If You Didn't Go To College, What is your Job? Are You happy/Content?

The most successful people I know didnt even graduate high school. My business admin degree didnt get me anywhere. I had to do a career change in my 30s to become an electrical apprentice. I should have done this straight after high school. Student loans is a pain in the ass.
 
markulous said:
College itself isn't a waste. It's a waste when people just go there and pursue useless degrees and don't have a plan to use it. There are plenty of careers out there that require degrees to get into them.

There are plenty of good jobs that don't require college either. It just depends on what you want to do.
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Yea. Anytime I'd meet someone and find out their major, there would always be those people where there is an awkward silence after because I know how screwed they are once they graduate. I don't understand how people can do that to themselves.
 
My oldest brother went to through a year or so of college and makes over $100k working for Jenn-Air as a traveling regional salesman.

I went through 2 years of college, majored in Culinary and just lost my passion for it. Worked my way up through IBM and make decent money.

My youngest brother never went to college and worked his way up through hotels, starting as a houseman and runs the catering department of the On Center in Syracuse.

That being said, I want a change, so will be going back to school this year.
 
Oblivian said:
I can tell you for a fact what a glorified janitor can make in Indiana where the cost of living is very low. My friend started work at Purdue University in 2004 for the Operations and Maintenance Department which consists of janitor work along with very basic fix it duties as well (nothing mechanical or requiring special skills). When he started, I know he made around $12 an hour. As of right now, his base pay rate (which is published online for confirmation) is $19.68 per hour. You get raises yearly, so I'm fairly confident he will be in the $30 per hour range long before retirement.

He got the job through his dad who did the same thing, and I remember looking up his salary and it was around $65k per year. I do think his dad ended up taking on more responsibilities such as supervising and more complicated fix-it items, but that's still good pay for janitorial work!
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Janitors at Canada Post made that much in the early 80s. Mail sorters (requires no education) made $25/hr+ 30 yrs ago.

universities can have ridiculous benefits. At one school I attended, employees received a savings plan contribution of 8% of salary in addition to pension benefits the school had for employees. It was ridiculous. We had a tech in our lab who probably did 45mins a day of productive work.
 
I didn't graduate middle school but now run a successful cheese sandwich factory making 9 figures and own 4 houses.
 
RerouteToRemain said:
No college and it would not further me
23
Self employed
Just bought my first house

This is my car I paid for it in full and have added 1000's to it.

imag1535.jpg

Doing quite well and happy. Money is a bit tight after the down payment on the house and things I've bought to put in it but that should change in a few months.
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So you're either lying or a drug dealer. Which is it?
 
I don't know if this counts but I know countless buddies (men) who got into the the trades and make anywhere from 60 to 120 K a year. They have to go to school for X number of weeks at a time but never for a term comparable to college or university.

These trades including air conditioning/heating/refrigeration, iron work and electrician.

Good bang for your buck if you enjoy labour and are good with your hands.
 
I have a friend who went to trade school for welding and he is making pretty good money and has an opportunity to travel to South Carolina for a job and will make a killing if he goes. While I dont regret going to college as of right now I do not make much at all(around 25k) even though I work in my degree field. Every employer seems to want a degree along with 5 years experience or with skills that you cant really get without experience and at 24 it just doesnt happen. I also have a 2nd part time job sitting at the front desk at a gym. My degree is in information systems but I plan on going to a community college and get an associates in programming to hopefully make some more money. My wife has a degree in biology and works as a secretary as of right now but has applied to go back and get a masters in occupational therapy. She originally wanted to go to dentistry school but didnt get in and we dont have an extra grand to drop on application fees again.
 
A friend's dad gave me the advice to become an electrician or plumber. He said that if you don't blow it on drugs, hookers and gambling, you'd probably retire by 45 and do work for extra cash.

He wasn't far off, I know a couple of guys who had their own plumbing companies by their early 30s making $150k/yr (in the Toronto area).

The electrician who worked on our (massive) renovation said that he could hardly find an apprentice worth keeping around - paying them $22/hr to learn. He said 1 in 6 is worthwhile keeping.
 
Started University but jumped to a job in second year and never finished.

No regrets and feel finishing University would have seriously limited my career and opportunities because I chose an entrepreneurial career path.

I know some will jump on that type of statement but the more educated you get the more opportunity cost you face when considering an entrepreneurial path. I have seen it time and again that guys I know who finished good degrees and who wanted to join great looking entrepreneurial ventures could not afford to risk it because they had such great 'job' opportunities offering guaranteed salary and although they admitted the 'potential' upside of the entrepreneurial venture was far higher they could not risk the guaranteed income they would have to trade off.
 
There's nothing wrong with college. The problem is with the fallacy that all college grads make 6 figures and fuck super models. Fine arts majors aren't making good money anywhere. Social work majors are going to barely scrape by in most cases. If you're going to college to make a lot of money upon graduation know what types of degrees offer that possibility first.
 
@Goat Meal

without a doubt college grads make up the bulk of 'Executives' hired to fill top corporate positions. It is the safe, generally higher paying path to take.

So while a Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg. Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and so many more of the worlds wealthiest did not complete University the ranks of those they employ did.

So when you see the graph showing how the 'educated' rake in the bulk of the earnings that is true as they fill the tiers of the top 'employees'. It is my experience however that you find far more Founders or Owners to have lesser education as they generally do not have as many high paying job opportunities and so are more willing to take the risk of starting something on their own.
 
Never finished school but I currently work in a cemetery - And I honestly really enjoy it.
 
No college. Air traffic control. Still a trainee, when I check out I'll start at 105k.

I like it. Average income here is 25-26k a year so it's exceptional pay. Very hard to get into.
 
RerouteToRemain said:
I'm not lying...
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Refer to my post about cars not being a good indicator of how wealthy a person is. A person making minimum wage could still buy your car, IF they were stupid with their money and dumped everything they made into being able to drive a Vette. I'm not saying I don't believe you, I'm just saying that posting pictures of a car proves nothing.

If you really want to prove him wrong, post your tax filings.
 
Fearnight said:
Refer to my post about cars not being a good indicator of how wealthy a person is. A person making minimum wage could still buy your car, IF they were stupid with their money and dumped everything they made into being able to drive a Vette. I'm not saying I don't believe you, I'm just saying that posting pictures of a car proves nothing.

If you really want to prove him wrong, post your tax filings.
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Some people said I was lying.. I was saving up for a house but realized the market was still dropping so I bought that car with cash and waited a little over year for the house. Waiting on the house paid off, I have already made about 35k in equity in a pretty short amount of time.

I'll see what I can come up with later to show I own the car. Not gonna post taxes. But the car is worth about 45k not including all the extras.
 
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