I’ve worked with engineers who were graduates of Cal Tech and CSU Long Beach. On average, the CSU-LB alums were better. Maybe they had more to prove....
Personal opinion, what effects your earning potential, and the security that can bring, is not education or lack of education, but rather do you have a marketable skill? In many cases, a marketable skill goes hand in hand with a college degree, e.g, physician, dentist, engineer, teacher, etc. But not always. I have a very good friend who runs a vehicle repair shop. He works on one type of vehicle, Dodge diesel pickup trucks. His education started as diesel mechanic working on tanks in the Army. Learned his skill, keep up on new technology and innovation, delivers a good service at a fair price to his customers and has more work than he can handle. Don’t just get an education, get a skill.
‘It Doesn’t Matter Where You Go to College: It just matters that you go.”
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates might disagree. Neither stayed in college to earn a degree.
In my local business community there are many “millionaires next door” who went to work upon graduation from high school. One started working as a welder apprentice ultimately going out on his own and through hard work building from scratch a large welding company that does major projects requiring steel construction across the region. As the business grew he invested in other businesses and now in his early 50’s is a millionaire many times over. He is an honorable man with a wonderful family and children who are hardworking and motivated.
Another is a member of a minority who started working for McDonalds in high school and today owns multiple fast food franchises. Again, hard work and reinvesting earnings to build the business resulted in success.
Other successful non-college grads I know own HVAC companies, auto dealerships, construction companies, cabinet shops, automobile repair and tire shops.
For all of these individuals the secrets to success were simple:
1) Highly moral and ethical people. Their word is their bond. They only engage in business deals where both sides win and they always deliver on their promises.
2) They believe in personal accountability. The “product” they produce is high quality and consistent. Customers can rely on them. When something goes wrong they take care of the problem, often when the customer is in the wrong.
3) In the beginning they worked brutal schedules for little money.
4) They’ve always lived below their means. When they achieve wealth they live modestly and continue to work hard.
5) They hire good people, expect a lot out of them, and treat them well. This means treating them with respect as well as paying them well.
6) Families are important. They stay married to the same spouse. Their children are well behaved and work hard on the family business in menial jobs. They set extremely high expectations for their children.
7) They educate themselves. They are naturally inquisitive and take advantage of opportunities to learn from people they meet, their employees, competitors, and their suppliers. They read voraciously.
8) They are optimistic. When beaten down they pick up the pieces and drive forward.
None of the character traits listed above are taught in college today.
Get thee to a nunnery.
Pretty much, 2 years at community college opened every door I ever needed.
I do not have a college degree, but I was trained in electronics by the Navy. The lack of a degree led to many closed doors, but I suspect those were mostly doors I would have regretted entering.
I tried to go back and earn an Engineering degree at age 39. While I really enjoyed the higher math classes, the rest was filler nonsense that colleges require solely to pad tuition income. I lasted 2 1/2 semesters before the BS wore me out at the same time someone offered me a good-paying job, right out of the blue.
What I really learned in college was that most college kids are ignorant, lazy, irresponsible morons. And college faculty are mostly cocooned from reality. And it’s not an environment that is easy for adults to suffer.
Yeah, tell that to our longtime auto mechanic. He never went to college. He owns a small but extremely busy shop. He's worth more than a million dollars, and he has his own mini-fleet of Corvettes.
But oh, no, we can't have young men going into those awful trades where they have to actually get dirty...perish the thought.
Totally disagree with headline. College is not necessary. Common sense and good ethics are necessary.