Jump to content

Does you education, or lack there of, limit you in your career?


Gump

Recommended Posts

We were discussing the idea of what it might be like to move to another part of the country last night. Problem is, I have a very good position here and got to this point sort of through nontraditional means. I work in a field where a four-year degree is now the minimum requirement for an entry level position. I only have a two-year degree but through a lot of work and initiative have been able to work myself into a middle management position. I could never find something comparable anywhere else with my education background. I'm not complaining because I love my job and have been very blessed to get to where I am but I'll have to wait 9 1/2 more years til I retire from this job to think about living somewhere else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if you've been working in the field for 20 years a degree isn't always necessary. They just say that to discourage the riff raff.

 

 Good help is hard to find these days

 

don't sell yourself short

 

But that said, 9 years will go by fast, too

Link to comment
Share on other sites

lack of schooling does not compete with the job based knowledge you have received. If a company only looks at what they think you know because of schooling and not how long you have been in that field... Then they are partly retarded and you are better off not working for them! 

 

I get treated like that a lot when I worked. It was more because of my age then the schooling section. I was a Lieutenant/Captain/PIO for the Fire Dept at the age of 20. I had more knowledge then some of the officers my senior. It was a proven fact that I could out run/work them on a job, and I made sure I knew where everyone was at all times. It's a shame it took a large scale disaster to show them what I had behind me. 

 

Now a days after moving to WI, I can not get a position at the station due to my certificate and not having a "Fire Degree" in a specialized field. The certificate and life experience in my folder is three inches thick and out weighs a lot of what they are teaching to new recruits today!  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no degree, but I don't think it has limited me. When I have needed to learn something I've pretty much done it on my own, but the world has changed. Most employers want to see that piece of paper before they will even let you through the door now. I took seven Microsoft tests to just for a piece of paper that I've never used for anything but getting interviews. Once the paper opens the door, the rest us up to you.

I've worked in clinical engineering, hardware and desktop support, network engineering, phone systems, renal care, post-burn scar therapy... the list goes on. In most of my jobs I quickly earned the reputation as the guy who may not know everything, but knows how to learn it on the fly. The days of building a career the way I did seems to be over. It seems that now you need the education even if you never use it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if you've been working in the field for 20 years a degree isn't always necessary. They just say that to discourage the riff raff.

 

 Good help is hard to find these days

 

don't sell yourself short

 

But that said, 9 years will go by fast, too

 

I agree with everything Nate wrote.  That said, I would maybe stay put, the grass may look greene somewhere else, but why reinvent the wheel if you like where you are?  I have geography fever, too, and want to move where I can get to the outdoors more easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with everything Nate wrote.  That said, I would maybe stay put, the grass may look greene somewhere else, but why reinvent the wheel if you like where you are?  I have geography fever, too, and want to move where I can get to the outdoors more easily.

I have no plans of leaving at this point. It's just ironic that even though I've been recognized both regionally and nationally for some of the work I've done in the Adirondacks I could never leave this agency and find comparable work because I lack a degree. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a brother-in-law who makes well over 6-figure$ in the banking industry. Just a high school diploma. He started by evicting little old ladies from their homes and worked his way up from there.

 

I have two associates, a BS, and a dual master's degree. They were mostly, last one especially, just wallpaper to cover what I'd already had taught myself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Education is the door opener these days. As a jeweler for the last 15 years I have gotten certifications (GIA, JoA, ISS, etc...) but most of what they taught was common knowledge for a junior level jeweler.

 

In the field(s) I want to work in education is the minimum for an interview. They have some pretty unrealistic "requirements" for some of these jobs.

I applied for a Entry level IT support position and got the dear john letter from HR stating at this time they were looking for someone with a minimum: 4 year degree, CWNA A+/Net+/Sec+ (not one or but all three) and two years on job.

 

I can't figure how they felt a 15/hr position was going to net someone with those qualifications.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

because there are a shitload of unemployed millennials that stayed in school when the job market crashed in 2008-09. Also over in India and China, there are H1B visa holders (who you are now competing with) that have multiple graduate degrees, but couldn't code their way out of a wet paper bag.

 

in my field, actual experience is the only currency HR departments are willing to trade in

 

I don't have a degree at all and I only put out one resume, which turned into one interview, which because my new gig when I decided to leave Pitt

 

but then, I'm the real deal

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...