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Quick background. I went to a tech school for audio engineering. I absolutely loved it. Small classes, intense and fast paced schedule, all hands on learning, mandatory internship. I've been working for 3 1/2 years as an audio professional now, but it hasn't been pretty. I've been unable to find full-time work, and have mostly worked full-time contracts or done small freelancing in between the big jobs. As I get older and want to start a family and settle down more, the instability of my profession stresses me out TERRIBLY. It's just far too niche of a field.
So I've decided I want to make a change. I really don't want to go back to school, but it's most likely necessary to make a jump to a more available and steady career. What I'm wondering is if an Associate's degree is enough to get jobs and have a good career quickly, or if you just pretty much need a Bachelor's degree to even stand out in today's job market.
Any thoughts? As much fun as it's been working in a field I'm very passionate about, I realize more I just want a career I can rely on and have it be steady for me. I still want a good job, something with lots of growth and opportunity, so it's time to make a change.
Right now I'm still narrowing it down, but three top categories are PROBABLY business (management, marketing, financial), medical (physical therapy assistant, lab associate, technician), and computer science/Information Technology. Probably business would be my top pick, but I hear it's pretty saturated right now.
Basically, I'm a very career driven person, want a professional job with lots of room to grow, decent salary and benefits. I want a career field I can find anywhere in the country and has lots of available open opportunities in case of a layoff or something.
I make nice pay now (80k per year), but the instability, weird spontaneity, and lack of benefits totally kills it for me. I'd probably need pay of at least 50k a year if not ideally 60k a year to get by comfortably, with hopefully opportunity to progress into higher paying positions.
I'm not really worried so much about an associate's degree getting me the proper education. I feel pretty confident an associate's degree can most likely get me the education and skills I need to do the job, it's whether or not companies feel the same way. I know there is a lot of job competition these days, and I fear Associate's may not be enough of a credential for a job, especially when going up against people with Bachelor's degrees. There is the plus of the typical Associate Degree being a path of more hands on and practical training, but I'm not sure if companies value this over just having a 4 year degree.
Right now I'm still narrowing it down, but three top categories are PROBABLY business (management, marketing, financial), medical (physical therapy assistant, lab associate, technician), and computer science/Information Technology. Probably business would be my top pick, but I hear it's pretty saturated right now.
Basically, I'm a very career driven person, want a professional job with lots of room to grow, decent salary and benefits. I want a career field I can find anywhere in the country and has lots of available open opportunities in case of a layoff or something.
I make nice pay now (80k per year), but the instability, weird spontaneity, and lack of benefits totally kills it for me. I'd probably need pay of at least 50k a year if not ideally 60k a year to get by comfortably, with hopefully opportunity to progress into higher paying positions.
I'm not really worried so much about an associate's degree getting me the proper education. I feel pretty confident an associate's degree can most likely get me the education and skills I need to do the job, it's whether or not companies feel the same way. I know there is a lot of job competition these days, and I fear Associate's may not be enough of a credential for a job, especially when going up against people with Bachelor's degrees. There is the plus of the typical Associate Degree being a path of more hands on and practical training, but I'm not sure if companies value this over just having a 4 year degree.
If you make 80K as an audio engineer and you like the work, I don't see what the point is of changing it up.
You'll be lucky to get half of that with any of those other associates degrees to start. IT has the highest potential for pay, but it's competitive and often doesn't offer benefits either.
Either way, there's a high chance that you'll be making a lot less $ for something you like doing a lot less. Not to mention the cost of getting the degree.
The only way I can think that I would change is if you have a job where you happen to making much more than the average audio engineer and forsee a imminent layoff, drop down to lower pay levels, and bleak future. This here says you are on the high scale.
Associate's degrees generally don't provide what you are looking for. If you want a career in business or IT you need to be looking at at least a four year degree. Lab techs don't make a lot. PT assistants can make some decent money but not what you are making (or want to make). If it was that easy to get a high demand job w/bennies that was readily transferrable and paid a lot of money, everyone would be doing it.
Lab tech/associate in a research lab? You'll need at least a Bachelors. What exactly type of lab tech/associate anyway?
Figure I can do something like ultrasound/xray tech or some other type of lab technician. Physical therapy was always something I thought about as well, so might try to do that.
Honestly, right now I really have NO IDEA what I plan to do. There's nothing that really seems "right" for me, at least as of present time. The only things I figured out are what I want from the job:
- Decent salary/benefits with room to grow to bigger positions
- Steady reliable job, wouldn't mind finding a company I can eventually retire with, in other words, low risk of layoff/closure.
- Highly available job. Would like a job I can find anywhere, especially if we wanted to move somewhere new.
- Office collaborative environment. I really like the scheduled office environment. I work mostly alone now and I hate it. I enjoy having a big office to go to and working with other people.
It seems like I'll probably need my Bachelor's, but I just wanted to see if Associate's were worth anything, especially because they give you more direct and practical training than a Bachelor's.
Figure I can do something like ultrasound/xray tech or some other type of lab technician. Physical therapy was always something I thought about as well, so might try to do that.
Honestly, right now I really have NO IDEA what I plan to do. There's nothing that really seems "right" for me, at least as of present time. The only things I figured out are what I want from the job:
- Decent salary/benefits with room to grow to bigger positions
- Steady reliable job, wouldn't mind finding a company I can eventually retire with, in other words, low risk of layoff/closure.
- Highly available job. Would like a job I can find anywhere, especially if we wanted to move somewhere new.
- Office collaborative environment. I really like the scheduled office environment. I work mostly alone now and I hate it. I enjoy having a big office to go to and working with other people.
It seems like I'll probably need my Bachelor's, but I just wanted to see if Associate's were worth anything, especially because they give you more direct and practical training than a Bachelor's.
'Career' these days is kind of a loaded work. What a career really is ... is someone who had the good fortune and luck to string a couple of good jobs together.
Since you already have that good job, there is no sense IMO in going back down the ladder to try and fish for a career that may totally bomb.
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