Graduated on a Friday and started a job on that Monday making $4.75 an hour in 1982. My friends all had the smarts and means to go off to collage so I worked my ares off to get way ahead of them before they graduated. Worked for the man 40+ hours a week and for myself nights and weekends. Went to work for myself in 87 and never looked back. Believe in yourself and yourself only. It's the only way you'll ever find out what your really worth. IMO
Uncle Sam came calling drafting me 2 months after graduation. Spent 2 years in the Army. Skipped around a few different jobs after getting out till marrying and landing a job with an Auto Manufactur from whom I retired and am now working fore the State of DE.
It is, has been and will continue to be, a lucrative field to be involved in even during difficult economic times.
I was just talking to my son yesterday about considering computer science or something along those lines for a career. He has to start deciding what he wants to do. He's REALLY good with computers and video editing kind of stuff. I figured there is a good market and will be for a long time. Just don't know what actual field he should choose if he goes that way. What does a degree in computer science do for you job wise? Any other majors along the same line that differ in areas of computer technology?
I met a lot of girls and drank some alcohol. After 4 years of that, they gave me a piece of paper and told me to get a job.
Had a job in a cabinet shop before I was out of school. That lasted until I was 19 then I pack my stuff on my 19th birthday and headed west. Went to guide school then landed a job as a hunting guide. Work at that until the season ened then landed a job as a ski instuctor at Vail.I did that for 2 seasons then came home went to college and now run the family business.
I went to college like "smart" kids were supposed to. Picked a degree that supposedly made a lot of money. Graduated tens of thousands in debt & didn't make nearly the money "they" said I would. 15 years later, I now make a comfortable living doing something I absolutely could not care any less about. Oh well.
Good thinking. Repeating here all the things the girls said when you "met" them, would be in bad taste.
Computer science, or just IT, is very broad but most fields in the IT industry fall in the lucrative and job security area. I am sure he is really good with computers but does he like working with them? What does he like about them and where might that fall in the industry? Also, in my experience, being really good with computers is a good thing but doesn't translate so much into any kind of jpb in the IT industry. It does show an aptitude for the work and, if he likes it a lot, then he should consider what he likes about it. Editting video is a good skill but when you think about the number of jobs there probably aren't going to be a huge quantity. Now writing code opens up a whole lot of opportunities and, with apps being the big thing now, it can be very lucrative. Enterprise/Domain/Network administration is always a good field as it is always needed and is only going to keep growing. If I were to recommend something to a young person out of high school I would tell them to get educated and heavily involved into anything that will help them get into the virtual IT environment. For one thing it is extremely cool and for another it is the way of the future in IT. With business clouds, public clouds, offsite hosting and so on the virtual world aspect of IT is really going to be huge and very lucrative to those that understand it well and are heavily involved. We have about 150 virtual servers (not counting workstations) "living" on just 8 physical machines and what we can do with them is very cool. Get him to to look into that area and, if likes it and is good at it, he'll never have to worry about a job or being able to take care of his family. Unless, of course, the doomsday preppers are right and we lose everything including electricity. But then, a job will be the least of anyone's worries LOL.
I got out of high school and got married and did all kinds of BS full time jobs for 5 years while doing the job I love part time. Got divorced and that made me decide to change my life and I pursued my career. I started taking collage courses and got hired as a firefighter. After 8 years since I started I'm still not finished with my degree but as I see it I'll get it eventually. But I'm in my dream job making decent money so there is no rush.
I didn't go to high school but I joined the army when it would have been after high school. spent 6 years there and got out with no marketable skills. Airborne light infantry doesn't prepare you for much in the civilian world. went to tech school for 2 years learning electrical engineering. Got out went to work maintaining/reparing mainframes and perpherals in 1983. Went from that to the personal computer environment and grew with it. The IT world has changed quite a bit since '83. Fortunately for me, I got on the wave when it was small and have ridden it ever since.
The United States Army! 377th Task Force... Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom. Hooah!
Well said Brett! As for me I graduated from HS In 1993. Went to St.Cloud tech college for 2 years majoring In Heavy Diesel Mechanics. What a waste of money that was! I learned more from my dad working on his milk truck then I learned In 2 years at this college. I then found out that employers didn't pay squat to diesel mechanics so I then started In the auto Industry being a mechanic. I worked at a GoodYear for 3 years making a pretty good wage and then quit there and went to work for a guy who offered me a great wage re building motors and such. Basically I was doing the same thing that I was at GoodYear but also building motors and the wage was better until the guy decided to not pay me one week being he went broke so off I went. It lasted one year. My next step In life I moved back to my home area and opened a repair shop at my dads shop and fixed cars, trucks, semi's, driving milk truck part time for my parents, working part time for a crop farmer. I actually made a killing (100+ hours a week) but I had to get my crap together and get something full time lined up. A part time job opened up with the county highway department so I took It plowing snow In the winter and repairing highways In the summer and still working part time for my dad hauling milk and the crop farmer. I was part time for a year when I finally got hired full time to take care of all the signs In the county (sign man). I did this for 4 years and loved It while still working part time for my dad and the crop farmer. I fixed and replaced signs and plowed snow, I loved the job!! In 1999 my parents divorced. My mom and dad ran a milk hauling business for 25 years. When they divorced dad tried running It on his own but couldn't hack all the work by himself so he said he was selling the business and the house all as one. He asked me and my brother If we were Interested and we both said no. I told dad I wanted to buy the house though being I grew up there and didn't want anyone living In MY house I grew up In. Dad said all or nothing. I still said no as I loved my county job. The sky was the limit for me with this county job and I knew It. I was In great standing with the county highway department. At the time (1997) I was working with a bunch of employee's that were 5 years away from retirement. My head boss (head of transportation) was making 75,000 a year. He told me this job will be yours when the time comes as he loved my work ethic. That same job now Is paying 90,000 a year In salary. Anyhow I still couldn't stand the fact of someone living In my house I grew up In so I gave In to dad and bought the house and the milk hauling business In one. I went In over 500,000 dollars In debt. I'll be In debt for many years unfortunately before I can make some good profits (at least I hope anyway). I often think If I made the right choice. I've been doing my own thing now for 12 years. To be honest I wish I would've done things different. I think I should've kept my county job when I bought the house and business. I should've hired a few full time drivers to drive my milk trucks. At the time I had 2 trucks on the road. Now I only have one on the road but It's one busy truck. I could easily buy another truck and have 2 on the road again. This may happen with In the next couple years as my business has grown double since I took over.
Many of you guys have some seriously interesting stories. Cool stuff. As for me, I took a pretty "easy" route I guess. Played football in college on scholarship (no debt), became a teacher for 6 years, worked in a juvenile lock up facility for 6 years, and now a police officer. Pretty boring, huh?
I think your right Shultzy! I used to think Public safety was the safe place to be but after watching many brother firefighters and police officers get laid off I'm starting to think different. Obviously public safety is not as important as it used to be.
I started immediately after high school in a Computer Science program in a two year tech school. While attending school full time, and working full time as well......I started studying for and completed my MCSE certification. I actually got a full time job in an entry level Network Engineer job going into my second year of school. I finished my degree while working full time, and spent about 2 years total as a Network Engineer before I figured out that I hated fixing broken things, and I hated dealing with stupid people. I saw the sales guys at the company I was working for and they all had nice cars, big houses, and had a lot of freedom to come/go when they wanted. I decided I was going to find a way into the sales side of the IT business. At roughly 20-21 years old I marched into our CEO's office and told him I wanted to do sales. He laughed at me, and roughly a month later, I found a position with one of their competitors and turned in my notice. I stayed there for roughly a year and a half and after taking close to a half million dollars of business from the first employer, they had a sales opening posted that I applied for because I was still on friendly terms with them, it gave me a wider variety of services/products to sell, more income potential, and some great experience to move upstream in my career. They hired me instantly and I went back and I stayed there for almost three years before I decided to move north and out of PA to get closer to family. IT was the best career move I ever made as well. Even though I realized quickly I didn't want to be on the technical or service delivery side of the business, I've never had to worry about being unemployed and I guess now I've been in it for 12 years or so. I would absolutely recommend it as a career path for anyone whether you are looking to actually be the technical guy or on the business side of it. Today I work for a software company that provides management software to IT service companies........basically I'm selling to IT companies like my old employers.
