Places to go Suggestions (based on education) (high schools, college)

[Dariusz]

Where can a uneducated (based on my schooling) person live and get a job? I am not dumb, I know computers well and am A+ certified and certified in security. But I do not have a college degree, although I did go to college for a year, I got bored. In High School I had a 3.5 GPA. I am 22 years old. Right now I live in Illinois (near Chicago) and make around 33k per year and that is crap compaired to the cost of living.

Is there any places in the US where a person with a High School education could find a decient job, over here employeers will not even interview you unless you have a degree.

I was thinking of moving to Alaska (it sounds really nice, but I'm not sure if I could make a living there). But will also consider Texas, Arizona, Wyoming, or Montana and a few others. I want out of the city life.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

[christina0001]

There was an article on this very topic a couple of weeks ago in my local paper. What careers are good choices for people who don't want college degrees? I can't post it, but here are a couple of articles on the topic. In most cases, you can do without a college degree, but need at least some sort of technical schooling. Off the top of my head, I know there is a 2 year college near me with a 2 year program for some sort of radiology tech training. The pay starts in the mid-$50ks...and there is now a 2+ wait list for the program.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1997/03/03/BU61155.DTL (broken link)
http://www.jobjournal.com/article_fu....asp?artid=421

Once you know what field you are interested in, you can go here, and see what the pay scale is like for certain areas:
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm

Sometimes you have to take a lower-paying job if it's at a company with a lot of potential for growth. If there's a good chance you will get good promotions and raises rapidly (and by rapidly, I mean within 1-3 years), it might be a good opportunity for the long haul.

[momof2dfw]

There are many trades that are dying because they are not being taught in the high schools. They are not jobs that one needs to attend college for but just someone eager to learn the trade and work to build possibly their own business. Just the other day we were talking about how hard it is to find an independant lock smith now. In the city I live in that is in the top 10 in size in Texas and part of the Dallas metroplex there is only 1 and he is not open all the time and partly retired.

The other option is getting your CDL license (commercial drivers license). My dad is a retired truck driver but still works p/t for one company that has a hard time finding full time people. We also have drivers and lately it has been hard finding qualified drivers. Shot me an pm if you might be interested.

These are just two things that I know that there is always a need for and the jobs are there if one is willing to do them. OH, and just the other day one of our financial guys was saying how he is getting more and more customers that are in what are classified as "dirty businesses" like owning a salvage yard or other businesses that many may not call "professional" and such that have a nice sum they want to grow and are living well.