[Tsukimiya]

Has anyone here managed to find a decent job without a college degree? I work overnights as banking support answering calls in regards to bank accounts and debit cards. There's room for moving up within the company but I need to take online classes in project management in order to move up further from where I am.
I thought about doing online courses in web design, its something I've always wanted to do. But I already have a foot in the door where I am so realistically I should go for project management....

So anyone else here working without a degree and doing ok?

[Glitch]

I have a degree but I've never used it >>;

Mostly I have just been a receptionist. In my area though if you don't want to do general labor or retail it is call center central. The worst part is the call centers actually pay more than being a receptionist XP

[Tsukimiya]

I work at a call center. And overnights because more money. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I want to get off the phones, which is theoretically possible even without a degree if I can get project management certification or HR certification

[Glitch]

i think HR would be fun and you could use that sort of skill at any type of company. My last job used ADP for their HR department.

[Tsukimiya]

With HR, I can get weekends off xD

btw, thanks for the random gifts :3

[Glitch]

then yes def go for HR. o3o

Unless the other one has better perks huehuehue

no problem!

[Tsukimiya]

They also have the fraud department, which is basically a 9 to 5 jobs with weekends off and I would get the same pay I get now but without the horrid overnight shift. But I heard its a back to back nightmare.

[Coda]

College isn't the only form of postsecondary education. There are also vocational and technical schools (collectively "vo-tech"), which train people in specific skills for specific jobs instead of providing a broad-spectrum education. And there's a growing field of technology "boot camps" that are basically super-intensive short classes that throw a TON of stuff at you in a big crunch.

In both cases, you come out with a certification instead of a degree. Depending on what field you go into, the certification might mean more or less than a degree, but it's proof of education/experience. Given the problems with getting a degree in today's economy, employers are increasingly starting to accept these certifications for entry-level jobs.

Once you're out of entry-level and have some real job experience, then the degree stops mattering. (The certification might still be important in some fields if they're part of mandatory licensing.)

[Tsukimiya]

I've seen so many boot camps and online courses....even one guaranteeing a job in relevant field called Thinkful. I am seriously considering that course...guaranteed job sounds really good. Price tag is quite high at $9000

[Coda]

Heh. No, I'm afraid you're going to need to rethink that stance. $9,000 is ridiculously cheap for an education. That's less than how much a SINGLE year of university education costs if you go to a local public college, and you need FOUR to get a degree. Then there's the cost of textbooks, which is included in the price of the course you were looking at but is an extra $1,300 per year at a university.

You're looking at $43,600 as your baseline price of college education. If you go to an out-of-state university or a private university, that number can increase by as much as triple.

Then there's the opportunity cost. If you get a four-year degree, you're not going to have a full-time job for four years. If you take a one-year boot camp, you're not going to have a full-time job for one year. That's a HUGE gap -- even at minimum wage ($7.25/hour) and even if you work part-time (20h/week) while going to school, you're missing out on over $22,000 in wages over the span of your education.

So yeah... $9,000 is actually a good bargain.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Having a degree I think is more prestige than function. You don't need one to make money depending on what you want to do. I enjoyed getting mine, but it hasn't helped me make money or get a job. Right now, I'm back in school for a diploma program.

If you are interested in vocational stuff or trades, and don't have the money for formal education, perhaps consider apprenticing? Also, sometimes it's enough to find a place that will train you if you are interested in the work. Opportunities like that can be readily available if you are willing to move around. I used to live in a town where the labour pool was limited enough that trained people were hard come by, so if you were willing to learn on the job, you could get hired. I worked at a survey firm for a time having no experience in the field at all, but learned on the job.

A sibling took his natural computer skills and got a couple jobs with it, enough to challenge tests for various certifications, and got an apprenticeship from it. He has a very good job, now.

[Coda]

It wasn't that long ago that the prestige of a degree WOULD make a difference in the job market. But decades of pushing kids to go to college to have a better chance at getting a job have made that less of a distinction. Now it's not a whole lot more than just proof-of-work to show that you have some nominal background experience to make you better than a random guy off the street, and other forms of demonstrable experience are more significant.

Me... I probably SHOULDN'T have bothered with the degree. Of the whole 4.5 years I was taking classes, only a very few of them were worth anything in the long run. My senior capstone class should have been the FOUNDATION of my education instead of the CULMINATION of it.

[Tsukimiya]

9000 is relatively cheap especially with guaranteed job in the end... the issue is I still will have a hard time affording it. Atleast if I go to college I can get government loans and worry about paying them after graduating. the 9000 I will have to come up right away. They have monthly payment plans but its still a bit out of reach.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

It is really a guaranteed job though? I mean they can say that, and it might be for a time, but if something goes wrong, how helpful would it be? Stuff to consider.

Yeah, my dad is now of the opinion that he did me no favours by encouraging me to go to college. Part of it might be that trades are suffering here and there aren't enough people in them, probably because of the college push.

For context, here, I'm in western Canada, so that is probably affecting my perspective here. I used to live in the northern area of the province where oil and natural gas were the big industries. When the oil economy tanked, we were hit hard to the point where all of us packed up shop and left. Me, to get a marketable skill since my English degree was getting me nothing, two of my siblings because they lost their jobs, and my parents who left their practice active up there but only part time and are semi-retired.

[Tsukimiya]

web design is quite a stable job, there's a demand for it. And if I don't get a job, they refund the tuition. So either way, I get a job or my 9k back.

[Bassy]

Going to college may heighten your chances of rising up a bit easier with a degree. But I don't necessarily think you need to. Some jobs may require it like nursing, psychology, etc. To be a policeman, you don't need a college degree, just the police academy. You could get by but it's your choice if you want to get there easier though it's not the quickest.