expensive restaurants and work your way down through the mid-range places (you're going for tips, so start big). A good restaurant will train you, and there's a shortage of good waitstaff these days, so it should be pretty easy to get hired. And money in your pocket right away. It's also a good job if you want to go to college -- take evening shifts and daytime classes. And if you like the industry, there are ways to move up the ladder -- learn to bartend, become a shift manager, general manager, etc. You don't need a degree to get started; show up on time, be willing to pitch in, be pleasant to the customers will get you a long way.
This is really the best advice for somebody without a college degree.
Regular retail work and related service jobs have a very real glass ceiling. The restaurant industry if you are good at it can lead to a solid middle class living in this city as you move up to higher end restaurants, if you are good at it. The demand for wait staff is pretty big in this city, especially quality wait staff. 20% tips are the standard in DC as well, compared to other cities. There is room for growth, and it is not dead end.
Your average home depot and walmart on the other hand is driven by just in time part time scheduling, and low wages. The jobs have no growth, and several people competing for them. Really it is a dead end.
The other option is to apply to an apprenticeship program for pipe-fitters, hvac, or electricians. That will often pay really well. The skilled trades really are as well paying as some of the best paid college professionals. The average electrician for example makes as much if not more than an engineer. It takes four to five years of training, but they pay you along the way to get there.
If you want opportunity in DC that will lead to a quality of life to where you can at least enjoy what the area offers, you need to have or be:
1. A college degree.
2. A skilled trade.
3. An honorably discharged military veteran.
I chose the Virginia side of DC because it's a military friendly state and as a veteran and skilled mechanic I've had more opportunities, veterans programs, advanced schooling in electrical and diagnostics, and just being able to network with fellow like minded people.
I have a technical 2 year degree in mechanics and refrigeration, I have always been able to make it not made less then 24.50 an hour.
You can be successful without college but you gotta have some sort of skill set to earn a livable wage.
I'm not 18 anymore. Let's just leave it at that... But no I won't be going to school for any of those things at all. I'm going to go to school for theology and that isn't really something you expect to make much from doing. But it's more important that I get some kind of job before I apply to any schools.
If you are under 32 and can get into fairly good physical shape, you can apply to be a military chaplain at any of the military branches. You can expect salary and promotion potential similar to your peers in other occupations. ie. Everyone starts at the same pay grade whether chaplain, automotive mechanic, IT specialist, or medic. And they all get promoted at a pretty similar rate and receive all the same benefits.
I would think there is actually a shortage in the Chaplain corps. as every chaplain I knew of in the reserves was scooped up by the active military for deployment. It's just not something the military actively recruits, not that there is no demand.
If you are under 32 and can get into fairly good physical shape, you can apply to be a military chaplain at any of the military branches. You can expect salary and promotion potential similar to your peers in other occupations. ie. Everyone starts at the same pay grade whether chaplain, automotive mechanic, IT specialist, or medic. And they all get promoted at a pretty similar rate and receive all the same benefits.
I would think there is actually a shortage in the Chaplain corps. as every chaplain I knew of in the reserves was scooped up by the active military for deployment. It's just not something the military actively recruits, not that there is no demand.
I think you need a college degree. Chaplains in the Navy at least were commissioned officers.
I think you need a college degree. Chaplains in the Navy at least were commissioned officers.
On the Army side, we have Chaplains in the Chaplain Corps who are commissioned. We also have some who did chaplain duties as PFC and above in the NCO ranks, not sure what MOS track they had. I do know they had to go to a "Chaplain School" for a few months or more. I always gave them the same respect as a commissioned/ordained military chaplain.
Never had one in the unit for more than two years before they were scooped up by the active component to be deployed. As far as I knew, they did not have degrees either. They had enlisted specifically for the college money though.
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