…Or, they go to school for something they love & when they get out, they find out that the real world has twisted that occupation into something totally different & completely hateful.
I got a 2-year tech. school degree…Just in case.
Word.
Such cynicism… wow.
I use what I learned in college every day. I chose a degree that is relevant, studied hard and learned a lot. I moved to my favorite place on earth, figured out how to apply what I know to provide services people need and want and are happy to pay well for. I provide the best value I can and have a great time doing it.
Things I know:
You’ll never get rich being an employee
If you’re not having fun making a living you’re dying a little bit every day.
You have to be motivated to be successful. Find what motivates you.
Life is not meant to be a struggle. It’s OK to be happy.
If your life sucks, figure out what will make you happy, then figure out how to make that happen.
You can make it happen if you really want it.
Or perhaps this might make more sense:
The graduate with a Science degree asks, “Why does it work?”
The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, “How does it work?”
The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, “How much will it cost?”
The graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, “Do you want fries with that?”
Heard that one before.
That’s a tad insulting but there’s some merit to it as well. I was still slinging drinks after graduating with a BFA. Easy cash kept me solvent. Parleyed it into a science degree. 
Answering to an employer is going to make you wealthy? hmm…
See: Hedge Fund manager. I’ve got a friend who does Hedge Fund management in CT. Let’s just say he’s not hurting for money, neither is his boss.
Why the focus on being rich or wealthy? I guess if that’s your bag, more power to you. I’d like to have a comfortable life, but I have no interest in pursuing wealth just for the sake of it. You can’t take it with you, man!
… you can do this:
I’ve got a diploma in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) from a tech college. Its basically applied Geography - many of my co-workers have degrees in Geography or Geology, and then went to a tech for GIS. I’m a civil servant - its not gonna make me rich, but its steady work, with decent benefits & pension. I don’t always love it (or even like it), but I go home happier at the end of the day than I did in my previous career (IT/tech support, which I hated).
Oh I agree with you 100%, but I’m just saying if you wanna make money you don’t necessarily have to be your own boss.
My comment wasn’t directed at anyone in particular, just putting it out there. I was just reminded of something someone told me once: making a lot of money isn’t that tough to do if that’s all you care about. What I’m more concerned with is finding work that makes me happy. That said, I do enjoy the prospect of not having to worry so much about making ends meet. I wouldn’t have gotten an advanced degree if that didn’t matter to me.
I had my own business for 12 years and loved it but between taxes and insurance I was making 60% of what i make now working for the company I started with 30 years ago. I decided to let my boss pay the taxes and insurance as long as he payed me what i had been making on my own. Now I’m prez of 3 companies, making good money and most days I’m really finished with any serious work by lunchtime at the latest. Except for the fact that I have employees I actually do enjoy my job.
There’s certainly no guarantee you’ll get rich as an employee, but also none that you’ll get rich working for yourself.
Depends on what kind of job it is and your personality. I know a few people who have their own business. A bunch of them are far from rich and are really struggling to make as much as they did working for the man. Like anything else, it’s a trade off.
I spent 30 years running a business that started out as something that I loved to do. By the time I closed the business last June, I could hardly stand to be there any more.
love what i do, however, i am one of the shareholders in our practice. but as we have grown there is increased bickering and political viewpoints. if it weren’t for all the government meddling i would step back out on my own. for the most part though, i can do things the way i can set my own hours and that ain’t too bad.
As for starting your own business, I have a very specific skill set that really isn’t applicable to much else so that would be tough. But, I have to say, I’d love to find something and give it a shot.
Sure, it’s no guarantee of riches and happyness but for me the question is: Do I want to be poor and miserable on my own terms or someone elses?
If you fail, at least you can say you tried.
Specific skill set? hah, try being a wirleline electric log QC and analyst for the oil companies. There are job possibilities but they all involve living either in an oil town like OK City, Denver or Houston, or living in a podunk hole in the middle of the oilfield like Carlsbad NM or Midland Texas.
regardless of what you do there is almost always somebody you have to answer to though there are rewards to not having an official “boss” to answer to. When I was consulting I took a month vacation every summer and went to the beach or to my in-laws in France. I just told my clients ahead of time and I had a couple of consultant friend that covered for each other when one of us was unavailable. Now I can’t do that and the wife doesn’t really understand. I was 48 years old before I had my first job with normal, set hours and I’m actually very happy with it.
The point you make is spot on THESE DAYS. When I went to college, a degree was all you needed to get a job. It didn’t really matter what it was in, as long as you had one. When I graduated 5 years later, that had all changed. A degree in anything didn’t matter, because EVERYONE these days has a degree. You’re fukked if you don’t have one, you’re fukked if you do. It’s the people that get them in specific fields and have a plan when they go to college that get the good jobs. Other than that, they’re like me, working in a job I had no intention of doing that doesn’t even require a fakkin’ degree.
College is so damned overrated. Used to be that it proved to potential employers that you care, that you went the extra mile to gain more education. But that’s of no consequence today.
My job is different every day. One day I’ll be on a boat taking dissolved oxygen and salinity readings in nearshore ocean water. The next I’ll be at 11,000 ft. up the side of Mauna Kea taking soil samples for a phase II EA on a remote transmitter site. The day after that I’ll be repairing a leaky concentrate port on a RO pressure vessel for a water treatment plant, the next working with a rancher on a rainwater catchment system for watering his cattle.
Sometimes I understand how the astronauts feel when they work on an EVA. Working away, concentrating on the job at hand, stop to rest a second, look up, realize where I am, and get goose bumps in awe.
This didn’t happen by accident. I studied really hard for my knowledge, worked really hard for my experience, and figured out a way to apply it in the place I most want to be. Without my college education I would not know much of what I need to be able to do the things I do.
The money part is lagniappe. I would be happy doing this if all I could afford to eat was fish and rice.
Anyone can find a million reasons not to be successful. The tough part is making the paradigm shift to realizing success is posible and being happy is OK. It just takes work, but that work can be a lot of fun if you let it.
I have very wealthy clients who are not happy. What’s the point?
I think college helped me to get a job that I hate and make modest money as opposed to working a job I hate and making no money.
This is why I don’t think I’d want to open a brewery/brewpub. Even playing in bar bands got to be something I dreaded. I think I just hate work.