2mo ago

What will be this generation's "If you want a good job just go to college!" career advice?

When I was in school, I was always told "If you get a college degree you'll on average make 500k more over the life time of your career regardless of what you get your degree in!"

Then as I finishing school, it was all about "If you get into tech you'll make big bucks and always have jobs!"

Both of those have turned out not great for a lot of people.

Then whenever women say they're struggling with money online, they get pointed to OF... which pays nothing to 99% of creators. Also very presumptive to suggest that, but we don't even need to get into that.

So is there a field/career strategy that you feel like is currently being over pushed?

(My examples are USA, Nevada/Utah is where I grew up, if maybe it's different in other parts of USA even.)

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"Go to trade school" is my guess. I've even suggested it. I'm not sure it's really being over pushed, but maybe it is. Easy answers to complex questions are a trope.
- The downside to that is it is much harder to continue working as you age depending on the trade. Usually the "best" route there is to start early, learn what you can, and go independent eventually hiring other people to do the hard stuff you no longer can do.
  Also need to be careful specializing.... I went super specific and well... Yeah... Ice cream refrigeration machines aren't exactly ubiquitous. I should have stuck with residential HVAC but I hated crawling under houses and being on call all night :/
  I currently work in a factory (yeah I'm just chock full of bad decisions) and I can say from what I've gathered from my coworkers being a "machinist" isn't so much of a viable trade anymore. Everyone pays like shit now.
  
  from what I've gathered from my coworkers being a "machinist" isn't so much of a viable trade anymore. Everyone pays like shit now.
  Yes, agreed at least for my industry. My company hires "machinists" with no experience or education, gives them minimal training on how to push a button and not stick their hand in running machinery, and expects at least half to leave for a job that offers ten cents an hour more as soon as they can. They killed the pension for new employees and wonder why no new employees have any "loyalty" to the company.
  I've always had massive respect for welders. That shit is an art. Not so with the folks we are hiring these days. Fast food fry cook wages don't get you artisan welders.
  
  Glad you mentioned that. It can be very hard on the body, and for older people they will likely want to transition into ownership, or a supervisory or admin role...and those slots are limited.
  We need to think about using technology to help people work less. Not just fatten profits.
  
  Excellent point right here. I spent nearly twenty years in a trade till arthritis began to develop. I spent the last three years of that job using the education benefits to get a degree and a new tech skill that has morphed into my current career. (I looked into running my own crew but that particular trade was and is in a downturn.)
  
  Only thing I'll disagree with you here is the machinist comment. My dad's been a machinist for like 45 years now, same industry, same building.
  He is constantly complaining to me that they can't find machinists, or even people who are willing to learn. I have zero machining experience, and he was trying to get me hired at one point, that's how desperate they were getting.
  And it's not a bad company, to be clear, they're a government contractor, have very good benefits, competitive pay (he's even complained they've given guys with a year's experience multi-dollar raises to keep them), etc.
  According to him, if you have mechanical aptitude and are willing to learn all of the intricacies of machining, you can and will make a decent salary for the rest of your life so long as you're willing to work.
- I've heard there's an enormous demand for experienced tradespeople, but apprenticeships are pretty much full up...
  Kind of a nobody-wins situation. Money to be made, just not by anyone on the ground floor.
- I haven't met any parents telling their kids to go into the trades aside from one dad who is already in the trades and knows the life.
  Most of the parents of high/middle schoolers I speak to are pushing STEM and entrepreneurship. I coach this age group, and the parents still want their kid to go on to higher education. They just are more aggressive about it being a meaningful degree.
  There is also more discussion of the cost of schools. A degree from a local school with in state tuition or a community college transfer is looked upon more favorably now. Frankly, a lot of the elite schools are bullshit and the general public is waking up to that now. The work a student is willing to put into learning is much more important than if the school has a high rank.
  
  I have definitely heard parents encouraging kids to go into the trades. Could be a regional thing. Anecdotal either way.
  I agree elite schools are bullshit for the vast majority. There are some PhD and medical programs that aren't. But that's a tiny percentage of students who would benefit.
- If Trump gets elected, and he mass deports millions of people, there will be a surge in construction demand.
  
  There will be a surge in "nobody wants to work anymore".
- It's the new thing that parents want their kids to do. I feel like it's going to backfire, lol
  
  Agree. We need trades people but we also need jobs, re-shoring, affordable housing, affordable health care, affordable education, etc. to go along with. It could become another bubble like pharmacists and knowledge workers.
  The longer I'm in the workforce the more I think David Graeber was right.
- I’m dreaming of an oversupply of trade workers. It’s too expensive right now to get any work done. Lots of scammers too.

Probably "switch jobs often" but who knows, that might still be good advice.
- I'm in IT. It's the advice I wish I'd followed from the beginning.
  Once you get comfortable in your job and it becomes routine, you need to find a new one. Keep growing your skill set, and probably take a hefty raise each time.
  Don't worry about being a job hopper - it resolves itself easily enough when you don't find the next position for a while.
  
  That sounds super stressful to me and you need to have a lot of energy left after your workday to look for a new job. I'm so glad I don't have to do that
  
  Also in IT, I'm not as frequent a job hopper as some but it's how I climbed the ladder to where I am today. Ultimately companies don't give a fuck about you and just care about their profits so they will pay you as little as they can. Your only time to get more $ is when they're vulnerable and hiring cause they need you.
  
  I so need to do this. Been at the same job for almost 10 years and it feels like everyone else I started with has surpassed me for this reason in terms of salary and position. But i hate applying for jobs in tech so much, having to do the leetcode study bullshit as if I'm still in school and all that. It's so exhausting and annoying. Maybe it's the ADHD, but it's hard to bring myself to sit down and do it.
  But also, I could really use more money, it's been impossible to save for a house where I live, and I'd love to be able to have one someday. I know it's not too late, I still have so many years before I retire, but I'm still jealous of you guys that could sit down and more easily do the interview dance every 2-3 years.
- Just be careful when you do, because there's a risk of screwing up your retirement savings. Losing employer contributions that could have kicked in if you held out another 6 months or whatever. (I'm not an expert on this subject by the way, and ymmv)

“Unionize, join the party, and eat the rich.”

Networking (AKA meeting people) is a good way to get jobs.
While skill and experience matter, networking is often the catalyst that connects you with the right opportunities. In a way, it’s like investing in your social capital—often as valuable as any degree or certification.
College actually helps with both skill and networking at the same time.
- If it weren't for networking I would have never gone from being a line cook that barely graduated highschool to a CAD tech for a land surveying company. Had literally zero experience and was definitely not what I thought I'd be doing in five years when I was working the closing shift at restaurants every night until 2:00 AM.
  
  I literally got my current job by meeting an old co-worker at a book store and letting him know I was looking after our previous company got shut down. I did happen to have the right skills, but my local area was flooded with software developers in an area that really didnt need that many. But I got the job.
- In my experience, this highly depends on the college. Mine really didn't do shit for me as far as networking goes. And what connections i did make didn't end up helping anyway. Maybe it starts mattering more once you've got some experience?
- This is essential. Speaking from experience as a guy with bad mental problems who can't do relationships. Work on that, kids!

Career advice for this generation is get wealthy parents
- Ahh man all I got was a disabled mom and prison dad.
  Think I can trade him for a rich dad to a rich person who wants to claim they had a rough child hood?

If you want a good job just learn how to code!
- Yeah. The tech industry is imploding as it switches from development to maintenance.

Any career advice coming from the prior generation is useless because it doesn't apply to your generation.
Even starting a major because everyone's currently hiring in that field is useless. By the time you're finished, so will all the other students who started at the same time to get a good job down the line.
I gave up my initial plan of becoming an ecologist and went into IT for job security. And now I'm about to be laid off cause the company I work for is close to going under, for the third time.
Meanwhile friends of mine who started their careers as social workers, physical therapists, nurses and in the trades are buying houses while I live in a moldy apartment.
My advice is to just do what interests you, you probably won't starve. Also, disregard this advice if you're just starting out your career. I'm 40, so my experience won't be helpful to you 20 years younger people.
- Physical therapists, nurses and people that went into trades I can see making good money, but social workers I am kind of surprised to hear. I thought those were for the most part not paid as well compared to how taxing their jobs can be.
  
  Depends. My friend who went that route positioned herself in a freelancer consultant role for government institutions and schools.
  She makes 6 figures.
  
  Social workers doing clinical therapy at the federal level make bank.
  
  Nurses seem really unhappy
- I gave up my initial plan of becoming an ecologist and went into IT for job security. And now I’m about to be laid off cause the company I work for is close to going under, for the third time.
  Sorry to hear
- It wasn't long ago that I heard that analytics was about to be replaced by AI.
- But who do you think is hiring you? Strictly people of your same age?
  
  Just be careful of whether they're giving advice that benefits you or them

If you want a house, start saving in middle school.

"Just be a YouTuber/streamer/influencer"
- Is this a thing people say unironically? It's as dumb as saying "just go be a movie star"
- I hear this from some of the kids that I coach. I remind them that they have to do something worth watching. I know that some lucky content creators make money with low effort posts, but in a world where everyone wants views, you need to be good enough at something to catch peoples attention.
  
  That tracks. I volunteered with a week long program to teach html and the basics of building a website, and I went back to work after day one because all the students picked social media marketing. 😆

I tell my kids that a) they must graduate high school, and then either go to college or learn a trade. Regardless, they need to be educated.

“Go infiltrate your own billionaire’s bunker.”

If you want a good job, become a social media influencer. It pays more than most other jobs, and you can be the worst type of person and still make it big.
- That seems like survivorship bias. Curious how much the average aspiring influencer goes on to make in the field...

Hopefully: college is bullshit, go to a trade school.
- And when you can't find work "But welding pays well! Why aren't you doing it?"

Have you tried being a hunter/gatherer?
- NO TRESPASSING

"Give up hope now before the pain of existence rips it away. Oh, also eat healthy, and do some light exercise daily that stuff is important too."

Buy a 3d printer and sell shit on eBay.

No one seriously thinks OF is a viable career path do they? Sex work has never been a career thing, at best you get a couple years of good earning and then you get forgotten. At worst, you get a pittance and mental health issues.
Tech has worked out for lots of people, just because some are laid off every so often, doesn't mean the rest aren't doing really well.
- OF is a lottery for pretty girls or for people in very niche communities.
  Like if your thing is wearing girly socks and mushing Jello between your toes, you could probably make some money on onlyfans but just being a generic 6.5 out of 10 or better looking? No chance in hell.

I think we're about to circle back to circa 1000s yurop: "Now, my child, you behave while I try to sell you as a ~~slave~~ FREE ENTREPRENEURIAL COLLABORATOR to mr. Rich Douchebag, as that is the only way to go up the social and financial ladder."

Well, I really hope that it remains "go to college". As someone with a good career in my area, with good positions and salaries, even without a college education, I still think that the lack of college education still makes me have several gaps and difficulties.
I was fooled for some time by the idea that college education isn't needed and I hope this generation doesn't do the same.
But some careers I think it will be good for the long future:
AI industry
Data security
Green energy
Finance (always, but it costs your mental health)
And, the thing that I wish someone told me in a trustable way when I was a teenager: go with your happiness, the sucess is there, because success is WAY MORE than make money
- The world has been changing fast and I think the safest advice in terms of always having work is to learn something to do with bedrock infrastructure, like plumbing or welding.
  
  As we approach the singularity, more and more things will be done by fewer people.
  No one has a plan for the singularity, they are hoping that AI will figure it out.
  May God have mercy on us all.

The (Graphic) Design industry is being overmarketed by influencers trying to sell their overpriced courses, so that they can get a passive income instead of actually working in the field. They have no desire to teach nor mentor students, and the industry is actually extremely saturated with very little prospects unless you land a bingo of both skills and networking.

"Learn how to teach yourself"

Maybe something about learning how to use apostophes or whatever.

As someone without friends, I hear a lot of "if you want friends, get a job."
Plot twist: I actually do have a job, many of them don't.

Go to trade school.

I think there are a lot of fields people are being encouraged to ignore because "it's totally going to be made obsolete by AI any day now". I'm sure some of them ultimately will be, but we still have people doing financial services despite so much of the calculations being handled entirely by software under the hood.
The people pushing this AI revolution concept are those who stand to make money off it, and those who can use it as an excuse for layoffs to save money in the short term before they jump to another company and avoid the consequences.
- I remember 14 years ago in high school I was kicking around the idea of becoming a court reporter (type out everything said in court) , but was told "nooo look at Siri, that'll totally replace all that soon!"
  No, no it's not. We don't want things like that making choices like that.
  Also was told "C and C++ is too old, learn something newer"
  People get too excited about new tech, not thinking about why the old tech stands the test of time.

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