No idea yet. I want to get a good job and pay off loans and possibly grad school, then I'll look for a job where I want.
i feel really sorry for all the young people these days. it seems like you can't get a good job unless you go to college. i mean it's ridiculous some careers that pay $10 an hour want a college education! i mean i fricken made $10 bucks an hour in 1991 when i was 20! thats like $16 bucks an hour today. no college education, and that was only two years on the job. just as a measely helper with a garage door company, but i moved up fast over the years, and stuck it out all these years in this trade. it's always good to learn a trade. a service trade like hvac, plumbing is a good one i think someone mentioned that already, automotive, electrician, any service job. no matter how bad the economy is people will always need repairs to their ac or heat, refrigerator, plumbing, etc. though people will be more reluctant to call someone to fix those things haha! a lot of trade schools don't have plumbing, but in high school you can usually take hvac, or electrician, carpentry, automotive, etc. a lot of companies want you to continue your education at a community college after that though. me i took carpentry in high school. my dad was a carpenter. and i wanted to go into the carpenters union, but i'm glad i didn't. seeing all my friends i know who pursued that are all in the toilet. in this economy there isn't much demand for construction or much building. not like it was pre 2007. i started my own business, and have made over 100k this year so far. with the self employment tax i get killed though but at least i don't have to pay social security after $106800. with that tax, and paying some friends who help me i don't take home too too much, but i'm still well off. it's hard to start companies for service things, because there is a lot of competition especially with automotive, plumbing, and hvac. a lot of businesses to compete with. the only advice i have to anyone starting college is to make sure you do something in demand. health care is in demand. nursing, it pays good too. i got a buddy who is an rn making over 30 bucks an hour, and he's only 23. i had an ex girlfriend who only had the lpn, and only went to college for one year making around $25 bucks an hour. there is a big demand for that type of stuff too. my buddy moved to san diego, and had a job nursing within a week. just make sure you like what you do.
The traditional advice would be naming the degrees where you can land a good job. The advice I'll be giving my kids one day is to get a degree in a field that you would want to run a business in. Then you can start a business where you want and have the flexibility as the owner to run it the way you want to. Work for someone as long as you have to, then work for yourself. IT-computer science/nursing/engineering seem to be in high demand and pay well, to answer your question. I envy the entrepreneurs/business owners I know, and I do pretty well as an engineer. But they're the ones to seem to manage to get all the good surf days and make pretty lucrative livings. They've all had to make a big upfront investment (money, time, effort), but after a few years, my friends are living the good life. And I hear you on the material possessions... but I think the underlying message that people tend to illustrate poorly is that these people with all the possessions make enough to pay the big bills if they want to. For me, I'd rather hang onto that money and retire early. Then you can really surf!
Not true. Way too many kids major in something they are passionate about only to graduate and can't get a job in their field.
While the money might not be there, you'll be happy if you are passionate about your job. That goes a lot farther than just making a ton of money. I was reading something along the lines of this the other day. "When I was 5 years old, my parents told me the goal of life is to be happy. In school one day, my teacher asked me what I wanted to do when I grow up. I said "happy." They told me I didn't understand the question. I told them they didn't understand life."
You can earn a living in pharmacy anywhere in the country. Virginia Beach has Christopher Newport U, ODU, William and Mary, Norfolk. San Diego is loaded with some good schools right on the beach. Imagine studying at UCal LaJolla and traversing down to Blacks during a break. Or UC Santa Cruz. Other good majors are marine biology, sports physiology,
happiness is relative... for me its the ability to live alone and not need roommates. Have a car that wont break down once a week, have money for travel (most important thing in my book), and hopefully provide an awesome childhood for my future offspring. Hell, MAYBE even retire while im still vertical. Work isnt a hobby for me, its a necessity. I want to make as much money as I possibly can while im at it. No matter what you think you "love", you will be doing it for the next 40 years. What if your lifestyle changes, you grow out of that hobby or fascination that drove you to do it... ? To the original asker of the question... Look at your SERIOUS options and then see what will fit your lifestyle. Make sure to pick up an internship or two while you are studying, they are invaluable and almost always lead to jobs upon graduation. Slinging dinners or selling hoodies in a local shop wont mean sh!t when it comes time to get that first job in the industry.
I'm not one, but I know many of them.. Here's one that everyone missed: Property Management Property Managers start from 50k & go up, quickly. Senior Property Managers make well north of 100k. Property Portfolio Managers make closer to 200k. You can get into residential prop management or commercial prop management. Res is kind of a pain in the ass: deal with lots of complaints from the kooky old ladies & the young, spoiled American-entitlement attitudes. But, you may be able to live in a unit on the property for free or heavily discounted rent. Commercial is a good way to go. A good prop mgr of an office building makes superb money. You're always in demand & because you've networked well, you can pick your spots. Great health insurance benefits, too. And don't downplay that aspect, esp in these insane days of jacking medical costs. My 2 cents.
Make sure you go where you want to go. I'm at some college in the middle of Pennsylvania to save some a few g instead of going to Flagler college, and it's honestly not worth it. I'm not proud going here, I don't like talking about where I go, and I can't wait to go to uncw next year. Flagler was awesome, and I wish I went with my gut and went to Flagler. With that being said, go where you want to go.... But still keep in mind a college loan bubble will happen soon (like the housing bubble) because students will start to default off their student loans more and more because colleges promise them bs jobs in bs majors. Just make sure you pick a major where there is some sort of demand for- not 'religious cultures' and other retarded majors. Just make sure the school is reasonable, Flagler was only 4g more than where I attend now, so I really f'ed up.
Paul Graham is an exceptionally bright and successful entrepreneur, software developer (he created and sold the company that built Yahoo! Store), financier and author. His advice to high school students is certainly applicable here, in a sense far beyond just finding work near surf. I'd give it a read through before I made any lasting decisions: http://paulgraham.com/hs.html As an aside, I'll echo the computer science sentiment, but for different reasons. Yes, $70k is pretty easy to find these days (though maybe not at the beach), but the more important thing is that web based businesses can be started for a few hundred dollars. No other field of study can so rapidly give you the ability to create your own business. Good luck to all of you!
I used to hear I would start at that out of school with my engineering degree. They lie, the economy sucks. You'll be competing against guys with 5+ years experience for start up positions, because so many companies went under during the credit crisis. This goes for pretty much any industry outside of health care. Not that you can't make 60-70k working in say Northern Virginia / DC metro area or NYC.....but that equates to about 45k in the rest of the world, and you are never going to touch that in a "resort / beach" area whose local economy revolves around tourism and construction.
If anyone likes to cook, going for a Culinary Arts degree isn't bad, especially since ACCC has a great program for that(up there with the major culinary colleges but much cheaper). You won't make huge money, but if you like to cook it is a great job. I work directly next to the beach, and can easily change in the bathroom after my shift is done and be at the beach in 2 minutes walking. Only downside is, long hours, odd hours(I switch between 6am-2pm and 2pm-10pm), and working on some holidays like thanksgiving if your place does that.
IT management here. Your numbers are skewed. That may have been true 10 years ago, but no longer. Only the best and brightest stand a chance of making that kind of money in their first job. More realistic (also depends on where you are looking) is probably $45K to $55K. Exceptions being DC, NY and parts of NJ. And good luck with your dart throwing. It's not 1999 anymore. IT job availability as well as salary has normalized.
IT and CS are completely different. Any person who can hook up wires can do IT. Programming actually requires intelligence. I have an interview with UnitedHealth tomorrow. Had an interview with Epic Health (based in Wisconsin, horrible HR). Epic said their average starting salary was $60k. That's in Wisconsin, not NY/CT/MA/NJ.
You have a lot to learn son. IT encompasses CS and programmers. It's a big umbrella. "Hooking up wires" as you call it would be a cable technician, which also falls under the umbrella of IT and this requires a certain level of intelligence as well. I know many a programmer whose eyes glaze over the minute you start talking to them about the physical layer and the OSI model. Of course, I wouldn't expect a green horn who has done nothing more that do labs and read books for the last couple of years to understand this. There is also Network Engineering and other disciplines which fall under Information Technology. It's a big world out there, so be careful who you insult. You might have to ask them for a job some day.
Yeah. Epic has their own home grown DB... which sucks cause they said the majority of what I'd be doing is converting from their own DB language to SQL and the likes. But I have no intentions of moving to Wisconsin, so I'm not worried about it, but if they wanna fly me out for an interview... I'll take a vacation.
They are. One of the big ones in this area is always looking for programmers. I know a couple people that have worked there and left citing the horrible hours and the antiquated systems with which they have to work.
