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Critical Turning Point in Life - Need Help With Career Decision - No College Degree.
Priest
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Lets start easy.
Background (Warning, Don't read if you don't like sob stories.)
Now that I'm to leave school however, it is going to be abundantly clear that I need a job that pays more than $10 an hour. If I'm to even remotely have a chance at paying things like Health Care, Rent, School Loans, Car, Cell Phone, Internet, and Insurance, I need to be seeking positions that can earn 15-20 dollars an hour, minimum.
Without a college degree, this is difficult. I've considered the following options for the moment, and excluded certain others.
My Experience:
Exceptionally Versed at Windows, Windows Software
Above Average Excel Knowledge, Including VBA
Math through Differential Equations
Manufacturing/Fabrication Knowledge with Wood Medium and Metal Mediums
Basic Surveying Knowledge
Typing Skills - 100+ WPM
No's:
Bartending/Waitering
CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant - I'm not good with Blood and Poo.)
Possibles:
Retail Sales (Commission Based)
CDL (Commercial Driver's License)
Yes's:
IT / Computer Systems.
I don't want to be a by-phone troubleshooter. On my own end I'm seeking something along the lines of small business, troubleshooting, hardware/software/web services combination. House calls would be a regular occurrence, along with heavy integration of hardware and software management. Web Services, Virtualization, and Server Administration would be key parts of this position.
I'm not sure what base skills this will take however, and what it will take me to get there.
I'm pretty versed in HTML at this point. I'd have to brush up a little bit on the most recent WC3 standards.
I know nothing of CSS - I think I could get the basics down in a week however.
JAVA. This seems to be a beast. I think it would take a month- two months minimum to get the hang of JAVA. (I have very high math skills, so I don't think it would be that difficult.)
PHP - Know nothing, I hear once JAVA/HTML/CSS are down, it might take a month or two to get PHP down.
.NET - No clue.
I imagine along the way, during the performance of this job, I would pick up other certifications, such as MySQL, Microsoft Certs, etc, etc.
I'm trying to figure out the basic skill levels to get into IT. My hopes would be to work my way up in a small business that handles local contracts for companies. Please feel free to ask questions and offer advice on how to get into this line of work. I am also interested in any and all advice concerning other career routes that don't involve a college degree. These career routes would preferably be oriented along the lines of customer interaction, troubleshooting/helping. There needs to be at least *some* room for advancement. They don't need to pay exceptionally well, just enough for one person to support himself, pay the bills, while enough to put into savings to go back to college 10 years down the road.
Background (Warning, Don't read if you don't like sob stories.)
For the last three months I have vaguely planned suicide. I hate school, what I'm doing there. I've consistently failed for 4 semesters due to ongoing health issues.
It occurred to me somewhere in the last 200 hours that this was unhealthy, and, despite my own personal pain, coming clean to my family and friends would cause significantly less pain than my death. To that end I'm currently seeking psychiatric care.
This evening is a clutch moment however. I will be revealing the events of the past year and a half to my family and close friends, how, despite a significant level of school debt, I will not be seeking completion of my Undergraduate work.
I can't finish my Undergrad until I am healthy, and it will take a significant amount of time to be healthy, perhaps years even. (I suffer from a Seasonal Disorder that makes it exceedingly hard to concentrate and function during the winter months, it didn't manifest until after a head trauma incident in my Sophomore year of college. Regular, consistent functions like Work come easily, but higher focus things like Studies come much more difficult now, and is accompanied by a severe social anxiety that I never had as a teen.)
It occurred to me somewhere in the last 200 hours that this was unhealthy, and, despite my own personal pain, coming clean to my family and friends would cause significantly less pain than my death. To that end I'm currently seeking psychiatric care.
This evening is a clutch moment however. I will be revealing the events of the past year and a half to my family and close friends, how, despite a significant level of school debt, I will not be seeking completion of my Undergraduate work.
I can't finish my Undergrad until I am healthy, and it will take a significant amount of time to be healthy, perhaps years even. (I suffer from a Seasonal Disorder that makes it exceedingly hard to concentrate and function during the winter months, it didn't manifest until after a head trauma incident in my Sophomore year of college. Regular, consistent functions like Work come easily, but higher focus things like Studies come much more difficult now, and is accompanied by a severe social anxiety that I never had as a teen.)
Now that I'm to leave school however, it is going to be abundantly clear that I need a job that pays more than $10 an hour. If I'm to even remotely have a chance at paying things like Health Care, Rent, School Loans, Car, Cell Phone, Internet, and Insurance, I need to be seeking positions that can earn 15-20 dollars an hour, minimum.
Without a college degree, this is difficult. I've considered the following options for the moment, and excluded certain others.
My Experience:
Exceptionally Versed at Windows, Windows Software
Above Average Excel Knowledge, Including VBA
Math through Differential Equations
Manufacturing/Fabrication Knowledge with Wood Medium and Metal Mediums
Basic Surveying Knowledge
Typing Skills - 100+ WPM
No's:
Bartending/Waitering
CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant - I'm not good with Blood and Poo.)
Possibles:
Retail Sales (Commission Based)
CDL (Commercial Driver's License)
Yes's:
IT / Computer Systems.
I don't want to be a by-phone troubleshooter. On my own end I'm seeking something along the lines of small business, troubleshooting, hardware/software/web services combination. House calls would be a regular occurrence, along with heavy integration of hardware and software management. Web Services, Virtualization, and Server Administration would be key parts of this position.
I'm not sure what base skills this will take however, and what it will take me to get there.
I'm pretty versed in HTML at this point. I'd have to brush up a little bit on the most recent WC3 standards.
I know nothing of CSS - I think I could get the basics down in a week however.
JAVA. This seems to be a beast. I think it would take a month- two months minimum to get the hang of JAVA. (I have very high math skills, so I don't think it would be that difficult.)
PHP - Know nothing, I hear once JAVA/HTML/CSS are down, it might take a month or two to get PHP down.
.NET - No clue.
I imagine along the way, during the performance of this job, I would pick up other certifications, such as MySQL, Microsoft Certs, etc, etc.
I'm trying to figure out the basic skill levels to get into IT. My hopes would be to work my way up in a small business that handles local contracts for companies. Please feel free to ask questions and offer advice on how to get into this line of work. I am also interested in any and all advice concerning other career routes that don't involve a college degree. These career routes would preferably be oriented along the lines of customer interaction, troubleshooting/helping. There needs to be at least *some* room for advancement. They don't need to pay exceptionally well, just enough for one person to support himself, pay the bills, while enough to put into savings to go back to college 10 years down the road.
Priest on
0
Posts
Go to community college if $$ is an issue, very cheap, once you know what you want to do, get all the prereqs done and transfer into a uniiversity/college and get going.
GIS is evil
If you go into the support side, I hate to break it to you, but helpdesk/phone troubleshooting is the entry level role. If you're good you won't be stuck there forever, but generally you have to pay your dues. The good news is that remote desktop tools have made it a much easier job than it once was. If dealing with people is the issue, I recommend getting over it however you can. Kids who are good with tech are a dime a dozen. Kids who are good with tech and people are the ones that stand out.
If you're thinking software development, I was recruited to my first job out of college. I'm not even sure how you go that route without a degree, other than building a portfolio of work on your own.
Unless you are extraordinary, the combination of significant debt and not having a degree will make things much more difficult. If you're already planning on staying away for years, there is a good chance that will turn into "never".
A small computer repair shop may be the way to go, they do tend to try to go for support contracts with other smaller companies and working with the average small buisiness computer network is not very complicated. I would get used to Server 2003, Server 2008, Active Directory, Exchange, and Sharepoint if you want to go this way. If you cant do that yet you can always stick to the repair side of things (diagnosing and fixing/replacing components of pc's and laptops, virus removal etc) while you learn the server related stuff.
What might be a great fit is to take individual classes during the summer in 2 week periods. You might want to explore microsoft and cisco certification options.
Problem solved.
That is to say, pick some classes you'll actually attend and can pass, even if that means taking Spanish 101 and Volleyball rather than Calculus.
Look into jobs as a student tech, because most colleges have a million of them running around doing things like showing professors how to plug their laptops into the classroom projector. It is not brilliant work but it is ten times better than entry level phone technical support and in today's market with your skill set and no degree you should consider yourself fortunate to get an entry level phone tech support job. Right now, companies do not hire guys into IT and then let them pick up certs as they get job experience, because right now there are a glut of people who already have the certs and who want the jobs. The biggest problem that hiring managers are facing, from watching my boss evaluate and throw out applications, is that they have to weed out applications from people who are far too qualified and who will jump ship as soon as the job market picks up again.