Jobs you can get without college?

D_Harry Bacque

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I've decided recently that I don't want to go to school and get a degree and get a job that way. I have a friend who studied for about a year and a half for the CPA exam all on his own, registered to take the test and did very well on it, eventually landing himself a nice job that he enjoys. Personally I'd rather spend my time doing something like that. I know it's hard work but I'm not a fan of spending thousands at college to earn a degree, only to come out of school in debt and unsure if I'll get a job. I have many friends who were in that exact position for years after graduating.

I'm curious what other fields work like accounting, where it doesn't really matter if you studied in college or studied on your own. As long as you can pass a certification exam you have a good chance of finding yourself a job. I don't really know what other forum or group of people to ask this too, the LPSG community is always very wise so I thought you guys would have some ideas.
 

D_Larry Lickher

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There are tons of certificates that you can get without going to a university. However, having a degree is a lot more to a potential employer than a piece of paper. It shows that you were able to commit to something and follow through with it, which is extremely important as far as I'm concerned.

Have you considered going to a community college? They are much more affordable than universities and can have a lot to offer.
 

Phil Ayesho

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The arts...

unless you want a job teaching... no one gives a damn about your education in any artistic endeavor... from illustration, to web design, to product design, to, even , writing.

You are judged on your portfolio, your reel, or your actual submitted writing... and if you have talent, you will get hired...

But, you still have to assemble a showable portfolio... still have to write something to be considered... and to accumulate a decent portfolio you will get a LOT of critique and rejection...
 

breeze

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Accounting grads ask " how much does it cost "
science grads ask " how does it work "
engineering grads ask " how do i built one "
liberal art majors ask " do you want fries with that "

I live in an area with 2 of the 2 top universities in the world one of which i attended. They are stanford and the unviersity of california at berkeley. I have kind of a rough idea of the job market. I think a liberal art degree as far a finding a good job is a joke. When the economic boom happened there was an analysis of who benefited. At that time the people who benefited were home owners , people who owned stocks and workers who had techncal skills. A friend of mine who graduated from berkeley worked for ask jeeves in oakland.
His boss was a 22 year old kid who had a technical degree from some 2 year vocational school and earned over 100,000. There is a fallacy that a technical degree will guarantee you a job. For years i've read about graduates around here who had technical degrees and couldn't find jobs. Then i read an article about a report from georgetown that stated that our economy produces only 1/3 the number of job openings for the number of technical graduates each year. I have heard of accounting grads of any level around here finding jobs. It varies with technical grads. It does help to have top grades and it is absolutely true that its who you know. The department of labor interviewed 10,000,000 people and asked them how they got their jobs. About 70 percent said they got their jobs through someone they knew. It's something you have to research.
 

Lex

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I've decided recently that I don't want to go to school and get a degree and get a job that way. I have a friend who studied for about a year and a half for the CPA exam all on his own, registered to take the test and did very well on it, eventually landing himself a nice job that he enjoys. Personally I'd rather spend my time doing something like that. I know it's hard work but I'm not a fan of spending thousands at college to earn a degree, only to come out of school in debt and unsure if I'll get a job. I have many friends who were in that exact position for years after graduating.

I'm curious what other fields work like accounting, where it doesn't really matter if you studied in college or studied on your own. As long as you can pass a certification exam you have a good chance of finding yourself a job. I don't really know what other forum or group of people to ask this too, the LPSG community is always very wise so I thought you guys would have some ideas.

I will admit up front that I am biased as I am a former teacher (special ed), school administrator, am a trained artist (BA), and have a doctorate.

That being said, I say get the degree. By skipping the degree, you are choosing instant gratification over long-term investment. When I first fell into education, some of my (then) friends made fun of me--the usual stuff--you won't make any money, who respects a teacher, etc.

What I knew, was that I would have job security. To wit: I have a job that pays me handsomely and have never been unemployed since I was 16. My (then) friends who dropped out of or skipped college and fell into sales (houses, cars) or accounting/banking jobs have all lost their jobs and are just getting back to work or are still unemployed.

With my degree and background, I can work in any school system or at the collegiate level (I have already done both). Degrees and experience give you options.

As my great-grandmother used to say, "It's a sorry rat that only has one hole to run to."
 

SpeedoMike

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there is a bias toward college graduates at most companies. why hire below that level when degreed persons are available.

techs usually have a HS diploma or a community college (A.S.) degree.
engineers have BS or MS degrees.

police officers and firefighters without a bachelor's degree find it difficult to be hired in many parts of the country.

accounting clerks often have an A.S degree.
accountants have degrees.

clerks have an HS diploma.

janitors may have an HS diploma.

My observations come from over 20 years experience as an employment recruiter and employment manager. A person who said "I'll take anything" was out of luck. I didn't fill any job requests for "anything".

As an added thought, many positions go to persons with advanced degrees in such fields as accounting/finance, engineering, and management.

Certificates have little value in most professions unless accompanied by a college degree. However, licenses issued by a state are mostly based on experience. examples are beautician/barber, car salesman, and contractors.
 

nudeyorker

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I would have to know a bit more about what field really interests you. I have to agree with most others here in that there is a bias toward hiring someone with a degree over someone without; with a few exceptions.
Here is something to think about. A friend of mine got a masters degree in Art History at Columbia and has been doing volunteer work for the last five years at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and only just recently got a full time paying job. Getting the degree and the work experience to land your dream job is called "Paying your dues" There really is no shortcut.
 

B_theOtherJJ

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There can really never be enuf "burger flippers". The hardest part though is learning to incorporate the "do you want fries with that? " into your delivery.... That might need a degree?
 

breeze

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AOL published a list of great jobs you can get without a college degree. You can do a search of jobs that don't require a college degree. Only about 20% of the population completed college. I believe the list does not include the founders of microsoft , oracle and dell.
 

Bbucko

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I never went to college, for many more reasons than I'd care to discuss here, and have lived entirely independently since graduating high school.

My first several years of independence were ones of genuine struggle and privation, and I took various jobs that paid my rent and kept me fed, if not always well.

I worked as a security guard but the hours were intense (averaging 70-90 hours per week) and got mono; I worked in a nightclub as a barback. I worked as a dishwasher, then graduated to prep work and eventually worked as a short-order cook before realizing that food service was not my ideal field. I worked briefly in different clerical positions, long enough to know that I would never be comfortable in an office either.

I decided that the best environment for my personality and skills was a retail store, and eventually got a job at a large department store. That experience allowed me to move into menswear, first in sales and then store management.

A chance encounter with someone I knew from High School persuaded me that I might try furniture, so I made that move when I was 23 and stayed there for over 25 years. I learned the ropes of professional, large-ticket sales and spent six months at my company's Executive Candidate program to learn the finer details of operations and personnel management after several years on various sales floors. By the time I was 28, I was managing their Madison Ave location in New York and was making some of the best money of my career.

When that company went bankrupt, I tried to find a similar job in NYC (with no luck) and went back to where I's started in Boston working as a showroom manager for a small, upscale manufacturer where I learned all about the design industry. I moonlighted helping a casual acquaintance open a furniture gallery and worked part-time in a cafe, too.

After a three-year interlude that involved living in France, I started working in the area of custom furniture and was eventually working as a furniture designer/interior decorator for a variety of small, independent concerns in various places around New England.

One of the things I've learned is that, without a degree, you can never afford the luxury of presuming that your experience counts for much unless a potential employer has intimate knowledge of you, your personality, your temperament and your skill set. My career was one long slog up a slippery slope, with as many back-slides and start-overs as any real advancements. And my own path made it clear to me that I could measure success either by job satisfaction or income, but only very rarely both and then never for long.

Moving to South Florida proved to be a death blow to my career, as the market is very different down here, and I was totally unenthusiastic about starting from scratch in the middle of my life: I'm now doing something completely, totally different.