"Just Throw More Money At It And See What Happens"

I wouldn't nock the importance of a college degree so much. Yeah, it's likely you won't need 98% of the info you learn, but many advancement options in some workplaces require a 4 year degree in anything. Don't know why.

Also in the US at least, the vast majority of young people have a degree, sometimes several. If you are applying to a job, chances are there's someone weeding through the giant pile of resumes looking for a reason to can a bunch of them right off the bat, don't want to be in that boat.

Keep in mind this opinion is coming from someone who just left a soul crushing Ph.D. program to work in a skilled trade, so I might be full of e37m3.

Also FYI a tech school degree is probably more lucrative (and useful) in the long run than the undergrad degree I have from a very highly ranked school, plus the 6 years of graduate school I took, with accompanying debt. college may not be for you, but some education past high school will serve you very well in the long run.

G_Body_Man wrote: If happiness was a fish we could catch, I'm still fishing. But that's okay, as even the worst fishermen will catch at least one fish eventually.

Not everyone catches that fish, sadly, but thats more a matter of perspective than education/income.

Rufledt wrote: Also FYI a tech school degree is probably more lucrative (and useful) in the long run than the undergrad degree I have from a very highly ranked school, plus the 6 years of graduate school I took, with accompanying debt. college may not be for you, but some education past high school will serve you very well in the long run.

This. Especially for fields in which universities have fallen behind. In my corner of the world, application design & development come to mind. Front-end development in particular. Not only is there a ton you can just learn online for free, there are also shorter intensive programs from places like the Iron Yard or General Assembly that are an option. Not interested in coding? I'd look for similar programs in other industries or into the aforementioned tech school.

In any case, get some kind of education past HS. Nothing is more happiness-impairing than feeling like your options are limited.

Money can't buy happiness, but money can buy car parts, and car parts make me happy.

Money's overrated. Much like a college education. You can make 6 figures without a degree. Just think outside of the box.

Money cannot buy happiness, however, it can rent a reasonable facsimile!

G_Body has his head on straight, I think. He'll find his own path.

What I really wanna know is what he bought for the damn truck

In reply to Furious_E:

He didnt answer me when i asked, maybe its a secret but then why make a thread about it? Idk..

fasted58 wrote: college isn't always the answer, skilled trades is a good career also

I very much agree with this. I have a hell if a time finding people under the age of 30 in my field (concrete and construction). It means wages are going up considerably.

Construction is a good trade, its always needed somewhere, it's a couple hundred a day and you can get into it easily. Hell even with no experience it's nearly impossible to make under $100 a day

In reply to Antihero:

$100 a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year is $25k. You'd have an awefully hard time talking most kids out of college with an offer of that money for genuinely hard physical labor.

In reply to mazdeuce: If you are at all reliable or decent you wouldn't stay at that wage, and $100 is the take home pay. Plus concrete is way higher in wages. I've seen $20 an hour offered for no experience at all, nor tools nor is it union

I'm just saying that there are very few entry level jobs that pay as well as construction

Furious_E wrote: G_Body has his head on straight, I think. He'll find his own path. What I really wanna know is what he bought for the damn truck

Are you ready? I'm paying higher insurance rates because of "re-classification" of my kind of truck. I really wish it was a 3/4 drop kit, but alas, such is not the case.

mazdeuce wrote: In reply to Antihero: $100 a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year is $25k. You'd have an awefully hard time talking most kids out of college with an offer of that money for genuinely hard physical labor.

That's because most kids these days going to college have never actually worked a day in their life, and think a degree in Art History, Philosophy, Doctor Who, whatever, is the key to their problems. None of them understand that picking a degree with no discernible career path is worse than skipping college all together.

When I was still in construction, I fired someone at lunch time because he couldn't follow simple orders, and thought I was "bullying" him by making him do everything. Sorry kid, you're new, and your job title is Grunt. You do as you're told or you leave. The concrete guys on site thought I was going just going to bury him in the footer when he said "bullying"

For after high school, I recommend skilled trade schools to everyone these days because nobody wants to actually work, you stand a much better chance of employment when you finish, often before, and college really isn't for everyone. Particularly with this for profit education model where prices keep going up and quality of education plummets.

Or do what I did and lie through your teeth. When I moved across the country, I went from college dropout to college graduate, and no one batted an eye or called to check. While the university was considered "prestigious" locally, no one outside of the tri state area has really heard of it. As long as you actually know the material, which can be learned for free online, you're golden.

Sorry to derail the thread there. That sucks about your insurance.

Wait...you took money out of your college fund...to pay for car insurance?

revrico wrote: Or do what I did and lie through your teeth. When I moved across the country, I went from college dropout to college graduate, and no one batted an eye or called to check. While the university was considered "prestigious" locally, no one outside of the tri state area has really heard of it. As long as you actually know the material, which can be learned for free online, you're golden.

That varies by company. I have seen people fired for lying about education. I cant say if HR was going through and looking for a reason, but I have seen it happen.

My current employer hires out the background checks and they did confirm my bachelors. They gave me a copy and they even confirmed my automotive certificate from the mid 90s. My previous employer required a letter from my guidance counselor saying I had all the credits I needed to graduate when I said I was (My offer was contingent on completing the degree as a bachelors was a minimum requirement). YMMV.

chiodos wrote: Wait...you took money out of your college fund...to pay for car insurance?

Somehow, this isn't the dumbest thing I've ever done. That would be the attempted J-turn on the riding mower, or getting a good four seconds of hang time on a plastic toboggan. As for ICBC, state run insurance lacks one big thing that private insurance gives you - choice.

i turned down a free ride to college, failed my army physical because of the bone structure in my right foot and went too work. At 18 i was making better money then i do now but that job field took a huge hit in this area when the economy tanked in 07. You can make a decent living if your willing to bust your ass at something even with no degree, hell my brother in law spent 5 years in college for a 4 year degree and has spent the last 3 years working for minimum wage as an intern!

Later in life I can to believe: "If you can afford to buy your way out of a problem, you don't have a problem".

Always suggest to younger folks to get in the skilled trades now, there's been a shortage and will continue to grow in the future as boomers retire. Dunno if it's the 'Dirty Jobs' stereotype but few seem interested at 20-30 yrs. old. Pretty decent money to be made out there depending on the area and the trade.

I have been in construction for 39 years. There have been some bumps, but overall a pretty good career.

I am absolutely convinced construction careers will soon surpass computer careers in pay scale. It's work that cannot be outsourced, cannot be shipped overseas, cannot be automated, will always be needed, and few people want to do. It's a gold mine.

The construction industry is much too old, and there simply are no young people stepping in to fill the positions we are loosing. Skilled tradesmen are dropping like flies.

Construction Superintendents are now paid more than project managers, and the gap is growing. The company I work for has 28 Superintendents, and at 54, I am one of the youngest.

If I could do it again, I wouldnt have a degree.

It's in the way that you use it

What you do in your undergrad days matters.

It's possible to head off to Texas A&M one fall, and finish at Lincoln five years later as an engineer on a top-notch FSAE car. It's possible to mix manufacturing engineering classes and technical electives and on-campus jobs so that you know what to make and how to make it, and do it (Hi, Coleasterling!). It's possible to find a completely different major that catches your interest and head off down through a path you never anticipated (Hi, Todd! My freshman hallmate switched from a generic business major to mech. e halfway through the year and has had a good career so far). It's possible to suddenly realize you need to do something completely different halfway through - like my teammate Doug, who started buying and selling used cars sophomore year and still does, but now they're Ferraris and Porsches. It's possible that you hit a wall in an engineering or science degree, switch away, and realize that you've got all sorts of advantages on your way through the business school (Hi, Brian!).

You can spend four years fat, drunk, and stupid, and graduate with vast debt and no useful qualifications or knowledge, but that could happen without going to school too. You could go to the opposite extreme and come out totally thrashed and spend the first year at your new job recovering before realizing that you're ahead of the game.

Love how this turned into a future help thread. Im graduating a tech college if thats what you want to call it, in two weeks in a field that has more jobs that job applicants thats SUPPOSED to be $60k-$120k a year. All for two years "school" work. Ill let you know how it turns out.

Btw im in precision machining and manufacturing with an emphasis on CNC machining.

Not to derail this thread further, I'm not sure my generation (as a 27 year old) is averse to work. Some are, to be sure, but I know lazy, old people, too. I think most have unrealistic expectations as to what kind of work they should be doing.

My brother is victim to this. He's not averse to work at all, he's borderline workaholic. He doesn't have a degree (got a lot of experience consuming alcohol in college, though), works at a car dealership as finance or sales manager or some such, and kicks ass at what he does. He worked up to that position by kicking ass as an entry level salesman. He makes bank, too, for his efforts. His in laws, specifically his wife's siblings, are on his and her case about how he should go back to school and get a 9-5 job, because that's better. in what berking way is it better?

I believe it stems from a cultural problem, where people identify themselves and others as their job. Ask "what do you do?" and the answer will be their job. I do lots of things. My job is what makes me money. It isn't all of who I am or what I do. but if I answer "I'm a father", which is more important to me, people think I'm unemployed and knocked up some girl.

As an aside, my job also scrapes my hand on rusty metal today. Does that count as a tetanus booster?

SVreX wrote: I have been in construction for 39 years. There have been some bumps, but overall a pretty good career. I am absolutely convinced construction careers will soon surpass computer careers in pay scale. It's work that cannot be outsourced, cannot be shipped overseas, cannot be automated, will always be needed, and few people want to do. It's a gold mine. The construction industry is much too old, and there simply are no young people stepping in to fill the positions we are loosing. Skilled tradesmen are dropping like flies. Construction Superintendents are now paid more than project managers, and the gap is growing. The company I work for has 28 Superintendents, and at 54, I am one of the youngest. If I could do it again, I wouldnt have a degree.

This times a billion.

During the boom I worked as basically a hired gun finisher. This meant I was brought in to help out many companies as needed. It also meant high pay because I was reliable experienced had my own tools and transport. $500 a day wasn't unheard of and usually not even a full 8 hours a day. Yeah it's hard work, yes there will be long days but like he said....you can never ever outsource it and the skills you learn you can take anywhere, somewhere somebody is building something and needs help