-I'm thinking of going to community college/trade school to get an AA is some kind of enginering tech. Instrumentation looks interesting. Anyhow I was wondering if you, fellow gamers, had any experience with trying to join a 'trade' career when you already got your BA in useless stuff...
-Honestly I'm interested in working in oil, maybe even off-shore, and it seems there are a lot of options if you are willing to go anywhere and do anything.
-My biggest worry is I'm already 27, not exactly young, but I'm headed down a career path to hell. I've run out of options besides teach ESL in Asia, which I don't really like that much...
-So fellow workers of the world, what should I study?
something that physically requires your presence in an office or on the repair site. If it can be done over the internet you're competing withh a firm in india.
i went back to college at 32 for a gis degree since my forestry degree was of limited use with a smashed foot. it was a little weird at first but you get used to it, and i was pretty close to median age in the GIS classes. re taking history class was weird when i realized that the classs had been in feetie pajamas for sept 11th
Trying to define the opposite of your goal, can sometimes help determine
your true goal. (does that make sense?)
5 Toxic Beliefs That Ruin Careers
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--Living in Asiafor 5 years where people less educated and less professional than I actually SPIT on me has made me want to go back to America.
--Teachers who admit being unable to speak fluent English tell me I'm not a better teacher of ESL than they. Countries who actually pass racist immigration laws that would make the KKK blush. Countries in which the teacher's unions say "someday America will leave, and NK and us can be friends again"
--ESL in Asia is for people who sold their self-respect to the devil...
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The Oil & Gas industry is a great place to be. I jumped into it last year after doing sales, engineering, some other stuff and really enjoy it. I'm 30, btw, so don't worry about being the old man - people change careers all the time. Pay is good in most places, if you work for most companies you get a rotation (2 weeks on/2 off is the most common, but it varies), and the 12 hour days go by in a breeze.
Oil prices are high, although they are dropping, and gas prices have collapsed, but there's still a ton of production happening - downstream the business is changing rapidly, but I work on drilling sites so I dunno what's happening there so well. You will have to have a high tolerance for BS and things going wrong.
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Yakman is spot on. If you go to a Tier I school, or on a company scholarship, you're golden for the big-excitement, big-payout jobs at BP, et al. Otherwise, smaller firms like my homestate's Usebelli and Alyeska are top-payers who are very interested in alternative energy, employing physicists, chemists, engineers, and other scientists of all stripes, including even the environmental sciences.
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I'm interested in working in oil, maybe even off-shore.
My advice is to look at the websites of a few specific companies and get some specific info -- then make some calls and do some research into exactly what you need.
A huge part of my job title involves working with students on college and major/ degree choice -- and I feel it's best to know what you want first and exactly what you need to get there before you start.
Company websites can be a strong starting point for your research.
Thanks for all the advice...seriously...thanks loads
-First I'd like to say, 2012 is not what we thought it would be. I went to a pretty good university, but liberal art degrees are pretty darn useless and we know it...
-I'm no fool, and I have no interest in trying to out work a man in his teens, but a enginering tech job will put me in the far far more skilled ranks than simple labor. I got a BA with having never passed algebra.
-Funny enough, I've found a big complaint with oil in general is you have to travel, well as I've been abroad since 22, I'm quite happy, almost used to it. Russia-ROK-and the PRC. It's like I'm a professional expat already.
-I've checked out Shell, Exxon, Bp, and Chevron. They all seem to have a ton of internships out on the gulf. Since I'm debt free, (Korea paid well before 2008) I'm not worried about money quite yet
-Honestly I'm worried about math, but math seems to be more and more the mark of a man who can make money. I've gt a brother who finished university in 2 years, and he's training to be a black jack dealer. The job market today is not what it was even 10 years ago...
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-Honestly I'm worried about math, but math seems to be more and more the mark of a man who can make money. I've gt a brother who finished university in 2 years, and he's training to be a black jack dealer. The job market today is not what it was even 10 years ago...
Don't worry about Math. It comes easier the second time around when you are less phased by getting problems wrong the first time and know why you are studying it. Also there is a ton of useful stuff on the web to help approach concepts from different angles until it sticks.
Don't worry about Math. It comes easier the second time around when you are less phased by getting problems wrong the first time and know why you are studying it. Also there is a ton of useful stuff on the web to help approach concepts from different angles until it sticks.
-Honestly I'm worried about math, but math seems to be more and more the mark of a man who can make money. I've gt a brother who finished university in 2 years, and he's training to be a black jack dealer. The job market today is not what it was even 10 years ago...
This. It really is less overwhelming the second time around. Do not underestimate the value of internet searches when it comes to finding ways to learn concepts. Personally I find formulas easier to memorize when set to music. It's amazing how many math songs you can find when you search. :)
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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If you speak fluent Korean and have experience teaching language, you could be a language instructor for DoD at Monterey, CA or a variety of other dream-job locations.
Or if you like travel and don't mind working in semi-austere conditions outside CONUS, get a job with a defense contractor. US expats working in theater can make a lot of money and can also save a lot because there isn't much to spend it on in, say, Bagram.
I am currently looking at my third shot back at a Community College at 29 here in New England (first time was for business management, just out of high school, I hated it, and, in one of the first terrible decisions of my adult life, dropped out, the second time was for engineering, which I love, but I lost my job a few years back, and am only just getting my finances back to a point that will let me afford the extra expense).
I have to say, I was intimidated at first, going back when I was in my mid-20's. I always hated school, all the friends I had made when I was there before had already moved on, etc... And then I got there, and it really wasn't that bad (well, there was that one chick in American Lit that just would not shut up, and I kind of lost it on here on class, but...). Seriously, though, in most of my engineering specific classes, I was closer to the mean age than the high end. In the current economy, there are a lot of people like us, staring 30 (or 40 or 50) in the face and realizing we can't afford to go on without a degree, or without the degree they should have gotten the first time around.
If you're as miserable as you seem doing what you do now, trust me, school won't be worse. I will admit, though, that there were certain young ladies in several of my classes that made me feel like a dirty old man. I'll never forget chatting up this one girl, after she bummed a smoke off me, and, mid conversation finding out that she wasn't the 20-21 years old I thought she was, but actually 17. Watch out for that :)
I'll never forget chatting up this one girl, .... finding out that she wasn't the 20-21 years old I thought she was, but actually 17 :)That's why you're in Mexico.
(And why you're a devil.)
Yes?
Oh no, my secret is out, RUN!
(Seriously, though, I took the screen name from a song, I've never actually been to Mexico, even though my sister has a summer house there)
I've got to agree with cranewings about the focus issue, as well. There ended up being one other guy my age in a few different classes with me, and the two of us would breeze through things the rest of the class couldn't even begin to tackle. It had nothing to do with either of us being more intelligent than the rest of the class, but due to the fact that when the teacher was talking, we were listening, not talking about last nights american idol.
-I went to a good university, but my parents were very strict, and so I had no experience with women until university. I spent way too muchtime chasing women, and working part time jobs to get money, to spend on dates and stuff. I ended up moving to Russia with some girl.
-At this point in my life, having made TWO bad decissions about women, I think I'll be lots more focused.
-Thanks for all the advice.
Nick