(03-19-2019, 07:11 PM)Cleatwood Wrote:

(03-19-2019, 05:16 PM)jagibelieve Wrote: I think that it's all a matter of perspective and I don't believe that a degree is necessary to be successful.  I guess what I'm saying is that what people view as "successful" differs.  "Success" doesn't mean monetary wealth.  I'm the only one of 4 siblings that doesn't have a degree.  

The oldest (my brother) has a master's degree in theology.  Today he works in an office job and earns a fairly good income in the $75k range (upper middle class income in his area of the country).  He lives a good, comfortable life, rents a place in the downtown metro part of his city and doesn't struggle.

The next one is my sister who has a master's degree in psychology (was at one time close to getting her PHD).  She's a mess and works just enough to get by.  My best guess is she earns something in the $35k-$40k range (pretty much middle class for where she lives), but is very poor when it comes to money management.  She rents cheap apartments and is constantly moving, and always compares herself with others.  She has very low self-esteem and often makes up lies to try to "fit in" with other people.

Next is my other sister that has a master's degree in nursing.  She currently teaches nursing and earns over 6 figures (upper middle class for where she lives) and is doing very well.  Her husband (who also posses a degree in political science and earns over 6 figures) and her are preparing for retirement and own homes/properties in a few different states.  Needless to say they live rather comfortably.

Then there's me.  I never went to college and never had any desire to.  My education came from serving in the Navy as well as reading and "teaching myself".  I have had to teach and train students with electronics engineering degrees and computer science degrees from UF on more than one occasion.  I currently earn over 6 figures and am getting ready to retire myself at an "early" age (mid 50's).  My wife never graduated high school and earns roughly $45k per year here in Jacksonville.  We managed to pay off our home, our vehicles (with the exception of farm equipment) and purchase some property (35 acres) that we work on over the weekends to build our ultimate retirement home.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I agree with you.  I think too much in our society it's stressed that you have to go to college and get a degree to be successful.  Meanwhile, I know many people that followed the same path I did or something similar (trade school) that have had success.  Again, I think the idea of "success" is relative.  Success != monetary wealth.  It's not about what you earn or what you have in the bank.  It's all about creating a comfortable life and being able to retire on your terms and not depend on the government to fund your retirement.

That’s great that you were able to do all that without a degree but at your current job, would you even hire someone today without an engineering degree? Have there been kids who were your age when you started hired today with no degree?

Back when you were starting out, times were simpler. What jobs currently hire kids without college degrees? Fast food? Construction labor?

I'll bite. In my job field, IT degrees are by and large completely unimportant. This pretty much spans across the entirety of the Computer science field. Mostly it just matters what your experience is. A degree definitely helps getting your foot in the door somewhere, but there's plenty of guys I've worked with that havent had degrees. Personally i could've started my career 5 years sooner with 0 degree, but didn't utilise my connection like a dummy. But I've known guys that have gotten jobs just from creating a little portfolio for themselves over the course of a couple months(made themselves a website, did a little project, ect.)

I guess the answer to your question is: most fields that are desperate for people. You could even be an airline pilot with no college education if you wanted to. Of course nothing is stopping you from making your own business. Online business are increasingly easy to run these days, the trick is finding a niche and scaling the business. There's tons of options available. I think a large problem is that society by and large places a large emphasis on college education. Schools are laughing their way to the bank from all the hype, meanwhile degrees become more and more worthless. I personally wouldn't recommend anyone get a degree if they were walking away with debt because of it.

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