Posted by DJ [66.228.16.15] on Friday, August 09, 2013 at 13:17:17 :
In Reply to: College Degrees? OT posted by Sterling from TX [99.58.180.94] on Thursday, August 08, 2013 at 11:30:23 :
Lot of good ideas and viewpoints here, but here's my two bits.
If you have one thing that you love enough to do your whole life - do that and do it better than anyone else and things will work out. But that's not for everyone and sometimes we don't know what we really like until we try a few things out.
I think a ME degree will open a lot of doors that would be closed otherwise.
There's no replacement for solid experience in the trades, but it's a lot easier for an engineer to turn around and train in a practical trade than it is for a machinist or contractor to go back to school later in life with kids, bills, and all the responsibility that tends to accrue over time.
After 20 years in the trades I decided I didn't want to be plumbing when I turned 50. Damn glad I had a degree to dust off. Got six years experience in corporate BS and high tech now and i'm ready to move on to something else - but having the ability to make changes is what keeps life from feeling like prison.