# Becoming Educated or learning a trade



## MisterPerfect (Nov 20, 2015)

Well being an INTJ I think its not odd that I would get this problem but I always been very unsure of what I wanted to do in college. The problem is that I did not get a decent education of everything I needed to learn in HS. In fact I was not even lucky enough to get my junior classes. Since my schools system crashed, and so they put everyone either in a grade higher or grade lower than they should be. Like Kids going into Spanish one were put in Spanish 2 even though they never took Spanish 1. I was actually put back into Soft more classes twice, so I did not learn much. Now, in college I have a chance to make that up but there is a huge dilemma with this. If I get my general Eds I will have to transfer to a four year and I am unsure if I will be able to pay for that, If I take a trade I will be unhappy since I felt like I did not really learn a lot but I have a useful skill. So what should I do? I very conflicted. I one of those people who would probobly have like 5 totally unrelated majors that I just never finished and end up becoming a professional student and collecting huge debt I cant pay back.


----------



## lizw47 (Jan 12, 2015)

You just said "If I take a trade I will be unhappy" so obviously, do not take a trade. 

You aren't supposed to know what you want to do before you go to college. Part of going to college is taking a bunch of classes, having fun, meeting new friends, and figuring things out along the way. You figure things out as you go along.  Some of my favorite classes were electives. It was by taking a lot of random classes I figured out what I wanted to do. And it is perfectly fine if you have a bunch of unrelated majors. I dated a guy who was INTJ a graduated with three unrelated majors. There were tons of people in my graduating class who had unrelated majors. Actually I went to a school that required double majoring.


----------



## MisterPerfect (Nov 20, 2015)

lizw47 said:


> You just said "If I take a trade I will be unhappy" so obviously, do not take a trade.
> 
> You aren't supposed to know what you want to do before you go to college. Part of going to college is taking a bunch of classes, having fun, meeting new friends, and figuring things out along the way. You figure things out as you go along.  Some of my favorite classes were electives. It was by taking a lot of random classes I figured out what I wanted to do. And it is perfectly fine if you have a bunch of unrelated majors. I dated a guy who was INTJ a graduated with three unrelated majors. There were tons of people in my graduating class who had unrelated majors. Actually I went to a school that required double majoring.


That makes sense if you are lucky and dont need a job, I also can not afford to pay for the classes if I take a bunch of unrelated majors.


----------



## flamesabers (Nov 20, 2012)

MisterPerfect said:


> That makes sense if you are lucky and dont need a job, I also can not afford to pay for the classes if I take a bunch of unrelated majors.


I agree. I think pursuing a trade is more practical for you for two reasons:

1. You'll be able to get into the workforce sooner and start making money instead of amassing a ton of student loans. Do you want to pay a college to teach you or do you want an employer to pay you to learn a job?

2. Learning a trade may be a good way to figure out what you like to do and what pays well. Even if you don't like the trade, you'll probably still learn a lot of skills which will be invaluable when trying to find your ideal job. 

I've walked in both worlds so to speak. I have a degree in accounting and I joined the army at a young age. College is useful I think but only so long as you know what you want to major in and it's a field that requires a college education. Having a college education is a good credential to have, but it's not the same as on-the-job training. Getting an accounting job I think really helped to further my understanding of accounting in the real world. Much of my learning in the army occurred through on-the-job training. A significant benefit it has over my college education is everything I learn and do has a real-world application to it, while the same may not completely apply to a college education. For whatever reason, I find it much easier to talk in-depth about and explain what I learned from working than what I learned in school.


----------



## Biracial (Sep 8, 2010)

I doubt as an intj that you would be unhappy building or fixing doing trade work


----------



## peyandkeele (Jul 28, 2015)

i say go for a trade.

Student loans are no joke.

if your interested in computers at all, i suggest getting a certificate, like comptia, ccnp, ccna, etc. (well you have to get the ccna first before you branch into others). Anyway, thats what im doing, as i dont want to pay student loans for the rest of my life, i know im not gonna stay committed to college for 4 straight years( or however long), and i dont want to be a plumber, or mechanic, or anything like that. But i do like computers, and can get paid fairly well in IT on just a cert (at least in my area).


----------



## MisterPerfect (Nov 20, 2015)

Biracial said:


> I doubt as an intj that you would be unhappy building or fixing doing trade work


No I meant since I wont get to take General Eds. I like learning for the sake of learning. You could teach me how toffy is made and ill listen and be happy I learned it. Thais is totally useless but I would be happy I learned it.


----------



## Swordsman of Mana (Jan 7, 2011)

lizw47 said:


> You just said "If I take a trade I will be unhappy" so obviously, do not take a trade.
> 
> You aren't supposed to know what you want to do before you go to college. Part of going to college is taking a bunch of classes, having fun, meeting new friends, and figuring things out along the way. You figure things out as you go along.  Some of my favorite classes were electives. It was by taking a lot of random classes I figured out what I wanted to do. And it is perfectly fine if you have a bunch of unrelated majors. I dated a guy who was INTJ a graduated with three unrelated majors. There were tons of people in my graduating class who had unrelated majors. Actually I went to a school that required double majoring.


respectfully, this mindset is problematic on many levels
- most notably, college is _expensive_. there are plenty of ways to explore, learn about different subjects and dive into research material for a fraction of a cast. 
- college is stressful. if you go in without a plan, it's very easy to say "why the hell am I doing this?" and drop out 
- college is time consuming. this approach could be the difference between 8 semesters vs 11 semesters

obviously, no one needs to have their entire life figured out before college, but encouraging people to go in without a plan is incredibly inefficient and potentially harmful. 
@MisterPerfect
learning a trade _is_ becoming educated, you mean learning a trade vs getting a degree. either way, I don't think I'd recommend it for you based on the OP and other posts of yours. personally, I would suggest working backwards: research all the majors that make an acceptable living and then narrow it down from there based on which ones you would like.


----------



## MisterPerfect (Nov 20, 2015)

Swordsman of Mana said:


> respectfully, this mindset is problematic on many levels
> - most notably, college is _expensive_. there are plenty of ways to explore, learn about different subjects and dive into research material for a fraction of a cast.
> - college is stressful. if you go in without a plan, it's very easy to say "why the hell am I doing this?" and drop out
> - college is time consuming. this approach could be the difference between 8 semesters vs 11 semesters
> ...


Yeah that doesnt work 

Since I always come out with like 5-8. 

Chemistry, Robotics, Computer(Graphic design and coding)+Engineering, Accounting


----------



## peyandkeele (Jul 28, 2015)

MisterPerfect said:


> Yeah that doesnt work
> 
> Since I always come out with like 5-8.
> 
> Chemistry, Robotics, Computer(Graphic design and coding)+Engineering, Accounting


Graphic design and coding are good fields to get into, i would go for those. Accounting is a good one too. Chemistry and robotics would be tough jobs to get(if you can get a job in it at all). So i would avoid those two as career paths, and ditch the idea of going to school for them. That is if you are in fact considering going to school.


----------



## MisterPerfect (Nov 20, 2015)

peyandkeele said:


> Graphic design and coding are good fields to get into, i would go for those. Accounting is a good one too. Chemistry and robotics would be tough jobs to get(if you can get a job in it at all). So i would avoid those two as career paths, and ditch the idea of going to school for them. That is if you are in fact considering going to school.


Why do you say Chemistry hard to get into?


----------



## floodbear (Mar 3, 2016)

if i could go back i would've learned a trade, probably welding. college didn't seem like an option, and i didn't think i'd be happy in a trade either. so now i'm 26, broke, in serious debt due to life catastrophe and my poor handling of it, and i don't have any apparent valuable skills. 

the most important thing is to figure out some way to support yourself. after that, you can figure out how to enjoy your life. it's hard to enjoy your life when you're broke and in debt. don't get student loans unless you're damn sure that's what you want.

even if you're one of the lucky people who go to college and get a good job that might eventually pay off your mountain of debt, you're going to be tied down to whatever field you chose. if you go to community college and learn a skilled trade, you can work it for five years, accumulate some cash, and then you'll have a lot more options in front of you than the people who went for the degree and the debt. 

fuck what people think. college is not more respectable than a trade. anyone who thinks that it's a good idea for a child with no independent life experience and no real perspective on the adult world to commit him or herself to a career and a mountain of debt is an idiot. 

if society wasn't so fucked, you would've spent a good portion of the first 18 years of your life learning how to support yourself. but you didn't. almost no one does. they don't even give you the option, or tell you it might be a good idea.


----------



## MisterPerfect (Nov 20, 2015)

floodbear said:


> if i could go back i would've learned a trade, probably welding. college didn't seem like an option, and i didn't think i'd be happy in a trade either. so now i'm 26, broke, in serious debt due to life catastrophe and my poor handling of it, and i don't have any apparent valuable skills.
> 
> the most important thing is to figure out some way to support yourself. after that, you can figure out how to enjoy your life. it's hard to enjoy your life when you're broke and in debt. don't get student loans unless you're damn sure that's what you want.
> 
> ...


This is true


----------



## peyandkeele (Jul 28, 2015)

MisterPerfect said:


> Why do you say Chemistry hard to get into?


Chemistry is harder to get into than coding and accounting. I know a couple of people (or used to know) who are in it, and it wasnt easy getting there jobs. But it may have to do with the area they live in.


----------



## Toru Okada (May 10, 2011)

I am attempting to enter a trade I can let you know once I begin. But I'd say trades either way unless you're going to study something important with perceivable payoff. With a trade you can be earning in that 4 or 5 years, pretty decent increasing wages while not being stuck bored sitting down in certain classes and then debt-laden. Although your top end studies would hypothetically eliminate your loan debt within a few years if you land a good job. But those are really hard and tbh do you even want to do that I mean come on now


----------



## koalaroo (Nov 25, 2011)

If you want to get an industry job involving chemistry, you honestly need to get a chemical engineering degree. Companies don't tend to hire chemists with a bachelors degree alone.


----------



## MisterPerfect (Nov 20, 2015)

koalaroo said:


> If you want to get an industry job involving chemistry, you honestly need to get a chemical engineering degree. Companies don't tend to hire chemists with a bachelors degree alone.


I considered a chemical engineering degree, that looks like fun.


----------



## koalaroo (Nov 25, 2011)

MisterPerfect said:


> I considered a chemical engineering degree, that looks like fun.


If you want to do something with a chemistry degree, typically you have to go for a masters degree.


----------



## ArmchairCommie (Dec 27, 2015)

I'm currently a senior in high school so I obviously can't speak from personal experience but my advice would be to try and get an engineering degree. I plan on getting a degree in electrical engineering when I go college this fall as I hear that engineering jobs are great choices those who are intellectual and love learning but don't want to be an impoverished post-Doc student for the rest of their lives. But if you don't want to go into engineering or law or something else along those lines then learning a trade would be the best path forward for your economic security. Your chances of being able to be a professor who is "learning for the sake of learning" is next to none so if your dream is to become an art history teacher with tenure then I'm going to have to tell you that you have a better chance of winning the lottery.


----------



## MisterPerfect (Nov 20, 2015)

ArmchairCommie said:


> I'm currently a senior in high school so I obviously can't speak from personal experience but my advice would be to try and get an engineering degree. I plan on getting a degree in electrical engineering when I go college this fall as I hear that engineering jobs are great choices those who are intellectual and love learning but don't want to be an impoverished post-Doc student for the rest of their lives. But if you don't want to go into engineering or law or something else along those lines then learning a trade would be the best path forward for your economic security. Your chances of being able to be a professor who is "learning for the sake of learning" is next to none so if your dream is to become an art history teacher with tenure then I'm going to have to tell you that you have a better chance of winning the lottery.


Why do you think being a Professor chance? Did you read the outlooks? or know someone?


----------

