The American "Guy"

[Funkmasta]

be willing to work harder than the next guy?

sounds like an easy solution to me.

I just met a guy who works 6 days a week as an independent VW mechanic... in addition to his night job as a lathe/mill hand.

[VacMan]

The funny thing is, there is nothing really different there than it was 20 years ago. Same old stuff. I just scanned most of it because it is mostly drivel, but I got the idea. There has to be something wrong if these young men are not driving forward with real lives and are still just perpetuating their college fun times with no real goal in life. Well, ya, duh.
All young men come to grips with adult life at different rates and different stages in their lives. For some, like me, it takes a major event for you to get with it. For others, like some of my buddies, they had plans and goals from the start and they were half way down the track before I even started thinking about it. For others, it takes a good woman to get them thinking about something deeper than where their next beer is coming from.

So, there is nothing different or unusual in what those guys are doing.

A degree is your stepping stone to better jobs and better pay. Once you get that first good job, you can go ahead and throw that degree away. It really doesn't matter much anymore. If you went to a top college somewhere, it might get some play, but only because of name recognition. Employers are looking for a wide variety of different things, but they are mostly looking for somebody with intelligence, competency, drive, and the ability to fit in well with their team and work environment. You can't find much of that stuff on a degree or a resume'. Those things just get you in the door for the interview. The rest is all up to you.

This is easily the best post in this thread, and there are some good ones. I hire and fire all the time and I can tell you that a degree doesn't mean anything to me if you're still a "professional student" who has no real-world experience. And once you have the experience that will tell me a lot more about you than where you got your piece of paper from.

[nando]

be willing to work harder than the next guy?

sounds like an easy solution to me.

I just met a guy who works 6 days a week as an independent VW mechanic... in addition to his night job as a lathe/mill hand.

see, that's why I know my future is bright - it's not even very hard. people are so fat, lazy, and overcompensated it's impossible not to pass them by.

[TwoJ's]

This thread is funny. My sister just turned 26 and she lives at my mom's house. She got a bachelors in athletic training, and that really doesn't get you shit. You can't earn much with the degree, the only way to make real money in that field is go get a PhD. She planned on a PT doctorate, but she now works as a store manager at Starbucks. She makes just under $50k and still hasn't paid of her student loans. I love giving her shit about having a worthless degree and living at our parent's house. Her brother is 21, a home owner and will earn more than her the minute I graduate. She's bitter, but I don't feel bad ridiculing her.

But, I think I am also guilty of something similar. I'm a mechanical engineering major, but I am also getting a math degree. I'd be better off dual majoring in business, but I just like math. It really won't do much for me with potential employers. This math degree has made me take longer to finish here. Instead of being here for four years, it will take me five. When I first started out, it sounded like a good thing to be in school for five years, but now I just want to finish and get a fucking job and some experience. Now, I think I'll end up getting a MBA anyways, so I've effectively just prolonged my school experience.

[rwh11385]

TwoJ's sister.

Do what you find interesting, and you'll do better. Work as an ME then go back when you're bored with that and get an MBA. One of my superiors was a racecar engineer but got bored and then got an MBA and has a new Sti, a TSX, and MDX to play with, and a wife.

[TwoJ's]

Yeah, that's the plan. I want to work as an engineer with an automotive focus, but I hope to get hired at Boeing when I graduate. They will pay for 100% of school if I choose to get a masters degree. I don't know if they'll pay for an MBA, but they would pay for me to be a master of engineering, and then I'd get something like a 25-30% raise just for having higher education. And yeah, if I want to make some real money, I'll probably have to get an MBA at some point.

By the way, what is your major?

[rwh11385]

Ind. Management (& Econ). I checked out Lockheed and some other operations jobs but all the engineers seemed like drones. If you get along with the people there, cool... but just be sure there's a cultural fit. Don't rule out smaller companies - the experience may be worth it vs. being an number to a large company (Systems Engineer I, II etc)

A ton of engineers are coming out of school happy with their $$$ salary but then BAM! hate what they are doing and not as glamorous as they thought. But then you take the ability to learn and understand complex things, apply to business and works well.

[Funkmasta]

My sister just got a 50k/year job teaching biology... she is 24. wtf

[rwh11385]

My sister just got a 50k/year job teaching biology... she is 24. wtf

three words, and another: income growth potential... and COLA

and also where is she located and cost of living.
$50K in portland is $35K in the midwest... not great living

[der affe]

when i graduated HS i went straight to collage, why, um i don't know, it's what you are supposed to do??? all on my own dime too. i had no real direction or idea what i wanted to do as a VIABLE career. my dad is an architect so i though I'd give it a try. it was not for me so. my long time girl friend at the time was going to nursing school. she suggested fire fighting. "sure why not, decent pay and job security, i'll give it a try."

after four years of full time school and working full time to support myself and school, i dropped out with my EMT and 3/4 of my fire science degree. i had been trying to get on with Phx Fire Dept for 5 years always doing well, but falling just short of being hired for various reasons beyond my control.

i had been supporting myself by working on cars and building sand rails at a shop, so i just fell into doing that for a living. i worked for a short time part time as an EMT for PMT and it paid minimum wage, so that was out of the question.

i basically wasted my time in collage.

now fast forward 14 years. after my being on fire at work and the injuries and disabilities caused by it, i am going to return to school. i am using my new found status as "disabled" to qualify for special grants and Workman's comp to pay for it. i am going to school to be a pharmacist. a career with a bright future. i was always good at math and chemistry, but i unfortunately had no real drive, direction, or the proper discipline while i was in school because my heart wasn't in it.

it feels weird because i am turning my back on a big portion of my life and work experience. unfortunately as most if not all of those involved in the automotive repair industry will tell you, it is dying and no longer the money maker it once was.

i know i am in a way better place to be going to school NOW, and this time on someone else's dime.......

to those considering going to automotive trade school, DON'T do it.
you will never hear a truer statement then that of DCcolgrove's "if you are smart enough to be a mechanic, then you are too smart to be a mechanic!"

[Funkmasta]

She lives in Brooklyn, which is arguably similar COL to Portland. 50k (starting) for 2nd year out of school, no dependants, no real debt... she is doing alright.

[Dave]

Well, one thing is for sure, when I talk about getting a degree, I am talking a legit degree, not "athletic training" or "Sports marketing" or "fire science".

It has to be something they degree at Harvard or Yale. . . .

[rwh11385]

She lives in Brooklyn, which is arguably similar COL to Portland. 50k (starting) for 2nd year out of school, no dependants, no real debt... she is doing alright.

COL adjustment New york to Indy, $50,000 is $22,000. :o

Which is also a big part of the paystub talk on Bf.c with so many Cali members...

[der affe]

actually fire science is a pretty involved degree, a lot of math and chemistry. unfortunately, it is completely focused on being a fire fighter though. it helps to have it before you get on the force, but they will also pay for you to complete it once you get hired. with out a job as a fire fighter, there just isn't much else you can do with it.

[rwh11385]

actually fire science is a pretty involved degree, a lot of math and chemistry. unfortunately, it is completely focused on being a fire fighter though. it helps to have it before you get on the force, but they will also pay for you to complete it once you get hired. with out a job as a fire fighter, there just isn't much else you can do with it.

Weed science is a real degree too and leads to a career as well... but it's not what all those Cali or PNW boys think it is.

One of my younger friends from the neighborhood just started off in that major.