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.
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.
To get out of paycheck to paycheck you need to start something; to start something you need to learn.
If the thing you need to learn can be learnt from mitocw or something by all means do that.
The point being that you know what is it that you want (the thing to start), and you learn to make it work and you learn to not fuck it up(very important). You get those 3 sorted in that order then you’re golden.
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.
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.
Are you in the US? If so, I don’t know if I can advise comp sci right now. It’s rough.
Trades I think are king right now but don’t listen to me.
I wouldn’t say trades are king, just that they’re more in demand than some of the more popular degrees in recent years, like CS.
An engineering or technology degree in a trades-adjacent field could be really beneficial, especially for someone how already has relevant hands-on experience. Something like controls, building automation, etc, might be a really good option for OP to build on what they already know
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.
I think this is up to you. You could go on the path like the other person said, courses like udemy and stuff, grind out certifications, get a job. You could get a degree which makes you be a complete person, and you still will need to get real world experience either through clubs or the same udemy courses. The bachelors (in computer related field) will also give you more opportunities and tick HR boxes.
Myself, I’m finishing my b.s comp sci and doing the certs and don’t regret anything. I spent 2 years in community college, saved money, took IT classes unrelated to the b.s degree but got me free certifications and relationships with lifelong friends. I took part in college programs and made more friends I still hang out with since we transferred together. I transferred to my current uni and participate in my tech clubs which offer more hands on skills.
Many years ago, it was easy to get a job in IT with no certs and a psychology major and I feel now, it’s a little harder than that, maybe at least an A.S in computers or something.
Your mileage will certainly vary but this is my anecdotal take on things.
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.
The future is always changing what people do. In 1100 AD blacksmithing was a reliable career, and it remained that way into the 1800s. The 20th century kind of messed that career path down to a niche group. Blue collar work (be it construction, plumbing, etc.) so far has been pretty reliable.
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).
yea tech working outside of the us, often makes half as much thats why they are looking elsewhere. plus the abundance of indian tech workers, who may or may not be as qualified are being chosen.
depends on which degree, psych,studies, arts,physics and some stems are pratically worthless outside of earning a grad degree(either MS or PHD), and then you have to compete for FACULTY positions with said grad degrees. which would require significant amount financial investment and time on your hands. assuming u dint f’up your gpa by entering a CC that decides to make thier courses like ivy leagues.
biology, unless your planning going into health, dont bother otherwise as biotech isnt very easily accessible to entry level as one might think(theres whole of can of worms as to why, gatekeeping, signicant experience, and generally outsourcing). health as in mostly nursing, PTherapy,etc.
Doctor i would say its iffy, because it so competitive and expensive it should be in its own category. so much people in my cc believe they want to become an MD, only for reality to set in once they barely pass general chem or OChem, then switch to a different field, wasted a sht ton of time like years on a MD PATH. if you not getting mostly A in your pre-med science course, i wouldnt bother with med school. especially the core ones chemistry, biology, and then ochem and biochem, plus all the health courses you are taking. since your going into tech, you would have more options.
I’ve seen folks use certificates to get jobs more often than to get promotions.
Since you’re looking to land your first job in the field, relevant certificates sound like a promising place to start.
I’ve been impressed with job candidates who subscribed to a flat fee online service like Udemy, Cloud Academy or LinkedIn Learning for a year and worked their way through several courses - especially when the courses included labwork with virtual machines.
As an interviewer, I suspect that I usually accurately guess who did their homework, and who only watched the videos. Both approaches have merit, but folks who do the lab work tend to retain what they learned better.
Also - if you want to work in any computer field: Go make a website. Do it immediately.
Building your website will do a few things for you:
- You’ll learn useful things. It’s not terribly hard, but a website has many more moving parts than you probably guessed before you started.
- You’ll have some war stories to tell during job interviews. Nobody ever put a website online and kept it online without solving some stupid bullshit with either cleverness or persistent effort or both.
- Try to use nothing but AI to make it. Try to use only AI to maintain and update it. It’ll be nice at first and then it will suck. Now you know why your work is worth money, and which parts of the work AI won’t be replacing any time soon.
Hopefully you’ll have fun some with it, and then get paid a bunch of money. Computers are sometimes fun and almost always a huge pain in the ass.
None of the classes that I took in my undergrad helped me write code that I used today
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.
unless they took all the engineering classes, but for some reason dint get the degree. it would be wierd if they arnt trying to finish the degree.
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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