I’m been thinking a lot about my future lately and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve had it with blue collar work. I want more out of life than living paycheck to paycheck. For sometime now, I’ve been hearing that college degrees are worthless nowadays so thought about getting Comptia certifications (A+ and then Sec+) and working remotely. But then I thought about if AI will make those certifications obsolete. I know that “AI taking jobs” is a bit of sensationalist reporting but I do have legitimate concerns. I then thought about going back to college for “advance” careers like computer science and/or electrical engineering; more specifically, a bachelor’s degree.
What I want to know is this: would returning to college, especially for a tech-oriented degree, or will it be a waste of time and money? Should I pursue an alternative like certs? Thanks in advance.
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I suggest you get this book. “Discover What You Are Best At.” Linda Gail.
I was off salary because of a work injury. I’d never really liked any job I’d ever had. Someone suggested this book. It’s a series of self tests and then an index of jobs that use those skills.
There are a lot of different jobs that use similar skill sets. For instance, a product demonstrator, a paramedic, and a hair stylist all need good dexterity and good people skills.
The book pointed me to a job that I really liked.
If you’re able to get up on a rainy Monday and be okay with goign to work, you’ve solved most of your problems.
You want to work remotely in tech. I would look at places such as https://www.indeed.com/q-Remote-Tech-jobs.html?vjk=7909b7463088bb3a
Look at which certs they want and how much experience they want. Look at the salary. Look at the quality of life (are you on call 24/7?).
You may find that remote cybersecurity jobs are not plentiful. I searched “cyber security entry level” and Remote and found 2. I removed remote and found 300+ jobs.
1 has flexible hours and wants (likely requires) experience in Version control as well as Sec+
The other is full time, and wants a valid SSCP certification*, a bachelor’s degree, and experience in operating systems.
Those remote jobs are plentiful but not open to US candidates. I’ve heard rumblings that US hires are being deprioritised even in US-headquartered orgs as US staff are simply too pricey so they’re looking towards European and Asian countries (and even Canada).
I would recommend college if you have your eye on a specific career and a bachelor’s degree is MANDATORY.
Otherwise, I’d try to get an entry level spot in the industry. For example, if you’re looking at Tech, being a secretary, security guard, or janitor will teach you a lot about the business even though you aren’t directly involved in the Tech parts. You also start making connections with people who ARE involved in the tech parts, and they’ll be able to help you get there.
that doesnt count, its the same as getting a lab tech job, and expecting to get a lab assistant, or lab research entry level position, its not the same, you’re resume will be automatically put in a trash. because you dont have the qualifications for lab work, such as experimentation, science paper research writing, because lab tech are just “lab specific janitors” or shown that you had research experience somewhere else, i only met one instance where it can be considered a possible entry in your resume to be hired as biotech employee, if you did enough for the lab to put your name in a research paper to be publish, than its possible. i met someone who did lab tech, and he was published. being published is a pretty big deal with EMPLOYERS and grad school(at least for phd), although its a very rare thing to do and lab work is not easily accessible to students which would be the catch-22 of volunteering.
maybe if have experience in tech field already, and working as a janitor as a inbetween job, than maybe.
I was with you at first, but
For example, if you’re looking at Tech, being a secretary, security guard, or janitor will teach you a lot about the business even though you aren’t directly involved in the Tech parts. You also start making connections with people who ARE involved in the tech parts, and they’ll be able to help you get there.
This almost never works and working for a company in a completely unrelated role definitely does not count as “an entry level spot in the industry”. Being a secretary or a janitor at a tech company is not the same as working in the tech industry. Taking those sorts of jobs more often gets you stuck in those or similar roles.
I would say going to college makes you a more complete person (or at least it did for me) so it’s worth it even on just that basis. You get a broader outlook on life and you get to know people who would be harder to meet in other places.
In terms of your paycheck though, as always, it depends.
College, despite its struggles, is about seemingly the only way to get out of generally shit jobs of any kind.
If you say you’ve been thinking of your future, what exactly do you have in mind as to what you could aim for should you go back to college?
Because, I say college should best be reserved for decided minds to carve careers out of.
Probably not, but you should study.
It depends on the degree. Comp Sci/ anything computers is in deep decline right now. If you have construction experience and you go for an engineering degree related to your trade, you’ll do amazing.
locate a MSP or CSP near you that has openings for a NOC or support technician.
bottom floor tech job that will train you on most stuff.
having a Comp TIA cert helps but isn’t required as long as you’re tech literate. if you’re a PC gamer and have troubleshot your own problems or those of family before you’ll probably be fine.
pay is usually pretty good, hours aren’t bad. some places even allow remote work.
you should have common professional skills like reading/writing comprehension. you’ll be interacting with customers all the time, some will be really shitty to you.
after your trial period most companies will pay you for certifications (generally at cost of the cert itself). depending on the cost of the certs you could be contractually bound for a few months to a few years or risk having to pay them back if you quit.
point is, get the job and the education at the same time. don’t waste your time or money on certs unless you know exactly what position you want and have the time/money to spend on it.
I have two friends who recently graduated with electrical engineering degrees, and they can’t find work where they live. If you’re able to apply across the country and move, that may give you better results, but they are both now looking for jobs outside of their degree focus. One is actually doing IT for the university he earned his EE BS from, but there’s no opportunity for growth there because it’s an incredibly tiny school and community.
It’s been over a decade since I worked in tech, but experience was king. I’m earning a degree in biology now, because by the time I left Microsoft I knew how easy it would be to automate my job
ive heard many electrical,civil mostly, mechanical lost thier jobs during covid, i dont know if they recovered. but engineer can still find jobs eventually.
None of the classes that I took in my undergrad helped me write code that I used today
None of the classes that I took in my underground helped me write code
That’s a life question that involves a lot of factors.
I will say that:
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Generally-speaking, having a college degree in the US is financially advantageous.
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While the younger you get a degree, the larger the return (since the longer you can use the skillset), unless you’re close to retirement, I’d expect an engineering degree to be advantageous; these tend to have strong returns.
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I think that it is unlikely that AI will kill demand people with bachelor’s degrees in computer science and/or electrical engineering in the near future. Probably one day there will be human-level AI, and that if it does it’ll have much, much broader and dramatic impact on the world than just those degrees, and we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Heck, AI has increased demand for some people with a skillset relevant to AI.
If you asked me, with what limited information you’ve provided, to just say “yes” or “no”, as long as you’re committed to completing the degree, I’d say “yes”.
EDIT: For 2022:
For sometime now, I’ve been hearing that college degrees are worthless nowadays
According to Payscale data, here are some specific engineering majors in bachelor’s degree programs that result in high incomes:
Electrical engineering and computer science: early career median pay is $119,200; mid-career median pay is $169,000.
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Be a welder.
For more specific advice, whatever highly paid trade is in the area you want to live.
But a top 5 answer almost anywhere is welding.
It’s a blue collar environment with better than white collar pay, and very little physical labor.
Getting an engineering degree is generally a good thing. Demand and pay tend to be above average. A certificate can be helpful, but I have watched people hit a “paper ceiling” in their careers; people stuck with the title of “designer” doing an engineer’s work without an engineering degree, and never getting an engineer’s salary for it.
Whether a bachelor’s degree is beneficial for you personally will depend on a lot of things, not all of which are within your control. 20 years ago a BS in computer science was a golden ticket. Now the industry has shifted and the job placement rates for new CS grads are awful. It’s hard to predict the future.
I agree with the other commenter that going to university is good for the whole self. I was exposed to people, ideas, and experiences that I would never have encountered elsewhere. That alone made the effort worthwhile.
Paychack to paycheck is about your spending. Until you get well over a million per year you will find more to spend your money on than you make. Odds are if you look hard you can find someone make less than you who still manages to live.
the above isn’t all bad. You should save for a rainy day and retirement - but not too much. You can’t take it with you when you die (a few religions disagree - if you believe in one disregaurd this) so you should plan to spend it all before die. You don’t know how long you will live so try to spend most of your paycheck.
there is nothing wrong with wanting more. you have already got good advice about college. just be prepared it won’t suddenly make you have more than you spend, that requires a different life change.
