What are your thoughts on it?

A college degree always has the benefit of longetivity. You could score a sweet job now, but there's no garuntee it will be there in a few years.

Well, it all depends on what you want to do. If you need a degree to get into the field you want, then obviously college is the way to go. But working for a year or two before going to college is a great way to get experience and save up some money.

College. More money, longer lasting jobs, more security. No doubt.

Shut up.

You need money for college. not everyone has scolarships. Not everyone gets their studies paid by their parents. I worked for a year before going to my studies and now i don't have to exert myself working and studying and playing between schedules to make ends meet.

If you have the means to put yourself through college, go for it. But it's always better to have money on the side.

I'm not against working before you go to college (I'll have to pay my way all through it, so don't act like I'm being spoon-fed) I'm just saying don't just go straight to work, which is what I assumed he was asking. Besides that, uni isn't that hard to get into. Even the basest of uni would be better than nothing (it's like 2000 a year for the local colleges...I mean, that's nothing, really. Even if you ARE a college student).

I think you took what I said wrong, Seb.

I think it's important to realize that College ISN'T for everyone, and is not required to succeed in life.

Indeed.

Also, you have to realize that for a lot of people, college is just a bunch of stupid crap and hoops you have to jump through just to get a goddamned stupid ridiculous piece of paper. Let me tell you, if I'm ever in a position of deciding who gets what job, I'm not letting a stupid piece of paper sway my decision. College doesn't make one more successful in life. And it isn't necessary for a good life.

Yea, but the odds of you selecting someone for a job worth the pay of someone with a good education are up there with those of winning the lottery. No offense intended. People do win the lottery sometimes.

I would take someone with something to show for themselves over someone with a degree and nothing to show for themselves, let's put it that way. I think your odds are a little totally ****ing insanely wrong too, but meh.

College is not for everyone, but if you're going to have a long term, stable, good, well-paying job, you're either a college student, or lucky as hell.

Not really.

I could list more than a few trades that are long term, stable, good, and well paying.

This is my friend's argument of why she dropped out of college recently. She told me to my face that she doesn't have a "daddy to pay for it all." Of course, my father doesn't give me any money for my college. I work, I get scholarships...I find a way to make college affordable for myself.



I agree with this. I see so many people getting worthless degrees and, now with "the core," I have to take a bunch of classes before applying to my college. Sometimes it makes me want to just go to a 2 year training school...but I think this is the better choice for me. I hate how society puts such a big deal on getting a degree. It really doesn't make you a better person. If anything, I feel terrible when I now talk to my friend's who never went or dropped out. I say something about a class and I feel like a snob.

and that's my two cents...

I pretty much agree with Dj Yoshi on this topic.

Then start listing. They're few and far between, and almost all of them include manual labor. But those jobs have been steadily moving OUT of America...hardly the most awesome job security.

college/university is about much more than just the education.

In all honesty I don't really care about my degree, but i'd still make the choice to come to university.

Precision Machining (Big money stuff isn't labor intensive, at all)
Web Design (If you do it right, you don't have to work)
Welding (The big money stuff isn't labor intensive... at all)
Graphic Production
Photography



All very stable job fields, if you manage things right. None of which you really have to go to school for. Aside from possibly welding and Precision Machining.


There are also many trades which are labor intensive that make big bucks and are stable jobs.

Plumbing
Masonry
Crane Operation
Then of course there are the pavement layers, and drivers of industrial equipment.



Nearly any of those you can get into by teaching yourself, or working your way into. On the job training beats anything else.

Now that I think of it...yeah. But the education is still a big factor of why I specifically chose to go to school. Other than that, networking and just...learning stuff is great. (it's spring break now...my brain shut off as soon as my last class ended so I'm making no sense)

would you want a doctor to have on the job training with no prior real experience?

Half of those you listed do require a decent amount of education, usually at least a few uni courses. And none of those are 'big money'. They're mediocre, 100,000 dollar a year jobs at best.

Besides that, most of those aren't union, and most of them don't have work benefits. Hell, for a lot of them, you'd almost have to go into work for yourself.

Only if it were Dr. Nick.

Did I mention medical professions in my post?

If I did, I forgot. I mean, if you can point it out to me, I'd be willing to reward you.

As I recall I made no mention of medical professions.




As for medical professionals, they get alot of their applied theory in the field. IE, like surgeon's assitants. Sure they went to med school and everything, but no ammount of traditional academics could really prepare a person to seperate blood vessels from a cancerous tumor.

Union jobs REALLY aren't all they're cracked up to be... seriously.

They suck in most cases.

Which is why alot of job shops these days AREN'T union shops.

Yeah...there was a point I was trying to make there, but it's gone now. I got owned

Actually... you don't need any university courses to be proficient in any of the fields I mentioned.

Web Designing, Graphic Production, at least. I mean, to be a decent web designer (one who would make a reasonable amount of money) you'd have to know PHP, Java, MySQL, PERL, HTML (of course), CSS, and how to make everything w3 compliant. At least a few college courses out there exist for that very purpose.

but I betcha they have courses for it (plumbing 223)

You can teach that to yourself.




And SOME universities offer trade related courses as part of apprenticeship programs.

However, the apprentriceship programs are fast becoming a thing of the past. Especially when on the job training is just as good.

You can't go anywhere anymore without getting a heavy dosage of theory, which is a GOOD thing.

You CAN teach that to yourself...but have you ever tried learning a programming language on your own? It's insanely hard as compared to the classes. Not only that, but you'll probably never know the shortcuts, and there's a lot of things taht are bound to be left out. The lack of help you can get anywhere (save online) doesn't help either.

One of my good friends taught herself, and makes a very livable amount of money from tiny buisnesses in the area by doing just about nothing.

Her pay comes from the online sales. Which was a smart move.

Yoshi obviously knows what he's talking about, with all of his real-world experience and all...

The best way to get a job doing webdesign is find an existing design that sucks and email the owner a 10 minute mockup. That's what I did and it landed me a £15/hour job ($29)

Manual labor jobs are steadily moving out of America? So now we're outsourcing our janitors and garbage men along with the plastic dog poop makers and collection agents?

Speaking of garbage men, I've always heard they make good money.

I'm almost done my first year in College.. and I hate it. Well .. I like it.. I'm just not learning anything so far that will help me. I'm going to have to wait till at least my third year before actually LEARNING stuff significant to the career I want. Prerequists and crap.

I'm thinking about just learning a trade and doing that. Because College is really lame... or at least for the career I've chosen.. Business Management.


I think I'm also having a bad socail influence as well .. Pretty much all my closest freinds are working now. And I ENJOY working. I love fast paced working even more. Ok, so fast paced is cooking fast food type food with 50 orders at at time, or cleaning dishes with a constant flow of College student abused trays (Messy!) But still, I just love working. I'd take every 12 hour shift I could get in the summer. I'm pissed now the school only allows me to work 20 hours a week. I want more.


I'm lazy. But when it comes to actually working for a paycheck, I'll do anything. School work, meh, I don't try worth crap. I dunno, the only thing that is preventing me from dropping out right now is the fact I have no car. And when I do save up enough for a car, insurance is going to be crazy (I totaled my car).

But this whole car thing is keeping me in college, and I'm really not enjoying it.

Er...... huh?

If you call that mediocre, then 95% of all jobs are mediocre at best. And you're from Alabama right? The cost of living is not very high there I imagine..

College degrees show that you can stick to working at one thing for four or five years. They show your dedication and motivation, and the knowledge you posses. That puts graduates way, way way above people who are self taught, reguardless if they are just as motivated. Employers like degrees. The more letters after your name, the better.

Web design doesn't need a degree because you're often self employed. Welding, machining, etc, are skills you can learn and get good jobs with, but the pay won't come close to someone who has a degree in mechanical engineering from a reputable school. In some cases the starting salary might be lower, but wait a few years, or if you get a masters degree...a non-degree job will never come close. And with a degree, the longer you work, the more money you make.

A six figure job is mediocre? What the hell is wrong with you?

Six figures is okay. Not mediocre, not great. But 100k is really about the best you can get w/out college education. And it takes a long time to get there.

And Free--the lowest housing costs here are 160k. Way to assume though. The cost of living here is EXTREMELY high compared to other places in AL, and about average as far as America goes.

Wookie--I meant factory jobs. My bad.

Wow. You have major maturity problems. I can't believe that in order to tell someone that you disagree with them, you have tell them to shut up! The guy wasn't even attacking any one! He was just stating what he thought! It wasn't even a political thread.

As for collage, I think it's generally a good idea. Especially if you plan on starting a family. Almost any one can get into a collage if they study hard in high school and get some sort of a scholarship, and if that fails, they can get a job and work through collage like everyone else. You may be able to find a niche market that will pay well with out a collage education, and that may work, but jobs like that are fickle. One decade they may be in demanad, the next they may be worthless. However with a hard collage education like engineering, you can almost always get a job.

Regardless if that "collage" was intentional or not, your still deserve immense amounts of pain for doing it.