Dream Job!!!!

BBA in Accounting, MBA in Finance and a CPA License.

Hopefully I'll be retired in the next year.

JR

Onlysmithandwesson has a story amazingly like mine. My college job was at a plywood plant, while the wife worked at a supermarket. I graduated in 1970 with a BS in Chemical Engineering. When I showed up at my new job at a refinery, I was told that it would be at least two years before I could earn my pay. I’m sure that was true. I took a lot of lip from the older plant operators, because I was so young and knew very little, but over time I earned my salary. In simple terms, the operators ran the plant processes, while the Engineers were there to improve the efficiency of those plant processes and increase profitability.

Probably there were a few operators and higher level union guys that made more money than I did, but they were going to stay at that general level throughout their work careers, whereas engineers had a much higher potential upside on income. Not every engineer would make the bigger bucks, since a lot depended on things other than just a diploma.

A brand new Chemical or Electrical Engineer right out of college should start in the range of $80,000 to $100,000 per year. A Civil Engineer, such as the kid that might wind up as my GSiL, says he expects to start at $50,000 to $60,000.

One good thing about certain Engineering educations is that there are never enough engineers. Unless the engineer is a complete idiot and has no social skills, he or she will always find work. Companies are constantly stealing engineers from other companies. It’s worth it to pay extra for a proven and experienced engineer than to hire out of college and train them. It pays out faster.

I wonder how true this is of other professions? I know it was true for me as well. I assume there is quite a bit of on the job training that goes on in just about any specialized position. The only jobs I have had where I was productive from the get go were manual labor and retail floor worker/stocker.

When guys go to work with a construction science / management degree for let's say a general contractor, they are told the same thing.

Most young lawyers do grunt work and (hopefully) are learning the first 2-3 years they practice. By year 5 they should be contributing a lot on their own and be able to carry a case from start to finish.

AAS in Instrumentation

I do not.

My current position requires a JD to hire into off the street, which I don't have. I started at the lowest position possible while waiting for a class to build in another job field. Well, before I knew it was applying for and getting promotions, so I'm still here 28 years later and at my terminal position, pretty much. I make more than the "kids" hiring in with JD's today, but only due to longevity. The difference is it took me 20 years to get to where they are starting. At the other end of the road most of them will have far surpassed my earnings. Looking at the chart above, I fall into the "professional degree or PhD" salary range.

Dropped out of college in 1974 to support a new wife and child. With the exception of 3 years (2006, 2007 and 2008) I have never worked for anyone else - always had my own company. I was driven by wanting to be heavily involved with raising our five kids, along with my wife who was willing to stay at home to raise them right.

My time is my most valuable asset and I didn't want it monopolized by an employer. It didn't take long to realize that you can hire other people to make money for you. When it's time for a change, you sell the company to your own employees. Sure, things were tight now and then, but we got four out of five through college with no loans to pay off. All of them chose professional career paths, but three of them later chose the stay at home route in order to home school.

Am I rolling in money finally? Hell, no - I'm 66 and not retired. But I started my latest company in 2008 and gradually morphed it down into a one-man internet based sales company - in order to have more time and mobility. I have recently fine tuned it to where Investing just a few hours a week lets us pay double mortgage payments each month so we can retire debt free.

I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I have always had a propensity for recognizing what is truly important to me. I have 11 Grandkids now and I know that I made good choices based on how my kids and Grandkids live their lives - with us included. We raised strong, independent thinkers. There is nothing like "I love you Mom and Dad" phone calls for no reason, on a regular basis.

Marc

Good stuff Marc

Yes.

I tell kids today that a Bachelors degree will get you in the door, but you need your Masters if you want your best shot at climbing the ladder.

And not being able to shovel chit if you don't graduate high school is as true as ever.

I do not have a degree due to life. I guarantee it would have made the path to where I am at much easier. Believe it or not, I am down to about 50-80 hours a week.(Different schedule than most) With a degree would be about the same. I had to outwork and train many with degrees and without. Most without listen better, but those with degree will put in time to figure it out their own. People are surprised that I don’t. If my field ever goes away, I would look stupid. It is all I know. Those with degrees can rebound much easier in a wide variety of areas. That is the biggest thing I see. Both look down their noses at the other for different reasons.

Dave thomas of Wendy's disagrees with that last line

Actually he said not graduating HS was one of his greatest regrets. Also times are also a bit different now than they were 50 years ago.

Yeah he actually went back and got his ged so that he wasn't a successful drop out. But I guarantee you the idea that your not able to haul chit for a living is bs as the idea that getting a degree makes you a genius. Both generalities.

Well, I didn’t read the whole thread; but a lot of jobs I looked at, a degree was required to get in the front door.

Graduation from high school proves to an employer you're teachable. Graduation from college or completing military service proves you have the dedication to finish what you start. Once a potential employer knows you've satisfied these two requirements they know you're capable of learning and practicing what's needed to do the job.

Buck I'm just telling you. I've known a couple folks very successful and hard-working that did not graduate hs. It's a tough row to how but saying they ain't qualified to haul chit

Again I said a bunch in this topic a degree makes you more money with a better quality of life. But your statement is dumb. Second dumbest you said on this forum.

College degrees are good to have, they open doors and provide more opportunities. On the flip side, I had three great uncles that had 8th grade educations and all three died with millions, and had more money than they could ever spend. My grandad, their brother was the youngest, born in 1912, had a full ride scholarship to TCU to play football. He did so, had a masters and died the least financially wealthiest of them all. I still believe that one of the older brothers was the absolute smartest man I ever talked to.

Lots of people made lots of money without a degree selling family land that was passed down for years and years.

Very true.

These guys earned it, not saying it is the right path at all though, I believe in education. They grew up on a 100 acre cotton farm in Newcastle, Tx., nothing was passed down.

I don't have any degrees, but I do have 2 licenses both issued by the FAA. One is a A&P with allows me to work on airplanes and sign off the work I have done. The other is a Flight Engineer Turbo Jet license which after being retired for close to ten years would if I passed the physical and went through a Sim session could be a Flight Engineer on a Boeing 727.