Success without college

[Liftinmammals]

Yo MMO Champ,

Those of you who have not attended college and are living a successful life, in whatever way you define success, what have you done to get there? What steps have you taken to climb the ladders since high school or since obtaining a GED? What would you advise others to do, who don't have a genuine interest in or the funds for college, to be able to still jump into the job world and become a successful asset? I am truly interested in hearing your stories and how you've been able to reach for your success without the notion that college is the only way to that success.

[Independent voter]

Move if you have to. If there are no jobs where you are, move to a place where there are jobs.

[Vargulf the Happy Husky]

Work. Work hard. Do well.

I'm just a shipping guy, but I'm quite content with my place of employment. My immediate coworkers are douche bags, but the job itself is cool. (Homebrew store, so I'm surrounded by beer stuff!)

My wife started as a receptionist at her job, she worked her way to salesperson, and is now currently the purchaser for the entire company.

OP, employers want smart, hard workers. College people have this chip on their shoulder with the thought of "well i have this degree, i deserve more." 25 years ago i would have agreed, but the potential employee market is saturated by these kind of people. The ones like my wife and me who aren't afraid to get in the shit and handle things are becoming more and more scarce.

Another tip is the old cliche of find something you love to do and then make money doing it. Even if that something is being a short order cook, if you enjoy cooking and the rush of different dishes at a quick pace then you will excel at it and you will do well. AND you might fuck around and have fun doing it!

[Mr big]

Took a apprenticeship after working construction for a year.

[Captain N]

I took an apprenticeship as a plumber and proceeded to lose my job in 2008 when the housing market took a dive.

I spent close to the next year working in a Home Depot as it was the only place hiring and I needed to pay my bills. Yes I got a good amount of hate from people calling me uneducated, lazy, and that I made a bad life decision.

I got lucky and was hired by the railroad where I spent the first 18 months of my career as a Conductor. Chicago winters suck so I took the first available Engine Service class, passed it with flying colors, and have been an engineer ever since.

I now spend a great deal of time trying to get people into my field of work -- I mean even if you're only a Custodian...you're still going to make $22.75/hour with all those nice Union Benefits and Railroad Retirement to boot.

[Mormolyce]

I went to university and honestly I don't think it's worth the money. Nobody gives a shit about your degree, it isn't the ticket to ride people make it out to be, it's still really hard to break into your first job and you basically have to hope someone in the interview takes a shine to you. And then after your first job your education means exactly zero, some people might like it on your resume but it's about as important as the "hobbies" section - all anyone cares about is your previous job experience.

At least that was my experience, maybe if you took a different degree that's very integrated into the industry it'd be different.

But I do recall seeing a study ages ago that showed that when you take into account the number of years and amount of money a student spends finishing their degree, they actually never catch up to someone who went straight into the workforce, started earning an income and moving up the chain from day one. The increased starting salary just isn't enough to make up the difference. On average anyway.

[Deleted]

I personally know more successful people who didn't go to university than did

[King Shark]

I took an apprenticeship as a plumber and proceeded to lose my job in 2008 when the housing market took a dive.

I spent close to the next year working in a Home Depot as it was the only place hiring and I needed to pay my bills. Yes I got a good amount of hate from people calling me uneducated, lazy, and that I made a bad life decision.

I got lucky and was hired by the railroad where I spent the first 18 months of my career as a Conductor. Chicago winters suck so I took the first available Engine Service class, passed it with flying colors, and have been an engineer ever since.

I now spend a great deal of time trying to get people into my field of work -- I mean even if you're only a Custodian...you're still going to make $22.75/hour with all those nice Union Benefits and Railroad Retirement to boot.

I was never able to get my foot into the rail industry- my real dream job has always been a locomotive engineer. I'm jealous.

OT: I'm a truck driver. Started as a company employee, before getting my own truck, making my own rules, and signing my own checks.

[Aeriedk]

For several years I worked very hard without a college education. I joined a small company as an administrative assistant, learned some of the ins and outs and earned myself some small raises. I earned enough money to live, but that really was it. It paid the bills and a few small luxury items here or there, but it would take forever to earn enough raises to buy a nice house, or a new car. So I saved my money and went to college. After college things were much better...my first job I started making $30,000 more than the last. I enjoyed the work more, felt like I actually had a sense of direction when I when I went to work.

College people have this chip on their shoulder with the thought of "well i have this degree, i deserve more." 25 years ago i would have agreed, but the potential employee market is saturated by these kind of people.

I don't think it's necessarily a chip on their shoulder, but more of a "I've worked hard and spent money gaining expertise in this field and I expect more than someone you would hire off the street".

I went to university and honestly I don't think it's worth the money. Nobody gives a shit about your degree, it isn't the ticket to ride people make it out to be

I would agree that it definitely isn't a ticket to ride. If you don't work hard it doesn't matter what degree you have, but I personally do think it is worth it based on my experience. And lots of employers do care about your degree. The fact is many job offers want a minimum of a degree + x amount of years of experience. Most that I've seen are around AA with 8 Bachelors with 4, Masters with 2, etc. Along those lines... if they have a section saying that experience can make up for a degree it usually suggest 10+ years of experience and that's if. You can apply to jobs with less experience or to jobs asking for a degree without one, but I've had the misfortune of being told I can't be hired without a degree several times.

Mormolyce is right. After you get your first job the degree really does become meaningless, they want to know its there, but they don't really care. However, with that degree (using government as an example) maybe you start at a GS6 instead of a GS2, that's if you can get the job at all.

Lastly...so I don't appear as a champion for college. IF you have some real expertise in a field it will out-compete a degree any day of the week. The difficult part is getting an employer to take a chance on you so that you can display those expertise.

[Darsithis]

I didn't go to college. I taught myself everything about software development I could, then worked from a teenager onward. In my field, at least, experience usually trumps education.

[Theinquisition]

Yo MMO Champ,

Those of you who have not attended college and are living a successful life, in whatever way you define success, what have you done to get there? What steps have you taken to climb the ladders since high school or since obtaining a GED? What would you advise others to do, who don't have a genuine interest in or the funds for college, to be able to still jump into the job world and become a successful asset? I am truly interested in hearing your stories and how you've been able to reach for your success without the notion that college is the only way to that success.

Outside of a view occupations, some sort of post-secondary education is going to be necessary to advance up the ranks of most companies. Whether that be traditional college or Trade schools. You could try being a entrepreneur.

I guess part of the question I would ask you, is what do you consider successful?

Being able to support your family and live a comfortable lifestyle, or be a millionare?

[Symphonic]

The founder of the company I work at dropped out of college. He passed away a couple years ago, and his son now runs it, who also didn't go to college. This is a successful multi-million dollar company - of course those employed there most have graduated with degrees. Engineers, for example. I went to film school and have a bachelor's degree. The reason I really respect his decision of dropping out of college. He had a wife and 4 kids. Then his brother/sister-in-law unexpectedly died, and they had 3 kids from ages 1-5, so his family took them in and now they had 7 children all under the ages of 10, and one night the 3 year old that they took custody of ran out of the house at 3 AM. She was shrieking looking for her mommy and daddy, and at that point he decided he needed to drop out. It made him realize he needed to be there instead of away from home all day working and then going to school, never seeing the children.

Anyway, nothing should hold people back from doing what they love. You're either good at it or you're not, but a degree could be important in some fields. (Doctors, engineers, etc.)

[Themius]

I went to university and honestly I don't think it's worth the money. Nobody gives a shit about your degree, it isn't the ticket to ride people make it out to be, it's still really hard to break into your first job and you basically have to hope someone in the interview takes a shine to you. And then after your first job your education means exactly zero, some people might like it on your resume but it's about as important as the "hobbies" section - all anyone cares about is your previous job experience.

At least that was my experience, maybe if you took a different degree that's very integrated into the industry it'd be different.

But I do recall seeing a study ages ago that showed that when you take into account the number of years and amount of money a student spends finishing their degree, they actually never catch up to someone who went straight into the workforce, started earning an income and moving up the chain from day one. The increased starting salary just isn't enough to make up the difference. On average anyway.

Nobody gives a shit? I think that greatly depends on your field no? Finance and Science types definitely give a shit. You're not going to find auditors at a big public firm without a degree.

[Spectral]

Nobody gives a shit? I think that greatly depends on your field no? Finance and Science types definitely give a shit. You're going going to find auditors at a big public firm without a degree.

Hell, even the fields that get heavily maligned are still often pretty relevant. Want to work as a spokesperson? Yeah, your best bet is probably going to be getting a communications degree of some sort.

[Themius]

Hell, even the fields that get heavily maligned are still often pretty relevant. Want to work as a spokesperson? Yeah, your best bet is probably going to be getting a communications degree of some sort.

I don't get the idea that all college degrees are just pieces of paper and no one gives a shit the idea escapes me. I found success without a degree thanks to connections but now I'm getting a degree to stay in the field and I would like to advance. Without a degree that wasn't going to happen. Way less opportunities, less money over time also.

Also one thing people leave out is that a great alumni base is... a great alumni base.

[Spectral]

I don't get the idea that all college degrees are just pieces of paper and no one gives a shit the idea escapes me. I found success without a degree thanks to connections but now I'm getting a degree to stay in the field and I would like to advance. Without a degree that wasn't going to happen. Way less opportunities, less money over time also.

Also one thing people leave out is that a great alumni base is... a great alumni base.

Yeah, I personally think it's kind of unfortunate how high the signaling value and connections are, but there is real knowledge to be gained too, particularly in technical disciplines. I don't actually want my accountant to be someone that says, "trust me, it'll be fine". I want the paper.

[Anon56]

Only one thing will determine your success : Relations.

Those that tell you to "work hard", "study hard" or whatever don't know shit.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

I know a TON of people that have become amazingly successful without college. I am talking 100+ K a year in the United States with all the best benefits you can imagine from health to retirement. But I notice they all have certain traits that I think people with college education can learn from. I have promoted and hired SO MANY people without that piece of paper for good reason. They were the best choice. But here is what I saw in them:

From what I can tell MOST of these people were smart people to begin with so take that into consideration. They just didn't attend college for one reason or another (I know one guy that is so ADD he cannot handle school and another that was just to poor growing up for example). But these people have brains and have learned to not judge them by a piece of paper I might have and they don't. So project your intelligence.

Next they all work really hard. These are the type of people that will volunteer to stay an hour late to make sure something gets finished. They will cover a shift if someone needs it handled. This is something I saw from them when they were coming up in the company weather it be from the mail room or working outside in the rain helping customers doing labor. THESE THINGS DO GET NOTICED. Just don't expect instant gratification.

A big one that EVERYONE can learn from is most of these people started from the bottom. A lot of them worked outside / other undesirable jobs in a trade that eventually translated upward into a working career where others could take advantage of their experience. These people learn people around the company. They learn the business. They PROVE themselves able in less desirable situations. So imagine what they will do in desirable situations?

Here is the one I think that matters the most. THEY GET ALONG WITH PEOPLE. Man this one holds so many people including (most of all) college educated people because they get caught up in drama about who gets paid more, who is talking about who, and whine whine whine. People that come up from the bottom and work hard tend not to be so obsessed with these things and thus get along with people a lot better.

The final one is apply, apply, and apply. I see so many hard working people get into this "safety" rut where they find some ok money and they start to feel safe. A lot of base entry jobs are AMAZINGLY important in upward movement in a company. You would be surprised how many businesses out there love to have people moving upward that understand their business from the top down. Don't get down when you get rejected as you apply for jobs. Just keep applying as you earn experience. You will get your day.

With my last note I will say if you didn't go to college you will have to put in a little extra time. DO NOT expect to get hired in at top dollar. DO NOT expect things to move quickly. We are talking making a good life for yourself and not hitting the lotto. You are going to have to work, work, and work. Earn respect. Make friends. Learn the business. You will get a good job over the course of a few years. Just don't let instant gratification enter your mind. Even quick gratification. It is going to take time. Their is a reason why college kids get hired and fired a lot more often. Because they are given the benefit of the doubt and their leash is a lot shorter thus they get the can. You on the other hand as you work though and prove yourself will experience a lot less of the short leash. EXPERIENCE is most important thing in life. NOT an education. You just have to get your foot in the door to first earn it and then prove you got it.

Go get them.

[Independent voter]

Did Trump go to college?

[Afrospinach]

Did Trump go to college?

Yes he did.