A good career???

[WICKEDGN]

Hey guys im about to start college again in september after about a year and a half wasted of my life. I wanted to ask what is a good career for me to take now in days as i am kinda undecided what can i do for the rest of my life. I

mean working on cars is great specially on the beast but i see my self doing that on my free time, i was leaning more towards "Business Management" since there lot's of jobs here in vegas opening every other day and my current job U.P.S will pay for 90% of my tuition, but im still undecisive can you give me some pointers and hope fully guide me towards a great career.

thanx guys for all your replys

 

[Buick From Hell]

Have UPS pay for flight training so you can fly their airplanes! Talk about GOOD money & bennies!!

It's right under yer nose, son!!

 

[turbo buicks]

a friend of mine who was my schools valedictorian a few years back is going to college to be a pharmacist and he got me into it to. because 1) start off at ~$90K/year, 2) work every other week, three days per week (avg.), 3) 6 years in college gets him out with a doctor of pharmacology dergree or something like that. he can help me with all i need to know and show me where to go. from what he was saying it isnt as hard to do as one would think but we'll see. im like you, i like workin on cars but i dont see myself as a mechanic by any means. im very lazy and despise manual labor. if i was gonna go to college and do something in cars i would go into body design or engine design and design a practical alternative fuel car. in 50 yrs i dont think cars will be running on gas. maybe chicken poop.

 

[turbo buicks]

also my moms a nurse and she said that if you are a pharmacist the field is littered with open positions. my friend is already getting job offers and he is still in college. a friend of my moms makes enough to give her kid $300 to go to the mall and not even think about it. she is a single parent and lives in a $500,000 house and drives a new Cadillac.

 

[gnturboray]

Be a cop, its the greatest job in the world!!!

 

[turbo buicks]

hahaha, tell that to my dad. wait till he sees this post, lol.

 

[bigz]

I'm a cop and I do think it is a good career. The benefits and retirement are hard to beat. You'll never get rich, but you also don't have to worry about being laid off. If I had to do it over again though I would look into becoming a firefighter. Most firefighters don't work alot of days in a month. Their shifts are 24 hours but during that time they get paid to work out, cook, and sleep. I know a lot of cops that complain about their job, but very few firefighters. Everyday at work is Friday for them and most have jobs or businesses on the side to supplement their income which is a good deal.



Z

 

[1987 GN]

Originally posted by bigz
I'm a cop and I do think it is a good career. The benefits and retirement are hard to beat. You'll never get rich, but you also don't have to worry about being laid off. If I had to do it over again though I would look into becoming a firefighter. Most firefighters don't work alot of days in a month. Their shifts are 24 hours but during that time they get paid to work out, cook, and sleep. I know a lot of cops that complain about their job, but very few firefighters. Everyday at work is Friday for them and most have jobs or businesses on the side to supplement their income which is a good deal.
Z

I agree that police and fire jobs have great pay and benefits. If I had known that I probably would have looked into them when I was a bit younger. A friend of mine is a city officer and makes a fortune with all of the pay details but he was 1 of 20 officers recently laid off due to the budget crisis. He will be rehired again but even they are not immune to being laid off. Best advice I can offer is find something you love to do, that you love so much you would do it for next to nothing, then you will be happy. The money will come later, make sure you enjoy your life. A lot of us chase the starting salary but you end up being bitter. I am 27, make excellent money, but have spent the last 6 years sitting in a cube punching numbers on a calculator for a few companies who could care less about me. Not very fulfilling. Good luck.

 

[Tim Barnum]

You could start your own business. I started mine 8 years ago with $1000 and now I don't have to work and I still earn $500K per year. But you'll have to work hard for a while. Good luck Plumbing rules!

 

[Jack Evers]

Originally posted by 1987 GN
Best advice I can offer is find something you love to do, that you love so much you would do it for next to nothing, then you will be happy. The money will come later, make sure you enjoy your life.

This is some of the best advice you could possibly be given. You're going to work at your chosen profession for 40 or so years. Unless you love what you're doing, you won't do it well, you'll hate getting up in the morning to go to work and you'll do a mediocre job. If you love what you're doing, you'll do it well and the money will follow.

 

[turboscott]

I agree with 1987 GN as well. Much like 1987 GN, a friend of mine by the way, I sit in a cube and make decent money. But, I could care less about my job, it is just something offering me a pay check. My wife on the other hand went to school to do something she knew she would enjoy. She loves her job and she still makes more money than me. It didn't start out that way though, she just worked hard and ended up landing herself and great job. She just turned 28 and she is the director of the program she runs in a nearby school system. She works 8 months a year and get more than me.

Do something you feel you will like. You need to get paid to live but don't let that be the driving factor in what you choose to do in life. Some jobs have good benefits and sometimes that is more important than the money. Another piece of advice I would like to give is start saving for retirement now. Open yourself a Roth IRA and make some kind of contribution every year and you will be glad you did.

 

[gn85]

Teaching..

Teaching is a really great deal... only work one out of two days of the year. Benefits are usually decent. BUT.... and here's the big BUT.... you've GOT to love what you're doing in this profession. I know PLENTY of teachers that went through school, did one year of teaching and QUICKLY went into another profession. Either they didn't have the heart or didn't have what it takes to put up with the MANY things you have to put up with as a teacher... and I'm not just talking about the kids.


Not meaning to sound like a skipping CD, but I couldn't agree more with what everyone else has said though. ENJOY what you are doing... my father makes a NICE amount of money but hates his job... with a passion (retiring soon). I actually have certifications to work on cars (ASE, not that that means a lot), but I realized that I simply didn't want to go into that field. I couldn't picture crawling under everybody elses car all day. By the end of the day, I wouldn't want to look at mine. I'm not saying that wrenching is a bad job... I have plenty of friends that turn wrenches for a living and MAN.. they do QUITE well for themselves. But as everyone else is saying... find something you love to do. I've always loved teaching... now I do it every day... get paid and enjoy my summers.

Good luck in your search.. and congratulations on your choice to go back to school. It's not easy getting back in the grind.. but stick it out. There is a light at the end.

 

[GN One Day...]

A general business degree is always good. Take some accounting classes too, that's something I wish I'd done, just for practical reasons.
Having the right job at the right place is a powerful combination, and possibly rare. Most people will change jobs 3-4 times before they find their "home", so don't get discouraged when you get out if you aren't 100% satisfied after a year. Also, don't misinterpret the wrong job as the wrong career choice. The wrong environment will make your perfect career choice seem like a living hell. Get in the right place and your whole life will improve. Allow your career to evolve in the direction you want to go as you learn more and gain more real world experience. When you start working, you'll see positions and jobs that you get excited about and want to develop. Go with the flow and you'll settle in to the right place and career. Don't feel like you have to decide *right now* what to do for the rest of your life. Just try to come up with something that'll get you in the right direction and isn't TOO specialized. Sometimes, specialization leads to no job demand, leading to unemployment.

 

[scojack_2001]

UPS

UPS is a good job to get into. I have only been working there for a little over a year, but I have a solid career ahead of me. I would like to be a driver one day. I mean, its alot of work, but it really isn't that hard. I made almost a grand helping a driver deliver packages during the Christmas season. The top rate for drivers is $23.87 an hour, or about 60k a year. I pay nothing for my bennies, I get a discounted stock program(?) and alot of other stuff I cant remember. I am working my way up the ranks. I like it. I still can't afford a new car, but I'm doing good. It takes time and a willingness to do the job. HTH.

Scott

 

[turboscott]

$24/hr doesn't equal $60K per year unless some OT is involved. I am not saying a UPS driver is bad, in fact sometimes I wich I did something like that. but, do you need to go to school for that? am currently waiting for my acceptance letter to go back to school for my MBA. I like working with money and I want to get a job in fiance. I think this is what I will really enjoy doing. I saw some recommendations for being a pharmacist. Not a bad profession if you like dealing with science.

 

[89SandBagger]

I work for UPS aswell, been there for about 1.5 years. The more I load these package trucks the less I want to become a driver, they get screwed every possible way. The guys I load for, on avg do about 20 stops over the optimal amount. Personally, I like being a preloader, pay sucks but the benefits are great. The '22.3' jobs they offer are nice, preload+morning airs. So for any of you that plan to drive, be ready to be RUNNING all day. As of now I load 4 trucks off of a straight belt, doing roughly 250-300 packages an hour, for 4.5 hrs. You do know what UPS stands for right? "Under Paid Slaves"

 

[scojack_2001]

UPS

i work the preload in the Christiana hub and its okay. I mean, no a/c or fans and 100 degree heat. its really exhausting. Drivers do get screwed, and they put in alot of ot. I load two package cars and average about 300 pieces each. My drivers are cool. One complains alot and the other is okay about it. I get orders of 130 cases of safety shoes every other day and they run a split car just for my two trucks. There are that many people in friggin Claymont, Delaware. It really aggravates me sometimes. my supervisor doesn't do anything but yell at me. I mean, come on, I got a job to do. Drivers got it tough. A big portly truck to drive, plus it sticks out lick a sore thumb, and they go deaf from the diesel engine. Heavy packages and every possible other things you can think of. Oh yeah and FedEx trucks have A/C, and ours dont. And then the spend $47 MILLION to chage one logo worldwide. And then they have to repaint the trucks. I just had to vent.

Scott

 

[WICKEDGN]

Dam i love this site thanx to everyone for all the replys and encourage ment you guys gave me. I would love some day to open my own business and a pharmacist doesnt sound bad, not for 90k a year i will find something i like doing and follw it then after the days over i will drive around in the beast to realeave pressure with boost of course thanx for the reply's guys i really apreciate all the advice you have given me.

 

[steve hughes]

I'm a mechanic at UPS. The pay and benifits are hard to beat. They are definatly slave drivers. They are hard on everybody but it's too good a job to walk away from. If you can hang in there 15 or 20 years then find you job you like.

 

[John Larkin]

An accountant with a minor in law is hard to beat. You will have more control than a corporate VP. Bean counters ultimately rule the world.