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Learning to weld has improved my life. As well as making more money I never have to worry about paying someone else to weld something for me. I'm still going to college though, actually right now I'm thinking about taking some auto-mechanic classes. 20 years ago you could have gotten a good welding job and had it made but in this economy I'm thinking it might be good to have more than one skill. It would still be nice to have a degree someday though.
I think a degree can sometimes partly just be a prestige thing. But if you can get a college education don't let use the fact that you can sometimes make more learning a trade as an excuse not too. Take Booboys advice and get a degree and learn a trade. Better yet learn a trade that will compliment your degree. Get a degree in mechanical engineering and learn to weld for example.
Some people are better going to college, some are better off going to trade school - it depends on their talents and interests. But don't kid yourself - the trades are as susceptible to job uncertainty as white collar jobs. A ton of construction jobs are drying up in this economy.
Some people are better going to college, some are better off going to trade school - it depends on their talents and interests. But don't kid yourself - the trades are as susceptible to job uncertainty as white collar jobs. A ton of construction jobs are drying up in this economy.
Very true. Plus the only way to make the big bucks in a trade is to own the business. A lot of guys have great skills in their trade but don't know squat about actually running the business.
College is overrated, and this is coming from a college grad.
The problem with college is too many people went to college for useless major, and they never learned any useful/beneficial skill/trade. This makes the job market saturated with useless students who never learned anything useful in college. Student loans that have to be repaid within six months corner these poor grads into taking low paying jobs. Realizing that they're not going anywhere with their majors after a couple of years in a low paying job, they go back to school with more loans for more of those useless skills.
And it's all a downward spiral from there...
I knew a guy who came to the factory I work at to work as a shop assisitant (waterboy). He was an English major who had decided he was going to take a welding class instead and my boss was going to let him promote up once he learned to weld. I sympathized with him since I am a welder who always made A's in English. He didn't stick around long. Some of the people I work with would probably be just as at home in the county jail as the shop. While the money can be good working a trade It isn't for everybody.
Personally I wish I was "suffering" through college instead of working and taking night classes.
I graduated high school in 2005. I've basically mostly liked working with my hands since I was younger. What are the chances that I would enjoy a desk job more than a physically involved hands-on job?
After high school, I went on to a Boat Technician repair school to learn how to work on boats, motors, etc.
I graduated that school, moved back to home area, and got into a local technical college for machining studies.
I finished the "maching" program up, which was on a dimploma and certificate level.
I am now taking classes in a drafting program at the same technical college, where as it stands right now, I could probably get a diploma if I didn't choose to do what you would refer to as the "core" classes. If I do choose to do the "core" classes, then it could become a degree thing.
Can you see how all of these three areas of schooling may tie together? What if I have an idea for a boat motor component and choose to draw it up and machine it? There's all three areas of study in the same idea, just for an example, not that it would happen though.
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