The million dollar question.

I have allready pre-determined the answer of at least 80% of you to be "Stay in college"

Well, my last job, working for a city water wastewater was probably one of the best. Great people to work with, great people to work for. They were always there for me with anything I needed. Never micro-managed, let me do what needed to get done my own way.

I'm going to school for automotive engineering (at least a 4 year degree). Its really great and all, and I really enjoy school, but sometimes I wonder if I'm letting an awesome job pass me by...

Not just working for the city water/wastewater but I was thinking about getting a job as a mechanic for the city, then eventually move to a state mech job. Word has it the pay is unreal, and retirement plans are even better, good heath insurance, benefits, etc...

Or do I stick it out in college, then try and get a job. I guess i'm just afraid of not being able to find a job that I enjoy...

I just dont want to go to college, then just get an average job. Or even an above average job doing something I hate.

Part of the problem is I dont know what I should be expecting to do as an auto engineering technologist.

I dont want a job where i'm rushed to do things and my pay is based on how much work I complete and how fast (like pay on commission). I dont want a job where my pay is at the mercy of the customer. Thats why a state job is so appealing. Not like the state of MN will ever go out of business.

Then I look at guys like my GF's dad, who never had a college education, and went from having pretty much NO income, to 14 years later owning his own business and now brings home however much money he feels like.

Part of me likes the security of a job just being there, where I could probably make 40-50k per year (after a while). Another part of me is curious how much money I COULD make with an engineering degree doing something else.

Many things to think about. Thanks for letting me talk to myself out loud. Sorry its so long.

Its funny how the more I type here, the more I realize what the sensible answer is...

Anyway, thoughts/comments?

 

First, owning your own biz, isn;t as glamorous as it looks

Second, one of my best freinds dads was a mechanic for a township, then had a heart attack while not on the clock.. he sits at home now, collecting SSI

I'd stay in school (use it as your backup plan)
you're at the mercy of the tax payer / voter

 

can't you work and go to school at the same time?

yes, you look at your GF's dad.....but don't forget to look at all those who are not successful also. bill gates does not have a college degree but not everyone is bill gates.

do you not have a game plan for what you are going to college for?

you may think the job that you want is cool now, but you may not think it is so hot in the future, i thought the Navy was the greatest thing, now i am out and in college at age 31.

you can always stop and go back to school, but you may be struggling also to relearn the info you forgot, also you may work and end up with a family which will pretty much trap you into holding a job you do not like in order to keep food on the table and the benefits.

a degree will open many more doors for you. it is best to have that ability. you may not get the job, you may get the job and fall victim to politics withing the dept, you may like the job but hate the people you work with, they may cut funding and cut you.....it can happen with any job, but at least with a degree you will have more opportunities to explore than someone without.

believe me, i would not be going to college if i did not think it was worth while, i can think of better things to do with my life than learning about some of the stupid i am now.

 

If you like the water/wastewater thing stick with that. That field tops out at more than 40-50k and demand is quite high and will stay that way with all of the enviro-nuts. My brother is in that field, he gets a couple job offers a year when he is not even looking for them.

 

I work for local government as well. I ,like you, do it for the benefits. I love not worrying about doctor bills. True you are not going to get rich, but the benefits make it well worth it to us anyway.

 

dont think that owning your own business you can "make as much as you want" it dont work that way you make as much as you can.

 

If you even kind of like what you are doing, have you considered working toward any licenses such as Plant Operator? Having a license would not only increase your pay but woud open lots of doors for you. Depending on where you are and how big the plant is, the pay would increase considerably. And it is a profession that is quite portable and you could always fall back on it. Or get a state/city job, get on the night shift and do something else during the day. Can't beat the stability of state/local jobs although many plants are being contracted out to save costs.

I'd take issue with the "environuts" comment by the way since I think everyone will agree that having clean drinking water is one of those things that most of us appreciate now. And since quite often the wastewater plant discharges into the same place the drinking water came from, I think having the ***** taken out of the effluent is a plus as well. Ask any fisherman or recreational water user.

Anyway, back to topic.

 

Aint that the truth! "self employed 15 years" April 15th of every year I ask myself WHY WHY WHY,,,
Stay in school!

 

I've been working for a water district for 18+ years. I started out part time doing small jobs with the district and worked my way up to senior plant operator. I went to school at night to get an A.S. degree. I am a T4 water treatment operator and have a D2 water distribution cert. The water industry is an excellent field that is experiencing a lot of turn over right now due to retirements. Remember, you can work and go to school at night.

 

Stay in school.


There will come a time, in the not too distant future, that IF you DON'T have a degree. . . you WON'T have a good paying job.

Your future is in an education.


I've been with the same company for almost 34 years.
I was extremely lucky.
I only had a High School education, but, I had a trade. (Printing.)

I've learned a lot from the school of hard knocks and also from my peers.

I'm running this print shop (what's left of it) because of technology.
I learned computers. I didn't take classes. . .I learned it on my own, and by reading everything I could get my hands on.

Will I ever be promoted? NO.
I don't have a 'degree' and a diploma on the wall.
I see people with degrees climbing the ladder to more money (and benefits) than I will get.

My supervisor and general supervisors can't do what I do.
I make more money than them, but, they have better benefits and retirement than I do.






Get the education. Money and benefits will come with that education.

 

yep, plus there are many places now that you automatically get higher pay just for having a degree. plus you will never know when standards will change, your goal of being some supervisor or other managment type poisition may next year require someone with a degree, then you will be locked out until you get that degree.

where i work, which is a plastic plant, it is the same thing, someone could be a qualified machine operator and do it just fine, but they can not be a shift supervisor unless they have a 2 year degree at least, plus even as a machine operator, they get higher pay if they have a degree for doing the same job.

same in lots of government jobs, a degree gets you put into a higher paygrade automatically than someone without for the same job, plus with a degree you will not have that ceiling for advancment.

 

I like the comments so far, thanks for the input and all of the different points of veiw. Its not like i'm going to drop out of college. I'm on my second year now, just having a hard time as I have no major related courses this semester, just generals. Some of them just dont excite me all that much. It makes it tempting just to say the heck with it and get a job. It just helps to have a little encouragement from other people.

Thanks

 

Pay attention in those courses. Someday one or two of them might come back and actually be useful.

I turned all of my "useless" courses into an Economics Minor.

 

i am on my 3rd semester of college and have only taken 1 major course, and i am not taking any major course next semester either.

the reward for all the stupid course? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
i sometimes think someone hires a person with a degree not so much for the knowledge but for the known ability that that person went through a bunch of bs and succeeded.

 

Very true. A university degree in a technical field is proof that you can consistently absorb information, even when it's not terribly exciting, digest that information, and apply it to problem solving. It's proof that you have several years of honing that ability - some people might have it innately, but it's an ability that needs developing just like any other. And generally it's proof of at least some creativity, or at least the ability to deal with abstract ideas.

So what a term or two isn't exciting courses? I'm always astounded by kids that don't see the long-term picture. Just play the game. Society is very kind in that it lays out the path to success very clearly - you just have to give in and follow it. Go to school, study, keep yourself clean, do a few extra-curricular things that make you stand out from the others, and apply to all the right places - and the worst you can end up with is a decent white collar job that 75% of the population can't even dream of ever having.

As for business ownership, that's a whole other ball of wax. As you alluded to, most people want the sure thing, the easy but secure buck. They want benefits and fixed hours and a regular paycheck. They want someone else to risk their lives to develop a product, find a market, find customers, lay out the cash for production. And so in exchange for that security, they get diminished prospects and little or no personal satisfaction of creating something themselves. Business owners give up all that security and take on huge risks in exchange for the possibility of greater things, and for the perwsonal satisfactin of knwoing that every penny they make they really "made' themselves and they are their own masters, self-made men. (They also get the "pleasure" of listening to those who chose safety whine about the fat-cat owners who shamelessly exploit the workers!) Of course, for every Bill Gates, there a hundred thousand "Bob's PC-repair on wheels" that will never be more than a one man show earning less than he could as a government clerk working twice the hours. But that's all par tof the risk-taking personality. It's not for everyone.