srf506

I was AFROTC scholarship at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. Graduated with a degree in ME. Went on to spend 12 years on active duty as a USAF pilot where I started SCCA Club Racing. When I left active duty I spent 4 more years in the reserves and working full-time at Lockheed Martin, then Martin Marietta, as a Program Manager. Started helping out at Alex Job Racing working for him part-time on weekends and as part of the "over the wall gang." After my first wife passed away unexpectedly, bought my own Spec Racer Ford and ran it in the SE Region until just last year.

VERBOTN

C:
good idea and interesting post: Normal BS, college that is with some international travel sprinkled in. For the past decades or so mechanical and electrical contractor. I suspect once a contractor always a contractor.

analogmike

Another Engineer from Rensselaer here. Did software engineering for years but I missed the Silicon Valley tech boom and internet startups (doh!) so I left it to start a small business which I had been growing as a side job.

Now I answer emails all day and try to run the company, which gives me little to no free time. But what time I have, I make the best of. It's all about hard work and taking some risks. NEVER let other people make your decisions, they will not see your talents. I should have learned this in Junior high school but it took another 20 years to sink in. Do something yourself and you can make it. Try to keep your debt down.

Good luck!

RickBetterley

Great idea!
I have a BA in Government from Bates College, and am self-employed as a management consultant; my specialty is risk (managing risk, not seeking risk).
I won't get rich doing it, but its an interesting field and has taken good care of me (and my family).
An interesting career is really important; your students should try to sample a few to see what they like. Internships are a great way to sample.

kurt M

I wish.... Only in some markets are wrenches highly valued and the trades have a stigma to some. I do not have a high school diploma. I have a GED and used it to take some classes at the local C.C. I used that knowledge to leverage my way into working environments that suited me and learned as I went. Do enough things, do them well and keep your head about you and you will end up with a usefull skill pool many ways to many people. I am lucky in as I am the sole breadwinner in the classic nuclear family and I bet that this is not the standard GED track. Lovely wife, two kids, fat yellow lab, comfortable brick house in the burbs with little morgage left, a white picket fence mini van and the like. Tell you kids to get an education and get on paper! I deal with people all day that make more than me but can't think their way out of a wet paper bag. Who is the dumber one? I like to read, remember what I read, read all kinds of material cover to cover and read whenever I can. I can't watch TV unless I have a book or the newspaper. This, a genetic dose of common sense, working hard and not being silly with my money are the only reasons I have a good life.
Get the higher skills education on paper and the common sense part becomes optional. You ether have genetic skills that people want or you better learn some and have proof.

deep_uv

A.S. in Business Administration and B.S. in Computer Science. Have spent my career in semiconductor manufacturing as a manufacturing process engineer and an engineering manager. I worked my way through college as a semiconductor manufacturing process technician. No way would I be where I am without a college degree.

Barfly

I'm very sorry for your loss.

I will be doing several SE events this year in a SRF. It appears to be a fast bunch of guys in a competitive region.

bobt993

BS Elect Engineering, began work in an acoustic lab, then onto weapons system at RCA. I finally ended up in consumer electronics repair, retail, which lead to my own small business still utilizing some of my college background. I now design custom high-end theaters mainly for residential.

jacksonrw

did graduate from high school and went through the 3 years of college to find out that my classmates were graduating with higher GPA's than me and making less than i was while I paid my OWN way through so i quit. I started two small businesses that supported me very well and went into financial services getting my education working in and through the industry by the school of hard knocks and by taking more and more license exams every year for the next 20 qualifying me more more and in turn better and better jobs and incomes were readily available.

Now with all those licenses and accreditations, I speak alongside the MBA's from wharton and no one can ever tell that I am a college dropout and damn proud of it.
it comes down to tenacity and perseverance. that's what makes a man a man. not saying having a degree makes you more or less, the education is just a tool in the tool box
and without a doubt having a close relationship and walk with the LORD helps most of all

Gasser

Well, spent my youth in College and had a blast along the way. I agree as the other doc above stated. Make sure to have fun along the way and pick a field you love and not based on what you will make. I have been in PVT practice for 8 years and still love my job as an Anesthesiologist. Of course, its 1 am and I just got home...

FTS

I first started studying Physics at college, did not like it after 2 years (quantum physics was too exciting for my blood); switched to mathematics for a year and it was too abstract; then tried business administration for another year, which was exciting but I had other interests at the time, like stage rallying... which ate up all my $$$ but made me much more happier. Once I figured that I was not good enough as a rally driver to make money out of it, I went to a community college and got a degree in electronics, which finally got me a job, but put me away from the track for a long time.

Finally, I decided that organizational, business and technology 'management' is my trade and have been doing it for some time with a lot of satisfaction and just enough $$$ to take be back to the track, so, best of both worlds for me in a sense

Willard Bridgham 3

Was graduated from high school and went on to college. Was graduated with BA in English and went to teach school (was actually dodging the draft). Did course work for MA in English and decided that while I liked teaching, I could not stand the politics of teaching.

Quit teaching and went into construction management for an oil company. As I really knew nothing about construction but really enjoyed it, I went to Engineering school at Union College (age 32 yrs) and was graduated with BS

I practiced with others for four years and then got my PE license and went into practice for myself doing Mechanical/Electrical design work. Not going to get rich, but will never starve.

I think all kids will eventually discover what it is they want to do and my caveat is that education makes what you want to do easier: the sheepskin gets you through the door.

What I really learned in all my college is how not to be bored.

Van

And another RPI engineer! After designing R/C cars for 5 years and then being a supplier quality engineer at IBM for 5 years, I've drifted into the world of public relations. Something I don't know a lot about, but boy do I make a mean Power Point! (And, based on my salary increase, that is something corporate America values much more!)

Coyote99

I started in a community college and finished at a state university earning an undergrad in advertising. Now I run a large communications company in Missouri. Where you go to college has little to do with what you can accomplish. The top universities and colleges are great if you need to specialize or want to make social connections but your actual productivity and work ethic will create more long term success than a head start from a well branded college.

Qwickrick

BS in industrial engineering and MS in operations research/systems analysis and worked for Grumman Aerospace. Yup, rocket scientist.