Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skill?

Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

Agree with IT being a good option without degree. Even with a degree, 95% of the crap you learned was out-of-date when you learned it. 80% what you use is stuff that was made mainstream in the last few years (if not months).
I have clients in two areas that make great amounts of $$$ without having degrees. One has pawnshops. 'Makes gobs of $$$, but needs to have a thick skin to avoid being suckered by hard-luck stories. The other area is Public insurance adjuster. They help people fight insurance companies, and try to get them to pay fair claims. Tons of bucks. Both seem to enjoy their businesses.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

weilke said:
How did we get from a better paying job for someone who is in retail to the market for top-tier MBAs ?
Click to expand...
Because everyone has an opinion. Degrees count for something so does experience. Sometimes, as mentioned, the school matters. You can work your ass off doing 60-100 hours a week self-employed or get a cushy gov't job that pays $200k and just sit around sucking coffee and expect someone else to do the work. UPS is great because a dock worker made it to $100k manager's position. Trash a resume because the guy had no college.
I think that summarizes it pretty well.
I think you just have to have a good work ethic, demonstrate you ARE a reliable person, and pass the pee test!
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

denverpilot said:
That probably has a lot to do with how in-bred most Corporate Boards and CxOs are. The Harvard clique (cult?) is particularly strong.

Sticking with people in the in-crowd on the golf course leads to bigger and better deals... for them. M&A negotiations, especially so.

They convince themselves it's a good deal over cocktails, get paid millions, destroy the cultures of at least one if the companies if not both, and they're long gone on the golden parachute before the outcome of their poor leadership is truly known.

Most of the time, anyway.
Click to expand...

He says bitterly through clenched teeth.... :D
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

silver-eagle said:
I think you just have to have a good work ethic, demonstrate you ARE a reliable person, and pass the pee test!
Click to expand...


And some kid with "a good work ethic, demonstrate you ARE a reliable person, and pass the pee test AND a degree will get the job instead of you.

Tie goes to the degree. Every. Time.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

JoseCuervo said:
And some kid with "a good work ethic, demonstrate you ARE a reliable person, and pass the pee test AND a degree will get the job instead of you.

Tie goes to the degree. Every. Time.
Click to expand...

Degree + 4 years work experience or 8 years work experience?

Equation gets a bit tougher.

People who paid $100-250k plus interest for an education don't like to hear that.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

ChrisK said:
Degree + 4 years work experience or 8 years work experience?

Equation gets a bit tougher.

People who paid $100-250k plus interest for an education don't like to hear that.
Click to expand...

DING! DING! DING!

Degree + 4 loses to 8 years experience in many, many, many cases.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

My industry is always in need of people who are willing to deal with the requirements of animal agriculture. I have many people in my organization with no college experience, under the age of 35, and who are making a very nice living.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

JoseCuervo said:
And some kid with "a good work ethic, demonstrate you ARE a reliable person, and pass the pee test AND a degree will get the job instead of you.

Tie goes to the degree. Every. Time.
Click to expand...
In many industries, there is no TIE. Take what I've done in IT in the job referred to as Systems Programming, Systems Engineer, Computer Programmer and you will not have any clue what I've done, what I have been responsible for, who I taught, how many millions I may have saved the company. But feel free to trash my resume because you do not see a 4 year school, or a 4 year IVY LEAGUE school on it.
Your lose not mine.
Thus is the nature of job search. You narrowly decide based on paper, you have the potential to have just screwed your company into the ground. And by the way, it is discrimination. Not that anyone could prove it unless you're dumb enough to post the comments on a public forum, but it is.
PS: I watched this happen when a company chose to hire some snotty kid out of school instead of a seasoned IT person. Snotty kid with the dinky ponytail screwed the department up so bad they are still trying to resolve years old licensing issues.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

ChrisK said:
Degree + 4 years work experience or 8 years work experience?

Equation gets a bit tougher.

People who paid $100-250k plus interest for an education don't like to hear that.
Click to expand...

Likely not, but Degree + 8 Years experience will trump No Degree + 8 years.

Every. Damn. Time.


A lot of people will also hire on your potential to excel and climb in an organization (for "professional, career track jobs"), and people who have shown an ability and thirst for learning and bettering themselves are valued over people who avoided the challenge.

And, again, who pays $250k for a degree, plus interest? Guessing less than 1% of the college student population. (Does Med SChool even rack up that kind of debt??)
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

Hmm, someone seems to be assuming a degree and experience are mutually exclusive.

They aren't. And the internship is VERY often a source of important connections.
 
JoseCuervo said:
And, again, who pays $250k for a degree, plus interest? Guessing less than 1% of the college student population. (Does Med SChool even rack up that kind of debt??)
Click to expand...

I padded the top end of the range to account for some of the more expensive schools. 100k for a college education nowadays is not atypical once you add in room and board for a public college. Private colleges are double. I did my homework.
 
MAKG1 said:
Hmm, someone seems to be assuming a degree and experience are mutually exclusive.

They aren't. And the internship is VERY often a source of important connections.
Click to expand...

I hired my first intern 2 weeks ago :)
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

ChrisK said:
I padded the top end of the range to account for some of the more expensive schools. 100k for a college education nowadays is not atypical once you add in room and board for a public college. Private colleges are double. I did my homework.
Click to expand...


And you ignore that someone with a degree + 8 years will be a more attractive candidate than someone without a degree and 8 years.


Yes, you can include the people (very few) who pay $250k for a degree (not sure how, or why, but I will take your word for it.) But, why don't you include those who don't pay any for a degree, get it with scholarships? There are far more of those than there are people paying $250k.

I can't imagine an argument AGAINST college that is built around not wanting to incur $250k + interest to get a degree. Just not realistic.

And, not sure if you should even include food and lodging, as you have to live and eat somewhere, no matter what you are doing.


I can't fathom, in general (as "on the internet") with someone you don't know, ever advising that college isn't a good option to consider.


(as to the OP's friend in this thread, remember her?? She might be better off in a college environment that is able to help her with her disability.)
 
JoseCuervo said:
I can't fathom, in general (as "on the internet") with someone you don't know, ever advising that college isn't a good option to consider.
Click to expand...
Nah. Like I said I am supporting my kids through college. I just have to admit to myself that it is not a good financial investment if you are just into working for the money. I'm not saying that there are not opportunities available to college graduates that are not available to college dropouts etc. I'm saying that you can end up financially better off by getting ahead of your college bound peers by getting real, hard experience.

As far as internships go, I think they are important and valuable. I also have seen firsthand that they are not as meaningful as full time employment in terms of work experience. A college graduate that interned all through school is more valuable than someone who worked in an unrelated career. A college graduate who worked all through school is more valuable than someone who didn't work at all.

A solid resume full of work experience, a portfolio, and recommendations are more valuable than damn near anything.
 
ChrisK said:
Degree + 4 years work experience or 8 years work experience?

Equation gets a bit tougher.

People who paid $100-250k plus interest for an education don't like to hear that.
Click to expand...

My BA cost <10K. Lived at home and commuted to a state school.
 
wickedsprint said:
My BA cost <10K. Lived at home and commuted to a state school.
Click to expand...

State school tuition only in my home state of Ohio (provided you have no residence retirement) is conservatively North of $40k. $10k sounds a bit dated or taxpayer subsidized (which even the 40k listed above is)
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

ChrisK said:
Nah. Like I said I am supporting my kids through college. I just have to admit to myself that it is not a good financial investment if you are just into working for the money. I'm not saying that there are not opportunities available to college graduates that are not available to college dropouts etc. I'm saying that you can end up financially better off by getting ahead of your college bound peers by getting real, hard experience.

As far as internships go, I think they are important and valuable. I also have seen firsthand that they are not as meaningful as full time employment in terms of work experience. A college graduate that interned all through school is more valuable than someone who worked in an unrelated career. A college graduate who worked all through school is more valuable than someone who didn't work at all.

A solid resume full of work experience, a portfolio, and recommendations are more valuable than damn near anything.
Click to expand...
What immature flawed thinking! It's really amazing that you have children old enough to be in college. I must assume the picture is a current picture of you.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

Jimmy cooper said:
What immature flawed thinking! It's really amazing that you have children old enough to be in college. I must assume the picture is a current picture of you.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a well-reasoned approach to me. Higher education for higher educations sake has been over-sold and if the recent economic crisis has shown anything, having a college degree and debt while working at Starbucks is worse than not having a degree and debt while doing the same job.

An acquaintance of mine who is in his 50s has an electrical engineering degree and a 20 year career in avionics/defense systems somewhere in the bay area. He retired from that, converted his stock options into money, moved back home and opened a coffee-shop. After sinking a lot of his savings into the coffee-shop enterprise and was nearing bankruptcy, one of his customers told him to come back into engineering. His first gig was with a local infrastructure firm and by now he is back in avionics (ADS-B ). The RIGHT degree will stay with you for your life. Of course, if you get a BA in basketweaving with a minor in exercise science, your opportunities to fall back on the degree will be less than if you do something more tangible.
 
Last edited:
Jimmy cooper said:
What immature flawed thinking! It's really amazing that you have children old enough to be in college. I must assume the picture is a current picture of you.
Click to expand...

I have patiently and carefully explained my nuanced opinion and tried to be as professional and reasonable as possible. I am not sure that being personally insulting about my son's picture or my alleged lack of maturity in any way improves the credibility of your position that a college degree is indicative of the value of a potential employee. I would say if anything it is a good example of the fact that the quality of one's character and evidence of the ability to perform one's duties is better taken to account when evaluating an applicant than the ability of one's parents to fund an education, for example.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

Internships the new slave labor. Yes they have value for the handful of Harvard kids that intern at Goldmans and get hired from it. But mostly internships are a supply of cheap quality labor to chew up. So you pay stupid money for college so you can work cheap at an internship in order to learn things they don't teach at your college. Brilliant.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

Others have tried explaining it to you for eight long pages. It's tiresome. Get a grip.
 
ClimbnSink said:
Internships the new slave labor. Yes they have value for the handful of Harvard kids that intern at Goldmans and get hired from it. But mostly internships are a supply of cheap quality labor to chew up. So you pay stupid money for college so you can work cheap at an internship in order to learn things they don't teach at your college. Brilliant.
Click to expand...


My kid has a $26/ hour internship this summer, plus $1200/mo living allowance, plus $1000 relocation fee for 12 weeks work this summer.

For "slave labor", it sure does look attractive.
 
Last edited:
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

JoseCuervo said:
My kid has a $26/ hour internship this summer, plus $1200/mo living allowance, plus $1000 relocation fee for 12 weeks work this summer.

For "slave labor", it sure does look attractive.
Click to expand...

Doing what?
 
JoseCuervo said:
Is your "North of $40k" an annual number or a 4-year total?


Looks like you can go to Edison State for $3400 per year....

Central State is $3500

Kent State is $5400

Akron is $8200

http://www.collegecalc.org/lists/ohio/most-affordable-in-state-tuition/
Click to expand...

I actually pay tuition here.

http://www.opuac.org/pdf/thinkpublic.pdf

I'm encouraging my kids to consider community college until sophomore or junior status to reduce costs.

I'm seriously willing to agree to disagree.
 
ChrisK said:
State school tuition only in my home state of Ohio (provided you have no residence retirement) is conservatively North of $40k. $10k sounds a bit dated or taxpayer subsidized (which even the 40k listed above is)
Click to expand...

A little dated. Tuition was $67 a credit hour. Now it's around $120. Not subsidized.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

us AAirways said:
Doing what?
Click to expand...


Riding around in helicopters to offshore drilling rigs.

Should make enough in the summer to pay for the next year's college.



ChrisK said:
I actually pay tuition here.

http://www.opuac.org/pdf/thinkpublic.pdf

I'm encouraging my kids to consider community college until sophomore or junior status to reduce costs.

I'm seriously willing to agree to disagree.
Click to expand...


No way you could ever get to $250k based on your link. And, you would have to be incredibly creative, and lazy, to get to $100k in costs, let alone debt.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

ClimbnSink said:
Internships the new slave labor. Yes they have value for the handful of Harvard kids that intern at Goldmans and get hired from it. But mostly internships are a supply of cheap quality labor to chew up. So you pay stupid money for college so you can work cheap at an internship in order to learn things they don't teach at your college. Brilliant.
Click to expand...

Nothing new at all. It's been the case for decades. Some companies pay interns, many don't. Most larger companies (incl. law firms & consultants) offer internships. And most schools encourage it as a way for students to understand the real world as opposed to the ivory tower.

JoseCuervo said:
My kid has a $26/ hour internship this summer, plus $1200/mo living allowance, plus $1000 relocation fee for 12 weeks work this summer.

For "slave labor", it sure does look attractive.
Click to expand...

That's a great deal. Many places pay nothing at all.
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

JoseCuervo said:
No way you could ever get to $250k based on your link. And, you would have to be incredibly creative, and lazy, to get to $100k in costs, let alone debt.
Click to expand...

100K is not out of line for an undergraduate degree at a well-known state school. Some states have lower in-state tuition rates.

An Executive MBA (no room/board) is currently $130,000+ at many schools - top tier can be significantly higher. Employer assistance can reduce the cost to individuals. When I did my MBA it was ~$55,000 for the 2 year program.

The cost of education is a real issue these days - schools are cutting back and moving to online courses such as MOOCs & similar programs to bring cost down.
 
Last edited:
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

wickedsprint said:
A little dated. Tuition was $67 a credit hour. Now it's around $120. Not subsidized.
Click to expand...

That's what our local community college charges roughly for resident tuition - ~$135/hour.
 
I am 20 with no plans for collage. I make 35-50 per hour programming lighting for live events. In high school I spent many late nights(when I should have been studying) teaching myself the art of lighting design an lighting programming. Top touring and TV guys in my industry make upwards of 200k per year. I hope to get to that level someday.

For me, not going to collage was the best decision if my life. If I were in college right now, I be in considerable debt, and not have the industry contacts and work experience I have today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

Another way to get into a business without a huge investment, is to find a Ma and Pa concern that has been successful for a long time. The owners are thinking about retirement for one reason or another. They may not want the tax hit of selling the business out right. They also might like to see their lifes' work continue. Work for them, learn the ins and outs, gradually take the reins then pay them a percentage of the income monthly. Win -win. Find something you like to do and then see who's doing it.......
 
Re: Any decent pay job or career that does not require a college degree or trade skil

I just did some looking and you're not going to get a bachelor in computer science from anywhere even barely respectable without paying about $50k and that's just tuition.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top