Sometimes college degrees don't work out for you...
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Sometimes college degrees don't work out for you. I read in the Chicago Tribune about a homeless man, - and he had a Mechanical Engineering degree! I ran into 2 Mechanical Engineers at a job session for Alumni and they didn't get an ME job 2 to 5 years after college! - At that point, your career is really suffering and you look less employable! If you don't work your degree after 5 years - it seems hopeless and looks like you gotta do anything else to get by! I was unemployed 1 year after college, Gen X era 1993... Career got started by a 7 month "internship" of ISO 9000 documentation. My career is a long story but one job led to another, but I have never been employed longer than 1 year 1 month! I'd say my career sucks but when employers call me for an interview they say I have a great resume - so I wonder how bad everyone else's is! I graduated from the 6th best college in the nation for Mech Eng and I expected better of my career!
How about you? Did your college degree pan out to a great career, or has it been ho hum like mine, or worse - never got off ground?
For me, it would have been worse to go back to school and get a Master's as that would overqualify me for the many Technical Writer, Drafter, Designer Detailer, and "BSME enough" engineering jobs! I was rejected for a $68,000 / yr Proe Designer job because my BSME overqualified me!
But some people work out eventually. I had a neighbor who had a useless Psychology BA and he did real estate good enough to get himself a Porsche.
Unfortunately, Engineering is getting to be the next IT as far as outsourcing jobs is concerned. A lot of the low-level engineering jobs are or will be sent to India...
I'd advise that you get into project management - that is much more difficult to outsource - but you may need an MEng degree for that...
I'm in IT, and I only see outsourcing accelerating....
The only thing that is going to stop it is when some regional conflict errupts and shows business just how fragile the peace in some of these outsourcing areas truly are... and how much they are putting their businesses at risk by outsourcing to places like India, Pakistan...
I am going to school to be a spanish teacher...
We'll see how that goes.. ::crosses fingers::
At first my heart was sent on nursing, I would eventually become a nurse practitioner of some sort but then I realized I am just not cut out for nursing and I wouldn't love what I do.
I see myself in many different career fields but I think teaching will suit me. People tell me I'd make a great teacher.
I don't need a lot of money to be happy, I would much rather be happy going to work every day making a decent amount of money than dreading work at a job that makes me plenty of money. Money is not everything.
College has basically turned into a cult in this country. Its pounded into your brain from kindergarten.....the only way to be successful is to go to college!
k-12 is just a prep school for colleges. k-12 works you over, gets you nice and ready....how often do you hear about technical schools or trades vs the all important "college"?
Then all these SAT companies, the "experts" (Kaplan), media bias...US News and World Report's, "Top Colleges" in big bold headlines.
It tries to treat every BA equally (with equal chances of landing a job). And it glosses over differences in living, cost of living around the country. And it glosses over recessions, or any type of "Hard times" (you don't learn about that in school).
They basically get your money and perpetual the system, so the next round gets in (at higher costs), and you dont know what you have until you leave.
I'd focus on your own education, own needs to be happy (like the previous poster...do you really even need $250 a year or a mcmansion). And do what you enjoy.
I have a BA/MBA in Business Administration and I can say it's paid off for me tremendously. I'm currently a Sr. Communications Analyst and at the end of the month I'll be a Quality Assurance Manager. That's two promotions in the 2 years I've been on my job. I first started as a Communications Analyst and after 6 months, moved up to my current position and at the end of this month I'll be a QA Manager (ISO 20000/9000 certified as well as 6 sigma certification). It's paying off well for me.
Sometimes college degrees don't work out for you. I read in the Chicago Tribune about a homeless man, - and he had a Mechanical Engineering degree! I ran into 2 Mechanical Engineers at a job session for Alumni and they didn't get an ME job 2 to 5 years after college! - At that point, your career is really suffering and you look less employable! If you don't work your degree after 5 years - it seems hopeless and looks like you gotta do anything else to get by! I was unemployed 1 year after college, Gen X era 1993... Career got started by a 7 month "internship" of ISO 9000 documentation. My career is a long story but one job led to another, but I have never been employed longer than 1 year 1 month! I'd say my career sucks but when employers call me for an interview they say I have a great resume - so I wonder how bad everyone else's is! I graduated from the 6th best college in the nation for Mech Eng and I expected better of my career!
How about you? Did your college degree pan out to a great career, or has it been ho hum like mine, or worse - never got off ground?
For me, it would have been worse to go back to school and get a Master's as that would overqualify me for the many Technical Writer, Drafter, Designer Detailer, and "BSME enough" engineering jobs! I was rejected for a $68,000 / yr Proe Designer job because my BSME overqualified me!
But some people work out eventually. I had a neighbor who had a useless Psychology BA and he did real estate good enough to get himself a Porsche.
College is not a job placement service, you and the rest of the nation need to stop viewing it as such. Go to a trade school if you want to learn a specific tech skill for job placement purposes.
College is for education, period. There is so much more to landing a job than toting around a resume for "one of the top colleges" in the nation.
Wipe up your tears and maybe ask the guy/girl with the "useless" psychology degree why they are more successful than you with a "lesser" degree?
College is not a job placement service, you and the rest of the nation need to stop viewing it as such. Go to a trade school if you want to learn a specific tech skill for job placement purposes.
College is for education, period. There is so much more to landing a job than toting around a resume for "one of the top colleges" in the nation.
Wipe up your tears and maybe ask the guy/girl with the "useless" psychology degree why they are more successful than you with a "lesser" degree?
One reason Jesse can't get hired is that he has a felony conviction for assaulting a senior citizen. He is non-remorseful about the incident, which the senior in no way provoked. If you read his posts, he's obviously been disruptive in the workplace at several prior positions, and he seems to think that simply because he graduated from a good engineering school, the world OWES him a job--on his terms. Frankly I'd let the bridge collapse before I hired him.
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