Anyone else work in the oil field?

[RedReplicant]

My dad is a little bit different - he chased the money / travel / etc and has made more than enough to provide us a high level of living for the rest of our lives but has continued being involved at the same level. I understand what you're talking about and it is well past that level.

[ck_taft325is]

That's true, Sleeve. It really is. Our first priority as a man-dude-dad is to provide. But, there's a lot of caveats with that. I've learned hard that it's not just about providing. See, there's an old-school method of thinking I've subscribed to and ran head first into, a lot: If the money's good enough they'll forgive the absence. It's strangely not true. My father growing up was dead tired all of the 6 hours he was home. While he definitely didn't provide smart, he provided as he knew how and at literally, any cost. He's one of the hardest working men that's least acknowledged I've ever known of. Hell, the bastards 53 and working 6 12's right now trying to tie up 3 multi-million dollar jobs for a construction company that just hired him on under the pretense of "no OT". And, he's had a hernia for 5 weeks that makes it hard for him to carry his shit into the house, heh. I'm working a fairly average large company factory production job that I can't go into for numerous reasons but, no matter what or how much they pay me, I've learned I can't sacrifice my home time for it. And I'm not always chipper at home. But what I learn about myself at home teaches me way more than any construction, skilled labor or factory job ever has. It's been one of the best grower-upers in regards to my personal life and professional life.

As the trend goes, what do I know, I have 3.5 kids at 28 ;)

[Kevinl]

I don't work in the oil field but I worked 80 hours last week I keep telling my boss I don't want to work this much he says he will pay me extra but thats not the issue in my 20's I would work 80+ and not bat an eye but now in my early 30's and a 2.5 yr old son I really don't want to work that much. I do fine on my annual salary the family time is more important than the money

[TimbyMaTombo]

Alright man. Be careful with financial aid, student loans are going to add up fast and you cannot get out of paying them like a normal loan. Do your gen-eds at a local community college as you can get through all of them for about the price of a semester of in state tuition at a large university. Make a counseling appointment with an advisor at the university you want to go to, pick out a couple of bachelor degrees, and go in and talk to the counselor to see what transfers directly across with minimal fuss and then take those classes at the community college. While you're doing your gen-eds you're going to learn a lot about yourself as a student and it gives you the option to make a little bit of a side track and pick up an associates degree in a specialized field for a little bit extra time. Don't go to college for something that isn't a STEM related field or you're throwing money in the fire. Go work for a large company and see how far you can go without a bachelors, the time will come when those above you start telling you that you need any degree. At this point, if you've got an associates and you chose your classes well, it's not too bad to step up to a bachelors with night classes.

Also, you're young. Knowing what you want to do is not realistically expected and a lot of people you know that are almost done with a bachelors degree have missed out on a lot of life experience. Don't judge your life progress based on other people, there is more than meets the eye when considering this.

Then again, I just turned 27 so what the fuck do I know.

I plan on never taking out any loans. I am terrible at remember to pay things on time for some reason; same reason I don't have a credit card yet. I can get Pell Grants that don't have to be paid back through FAFSA and it is based on your parent's income. Since my dad doesn't have a job, I get the maximum amount, which is ~$3700 per semester.

I already went to a community college and got my AA, then transferred to UCF where I haven't done too well. I was originally a music major then switched to Mechanical Engineering. Florida has a stupid law called Excess Hours where each degree has a certain number of credit hours allowed until they start charging 3x the amount for tuition to "promote people getting through college quicker" but in actuality, it makes me not want to finish because the music credits I took ate up all my electives. I am guaranteed to go into excess hours no matter what. I do need to go talk to an advisor and see what degree I am closest to finishing and then decide where I want to go from there, probably.