If you were to start over, What would you do?

[MEby]

I was kinda thinking about taking some business classes because it is always good to know. I am going to try and meet with an advisor tomorrow at the Community college. I need to see what credits I have and if they are still any good. I also don't want to spend any time taking classes that don't help me.

Community colleges are great, at least here in my area. Only $100 per contact hour (contact hour is a little more than a credit hour) for indisrict tuition. Sure beats the crap out of a lot other colleges I checked into at anywhere from $300 -500 per credit hour.

 

[JCasper]

Community colleges are great, at least here in my area. Only $100 per contact hour (contact hour is a little more than a credit hour) for indisrict tuition. Sure beats the crap out of a lot other colleges I checked into at anywhere from $300 -500 per credit hour.

Wow, $100



It is $68 per credit hour here and I thought that was a lot.

 

[Jumbo Jet]

A good business degree can get you into a lot of different fields.

I went back to a Community College at night when I was 31 to finish an Associates Degree.

I continued for the next 8 years and completed a Bachelor's degree in Business Management.

For the past 25 years I have been a manager in IT. The salary and benefits have been real good.

We have IT team members that have various degrees - even an English Major.

When hiring new team members, we look at attitude and aptitude. Put the the two together in a person willing to excel and they can reach altitude. Those words comprise the title of the book I am writing so don't steal them.

 

[MEby]

Wow, $100



It is $68 per credit hour here and I thought that was a lot.

Thats actually ridiculously cheap. The "average" college will run around

$10,000 (approx. $300 per credit hour) a year and Notre Dame, which is close to where I live charges around $45,000 a year ( approx. $1500 per credit hour). :--):--):--)

 

[Gene Arnold]

I'm well past the age of re-examining my career path, but having spent my career trying to help people make decisions I can empathize. JCasper, you say you don't really know what you'd like to do. Why not spend a few dollars to get a professional evaluation on what you're good at, what you enjoy doing, etc. ? If this kind of test is done by someone who knows their stuff it can be world-changing and spare you a lot of indecision and backtracking. If you have fun earning your living you'll never have to work a day in your life! That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it holds a kernel of truth.



I see more and more people who are engaged in their second career. Having retired from #1, they begin doing something that is more meaningful or more enjoyable (or both). For example, I've met several men within the last year who retired from the military or from corporate management and entered the ministry (I know, that would probably be a stretch for most TDR guys, but one never knows . . . ).



Gene

 

[Sageair]

There is a HUGE and growing need for aircraft mechanics.

 

[rbattelle]

There is a HUGE and growing need for aircraft mechanics.

Good point. As the fleet ages, and the cost of new airplanes continues to rise, the need for competent mechanics to keep old planes flying can only grow.



Ryan

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Another good arena not mentioned yet is healthcare. In many ways it's more immune to market forces than a lot of other fields. People get sick no matter what the economy is doing. Being in healthcare doesn't mean becoming a doctor or a nurse, there is a need for radiologists, CT & MRI Techs, Nuclear Medicine, etc. I'm a Clinical Engineer, my job is conducting & managing maintenance on medical equipment, a job with plenty of challenges and rewards. I've thought about changing careers but in a lot of ways this is a good job & pay isn't bad. There's a lot more to it than just maintaining equipment, it entails safety aspects, compliance, project planning & installation/rollout of new equipment or systems, decommissioning old equipment, involvement with medical staff user concerns & issues, user training, incident investigations & reporting, etc. etc. All this on top of having to know how to operate, test, troubleshoot & repair scores of different kinds of equipment.

Speaking of engineering, it's amazing some of the poorly designed equipment that makes it into the medical field

 

[rbattelle]

Speaking of engineering, it's amazing some of the poorly designed equipment that makes it into the medical field

Vaughn, you've got a nasty typo here... I'll fix it:

Speaking of engineering, it's amazing some of the poorly designed equipment that makes it into the field

There, that's better.



Ryan

 

[BigEasy]

if I had it to do over again... I would've worked harder in school, gotten hooked up with different people at college, not got thrown out and lost my ROTC scholarship.



... and I'd be a Doctor in the Navy with 10 years experience

 

[jeepit]

On second thought, I would start up a brewery

 

[DBentley]

If i did it over 1st pick=politician

2nd pick= state job

State hires more and more and never seem to cut.

 

[Dl5treez]

Pharmacist or Anesthesiologist

 

[rbattelle]

If i did it over 1st pick=politician

Were you ever elected to public office?

 

[JCasper]

Wish me luck.



I have signed up for an exploring engineering class and WR 122 I hate writing, I am sure glad my wife is good at it. I am already a week behind in writing because I was waiting for an instructor to let me in.