Do you have a job which

[disny_luvr]

I’m a Nurse Practitioner with 6 years of college but my DH doesn’t have any college experience at all and he makes much more than I do. He started out in construction/plumbing, eventually got his master plumbers license and now owns a successful commercial plumbing HVAC company. I always laugh when people make fun of or look down on plumbers because 9 times out of 10 they’re making A LOT more money than the person making fun of them.

I could’ve written this post, except my DH and I do different jobs than you and your DH. I’m a teacher with two masters degrees and my DH is a welder. He has some certifications that have helped him work his way up the pay scale. He makes way more than I do. Always has, always will. He always feels like people look down on him, too, and I always remind him that he’s doing very, very well financially.

 

[willowsnn3]

This thread just caught my eye today, have only read the most recent posts but had to jump in here & say that at our family Thanksgiving gathering, I just found out that my 19yr old grandson is making $28 an hour as a pipelayer at a company with great benefits. His next raise will put him at $30 an hour. No degree, just a GED.

 

[dvcgirl67]

From a different angle - I know a several folks in the service industry who have very good degrees.
Accounting, Economics, Finance etc.. Some even have masters. One has a PhD in mathematics.

They work as bartenders or wait tables - the money is just to good.
They don't need the degrees to do it, but it can help them in talking with customers who do those jobs.
Yeah some nights they take home $30 or $40, but on a weekend night they can take home quite a bit more.
A runner who gets minimum wage and only gets a small percentage of the tips that the bartender and waitstaff choose to give them and can still take home 2-3 hundred on a good night, so no idea what they are getting but its quite a bit.

Yeah in the long run that will probable end, so it may be a bit shortsighted, but right now they are enjoying life for the most part.

I agree that a college education gives you a leg up in the service industry as you're typically a more effective communicator. I have known people in the fields you mention...and other degreed fields, work as bartenders/servers, especially earlier in their careers as a side hustle, to help pay down student loan debt and or save for their first home..etc.

I really do believe though that parents of teens/college aged kids really, really need to try and wrap their minds around AI and what it's doing, and how it will accelerate and replace large swaths of entire disciplines in the coming years. And not just in IT, but law, medicine, manufacturing, marketing...etc. I've read/heard discussions from people who are radiologists, who talk about AI already doing a very good job in comparison to humans. It's exciting and a bit scary at the same time. It'll be interesting to see what our workforce looks like in a couple of decades.

 

[JLTraveling]

I have a degree that I no longer use. I got burned out in mental health and switched to content writing/strategy. Lots of people in my current field have no degree.

My cousin has a severe learning disability, and the family wondered whether he would ever be able to support himself. He stumbled into construction in his early 20s, realized he had a knack for it, became a general contractor and never looked back. Now in his 50s, he's lived all over the world, building everything from US embassies to hospitals to high rise hotels. He has dozens of crews on different projects at any one time, and both his income and his net worth are far higher than anyone in the family with multiple masters degrees. I think it's just a matter of finding what you're good at, working hard, and making it happen. For some people, that's in a field that requires a degree. For others it isn't.

 

[tony67]

I really do believe though that parents of teens/college aged kids really, really need to try and wrap their minds around AI and what it's doing, and how it will accelerate and replace large swaths of entire disciplines in the coming years.

Yeah it is pretty wild what can be done with it.

I see Disney used it for some artwork recently, and I have been playing with it.
Its pretty amazing - and that's at an armature level.

 

[firefly_ris]

I've been a front-end web developer for pay since 2002. I started learning it as a hobby when I was around 12 or 13 (so about 1996). I had already started building up a portfolio right after high school and also did an unpaid internship in my 3rd year of college. So, I did go to college and got a BA in Visual Arts with a concentration in Digital Media, but I've never been asked about or for proof of a degree in my entire career -- just proof of knowledge and ability. Yes it can support a family. I would make a lot more money if I were a full stack developer but with 3 kids and a busy life, I don't have the time or interest anymore to pursue that further -- it is enough work just keeping up with the times in my own area of expertise.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

No, I am a nurse and I actually have 2 four year degrees. I have a degree in Organizational Communication and PR and then 10 years later I went back for nursing.
My husband didn't go to college and makes significantly more money than I do! So unfair!

In the days when everyone used the metal cans, My mother, who had an AA degree used to complain that garbage men made more than her and that it was so unfair because they didn't have degrees and anyone could just walk off the street and be one. Me being a very smart young lad, said one time well then why don't you just go be a garbage man? She said WHAT? I don't want to do that. It's stinky and messy and.... I then said well now you know why garbage men make more than you. Well after mom sounded like donald duck for about 30 seconds and dad roared with laughter, I went to bed with no supper.....Wiser.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

No, I am a nurse and I actually have 2 four year degrees. I have a degree in Organizational Communication and PR and then 10 years later I went back for nursing.
My husband didn't go to college and makes significantly more money than I do! So unfair!

How? The path you chose provided you with certain skills and knowledge and the market determines what those are worth. The path He chose provided him with other skills and knowledge and the market determined what those are worth also.

My ex had far more formal education than I but her best annual income year was in the area of what my overtime was in some years. That's neither good or bad but simply the result of different career choices.

 

[tvguy]

Yep, I've got a job that didn't need me to attend college. I work at an insurance company. I started working in insurance when I was young, so I have much experience now. That's what my bosses cared about more than a college degree.

I know a lady who did the same job for a Federal Government agency for 25 years and was a nationally recognized expert in her field. A new supervisor came in and demoted her because somehow she got the job 25 years ago without the required College Degree. He said he would be working to get her fired. At the same time she is contacted by the big wigs in Washington D.C wanting her back there to teach a seminar on her specialty and to help evaluate candidates to do the same work she had been doing. I guess it turned into a lengthy internal battle and finally ended when she retired.

 

[SarahHampton]

I work from home doing graphic design, and I love that I can set my own hours and take breaks when I need to. It gives me a lot of flexibility.