Is the government regulating, and surplusing, people out of jobs?

[Alpha Sierra]

Unless your college degree is in a HARD science or engineering, it ain't worth shit unless you are willing to pony up the bucks to get at least a Master's and maybe even a doctorate (the law/medicine kind).

What's better, a job that starts at $50K with about $20K of student debt or one that pays $80K with $300,000 of student debt?

[Eurodriver]

Unless your college degree is in a HARD science or engineering, it ain't worth shit unless you are willing to pony up the bucks to get at least a Master's and maybe even a doctorate (the law/medicine kind).

What's better, a job that starts at $50K with about $20K of student debt or one that pays $80K with $300,000 of student debt?

Plenty of jobs out there for degrees out there in jobs other than hard science and engineers. In fact, I know several accounting majors who haven't even graduated yet making $45k/year and a Biology major (HARD science) who is returning to school to get a Chemical Engineering. You just need a job that "normal" people can't do, and that businesses need.

[SomeOtherGuy]

I know several people that used tuition assistance to get internet degrees, etc. such as Masters of Health Administration, MBAs etc. and are set up for nothing but to hope the government does not start cutting back on GS jobs. More people coming out of highly reputable brick and mortar Universities with similar degrees than there are jobs and they cannot do anything vs. a welder, auto mechanic, ADN or BSN nurse, etc. where employers cannot find enough people to hire.

Just have some idea of what the job involves. I know several nurses and the schedules, working conditions and patients (or their families) aren't for everyone. One of my wife's cousins is a diesel mechanic. Now that he works for an ambulance service he has a good job, but working for dealerships was unpleasant. Trucking companies are always hiring - but for a reason. If you can get into being an electrician, plumber or HVAC tech, those all seem to be reasonably pleasant with decent pay, and the ability to live a normal family life. I'm sure there are other good options too.

[.46caliber]

The student loan bubble is about to burst when defaults become common place and the government starts garnishing wages to get their money back.

Not if the Dems have their way. Instead of garnishing the student who took the loan, they want to use your tax dollars to pay off the loans.

I hate my loan payment. But it's mine. I agreed to take on that debt. Though I'd love for someone to voluntarily say, "I got this one.", I will not support legislation that takes the public's taxes to pay MY debt.

That is not what Federal tax dollars should be used for.

Sorry OP. End thread jacking.


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[lunchbox]

+1 For tech school of some sort. I went into the Machine shop technologies (machinist) program and instructor got me a good paying CNC job (in first month) that also worked around my class schedule. I don't have any debt but I do have two kids, my wife was pregnant with first child when I decided I needed to secure future. Up till then I was doing various jobs (HVAC,Sheetrock,labor in general) and hated that people with a degree, got twice as much $ and did half as much work. I remember reading an article saying that manufacturing was on sharp rise and jobs were in great demand. Sited many companies that sent jobs overseas, were unsatisfied with quality of products being produced, and coming back to US products. I also talked to gunsmith friend who also steered me towards Manf. Jobs.... And it just so happens that AL is the second highest paying state for machinist. I only kick myself for not doing it sooner.

[Mauser KAR98K]

I fully understand the tech jobs and the money they make. Unfortunately I'm kinda in a pickle.

It is good to see, country wise, that those jobs are there and are on the rise. For the economy to really come back, the U.S. needs to ease off the service industry and go more to manufacturing. Having the highest corporate tax for business, income tax, NAFTA, and competing with very cheap labor around the world does not help.

My reasons for getting a degree and the one I got was to satisfy a angst I have: ignorance. I knock at people who permeate with it, but I had a hard time looking in the mirror and not call myself a hypocrite. I also wanted to go to a University to mold my creative thought process and strengthen it with facts, or fact finding skills. I go beyond loving history as wanting more as a big tool box. I had to satisfy myself and check a box in my life that I feared later I would regret. Did I want it to help me find bigger and better careers? Yes. But did I want it for something deep inside of me? That was the ultimate goal.

I had aspirations to get the Piled High and Deeper notch, but after four and half years, dealing with my dad's death and easing the pain for my mom, I needed to work with what I had earned and move on with my life. (Plus I was getting fed up with Academia and the ivory tower statis view of how the world should work). I was also hoping Obama would have been gone.

Today I applied for a position at the Bureau of Prisons. It is the one job I have applied for that said I was very qualified for the position. See how that goes.

[Alpha Sierra]

My reasons for getting a degree and the one I got was to satisfy a angst I have: ignorance.

You are better off buying quality books in various topics (history, economics, politics, philosophy, etc) and thinking on your own to satisfy your desire for knowledge. Truly.

[Alpha Sierra]

and hated that people with a degree, got twice as much $ and did half as much work.

If you are speaking about certain people in particular, then you may have a point.

However, it does seem that you are making a broad statement about a certain class of worker. In which case you are wrong.

The work done by people with advanced education looks like easy gravy to people who have only ever done manual labor, until they actually try to do what we do.

If you think that a business can run itself with only people doing production work, go ahead and start one that way. Let me know how it goes.

[Crow Hunter]

If you are speaking about certain people in particular, then you may have a point.

However, it does seem that you are making a broad statement about a certain class of worker. In which case you are wrong.

The work done by people with advanced education looks like easy gravy to people who have only ever done manual labor, until they actually try to do what we do.

If you think that a business can run itself with only people doing production work, go ahead and start one that way. Let me know how it goes.

This is something that is a pet peeve of mine. I hear it all the time where I work that it "isn't fair" that I "get so much money" and I "don't have to work weekends" or I get to "sit in an office instead of doing real work" while they are putting together the parts that I designed.

I did "real work" when I spent 6 years after high school working 20-40hrs per week while in engineering school and spending my summers working 50+hrs/week in sewing factories/changing oil/washing cars or sacking groceries so I could go to engineering school and NOT have to do "real work" when I got out.

My response is normally reserved and respectful as befits my position but what I want to say is "I can and have done your job before, can you do mine? When you can do what I can do, you can do my job."

Like Euro says, that is the key to getting more $ for your labor. You must be able to do something that fewer people can do. There are lots of people who can't or are unwilling to work on their AC units (I am one of them. I hate HVAC work.) or cars or plumbing and a host of other skilled trades jobs that require you to get dirty or have specialized tools. (I do my own vehicle, plumbing, and carpentry work) That is a good way to make money if you aren't in a STEM field.

Heck, most people don't even do their own taxes even when they could file on a 1040 EZ and will pay someone else who can do basic math to do it for them. (Or in some cases just type it into a computer for them )

Industrial maintenance is a field that I KNOW there are limited qualified applicants for. Because I occasionally get called out to help them since I don't do "real work" and I actually understand how and why a CNC can have its physical hard stop inside its soft limits and how to fix it.

[Alpha Sierra]

My response is normally reserved and respectful as befits my position but what I want to say is "I can and have done your job before, can you do mine? When you can do what I can do, you can do my job."

I have, on a few occassions, half jokingly/half seriously offered my office for a week to people who have made those remarks about "real work".