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i graduated HS just after i turned 17. went straight to college... lasted almost a year. wasnt for me. went to work. haven't looked back and have made a comfortable living. i agree that college isnt for everyone... matter of fact i know lots of people with degrees having trouble finding jobs or doing something unrelated to their studies. i guess earning a degree shows dedication and commitment to an extent. also, its nice to be able to pay for something and have something to show for it.While I am not knocking a college education , it might be better for some folks , when they graduate high school to get out in the work place.
After all they just spent 12 odd years in a school environment, seeing what life is like out side of school is important too.
The important thing college or not is to never stop learning and using what you learned.
Andy
i graduated HS just after i turned 17. went straight to college... lasted almost a year. wasnt for me. went to work. haven't looked back and have made a comfortable living. i agree that college isnt for everyone... matter of fact i know lots of people with degrees having trouble finding jobs or doing something unrelated to their studies. i guess earning a degree shows dedication and commitment to an extent. also, its nice to be able to pay for something and have something to show for it.
i wanted to be an electrician like my dad(hes a project manager now for EC and has been with them for the last 20+ years) I was a material handler for EC company and #2 on the apprenticeship list for local 280... in 2008. yeah, guess how many new apprentices they took that year. a big fat 0 and i ended up getting laid off. after 14 months of no work i said fk it and started a career in the automotive industry. oh what it could have been. i am happy where im at though. guess thats what matters.I'm with you. College can be great, and obviously is absolutely necessary for some career fields. I did 1 year at PSU, 1 year at Clackamas and 1 year at Mount Hood, never did finish a degree. Then I got into the electrical apprenticeship program and spent the next 5 years as an apprentice working during the day, going to school at night. I think it's the best choice I could have made. I make a very comfortable living and have had numerous opportunities to advance without a degree in hand. I don't have anything against college, except when people dump tons of money into a college education they didn't really need in the first place. I know far too many people with B.S.'s and B.A.'s that are doing work for less money and in jobs that they don't need degrees for anyway. I think it would be nice if we got off the 'college for everyone' kick. It's a false promise that just doesn't pay out.
i wanted to be an electrician like my dad(hes a project manager now for EC and has been with them for the last 20+ years) I was a material handler for EC company and #2 on the apprenticeship list for local 280... in 2008. yeah, guess how many new apprentices they took that year. a big fat 0 and i ended up getting laid off. after 14 months of no work i said fk it and started a career in the automotive industry. oh what it could have been. i am happy where im at though. guess thats what matters.
i didnt mind being a material handler, I actually liked it quite a bit. i learned a lot. ive always been super mechanically inclined and have always worked with my hands. heck, when i was 8-9 years old i had to buck hay... learned how to drive a stick that way too. anyway, i helped my dad wire his entire house they just built. enjoyed every bit of it. we did a really bad@$$ job and passed code with flying colors. a lot of his house can be ran off of a generator with a flip of the switchThere were some lean years back in the early 90's when they weren't taking any apprentices in. I was in the 2nd batch once they started pulling them in again, that was back in '94. Business was really good in the 90's and I worked a ton of overtime for several years. I've been fortunate - to date, I've never been out of work since I started back in '94. As for me, I started in lighting maintenance for a year and a half before I got in, so I ended up skipping the material handler route.
i didnt mind being a material handler, I actually liked it quite a bit. i learned a lot. ive always been super mechanically inclined and have always worked with my hands. heck, when i was 8-9 years old i had to buck hay... learned how to drive a stick that way too. anyway, i helped my dad wire his entire house they just built. enjoyed every bit of it. we did a really bad@$$ job and passed code with flying colors. a lot of his house can be ran off of a generator with a flip of the switch
dang! yeah i would have been 3rd gen!Nice. I'm actually a 3rd gen electrician. My grandfather was an electrician on a carrier in the Navy in WWII in the South Pacific. Came home and started his own shop. My father and uncle followed suit. My brother and I followed him. I do enjoy it, but I'm out of the field now and do miss working with the tools from time to time.
They don't teach those customer relations skills at the McDonalds anywhere near me.
While I am not knocking a college education , it might be better for some folks , when they graduate high school to get out in the work place.
After all they just spent 12 odd years in a school environment, seeing what life is like out side of school is important too.
The important thing college or not is to never stop learning and using what you learned.
Andy
They don't teach those customer relations skills at the McDonalds anywhere near me.