College vs skilled trades. What's your take?

[montanahiker]

There seems to be a fetish with recommending the skilled trades over a college degree.

It's largely a reaction to the fetish with recommending that everyone has to go to college or they'll never get a job.

Millions of kids go to college and either can't finish or they pick a degree that is a poor return on investment. They still have to pay for their time spent there while there are no negative consequences to the colleges.

[SkaredShtles]

I've had auto and home repair bills cost as much as emergency surgery.

I'm calling shenanigans... unless you're from one of them civilized... I mean SOCIALIST countries.

[mtnkub]

Skilled trade! College just makes you prone to wasting time on pointless internet arguments.

[coneydogron]

Spent 11 years as a rough carpenter then got myself a 2 year degree (associates) in IT. Now a senior software engineer. No complaints about my first career choice but I'm paid 4x as much now and get 5 weeks vacation and beny's. Oh, and my body isn't getting broken on a daily basis.

Trades taught me a lot especially about working hard but I'll take my college degree any day over the trades...

[Jbrow327]

Spent 11 years as a rough carpenter then got myself a 2 year degree (associates) in IT. Now a senior software engineer. No complaints about my first career choice but I'm paid 4x as much now and get 5 weeks vacation and beny's. Oh, and my body isn't getting broken on a daily basis.

Trades taught me a lot especially about working hard but I'll take my college degree any day over the trades...

Just a general IT degree? Can you become a software engineer without a degree? Are the deadlines pretty extreme in this field?

[coneydogron]

Spent 11 years as a rough carpenter then got myself a 2 year degree (associates) in IT. Now a senior software engineer. No complaints about my first career choice but I'm paid 4x as much now and get 5 weeks vacation and beny's. Oh, and my body isn't getting broken on a daily basis.

Trades taught me a lot especially about working hard but I'll take my college degree any day over the trades...

Just a general IT degree? Can you become a software engineer without a degree? Are the deadlines pretty extreme in this field?

Yea I guess its just a general associates degree. Got it at ITT back before they were broken up for fraud Now that I say it, It's probably a sub-par degree. Yes, you can become a software engineer without a degree, you just can't get hired. A lot of people in the industry still think college makes you smart unfortunately... Sure there's deadlines but are they worse than any deadlines I had for framing in a new construction home, no.

[OldTrad]

Since jbrow is clearly interested in tech/IT I'll chime in since I spent a lifetime in tech

I'll bite. I have a liberal arts degree (philosophy) and liberal arts masters (MLIS). I work in tech now doing cyber security. ...

How did you get into cybersecurity?

I won't speak for griddles, but will say that cybersecurity is a huge area, and that there are lots of specializations within the security realm. I think most people get into security through learning about networking. Some pretty basic network skills have broad applicability and don't necessarily require formal college training. E.g., configuring networks, firewalls, routers, and traditional network gear is a relatively straightforward way into "cybersecurity". My nephew does not have a college degree and learned networking while in the navy. Now he's a SVP at Cisco running an entire business unit, and he's not the only person I know who did something like this.

"Cybersecurity" also includes other distributed technologies - directory technology, security certs, authorization levels and so forth - these are all more software related security technologies rather than the networking stuff which is more hardware oriented. I worked for a long time doing systems integration (connecting systems together so they could talk to one another) and learned these sorts of software security technologies through osmosis/necessity. I didn't have any formal CS training (though I did have formal engineering training), it was more a matter of working with tech so long that I learned a lot in many different areas.

...
Trades taught me a lot especially about working hard but I'll take my college degree any day over the trades...

Just a general IT degree? Can you become a software engineer without a degree? Are the deadlines pretty extreme in this field?

I've met plenty of software engineers who don't have degrees. IMO this is relatively common. It's a matter of paying your dues doing lots and lots and lots of programming. There's a critical mass of experience that's required, and a college degree is one way that many folks build up their experience base, however simply paying your dues and becoming an adept programmer is more important than any degree, at least IMO. This is actually how I started in tech - as a programmer where those skills were mostly self-taught.

The bottom line in all this is that like with any job, you have to get really good at some area of technology so people want to pay you to work for them. So find an area that you like, stay focused on it, and the rest will take care of itself.

[Fisching]

I've held onto this graphic measuring median starting salary and salary quintiles based on different fields for a few years. It's quite interesting. It's a bit dated but i highly doubt there's been any seismic changes. They're all college degree and don't include the trade professions. However, you can cross reference this with recent BLS publications to see how trade field incomes compare to these "white collar" professions.

[martinleroux]

I've held onto this graphic measuring median starting salary and salary quartiles based on different fields for a few years. It's quite interesting.

Wait, what? The median salary range for Philosophy majors is higher than Information Technology majors? And almost as high as Finance majors? Who made this chart, the University of Woolamaloo?

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill
Plato, they say, could stick it away
Half a crate of whiskey every day...

Apologies for the obscure cultural references.

[mikefromcraig]

I've held onto this graphic measuring median starting salary and salary quartiles based on different fields for a few years. It's quite interesting.

Wait, what? The median salary range for Philosophy majors is higher than Information Technology majors? And almost as high as Finance majors? Who made this chart, the University of Woolamaloo?

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill
Plato, they say, could stick it away
Half a crate of whiskey every day...

Apologies for the obscure cultural references.

The only sense I can make out of that is that Philosophy majors are more likely to go on to grad school than an IT major.

[mikefromcraig]

One thing to consider, you are probably going to have a lot more fun in college than in, say, welding school.

Plus, in college you will be exposed to a lot of different options, in welding school you will not.

[cottonmountaineering]

I've held onto this graphic measuring median starting salary and salary quartiles based on different fields for a few years. It's quite interesting.

Wait, what? The median salary range for Philosophy majors is higher than Information Technology majors? And almost as high as Finance majors? Who made this chart, the University of Woolamaloo?

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill
Plato, they say, could stick it away
Half a crate of whiskey every day...

Apologies for the obscure cultural references.

what ive found is philosophy majors have something completely different as a career than philosophy, but know how to think logically