Why did you get a degree in something with no job market? lol
If you sent out that many copies of your resume maybe it sucks? Maybe it needs a rewrite? Maybe you need to try to network with other industry people?
I have friends with art degrees who figured out the only thing you can use it for is teaching art and continuing the vicious cycle.
A BS takes roughly 4 years to finish, in those 4 years we went from a “meh” economy, to a “wow holy fuck” economy. Degrees that were relevant and worthwhile 4 years ago have done a 180.
And I love these people that say “change your job, get a new degree, blah blah”
Do you know how expensive college is these days? Without a substantial income you’re going to be paying out the ass in student loans for ages, without a guaranteed position upon graduation. And those with a degree looking for a lateral move to another company? Good luck, because you’re not the only one thinking about making the switch.
I’m pretty sure that 95% of the people on here that have degrees have one worth obtaining in today’s market. Unless you went for “art, history, paleontology, etc” and in that case you’re a fucking moron and should probably go downtown and “occupy” Buffalo.
Go work at McDonalds -> Become manager -> Become an owner?
Living in America doesn’t assure you get some white collar job out of college…
Everyone seems to be living under some assumption go to college for 4 years get out make 75k a year.
That’s not the case at all, and was not what I was trying to imply.
In fact, I completely disagree with that notion. College is dead. Trade schools are going to be the next big thing.
That was just a general rant I have to listen to multiple friends with college degrees rant about only making 40k or hating their job after going to school for 4 years for it.
That’s my issue with higher ed in general. IMO the price of most degrees is just too fucking high and a money pit. It’s a HUGE commitment of time and money with in most cases no guaranteed pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow. Also there are now so many folks with higher ed degrees that a degrees edge has become greatly reduced if not lost. Does that remove the need for a degree as the ante to get in the game, sadly in many cases no. Does that mean you had better do extra shit (internships etc…) while in college relevant to your desired career? YUP! Students should use college less for the education and more for networking in their desired field IMO.
Also they lend way too easy for school and kids abuse the funds. Next bubble to pop IMO will be student debt. Student debt has eclipsed credit card debt and that’s a scary thought.
Typical parental advice to their kids-----
Get good grades in HS>>>Get accepted to a good (good as in expensive) college>>>Get good trades in college>>>Come out to guaranteed great job making lots of $$$$
This worked for the past generation, it isn’t working for the newer kids. The issue is people fail to evolve and adapt to the times. School is mad expensive now as is the cost of living thanks to inflation. The wages are so high here because of the inflation that our labor is less attractive. This drives outsourcing which drives recessions/depressions. It’s a wild world out there.
I’d just have to add that it seems a BS can’t get you very far either these days. If you don’t have to go to college for what you want to do in life, then there’s certainly no point in doing it. The mentality used to be just go get a degree and get somewhere in life. Now it’s too easy to get a degree and end up drowning in student loan debt. So it seems that many careers requiring a college degree want a Master’s.
And to Focus, I hear ya on the architecture stuff. My friend’s brother graduated from Cornell with his masters and can’t land shit for a job. Everyone wants experience, but if you want to land a big job, they hate seeing applicants with shitty experience. So where exactly do they expect you to start from anyways? More and more I’m seeing, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
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I guess it’s all perspective, but 40k is no joke. You can easily live comfortably off a 40k salary.
I wasn’t knocking 40k
Seems there is some mentality where everything thinks they deserve and will get almost double that.
My guess would be people assuming they will do better then their parents with out putting in work.
This assumption is because cost of living is higher. It’s a fair enough assumption, thinking you’ll be able to keep up with the cost of living. The issue is people aren’t putting in real work, exportable work that boosts the GDP etc…so they aren’t really worth the going rates. There is no growth, only inflation these days. The country is fundamentally bankrupt and has been for like 20 years…living on borrowed dollars isn’t cheap.
No I was saying I agree with you in the fact that your friends shouldn’t be complaining.
Chris hit that nail on the head…when I was in my third semester, things were looking fantastic. Job placement out of UB was sky high, and the program was seeing a lot of recognition. middle of my third year was the economy downturn, and by the time I finished the program, we were at a full crash and hiring was at a standstill. At the time, I thought I had snuck through the closing door because I was interning at a firm for 8 months already with them promising me full employment @ 35k when I graduated…but a week after I finished my degree, I was laid off. The owner of the firm I was working at attempted to find me another firm to work in by calling industry friends, but everyone was abandoning ship so to speak…so he wrote me a great letter of reccomendation and wished me luck. I went 8 months unemployed canvasing the area with my resume, when that didnt work after follow-up calls, I started trying surrounding cities like rochester and such, and when that yeilded the same results I started searching country-wide. After all that failure, I took a position as a parts guy at a dealership and started taking civil service tests because it was literally the last chance I had for the area, and thats how I ended up where I am…and for what it’s worth I would be doing BACKFLIPS if I were earning $40k+ right now, I’m making about 25% less than that with a B.S. arch, 3 yrs experience, NYS building code enforcement training, and 1yr surveying experience with proficiency in 4 different drafting/rendering programs. My resume is far from un-impressive…
It’s pretty much two different kinds of unions that are being discussed here, but with the talk of getting into a skilled trade, go union. Why pay for tech school and then hopefully land a job. Get into a union where they pay for your schooling and you start in the field immediately.
And before anyone brings up, “oh it’s the unions driving prices up”, that’s bullshit. In the skill trades nationwide, unions account for 13% of all work done. I’m in a union shop and if they don’t give a estimate comparable to non union shops, guess what? The client goes to the cheaper place.
So while unions such as the UAW and state run unions drive wages and overall prices way up, grouping all unions into one generalized statement isn’t right. Skill trades should be looked upon differently.
IMO this country could use a few million more skilled workers. It’s what made this place fucking awesome in the first place.
x2, all unions arent the same, I deal with tradesmen all day, it’s a shame the good ones gotta get paid the same as the ass hats, but I do what I can to make life better for the better guys
We HAVE many skilled workers. We don’t have the jobs because inflation has made our wages unattractive, thus outsourcing has soared. Prior to NAFTA and the floodgates being opened it wasn’t an issue because US companies didn’t have the option of hiring outside the country. MORE skilled workers in this economy means more competition for the already scarce jobs. Generally speaking many applicants are “over qualified” already.
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How do you go about getting into a union and have them pay for your education? I’m interested in that. 
If you can get into a union, you usually start ouy as an apprentice unless you can show valid proof that you have journeyman skills and/or experience. Apprentices start out at a percentage of jouneyman wages, earning raises through the accumulation of on the job training hours, and classroom instruction. Some trades classroom instruction is even worth college credits.
Trade unions aren’t hiring like crazy, but they do realize thst there is a shortage of younger workers. This means if you are a hard worker, dedicated, and not a dummy, you will stay busy throughout the apprenticeship. This allows you to accumulate hours quickly, and reach jouneyman level quickly, all while getting your classroom instruction at the same time, instead of going a full year or even two for a certificate program, then gettung hired as an apprentice anyway, becayse you lack any real experience.
I think trade unions are the way to go. I started oit doing drywall out of high school for $7/hr. 7 years later i was making $14. 25/hr which i thought was great (only perk was a week paid vacation that when you asked to take, the company was to busy right now, or so slow you would get layed off for two weeks) . Then i realized the guy i worked with was only making a quarter more per hour with 30 years experience. I walked… Joined a union and never looked back.
Now I make a decent hourly wage, have health insurance (that i pay for by the way), and the companies i work for have safety plans and regulations, that although they do it for insurance reasons, i dont take half the risks at work i did working for non-union.
Again i think trade unions are great for workers and employers.
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There is a good point in there about trade unions…worker safety. If the union focus is on safety and not pay I’m all for unions where the work is dangerous. At Tops had a union I had to pay into when I was a kid…I mean what was I gonna do, stub my toe on the milk crates? LOL
Thanks for the info. If you have any other tips or info on where to look, or how to approach a union that’d be awesome. Is this something I can do at my leisure considering I have a full time day job that pays well? I’d like to get into the system but can’t go balls out. This would be to supplement my current job and ideally act as a SHTF backup plan.
Do you know how loans work?
Even assuming NO property tax, or insurance a 4% mortgage on $750K is $ 3,580.61 per month ($43k/year in this case).
Assuming $5k year property tax, @ 4% your $27k/year it would be a $384K.
Maybe not, but he likes good music. Cut the guy some slack here. LOL
Jam ftw