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Did you research your degree before you pursued it?

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I survived. Suck it, Schrodinger.
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I read the following article and it brought me back to a discussion I had with my mother when I was about 16-18....My Mother was a meteorologist and I wanted to be a light house keeper ( it was a phase, dont judge)….she gave me the bottom line up front speech I have pretty much memorized and have since repeated to my brats.

Do a job you have to do so you can eventually do the job you want to do.

At the time, I was pretty much of the opinion that she had no idea what she was talking about ( the angst of youth ), and I was going to do as I pleased and become a rich light house keeper.

Cue the bounced reality check and fast forward several decades.

Mom, I get it now.....I took that wisdom and imparted it to my offspring; research the jobs and career fields before you plow into it head first.

Its easier to do so in this day of internet data at your fingertips than it was in my day of going to the library and spending hours looking over old micro fiches; but, the bottom line is this....due diligence and research.

The 20 highest and lowest paying college majors

When you went to school ( college, trade, apprenticeship, ), did you look at the look at the career field outlook before you took out student loans, or paid your quarterly tuition?
Did you fall victim to the " I wanna work with dolphins so I will be a marine biologist" syndrome that I saw nail so many of my friends in the 80's? ( just an example)

What did you do to prepare yourself for the future?
 
I read the following article and it brought me back to a discussion I had with my mother when I was about 16-18....My Mother was a meteorologist and I wanted to be a light house keeper ( it was a phase, dont judge)….she gave me the bottom line up front speech I have pretty much memorized and have since repeated to my brats.

Do a job you have to do so you can eventually do the job you want to do.

At the time, I was pretty much of the opinion that she had no idea what she was talking about ( the angst of youth ), and I was going to do as I pleased and become a rich light house keeper.

Cue the bounced reality check and fast forward several decades.

Mom, I get it now.....I took that wisdom and imparted it to my offspring; research the jobs and career fields before you plow into it head first.

Its easier to do so in this day of internet data at your fingertips than it was in my day of going to the library and spending hours looking over old micro fiches; but, the bottom line is this....due diligence and research.

The 20 highest and lowest paying college majors

When you went to school ( college, trade, apprenticeship, ), did you look at the look at the career field outlook before you took out student loans, or paid your quarterly tuition?
Did you fall victim to the " I wanna work with dolphins so I will be a marine biologist" syndrome that I saw nail so many of my friends in the 80's? ( just an example)

What did you do to prepare yourself for the future?

What matters is not what degree you get but what you do with it. Fun fact, one can obtain a liberal arts degree and have a prosperous, well-paying career. :)
 
I read the following article and it brought me back to a discussion I had with my mother when I was about 16-18....My Mother was a meteorologist and I wanted to be a light house keeper ( it was a phase, dont judge)….she gave me the bottom line up front speech I have pretty much memorized and have since repeated to my brats.

Do a job you have to do so you can eventually do the job you want to do.

At the time, I was pretty much of the opinion that she had no idea what she was talking about ( the angst of youth ), and I was going to do as I pleased and become a rich light house keeper.

Cue the bounced reality check and fast forward several decades.

Mom, I get it now.....I took that wisdom and imparted it to my offspring; research the jobs and career fields before you plow into it head first.

Its easier to do so in this day of internet data at your fingertips than it was in my day of going to the library and spending hours looking over old micro fiches; but, the bottom line is this....due diligence and research.

The 20 highest and lowest paying college majors

When you went to school ( college, trade, apprenticeship, ), did you look at the look at the career field outlook before you took out student loans, or paid your quarterly tuition?
Did you fall victim to the " I wanna work with dolphins so I will be a marine biologist" syndrome that I saw nail so many of my friends in the 80's? ( just an example)

What did you do to prepare yourself for the future?

Nope, I ended up in IT because my mom was in IT in the 80s and playing video games. I started off in a factory loading yarn into giant spinning frames at a textile mill in the deep south. I got into IT because I fixed a supervisor's computer one day (minor issue, i forget what exactly). This company was bought, which was then bought by another company, etc and my job grew due to me being good at what I do. Multiple promotions happened and now have a global responsibility for policy/procedure/audit/compliance, Project Management for IT infrastructure integrations of other purchased companies, and (through a long story) office 365 for a fortune 100 company.

Mostly I tell other people what to do and don't really have to work that hard due to our insane levels of red tape.

I wanted to deliver mail or be a teacher actually.

I am actually going through this type of exercise with my older son ... its not going well (He has low self confidence, but so did I at that age.)
 
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What matters is not what degree you get but what you do with it. Fun fact, one can obtain a liberal arts degree and have a prosperous, well-paying career. :)

Indeed they can....My aunt turned a fine arts degree into a six figure income....skeletal taxidermy and dental prosthetics.

What I am asking is, did you research the career field you eventually pursued? How did you do it? if the future market was saturated did you opt for a more financially sound second choice so you could eventually get to your first choice?
 
if only more parents would sit down with their kids and do exactly as the OP suggests

not suggesting to stomp on "dreams" but to make sure everyone has the most information

my first career choice and major was journalism....i was high school paper editor, yearbook contributor, and worked as a 3rd class engineer in our radio and tv broadcasting stations

wanted to be the next guy to break the big story....until i found out that papers were dying, jobs were scarce, and i would be competing for jobs that were decreasing every year

so i changed majors three times....business second, and then finally accounting

there doesnt have to be something written in stone of what the path will be, but an idea helps....and the flexibility to change and adapt will be the key to their success
 
What matters is not what degree you get but what you do with it. Fun fact, one can obtain a liberal arts degree and have a prosperous, well-paying career. :)

One can develop other job skills (without an expensive education) and have a prosperous, well-paying career too. The trick is to put forth the individual effort to acquire those skills and do high quality work using them. What too many folks call "good luck" is simply the confluence of preparedness and opportunity.

My skills include (but are not limited to) carpentry (framing and finish), plumbing, electrical, painting and grounds maintenance and I work as a self-employed handyman. I have about $20K invested in tools/equipment, but that is far less than the typical student loan debt. I am not rich by any measure, but am able to make over the median income (most of it in tax free cash) when I elect to work full-time. Since I am now 65 and getting Social Security retirement income I no longer need to work full-time.
 
One can develop other job skills (without an expensive education) and have a prosperous, well-paying career too. The trick is to put forth the individual effort to acquire those skills and do high quality work using them. What too many folks call "good luck" is simply the confluence of preparedness and opportunity.

My skills include (but are not limited to) carpentry (framing and finish), plumbing, electrical, painting and grounds maintenance and I work as a self-employed handyman. I have about $20K invested in tools/equipment, but that is far less than the typical student loan debt. I am not rich by any measure, but am able to make over the median income (most of it in tax free cash) when I elect to work full-time. Since I am now 65 and getting Social Security retirement income I no longer need to work full-time.

Which raises a valid point....college is not the only path to a secure future; learning trades either through trade schools apprenticeship programs can provide valuable experience as well as training.
 
Which raises a valid point....college is not the only path to a secure future; learning trades either through trade schools apprenticeship programs can provide valuable experience as well as training.

This is the Information Age - you can learn (help teach yourself?) darned near anything online. You can search virtually anything online and find "how to" information on that topic/subject. The same is true for getting customer/user reviews on tools/equipment. For example: I initially had no clue how to build a proper chicken coup - but found several plans for them online, changed them a tad, and ended up building a portable (modular?) version of a chicken coup for a customer who was (at that time) renting their farm land.

Another thing to keep in mind is bartering - I often trade my carpentry work (e.g. building you a deck) for mechanical work (e.g. fixing my truck). I got my small (5' x 8') utility trailer (about $600 in value) in trade (exchange?) for 24 hours (three days) of my labor - clearing trees/brush on a customer's property.
 
This is the Information Age - you can learn (help teach yourself?) darned near anything online. You can search virtually anything online and find "how to" information on that topic/subject. The same is true for getting customer/user reviews on tools/equipment. For example: I initially had no clue how to build a proper chicken coup - but found several plans for them online, changed them a tad, and ended up building a portable (modular?) version of a chicken coup for a customer who was (at that time) renting their farm land.

Another thing to keep in mind is bartering - I often trade my carpentry work (e.g. building you a deck) for mechanical work (e.g. fixing my truck). I got my small (5' x 8') utility trailer (about $600 in value) in trade (exchange?) for 24 hours (three days) of my labor - clearing trees/brush on a customer's property.

I have saved a ton of money on youtube, just learning how to do car repair of all things.
 
I read the following article and it brought me back to a discussion I had with my mother when I was about 16-18....My Mother was a meteorologist and I wanted to be a light house keeper ( it was a phase, dont judge)….she gave me the bottom line up front speech I have pretty much memorized and have since repeated to my brats.

Do a job you have to do so you can eventually do the job you want to do.

At the time, I was pretty much of the opinion that she had no idea what she was talking about ( the angst of youth ), and I was going to do as I pleased and become a rich light house keeper.

Cue the bounced reality check and fast forward several decades.

Mom, I get it now.....I took that wisdom and imparted it to my offspring; research the jobs and career fields before you plow into it head first.

Its easier to do so in this day of internet data at your fingertips than it was in my day of going to the library and spending hours looking over old micro fiches; but, the bottom line is this....due diligence and research.

The 20 highest and lowest paying college majors

When you went to school ( college, trade, apprenticeship, ), did you look at the look at the career field outlook before you took out student loans, or paid your quarterly tuition?
Did you fall victim to the " I wanna work with dolphins so I will be a marine biologist" syndrome that I saw nail so many of my friends in the 80's? ( just an example)

What did you do to prepare yourself for the future?

Nope, I didn't do too much research. From a young age, I wanted to be a scientist and so I majored in Physics and Chemistry in undergrad and went on to earn my PhD in Physics in grad school.
 
I have saved a ton of money on youtube, just learning how to do car repair of all things.

Yep, even jobs requiring "special" tools can be done by nearly anyone - then sell those "special" tools online or pawn them.
 
What matters is not what degree you get but what you do with it. Fun fact, one can obtain a liberal arts degree and have a prosperous, well-paying career. :)

It's not so much a matter of "what you do with it", but what is the state of the economy when you graduate and what the job market is for the particular degree that you have. Sure someone with a liberal arts degree can land a good paying job in a good company, but they can also end up waiting tables as well. As someone who worked in education I can tell you that when jobs for history teachers open up schools get hundreds of resume's. When jobs for science teachers open up often it is only a few.
 
It's not so much a matter of "what you do with it", but what is the state of the economy when you graduate and what the job market is for the particular degree that you have. Sure someone with a liberal arts degree can land a good paying job in a good company, but they can also end up waiting tables as well. As someone who worked in education I can tell you that when jobs for history teachers open up schools get hundreds of resume's. When jobs for science teachers open up often it is only a few.

It's both. The economy matters. Hiring practices matter. The degree matters. Location matters. All sorts of things matter!
 
i chose the major that had the best potential for a career in a subject that i disliked the least and had the most aptitude in. it was probably one of the least stupid decisions that i made at age 19.
 
One can develop other job skills (without an expensive education) and have a prosperous, well-paying career too. The trick is to put forth the individual effort to acquire those skills and do high quality work using them. What too many folks call "good luck" is simply the confluence of preparedness and opportunity.

My skills include (but are not limited to) carpentry (framing and finish), plumbing, electrical, painting and grounds maintenance and I work as a self-employed handyman. I have about $20K invested in tools/equipment, but that is far less than the typical student loan debt. I am not rich by any measure, but am able to make over the median income (most of it in tax free cash) when I elect to work full-time. Since I am now 65 and getting Social Security retirement income I no longer need to work full-time.

Much respect to you!
 
I read the following article and it brought me back to a discussion I had with my mother when I was about 16-18....My Mother was a meteorologist and I wanted to be a light house keeper ( it was a phase, dont judge)….she gave me the bottom line up front speech I have pretty much memorized and have since repeated to my brats.

Do a job you have to do so you can eventually do the job you want to do.

At the time, I was pretty much of the opinion that she had no idea what she was talking about ( the angst of youth ), and I was going to do as I pleased and become a rich light house keeper.

Cue the bounced reality check and fast forward several decades.

Mom, I get it now.....I took that wisdom and imparted it to my offspring; research the jobs and career fields before you plow into it head first.

Its easier to do so in this day of internet data at your fingertips than it was in my day of going to the library and spending hours looking over old micro fiches; but, the bottom line is this....due diligence and research.

The 20 highest and lowest paying college majors

When you went to school ( college, trade, apprenticeship, ), did you look at the look at the career field outlook before you took out student loans, or paid your quarterly tuition?
Did you fall victim to the " I wanna work with dolphins so I will be a marine biologist" syndrome that I saw nail so many of my friends in the 80's? ( just an example)

What did you do to prepare yourself for the future?

Kind of! I am terrible at math and didn't want to become some sales and marketing drone. I got a degree in communications and have worked steadily and at better jobs ever since then.

Irony is, I do a lot of math, standard deviations and regression analysis....but the computer does it, and I understand it...
 
One can develop other job skills (without an expensive education) and have a prosperous, well-paying career too. The trick is to put forth the individual effort to acquire those skills and do high quality work using them. What too many folks call "good luck" is simply the confluence of preparedness and opportunity.

My skills include (but are not limited to) carpentry (framing and finish), plumbing, electrical, painting and grounds maintenance and I work as a self-employed handyman. I have about $20K invested in tools/equipment, but that is far less than the typical student loan debt. I am not rich by any measure, but am able to make over the median income (most of it in tax free cash) when I elect to work full-time. Since I am now 65 and getting Social Security retirement income I no longer need to work full-time.

The fact is that some of the wealthiest people in the world were college dropouts: Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, to name a few. There are many other factors that go into becoming successful other than sitting in classrooms listening to lectures.
 
i chose the major that had the best potential for a career in a subject that i disliked the least and had the most aptitude in. it was probably one of the least stupid decisions that i made at age 19.

My choice of a major was largely done for practical reasons as well. In hindsight I wish I was doing something else but I made the best of it and live a comfortable middle class life and will hopefully be able to retire in my early to mid sixties.
 
A suggestion I gave my children based on experience. If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life.

They have done very well even if they did not get a computer science degree.
 
My choice of a major was largely done for practical reasons as well. In hindsight I wish I was doing something else but I made the best of it and live a comfortable middle class life and will hopefully be able to retire in my early to mid sixties.

I might not be able to retire early, but I started a family later than most, and it's worth it. I am more passionate about subjects outside my major, but I get to do that in my spare time.
 
I only went to 12th grade(And it shows)But I make a lot more money than people with and education.I narrowed my choices down to 3 careers.Drywall finisher,gynecology or hvac.Figured I'd stay cleaner doing hvac.Been doing it for over 40 years now.
 
I might not be able to retire early, but I started a family later than most, and it's worth it. I am more passionate about subjects outside my major, but I get to do that in my spare time.

I did to, had my first child in my late thirties. Physically I regret it as my body can't keep up with the responsibilities. I also don't spend any time studying or researching things in my major.
 
Kind of! I am terrible at math and didn't want to become some sales and marketing drone. I got a degree in communications and have worked steadily and at better jobs ever since then.

Irony is, I do a lot of math, standard deviations and regression analysis....but the computer does it, and I understand it...

I was in the same boat; math was never my strength in High School, and I tried to avoid it.

When I did settle on a degree, it was heavy in statistics, and I was a late arrival to college; fortunately my wife excels at math and helped me extensively.
 
I did to, had my first child in my late thirties. Physically I regret it as my body can't keep up with the responsibilities. I also don't spend any time studying or researching things in my major.

I get that. I'm in my forties, and I feel like I have just enough youth left to handle work and baby on not quite enough sleep. I'm not complaining, though.
 
Which raises a valid point....college is not the only path to a secure future; learning trades either through trade schools apprenticeship programs can provide valuable experience as well as training.

I have and continue to learn trades so I do not have to pay other people. I actually bought plans and built a house for my wife and children in my 20's. everyone said how could I do such a thing and I told them anyone with the wear with all to get thru college should have no problem using a house plan and slowly working your way thru it one task at a time. Some of the bigger tasks were contracted out, but even that saved money over buying a built house.

I am not sure how many of you remember this saying, a penny saved is a penny earned.
 
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